I found that there are two possibilities for the speaker in Carol Ann Duffy’s “An Old Atheist Places His Last Bet”: the atheist mentioned in the title, or a god. And there are very different meanings for the same words… Continue Reading → Read more →

  I read Anna Karenina on my own a couple of years ago. Would I have read this classic if it lacked the (well-deserved) fanfare it posses today? No, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to find it. Reading “Graphs, Maps, and Trees”, I became intrigued by the following statement regarding the attempt to quantify … Continue reading The Problem with the Popular Books Read more →

I am a science major. Analyzing poetry is seriously not my forte what-so-ever. So you can imagine my elation when I realized we were going to be assigned poetry for the greater part of the semester. However, life is about doing things you do not want to do or doing things you are not particularly […] Read more →

In reading Franco Moretti’s “Abstract Models for Literary History—1,” his use of multiple metaphors to talk about novels became increasingly interesting to me. Throughout the article he uses metaphors from different fields of study to describe the changes he see in genres and cycles. First, he describes novels in a way he sees as typical, that […] Read more →

The dichotomy between objectivity and subjectivity makes me uncomfortable because often, it is a false dichotomy. Perception is always shaped by expectation and so nothing can ever be purely objective. Bias from the beholder always influences interpretation. With my reservations about the use of the word objectivity in mind, I will however say that Moretti seems to be calling for… Read more →

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Novels are a uniquely human creation. In biological anthropology, a wealth of research has investigated the origins of the human species, from homo erectus to the homo sapien. More specifically,… Read more →

Given that there was no assigned reading for tomorrow’s class, I thought I would prepare for my group’s presentation by addressing the tragic death of Septimus Smith towards the end of the story. Was I surprised that Septimus decides to kill himself? No, not at all. Was I surprised Septimus kills himself in this particular moment? […] Read more →

In class, the suggestion of Mrs. Dalloway‘s intentional boring qualities stuck out to me. I’m not the biggest fan of the “upper class housewife has a few problems” genre, and I spent most of my time reading this book either 1) waiting for… Continue Reading → Read more →

From the beginning of the novel, readers are introduced to a set of characters who, in order to make sense and worth of their own lives, construct self-benefitting meaning out of hollow images and events. One can see this practice as being one of self-preservation. At the start of the novel, when a car passes… Read more » Read more →

Woolf offers much insight in regard to her theory of connection and knowing others. Not only does she comment on explicit seen connections, Woolf also highlights unseen connections that bind people.             Septimus’s death is one of the most important events in the novel. By subtly connecting characters, his action becomes part of a collective […] Read more →