Taste Test Thursday - Memory's Daughters

Stabile, Susan M. (2004). Introduction: The Genealogy of Memory, Part One: Memory. Memory’s Daughters: The Material Culture of Remembrance in Eighteenth-Century America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1-125.

Rather than use words like culture or artifacts, Susan Stabile chooses terms like “topophilic” (love of place) and “materialized memory” (14). These are terms Stabile explores throughout the book especially in regards to the writings of 18^th century women such as Deborah Norris Logan, Elizabeth Fergusson, Hannah Griffits, Susanna Wright, and Annis Stockton. Drawing from their commonplace books, manuscripts and poems, Stabile reconstructs the material world these women preserved through their remembrances or memory.

As a result Stabile maps a remarkable symmetry between the interior homes of the women and their innermost minds – she “interpreted vernacular architecture as palaces of memory” (14) – a type of topophilic materialism. Since the writers experience the world through their senses and often remember through sensational triggers of smells, sights, sounds, touch and taste, their minds are recording their local history, the experiences of their time. This idea is promoted by the 18^th century philosophy of associationism, “Which postulated a direct, physical link connecting domestic architecture, material objects, and memory” (30). This parallel between material form of architecture and the immaterial form of ideas is unified together and communicated when written. The writing is the materialization of memory.  

Stabile states: “The commonplace book, then, is an archive in both senses of the word: as a physical object, it represents rhetorical topoi, or places for memory storage; as a text, it is the very stuff of memory making” (16). It is important to note that Stabile makes it clear that without memory or association, the objects would not be recorded and thus unarchived making them immaterial. Deborah Logan comments on this when discussing the lack of material evidence of her female ancestors. Stabile also addresses this with regards to Susanna Wright who was a Quaker and had a disregard for material possession. As a result, there is little material evidence for Wright. The point being that humans, or women in this case, project meaning onto object through their sentimental associations of memory and materialize their meaning through writing or deposition.

How does this apply to literature?

Stabile’s approach to view the literature and the space in which those writing were created exposes a dynamic of history that may not be usually considered when reading or writing history. I would think with reading or creating period writing one needs to consider how gender and class simultaneously reflect the physical place and the place of the mind/memory.

Word Count: 399

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Taste Test Thursday - The American Manufactory

Rigal, Laura (1998). Introduction: The Extended Republic in the Age of manufactures, Chapter 2: The Mechanic as Author of His Life. The American Manufactory: Art, Labor, and the World of Things in the Early Republic. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press: 3-20, 55-88.

Laura Rigal’s “culture of production” is a different perception Marx culture of labor. Whereas Marx presents the meaning of objects arises from the culture of labor and its divisions, Rigal believes it is within the production of objects which creates labor division – a kind of “chicken or the egg” discussion. To lay the foundation of her claim, she turns to St. John de Crevecoeur’s story of the botanist Mr. Bertram. Once a farmer, Mr. Bertram entered into the field of botany through the random observation of a daisy which prompted him to explore the lives of plants over his own rural livelihood. By hiring a farm worker to replace him in the field, Mr. Bertram was able to explore the intellectuals and the arts. Therefore, it was the intellectual production of work which led to the division of labor, from farmer to botanist, and the development of American culture in art and literature. This is all outlined in Laura Rigal’s introduction and exhibited throughout the following chapters to various successful degrees.

This approach is exhibited rather uniquely in Rigal’s second chapter with the consideration of cultural failure rather than success. This chapter tells the story of a steamboat inventor, John Fitch, and the various disappointments throughout his life. These successive failures are caused by a variety of cultural influences, such as: familial hierarchy, social class, politics, immigration, economics, geography, etc… When Fitch writes his life story, he incorporates a conglomeration of cultural influences into an asymmetrical assembly of “genres, styles, and discourses” which “testify to the innumerable representational structures that functioned in early industrial America…” (59). Interestingly, Rigal states that since Fitch is not able to “see culturally” he fails in his ventures. Though he may not “see culturally,” he is still able to record it. I would further argue that this largely uncontrived writing might offer a more objective view his of culture (despite his emotional rants).

How does this apply to literature?

In some ways Fitch’s writing exemplifies Latour’s ideas of developing a quasi-object focused writing since it lacks purification and translation. However, the writing style is difficult to read and understand which hinders its potential use for historical study or historical writing. I can’t quite wrap my head around it.

Word Count: 373

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Taste Test Thursday - We Have Never Been Modern

Latour, Bruno (1991).We have Never been Modern. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bruno Latour’s We have Never Been Modern is examining objects from a very unique perch. I say “perch” because the lines of his theory are almost intangible, so much so one could slip into misunderstanding quite easily. Latour currently divides much of the world views and their respective disciplines as clearly delineated forms – what he calls the “Work of Purification.” However, some disciplines such as journalism and anthropologist view the world as a network of connections between art, science, technology, politics, geography, religion, etc… These are Latour’s hybrid “monsters” which he calls “Works of Translation.” Latour’s perch is to utilize the approaches of purification and translation simultaneously to seek a better understanding to the relationship of things (30). This requires a complete rethinking of approaching world view in which objects are not concrete separate forms nor are they the result of networked interpretations. Rather these objects are quasi-objects which occupy a broad spectrum (horizontally and laterally) between the two approaches. As Latour extends his perch further and further into his theory, his approach becomes more precarious because it lacks definition. This is actually his intent. He is attempting to remove us from the indoctrinated procedures and thoughts of purification or translations and free us to a more intimate understanding of object’s meaning and relationships beyond the locali of networks.

Because of Latour’s perch regarding objects it also affects his perception of history. He says, “Where do we get the idea of time that passes?” (68). This question quite eloquently makes his point. Time is continuous. It is a continual thread of networks being woven together from different locali and disciplines – sometimes doubling back on itself, sometimes breaking away to be reknitted in at a later or earlier point. There is not mythical Antropos who severs the thread and divides our understanding of history. The same is true for the objects of the world.

How does this apply to literature?

           

            I think Latour does a good job of reminding us to look beyond the writer’s perception because their world view (whether one of purification or translation) will affect their writing. 

Word Count: 349

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*Sorry it's late.

Borrowed Ingredients - Suggestions from Writers

These suggestions for writing history come from writers of Historical Fiction or, as some people like to say, Faction.

Author of City of Women ~ David Gillman has 5 suggestions for immersing the reader in a unique historical experience. 

Writer Elizabeth Crook expands her suggestions to 7 for writing about the 'unknown' of history. Wonder if she's superstitious?

Now here are some tips from a Historical Fiction Editor. 

Taste Test Thursday - Culture & Materialism (Chapter 2)

Williams, Raymond (2005). “Chapter 2,” Culture and Materialism: Selected Essays. New York, NY: Verso. 11-63.

“One order of psychic x-ray vision, please,” said Raymond Williams. Actually he said, “We need a theory” – a new critical history of literature and society…a new cultural theory to examine the production of the arts, including literature, because he believes they are “materials so laden with values that if we do not deal directly with them we have literally nothing to deal with” (14). Williams might as well have said he needed psychic x-ray vision because his cultural theory seeks to extrapolate meaning beyond the art’s or book’s physical manifestation. The purpose is to study material objects within the literature as “projected reality” (16). Art and literature are rare physical forms which embody and communicate a multitude of cultural values thus related to social history. In order for meanings in literature to be communicated, the materials in which the literature writes about or incorporates in its narrative are coded with cultural understanding. To understand past coding, one must understand the hegemonic culture which dominated to derive the traditional values. It is important to note that Williams also believes that hegemonic values are not exclusionary. Though these values and meaning may dominate, culture consists of “alternative opinions and attitudes” which are recorded as well. Since literature is such an integral element of culture and social history, they cannot be separated and should not be studied separately. To study society one must study history and literature; to study history one must study the literature and society; to study literature one must study society and history. Additionally, one is not studying the object or the artifact, rather one is studying the materials projected in the artifact.

How does this apply to literature?

Williams is the first critical thinker encounters thus far who sees the connection of cultural artifacts that are literally written into form by language and words. These artifacts of culture are his “projected realities.” Just to show you how much a Trekkie I am, I envision this very much as a ship’s hologram – real but not real.

The book is real. I can feel it. It is paper, ink and glue. The book has a function. It communicates by being a vehicle for words and language. The language transmits ideas and forms from the real world. Therefore, not only is the book an artifact but the ideas as well. These are what an old anthropology professor called “ideofacts.”

How do we study history in literature? How do we write it in literature? That’s going to take a bit more exploring. 

WORD COUNT: 434

TOTAL EDITS: 1

Taste Test Thursday - Madness and Civilization

Michel Foucault’s “A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason” is more than a historical examination of madness, more than an interlacing of names, places and dates, more than a history lesson. Rather, this text is a linguistical exploration of madness through objects (lazar houses, ship of fools, places of confinement, hospitals, & asylums), as well as literature, art, language, religions, social geography, political turmoil, economic purveyors and other filament symbols. This comprises a unique cultural study. Utilizing these different sources, Foucault is able to weave them together to reconstruct the meaning of madness through different historical and cultural periods while tracing the threads of evolutionary meaning of “madness” and “reason.” During different stripes of time, “madness” embodies a variety of objects in tangible and intangible forms which Foucault stitches together with picturesque words. He speaks of the “imaginary landscape,” “surface of things,” “geography of haunted places,” “model of animality,” “world of melancholia,” “material reality of its sounds,” etc… He uses language to embroider a comprehensive piece of cultural history by illustrating the intangible aspects of culture represented in tangible forms. Additionally, Foucault demonstrates that the meaning of madness changes as cultural values change.

How does this apply to literature?

            Michel Foucault’s text serves as an example of the methodology outlined in Doing Cultural Studies. However, rather than examining a tangible object, he attempted to examine an intangible subject, “madness.” It’s important to note he’s examining the subject, not just trying to define it; although definition is part of the process because he’s seeking cultural definition. In order to fully examine the subject, he seeks tangible objects in which the cultural definition has imprinted on. These are in the form of buildings, art and literature. While these forms are a reflection of the society, they also directly influence the society and its daily practices concerning politics, economics and religion. Throughout the layering of these examination is Foucault’s ability to define and redefine the meaning of “madness” through various representations.

I think I need to read more of Michel Foucault! 

Word Count: 340

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Taste Test Thursday - Doing Cultural Studies

            Doing Cultural Studies is an attempt to tackle the contortionist definition of cultural studies’ methodology. It is one that is continually being wrestled into form. The methodology of cultural studies as proposed in this text is cyclical. It allows for the constant evaluation of new sources of evidence/input/information in a continual evaluative pattern. The evaluative pattern is called the “circuit of culture” and consists of five divisions which cross-reference each other. In order to develop an understanding of cultural “meaning” a continuous juggling act is performed among a circus of performers.  

The juggling act consists of various forms of analysis with regards to cultural practices. The most common practice is the analysis of an artifact’s history. This features questions such as, “Who made it?” or “Where did it come from?” This analysis of cultural identity I call the “History Lesson.” The second practice analyzed is called production which I think is an inaccurate term for studying the imprinting of culture to objects. I hesitate to use the word “on” or “in” because it is more about the idea of culture being “embodied” in an object. This requires the reviewer to see beyond the material form of an object to the ideas it manifests. The third practice reviewed is consumption and how manufacturing objects influences or is influenced by culture. Fourth is an analysis through the practice of regulation which is actually a system of classification where objects are compared and derive relational languages.

These four modes of analyses feed into a fifth practice called representation which I picture as the juggler’s hands constantly manipulating information to construct meaning. This meaning expressed through language which is a “set of signs or a signifying system to represent things and exchange meaning about them” (13). Thus, this cultural studies model allows one to develop a tentative conclusion about a culture and/or cultural artifact with the understanding that those conclusion may/will change with the input of additional information, perspective or time. Using this form of evaluation permits the inclusion of cultural processes which are intangible, such as the consideration of “signs, images, languages, beliefs” (1-2) and allows one to decipher and communicate meaning of things.

             

How does this apply to literature?

Using this method, literature is one way in which I can derive cultural meaning. For years the correct method of studying literature was by studying its history. Today, Norton Anthology literature collection still uses this method. Before you begin reading the actual literary text, a biography is supplied at the beginning containing information about the author, who they were and perhaps the time period in which they are writing. This history lesson is an examination of the literature’s identity. As you begin to read the text, you subconsciously notice the materials of the text, such as the paper, the glue and the ink. However, the materials of the object are not what interest you. It is the ideas embodied by the text that interest you. You are analyzing the object’s production. As you read the ideas expressed from the text, you may wonder how these ideas affected the world around them or the effect of consumption. During the course of subconscious juggling enters the practice of comparisons and relational information in which object and ideas are categorized or regulated. All these activities are an attempt to derive meaning from the intangible object of language and ideas because literature represents culture.

Take it a step further though, “How does one derive meaning from an intangible object within an intangible object?” There’s a mind bender!

Word Count: 590

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Good Hard Money

Sarah Kemble Knight's "good hard money" in 1704 was the Bay shilling, which is now called the Pine Tree shilling. Neither were found in the bay or made from trees. So why were they named such? 

I'm forced to quote Shakespeare, "What is in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;..." Juliet is basically saying a thing is a thing regardless of its name. The same is true for Knight's money. 

So why is the naming important? Because one name occurs in 1704 and the other in 2013. The naming of things is how cultures identify their objects. It establishes the human interactions with objects and its effects. Basically, names tell stories. 

In 1704, the Bay shilling was termed because it was coined in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It emphasizes the location and the time period in which it was made, the conditions of government and the personality of the colony. England was refusing to provide the colony with coins in the mid 1600s since they were strapped for coins as well. In the absence of official standard, the colonist decided to strike their own coins. That just might have been one of the first strikes of colonial independence. 

Today the shilling is called the Pine Tree Shilling because, well, look at it. It has a pine tree on it. It describes the thing, emphasizing the physical characteristics of the object. The naming has lost an important cultural emphasis. Even though the two names are the same object, they are expressions of two different cultures. 

Which is more "real," the one on exhibit at the Smithsonian or the one in Sarah Kemble Knight's Journal? Smithsonian coin is real in the senses. It can be seen, touched, tasted (if gotten past extensive security and you don't mind federal imprisonment). It is physical, existing in the present. However Knight's coin is immaterial existing in the past as an expression of words into an idea. Yet, it is real because it communicates the culture of the thing. 

A name is more than just a name. A thing is more than just a thing. 

Word Count: 359
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Taste Test - Sarah Kemble Knight's Journal

*Warning: Taste Tests are an attempt to explore thoughts utilizing processes similar to the creation of new recipes. We don't know what the final product will be until it's done."

1704-1705 Sarah Kemble Knight keeps the Private Journal of a Journey from Boston to New York (pub. 1825)

Pay is grain, pork, beef &c. at the prices set by the General Court that year: money is pieces of eight, rials or Boston or Bay shillings (as they call them,) or good hard money, as sometimes silver coin is termed by them;..."

"Good hard money." How I smiled when I read that, "hard money." It's real, it's an object, it's a thing. Yet, it's not. The object consists of words written on a page. It is the expression of an idea. The pages which the idea was written are the object. It is an artifact of paper, ink and glue. But the language, thoughts and voices are not material artifacts. They are immaterial artifacts called 'ideofacts.' 

How do you study the things in texts, things like money or ribbons? These are objects without physical substance in our world today. I can't go to a museum and see the silver coin Madam Knight used in 1704 while at a merchant's house. Yet through her writing, the silver coin is very real to me. It has substance, it is an object, it is a thing though it is immaterial. It is another 'ideofact.' 

How do I study an 'ideofact' within an 'ideofact'? How do I examine the materiality of an immaterial object within literary texts?

From a historian's perspective, this is an important question. Historians often use texts and primary sources to research and extrapolate possible answers explaining the past. I know we do this, but what's the theory and thought process behind it? What is the approach for studying material culture in literature?

My reading list begins with Doing Cultural Studies: the Story of the Sony Walkman. I'll also include the works of Raymond Williams, Roland Barthes and Bruno Latour. 

Word Count: 290

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Ingredient: Stir Up the Confusion

I am often confused. For many people, confusion is uncomfortable which leads to stagnation. Somehow, "I'm confused," turns into, "I don't know," - The End. 

Noooooooo. "I'm confused," needs to turn into, "Why or What is it about this that is confusing?" Don't be afraid to admit your own confusion. I very timidly admitted this in my 7000 Ph.D. class about a certain reading and the professor exclaimed, "Yes! Confusion is good." When you're confused it's a pretty good indicator that there's something you need to take a closer look at. 

Whatever is making you confused is probably making someone else confused too. Think about it. Which would you rather read: A) something explaining something you already know and understand, or B) something that explains something you don't know or understand. Write about what confuses you. You may not figure it out but I bet you'll end up with some good questions and great material. 

Word Count: 155
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Riddikulus!

While I had writer's block I decided to play around with, what I figured was a lame, figure-of-speech exercise. During the course of playing with words I rediscovered the fun. I laughed at myself. Even better, I was able to laugh at what I was writing. I didn't take is so seriously anymore. Then I was able to write without constraints.

I think, like many other people, I get wound up in the schedule of life, "You have to write," and "You have a deadline." All this pressure builds up slowing down and even preventing the flow of writing. Therefore my recipe for encountering extreme seriousness is to do the exact opposite. Write about something lame, stupid  or ridiculous. Think of writer's block as your Boggart and use the Riddikulus! charm to turn it into something fun.

Word Count: 137
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Writer's Block is Like...

I'm in between classes. I'm relaxing. I'm in my down time. Why can't I write? Everything I've read about this process says "just write" or "be creative." If I could write and be creative would't I'd done that already. I really didn't want to write about writer's block because who knows how many times that subject might make an appearance on the blog.

Well, I figure I'll come up with a new exercise which will use the figure of speech to find different ways to describe writer's block. It's lame, but at least it's something to write about.

Adjunction - Blocked is the writer.
Alliteration - The writer writes wetly. (Oh, that's awful. Let's try again.) The writer's block beats badly. (Blah! Let's try again.) The blocked mind mocks me. (Yeah. That's better.)
Allusion - I feel like the bard on his worst day. (Actually, it's an 'antonomasia' too.)
Anastrophe - Write I can not but try I shall.
Anaphora - I cannot write. I cannot scribe. I cannot type.
Antithesis - Writer's block is easy on the hands and hard on the mind.
Climax - Writers suffer blockage, blockage stifles creativity, creativity will burst the dams.
Hyperbole - I'll never write again.
Irony - I wrote an excellent article about writer's block.
Litotes - I am not unfamiliar with the concept of writer's block.
Metaphor - The writer's block is a black-hole of ideas.
Paradox - Blocked writers are full of ideas.
Onomatopoeia - The writer's mind whispers wind.
Oxymoron - Blocked writing.
Paralipsis - I will not dwell on the emptiness of my pages.
Personification -  The blank page screamed silence.
Simile - Writer's block is like slamming into a brick wall.
Zeugma - The writer opened her mind and her pen to the page.

I think this worked. It reminded me that I need to laugh and have fun. It's harder to crack a blockade if I'm taking myself too seriously.

Word Count: 331
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Recipe Tweak - 1st Sentence ReWrites

With great trepidation, I scattered the dust on my collection of final papers for the past 18 months of doctoral classes. After making a list of the first sentences, my face was in a perpetual pucker. Please let me apologize now to all my poor suffering professors. Regretfully, there are many sour sentences to choose from. So for the sake of my self-esteem, I chose only three to review and rewrite.

How do I take sentences like these and not send the reader into a coma after the first period? Let’s start at the beginning by comparing the content of the sentence to some that I like (see “Add Salt”) then reconstruct the words.

Sentence 1:

“The plow or plough is an agricultural tillage tool, one of the earliest designed tools continually use through history.” - A Visual Exploration of the Plow

Yawn. The sentence is archaic academia. I see a sentence like that and think, “Wow! I bored my professor before I started.”

This sentence is focused on an object much like the sentence from The Plantation Hoe and Cultural Rhetoric of Women’s Corsets. Both use personification to enhance the sentence. Let's try personifying the plow: “immortal plow.” Also, there is some alliteration with “tillage tool” which I can expand to: “agricultural tillage tool trudging through history.” Next is to include the word “art.” Put it together and I have… Ta dah! “The immortal plow is an agricultural tillage tool which has trudged through history seeding the arts.” Are you interested now? This might have been a fluke. Let’s see if I can do it again.

Sentence 2:

“Edgar Allan Poe is credited as the “Father of Detective Stories” creating a template for detective stories through three short stories: “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Roget,” and “The Purloined Letter”.” – Cluing In to Edgar Allan Poe’s “Clews”

You have no clue how much fun I had reading these stories and writing this paper. Sure it was academic but it was far from boring. 

Narrative and Class in a Culture of Consumption and The Ideas in Things shared some similar qualities. Using them as a template, I focused on alliteration, allusion, metaphor and idiom. I use “stories” a lot (3x in 1 sentence) so why not play with that: “stories of slashers, the Seine and sheets in plain sight.” Once I wrote that, I was able to write the remainder: “Edgar Allan Poe created three stories of slashers, the Seine and sheets in plain sight molding mystery and a new type of detective fiction on the page.” I may have to watch the alliteration use because it can be overdone.

Sentence 3:

“Museums have been and continue to be part of the landscape of major and growing towns and cities since the 1700s.”  – Paris Museums and Early Modern Urban Planning

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Oh! There’s more? 

For this sentence I settled on Age of Homespun and New Historicism and Cultural Materialism’s sentences which use metaphor, simile, idiom and oxymoron (alliteration not included).  Let’s try metaphor: “museums are” …  “the heart of an urban landscape”… “seeds in the Paris’ urban landscape.” Now a simile: “and like Josephine’s roses they bloom and thrive amidst the brick and concrete.” All together now: “Museums are seeds in the Pariasian urban landscape and, like Josephine’s roses, they bloom amidst the garden of brick and concrete.”

So, how’d I do?

Word Count: 575

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Ingredient - Add Salt

Salt to cooking is figure of speech to writing. 

After reviewing Monday's ingredient, I realized I had more sour sentences than savory, a lot more. So I widened my selection, concentrating on more of those savory sentence samples. Then I sat down and examined the contents, chewing carefully.

These are the salient:

1. The strange silencethat haunts the interpretation of Sarah Kemble Knight’s Journal (c. 1704) is doubly odd, given the continued prominence of the text in American literature canon. – Narrative and Class in a Culture of Consumption
• Alliteration; Allusion
2. Few commodities in Atlantic history can be as humble as the plantation hoe. – The Plantation Hoe
• Personification
3. On April 16, 1787 Royall Tyler, Jr. had the pleasure of seeing the first production of his play, The Contrast. – Class Positioning and Shay’s Rebellion
• Cliche
4. Even seasoned observers of academic fashionsmay feel giddy noticing the rise of something called the "New Historicism," especially as we had just grown accustomed to pronouncements, whether celebratory or derogatory, that there was no getting" beyond formalism.” – American Literature and the New Historicism
• Metonymy; Paradox; Description
5. One thread in the American nineteenth-century discourse of sentiment wraps itself around women's bodies. – Cultural Rhetoric of Women’s Corsets
• Personification & Hyperbole
6. If this book were an exhibit, I could arrange it as a room, one of those three-sided rooms you sometimes find in museums, open on one side like a dollhouse, with a little fence or rope across.– Age of Homespun
• Metaphor; Similie
7. Any commentator rash enough to pass sentence on a powerful new critical movement before its star has plainly waned is tempting fate. – New Historicism and Cultural Materialism
• Idiom; Oxymoron
8. The Victorian novel describes, catalogs, quantifies, and in general showers us with things: post chaises, handkerchiefs, moonstones, wills, riding crops, ship’s instruments of all kinds, dresses of muslin, merino, and silk, coffee, claret, cutlets – cavalcades of objects threaten to crowd the narrative right off the page. – The Ideas in Things
• Metaphor; Idiom

Somewhere in my quest for that A+, I became bland like low sodium canned soup. I forgot to add salt to my writing. Well, that's all about to change. I wonder what my professors are going to say, or will they even notice? 

Word Count: 385

Total Edits: 0

Ingredient - Hello! Call me...

Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street in Boston...

Read that again. "Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street in Boston..." is the opening line about the literary career of Benjamin Franklin and I'm ready to sit at the table and devour the essay. Reason 1: I just finished watching Carolyn Steel's "How Food Shapes Our Cities" which discussed the naming of streets after food and the griddle started popping. Reason 2: Because of Reason 1, I stopped to closely examine the sentence. I noticed it didn't start with the typical introduction of the year of his birth. It begins with a totally random fact that most people probably don't know. They might know he was born in Boston; but would they have known the name of the street? 

First impressions matter more in writing than simple introductions of, "Hi, my name is..." unless you're Ishmael. You have to capture the audience interests while providing them with an introduction to the essay topic. Too often I fall into the droll academia introduction which inspires NO interest because the introduction isn't the meat of the writing. And that's wrong. The introduction is the most important part... as my mother always says, "People judge you by your first impression. It's not always right or fair, but they do." Unfortunately, the same applies to writing.

How do you make a great first impression? I have no idea... yet. Let's examine other literary culinary creations. I went to the American Book Review for their article on "100 Best First Lines from Novels" and was proud to know many of them. These are imaginative. However, they don't tell us much about the story (except for: "I am an invisible man.") What they do is make you ask questions, "Who is Ishmael?" and "How did you become invisible?' The reader is engaged like melting butter on pancakes. Otherwise, you'd sit there staring at cold pancakes. Blah!

I have a collection of journal articles concerning literary criticism and started going through them just looking at the first line:

• Two bridges span the Delaware River between Philadelphia and New Jersey, one named for Benjamin Franklin, the other for Walt Whitman. - "The Loafer and the Loaf-Buyer"
• Criticism of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, often indistinguishable from commentary on the author himself, oscillates fairly predictably between two positions. - "Urban Bifocals"
• The strange silence that haunts the interpretation of Sarah Kemble Knight's Journal is doubly odd, given the continued prominence of the text in an American literature canon. - "Narrative and Class in a Culture of Consumption"
• The inception of American regionalism is routinely identified by scholars in either Robert Beverly or William Byrd II, both native Virginians who wrote intensely local works which are amongst the enduring literary products of colonial America. - "Industry and Idleness in Colonial Virginia"
• Few commodities in Atlantic history can be as humble as the plantation hoe. - "The Plantation Hoe"
• One thread in the American nineteenth-century discourse of sentiment wraps itself around women's bodies. - "Cultural Rhetorics of Women's Corsets"

Which one appeals the most to you? Why?

Word Count: 514
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Ingredient - Grins, Smiles & Laugh-Out-Louds

I love food and I love history, as you may have noticed, so "Jennifer 8. Lee Hunt for General Tso" spoken essay is a great combo meal with the addition of smartly absurd humor. And there's the punchline, humor. I dare you to find an academic paper or academic guide that promotes the use of humor in a paper. If you know of one, send it to me.

Humor combined with skillfully collected knowledge make's Jennifer 8. Lee's spoken essay fun like an all-you-can-eat-buffet. I learned the value of humor, not from cooking, but from my old Biology teacher in high school. Doc entertained a class of Juniors and Seniors with excellently timed stories completely relevant to the subject. This helped me retain the otherwise skeletal information because it was related to a story. Stories beef up and flesh out the facts so they're easier to remember. You may not remember the story verbatim but you remember the gist. I continued to use the Doc's method when I started working for historic sites and museums. I used humorous stories to engage the audience while providing the factual information. This always improved the audiences experience.  

However, writing humor into an essay is hard for me because humor requires an audience reaction. How do you write for an audience when you don't know know who the audience is? Even that's not my biggest roadblock, it's really the years of collegiate molding restricted to academic writing that I'm having to break free. Well, there's a book that supposed to help (you knew that was coming right?!): "Writing Humor: Creativity and the Comic Mind." This is supposed to help break down what's funny and what's not, as well as help make flat writing... fluffy? We'll see.

*Okay, so the campus library does not have this book. Actually, it doesn't have any books about writing with humor. Talk about reinforcing the mold! I declare, "I will write with humor. I will make you grin, smile and laugh out loud!"

Word Count: 292
Edits: 1

What is this Thing???

What do you do when you have questions built upon questions? You ask more questions! This is frustrating, I know, but it's the only way I know to excavate the foundation of knowledge. Once the foundation is known, only then can I architect the thing.

What is the thing? The truth is, "I don't know... yet." I asked the question, "How are everyday objects that are incorporated in American literature representative of the culture in which the author is writing?" Or "Are they?" Okay, I don't like the word representative because I'm not looking at them as symbols or motifs. The objects in the literature are materials. They are literary artifacts about culture. Or rather 'ideofacts' if I remember my anthropology/archaeology correctly. The book or materials of the literature such as the paper, ink, etc. are the artifacts; however, the ideas within the text are the 'ideofact.' So what do you call an 'ideofact' that is a material object within the text? 

Huh....

To help my answer this question, I'm looking at several critical theories and literary criticism: Marxism, New Historicism and Cultural Materialism. Each have valid source for structuring the thing. 

Marxism definitely evaluates things in literature but mostly from a commodities standpoint. If I was examining purely the economic structure of things, this would be good. Culture is more than economics, it’s history, religions, and social behaviors such as class, race, and gender. New Historicism includes more of these categories and Cultural Materialism even more so, though with a more contemporary/popular focus. Therefore, I think the New Historicism methodology is best and more complicated. New Historicism requires a tedious structural balance between the education and research of a literary critic AND a historian.

Sighs… Just because I find part of the answer, doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.

“To Be Continued”

Word Count: 304

Total Edits: 0

Taste Test #1 - Enlightenment

Do other writers use objects to shape meaning into their works? I'm thinking they do, maybe they don't do it consciously but they do it. Since I've amateurishly decoded the formula for how the Wise-ones shaped their essay, I want to apply this new-found knowledge to other texts beginning with period writings from America between the 18th and 19th century. The objects and their meaning in the literature should reflect the culture of their time - this is a theory in cultural studies, which falls under several headings depending on how you view it: Marxism, Cultural Materialism, New Historicism. 

Starting with a sampling of literature from 18th century, I'll also be deciphering and sorting through theoretical knowledge of literary criticism. Yay, me! So beware for repetitions and corrections. I don’t expect to get it right my first time out.

The 18th century American literature will be interesting because this was a time of enormous changes in economics, social development, philosophy, the sciences and the aesthetics. These changes transformed the way American writers understood and wrote about the world. 

I'll begin with American Literature from 1700 to 1820, otherwise known as the period of Enlightenment, using The Norton Anthology American Literature: Beginnings to 1820, Volume A (8th ed.). First up is 1704-05, when Sarah Kemble Knight keeps The Private Journal of a Journey from Boston to New York.

Taste Test #2: American Renaissance (1820-1865)

Taste Test #3: Realism & Naturalism (1865-1914)

Word Count: 240
Total Edits: 1

Ingredient - Say an Essay!

During my coursework for Creative Non-Fiction several semesters ago, I was assigned the reference text, "The New American Essay." This was it. This was to guide me to my defining medium for my writing format and my style. Well... It didn't. I knew that essays weren't fiction works nor were they considered academic research. But these essays were designed to stretch the limits of the definition 'essay'. The styles represented were more about the creative force rather than the intellectual dissemination of information. But I don't want to write too creatively intellectual.  

So, I looked around. I've scattered magazines and toppled books looking for an essay style that "speaks to me." What did this hearing impaired person find, but 'spoken' essays. Have you heard of TED Talks? Some might consider these video essays, but thanks to their translation and transcription program, I read these spoken essays. They are factual information collection and organized as a result of a person's own unique perspective and communicated in an artful and engaging way. That's an essay and exactly what I need.

Typically, these spoken essays are 10 to 20 minutes long... or in written form, 1,500 to 3,000 words. In the case of  Carolyn Steel's spoken essay, "How Food Shapes Our Cities," 15 minutes and 40 seconds or 2,857 words. While reading the essay, I was struck by its simplicity, yet the format engaged me every time I read it. Here I've found an essay format to aspire to:

• Introduce a Question - "a great question, one that is rarely asked"
• Set the Scene - use the landscape of the issue to shape the essay
• The Background - map the history, "how did we get here"
• The Foreground - map the future, "what does it mean"

Word Count: 293
Total Edits: 3

Encounter with the Wise-Ones

How do I 'shape' an essay? 

*It’s not a great question and it’s definitely been asked before, but it’s a start.

The "palimpsest" is a scroll that is scraped clean and used again, and again, and again. Can you imagine rough draft after rough draft being written on the same piece of paper (actually it was vellum, the skin of a calf). The remains of past writings are faded and difficult to decipher, but still there buried amidst the present band of words.  The Wise-ones, M. Norton Wise and Elaine M. Wise, use this object to develop their understanding for the shape of their essay, "Staging an Empire," Things that Talk: Object Lessons from Art and Science. They begin with:

"History unrolls the palimpsest of mental evolution," says the Oxford English Dictionary. Although the metaphor derives from the canonical palimpsest of a parchment subjected to writing and writing over, it is appropriate for other objects whose form and meaning result from a history of shaping and reshaping..."

History is shaped and reshaped just as writing is; but what shape does it take? Remember Carolyn Steel and her spoken essay, "How Food Shapes Our Cities." She used the landscape of her topic to shape the essay, literally mapping the literature with subject of her essay. The Wise-ones utilized the historical application of the palimpsest, an object, to linguistically construct meaningful history through shape and form. Phrased that way, it sounds mystical - a process that only a chosen few hold the secret to. However, I believe their formula can be decoded. 

Their writings are not solely the assemblage of academic facts: the object was made in 'x' year, by 'y' person, of 'z' materials equaling 'the thing'. That's a formula more often seen in an art gallery or museum exhibit. Also, their writings are not solely interpretations of the facts like you hear from museum docents or stories in historical novels. There's something more. Their writing is a combination of the facts and the stories... and another elusive element constructed in the literature. Rather than write within established formulas, the Wise-ones included an additional variable, the variable of shape and form. Specifically, the shape of an island. 

The island is Pfaueninsel or Peacock Island which has an architectural landscape shaped by forty years of human history. Just as the island is shaped, so do the Wise-ones shape their writing to provide connections, intersections and transitions between, within, and amongst their facts and narratives.  Thus, objects or materials are not characters or subjects in the writings, they provide the pattern in which the writing takes form and can be deciphered by a good reader.

"It becomes an eloquent thing when it is seen to carry multiple layers of meaning, meanings that have been built into it and that can still speak to those who reflect on its history." - Wise-ones

Word Count: 478

Total Edits: 2

Ready, Steady, Charge!

"Ready, aim, fire" is fraught with fatalities and holes which is why I prefer "ready, steady, charge." The charging quill has fewer pitfalls and a much happier ending, usually the completion of a written works without holes. I'm readying my charge by carefully constructing my engagement... and you're invited. 

Jennifer's Doctoral Research Engagement Invitation 

Date: 18th & 19th Century 

Time: 30 Months

Location: the areas of North America known presently as the United States of America

***

Help celebrate the journey, as Jennifer ready's herself to explore the culture of America through literature and history between the 18th and 19th century. The engagement will (hopefully) culminate in a final ceremonial procession. 

***

*Notice: Though all attendees are invited to provide 'constructive' criticism, toast and flames are prohibited. This means you must say more than, "I like it" or "It could be better." 

Word Count: 147
Total Edits: 1

Personal Recipe Note - Fear of Failure

A stone had dropped in my stomach and like an oyster with sand, it was getting bigger and bigger. I've been blowing off the stress headaches for the past two weeks and last night I broke. I boohooed on my best friend's shoulder without a clue why. 

I spent today among the stacks at the library reviewing more books and trudged home with the backbreaking sack. I spread the texts out and thought about hanging a countdown calendar for the next 18 months. I sat ready to start organizing and my brain went numb. I went to sleep instead. When I woke up, I couldn't decide what to eat or what to watch or what to read, so I decided to write. After reviewing Friday's post, I opened a new page and realized, I'm afraid. I'm afraid to fail. 

I'm not afraid of failing in the sense of a bad grade or not completing the doctoral program. No, that I'm confident I will do. I'm afraid that I'll fail myself. That I'll compromise on my own dreams and desires. That I won't meet my own set of expectations and goals. So, what can I do? 

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

- Dune, Frank Herbert

I've decided to face my fear and write about it. Now I can decided what to eat, what to watch and what to read. I will not let my fear of failure hinder me.

Word Count: 294
Edits: 0