Justin Pilcher’s Blog

1. Argument:

One important aspect of Virginia Woolf’s novel, “To the Lighthouse” is how she chooses to represent character and how she embodies theories of character from not only her contemporaries but of some modern theorists.

2. Theorists:

Henry James: “The Art of Fiction”

Virginia Woolf: “Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown”

E.M. Forster: “The Aspects of the Novel”

Amelie Oksenberg Rorty: “Characters, Persons, Selves, Individuals”

So I know this post is a little late, but I really didn’t have a whole lot of things left to say. I would just like to say what I thought about the class, as a sort of final evaluation of the course thus far. First off, I really enjoyed all of the novels that we read this semester. I felt that all of the books were fairly different, and offered a varied style of writing. With that said I would probably say that To the Lighthouse was probably my favorite novel that we have read. It was just so different and I really did not like it as we were reading it, but the ideas and themes represented in the book just seemed so deep that it was hard for me not to admire Woolf’s style of writing. I think our class discussions went really well also. I feel like everyone got their say in on the different novels almost every class, and I really enjoyed hearing all the different opinions everyone presented on a daily basis. I almost wish this class wasn’t over yet because I still feel like I haven’t picked a paper topic that has really interested me yet. I was really hoping that Dr. Middleton would have picked a Winterson book for us to read seeing as she is one of my favorite authors, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. I hope that I am able to pull of this paper that I am tackling, and i really look forward to reading everyone’s drafts next Monday, because there seemed to be alot of great ideas. With that said thanks to everyone who was in this class for making it an enjoyable experience, and sharing your perspectives with me throughout the semester, it was really an eye opening experience on many levels.

When we first started reading Jennifer Egan’s novel I really was not all that impressed. However, since we have finished it has kind of grown on me like a fungus. I think it might also be because I am reading at the same time I am trying to get through Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans , and to say that this novel is an easier read, is a very big understatement. However, at the end of the novel I did feel a little disappointed when it came to the plot. I felt that for me there were a few loose ends I would have enjoyed being tied up at the end of the narrative. First off, I wondered how deep the affair was between Ann and Mick? Or, if there even was ever an affair? I had this whole theory that Mick was going to end up being Benjy’s father and that was going to destroy the relationship between everyone in the keep. This obviously did not come true, and I was just a little disappointed. I also wondered if there was ever an affair between Ann and Mick. It seemed to me that Ray might have just written that little piece in there to serve as a parallel to Ray and Holly’s relationship. Two people that really cannot be together, but still have feelings for one another and are forced by circumstance to not explore those deeper feelings. Also, we never get to find out what happens to Holly after she takes a swim in the imagination pool. To me, that is the biggest load of garbage I have ever read. I want to know if the damn pool actually works, and Egan can’t even tell me that. I know the whole you have to imagine an ending for yourself bullhucky, but I am not buying it, Come on Jenn throw me a bone once and awhile here.

Just as a sidenote, did anyone else go to the website? I visited it when I was half asleep the other morning and I almost thought the Keep was a real place for a couple minutes, it is kind of a creepy webpage in my opinion.

So, for my research paper I think I have finally narrowed it down to one book and a singular topic. However, I have yet to do a ton of research thus far, I think that I am starting to get a good idea as to what I would like to explore in this paper. I would really like to look at To the Lighthouse above all the other texts, however I am not sure really where I want to go with it from there. I have been toying with the form Woolf uses in her novel as way for the reader to get a more intimate look at the characters she presents. Adding on that, I want to take the psychological approach I think Woolf uses by having the majority of the text take place in the minds of her characters, and not worry so much about the plot of the story, almost like it is a second thought. As far as criticism goes, I was thinking of using E.M Forster’s book The Aspects of the Novel as sort of a springboard. In it he discusses character in the novel, and goes into all sorts of detail about plot, prophecy, fantasy, etc… If anyone has any ideas of some criticism that might point me in the right direction I would gladly accept all suggestions. I was thinking of looking at Benjamin along with Gilbert and Gubar, but I think that they might be deviating from what I am trying to accomplish to much.

If anyone else is thinking about using To the Lighthouse as their book for the paper, I have found some really great sources so far (out of our own library, suprisingly enough). I will list them down at the bottom, and I think I have most of these in my possesion as of right now, but I would be more than happy to share with anyone.

To the Lighthouse: A student’s companion to the novel, by: Alice van Buren Kelly

Twentieth Century Interpretations of To the Lighthouse, by: Thomas Vogler

Virginia Woolf: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism, 1915-1974, by: Robin Majumdar

Virginia Woolf: A Guide to Research, by: Thomas Rice

The Artist as Outsider in the Novels of Toni Morrison and Virginia Woolf, by: Lisa Williams

For most of these texts I have alot of page numbers down with stuff that is only relevant to the book, so if anyone needs any help with these I wouldn’t mind providing a shortcut.

Unfortunately for most of the readers of my blog, I will not be talking about the sappy Nicholas Sparks novel, or the equally as tear jerking movie which I adimitedly have yet to see. However, I will be talking about the one thing that has sparked my interest thus far in the novel, and that is the theme of using a notebook. Before I get into that however, I would just like to say that I am not a big fan of this novel up until this point. It just seems so rudimentary to me, almost like Egan wants us to really feel like this book is being written from Ray’s perspective. I was also very confused about who Ray was at first. I figured it was just Danny having a flashback to when he was in prison, and I still kind of think that Danny and Ray could be connected more than just an author protagonist relationship, but I guess we will see. However, back to the whole notebook thing. I think the use of the notebook is interesting. For Howie, he uses the notebook to record all his ideas for his imaginary dungeons and dragons game he will play with his friends. The older “Howard” sees to keep a notebook to write down all his ideas he has for this hotel of imaginations he has in the works. And, There is Ray who seems to keep a notebook to write down all the slang words he hears throughout the day that are normally not used in todays street vernacular. Obviously, using a notebook helps rememeber things you don’t want to forget, but I also wonder why Egan keeps hitting us in the head with this theme of using a notebook. I think it could be using the notebook as a way to hold onto the innocense of an older time. For example, Howard keeps a notebook to try and remind himself of all the ways he can restore this castle and make it feel like it did back when people still use it. I am not sure I feel like I have almost talked myself into a circle, what does everyone else think?

I think my opinion of John Kwang throughout this novel has evolved and changed so many times, that I could not form an honest opinion of his character until after our class today. However, what I got out of class was that I ultimatey feel sympathy for Kwang more than anything else. I feel that much like Henry is an Asian-American looking for his place in the society he lives in, trying to stay true to his Korean roots, while also becoming Americanized enough to appeal to the general public and gain a powerful poliotical position. The problem with this I feel is that Kwang never really handles this dichotomy and it is ultimately the last little bit of his Korean culture that eventually leads to his downfall. I believe this is especially true when dealing with the concept of the ghee. This underground money lending scheme is definitely a Korean concept, and one of the only ties that Kwang has to his Korean roots. This ghee while in my eyes is a good thing, and the mony he is giving to these immigrants to try and get them on their feet, it is still illegal and not part of an American tradition. This one little Korean tradition Kwang participates in shows the reader that he is trying desperately to help all minorites and doing it the only way he knows how, and despite his American facade his true Korean roots show through, and ultimately aid to his demise at the end of the novel proving that it is impossible to stay true to Korean roots and also try and live like a true American politician and gain all the minority support.

On Wednesday we discussed in my group the relationship between Henry and his father as being one of the more significant themes of the novel so far. In my opinion, I feel that Henry’s relationship to his father is the basis for the rest of his relationships throughout his life, especially the relationship he has with his wife, Lelia. For example, the night Henry’s father comes home bloodied and beaten after his store was robbed is a good place to start when looking at how Henry has so much trouble opening up to Lelia. When Henry’s dad comes home he wants nothing to do with Henry and his mom at first and just wants to deal with his pain by himself. “He came in and went straight up to the bedroom and shut and locked the door. My mother ran to it poundng the wood and sobbing for him to let her in so she could help him. He wouldn’t answer (56)”. This scene is similar to the scene involving Henry and Lelia in bed together shortly after Mitt’s death. Henry cannot sleep because he is so upset at himself for having lost his child, and all he can do is allow his mind to wander and sort through his own personal pain. Lelia is able to sense this and she reaches over to him and grabs his hand hoping to get him to open up to her. However, instead of opening up to her he just holds her hand, and forgets about his pain until she falls asleep so he can grieve by himself and on his own terms. Henry and his father are very similar in the way that neither of them wants to let anyone know their true emotions, and that they want to keep all their hurt inside so they do not appear weak in front of others.

Throughout the semester we have been discussing the novel as a medium to represent the stream of conciousness of a character in a story. The most blatant example of this I thought were the chapters in Myra Breckinridge entitled the Buck Loner reports. In these reports we were reading the verbal dictation of Buck Loner talking about the events in his life at the time. At numerous points in these chapters, Buck would tail off, talking about something that really had nothing to do with Myra, his school, or anything else pertinent to the overall story at all. I feel like we see this same kind of stream of conciousness through Native Speaker and the novels protagonist, Henry Park. During many parts in the novel, I felt like Henry had wandered from the actual story he was telling, and just went off on a tangent about something else completely. I am not sure if I have fully convinced myself that I think this is strictly a stream of conciousness, or if it is just Park’s day dreaming being put down on paper. The best example of this that we have read so far, is during Henry’s conversation with Jack during his lunch break on his first day back at work. Jack is telling Henry about his next assignment, and sharing some gossip about some of the other employees at the office, when Henry just shifts from his and Jack’s conversation, to stories about him and his wife Lelia. Henry goes on to talk about his phone conversations with Lelia while he was away, why Lelia liked Jack so much, stories about Jack’s neighborhood, and how hard it was for Jack to continue living his life without his wife Sophie who had died quite recently. After all these inner thoughts of Henry’s, we are brought right back into the story where we left it, right at the end of Henry and Jack’s lunch break. I am interested to see how this stream of conciousness or daydreaming style of writing will effect the story. Also, any ideas on what Henry’s job really is!? I am pretty confused on that one.

What I learned from the article The Dionysian Revival in American Fiction of the Sixties by John Carlevale was not a whole lot. I felt that the article did a good job in pointing out that Carlevale thinks that Myra Breckinridge is the modern day Dionysus. However, I never really gained a really good grasp on what exactly Carlevale was getting at here. So, in response to what this article is summing up I have come up with my own theory. Carlevale is basically using Breckinridge to back up his own theory that literature in the 1960′s was the revival of the Dionysian culture, and was the revival of free love and partying. However, I do not agree with this theory for a couple reasons. First off, if Myra is the second coming of Dionysus, how come she doesn’t even survive to the end of the novel? I think that instead of Myra being considered a representation of the Dionysian revival, she should be looked at as one of the casualties of the failed Dionysian revival. Myra is in no doubt a Dionysian figure who is looking to shake up the strict gender roles that she currently finds herself entrapped in during this time period. However, try as she might she cannot change these gender roles, and everntually transforms back into Myron and settles down with Mary Anne. This is indicative of the Dionysian failure to break the mundane lifestyle of the sixties culture. In my opinion, I agree with the thinking that Myra is a Dionysian character, but I do not agree with the assumption that she should be a symbol of the Dionysian revolution. Instead, I think it is extremely evident that she is not a symbol of the revival, but by her failure, she is a symbol of the lack of success that the so called Dionysian revival had in shaking up the strict cultural and gender roles of the mid 20th century.

Before I get into anything thats too knitty gritty, I just wanna say that I am really happy that we got to read this book this semester. It was nice to read a book that was more my style of literature, and not to knock Woolf or Flaubert, but much more interesting for me as well. Dr. Middleton commented to me about this book after I had made my movie for her teen film class last semester, where she said that we used the whole notion of the inconcievable happy ending. At first I thought that she was just saying in a nice way that we totally copped out on our film, and just were not creative enough to think of a good ending. However, now after reading Myra Breckinridge I have a completely different opinion. I think the ending to this novel was pretty brilliant honestly. I kind of knew it was coming, but at the same time I still wasn’t really prepared for it. I just love the fact that Myron and Mary Anne get married and stay together after she found out that Myra was a Myron all along. I feel that even though to some this ending might seem like Vidal just ran out of ideas, I could not disagree anymore. I feel like the ending fits perfectly with Myra’s psychosis throughout the entire novel. She never really could ever shake Myron, and her emotional attachment to her former masculinity. Because of this, it was imparative for Myra to return to Myron to complete the entire cycle of things. It’s almost like Myra was all just a big experiment to Myron, and that maybe conciously he never had any intentions of becoming male again, it seemed that throug al his actions he yearned to no longer be a woman, and to have the masculine qualities of a man. All in all I think this is a great book, and I think there are so many things that can be discussed here on so many different levels.