Friday, September 12, 2008

My First Packet

My first packet of critical and creative writing for my MFA is back, and, happily, after a lot of anxiety, I received a positive response from my adviser who reviewed my materials.

It's almost time to do it again, so I'm feverishly working on my second packet which will include more of my creative piece, more annotations of books I've been reading and one longer examination of a book.

I've been re-introduced to the world of literary research, tapping into online databases, which is kind of exhilarating and exciting even though the task of writing critical analysis that can count on my permanent record is daunting.

Head rush
The research is even a bit addictive. While I've decided not to write my longer paper this time about We Have Always Lived in the Castle, I found a piece called "The Hero is Married and Ascends the Throne": The Economics of Narrative End in Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Honor McKitrick Wallace. That, I think, may require more blood flow to my brain than my organs can produce and pump.

Still it's fascinating to delve into the different ways a work can be dissected, and to follow trails of thought here and there.

It's also interesting to see how hard-core critics can disagree, with me at least, on other works I've been pondering including The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I'm exploring that in part because it's such a cornerstone of the mystery genre.

Oh well, onward and upward. It's kind of interesting to be staring down a new packet deadline and Hurricane Ike.

I'm far, far inland, but the weatherman is scary. I'm charging my laptop so I can keep working if we lose power and generally hoping for the best.

Addendum
It's looking by the maps now, that the storm will be downgraded further than first expected before it reaches my neck of the woods. It should be a tropical storm and no longer a Category 1 force storm.



10 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I hope you guys don't get any bad weather. Good idea about the laptop, though. We recently bought a car charger for all of our tools.

The research can be fun, but it can sure be time consuming. Glad your first packet came back good.

Miladysa said...

A very interesting time for you :-D

I love The Woman In White:-D When I learned of the history of Wilkie's wife it scared me even more!

Miladysa said...

Stay safe!

Shauna Roberts said...

Sounds like your life is very interesting right now. Hope the hurricane doesn't cause you any problems.

RK Sterling said...

Hey - congratulations.

Stay safe and dry.

Synchronicity said...

Good luck with the storm!

Sidney said...

Thanks everyone. I'm probably going to at least deal with the probability that Caroline Graves was "the woman in white" in my paper but only briefly.

Good to hear from you, Kate.

Thanks for dropping by merelyme

Steve Malley said...

The Woman in White is, easily, one of the best books I've ever read.

One thing I love about Wilkie: that man could CRANK the suspense!

Lana Gramlich said...

You sound reinvigorated & that's good. :) Hope you're not getting much from Ike. We're getting some winds, clouds & occassional rain here.

Erik Donald France said...

Very cool! Research is definitely addictive and fun, or can be.

Hope you fared okay with IKE and all.

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