Clearly I am insane - ignore this post.
Er.... so I've been blogging every day, and now I feel like I should at least make the effort to keep this trend going until 11:38 when apathy sets in.
Class was 5 hours long today. There was food, so in some part of my animal hindbrain I feel as though I was adequately compensated - and yet... 5 hours.
Today was, however, the last day of the last seminar I will EVER HAVE TO TAKE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! I will be chronicling these moments for you - and myself (I'm thinking of putting a gold star on my calendar). There would even be a festive book-burning party if only I didn't need them for orals - perhaps I will designate proxy books to burn. Or I can burn crappy books - for instance - Tolkien would be a good start.
I would also like to express my bewilderment (wow, I like that word - I will have to use it more often) with the response I got on a draft of my paper (different class). My professor, after having presumably looked it over, writes across the top page "This should be fine".
Nothing else.
What the hell does this mean? Suddenly my "English-student-hat" appears on my head:
"There are multiple possible interpretations to this line"
- I ponder this - surely an analysis of the diction will lead to a more complete understanding of the text?
"What are the possible interpretations for "should" as used in the context of this sentence: will be upon editing? could? I think that it is? ought? might?"
"Does “fine” indicate: satisfactory? OK? A? -A? B? will be fine upon further editing? not coarse?"
"What is the referent of "This": the paper? the argument? the argumentative structure? the 3 paragraphs he actually read?"
- I sigh. Analyzing diction is a classic undergraduate mistake - it only leads to more questions, not answers. Surely if I appeal to different possible intended readings of the line I can get somewhere?
"Was he intending this to be read literally? "Hand it in this way, it's just fine""
"Ambiguously? "I don't want to tell you what to do, so I will give a cryptic answer so that you continue to work""
"Bitterly? "I can't believe you gave me a 12 page draft - that's enough!""
"Sarcastically? "Um - you gave me a 12 page draft - really, you don't have to worry""
"Emphatically? "This looks great""
- Another sigh - clearly I can't achieve any kind of understanding of authorial intent from the text alone. Through interaction with him in class it is highly probable that ANY of these are the intended meaning. What about reader response?
"I feel exasperated: clearly it means that I should stop working now"
"I feel confused: clearly it means that my argument needs a little polish"
"I feel irritated: clearly it means that this answer is cryptic"
"I feel happy: he said it was fine!"
"I want Fig Newtons: clearly I am hungry"
- Humm. Well "If in the arts, feeling is always meaning" I'm fucked. Maybe the modernists or postmodernists can help me?
Barthes: "The author is dead"
Me: "But he's alive and grading my paper"
Barthes: "But it doesn't matter what he thinks - once the work leaves his hands he is not in control of it - it has infinite possible meanings"
Me: "But he's grading me"
Barthes: "Oh, ok - tu es fucked"
Derrida: "Oui - tu es fucked"
Foucault: "Je suis d'accord"
- *fuming*
"You mean with all this theory, with all this reading, with all of these papers - I CAN’T EVEN FIND THE MEANING OF A SIMPLE SENTENCE?!"
Department: "no"
Me: "Oh - guess I'll just have to go ask him then, huh?"
Department: "yep"
Ok.
Class was 5 hours long today. There was food, so in some part of my animal hindbrain I feel as though I was adequately compensated - and yet... 5 hours.
Today was, however, the last day of the last seminar I will EVER HAVE TO TAKE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! I will be chronicling these moments for you - and myself (I'm thinking of putting a gold star on my calendar). There would even be a festive book-burning party if only I didn't need them for orals - perhaps I will designate proxy books to burn. Or I can burn crappy books - for instance - Tolkien would be a good start.
I would also like to express my bewilderment (wow, I like that word - I will have to use it more often) with the response I got on a draft of my paper (different class). My professor, after having presumably looked it over, writes across the top page "This should be fine".
Nothing else.
What the hell does this mean? Suddenly my "English-student-hat" appears on my head:
"There are multiple possible interpretations to this line"
- I ponder this - surely an analysis of the diction will lead to a more complete understanding of the text?
"What are the possible interpretations for "should" as used in the context of this sentence: will be upon editing? could? I think that it is? ought? might?"
"Does “fine” indicate: satisfactory? OK? A? -A? B? will be fine upon further editing? not coarse?"
"What is the referent of "This": the paper? the argument? the argumentative structure? the 3 paragraphs he actually read?"
- I sigh. Analyzing diction is a classic undergraduate mistake - it only leads to more questions, not answers. Surely if I appeal to different possible intended readings of the line I can get somewhere?
"Was he intending this to be read literally? "Hand it in this way, it's just fine""
"Ambiguously? "I don't want to tell you what to do, so I will give a cryptic answer so that you continue to work""
"Bitterly? "I can't believe you gave me a 12 page draft - that's enough!""
"Sarcastically? "Um - you gave me a 12 page draft - really, you don't have to worry""
"Emphatically? "This looks great""
- Another sigh - clearly I can't achieve any kind of understanding of authorial intent from the text alone. Through interaction with him in class it is highly probable that ANY of these are the intended meaning. What about reader response?
"I feel exasperated: clearly it means that I should stop working now"
"I feel confused: clearly it means that my argument needs a little polish"
"I feel irritated: clearly it means that this answer is cryptic"
"I feel happy: he said it was fine!"
"I want Fig Newtons: clearly I am hungry"
- Humm. Well "If in the arts, feeling is always meaning" I'm fucked. Maybe the modernists or postmodernists can help me?
Barthes: "The author is dead"
Me: "But he's alive and grading my paper"
Barthes: "But it doesn't matter what he thinks - once the work leaves his hands he is not in control of it - it has infinite possible meanings"
Me: "But he's grading me"
Barthes: "Oh, ok - tu es fucked"
Derrida: "Oui - tu es fucked"
Foucault: "Je suis d'accord"
- *fuming*
"You mean with all this theory, with all this reading, with all of these papers - I CAN’T EVEN FIND THE MEANING OF A SIMPLE SENTENCE?!"
Department: "no"
Me: "Oh - guess I'll just have to go ask him then, huh?"
Department: "yep"
Ok.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home