One Author At a Time

When I was in graduate school, I learned to be critical of the canon and its privileging of certain illustrious authors. There was a general disdain of anyone who continued to cling to these out-moded ideas, as seen in this entirely imaginary but characteristic scene:

Setting: Gathering of graduate students at Theory Central Graduate School

Student A (to Student B): So, what are you writing your dissertation on?

Student B: Jane Austen.

A (smirking and glancing meaningful at others): Really? Jane Austen. How innovative.

B (nervously): Um, so what are you writing on?

A: My dissertation examines the spatial dynamics of the post-global megaopolis as represented by graffiti tags by queer immigrants.

B (slinking away in shame): I think I need to go see my dissertation director …

Really, that was the tenor at my graduate school — everyone trying to out-do each other in their “cutting edge” research topics. I was told quite directly that single-author scholarship was dead and that my dissertation needed to be diverse in its subject matter, addressing multiple authors and genres across a span of time. I dutifully followed this advice — only to spend many years wondering about its accuracy.

My dissertation (now book) topic is one of those that requires several sentences to explain. It has taken me far too long to complete, in part because I have had to attempt to gain expertise in so many areas. It has not been easy to find a press willing to review it — or to convince people that it’s a worthwhile project.

Meanwhile, I’ve envied my colleagues who work on Famous Authors or Well-Known Texts for being able to sum up their scholarship briefly and without any need to justify their choices: “I’m a James scholar.” “I work on Shakespeare.” “My book re-examines Moby Dick from an eco-critical perspective.”

There’s something to be said for being canonical, even at this late date.

But, what I’m thinking about these days is less the continuing influence of the canon than the merits of single-author scholarship. My next book is going to focus on one author, albeit a recovered and only quasi-canonical writer.

(Wait, can you say “my next book” when you haven’t published your first one — or even had it accepted by a press?? Or is that precisely the kind of hubris that causes one to be struck down by the gods of academic publishing? Gulp ….)

In addition, I’m teaching a graduate class next year focused on this author. Both of these projects mark a significant shift in my thinking about my own scholarship and how I want my students to think about theirs. I’m coming around to the idea that in-depth of knowledge about an author, major text, or time period may be a rewarding intellectual experience — as compared to the rather surface knowledge I have about many authors, texts, periods.

I am going to do something this summer that I have never done: read the entire collection of works by one author. Okay, I’ve done that for pleasure — read all the Nancy Drew novels or the entire Harry Potter series — but never for my scholarship. Does that seem shocking? I don’t know — but it is an approach that has never seemed necessary or interesting to me before. I’ve settled for reading Major Work(s) but not sitting down with a concentrated project of reading everything — not yet knowing where the reading project was going to take me.

I’m really excited about my summer reading project. I’ve been ordering books, making photocopies, and eyeing the growing pile with delight. Maybe this will open up some new vistas … I’ll keep you posted.

Authors Meme

I can’t resist a meme having to do with literature, so thanks to Undine for officially tagging me.

25 Authors That Have Made Me Who I Am Today

(…in no particular order and with an emphasis on personal rather than academic formation)

1. Robin McKinley
2. Charles Dickins
3. Ursula K. Le Guin
4. Walt Whitman
5. Emily Dickinson
6. Cormac McCarthy
7. Margaret Atwood
8. Ann Patchett
9. J. K. Rowling
10. Jane Austen
11. Wm Shakespeare
12. Toni Morrison
13. Annie Proulx
14. Mary Stewart
15. The guy(s) who wrote the Bible
16. Laura Ingalls
17. e.e. cummings
18. L. M. Montgomery
19. Isak Dinesen
20. Alan Paton
21. Mary Norton
22. Iva Ibbotson
23. Elizabeth Speare
24. A. S. Byatt
25. Harper Lee

This is a curious exercise — it made me realize what a poor memory I have for books I read while young, despite the unquestionable impression they had on me. The list definitely favors more recent reading (college onwards). I had to work hard to recall anything earlier. So much for all that influential high school reading!

I hereby tag … YOU! But, only if you want to participate …

Holiday Gift Bag

It’s that time of year, when thoughts turn to the frantic question of “what the hell am I going to do about xmas gifts??” I am a notorious scrooge when it comes to the xmas holidays. I’ve lobbied many times to have my family either forgo gift giving or to ignore the holidays altogether. I dream of travelling to a non-Christian, non-western country in late December, the kind of place where people treat Dec. 25 like any other day.

But, I live in the US and my family and friends — even the non-Christian ones, even the Jewish ones! — celebrate xmas and expect me to do so as well. So, I cave in to the gift-giving pressure but I also make an effort to shop well and give thoughtfully.

In my opinion, the best holiday gifts meet the following criteria:

• Cost very little. I strive to break the cycle of consumerism by not buying into (heh heh) the idea that the best gifts are the ones that cost more.

• Involve very little material expense or waste. In other words, very little natural resources or artificial materials had to go into either the production, distribution, or packaging of the item.

• Can be purchased from the maker directly or at least purchased from an independent store owner. I will do just about anything to avoid buying gifts at the big box stores or from any corporate entity.

• Are made from organic, natural, non-toxic, or locally produced materials. I put this one last because it’s the hardest criteria to satisfy — especially if you are also trying to spend less money.

My holiday gift to you, my devoted readers, is the following TOP TEN HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS. (Eat your heart out, Oprah.) I hope that you will share your own gift ideas, especially those that fit the above criteria, either in the comments or on your own blogs. (Please link to this post so I can see what you have to say!) I should add that most of the ideas are for adults; I don’t really have a clue what to give children — especially since it seems that kids these days (insert grumpy shaking of fist here) only want gadgets with lots of lights and sound effects.

1. The gift of activity. This is my favorite gift to give and to receive. Rather than give an object — another thing to own or dispose of — give the gift of an experience: movie tickets, tickets to a concert or play, membership at a museum or arboretum, a few yoga classes, music lessons, a massage, a reservation at the handball court, etc. Now, this gift can certainly be costly — depending on the event or location — but it also involves the least waste of material goods and the highest likelihood of enjoyment.

2. Restocking the spice rack. Everyone knows that you are supposed to replace your dried herbs and spices every year but, yeah right, who does that? I tend to hold onto dried herbs and ground spices for years, until they lose all semblance of flavor. So, how about giving a selection of standard cooking herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme) and spices (cinnamon, coriander, curry)? If you buy in bulk at your local Whole Foods (or equivalent) or at the farmer’s market (if you are so lucky), you can package the herbs/spices yourself in nice — and recyclable! — packaging.

3. Magazine subscription. The gift that keeps giving throughout the year. Every month your friend/family member will be reminded how wonderful you are. A nice and easily recyclable gift.

4. Going green gift. Almost all of us are in the process of going more green but the shift over from conventional ways to more environmentally friendly ones can be expensive. So, give basic green items to help. For example, we all know that we’re supposed to stop using plastic containers for storing food (you knew that right?) and start using glass. Give the gift of some pretty glass food containers like these at the Container Store or these by Pyrex. Or give a bottle of Dr. Bonner’s Liquid Soap and an empty spray bottle for mixing a safe home cleaner. (For more ideas of “green gifts,” check out TreeHugger’s Holiday Gift Idea List.)

5. Books from Persphone Books. This independent press in London reprints popular “middle-brow” fiction from the early 20th C, mostly by women. The books are exquisitely made with reproductions of fabric patterns on the endpages. Not only are they beautiful objects, the novels themselves are a revelation — strange, quirky, and incredibly fun.

6. Textiles. There is just about nothing better than a soft, sensuous scarf or hat made from a fine (or even organic!) textile. If you are not crafty yourself, visit your local yarn shop where you might find items for sale. You can also do some online shopping at Redneck Mother’s Crafty Mother’s Corner.

7. Cookbooks. Talk about a gift with almost endless happiness attached. For a small expense, you can guarantee many days of good eating (if the recipient is willing, of course). My suggestion: Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, pretty much an indispensable contribution to any kitchen.

8. The best book you’ve read this year — something that really meant something to you. And, you should be prepared to explain why, either in your xmas card, a note in the opening of the book, or verbally — a significant part of the gift is the story of its meaning to you. For me, it would be Michael Chabon’s Yiddish Policeman’s Union, which is a stellar piece of storytelling and continues Chabon’s record of being the guy whose novels I am least interested in upon first description (imaginary Jewish settlement in Alaska? No thanks) and yet who always transports and enraptures me.

9. Gifts for pets. If you know anyone who dotes on their pets, speaks about them as their children and to them as if they were children (“aren’t yu da cootiest wittle puppy”), give them a gift for their pet. Speaking as a person who is guilty of telling people at length about my cats’ special diet or my dog’s gastrointestinal issues (yes, I’m one of those), I would take a gift for my pet as a sign that the gift-giver recognized the importance my pets have to me — not to mention the fun I would derive from seeing my animal’s fun. I don’t think any dog can resist the charms of a grunting stuffed hedgehog (like this one). I don’t have any specific recommendations for cats because, of course, they will hate whatever you give them — they’re cats after all.

10. Charitable donation. It takes a special person to receive a charitable donation made in their name as a gift, and not feel slighted about not getting a “real” gift. (Trust me, I’ve given charitable donations to family members who were distinctly cranky about not getting some cheap piece of crap instead.) So, choose wisely. But, if you’ve got a selfless and generous soul in your family/circle of friends, there’s nothing better than giving in their name. If you don’t know them already, Heifer International has made holiday charity easy and appealing. But, there are an infinite number of causes: your local animal shelter, the homeless shelter(s) in your town, Doctors Without Borders, Planned Parenthood, you name it.

While I am at it, let me just add that one of the most distressing thing to me about the holidays is the amount of waste not only in the gifts themselves but in the wrapping paper, bows, cards, and etc. It breaks my heart when I walk through my neighborhood on the trash day after xmas and see piles of garbage bags filled with xmas wrapping — a few minutes of unwrapping pleasure followed by a lifetime in a landfill. So, please: re-usable gift bags (don’t throw them out! save them for next year!), recycled xmas wrapping, no more useless, unnecessary tissue paper (I’m on a personal campaign against the stupidity of tissue paper), creative wrapping like brown paper grocery sacks or left over cereal boxes, or wrap everything in a new kitchen towel that becomes part of the gift. It’s not the wrapping, stupid, it’s the gift that matters.

Vampire-orama

I like a good vampire story as much as the next person. I even like some bad vampire stories. I read Anne Rice back when she was just a fingerless-lace-glove wearing nut — before she became a “life of Jesus” nut. I watched (and continue to watch) Buffy and Angel. I read some of the soft-core crap that passes as the Anita Blake series. I’ve been watching Trueblood on HBO.

Yet, somehow I missed the whole Twilight thing. Until now.

Now, of course, it is impossible to escape the phenomenon that is Twilight. I watched news coverage about tween girls and their moms camping out overnight at the mall to catch a glimpse of the guy who’s starring in the movie. I heard that the first weekend’s showings of Twilight sold out a week in advance. I saw that some of my favorite bloggers are reading or have already read the series. (That’s you, What Now?, Mean Something and Dr. Crazy.)

So, my curiosity was piqued. I bought Twilight on Sunday and finished it today. I could certainly have finished it sooner if it hadn’t been for, well, all that pesky work that requires doin’. I give Stephenie Meyer credit for writing a fun and engaging story. It’s a pretty riveting, stay-up-until-2am kind of a read.

I was also reminded of one of the problems I have with these modern vampire narratives: Why in the world would a well-travelled and cultured vampire who’s witnessed hundreds of years of human history want to hang around with a teen-aged girl? The biggest fantasy presented by these stories is that 16-year-old middle-class white American girls are endlessly fascinating. The authors try to get around this by making the teen-aged girl somehow “special”: Buffy is the slayer. Sookie has psychic powers. Bella’s mind cannot be read by Edward. (I sense that there is more super-duper mystery surrounding this fact that will be revealed in subsequent books but I’ve only read the first one so don’t ruin it for me!) You could argue that the point is that 16 year old middle-class white American girls are capable of being endlessly fascinating — and propose that there’s an uplifting message in these stories: Be strong, brave, and loyal and it doesn’t matter that you’re just an ordinary girl. Unfortunately, I fear that the real message is: Only young, nubile, and virginal girls are interesting and even 300 year old vampires know it. So, you better hope you get “bitten” early on because no one cares about old chicks.

Am I wrong?

I’d like to see a vampire story in which the brooding, mysterious vampire says to himself, “You know, I’d like to have a real conversation with a woman who’s lived long enough to develop a mature perspective on the world, who has thought about things other than who’s going to the prom with whom, who has maybe read some books. We could talk for a while and then I would bite her soft, slightly wrinklely but still quite delicious neck.” I just don’t think the tweens would camp out all night for that guy.

Summer Reading (Edited)

For all of you who are enjoying a brief respite from all your teaching responsibilities and yet still cannot quite work up the energy to tackle that stack of serious novels that’s been sitting by your bed all year …

Alison Bechdel’s “Compulsory Reading”

(Thanks to Bookslut!)

UPDATE: Ah, the irony! A post about reading great literature and a link to one of the most provocative queer writers of the day has managed to attract an inordinate amount of people searching for porn. I’ve revised the title of the post in an attempt to put an end to this unwanted traffic. If you have inadvertently ended up here in your search for under-age girls showing their breasts, please fuck off as quickly as possible.

Consolation Reading

No one has tagged me for this meme so I’m tagging myself because I cannot resist weighing in on a topic so near and dear to my heart. This is the HISTORIC FIRST MEME at The Bitter and the Sweet.

Name five books you read (either present or past tense read) when in need of consolation. They can be fiction, nonfiction, poetry or other. (Seen at New Kid on the Hallway and, in slightly different form, at Ferule and Fescue.)

I am a big believer in the use of literature as a comfort during sadness, illness, or nights of insomnia. I have read all of these books multiple times under adverse conditions and they never fail to remind me that it’s worth waiting to see what the next day will bring — hopefully something better, something beautiful.

1. My Number One Go-To book for sleepless nights is Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword. One of the best fantasy books ever written, takes the familiar formula (young girl discovers magical powers and saves the world from evil) and elevates it through an innovative setting (British colonialism, anyone?), wonderful characterization, and beautiful writing. I must also mention two other favorites by McKinley: The Hero and the Crown (prequel to The Blue Sword) and Beauty (a smart, wry retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story — long before Disney got its icky, saccharine hands on it).

2. Anything written by Mary Stewart, but especially her 1960s girl adventure novels such as: This Rough Magic, My Brother Michael, Thunder on the Right and especially Madam, Will You Talk? Love the international settings, the bold but ladylike heroines, the romance with a dash of mystery … Again, Stewart elevates the familiar storylines through her amazing skills as a storyteller. I also like Stewart’s retelling of the King Arthur/Merlin story but my late-night preference is for these shorter entertainments.

3. Guy Gavriel Kay’s A Song for Arbonne. Or, also top contenders, his Fionavar Tapastry series and Tigana. Another fabulous fantasy writer who steeps his stories in richly imagined historical environments.

4. The complete oeuvre of Rosamunde Pilcher. As comforting as a rich cuppa, a scone warm from the oven, and a kindly grandmother knitting by a crackling fireplace.

What’s the common thread here? These are all books that I first read when I was younger — so perhaps they transport me back to simpler times. They’re also all works of formula fiction that somehow transcend their genres — so perhaps its the pleasurable juxtaposition between the familiar and the innovative that I enjoy. At any rate, I have intense gratitude for these authors for writing the kinds of books that can provide comfort during times of hardship. I suspect I will read these books many more times in my life and always find something within them to help me survive.

I’m fighting off the need to conclude with some defensive statement about the fact that I do, really, read “serious literature” too. The fact is, while I love, admire, learn from, and teach a lot of “serious literature,” it’s not what I turn to when my heart is broken, my stomach aches, or I cannot sleep.

News Flash! Corsets Sell Books

Apparently publishers think if they slap a picture of a woman in a tightly bound corset on a book’s cover, it’ll be a hit. Every time I go to the bookstore, there’s another corset cover — and not where you might expect to find it, on bodice-ripping romance novels. Nope, they’re everywhere.

Jacquline Carey’s Kushiel’s Scion is a classic example.

In fact, each of the books in the Kushiel’s Whatever series features a scantily draped and tattooed woman on the cover. Yes, it’s sci-fi, a genre not necessarily known for its feminist book covers. Even so, I’m tired of looking at these women’s backs!

The young adult novel by Libba Bray, Sweet Far Thing, also features the back-turned, corset motif.

This weekend, browsing at my local Borders, I saw this on the New Paperbacks table: Leda Swann’s Mistress.

This book is described as a steamy historical romance, which makes the corset image more appropriate (I guess) but it’s worth including because it gives me an excuse to introduce you to “Leda Swann,” the pseudonym of the “writing duet of Cathy and Brent,” a couple from New Zealand. It’s worth going to their webpage just to see the pictures (under “Meet Leda”) of their incongruously ordinary family.

Feminism 101 tells us how to read these covers — it’s not accidental that the women are headless, faceless, identity-less, reduced to the status of sexual objects. But, what bothers me as much as the demeaning portrayal of women is how incredibly lazy and predictable book cover producers have become. What a staggering lack of imagination!

Caveat: I haven’t read any of these three books so I am, it’s true, judging the books by their covers. It’s a worthwhile practice, though, since the publishers seem to be asleep at the wheel.

I think it’s safe to say that none of these books will be featured in the annual Best Book Covers list complied at the Book Design Review (here’s the 2007 list).