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Author
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Comment
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AliceCEB
Registered User
(9/27/04 9:01 am)
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Re: Postgrad programs for editing?
"I wonder if a lot of what seems off-putting to us in terms of French theorists has to do with issues of translation. . . . I wonder if the "difficulties" of style in French theorists are not so much them being obtuse or difficult as they are them writing in French, which seems to have different conventions than English."
French theorists are obtuse and difficult even if you are a native/fluent speaker and reader, not so much because of sentence structure (although that does have a lot to do with it) but because of the never-ending insertion of newly defined words. I never could wrap my mind around what was being said--and frequently thought that nothing was truly being said at all. But that is a pretty narrow view of criticism, and I do not hold that view in general about academia.
But back to the main thread--I think Veronica is right on in it being normal to feel at a loss after college, and not knowing what to do. A large portion of my law school class fit in the category of "well, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do after college, so I decided to keep my options open."
Edited by: AliceCEB at: 9/27/04 9:02 am
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(9/27/04 9:22 am)
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Re: Postgrad programs for editing?
No, of course the currently popular theorists are not necessary to do any and all work in the discipline. But I think their value often lies in forcing the question of how one approaches a text and why. New Criticism has an implicit and/or explicit theory of how to approach a text; so does New Historicism. But too often, amateur practitioners of those methodologies do not think through those theories; they just seem like "common sense." I like the fact that criticial theorists force us to think about how a text should be approached, whether or not one agrees with a given theorist's approach.
Each to her own, Alice! What always bugged me about the French theorists was all those @#%$ sentence fragments! (Except for Foucault. His sentence fragments bothered me, but so did everything else.) [Hey, did you know this board automatically translates swearwords into those nifty symbols? I didn't! It makes the occluded swearword seem a lot dirtier than it actually was.]
The thing is, it's possible to decide that something isn't for you, or isn't the way you want to work, without dismissing that thing as valueless (New Historicism: cool, interesting, ultimately not the method I adopted for my dissertation). Too often, I've read and talked to people who dismiss critical theory as valueless, and I passionately disagree with that. (Helen, you aren't one of them--this is an ongoing conversational topic in my life over the past few years!)
I think that exegesis and interpretation tells us about ourselves,
our times, and that, when it's good and well-grounded in the
text via close reading, it also tells us about the
text. I mean, what is with all those girls dressed as boys
in Renaissance comedies? It's not just Shakespeare, they're all
over. It's not because it made it easier on the boy actors, because
it's only in comedy, or sometimes tragicomedy. What is up with that?
Just as there are some things you can never understand except in
the play's contemporary time, there are some things you can't understand,
questions you never even think to ask, until there's been some distance.
Edited by: Veronica Schanoes at: 9/27/04 9:24 am
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Erica
Carlson
Registered User
(9/27/04 12:12 pm)
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Re: Postgrad programs for editing?
On a more mundane level, I think that some of how we end up feeling
about theory (some of it, mind) can be directly related
to who taught it to us. (I'm working on the assumption that if you
read Derrida for fun, you probably don't hate him already.) I had
some fabulous and enthusiastic and (sometimes) wickedly funny profs
in grad school, who really used theory well and with a lot of insight.
I'm most comfortable with feminist and gender theory because of
this, I think, though some other factors did come into play. I also
had some less ecstatic experiences, which I suspect are partly to
blame for my problems with post-colonial theory. It's important,
and I don't regret knowing about it - I can't even regret the experiences
of reading it - but if I pick up a big book o' theory to read with
my cup of cocoa, I'm probably more likely to read Derrida
than Said or BhaBha.
Right now I'm just sad that so many people are afraid of the word "feminist." I sometimes run across the perception that being a feminist means I have blinders on to all other perspectives--which is a possible pit fall with any theoretical perspective, really. I've also had run-ins with academics who think that feminist theory is old, done-with, and no longer relevant. Grr. Argh.
Erica
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(9/27/04 3:47 pm)
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Re: Postgrad programs for editing?
I completely agree with you, Erica. Since I didn't major in English as an undergrad, I had the opportunity to make my way to the theory that interested me at my leisure, and I think I have benefitted from that. On the other hand, I'm not as well-read as some ex-English majors I know, so everything's a trade-off.
And re: other people's impressions of what it means to be feminist
or use feminist theory or readings? Word and double word on that.
That's been my experience too. I'm solid, hard-core feminist and
unfortunately some people have been surprised at how I look, my
love for The Odyssey, etc.
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Ailanna
Registered User
(9/27/04 3:51 pm)
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Re: Postgrad programs for editing?
My lit theory professor was a communist and rabid left winger, and the focus of the class appeared to be on how capitalists (especially white male capitalists) had oppressed everyone. I'm quite politically liberal, but having that message ground into my head three times a week for ten weeks drove me absolutely crazy-- it was being told what to think, which in its own way was as bad as being subjected to ideological systems we were deconstructing. I have never liked a class so little, and it made me seriously question whether I was in the right major.
Incidentally, that was the prof's last quarter teaching at my uni. Apparently past students have felt similarly.
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writeonq
Unregistered User
(9/30/04 2:07 am)
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That Veronica?
I suspect we may have been in grad classes together at UPENN: Mahaffey's Feminist Fairy Tales (2001) and D. Wallaces Women Writers.
Been around here for a number of years and saw your name come on board but sometimes it takes me a bit to put two and two together. "Hello" from the shortish, slim Medievalist with (usually braided or messy) long dark hair...
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DonnaQ
Registered User
(9/30/04 2:11 am)
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And DUH. Let's try this.
Re: the previous post...
I do have a name, and am even registered.
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(9/30/04 3:13 am)
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Re: And DUH. Let's try this.
Yep, it's me. Hi Donna--I remember you well!
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