the hero with a thousand whinges
At the risk of this turning into a blow-by-blow series of entries, that was an incredibly annoying article.
Fantasy And The Classic Hero, Natalie Babbitt, from Innocence and Experience: Essays & Conversations on Children's Literature, edited by Barbara Harrison and Gregory Maguire. Well, the first time I flipped through the booklet of readings, I perked up at that title and grinned when I caught sight of Joseph Campbell and Hero With A Thousand Faces mentioned in the text. I was really looking forward to this reading.
Actually, she didn't disappoint, she just pissed me off. Cos she was so fucking resentful of Joseph Campbell, I mean why?? It is annoying in the extreme to find that one's work, struggled with for so long and finally finished after trying and discarding numberless bits of detail, can be found to have been summed-up-parts of it, anyway - by a scholar years before one even began, and described as "typical".
How old is this woman? Ten?? Has she never heard of things like the zeitgeist, the world subconsciousness, how did she write a novel and get it published and talk to other writers and educated people without ever hearing of Joseph Campbell i keep going to say arthur ... *grins at vicki*? Nothing is original, isn't that the first thing you learn when you pick up a book and then try to write one? And she rattles on about this for so many pages and got that drivel published? What the hell were you thinking, Gregory Maguire? Why didn't you slap her? Let me slap her! *growl*
And this is where I hastily wave the Narcissists Anonymous Disclaimer flag before I start babbling about myself. Not half an hour after I finished that article, I was back at work and idly chatting with this colour contractor dude. How did it start? *scratches head* Can't remember but I said to him "yeah, and y'know, that's prolly why ..." oh yes!
He remarked to me about the odd suggestions you get on your mobile phone when trying to write a text. I said, "yeah, that's why I always turn my predictive text off, fucking hate that shit." And because sometimes my mouth is wired to my brain without intervening 'shut the fuck up' instincts, I kept going with "yeah, and that's prolly why I don't like dictionaries and I fucking hate spellchecks cos I'm going to make up my own damned spellings and meanings, damnit" and yet she snarls when someone misspells bret easton ellis' name...
He says to me, "yeah, Shakespeare was like that, he made up new words ... but then he lived in a time when English was still a new language ..." This last part seemed kinda inaccurate to me but cos I can't actually back that suspicion up with an informed opinion and cos my brain is still way too wired to focus, I went on a tangent of "y'know, it's odd. I'm finding I'm kinda moving away from the whole reverence of Shakespeare thing." We got interrupted at this point but I wanted to explain that it was more of a humanity thing rather than rejection, I mean I adore the inventiveness and the incredible characterisation of Shakespeare but, as I said to the dude when we picked up the conversation, "I'm sort of liking the alternative theories at the moment." Again interrupted. I was going to talk about Marlowe and how I rather like the idea that some of those Shakespearean plays could have actually been written by Marlowe. Just delicious revisionist rebellion against the great literary establishment of Shakey, y'know?
And then I react like this to some poor writer daring to object in whatever emotional fashion to Joseph Campbell. *big booming Lady Bracknell handbag voice* "How dare you reject Joseph Campbell? How dare you react with anything less than awe and joy and wholehearted squealing at the munificence of Joseph Campbell, you ... plebian hack writer??"
As Stuart would say, "I am such a twat!"
In my chastened defence, could I just reiterate that post of ages ago and say that the delight I find in Campbell is as much because of the majesty and beauty of his prose as much as the spiritual and intellectual gorgeosity of his insights? He wrote that in the 40s and I love him. She writes this in the 80s and I want to smack her so hard. I do love his style, I love his thoughts, he illuminates things for me instead of trapping as she felt. Is this one of those pesky "everyone reads the same book differently" instances? Buggrit.
Crap. Uni. My Music For People has arrived at Red Eye! *squeee* Am so going to whinge at my Aunt until she turns the car around and agrees to swing by Red Eye before we head out of Sydney. Cos Jon!
Did I mention I had coffee today? *cringe*
Fantasy And The Classic Hero, Natalie Babbitt, from Innocence and Experience: Essays & Conversations on Children's Literature, edited by Barbara Harrison and Gregory Maguire. Well, the first time I flipped through the booklet of readings, I perked up at that title and grinned when I caught sight of Joseph Campbell and Hero With A Thousand Faces mentioned in the text. I was really looking forward to this reading.
Actually, she didn't disappoint, she just pissed me off. Cos she was so fucking resentful of Joseph Campbell, I mean why?? It is annoying in the extreme to find that one's work, struggled with for so long and finally finished after trying and discarding numberless bits of detail, can be found to have been summed-up-parts of it, anyway - by a scholar years before one even began, and described as "typical".
How old is this woman? Ten?? Has she never heard of things like the zeitgeist, the world subconsciousness, how did she write a novel and get it published and talk to other writers and educated people without ever hearing of Joseph Campbell i keep going to say arthur ... *grins at vicki*? Nothing is original, isn't that the first thing you learn when you pick up a book and then try to write one? And she rattles on about this for so many pages and got that drivel published? What the hell were you thinking, Gregory Maguire? Why didn't you slap her? Let me slap her! *growl*
And this is where I hastily wave the Narcissists Anonymous Disclaimer flag before I start babbling about myself. Not half an hour after I finished that article, I was back at work and idly chatting with this colour contractor dude. How did it start? *scratches head* Can't remember but I said to him "yeah, and y'know, that's prolly why ..." oh yes!
He remarked to me about the odd suggestions you get on your mobile phone when trying to write a text. I said, "yeah, that's why I always turn my predictive text off, fucking hate that shit." And because sometimes my mouth is wired to my brain without intervening 'shut the fuck up' instincts, I kept going with "yeah, and that's prolly why I don't like dictionaries and I fucking hate spellchecks cos I'm going to make up my own damned spellings and meanings, damnit" and yet she snarls when someone misspells bret easton ellis' name...
He says to me, "yeah, Shakespeare was like that, he made up new words ... but then he lived in a time when English was still a new language ..." This last part seemed kinda inaccurate to me but cos I can't actually back that suspicion up with an informed opinion and cos my brain is still way too wired to focus, I went on a tangent of "y'know, it's odd. I'm finding I'm kinda moving away from the whole reverence of Shakespeare thing." We got interrupted at this point but I wanted to explain that it was more of a humanity thing rather than rejection, I mean I adore the inventiveness and the incredible characterisation of Shakespeare but, as I said to the dude when we picked up the conversation, "I'm sort of liking the alternative theories at the moment." Again interrupted. I was going to talk about Marlowe and how I rather like the idea that some of those Shakespearean plays could have actually been written by Marlowe. Just delicious revisionist rebellion against the great literary establishment of Shakey, y'know?
And then I react like this to some poor writer daring to object in whatever emotional fashion to Joseph Campbell. *big booming Lady Bracknell handbag voice* "How dare you reject Joseph Campbell? How dare you react with anything less than awe and joy and wholehearted squealing at the munificence of Joseph Campbell, you ... plebian hack writer??"
As Stuart would say, "I am such a twat!"
In my chastened defence, could I just reiterate that post of ages ago and say that the delight I find in Campbell is as much because of the majesty and beauty of his prose as much as the spiritual and intellectual gorgeosity of his insights? He wrote that in the 40s and I love him. She writes this in the 80s and I want to smack her so hard. I do love his style, I love his thoughts, he illuminates things for me instead of trapping as she felt. Is this one of those pesky "everyone reads the same book differently" instances? Buggrit.
Crap. Uni. My Music For People has arrived at Red Eye! *squeee* Am so going to whinge at my Aunt until she turns the car around and agrees to swing by Red Eye before we head out of Sydney. Cos Jon!
Did I mention I had coffee today? *cringe*