Let's Go Set a Desert on Fire
Since I tend to think of Veteran's Day as more of the end of WWI, I decided it might be a good time to finally pick up Hero by Michael Korda, the biography of TE Lawrence that came out last year to quite a bit of acclaim.
It's interesting as a historian, that there are certain topics that I know a lot about, and I've read quite a few books about Lawrence and the Arab Revolt. I mean, a lot of them. Pretty much any that come across my path. So reading another one feels almost comforting, like yes, these are facts and characters I know and am comfortable with. And yet each different telling of the tale brings up different new and interesting facts and points. This particular book is written very well so that's been helping.
I feel like as a historian, sometimes we say very strange things though. Like, people if they get past asking me "so what are you going to do with that degree?" will ask me "so what do you research?" I have some pretty varied time periods, but what's interesting is something I'll find myself saying something like, "Well, I really love World War One." And then I have to pause. I don't love WWI it was one of the worst events in human history. I don't even want to say it's fascinating because it feels like that belittles the horror of what happened. More soldiers died in WWI than in WWII, though WWII had a higher body count due to other reasons. Some countries, like Serbia, were hit worse in the first world war though. But, I keep coming back to the time period to research it. So in some ways I love learning about it, not the actual events.
I don't know, I've been realizing this quarter I really like History majors and Historians more than English majors and that entire culture. Lit Criticism is just something that frustrates me more than I find it enjoyable. But I adore the discipline of history. I want to call myself a historian. Which, even without a PhD in history, or hell, even a BA in history, you can call yourself a historian I feel to a degree. It's simply a way of thinking, of looking at the world. But I still think it's rather specific.
But a lot of people in my English classes annoy me. Actually, I want to snarl at one of my teachers this quarter. I made a statement about the historical context of a piece and she spent five minutes basically slapping me down for using historical context. Something about how that could lead to one reading, but she wanted us just to look at the words. I'm sorry, but how could you understand any writer without knowing the world they came from? No matter what, our culture affects who we are just a little. Just a lot usually.
The other problem I have is what feels like a complete lack of sympathy in some of my classmates. When we read things that I find personally rather tragic, other kids in the class tend to be "Oh, I found that funny..." And I sit there going, say what? Sure, to each their opinion but... what?
It's interesting as a historian, that there are certain topics that I know a lot about, and I've read quite a few books about Lawrence and the Arab Revolt. I mean, a lot of them. Pretty much any that come across my path. So reading another one feels almost comforting, like yes, these are facts and characters I know and am comfortable with. And yet each different telling of the tale brings up different new and interesting facts and points. This particular book is written very well so that's been helping.
I feel like as a historian, sometimes we say very strange things though. Like, people if they get past asking me "so what are you going to do with that degree?" will ask me "so what do you research?" I have some pretty varied time periods, but what's interesting is something I'll find myself saying something like, "Well, I really love World War One." And then I have to pause. I don't love WWI it was one of the worst events in human history. I don't even want to say it's fascinating because it feels like that belittles the horror of what happened. More soldiers died in WWI than in WWII, though WWII had a higher body count due to other reasons. Some countries, like Serbia, were hit worse in the first world war though. But, I keep coming back to the time period to research it. So in some ways I love learning about it, not the actual events.
I don't know, I've been realizing this quarter I really like History majors and Historians more than English majors and that entire culture. Lit Criticism is just something that frustrates me more than I find it enjoyable. But I adore the discipline of history. I want to call myself a historian. Which, even without a PhD in history, or hell, even a BA in history, you can call yourself a historian I feel to a degree. It's simply a way of thinking, of looking at the world. But I still think it's rather specific.
But a lot of people in my English classes annoy me. Actually, I want to snarl at one of my teachers this quarter. I made a statement about the historical context of a piece and she spent five minutes basically slapping me down for using historical context. Something about how that could lead to one reading, but she wanted us just to look at the words. I'm sorry, but how could you understand any writer without knowing the world they came from? No matter what, our culture affects who we are just a little. Just a lot usually.
The other problem I have is what feels like a complete lack of sympathy in some of my classmates. When we read things that I find personally rather tragic, other kids in the class tend to be "Oh, I found that funny..." And I sit there going, say what? Sure, to each their opinion but... what?