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View Full Version : Hi Everybody... Hi Dr. Rubeskies


Rubeskies
10-09-2007, 04:23 AM
Hello all you readers and cats out there,

My name is Lennon (yes my parents were hippies) and I'm a 22 year old English Major at Hunter College in New York City. I'm in my last semester and I'm thinking about the English PHD program at the CUNY graduate center. My concentration is in Literary Criticism so if there are any Lit Crit buffs out there, feel free to PM or alert me to threads involving that topic. (I also give free paper advice).

I've been an avid reader all my life. My high school favorite author was Kurt Vonnegut (RIP) but I also liked Joseph Heller, Henry Miller, Huxley and Orwell...

In College my tastes switched to the classics and a few modern authors such as Hawthorne, Nabokov, Kafka, Borges, Roth, Pynchon, Sartre, Shakespeare, Voltaire, Hemingway, Milton, Camus, Rushdie, Ames (both of them)... just to name a few. I've also recently gotten into the works of Homer, Aristophanes and Sophocles.

My secret dream is to be a writer but currently consider reading great books and experiencing life as more important than creative writing classes.

My secret reading goal is to read Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake.

I've already found this community intelligent and thoroughly interested in reading and the arts.

Good to be here,

~Lennon
thelastmelon
10-09-2007, 06:06 AM
Welcome, Lennon.
Nice to have you here. :)
musi
10-09-2007, 07:47 AM
Welcome to the forum, Lennon (nice name ;) )! Glad to meet you!
Star_Anise
10-09-2007, 09:42 AM
...My secret dream is to be a writer but currently consider reading great books and experiencing life as more important than creative writing classes...


Couldn't agree more.

Glad to have you with us, Lennon, sounds like we might have some very interesting discussions.
Winifred
10-09-2007, 01:47 PM
Welcome aboard!
Jez
10-09-2007, 02:07 PM
Welcome Lennon :) If you'd like to tackle Ulysses, I think we have an ever-going book club for that book. Ah, here (http://www.literaturejunction.com/forumdisplay.php?f=166). I don't know if anyone has gotten past chapter two though. Maybe you can re-spark interest.

I also have a question for you, as a Pynchon fan. Do you know why he used two different spellings for "Tristero" and "Trystero" in The Crying of Lot 49? That's been bugging me. :)
LeSilenceEternel
10-09-2007, 03:59 PM
*waves*
Rubeskies
10-09-2007, 04:58 PM
I also have a question for you, as a Pynchon fan. Do you know why he used two different spellings for "Tristero" and "Trystero" in The Crying of Lot 49? That's been bugging me. :)

Hey Jez,

This question is an interesting one and has been tackled by a few literary critics. One of the explanations I like is that, the reason there are two spelling signifies that Tristero exists in a "historically contextualized material reality." Since the organization seems to exists through many levels of time (Trystero representing the Early Modern portion) the different spellings represent the "constant blurring of facts about death.

I am quoting from an article by Diana York Blaine. She finishes her passage by claiming that the different spellings of the system and the blurring of facts "represents both the biological fact of mortality and those many cultural meta-narratives invoked to contain the anxiety this fact engenders."

So for example, heaven is a cultural meta-narrative about death.

Hope that helped. I'd be happy to attempt to clarify that if need be.

~Lennon
Jez
10-09-2007, 05:47 PM
It does help, thank you. You don't need to clarify, but if you would like to expound further I would always enjoy the read.
mazarane
10-09-2007, 10:15 PM
Welcome, Lennon! :) It's great to see another fan of Vonnegut and Heller here - I look forwarding to hearing more from you.
Fuchsia
10-10-2007, 12:27 AM
Hello Lennon, welcome. :)
skye
10-13-2007, 12:01 PM
A belated welcome from me too.

If you think experiencing life is the best way to start writing then it probably works best for you. Not everyone benefits from a creative writing class. And what is uncreative writing anyway?
Rubeskies
10-13-2007, 05:24 PM
A belated welcome from me too.

If you think experiencing life is the best way to start writing then it probably works best for you. Not everyone benefits from a creative writing class. And what is uncreative writing anyway?

Haha, good point. No writing is uncreative.

It isn't that I don't see that value in creative writing classes, it is just that I feel that theory is often boring without application. So if I have something to write about, a story to tell, a point to make, then learning how to get my theme across becomes much more interesting and easier to learn. It's like when they make you learn calculus but don't explain how you could ever possibly use it.
skye
10-13-2007, 06:17 PM
Sure, I know what you mean. I used to learn things just for the sake of learning or school, and now I see no point of it.

I often get ideas for writing, but the problem is I run out of things to say after a couple of "inner monologues". Star calls that "head writing" I think.
Marlow
11-11-2007, 11:02 PM
Hi Rubeskies. I have not had a chance to welcome you. You are a nice addition to our group. I'm enjoying our conversation on The Metamorphosis". Soemwhere in here is my introduction that says a little something about me.