Please don’t post any…

Please don't post any substantive comments (either publically or in e-mail) on this entry.

But just for the curious, I'm being asked to talk about narrative structure (within a specific context, which I'm not going to mention right now, just in case), in four of the following texts (and I need to pick two from before 1900, and two from after 1900). A very writerly, craft-oriented question! Not the sort of thing I've been working on, actually, and I'm feeling a need to pick up John Gardner's narrative theory book and review a little before I start, but I'm relieved that we're mostly done with the post-colonial theory. :-) This may actually be fun!

Pre-1900:

  • Sterne, Tristram Shandy
  • Montague, Letters
  • Shelley, Frankenstein
  • Coleridge, Kubla Khan and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
  • Whitman, Leaves of Grass
Post-1900:

  • Barnes, Nightwood
  • Scott, The Jewel in the Crown
  • Marquez, A Hundred Years of Solitude
  • Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible
  • Duras, The Lover
  • Achebe, Things Fall Apart
  • Rushdie, Midnight's Children
Right now, I'm leaning towards Sterne and Shelley, Scott and Rushdie. But that's just because they're the ones I'm most familiar with. Barnes, Duras and Achebe are definitely possibilities. Probably not Marquez or Kingsolver, just because I read them a while ago, and they're long and would take a while to review. And if I can avoid analyzing poetry, I almost certainly will. :-)

Again, no substantive comments for the next three days, please. Thanks, guys! Vague expressions of support are always welcome, though! :-)

10 thoughts on “Please don’t post any…”

  1. I do realise that there’s a lot of stress and agony involved, but I can’t help it: I’m envious!!!

    Envious that you now know *stuff* about all these things, enough to have things to say and be excited (okay, by the time you read this you may be stressed rather than excited, but you DID use the word “fun”), envious that you are going to get positive feedback for spending time thinking about them and expressing your opinions…

    So, go Mary Anne! I tremendously admire your cleverness and your ability and learning having got you this far and I look forward to hearing tales of your success 🙂

    And also: remember to eat lots of snacks. Good snacks are important to brain function.

  2. Here we go, some fluff for you:

    1-2-3-4!
    There is just a little more!
    5-6-7-8!
    We think MA will do GREAT!

    GoooOOOOOO Mary Anne!

    (High kicks and high-pitched giggling and MUCH distracting jiggling.)

  3. Awww shucks, they stole my original thought. So, here’s yet another vague expression of support.

  4. Yes, you’re all very clever and funny. Pat yourselves on the back appropriately, please. 🙂

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