Just a Thought
I was recently trying to write start writing my paper for this class. I really wanted to use an eloquent "Lolita"- like style but I found myself struggling for metaphors and eloquent language. While staring at a nearby tapestry on my wall I was reminded of the art classes that I took in high school. In the peak of my art career I remember looking at things and not seeing just chairs or shoes. I saw colors, their relations, hue, depth cues, shadows and shading. This seems to me to be similar to what the author must do. He must not just see red. He must see the vibrancy or faded color, whether it is a Red Deliscious red or more of a Ava Gardner red lipstick.

The author must be able be able to discern every one of the differences between each sensation and what that sesation resembles. It is not just a matter of seeing but of hearing, smelling and tasting what things are and are not like. They seem to be the supreme artists because they must have an uncanny grasp on everything in order to have an adequate replication of what it means to be human.

Finally! My moment of epiphany
It came too late for me to put my epiphany as extra credit for the test. I'm not going to lie, I just put down the first thing I thought of regardless of its personal relevence. Anyway, today I have my class epiphany and this is about how it went.
After going to class today I met with Dr.Sexson in his office. I was still curious about my poem and I wanted to talk to him about it. This is the on of the only times I have ever met with a teacher outside of class. I'm usually really shy and am quite afraid that visits with teachers will turn into the loss of one of my limbs. It's an irrational fear but so are most phobias. Anyway I was quite intimidated by the all-knowing Dr. Sexon just as being in this extremely intelligent class has quite literally, scared the shit out of me. I bit my nails, picked at my cuticles and considered taking a couple shots before the discussion. The first two signs of anxiety were done in excess. I held off from the last for fear of talking to Dr. Sexson drunk and therefore saying something really dumb.
As I entered his office and began conversation my fear subsided. It was then that I had my ephipany. It is not really related to the moment of revelation had by others in this class but for me it was really life changing. I realized that this class isn't about how much you know or what previously acquired knowledge you bring to the class. Nothing personal to Valerie, but her conversation on "Dead Man" made me feel like I was again sitting through college algebra, desperate for any hope of feeling like I grasped the concepts. I realized that this knowledge, although wonderful to have, is beside the point. It isn't about IQ or SAT scores. I could belong to MENSA but that does not dictate how much I'm going to get out of "Invisible Man" or a poem by Wallave Stevens. It is about the beauty I've found in every work we've studied this year. It's about my imagination's power to create a woman singing, an "invisible" man hibernating in his room of 1,369 lightbulbs, or a desperate lover. It is the work itself and its power to recreate life in a way that revels in the details and is yet not concerned with them. Talking to Dr. Sexson I realized that I am no longer searching for the correct answer, the best way to go about discovering what is the real hidden element that every real intellectual sees. It is about the words, the music, the life that a work of literature breathes. If you do not see this life, regardless of how many titles you have won for yourself, you will miss the greater meaning. You will miss the beauty, joy, and power of the human imagination.

A Post About My Poem

I would first off like to apologize for having almost nothing to say about my poem in class. I had a bit of a stressful morning and wasn't expecting to give my presentation. Anyway here's what I have to say about:

Of Heaven Considered As a Tomb

What word have you, interpreters, of men

Who in the tomb of heaven walk by night,

The darkend ghosts of our old comedy?

Do they believe they range the gusty cold,

With lanterns borne aloft to light the way,

Freeman of death, about and still about

To find whatever it is they seek? Or does

That burial, pillared up each day as porte

And spiritous passage into nothingness,

Fortell the night the one abysmal night,

When the host shall no more wander, nor the light

Of stedfast lanterns creep accross the dark?

Make hue among the darkk comedians,

Halloo them from the topmost distances

For answer from their icy Elysee.

My first thought about this poem is that in no part of it does it make reference to the paradise of heaven. It instead talks about comedians, lanterns and the night. Here were some of the things that I found useful in my interpretation.

Tomb- A burial or receptacle for human remains. A monument erected to enclose the body and preserve the name and memory of the dead.

I found that the word memory was an important part for how I read this poem. Death and consequent placement in a tomb smybolizes not only a departure from the physical world but the creation of a memory.

The afterlife is more of a rememberance than a passage into paradise.

Lanterns and light- symbols of knowledge.

Old comedy- We talked about this in Shakespeare. It is the comedy of the earth the comedy of rebirth.

Pillared-

Pillar

Pillars of Ashoka- colums dispersed throughout the North Indian subcontinent reflecting Buddhist teachings.

Porte- Ottoman court in Constantinople. Synonym for the government of the Ottoman empire.

passage- a voyage, a carrying of a person from one place to another

Nothingness- the state of nonexistance. Lack of anything

Abysmal- so deep as to be unmeasurable, unfathomable, very profound.

Host- An animal that nourised support for a parasite.

Dark comedy- Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well," "Troilus and Cressida," and "Measure for Measure" are all dark comedy. Comedy having gloomy or disturbing elements.

Elysee- a major ave in Paris. The French president lives here.

My conclusion:

Heaven is only a memory we hold of those who came before us. They carry the lanterns of their knowledge that we then explore our own travels through our own dark imaginations. Death is a freedom, a rebirth into another form, that of knowledge that even in death still seeks what it sought in life. Soon we will all succumb to our own mortality and will no longer serve as a host for the ideas of those come before. We must call to the knowledge and thoughts of those past, ask them for answers from their icy tombs.

As a final thought here's a picture of the tomb where both the body and the memory of Jules Verne lay.

Other stuff that I'm studying
Bildugsroman- A novel that deals with a person's coming of age especailly with regards to their mind, character, spirituality or psychology.

Incantation- The language of the epiphany. Words formulated to create a magical affect and heated emotions. Faulkner's language would be a good example of an incantation, it gives "The Bear" a certain magic and heated emotion.

Process of initiation (courtesy of Emily's blog):
1. Seperation of neophyte from his or her family
2. Symbolic death or burial
3. A journey into the forest
4. A change of consciousness
5. Loss of something physical
6. A new name is given

Initiation- The beginning of a young person's introduction to the world of adulthood and their acceptance as members of a community.

"The doors of perception were cleansed." William Blake
"The Doors of Perception." Aldous Huxley
The Doors

The symbolism of tobacco in "Dead Man."

Otology- the study of being

Cultural pluralism- a celebration of diversity. E Plurbis Unim. Out of many come one.

Solar heroes- People who rise, reach their zenith, and then decline. ex) Charlie Kane
Invisible Man is not a solar hero because he never gets to rise.

An apology to two of our classmates.

The other night a rather large party was thrown at my apartment. Needless to say I was a bit euphorically buzzed when two of our classmates showed up. To those two, whose ears I then proceeded to nearly talk right off with various bits of nonsense, I would like to extend an apology and hope that I still have a small shred of dignity left.

A Slightly Controversial Point About "Lolita"

I'm sitting on my couch, watching T.V. and drinking a pint. I'm desperate to avoid studying for my sociology test until the last possible minute so I'm going to publish a post that I've been meaning to post.
I aggree with Lucas that the subject matter of "Lolita" is really quite disgusting. Old men, young girls, it reminds me of that new Dateline series called, "To catch a predator." I'm working on trying to post a video clip from it.

I know that Dr. Sexson's point with regards to the work is that it should be evaulated as a work of fiction and beauty and not the literal truth of, "wow, this guy's a pervert." I would like to make my own point which my uncle, Ned brought up so it's really his point. Is the issue an issue of one man's sexual delinquancy or an issue of cultural perception, just culture. This is mentioned in the beginning of the novel but I'm going to examine a few more cases just for the sake of argument.

1. Aisha, one of the wives of Muhammed. The age of her marriage is disputed however several hadiths, writing collections, that it is said she wrote say that she was married at 6 and then the marriage was consummated at 9, but apparently she was post-pubescent when the consummation.

2. Athenian women usually married at the age of fourteen or fifteen. Typically the male was about thirty.

3. The custom of betrothal states that a woman can be married before she is even born. Although this has no clear reprecussions with regards to marriage consummation.

4. More than a quarter of young British teens self-report to have lost their virginity when they were 15.

Don't get me wrong; I think it's horrific and I will let you know my aesthetic opinion when I've read more of the novel but I would just like to make one more point.

Is it worse than ordering a bride online, like a piece of used Ebay merchandise?

Is it worse than living in a country where a woman is doused with acid, burned, killed or raped because her male relatives have dishonered the family?

I don't want to continue with grotesque stories as a justification for the narrator's actions in "Lolita." I simply feel that too much emphasis is being placed on the subject of the novel and perhaps not on the novel itself. I do not advocate the seduction of 12 year old girls but I feel as though the issue is being blown into one of a massive proportion. It is just one man and not a whole society, culture acting unjustly.

As a final, closing statement I would like to make one movie recommendation and I really hope that Dr. Sexson recommends my movie in class or at least he rents it.

"The Woodsman." with Kevin Bacon. It's about a pedophile trying to readjust to normal life. I think everyone in our class would feel a bit more enlightened if they saw this movie. Don't worry it's not too gross.

Test Notes

• A change of ________ is a change of ________? style, subject
• What is below myth on the pyramid? music
• What is Nobody's real name? What does it mean? Xebeche, He Who Talks Loud Says Nothing
• Which poem of Wallace Stevens is reminiscent to the beggining and ending of "Dead Man?" "Prologues to What is Possible"
• Northrop Frye was uncomfortable with words that begin with what prefix? "de" because they deal with taking away instead of adding
• William Blake takes the blood of a ________ and puts it in his wound? Dead fawn
• Dr. Sexson would like to see _____________ done to students before they graduate? Physical mutilation
• What ate the three phrases we use to examine "Dead Man?" "Poetry is a destrutive force." "Poetry is the subject of the poem." "All things resemble each other."
• What is the playing of dozens and which novels exemplify it?" A contest of wit. "Mules and Men" and "Invisible Man."
• According to "Invisible Man" imagination inspires ______________? democracy
• What are the names of the two sherrifs in Bill Blake kills with his poetry? Lee and Marvin
• What are the three thing Ike has to leave behind before he can see the bear? His rifle, compass, and watch
• The killing of the bear is a metaphor for what? The destruction of nature
• What are the two forms of imagination? Creative and decreative
• The speech given by the narrator in "Invisible Man" is modeled after what two speeches? The Book of Judas, "Julius Caesar."
• "Trust the tale not the teller." D.H. Lawrence
• Rhinehart is a ___________ figure? trickster
• What starts the race riot? The eulogy for Tod Clifton
• What famous jazz song opens "Invisible Man?" "What did I do to be so black and blue." Louis Armstrong
• What is the unnamed poem that Ike's father reads? "Ode to the Grecian Urn" by John Keats
• Who did Santa Claus rape? Sybil
• Who is Sybil? mythological oracle to the underworld
• "Invisible man is an anti ________________ novel. Horation Alger
• What are the two corresponding phrases for the imagination? Neti Neti (not this not that) Tat twam asi (not this not that.)
• Which novel is a dream novel? "Invisible Man."
• Define parataxis: linking things together with the conjunction "and"
• What is Cole Wilson's mythological title? the demon master of imagination
• What is synaesthesa? A blurring or mixing of the senses
• What is an ehpebe? A young boy who was a candidate for education in ancient Greece.

A definition of "The Zone"
Our discussion of how sometimes we are able to get into a perfect mental state wherein we can do something that we've worked at perfectly brought to mind an episode of "Clarrissa Explains it All." This was my favorite show when I was younger and I remember a specific episode where Clarrissa's flute playing drastically improves and everyone is very excited. She then loses her skills due to pressure from an upcoming concert. Her dad then tells her about how she must have been in "the zone" and that he too was once in "the zone" while working as a bag boy at the local supermarket. He was the fastest and the best. He put the eggs in right and everything. He called this brush with brilliance being "In the Zone." This is why in my previous post I called Mick's skateboarding and Lucas's new discovery of the ease at which he reads Faulkner being in "the zone."

Notes from 10/31
In order to see the bear Ike must give up his rifle, compass, and watch.
All of these are metal, mechanicals
He must remove the trappings of civilization

"A Change of style is a change of subject." Stevens

Incantation- language used in the service of the experience.
This is similar to the say in which Faulkner writes. His description of the experience is the only way to realize the actual experience.
It could not be written in the Hemmingway style of parataxis ex) "We saw the bear and he was large and brown and he smelled of the wilderness and we were frightened.
In order to get the true experience we must suffer through Faulkner's difficult syntax.
If we read enough of Faulkner and our minds and imaginations are the the correct state we may be able to enter "the zone" of reading. This is similar to how Mick sometimes feels when he pulls off a great skateboarding trick simply because his mind is in the perfect state of focus. "The zone" does not have to be related to sports, or chess, or a great mathematical problem. There is a "zone" for literature when it seems as though the language no longer presents a challenge and the work just melts away as you read it.

Stevens has two notions of imagination:
1. Our definition, integrative: this imagination uses the connective powers of our mind to see how one thing is like another.
2. Decreative, discriminative: Things are not connected.
There is a Hindu phrase that exemplifies both types of imagination
Tat Tvam Asi- That thou art. Thou art that
Neti Neti- Not this. Not that
An example of an integrative author who puts everything in- Joyce
An example of a discriminative author who takes everything out- Beckett
"Even the absence of imagination has itself to be imagined."

A particularly good fortune cookie was read during this class. The message was:
"The greatest danger could be your own stupidity."