During the semester, it’s interesting to think about the mixture of things that you learn about in classes. For instance, this semester my mixture consisted of three parts literature; a Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton class, a Literary Modernism and World Lit class. And while you're at it, mix some math and french in there, and you have my semester.
Rather than a critical review, or a literary analysis, I propose here a few of the books that I found interesting this semester.
H.D.’s "Paint it Today": an interesting work of lesbian literature, "Paint It Today" is a creative memoir of the poet’s life. H.D.’s actual relationships with Ezra Pound and Edward Allington are explored, as well as her complex, controversial relationships with Frances Josepha Gregg and Winifred Ellerman.
“Time had them by the throat. Time had the world by the throat, shaking and shaking, evil and vicious. Shaking the world till its head was numb and its heart wrenched from its body. Until the world seemed mercifully past its agony, about to perish, and there was peace”
John Milton’s "Paradise Lost": an important Christian epic, packed with philosophy and Christian theology. In "Paradise Lost," Milton creates a cohesive narrative from the biblical myths.
“The mind is its own place and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven”
Vladimir Nabokov’s "Lolita": the controversial story of Humbert Humbert’s obsession with a twelve-year-old American girl, Dolores Haze. Nabokov crafts art from the most vile raw materials; you can't help but laugh at his flippant prose style and language play.
In this passage, Nabokov describes the climactic fight between two enemies:
“We rolled all over the floor, in each other’s arms, like two huge helpless children. He was naked and goatish under his robe, and I felt suffocated as he rolled over me. I rolled over him. We rolled over me. They rolled over him. We rolled over us”
Jean Toomer’s "Cane": a poetic treatment of the racial situation in the American South. Cane is interesting because it combines prose, poetry, folk mythology, and folk songs into a cohesive work. The novel is especially interesting, considering Toomer’s mixed heritage.
“God’s body’s got a soul,
Bodies like to roll the soul,
Cant blame God if we dont roll,
Come, brother, roll, roll!”
