Can lit survive tech revolution?
I worry that literature is a dying art. It's one of those nagging things that keeps me from falling asleep at night. Is reading really dying, or are my late-night worries all for nothing?
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I worry that literature is a dying art. It's one of those nagging things that keeps me from falling asleep at night. Is reading really dying, or are my late-night worries all for nothing?
The sky is starting to clear, temperatures are rising, the snow has melted and UW students are getting restless, anticipating the warm weather and summer vacation. I am definitely one of these students. Some days, I feel like I'm going to crawl out of my skin if summer doesn't get here soon. One thing I always do this time of year to alleviate some of my impatience is compose my summer reading list. That's right, a summer reading list. And yes, I view it as a composition. For me, a reading list is a kind of art, like a gourmet meal - all the elements of the meal must compliment and contrast each other, making for the perfect dining experience.
I didn't realize it after plodding through Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim."" I didn't understand it while pushing through D.H. Lawrence's ""The Rainbow."" It didn't even stick after getting through Mary Gaitskill's ""Veronica."" Then, after a painful reading of Steinbeck's ""East of Eden,"" it finally hit me: I don't have to read books I don't enjoy.
Over the course of the school year, I've discovered a delightful little thing - the short story. Strangely, I've always stayed away from them. I was raised on novels and was never introduced to short stories in high school. When I did try reading them, I was always disappointed - I'd just start to get attached to the characters and plots, and it would be over. But earlier this year, I happened upon several short stories that made me realize what I was missing.
When I tell someone that I'm a creative writing major, a common response is, Oh fun! I would be a writer too, if I had more time."" Gee, thanks.
It's sure been hard to get out of bed lately. The relentless onslaught of frigid temperatures and blizzards inspires me to do only one thing - curl up in bed with a book. On such cold winter days, I find myself lamenting that my life is lacking a certain literary quality. I know it would certainly encourage me to get out of bed in the morning if I could imagine I was a character in a novel. Someone should invent something that would allow you to experience living in a novel - when your day is dreary and you need a little something extra, you could press a button, and the voice of your author of choice would narrate throughout your day. There could even be different authors to match your different moods.
PBS is currently showing movie adaptations of all of Jane Austen's novels, which means her work has been receiving a resurgence of attention. Unfortunately, a fair amount of this attention includes idiotic comments. For instance, Marie Claire called her the original chick-lit author, while Newsweek compared her work to an old-fashioned Sex in the City."" I vomited in my mouth a little.
No, no, no! That was me as I read an article from the latest issue of Newsweek entitled ""Books Aren't Dead (They're Just Going Digital)."" In this horrifying article, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos promotes his new electronic doo-hickey, the ""Kindle,"" as the savior of reading. Apparently, the Kindle is a gadget that holds over 200 books and displays the pages on a screen. Now, one might suppose that, being the literature lover I am, I would support any new device that promotes and spreads reading. After all, Bezos says the underlying idea of the Kindle ""is that you should be able to get any book - not just any book in print, but any book that's ever been in print - on the Kindle, in less than a minute.""
It's that time of year again, when movie studios bust out sweeping epics and dramas in hopes of enticing crowds and nabbing Oscar nods. In a quest to win over the hearts of both viewers and critics, movie producers often turn to books.
It is a dirty little fact that readers like their authors tortured. We gobble up the myth of the suffering artist, fascinated by the Virginia Woolfs and Ernest Hemingways who kill themselves, the drug-addled Hunter S. Thompsons, the Joan Didions with turbulent lives. In fact, readers are so obsessed with the tortured writer mythology that a tumultuous life can contribute to an author's success almost as much as the quality of his or her writing.
Few things irritate me more than when some snobby person rips on the Harry Potter"" series, not just because I'm a die-hard fan, but because such bashing just adds to the general lack of respect for children's books among the actively reading public. Even when it's acknowledged that certain children's novels do have a literary quality, such as ""The Chronicles of Narnia"" or ""Charlotte's Web,"" they are still patronized. For instance, I often find that when bookish people discuss the novels they loved most as children, a hint of sheepishness and embarrassment can be detected in their tone.
Over the last few weeks, Bret Bielema's thoughtless, harmful comments regarding the violent actions of UW Badger running back Lance Smith have made it perfectly clear where his priorities lie: The head football coach certainly doesn't care about the devastation of domestic abuse when football is at stake.
It is a common misconception that poetry stopped being published with T.S. Eliot and is only found in archaic books on the back shelves in libraries. Perhaps this is a bit of an exaggeration, but it is true that many students are unaware of the vibrant local poetry scene that exists right under our noses. I have to admit, even I am sadly uninformed about the state of modern poetry and its presence in the Madison community. But as it turns out, not only is poetry alive, thriving and deeply embedded in our culture, but the downtown and campus areas are swarming with poets of not only local but international notoriety.
When it comes to books, I know what I like. I like Jane Austen. I like George Eliot, the Brontà sisters, Emily Dickinson. I love Virginia Woolf. And not even a hurricane could dampen this emphatic devotion to my girls.
Cosmopolitan Magazine enlightens its readership in the September issue with the article A New Kind of Date Rape."" In this article, written by Laura Session Stepp, Cosmo takes it upon itself to identify a ""new kind of rape.""
History continuously proves true the old saying that the biggest regrets are over what was not done rather than what was done. For instance, authors of Soviet memoirs often try to justify to themselves and the rest of the world why they sat idly by and did nothing while Joseph Stalin committed mass atrocities against the Soviet population.
Many of us are familiar with the inspirational poster that lines the walls of classrooms and offices—a sepia-toned photograph depicting a boat floating on a lake sits above the slogan ""Success is a journey, not a destination."" However, despite the ubiquity of this saying, this motto seems to be merely that—a saying.
Older generations often predict that today's youth will be the catalyst for the world's downfall. This rhetoric is nothing new. Since the beginning of time, adults have lamented that youth are spoiled, idle and lack basic values. However, sometimes one wonders if all this criticism thrown at our generation is actually founded in reality.
On a recent episode of her daytime talk show, Tyra Banks labeled girls with rage and anger problems as having ""Angry Girls' Disease."" So, these young women are not responsible for their anger or the actions that come with it.
There is nothing sadder than an elderly person who must cut his pills in half because he cannot afford the prescribed dosage of medication. Unfortunately, that may be the case for many of Wisconsin's senior citizens now that the federal government has rejected Wisconsin's SeniorCare prescription drug program, and Wisconsin will most likely have to adopt Medicare Part D, instead.