(no subject)

[cleolinda]

So. Things are a little better and a little worse than I wanted, in different ways. Temple thinks Black Ribbon will work for my thesis work--I showed him the site, and he specializes in early nineteenth-century lit anyway, and we talked a little about how I used a lot of early 19C Gothic influences even though I'd set the story in 1889, used some of the reform literature we discussed in class to build the back story, etc. I probably won't be able to use Vol. 1, but after chs. four and five, it's straight on to Vol. 2, which I've already written some on, and I can probably either set the thesis to focus on Vol. 2, or expand it to focus on 2-4, completing series 1 (yes, I have a series 2 in mind), depending on how much time I get or how many pages I need to have. I mean, we're talking about the difference between about 100 pages of work vs. maybe 300, but there you go. A lot of it is already mapped out and partly written (shhhh!), and a lot of the research--preliminary, at the very least--is done. I know very clearly what I'm doing going into the thing, so it's ideal for thesis work--i.e., it's not me dicking around for six months going, "Yeah, sure, I know what I'm doing it on (*runs away*)." And it's not too early to get started on rounding up an advisor committee and writing the proposal, which is good, because I basically didn't go to grad school straight after college because I couldn't get my shit together.

The bad news is, I thought I might have one more 600 to take, at the most. In reality? I have three. So it's Milton and rhetoric for me in the fall, and whatever else I can scrounge up while I'm working on the thesis itself.

(I don't actually get hives, by the way. I think they're... metaphorical... hives. Or something. I do get stress headaches and upset stomachs, though, and ended up just sitting in the restroom for about ten minutes, not doing anything, before I went to see Temple. Just because I felt that queasy.)

So. I got my student ID remade, and it looks hideous, as IDs do, but I've long maintained that IDs, driver's licenses, what have you, are not legal unless they're fug. So I'm in the clear on that one for sure.

Books I made off with: They didn't have Perfume: The Story of a Murderer in the catalogue at all. The Devil in the White City was supposedly in, but not on the shelf. This vexes me greatly, of the vexation I greatly am, etc. I did manage to haul off The Crimson Petal and the White, Alias Grace (Temple's recommendation, which will make The Lovely Emily v. happy), a collection of Louisa May Alcott thrillers, A Long Fatal Love Chase (also Alcott), and Rose in Bloom, *also* Alcott, because I loved Eight Cousins and I read Rose online through Project Gutenberg a while back, and wanted to be able to curl up in bed and read it for old times' sake. It's one of her Little Women-caliber books--geared mostly towards youngish readers. Anyway. The Alcott thrillers are for period (American) detail and that Gothic serial feel; the other two are for Victorian period detail. Also, there is now an August 3 event on my Yahoo calendar that reads BOOKS DUE OMG because I ended up having to pay $8.75 in fines this time, and my books were only three days late. One time my online renewal apparently didn't go through, and I ended up having to pay something like $165--and I had to, or they wouldn't let me register for class. It's highway robbery, I'm telling you.

While I was waiting for Temple's office hours to come around, I did get to work a little on the story for the fantasy project, which was nice, and before I left I got about half an hour in on ROTK in Fifteen Minutes.

As for the "poser" thing--really, I wasn't fishing for hugs and compliments (EVERYONE ON LJ: "Suuuuure you weren't"), but thanks for the love anyway. Seriously, y'all are so sweet. The thing is--I don't care what some random guy on some random blog thinks. I don't think that's how insecurity works. What you actually end up thinking is, What if that's what everyone else is going to think, too? Which is no way to live your life, either. And the thing is, one of y'all could have just as easily said the same thing about someone else--"Cleo's it, and everyone else is a poser." And it would be equally stupid. Just remember that when you go around defending my honor. :)

Comments

[lacrimaeveneris.livejournal.com]

*hauls out metaphorical sword* but it's so much fun to go around defending your honor! lol.

Great news about your thesis though!

Regarding Miss Alcott

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Have you read A Modern Mephistopheles (thriller) and An Old-Fashioned Girl (March Family/Eight Cousins vein)? Just to round out your Alcott experience.

Re: Regarding Miss Alcott

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

No, neither! (Writes both down on list.) I'm always surprised by how much the woman managed to put out. I read Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys, Eight Cousins, Jack and Jill, and Under the Lilacs all the time as a kid, though. And Work: A Story of Experience was what we read the in the antebellum reform lit class this spring.

Re: Regarding Miss Alcott

[ter369.livejournal.com]

AMM is available in paperback; it was the first of her grown-up genre I encountered. I still have my mom's copy of An Old-Fashioned Girl, and it can make me weep today.

Enjoy!

Re: Regarding Miss Alcott

[stavia.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters and Journals, which is quite old and by one Ednah Cheney. It's sort of like the real Little Women. The girl did all SORTS of shit that I personally would not have had the balls to do. Fascinating life, fascinating family.

[wock.livejournal.com]

Just read "Devil in the White City"- good book. I passed it on to a friend who's a fan of serial killer lit. (He's a clinical psych professor). And I read "Perfume" as soon as it came out in English- magnificent book. A friend who'd just read the then-new French translation recommended it to me.

Milton -- joy

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

If your Milton class is anything like mine, it'll be overwhelming yet fun with more reading than is sanely required of a human being. And honestly I know we did other works besides "Paradise Lost," "Paradise Regained" and "Samson Agonistes," but I can't remember a nibble of 'em.

It did fit the typical grad-school lit-class mold of "nod a lot, take lots of notes, write papers about what your instructor likes."

And congrats on happy thesis! Procrastination is the worst part, knowing what it is and liking it are two of the three keys of success. I think either "learning to loathe it" or "prescription medication" is the other, but I can't remember....

[http://users.livejournal.com/caeru_/]

Forgive me my nosiness but what will your thesis be about? It looks like fascinating stuff, what with that list of books. ::looks forlornly at own course literature - Foundations of Library Information Science et al:: I really could do with some Crimson Petal instead. *g*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, since I'm in the creative writing program, it's just a project of some length. I'm trying to get them to approve a Victorian/gothic/steampunkish serial I'm doing already, mostly because that means all the conceptual work is out of the way, and I just get to keep working on it.

First three chapters, working on the fourth: http://www.geocities.com/cleolindajones/index.html

[http://users.livejournal.com/caeru_/]

Well, now that sounds like an interesting combination :) I'll definitely be checking it out.

[muruch.livejournal.com]

I loved A Long Fatal Love Chase when I read it, though that was quite a few years ago.

[avehoward.livejournal.com]

Definitely grab Devil In The White City when you get the chance...and Milton should be absolutely a blast (no sarcasm in there...honest)

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

I know very clearly what I'm doing going into the thing

Heh. That won't last, take it from one who's been there ;-)

(Although in my case the drift between initial proposal and final product was largely intentional, as I steered it away from minefields and towards stuff I actually wanted to do. I think I changed a word or two of the title every time I had a progress review...)

[shanisasha.livejournal.com]

Just out of curiosity, have you ever read Perfume? And if so, how did you like it?

I read it when I was 17 and loved the first half of the book, but despised the last half. From the opinions I was given at such a tender age, I'm one of the few people in this world that dislike that book.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I haven't read it--that's why I wanted to get it from the library. At this point, I've heard so many things about it that I'll probably just get it used off Amazon, because I can't stand it anymore.

[shanisasha.livejournal.com]

It's interesting. But I'll wait till you read it. Would love to know your opinion =)

[filwdork.livejournal.com]

Is Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood? If so, that's a really interesting book. I've always wanted to read it again, because I read it when I was 16, and I think a lot went over my head. :) Anyways, just wondering.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

It is! I keep meaning to read more Atwood, and I never seem to get around to it. In fact, all I've read of hers, besides some poetry, is The Handmaid's Tale, which was good, but... wow, I never want to read that again. Too scary, in a "maybe that could actually happen" way.

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom were among a group of old forgotten books that I stumbled across when I was at my Grandparent's house one summer. I was, I think, ten at the time--maybe eleven--and bored silly because the rain had kept us off the Pensacola beaches that day. These were reprints from the 1920s or 1930s, and to me, they were treasure, that I was determined not to share with my own cousins, who usually didn't like to read and were therefore undeserving of such bounty. Paw-paw let me keep them, and I have them to this day, in a favored spot on my bookshelf. Rereading them always reminds me of warm, rainy summer afternoons. It made me smile when you talked about curling up with Rose in Bloom. Some books are meant for that. ;-D

[arielchan.livejournal.com]

Had to read Devil in the White City for social studies UIL this year. While I found the serial killer bits and the parts detailing the actuall fair and who and what was there to be quite interesting, the initial talk of architecture and landscaping bored me pretty badly.

If you're looking for another interesting read around that era, or just want some fun, (I read it for fun, but most of my friends didn't make it through the more grisley accounts) read The Diary of Jack the Ripper. The diaries may or may not be fake, but they're very interesting, as are the theories.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I read that! I fully bought into that book for years, and just coincidentally read a few months back, while I was reading From Hell, that the author(s?) apparently 'fessed up that they were fakes. I need to look into that, because I still can't quite bring myself to believe it--I mean, I can believe that the authors were writing in good faith but were just wrong and Maybrick wasn't really the Ripper; I don't want to believe they were made up out of whole cloth.

[ginger]

Hee. I was Rose (from Eight Cousins) for Hallowe'en one year. :)

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

*frowns* I'm never mean! LOL

Well, you boosted my own self-confidence with that last paragraph, thank you! :) :*

Ad sorry bout the thee 600's (whatever they are), but I'm sure you'll just breeze through it! And Black Ribbon will be great, I've read it a bit (what with exam and all, it's a perfect way to avoid studying. lol) and you'll do perfect.

Good luck!

Totally off topic

[emargaret.livejournal.com]

So, are we ordering Harry Potter tickets or what? (yay!)

[katesti.livejournal.com]

Alcott thrillers? Jeez, where have I been my entire life. LOVE Little Women and Eight Cousins and Rose In Bloom etc etc etc (am rereading Little Women now, actually), but didn't know she wrote thrillers. Thanks for the tip!!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

You know how Jo gets in trouble with Professor Bhaer for writing all that trashy stuff? Yeah. That's what LMA was writing. She knew whereof she spoke. ;)

[katesti.livejournal.com]

Ooh! The Weekly Volcano!!

Hee. Awesome. She really was Jo, wasn't she?