Share My Academic Pain, YAY!

[caras_galadhon]

Oh my god, there are few things as painful as reading articles that start:

Fundamental to modern structuralist poetics is the principle that, before applying structuralist methods to the study of the large forms of great literature (if indeed this turns out to be possible at all given our present level of knowledge), these methods should be worked

Comments

[rubyelf]

Reminds me a bit of some of the babble we have to read about the different theories of counseling. And I hope you get to take your dad to the Mystery Dinner Theater!

[caras_galadhon]

Hee, I bet! I have never enjoyed semiotics. It always seems to come with a huge helping of dense jargon that obscures rather than elucidates. (Plus, there are only so many times I can read "sign, signifier, signified" in one article before I start to tune out.) Blech.

Thanks! I'm sure I will. They don't seem to have posted the information about NYE yet, which is weird, because the Christmas dinner theatres are selling out already. It's a little awkward to order the tickets from here, but I did it last year, and I'm sure I can do it again. ^_^

[chelseagirl]

Do note 1978. The notion of "great literature" has come under fire since . . .

[caras_galadhon]

Oh no, I know. ^_^ Even if it was useful, it's far too old. It was a product of a far-ranging article search more than anything else that had me wanting to bang my head on the desk as soon as I opened it. Outdated ideas mixed with exhausting jargon ahoy!

[j_flattermann]

That dinner at Deane House sounds nice and interesting.
Reminds me a bit of what Speke Hall does over Halloween. BTW Speke Hall is famous for being haunted as well.

[caras_galadhon]

Oh, definitely! I got tickets last year because I always wanted to try it, but hadn't had a chance, and the idea of just sitting around watching TV on New Year's Eve sounded a bit... dull. I think Dad was rather skeptical at first, but once we got there and the actors started to work the room -- they wander around before dinner, introduce themselves in character and chat as if you're guests at their party -- he started to get into it and really enjoy himself. ^_^ By the time it was over, we'd laughed ourselves sick.

I just looked up Speke Hall, and I see their Halloween event. That sounds like fun!

Ooh, is it? I imagine with much older ghosts, too. The Deane House hauntings seem to be mostly confined to sightings by people who work there. *G* Apparently there's an unplugged phone that rings a lot, plus a whole bunch of ghosts just romping around.

[evocates]

I think it says something about me that I read that and my immediate reaction was, "Well, that's pretty understandable. Pretentious, but understandable." My standards for academic writing has fallen very, very far. Although, I did roll my eyes after that paragraph because honestly, that jargon is not necessary. And it's written in such a way that it sounds both like the writer invented semiotics and is introducing it to the reader, and that he expects everyone to already know it. No references, no quotes, no further reading for elaboration, and a contradiction all in one. What the hell.

Anyway, the Deane House thing sounds fucking awesome. You get to go home to Canada for Christmas? 8D?

Also, I feel bad for asking about this, but the email for my revised proposal did get through, right? Because if it didn't, I'll send it again. =X

[caras_galadhon]

Oh, it's understandable, all right, so long as you understand the jargon to start with. My eyeballs just tried to escape from my head in protest, that's all. ^_~ And really, it's a good example of someone yanking out their academic penis for all to see. It's like, "Really? Really? Why don't you put that away now, ok?" And, well, it's pretty old crap, so it's not even useful as anything but a historical record of semiotics and attitudes towards a mystical "canon."

Aahahah, that's exactly it! The pretension drips off it.

I do, I do! ^_^ I go home twice a year, and a third time to the US for the conference. The Dean House is so much fun. We did it for the first time last year, and I didn't expect Dad to say, "Yes! Let's do it again!" when I brought it up today.

It did, m'dear! I'm so sorry, I'm overdue with a deadline which is about to crash into a second deadline, which is why the radio silence. I'm trying to get the first thing (chapter draft) done in the next couple days, which will give me some quick breathing space in which to

[evocates]

Yanking out the academic penis is such a good phrase and I'm going to use it everywhere. There are people who yank out their academic penis in fiction writing as well (see: J.M. Coetzee, John Barthes, Umberto Eco) but those tend to do it really well or at least really interesting. Also, awwww, yeah, ;iterature's funny like that - it moves so fast. In linguistics there are still people stuck on Robin Lakoff's 1973 article, nngh.

You can just imagine them talking with their noses so firmly in the air that all you see are those nose hairs. The text is written by sentient nose hairs.

AWESOMESAUCE! 8D I hope you have fun again, ahhhh.

No, it really is okay. I'm doing absolutely nothing with it except hording up my primary texts (i.e. fanfics) because I've been rushing my five essays for school. I wrote something like 6.5k words during the past 2 days so I'm going to laze (in any manner that a workaholic laze anyway) tomorrow, so you're definitely not holding me up any. I mean it when I said for you to take your time 8D I was just

[alex_quine]

On the other hand, if you should have trouble falling asleep this should work a treat. *g*