Victory

It took all semester but I finally finished Don Quixote. I feel that even though we already finished the coursework on Don Quixote, it would be a shame not to finish the novel anyway. Just for good measure I want to make a few notes on Don Quixote.

The ending: Why Don Quixote? To retract your madness and scorn the books of chivalry seems a sacrilege to the good nature of your novel. I understand the nature of the inquisition and the situation in Spain but the rejection of chivalric ideals doesn't do DQ justice. His beauty is his madness and his desire to return man to the golden age and to just revoke that ideal seems a detriment to the character. Even so, I enjoyed this novel among many others I read this semester as well as any other time previous to that.

Don Quixote's name: During my Spanish class today we learned a new verb meaning "to stain" in English...Manchar. The literal English translation of Don Quixote de La Mancha is Don Quixote of the Stain. I understand he derives his name from the part of Spain he hails from but this literal translation actually adds to the mystique of the character. One could argue that Don Quixote of the Stain exemplifies his madness. Because he sallies fourth across the whole of Spain spreading his madness he stains the countryside with his lunacy. In the true spirit of DQ however, Don Quixote of the Stain seems more a reference to stained glass windows like in church. I cant imagine a more romantic depiction of our hero than in a Stained glass window. The major events could be retold in the same fashion as Christ's death with a series of stained glass windows. We can then liken DQ to Christ and both of their romantic journeys as sacrificial lambs to the non-believers. Don Quixote of the Stain seems the most fitting romantic name for the most romantic of characters.

DQ took a while to ingest however I believe all the time spent on DQ was repaid in the enjoyment I received from slowly piecing together the intricacies of the text.

The Dragon Lady

Danielle's (I hope I'm remembering the proper author) paper on the Dragon Lady struck an immediate chord (sorry for the cliche) with my experience with English study.  I have not and will never forget my Dragon Lady.  On my schedule she was Mrs. Soderburg, teacher of 7th grade honors English at Sacajawea Middle School in Spokane, WA, in my mind she was a gnarled old witch bound and determined to make every morning a living hell.  By all standards, Mrs. Soderburg fit the archetype of Old School:  blackboard, angry voice, old gnarled textbooks (the new ones didn't teach anything), and general attitude that terrified incoming 6th graders when they read their middle school schedule for the first time.  To make matters worse, I spent every morning with that witch as she taught my first period class.  For a socially awkward yet upwardly mobile 7th grader, 8:00 AM with Mrs. Soderburg inspired the villains in many a bad dream.  I remember her reign of terror held such a grip over me I decided to try drugs.  Not of the illegal kind but Tylenol PM.  I took 2 Tylenol PMs before class and tried to fight the urge to fall asleep.  This put me in such a trance that much of that semester remains a haze.  (It also might be the cause of my current tendency to fall asleep in class).  Of all her rules, which she imposed many, I remember so vividly the complete rejection of the use of helping "to be" verbs.  A huge poster loomed in the classroom as a method to taunt and heckle the horrible habit out of our writing.  She enforced these rules with an iron fist and a glare that pierced our tiny developing writers souls.  The rule applied to all styles of writing from creative to critical.  At the time, the strict doctrine imposed by Mrs. Soderburg caused many a late nights however I saw the benefit to her style of teaching almost immediately after I passed her class.  From that class on I never worried about my writing skills.  She developed the groundwork from which I expanded my knowledge.  I know not to use "to be" unless absolutely necessary.  I know the tricks to structure that elevate writing to a more mature level.  I know her groundwork played a critical role in my development into an English Major.  I however must maintain, for my own integrity, a love-hate relationship with Mrs. Soderburg because the joy in understanding her critical role in my schooling still becomes shaded with the memories of misery imposed by her wrathful persona and teaching style.  Thank you Mrs. Soderburg for everything but go to hell.  (not really I just added that for emphasis)

New Criticism "The Intentional Fallacy" and Stevens

Throughout the course of the semester, my ever changing concept of "literary criticism" skewed my traditional belief in the boundary between "literature" and "literary criticism."  From the first day of class, I understood the reasons behind the Frye text and the "satellite" apologies we learned yet pieces of "literature" like DQ and "Idea of Order" didn't quite fit with "literary criticism".  The semester progressed and thanks mostly to Frye and his theory of displaced myth, I began to see the ability of works of literature to act as literary criticism.  From this point, the fundamental boundary between the two, ingrained in my noggin since my early scholarly endeavors,  transformed more into a bridge.  It began with Don Quixote.  Thanks to the insights of literary scholars far more intelligent than I, I gained insight into just what Frye keeps yammering about.  

"The Idea of Order in Key West" however, stayed a bit more elusive.  I saw the displaced myth.  I saw the beauty of the poem solely for the sake of its beauty.  I even saw the "order."  I failed to see the criticism.  The poem revealed itself in similar fashion to my discovery of Don Quixote, through the words of someone else.  In the true nature of this class I claim my ideas only as my own insomuch they imitate thoughts of others.

While researching New Criticism for our presentation on Friday, I read an essay by two new critics, W.K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley, entitled "The Intentional Fallacy."  They argue in the nature of New Criticism against finding the "intention of the author."  They believe knowing the intention of the author provides no insight to the poem especially if that intention revolves somewhere around historical setting, gender relations or the society in which the author lives.  Essentially the major "fallacy" surrounding poetry is "intention."   In their essay they write: 

"The poem is not the critic's won and not the author's (it is detached from the author at birth and goes about the world beyond his power to intend about it or control it).  The poem belongs to the public.  It is embodied in language, the peculiar possession of the public, and it is about the human being, an object of public knowledge."

This quote certainly pertains to the relationship between Stevens and the poem however the true value of this statement pertains more explicitly to the poem itself.  

"The Idea of Order at Key West" portrays a girl singing a ballad along the sea so unbearably beautiful it eclipsed the power of the mighty sea.  Like a great artist, the girl creates something beyond the boundaries of nature (Frye's anagogic) and some lucky speaker receives the great benefit of witnessing the creation.  The true power of the work becomes immediately apparent to the author during its creation however he fails to understand how as scene in lines 28-30  "...But it was more than that/ More even than her voice, and ours, among/ The meaningless plungings of water and wind."  I imagine if I witnessed Dante writing The Divine Comedy or Shakespeare writing Hamlet, I would see the beauty unfolding but comprehension the substance behind the beauty would remain elusive.  As stated by Wimsatt and Beardsley, beauty, purpose, and art emerge from the completed poem, completely detached from the author, dispersing among the people.  The true excellence of what she sang only becomes apparent when she removes herself from the song and the speaker and Ramon Fernandez are left solely with the art and not the artist.  The song "Mastered the night and portioned out the sea,/ Fixing emblazoned zones and fiery poles,/ Arranging, deepening, enchanting night" not the singer.  We may praise the genius of the artist however the art changes the structure of the world.  The speaker feels left in "Ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds" because of the "words of the fragrant portals" and most importantly the words themselves not the intended meaning of the words by the singer.  

One may read "The Idea of Order at Key West" however one sees fit.  The beauty of New Criticism lies in the ability to find meaning solely in the text and that text may illuminate on countless meaning.  Thanks to the words of Wimsatt and Beardsley I believe an argument can be made that "IOKW" is a work of literary criticism not only because of the displaced myths in the poem but the poem itself praises the ideas of Criticism.

Ultimately as we approach the end of semester, every preconceived notion of "Literary Criticism" and this class in general proves false.  Literature is Literary Criticism and Vise Versa.  The boundaries between the two not only seem to be bridges but one continuous plane making the study of the art form all the more profound.

A humorous Side Effect of Don Quixote

With so few of the 900 odd pages of Don Quixote left for me to read, I find that the time I put into this book gave me some curious side effects.  Often I read Don Quixote just before I hit the sack and I have been known to take a nap or two with DQ open to the page I fell asleep on.  All this intermingling of Don Quixote and sleep causes me to occasionally dream in the language of chivalry and even more curiously dream that I am reading the novel itself.  This phenomena proves quite entertaining when you throw in my tendency to have zombie dreams because the blending of the two genres creates a wonderful parody of the nightmare.  I love zombie movies and consequently I tend to occasionally dream I am the Bad Ass protagonist of zombie movies smiting the countless undead hoards with my mighty 12 gauge.  However when they personages I quest to save use the language of Chivalry rather than screams of terror (towards the Zombies) and undying gratitude (towards me), I get a little mixed up and the dream usually takes a right hand turn.  Sometimes it ends with the destruction of my character by the zombies because he rolls on the floor laughing rather than holding the last stronghold with his thunderous shotgun.  Sometimes the dream completely transforms to the era of chivalry with the zombies no where to be found.  More often then not, I realize I fell asleep reading Don Quixote again and something in my subconscious arouses me from my adventure and I find the novel openly resting on my chest.  I know we are done with the actual discussions of the class but I figure if a work of literature takes an entire semester of dedication and distorts my usual dream cycle, it probably deserves a full reading no matter how busy I am during these last few weeks of school.