Posts by devenlyn:
First Reader: The Beetle ending
December 3rd, 2012The conclusion of Richard Marsh’s The Beetle was…just as strange as the novel! At least we had some resolution; still, I wish we could have heard more from the Beetle directly. The changing perspectives were interesting throughout, and many came through to tie the story together. I was surprised by the admission of Lessinghman about his experiences in which he seems to be “tainted” by his captor. Similarly, Marjorie is “tainted” by the Beetle (publicly humiliated). Yet, both seem to continue to survive within society. Marjorie however had to go through psychological evaluations, while Lessignham only required time. The continued differences between genders and gender roles creates an ending focused on characters, dependent upon their actions to propagate themes including fear of the unknown.
Searcher found Sherlock fans
November 4th, 2012This week is searcher week! And while searching, I found several fan sites that seem overly legitimate- that is, the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, the Sherlock Holmes Memorabilia Company, the Sherlock Holmes Museum (now hiring friendly staff), the Sherlockain, and others. I wasn’t surprised (considering that Holmes is arguably the most loved detective character of all time), but I suppose that I was surprised by the officialism of the sites.
The best site by far is the “actual” (?) science of deduction site (by Sherlock Holmes, of course). It seems to be maintained by the BBC Sherlock characters, and details several cases (probably from the TV shows?) This is a clever aspect to supplement the show! All characters from the show (including Mrs. Hudson) have posted comments on the site- in character of course. The site also features photos and a counter (nearly 2,000 visits- is that all?! Surprising it’s not more).
Watson also keeps a blog (of course).
On the Science of Deduction site, there is an intriguing section called “Secret Messages” which literally invites viewers to help solve mysteries (example). The writers of this series must be genius, as some of these concepts are very intricate and unusual. Getting viewers involved is an integral part of TV/movie culture today, though i wonder what the Doyle’s original character would say to letting the public in on the mysteries to such an in-depth level? Although there is a forum page, the forum seems set up, which is disappointing. Similar to our in-class, movie tweeting sessions, it would be neat to have a forum for that on the site.
Roundup: The Beetle
November 2nd, 2012This week we discussed Marsh’s The Beetle. Themes discussed include fears of the unknown, “others”, as well as “unruly” women. Character development, relations, and plot line influences were also discussed. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of this novel is not the mystery persistent throughout the story, but the mystery that follows the books popularity, as influenced by public fears.
I felt that the background of British society, including the general population’s fears of foreigners and increasingly “feminine” awareness (feminism?), to be especially interesting and relevant in understanding this strange read.
From a Good Reads blog conversation regarding the book, some background on public opinion of the novel in its era:
“…when first published in 1897, it was characterised by contemporary readers and reviewers as “surprising and ingenious”, “weird”, “thrilling”, “really exciting”, “full of mystery” and “extremely powerful”. According to reviewers, this “well-written” story was “narrated with a clearness of style and a fullness of incident which hold the reader’s attention from first to last”. Compared favourably to the work of Wilkie Collins and Bram Stoker, this novel was presented “with hideous actuality”, was “difficult, if not impossible, to lay down… when once begun” and succeeded “in producing that sensation of horror which should make the flesh of even the least susceptible reader creep” (“Opinions of the Press”).”
With such interest in its time, The Beetle has certainly lost popularity in the modern canon. I originally attributed this to the underlying xenophobic tones, which have virtually disappeared in our global society. But then again, its “brother” of sorts, Stoker’s Dracula, remains well read (while carrying similar themes). According to this blog, perhaps this is due to the fact that “…one of the heroes of the story is developing chemical weapons. It would not surprise me if, after World War I and the horrors of chemical warfare therein, the public was less inclined to root for a character that could take such a cavalier attitude about such deadly tactics.” This analysis is logical and thought provoking, especially with our modern fears of nuclear/chemical warfare. Will The Beetle ever move back into the cycle of popular reads? Is reading really influenced by reader fears?
Response to: First reader- The Modern Sherlock
October 31st, 2012Although I did not have a chance to watch the episode as I couldn’t find it for free online (and don’t have access to Netflix/Hulu Plus or anything cool like that…), I enjoyed reading the first readers’ first impressions, especially Colleen’s response, “The Modern Sherlock”. Several of my friends (and even family members) have remarked on this TV series, commenting on its creativity and cleverness. Colleen notes several stark differences (or, exaggerations made on the screen as compared to in the book). To start, the title is an obvious play on the first book: “A Study in Pink”. The modern twist on the story is fascinating. This seems like a huge hurdle for the writers to overcome, especially, as Colleen notes, with technology.
“Sherlock Holmes seemed just as crazy as the stories set in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s London, but Watson became a bit more accessible. Because there are wars going on, his affectations seemed realistic. Also, the presence of technology changes the mood of the story a bit. It made the story more relatable to today’s world and seem as if someone like Holmes actually could exist (as unlikely or crazy as that may seem).”
The last point is especially interesting: while reading, we must keep in mind that Sherlock was essentially the first detective character of his kind of his time, one that we now consider mainstream.
Also interesting is the “awkwardness” discussed in Colleen’s post: “how obvious the theme of homosexuality was. Holmes and Watson’s relation was clearly awkward at first, and the waiter and Watson even allude to how they look like a couple. However, it didn’t really change the story much; it just added a bit of humor (and some awkwardness).”
This again questions the writers- did they interpret the text to mean that Holmes and Watson were lovers or are they simply relating it to modern times, when homosexuality is more accepted?
Lots of interesting ideas to consider- great “first reader” post Colleen!
A Study in Scarlet: first reading
October 20th, 2012Prior to reading I did a little research on Doyle himself, as I think from what we’ve learned thus far, the author’s background is often a huge factor affecting the work at hand. Just from the note prior to the story you can learn basically all you need to know about Doyle (for more info/more in-depth details online sources are helpful).
I found it interesting that Doyle is from an Irish-Catholic family but was born and raised in Edinburg, Scotland. Though I admittedly hadn’t previously read the Sherlock Holmes series, I was under the impression that Doyle himself was from London as Holmes and Watson most definitely are (as the first chapter sets up nicely). Perhaps my understanding of the UK is miscued, but I would have expected for a more nationalistic perspective, where Doyle would make his main character from his country of origin. Did Doyle opt out of using Scotland for London because there was a wider, more “scholarly” audience in London?
It is also interesting to note Doyle’s mother’s influence on his writing and his life in general. In the mid-1800’s, when Doyle was born (1859 to be exact), strong working women were not common let alone accepted in society. The note describes Doyle’s well-to-do extended family, who helped pay for his initial stint at college- so how was his family not well-to-do? It would seem, often times, that a wealthy family included extended family in entirety; so perhaps Doyle’s father’s irresponsibility, i.e. alcoholism and other issues, created this interesting situation of social-rank within a family?
The note also describes Doyle’s interesting interests. From denouncing his family’s faith (Irish-Catholicism) post-college and taking up with “spirituality” later in life (specifically after his son died in WWI), Doyle was quite the rabble-rouser, going against the tide of societal expectation. Though described to be constantly in the public eye, Doyle was confident (for lack of a better word) enough to display his beliefs in spite of public opinion. This is interesting—had he achieved enough fame to just not care what others thought? Especially back then, when public opinion and outrage could probably send someone to jail or a worse fate—was it because he was a man? Or was it his location and culture?
Some things to mull over while reading this week: how does Doyle’s background affect this quickly-written (3-weeks) first epic in the Sherlock Holmes series? Do we see pieces of Doyle in Holmes?
Weekly Roundup- Eliot on Silliness
October 18th, 2012Although this week was relatively “short” on in-class, several blog posts hit the nail on the head with new ideas and points from this week’s reading, George Eliot’s Silly Novels by Lady Novelists.
Sandra’s post “Respondent: George Eliot” detailed much we discussed in class, including the speculation over Mary Anne Evans’ masculine pen name. An interesting note from her post:
“I personally find it hard to believe that the public knew her real identity, I feel like there would have been an outcry to identify herself as a woman, because people didn’t take women writers seriously (as we have read by “Silly Novels..”). So I believe that knowing she was a woman under a false name would have led people to take her work even less seriously.”
This is an interesting perspective, especially since historians believe (as discussed in class) that the public suspected or knew her to be a woman. Who really knows?
Corrine also brought up interesting points in relation to Lady Audley’s Secret in her blog post “Respondent: Tying the Two Themes Together”. She discusses the theme of “power” or the lack thereof in the novel, which I think is related to Eliot’s essay as well as her pen name. Corrine questions, “It’s a bit ironic that we might associate powerful, wealthy people with having insanity or “madness” issues, or is it really ironic at all?” Is Eliot power-thirsty, too? As one of the only female editors of her time, were alternative motives in play behind the essay on silly women writers/novels, or was it truly her opinion?
We are left with much to mull over and question after reading “silly women novelists’” work as well as the criticism from a fellow (silly?) woman novelist (all of relatively the same period).
An interesting find online relating to Eliot and this week’s reading/discussion (perhaps also a good source for future study?):
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/eliot/pva92.html
Project 2: The Mill on the Floss, a visual analysis
October 13th, 2012How to Not Read a Novel
Deven Tokuno
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Scatter Plot visualization
From the visualizations tested (especially the word cloud and scatter plot, see above links) The Mill on the Floss seems to be a character-driven, thinker. That is, several of the most common words were characters’ names and words such as “think”, “mind”, “know”, and “thought”. Some other key words:
- “Mr.” and “Mrs.” appear quite a lot- perhaps there is an established married couple? Or, perhaps an affair (George Eliot had an affair with a married man, and writers often include little snippets of their own experience in key novels)
- “…” is also one of the top “words”. This is interesting, again relating back to the “thinker” words that appear most commonly in the word cloud
- “Glegg” appears a lot- not sure if this is a name or an actual word, or a name, or…? Perhaps even an emotion?
- “Come”, “know”, and “thought” are some of the top action words. Come, perhaps there is much travel in the novel? And again, the “thinker” words. Maybe not as much action as thought/ planning? Often in Victorian novels, there is a lot of pre-meditation and plotting which spurs the story/ drama
- Another confusing one: “O’” appears a lot- this is strange as “O’” is usually accompanied by a name- such as O’Leary or something along those lines- maybe this “O’” is more of an emotion or expression thoughout?
- The assumed main characters names appeared in the word cloud, including Maggie, Tulliver, Tom, Lucy and Philip. Maggie is the largest character name/word, so I assume that she is the main character of the novel.
George Eliot’s (or, Mary Anne Evans’s) novel The Mill on the Floss consistently appears on the top 100 books to read before you die. As a classic (although not necessarily in the Canon), prior to any exploration I assumed that it dealt with facets of life that still remain pertinent and affect society today but also that the novel might shed light on societal culture in the Victorian era, when Eliot wrote. Just from the title, I would assume that the location (the mill, on the floss river) is of utmost importance or influence on the novel itself, though it is interesting to note that none of the words in the title appeared prominently in the word cloud.
The significance of words that appear most in the word cloud is that they drive the novel’s plot, character development, and overall story. Without the most common words, or with different ones, the story would be completely different. Some notable patterns include positive words including “life”, “good”, “home”, and “great”. Some negative words include “money”, “poor” and “pullet” (assuming pullet is negatively associated). Some other interesting words are those associated with the human body, including “eyes”, “face”, “hand”, and “head”. Familial words are also present in the most common word word-cloud: “mother”, “sister”, and “father”.
Contradictions and inconsistencies can also be found in the association charts and visuals, though limited. For example, “young”, “new”, and “old” are present in the word cloud, as is “poor” and “money”, and “come” and “going”. It is also interesting to note that the word “things” takes up a lot of space on the cloud, signifying its relevance and immense presence in the novel. As compared to the other words present, including happy/ family words, “things” is materialistic and not descriptive—it is the only word of its kind in the cloud.
This application fits interestingly into the models of close reading. As discussed in class, as students, we have essentially been trained to do close reading and nothing else (though distant reading has become increasingly popular due to the ease and efficiency). This tool seems effective, especially when used with the entire voyant-tool setup, showing the text in the middle and tools on the side. In this way, readers can easily locate and make associations between words, characters, and topics in the novel. As a fan of distant reading, this project proved effective and insightful. Not only are we provided statistics for a non-mathematical project, but we are provided the means by which to control the text and essentially make it work for us as readers. I enjoyed visualizing the novel without illustrations of the plot, which one might associate with novel visualization. The voyant-tool might even prove more effective in visualization than movie renditions of the novel, allowing for word-association and evidence (statistical) of the heart of the book at hand.
The process of “normal” book reading is very different than the inference reading done for this project. With normal reading a reader obviously knows what is going on, who the main characters are and their relations to one another, as well as the main plot line. However, with this project and machine/distant reading, as a reader I noticed the importance of key words, which shed light on the overarching significance of the novel. For example, I can infer that much emphasis was placed on the character development and dialogue as the character names are most prominent in the analysis. It can also be inferred that this is a “thinker” novel as plotting words are common. Perhaps, as in some of the novels we have already read in class, this novel focuses on the characters thoughts rather than actions, allowing the actions to come through in the dialogue? Or, perhaps little dialogue or plotting occurs and much narration instead. In this way, the narrator/author would describe the plotting between characters, thereby using character names and plotting words more often than other words. It is interesting how much could be inferred simply by looking at the most common words. Once “the”, “and”, and “it” words are eliminated, the heart of the novel comes through but can be interpreted in many different ways. Is the author pushing an agenda, or simply allowing the characters to “live” through dialogue? Is the book about relationships, the power of thinking, or how one affects the other? I look forward to reading this book on Project Gutenberg following this project, and hope to see my assumptions realized.
As a whole, this project was fun and shed light on the effectiveness of tools available for distant/machine reading.
Monomania as insanity in Lady Audley
October 7th, 2012While searching for related material, I ran across this interesting essay-like analysis of Lady Audley’s character and the psychiatric concept of monomania. Greek, “monos”, meaning one, and “mania”, which literally translates to mania in English, is a single, focused obsession in an otherwise sane person. If you Google “monomania” several canonical English-novel characters, most notably from Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Melville’s Moby Dick, and Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, are highlighted as featuring some of the first monomania-based characters, which arguable built the foundation for sensationalist monomania (such as Lady Audley).
The essay details that “ambition is Lady Audley’s monomania”. This monomania is multifaceted, including social rank, power, and money. The finale of Lady Audley’s madness is also discussed, and the author questions (as I did as a reader) whether Audley really was insane in the end. Even if not “insane”, does Audley’s case of severe monomania render her mad?
An overall interesting analysis of the concept of monomania and how relevant this condition is to the character and sensationalism of the novel (madness was rarely discussed in the 1800’s, let alone portrayed in a heroine character).
“Lady Audley’s Monomania” by Johnanna Preston
Response to JITP Publishers & blog?
September 30th, 2012Because we did not have class on Friday and will not have class on Monday, this response is related to our in-class work as I think we should all take a look at the JITP site.
In response to the meeting we had on Wednesday with the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy (JITP Publishers), I would like to highlight their website and site content, some of which might be of interest to our class. I would also recommend that JITP consider hosting a blog in association with their site.
Our discussion with JITP Publishers was an enlightening one- I find the concept of JITP to be fascinating (and needed) to collegiate academia. Also interesting is the growing presence of digital media, online journals and electronic education/dissemination of discussion-worthy information.
Their website is interactive and filled with multi-media, take for example the slideshow on the homepage, which links to a feature including Youtube video submissions, for “Let’s Go Crazy: Lenz v. Universal in the New Media Classroom”.
Two tabs of interest: “Assignments” and “Teaching Fails”.
“Assignments” seems to be a list of potential assignments used by professors at various colleges in the U.S. My question: similar to the unique, creative, and insightful posts on our class blog, might the JITP team consider hosting a blog for similar purposes?
“Teaching Fails” details exactly that: difficult situations in the classroom, how the professors managed this, and recommendations for other professors to build upon. (I found this page interesting and relevant to most professors/classes).
The sites goal is detailed in the header: “promoting open scholarly discourse around critical and creative uses of technology in teaching, learning, and research”; a blog would mediate this allowing for more interactivity. This is exemplified by our class blog.
Lady Audley’s Secret- why the secret?
September 23rd, 2012- Who is a modern Lucy?