As I get deeper and deeper into Frye's book, I feel as though I'm addicted. I tried to get ahead on reading this week for next week and ended up reading all of next week's reading by Wednesday. Although I, like Ariana, was hesitant to categorize literature, I'm not as averse to it as I thought I would be. Although I don’t think categorizations work in every situation, because literature is a complex device, I am enjoying reading about archetypal criticism and the mythos of spring, summer and autumn (and soon winter). The more I read and think about the books I’ve read in recent past, including nonfiction books, the more I see how archetypal criticism works and the way the plot devices and characters in the different mythos function. I don’t know if I’ll ever read another book the same way.
The idea of everything being a displaced myth is also fascinating. When Dr. Sexson talked about it in class, I was skeptical at first. So after class I went home and thought about my favorite book and tried to see if I could connect my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice, to a myth or fairy tale. It only took me a minute to figure out that it could be another version of The Frog Prince (maybe I unconsciously picked that fairy tale to displace for that reason). Although Mr. Darcy isn’t ugly and actually from outward appearances seems an agreeable suitor, the story is the same. Elizabeth Bennett is prejudiced against Mr. Darcy from her first few encounters with him. It isn’t until she sees his true goodness that she realizes her first impression was mistaken. Of course, there are other plot points in the book that may not tie in directly, but I’m sure if I read up on more myths and fairy tales I could bring some more connections.
09 February 2007
510: New dream and a recurring dream
Had a Catholic guilt dream last night. In the dream I received a letter in the mail declaring that the Catholic Church has decided to execute me by hanging. This all seemed to make sense in the dream but was daunting nevertheless. It explained that I was going to be hanged, but all of the charges were in Latin so I was unable to figure out what exactly I had done wrong. Nathan told me to calm down and to go see a religious studies professor at MSU, because they should be able to help me out (even though I don't even know if MSU has a religious studies program). It was a pretty strange dream considering the fact that I detached myself from the Catholic church years ago. Maybe I feel guiltier than I thought about not having a Catholic wedding.
As promised, I will delve into a recurring dream I started having around my freshman year in undergraduate school. They aren't as consistent as my T-rex-dinosaur dreams, but I do have them quite regularly; more often than dinosaurs these days. The situation, place, and people around are always different. I've been at a hotel, at my sister's friend Jamie's wedding, visiting my deceased grandmother, etc. Giant waves are the only consistency. Sometimes I am on or near a beach, sometimes I am unaware that water is near by, but waves will just all of a sudden become extremely high (not going to estimate the height; I am terrible at judging distances). They are so high, I end up getting swept in while I am violently attempting to escape. I never stay asleep long enough to find out if I make it out alive. Not sure if the dreams are linked to my fear of natural disasters (specificly tornados and tsunamis) or if they're linked to something else. My research into my praxis presentation on water next week will hopefully help.
As promised, I will delve into a recurring dream I started having around my freshman year in undergraduate school. They aren't as consistent as my T-rex-dinosaur dreams, but I do have them quite regularly; more often than dinosaurs these days. The situation, place, and people around are always different. I've been at a hotel, at my sister's friend Jamie's wedding, visiting my deceased grandmother, etc. Giant waves are the only consistency. Sometimes I am on or near a beach, sometimes I am unaware that water is near by, but waves will just all of a sudden become extremely high (not going to estimate the height; I am terrible at judging distances). They are so high, I end up getting swept in while I am violently attempting to escape. I never stay asleep long enough to find out if I make it out alive. Not sure if the dreams are linked to my fear of natural disasters (specificly tornados and tsunamis) or if they're linked to something else. My research into my praxis presentation on water next week will hopefully help.
06 February 2007
510: Dream text
Blogging sure is addicting. At least to me it is. Having sufficiently filled my mind with Frye for this week's class, I will spend my remaining free time relaying one of my two recurring dreams.
One of the silliest dreams I have had since I was around 9 years of age has been about dinosaurs. They aren't silly really; quite frightening actually. Silly really that I am having dreams of dinosaurs. It merits some kind of explanation (although I am really going to age myself as the youngest person in the class).
When I was around 9, my father took me to go see my first PG-13 film: Jurassic Park. I, along with many people at the time, was absolutely frightened but exhilarated by the film. After seeing for a second time, I went to the library and took out Crichton's book as well as the sequel (same name as the second film, but completely different). The book scared me so badly, I had the shut the blinds on the window next to my bed because I kept imagining velociraptors standing outside my window while I was sleeping.
Around that time I started having the dinosaur dreams. Little did I know, these dreams would remain. For the first ten years of having the dream, it was always a similar situation, although a different location. I would be somewhere familiar, sometimes at home, often at my high school. All of a sudden, people were running and screaming toward me. I look up and see the T-Rex pounding toward me. Although everybody around me is running, I hesitate. There is always some instinct in me telling me that I have to save anybody. I always wake up before I realize who I need to save or whether I escape the dinosaur's wrath.
In my late teens/early twenties the dreams changed for the worse. These dreams main tyrant are velociraptors, making the T-Rex seem like friendly dog you would want to bring home. Sometimes I am somewhere familiar, although sometimes I am somewhere that I have never been before. One dream even thrust me into the future into a house that was more like a maze. No structure exists in these dreams. They are always different and I never know when the beasts of prey are going to pop out. Some of the dreams have eggs, which I am desperately attempting to find and destroy to make my battle against the raptors a little less hopeless. Needless to say, I miss old Rexy. I never know what's coming with these terrors and know once they come into my dream, the rest of my night will be filled with tossing and turning and a lot of pillow punching.
Next recurrent dream to come: waves.
One of the silliest dreams I have had since I was around 9 years of age has been about dinosaurs. They aren't silly really; quite frightening actually. Silly really that I am having dreams of dinosaurs. It merits some kind of explanation (although I am really going to age myself as the youngest person in the class).
When I was around 9, my father took me to go see my first PG-13 film: Jurassic Park. I, along with many people at the time, was absolutely frightened but exhilarated by the film. After seeing for a second time, I went to the library and took out Crichton's book as well as the sequel (same name as the second film, but completely different). The book scared me so badly, I had the shut the blinds on the window next to my bed because I kept imagining velociraptors standing outside my window while I was sleeping.
Around that time I started having the dinosaur dreams. Little did I know, these dreams would remain. For the first ten years of having the dream, it was always a similar situation, although a different location. I would be somewhere familiar, sometimes at home, often at my high school. All of a sudden, people were running and screaming toward me. I look up and see the T-Rex pounding toward me. Although everybody around me is running, I hesitate. There is always some instinct in me telling me that I have to save anybody. I always wake up before I realize who I need to save or whether I escape the dinosaur's wrath.
In my late teens/early twenties the dreams changed for the worse. These dreams main tyrant are velociraptors, making the T-Rex seem like friendly dog you would want to bring home. Sometimes I am somewhere familiar, although sometimes I am somewhere that I have never been before. One dream even thrust me into the future into a house that was more like a maze. No structure exists in these dreams. They are always different and I never know when the beasts of prey are going to pop out. Some of the dreams have eggs, which I am desperately attempting to find and destroy to make my battle against the raptors a little less hopeless. Needless to say, I miss old Rexy. I never know what's coming with these terrors and know once they come into my dream, the rest of my night will be filled with tossing and turning and a lot of pillow punching.
Next recurrent dream to come: waves.
510: Dream text
Finally, a dream stuck with me when I woke up. Nothing exciting or as interesting as last week's dreams, but here goes:
I am at some kind of fair with my older sister. I hear from somebody that one of my favorite professors from my undergraduate school is in the book section, so I head there in order to see her. However, when I reach the room that used to contain the books, a bar greets me instead. At the bar, I see Derek, a fellow RA last year who I sat duty with and befriended. Although he was not and still is not old enough to be at a bar, he was in my dream. I greeted him with surprise and sat down to chat and catch up. Last year he seemed lost and not sure of what he wanted to do with his major or if he wanted to stay at IUP. In the dream (and in real life), it turns out he transferred to Penn State and switched his major to engineering. He seemed really happy and content with his life. He also seemed to have matured quite a bit since I last saw him.
Suddenly I am in a large truck (not semi-large, but F-350 large) with my little sister and Meghan's parents. (I was good friends with Meghan from 3rd grade until she seemed to fall off of the planet senior year.) We didn't talk about where we were going, but I knew that we were heading to Boston. I was telling them about my meeting with Derek and tried to explain who Derek was and why I was so happy for him since they did not know him.
The appearance of people from my past is probably remnant from my guilt of never calling or keeping in touch with anybody. I probably dreamed of Derek because our mutual friend Cody called me last week. Cody and Derek, apart from being friends, were kind of like two peas in a pod.
I am at some kind of fair with my older sister. I hear from somebody that one of my favorite professors from my undergraduate school is in the book section, so I head there in order to see her. However, when I reach the room that used to contain the books, a bar greets me instead. At the bar, I see Derek, a fellow RA last year who I sat duty with and befriended. Although he was not and still is not old enough to be at a bar, he was in my dream. I greeted him with surprise and sat down to chat and catch up. Last year he seemed lost and not sure of what he wanted to do with his major or if he wanted to stay at IUP. In the dream (and in real life), it turns out he transferred to Penn State and switched his major to engineering. He seemed really happy and content with his life. He also seemed to have matured quite a bit since I last saw him.
Suddenly I am in a large truck (not semi-large, but F-350 large) with my little sister and Meghan's parents. (I was good friends with Meghan from 3rd grade until she seemed to fall off of the planet senior year.) We didn't talk about where we were going, but I knew that we were heading to Boston. I was telling them about my meeting with Derek and tried to explain who Derek was and why I was so happy for him since they did not know him.
The appearance of people from my past is probably remnant from my guilt of never calling or keeping in touch with anybody. I probably dreamed of Derek because our mutual friend Cody called me last week. Cody and Derek, apart from being friends, were kind of like two peas in a pod.
550: Collins-inspired poems
§ Sitting in a Busy Downtown Coffee Shop on a Thursday Afternoon
I can’t help asking myself,
“Doesn’t anybody have a job?”
And if they do, how can I get a job like that,
with enough free time and relaxation
to visit a coffee shop and read a novel.
A man in a black suit sits in a brown leather couch
reading Dickens and glancing at his Rolex.
What is the suit for?
How can a Thursday-afternoon patron of coffee shops afford a Rolex
if he spends his business hours in coffee shops.
Then I wonder if he is a poet,
taking moments out of his day to scribble down his thoughts
and then returning to David Copperfield.
What a bum.
§ Airport
She stands in the terminal
nervously peeling off her red nailpolish.
She glances back and forth
between the arrival gate and the television
that flashes a green sign “Arrived.”
She begins to pace.
It seems as though she’s making all the other waiting people anxious.
What is the rush?
Should we be worried too?
When the passengers begin to pour down the ramp,
she becomes more frenzied.
Red chips fly off of her
like water off of a wet dog
attempting to shake himself dry.
When she sees him,
the one she was waiting so frantically for,
a wave of calm rushes over her face,
and her hands abandon her fingernails
as they wrap themselves around his neck.
I can’t help asking myself,
“Doesn’t anybody have a job?”
And if they do, how can I get a job like that,
with enough free time and relaxation
to visit a coffee shop and read a novel.
A man in a black suit sits in a brown leather couch
reading Dickens and glancing at his Rolex.
What is the suit for?
How can a Thursday-afternoon patron of coffee shops afford a Rolex
if he spends his business hours in coffee shops.
Then I wonder if he is a poet,
taking moments out of his day to scribble down his thoughts
and then returning to David Copperfield.
What a bum.
§ Airport
She stands in the terminal
nervously peeling off her red nailpolish.
She glances back and forth
between the arrival gate and the television
that flashes a green sign “Arrived.”
She begins to pace.
It seems as though she’s making all the other waiting people anxious.
What is the rush?
Should we be worried too?
When the passengers begin to pour down the ramp,
she becomes more frenzied.
Red chips fly off of her
like water off of a wet dog
attempting to shake himself dry.
When she sees him,
the one she was waiting so frantically for,
a wave of calm rushes over her face,
and her hands abandon her fingernails
as they wrap themselves around his neck.
05 February 2007
510: Response to Pans Labyrinth
In lieu of forcing myself to watch the Superbowl, I went to go see Pans Labyrinth, which I think is applicable to our class. The film was set during the Spanish Civil War and followed the story of a young girl who becomes acquainted with a faun who tells her she's the princess of the underworld. Although this part of the story was fantastical and seemed to be part of a fairy tale, the other part of the film portrayed not only the girl's hardships but also the hardship on the Spanish people during the Civil War. Although most of the film was realistic (with people telling young Ofelia to get her head out of books filled with fairy tales), there were fairy tale elements that I thought were especially relevant to what we were talking in class with the displaced fairy tales. Of course, by the end a question is stuck in the viewer's head: was it all inside her head? Did the fairies and faun visit her or was she creating hope and another world in order to attempt to escape her own personal turmoil.
I still haven't had time to wrap my brain around the film and come up with something eloquent to say, so I will just recommend that the rest of the class go see it.
Poetry coming soon. Mustering up the courage now to post them.
I still haven't had time to wrap my brain around the film and come up with something eloquent to say, so I will just recommend that the rest of the class go see it.
Poetry coming soon. Mustering up the courage now to post them.
04 February 2007
510: Dream text
Haven't been dreaming as much this week, which is strange for me. I usually remember my dreams. Finally one stuck last night.
In the dream, these two sisters had some kind of artistic ideas, ways to sell their art and/or use their artistic talents. Can't remember the first sister's idea but the second one was quite shallow and wanted to do drawings of ridiculously good-looking people (or something like that). Anyway, Nathan gave suggestions to both of the sisters in order for them to market their ideas to the public. The sisters did not like his advice, obviously, because they sued him. Don't remember the charges, but the jury returned a guilty verdict.
In a different part of the dream, we ran into one of Nathan's old college friends, Fred, in a deli. Nathan didn't even recognize him until I pointed out who he was. He had two women with him. That's all that I remember from that dream.
In the dream, these two sisters had some kind of artistic ideas, ways to sell their art and/or use their artistic talents. Can't remember the first sister's idea but the second one was quite shallow and wanted to do drawings of ridiculously good-looking people (or something like that). Anyway, Nathan gave suggestions to both of the sisters in order for them to market their ideas to the public. The sisters did not like his advice, obviously, because they sued him. Don't remember the charges, but the jury returned a guilty verdict.
In a different part of the dream, we ran into one of Nathan's old college friends, Fred, in a deli. Nathan didn't even recognize him until I pointed out who he was. He had two women with him. That's all that I remember from that dream.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
