Archive for the 'Literature' Category

Book Buyers

Published
by
Thursday's Child
on Monday, 24th November, 2008
in Geekiness, General, Humanity, Life, Literature and personal philosophy
. 2 Comments

I was catching up on Twitter this evening, and I ran across a particular tweet from @grammargirl. (You can find her over at Quick and Dirty Tips) She said this:

Wow. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has temporarily stopped acquiring manuscripts. Their editors aren’t buying books.

She linked to this article over at Publisher’s Weekly. If you don’t want to read the article (Come on. It’s short.), the key line is “PW has learned that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has asked its editors to stop buying books.”

I’m a big fan of books. I read a lot of them. I buy a lot more of them. Some day, I would like to write one or two. I’ve been watching the publication industry for a while, because I would like to get into it in some capacity, and I have never heard of a publisher putting an entire hold on buying books. Spokespeople at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are saying that the move isn’t indicative of anything too sinister, but how can it not? While I’m sure the publisher has a vast store of manuscripts it has purchased not (yet) published, but if a publisher stops buying books, it creates a stagnation in thought.

Think about it: no new books are coming in, so new books will stop going out, and while there are tons of books out there, and no one could ever read them all, publication of new and ever-improving ideas is a must for the development of culture, philosophy, or really any other facet of life. This move by Houghton Mifflin really has me concerned, even if it is being called a “temporary” situation. This is a dangerous precedent for them to have set.

Busy Bee, Beaver, Bear, Whatever.

Published
by
Thursday's Child
on Sunday, 3rd August, 2008
in Blogging, Geekiness, General, Literature and literacy on the web
. 0 Comments

This has been a busy weekend for me. That’s pretty unusual because I typically just end up reading all day Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t get much reading done, unfortunately, but I did get lots of web-ly things done.

First, I moved this blog from tylerfontaine.com over to here, at my shiny, new, name-matching domain. That’s pretty exciting for me, as I’ve been trying to get a Thursday’s Child domain for a while now.

Secondly, I built a blog for my wonderful lady friend, and should go visit Kreestone at Smalltown Dinosaur. There’s no content there yet, but she’s working on that. I ended up being pretty happy with the design, but any comments or suggestions are always welcome.

Thirdly, I created a new more professionally oriented blog over at my other domain. The idea will be to focus on literary criticism, rhetoric, and the like. I’ll be posting some papers I’ve written and my thoughts on the subjects. I’m also working on getting some people together to start a new project, in which the wide reading habits of scholars everywhere can input their analyses on whatever books they have read. Using tags and categories, I hope to be able to track thematic situations across genres, epochs, and cultures. It would be an interesting study if I can get the manpower behind it.

I’m going to actually make an attempt to get back into this blogging thing, including picking back up on Twittering and commenting on all of your blogs again, like I used to. Sorry for the impromptu hiatus, but I really needed it.

Cocoon

Published
by
Thursday's Child
on Friday, 9th May, 2008
in General, Literature, Poetry and Quickie
. 5 Comments

Inching forward, miserable worm:
         Incapable
                   Insipid
                             Irrelevant.
Wishing for warm cocoon’d escape
         Inch.
                   Inch.
                           Inch.
                                    Inch.
Nibbling leaves, barely surviving
A worm’s life—
life: does a worm deserve such lofty appellations—
         Inch.
                  Inch.
                           Inch.
                                    Inch.
Finding space, cocoon spun,
         Safe!
                  Warm!
                           Metamorphing!
Time has wrought a marvelous change
From worm to beautiful butter—
         Fall.
                  Deranged.
                           Mutant.
Something’s gone wrong.

Burden of Wisdom

Published
by
Thursday's Child
on Sunday, 13th April, 2008
in General, Life, Literature and Poetry
. 4 Comments

I had to write a sonnet for a Shakespeare festival. This is my attempt at it. I hope you like it!

Knowledge is a burden, Wisdom a curse.
Alone I sit with thy infernal words
In veins you course and havoc wreak, like swords
in diabolic plots, the blades which verse

Destined to be buried in men’s live hearts,
And then, our lives to flotsam changed
Adrift in death’s dark sea. Wisdom imparts
Useless thoughts for our now brackish, estranged,

Encumbered souls. The words Wisdom doth speak
Unto the weary dead do sound as a
Folly. ‘E speaks with words of life which wreak
Havoc to we, the freshly dead. Give way

O Wisdom, leave us now to die in peace
Floating here, we sailors find our release.

Looking Backwards and Looking Forwards

Published
by
Thursday's Child
on Sunday, 2nd March, 2008
in Blogging, Geekiness, General, Life, Literature, Poetry and School
. 9 Comments

Ho-kay. I know I don’t have a whole bunch of readers, but the complete lack of comments on the last entry tells me 1)I really am as bad at poetry as I thought I was or 2)Poetry isn’t you guys’ shtick, so I think I’ll refrain from any poetry posting here. Maybe some day I’ll make a separate blog for that.

In other news, I’ve been working on my application to attend Oxford for the Spring semester of 2009. To be completely frank, the very idea creates in me a giddy anticipation of the adventures (quests?) the trip will hold for me. At the very same time, that idea creates in me a nearly debilitating fear and trepidation that I’m nearly unable to work on the application process at all.

The last time I was considering doing this was just last year. I was thinking about going to Oxford this past fall semester, and following that trip up with a semester in Russia during this semester. I wussed out. As it turned out, though, what with all the crazy stuff that went on with my head, it’s probably a good thing that I didn’t end up going then.

As far as what I’ll do if I get in, I already know because I had to pick classes and things as part of the application process. For those of you who don’t already know, the British do things a bit differently in their university system than we do here in the states. I had to pick a seminar track, and a primary and secondary tutorial. The seminars are like typical lectures, given by a number of different faculty members at Wycliffe Hall. The tutorials are just that: one-on-one meetings with faculty to discuss readings, go over papers, etc. The style is largely self-motivated, because you only meet with your tutor once a week, and you have to make sure to get your assignments done in the meantime.

Looking at all the many different tutorials they offer, I decided on these, under the English Language and Literature seminar track. Primary Tutorial: Linguistic Theory; Secondary Tutorial: Old Norse Literature (which will be entirely in Old Norse, which they’ll teach us how to read); Alternate Primary (in case I can’t get into it): The History and Use of the English Language; Alternate Secondary: Old English Literature (Again, it’ll be in Old English, which they’ll teach us).

Those may or may not sound at all interesting to you all in the vast internets, but I can’t wait. ‘Course I’ve got to get myself accepted first. Wish me luck, and please forgive me if my next post is some ramblings as I try to straighten out my application essay.

Juxtaposition

Published
by
Thursday's Child
on Thursday, 28th February, 2008
in General, Life, Literature, Love, Poetry and personal philosophy
. 2 Comments

So, to go along with the new bright color scheme, here’s a very dark poem about child abuse.

Not The Way it Ought to Be

But surely that’s not the norm,
Families taking such vile form,
Sisters at 6 years old to mourn?
Children going to bed with nothing to keep warm?

Surely that’s not the way it ought to be.
There’s a father who promises love unconditionally
Whether or not the dishes are done; see,
For Him, it’s ok just to be.

With all the hate, all rage and pain
With our other Father, we can regain
The life we’ve lost to our parents vain
And selfish with all their arguments inane.

Surely that’s not the way it ought to be.
A family who’s decree
Is pain and sadness confuses me,
I don’t understand how could we
As a people allow such travesty?

No support, no love, living alone
As children, when their parents are grown
Who, in their age, really should have known
A child needs reassurance, just throw them a bone

Surely that’s not how it ought to be.
Mimetic ghosts chasing, the children flee
Lost in their sanguine-filled sea
Surely, that’s not how it ought to be.

If only they knew about God’s love
The father whose mercy rains from above
The one who came down as a dove
And through ultimate sacrifice of

His son, He’s set us free.
Surely that’s the way it ought to be.
Wrapped in a warm blankee,
Ear to ear, smiling in glee

That there’s nothing to fear.
Sons and daughters near
To our Father who’s ear
A prayer never doesn’t hear.

Surely that’s the way it ought to be.
Brothers, sisters, mothers, daughters as holy family.
Surely that’s the way it ought to be.