Blogs

Walton

by Mary Shelley

October 5

My dearest Margaret- I know nearly a month has passed since my last letter, whence I did promise to return to England, but o! the events that have transpired since are both dreadful and magnificent. I pray your husband and children have made you happy as you anxiously awaited my news. It is with utmost seriousness that I apologise for the injustice I have caused in disappearing so soon after I promised to return. Now, with resolve I must tell you what hath occupied my nights since the passing of my new friend, Victor Frankenstein and, my beloved sister, I ask that you keep an open mind and a warm heart whilst I propose the grave favour of which I am about to speak.

 
“Of course, no other world was carried through the starry infinity on the backs of four giant elephants, who were themselves perched on the shell of a giant turtle. His name—or her name, according to another school of thought—was Great A’Tuin; he—or, as it might be, she—will not take a central role in what follows but it is vital to an understanding of the Disc that he—or she—is there, down below the mines and sea ooze and fake fossil bones put there by a Creator with nothing better to do than upset archaeologists and give them silly ideas.”

Coral A. Walker

May 9, 2011

ENG/BIO 223

Dalke & Grobstein

Webpaper #4

Coral A. Walker

May 9, 2011

ENG/BIO 223

Dalke & Grobstein

Webpaper #4

It’s very hard to document change because to see it, you almost always need to leave the observed subject alone for a little while—to get out of its aura, the strange influence it has over the world—before one feels as though one is far enough away to not be bias and that one is able to adopt a true demeanor of objectivity. In fact, I’d say that we can really only see growth and evolution when we have something else to compare it to. The English ivy spindles higher upon the tulip tree than it did a month ago, so I know that it has grown. My leonine, Oreo-colored darling only changes when I see pictures of him as a kitten, and I realize that the white hairs around his eyes weren’t always there.

Last week, in the Story of Evolution and Evolution of Stories class, one of the two professors, Paul Grobstein, claimed, “he would not die”. As crazy as this statement may seem, I found myself nodding in agreement. How can you be ‘immortal’ if you die? He simply said he would fade away – physically – but he would remain in other’s memories. There would be stories about him, about what he has said, what he has taught, what he has done. Regardless of how people remember him, he will be remembered and that is immortality. What does it mean to be immortal though? This paper will explore what the implications and consequences of being immortal are through three different areas – science, literature, and culture.      &#16

merlingist.tumblr.com/ 

I tried something new, by creating a portfolio on the web as a little experiment via Tumblr, which I though made the best use of multimedia options. Here's the link!!

A discussion of the evolution of literature could not be complete without mentioning an emergent form of literature, which surprisingly to some, is not as new as it seems. The internet has done a great deal to change how texts are published and read. The first example of a revolution that has been recognized in this type of shift in text production is the emergence of blogs as the online form of journals. Blogs have the ability to make what was once considered to be private writing public. This effectively changes the stories that people choose to tell on that particular form of expression with the expectation of publicity.

The stories read and generated from literature, and the stories understood as pertaining to one’s perception of reality are separate ideas in one’s mind the majority of the time. There have been discussions in class about the blurring of the line between these stories: losing oneself in a novel, or imagining elements of a story in a book coming to life. However, even though the line may be crossed, it is still there. We are well aware of our ability to be lost in a novel – we know what is “actually happening” and that what is imagined is not real. It can also be jarring when one recognizes moments when the mind cannot just take off and “escape” reality by reading a book. This was a common observation regarding the style of Richard Powers’ Generosity.