Sunday, February 12
6:30 am
It is -14 °C, with a high forecast of +4 °C.
From the Environment Canada website:
Today Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this morning. Wind becoming west 20 km/h this morning. High plus 4.
Tonight Partly cloudy. Becoming clear near midnight. Wind west 20 km/h becoming light overnight. Low minus 7.
7:30 am Musing
Subscribing to Dumbo Feather yesterday rekindled my interest in setting up a special format for note-making. In the past I had often used a feather icon to highlight the idea of a special section and then used a two-color system for making notes and adding commentary.
It is not too difficult to embed a feather into these pages.
background |
commentary |
But if I want to change the background color of a section of text then I need to use raw HTML, which I want to avoid whenever possible. But I will keep the Dumbo feather - pass it on.
7:30 am Literature
Me: I want to play with making a few notes for "The Use and Abuse of Literature" by Marjorie Garber. I underlined (in pencil) phrases and sentences that I thought were important when I read the Introduction. Now I want to have a close look at the overall structure of this chapter. I am going to try using a blue highlight to distinguish between the content of the book and my comments on that content.
Garber:
Introduction
Literature Then and Now
On the Importance of Unanswerable Questions
The Use of "Use"
The Art of Making Nothing Happen
Me: The first and third sections appear to be related to the title of the book but the second and fourth sections are provocative. I like the second section title - it immediately makes me think. And so does the fourth. The other chapters look to be more factual. Now let's select a few underlining quotes.
Garber:
- "literature" has changed from a personal attribute or characteristic (something one has) to an institution and a product (something one writes or knows). [p. 5]
- "... the 'uses' of reading and of literature ... as a way of thinking." [p. 7]
- "reading - not skimming for information or for the plot ... - is really hard to do; and why the very uselessness of literature is its most profound and valuable attribute" [p. 7]
- "... to return literature to the center, rather than the periphery, of personal, educational, and professional life." [p. 7]
Me: I like the idea of considering reading and literature as a way of thinking. That is what I am doing at the moment. Reading is not "barking at print" (a phrase I first heard from Larry Miller) but trying to grasp the meaning and understanding of the text. And this is indeed hard to do. There are at least two parts to this activity. One is to appreciate the point, or points (for there are often many, and these have nuances, and are within a context) that the author is trying to make. The second is to embed that point within one's personal sense of understanding, which is constantly in flux, and which has numerous shades of stability and connectivity. Science, mathematics, philosophy, history, psychology, ... , or as the left-margin of this page indicates - birding, cooking, geocaching, life, literature, musings, technology and trains.
Garber: Literature Then and Now
- "Today novelists and poets are read and praised, but by a smaller subsection of the population, since they now compete with films, television, the Internet, and other modes of cultural leisure." [p. 8]
- "To overschematize a little for the sake of argument, let us say that there are two poles in the debate over the 'use' or 'value' of literature. One pole is utilitarian or instrumental, ... the other is ecstatic, affective, or mystical. [p. 9]
- "The only condition that I can think of attaching to the composition of the novel is ... that it be interesting." [Henry James] [p. 12]
Me: While reading the above section I came across the quotation, "Do I dare to eat a peach?" This meant nothing to me so I typed the expression into Google and found the following poem: "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot. [ http://www.wussu.com/poems/tsepruf.htm ] I do not recall ever seeing this before. It is a powerful poem! Thank goodness for the Web, and Google. The Henry James quote reminds me, again, of Larry Miller: "Is it a good yarn?"
I also came across the phrase "close reading". Once again, Google: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/CloseReading.html
This reference is from Harvard, which is also where Marjorie Garber is a professor. Much of what I am doing at the moment would seem to qualify as close reading. I once used the phrase "slow reading", which is based on a similar idea, in a professional paper at an AusWeb conference.
Garber: On the Importance of Unanswerable Questions
- "Notice that Barthes stresses the role of questions, rather than answers. This is a point that needs to be emphasized in trying to explain the specificity of literature in comparison with other modes of writing, thinking, and research." [p. 18]
Me: I agree that questions are important. But this is true of any field that one is trying to understand. Mathematics is primarily about learning to ask good questions. One of my favorite mathematics books is a slender volume called "The Art of Problem Posing" (1983) by Stephen Brown & Marion Walter. One of my criticisms of modern mathematics education is the over-emphasis on problem solving to the exclusion of problem posing. Questions are the cornerstone of any investigation. But most academic disciplines place a premium on learning to ask answerable questions - literature may well be unique in asking unanswerable questions. I like this. It feels right.
I did not do any underlining in the last two sections of this Introduction.
3:30 PM Life
Win some, lose some. I had checked with the online web site for the Lethbridge Public Library and it indicated that they had the DVD for The Taming of the Shrew starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. So I drove over to the library this afternoon and joined the library (seniors rate!) and then took out the DVD. So far, so good. But when I was home and tried putting it in my player I received a disc error. Not good. I returned to the library and they tested it and discovered that it had an area code that prevented it being read locally. They thought they had checked all of the discs for this issue but obviously this particular disc slipped through. I'm not sure when they are likely to receive a replacement disc. It was disappointing as I was really looking forward to viewing this particular disc, having just read the script.
10:00 PM Technology
Another learning experience. I have just downloaded the movie "The Taming of the Shrew" starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor from the iTunes Store. This is the HD version, which cost $4.99 for a rental. This means that I have a month to view it but that when I first begin to view it I have only 48 hours within which to continue seeing it. At the end of the 48 hours the file is deleted from my computer. However during that 48 hour period I can view it as often as I want.
By the way, it took almost exactly 6 hours to download. I am not sure what factors affect this time. Certainly the DVD version should take less time, but I am not sure how much less. It is certainly a surprise when one can get the complete issue of a magazine within seconds. And pay-per-view using just television is also instantaneous.