I just finished Jonathan Culler’s Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction and really got a lot out of it. A professor recommended this book to our class and since I’m theory-weak, I figured I would check it out. Culler not only explains what theory is and isn’t, he also succinctly explains how and why theory came about and gives examples of appropriate application. Interestingly, Culler only goes over the different schools of theory in a brief index (structuralism vs. post-structuralism vs. deconstruction, etc.) as if to illustrate they are both important yet not the focus of literary studies in and of themselves. There is no One Theory to rule them all, One Theory to find them, One Theory to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, regardless of how some scholars make it seem.

I hadn’t heard of the “Very Brief Introduction” series until we read the one on Dada and Surrealism for class last semester, but I really like them. They’re like the For Dummies series or Complete Idiot’s Guides, except of course the “Very Brief Introductions” treat the reader as an intelligent specimen trying to come to grips with a specific academic topic rather than, say, gardening. They’re loaded with suggestions for further reading and extremely helpful for those of us who are constantly being made to felt as if we don’t know everything about Subject X then we know nothing at all.

The complete list makes for compelling reading in itself and more than a few titles have caught my eye: the ones on postmodernism and the Spanish Civil War are both topics I know a little about but would like to know more, and want recommendations for further reading. Check this series out.

I had two 20 GB iPods that died on me. One gave me the sad iPod and sounded like a spice grinder when you fired it up, the other formatted itself one day and then refused to mount in iTunes. I did my due diligence and tried all sorts of diagnostics and restores but came up with nothing. I had two expensive paperweights on my hand.

Happily, I got about $26 for the pair of them via BuyMyTronics.com, a company that buys dead electronic equipment. Filling out the form was very simple, I shipped them off, and received my PayPal payment today. It was quick, easy, and painless, and after shipping I came away with a $21 profit from a couple of devices that were going to be thrown out. Now let’s see, don’t I have a dead cell phone around here somewhere…

I’ve been listening to a lot of The Hold Steady since hanging out with my brothers in Minnesota. I thought they were okay at first, but they’ve really grown on me. It’s refreshing to hear a band sing about the Midwest for once.

Current Mood: Fine |