Summer Reading

I haven't written here for a while. The combination of CRW3930 in Spring (a lot of work, but worth it) and a LIT4934 in Summer A (trying, but ultimately interesting, and I really liked what I was able to do with the last paper there) and work (insanely busy) demanded too much attention. But, the LIT4934 in Summer A was the last undergrad English class I need to take so I can start taking grad English classes for the M.Ed.

In the break between Summer A and Fall 09, I took my son to Kennedy Space Center for a program called "Family ATX" and we had a blast. We missed seeing STS-127 lift off because of the weather delays, but had fun anyway. If STS-128 slips a few days so the launch time is a little earlier, I'd really like to go see it. It's supposed to be a night launch. (Well, currently 1:30-ish AM. Maybe "dark launch" is more accurate.)

I also set about finishing Mishima's Sea of Fertility tetralogy. I read Spring Snow a few months ago. In the past few weeks I read Runaway Horses, The Temple of Dawn and The Decay of the Angel. About 1000 pages in the last three of the four. I enjoyed the first two books of the four, I think because they were more about the characters and the culture. The latter two were more focused on Mishima's ideas and philosophy, which were increasingly depressing. The long discussion of Buddhism in Temple didn't bother me. It was the general tone. I've read that the books a sort of commentary of Japan. Given the switch from the first part of the book to the latter part, it seems Mishima considered WWII a turning point for the worse. Kawabata has a similar sense in his books, but his tone is more sad. By the time he hit Decay, Mishima's tone was unabashedly hopeless.

Without giving away anything, the fourth book ends by essentially saying, "Man is trapped in history. Everything is meaningless. We can't be sure anything we experience happened." Sounds a lot like Georg Buchner from a LIT class I took last Summer B. After I finished the last book I commented to someone that it wasn't surprising that he committed suicide (seppuku, no less) the day he finished it.

Now, with fall classes coming, I'm getting together books and starting to read ahead. Dunno what we're doing in ENG6019, but in LIT5934 (Robots, Monsters and Cyborgs), we're reading texts I'm really looking forward to. Two (I, Robot; Neuromancer) I've read before. I memorized Gibson's first line it's so perfect.

So I dove into Frankenstein, which I've never read, though I know I've seen a B&W version of the movie (can't remember which, just that it wasn't silent). I was expecting something tedious because of the age of the text, but it has been fun. I actually like older literature when I get back into that mode of reading/thinking. In ENG4013 last fall, the two books I liked best in that class were both set in pre-20th-century times, though written by modern authors. Mary Shelley's language and style is a bit older, but it is enjoyable. And, 100 pages in, the monster exists, but there hasn't been any lightning or electrodes (at least, not in the way they appeared in the movie). I'll see if they come in later, but since Victor Frankenstein has said that he doesn't want to reveal his secret knowledge (secrets man was not meant to know), and didn't use them when he created the monster, I'm thinking they may never appear.

And, I've already seen the rough connection to both Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (which I'm looking forward to reading) and I, Robot. Man trying to become a god (or godlike), creating "life," and suffering the consequences, suggestions of "secrets man was not meant to know," and so forth. Shelley's subtitle, "The Modern Prometheus," fits.

When I finish Frankenstein, I'm on to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If I finish that before class starts, I'll read The Picture of Dorian Gray, just to make sure I've gone through the "old" books in the class.

I also think I want to get a netbook. I have a large laptop and smaller work laptop, but the former is too much to carry around and only lasts a couple of hours on battery. The latter has restrictions and is kind of chunky. I want something small and light and long-battery-lived that I can use for writing, reading and browsing at public WiFi places, maybe watching the occasional fansub. I'm still looking around for the right cheap/light/long/features combo, though. When the netbook gets up to $400-$500, I might as well start looking at a 13" laptop for $700.

Ah. ENG6019 is listing one book. 320 pages. 220 literary terms defined. Looks like a dictionary of sorts. Hmm... Wonder what else we'll be reading. Maybe time to email the professor. The booklist update is new within the past couple of days, so maybe she's around.