Sunday, November 30, 2008

Contemporary Readings

I thoroughly enjoyed almost all of the reading selections for my contemporary literature class. I thought the list well-represented modern literature, and I would change little on the list. I particularly enjoyed reading Atonement, The Watchmen, A Streetcar Named Desire, and the Shakur lyrical poems. Atonement was a novel that I knew little about before reading. I thought the style was very interesting, particularly how the end was written like an author within an author. It embodied many post-modernism ideas, which I enjoyed. Reading The Watchmen was also great because of its extreme difference in writing style when compared to the other readings. I never before read a graphic novel and, although sometimes difficult to read, it was very fascinating. The many symbols and political metaphors also contributed to my liking of it. I look forward to reading it again. A Streetcar Named Desire is a classic play that should be read by all. The realistic dialogues within the play and overall plot kept me reading on. I liked how my teacher included Tupac Shakur's poetry. It is again a different style from the other literature which kept the class interesting. Considering Shakur's hard and troubled past, his poems were extremely genuine and meaningful. As you can see, I would change little on the reading list for my contemporary literature class this semester. It was a great mix of literature further supporting and contributing to the many post-modern ideas we discussed in class. I would have liked to see more literature from around the world, however. I think we can truly learn more from different cultures and other people's points of view totally different from our own. Some of the short stories in the anthology seemed somewhat meaningless and replaceable. However, these stories allowed me to further understand post-modernism, and how one can truly interpret something totally different than another.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

The Watchmen

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article, "The Comic Book Virgin Reads Watchmen," by Isabelle Burtan. I thought the metaphor (of one being a 'virgin' to comic book or graphic novel reading)Burtan used throughout the article was funny, clever, and intelligent. I had not read a long comic book series or graphic novel before reading "The Watchmen." So I guess I will have to admit to losing my 'comic book virginity' to "The Watchmen." Gosh, that sounds weird. Therefore, I would have to agree with Burtan regarding my unique experience with reading "The Watchmen." Reading a graphic novel is quite different from reading any normal novel, or one that does not include near as many illustrations. At the beginning, I thought the graphic novel would be a simple, easy read as the first thing that came to my mind was lots of pictures! Something that I was not used to reading as an assignment in any class which made me happy. As I read the graphic novel, I realized how intricate and complicated the plot and characters were. I was forced to both read the text and look and interpret the many drawings and dialogues. One most definitely has to read this type of novel differently than reading any other typical novel. At many times there were more than one storyline being discussed within the same page. This was confusing. There were many hidden text, symbols, and drawings throughout the book that were key to the story. In order to identify all of these political and religious symbols and references, one must pay close attention to both the illustrations and text. It was difficult to pick up on all of these things. However, this forced me to read and look closer in order to comprehend the 'total picture.' I think I shared a similar experience to Burtan because of not reading a graphic novel or comic book before. We shared similar emotions or excitements as well as frustrations with regard to the read of "The Watchmen." Reading "The Watchmen" was not simple and at some points became exhausting and wearing yet still enjoyable. "The Watchmen" needs to be read multiple times in order to fully get all of its rich messages. I look forward to reading it many more times allowing myself to pick up on even more symbolic messages. It seems like a novel that gets better every time you read it.