For my independent
study I read, analyzed, and reviews select works of literature. I thoroughly
enjoyed this class because I was able to choose the material that I covered
myself and cover it at my own pace. Some books, such as Ghost of Chance
and Book of Disquiet I read quickly, while others took longer. I read the
poetry compilation Sailing Alone Around the Room over the course of a month
and a half during the semester, in addition to the other books I read.
For me, this class proved to be inestimably valuable. I enjoyed the books
I read and feel that I covered a large number of laudable books from an
established canon. By writing a response/review of the books I read, I was
able to explore the works further and tune my own ability at analyzing and
absorbing literature. The independent study had the added bonus of coinciding
with my AP Literature class and the corresponding AP test. I feel that my
efforts in this independent study gave me a significant advantage when preparing
for and taking the AP test.
Furthermore, the independent study allowed me to pursue a broad increase
in intellectual development. I chose the works specifically not only because
of their high acclaim but because they covered a wide range of styles and
content. I am confident that the works I studied and examined intensely
in this class will provide an even firmer background for my endeavors in
college and beyond. I am elated with my decision to create and enroll in
this independent study, and I feel that it provided inestimable rewards.
The Book of Disquiet
Author: Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa’s
The Book of Disquiet is what any poet’s transition to prose should
be – a think and astoundingly skillful crafting of language. Pessoa,
a Portuguese poet, often wrote from the point of view of one of the multiple
personalities he created. Thus, The Book of Disquiet, which is really
a collection of related journal entries instead of a novel, claims Pessoa
not as its author but as its discoverer – the supposed author is
the fictitious Bernardo Soares, a librarian of Lisbon. This technique,
which Pessoa executes perfectly in The Book of Disquiet, lends many different
voices to his work while allowing him to explore his own feelings and
beliefs – the result is a blend of fiction and autobiography. A major
theme in the book is the strain that these multiple personalities put
on the individual, especially over so excluded a person as Pessoa and
Soares. In addition, the journal deeply explores a love of language, the
importance of minutia in art and life, and a warm affection for the city
of Lisbon. Even the most insignificant description, such as “I came
upon the house piled up in the moonlight….,” glows from a care
and beauty that Pessoa puts into the book. And yet, with all the layers
of flavor, The Book of Disquiet is an arduous read. As a journal written
by a fake person, it has no real plot or resolution. Any reader should
follow the translator’s suggesting of reading it through once then
rereading it in any order if he wants to experience the full force of
Pessoa’s writing. If a reader sticks with it, The Book of Disquiet
could show him powerful ideas expressed with beautiful language.
The Book of Blam
Author: Alexander Tisma
The Book of Blam
follows Miroslavich Blam in the years after World War II in Yugoslavia.
As the title suggests, the plot of the book resembles the Book of Job
from the Bible. Like Job, Blam has lost everything he had but remains
connected to his ideals and traditions. Unlike Job, Blam has earned back
most of his former status and possessions and has started a new family
in the hub of a city divided in a newer, post-war sector and an older,
somewhat derelict pre-war sector.
The division of the city is Tisma’s basis of operation throughout
the book. By walking a few blocks into the older section of the city Blam
can effectively time travel One might expect Blam to find comfort in this
more traditional part of the city, but the opposite is true. Blam’s
return to stability is shaken by his numerous walks past his old neighborhood
and his childhood library. Most of the old part of the city is uninhabited
and being torn down, and though it may seem unchanged by the war, it has
really been permanently altered, just like Blam’s life.
This book thrives on the descriptive abilities of Tisma. Without Tisma’s
remarkable ability to elaborate on environment and human motion I probably
would not have finished the book. Because the lifeblood of the book is
a sense of heritage and the loss of stability I had trouble relating with
the emotions of the characters and the overall tone of the story. Blam
is really the only character in the book, and he is so pensive that he
accomplishes in the span of the book what any disciplined person could
accomplish in a day. Furthermore, the book is necessarily sad, and despite
some bright spots, the story wallows in its sense of loss.
Aside from these shortcomings, the book exhibits the talents of its author
in an enticing way. Long, smooth flowing sentences serve to set up sharp
observations, even though they slow the book’s pace. And, as stated,
the uncanny ability of Tisma to describe the colors and motions of a city
and its inhabitants gives the book a sense of freshness that is sorely
needed.
Ghost of Chance
Author: William Burroughs
After reading Naked
Lunch and coming away with mixed opinions about the work, I decided that
I must read another of Burroughs’ books. Enter Ghost of Chance. This
book, written and strangely illustrated by Burroughs in 1991, details
the voyage of Caption Mission through time and nature. Mission discovers
a temple of extinct species, and unwittingly releases a plague on mankind.
Like Naked Lunch, this book is a thinly veiled vehicle for Burroughs’
social and political commentary. Burroughs’ beef in this story is
the destruction and disrespect of the natural world, as well as the crippling
influence of the Bible on humanity. Throughout the book, Burroughs focuses
on lemurs as the symbol of the spirit of animals and the plight of endangered
species. In fact, at the end of the book is a plug for Duke University
Primate Center, which has extended its concern to cover lemurs.
This book, like Naked Lunch, has its share of provoking ideas and alarming
descriptions. Burroughs’ talent for describing horrifying diseases
is allowed free reign during the middle pages of Ghost of Chance. I appreciated
the fact that the story was easier to follow than in Naked Lunch, and
I still found his edgy style enticing. The biggest problem I had with
Burroughs was that his writing was at times incomprehensible and meaningless.
Ghost of Chance exhibits this quality far less. In fact, the only aspect
of the book that was truly incomprehensible for me was the group of dispersed
paintings by Burroughs which were pleasing to look at but had no bearing
on the story.
What I found most interesting in the book was Burroughs’ denouncement
of the Bible and religion. Burroughs’ suggests that all humans originally
had the capacity to perform miracles, and by becoming the savior of mankind,
Jesus Christ created a monopoly on miracles that binds and punishes humans
eternally. Burroughs puts Christian history and animal extinction hand
in hand in way that sparks original thoughts in the reader’s brain.
Burroughs makes a few statements (for example: “The Creator cannot
create anymore”) that are philosophical bombs. Any reader will surely
be provoked by Ghost of Chance, just as he would by Burroughs’ other
writing.
Slaughterhouse Five
Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse Five
has no beginning or end because its main character can travel in time.
It is a war story, and every time that anything dies the author states,
“So it goes.” It involves an alien race known as the Tralfamadorians,
who know that they will eventually bring about the end of the universe
but do nothing to stop it. The vernacular and sentence structure used
by the author resembles a polished version of sixth grade writing. I love
this book.
In Slaughterhouse Five the main character, Billy, is “unstuck”
in time. He goes through the bombing of Dresden during World War II and,
after spending time in Europe as a POW, returns home and marries. Because
an alien race has shown him the truth behind time travel, Billy does not
believe in free-will and adopts a fatalistic view of the war and the world
(hence, “So it goes”). Whether or not this is true or is a clever
defense mechanism invented by Billy to deal with the reality of war Vonnegut
leaves to the reader.
With a description such as that, the downright hilarity of this book may
come as a surprise. Never have I encountered a more poignantly funny book.
The way in which Vonnegut crafts his atypical story, using mostly simple
sentences and rarely any metaphor, adds to the sense of indifference of
the main character. The novel is in fact strikingly similar to Cathc-22:
it lacks an ordered chronology, it details the experiences of characters
who are out of place in their absurd environments, and it is shamelessly
funny.
Even if I thought that Slaughterhouse Five said nothing about war veterans
or lifestyle philosophy I would consider it a valuable read. Vonnegut’s
writing style and sense of humor should be shared with everyone. But it
this admittedly strange story Vonnegut provides a look at the post-war
distress of veterans that should be heralded for its clarity and poignancy.
Furthermore, Vonnegut repeatedly denounces the indifference of fatalism
in hilarious and inescapable ways. Because this book reads so quickly,
I have already read it twice and recommend it to anyone.
Sailing Alone
Around the Room
Author: Billy Collins
This collection of
poems by the U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins delighted me. A simple,
witty voice comes through on every poem that makes the collection compelling
and rewarding to read. Collins’ poetry deals with modern life and
is not difficult to read or understand – this probably accounts for
his popularity. But even when it takes little effort to discover a treasure,
the result can still be rewarding.
Billy Collins writes “mainstream” poetry. I use that title to
address the clarity and scope of his poems. Most of the poems in Sailing
Alone deal with common subjects and everyday life. Collins rarely uses
a fixed form, and his diction often approaches a conversational tone and
syntax. This means that my little sister could understand most of Collins’
poems, which is not necessarily bad, but it makes for a different reading
from most poetry. A poet such as T.S. Eliot, who believed that poetry
should be somewhat erudite and generally high reaching in scope, would
vehemently denounce Mr. Collins. I feel that this would not be without
reason, but I still enjoy Collins immensely and I gained a sense of peace
and freshness from his easy writing.
The collection includes works spanning from 1988 to the present day. One
can clearly see that Collins has always flowed smoothly and effortlessly
onto the page, but a change in style is apparent. The final poems exhibit
a greater confidence in poetry, and he allows his humor that is so delightful
almost free reign over the subject. One poem bears the title “Reading
an Anthology of Chinese Poetry of the Sung Dynasty, I Pause to Admire
the Length and Clarity of Their Titles.” Such is Collins’ humor.
Other poems hold merit by the mood they evoke. This, of course, is a shady
and personal method of analyzing any literature, but that doesn’t
seem to bother Collins much. Poems like “Shoveling Snow with Buddha”
and “Design” affect me as well as any great book has. The key
to Collins’ poetry is to take him at his word. I love this collection
of poetry: I read it when I don’t want to think too hard, but still
want to work a bit for a reward. This book is perfect for a rainy day
when the reader is stuck inside.
On the Road
Author: Jack Kerouac
In three years Dean
Moriarty has three wives and four children while traveling back and forth
across the country. Sal Paradise, the narrator of On the Road, becomes
enthralled with Dean when he meets him in New York and travels alongside
him restlessly during those years. This is the pretense behind On the
Road. The characters in the story find no joy in a conventional, secure
life and as consequentially are restless and lack commitment. As a result,
the plot is the same way.
At first I disliked this book because throughout the entire story, nothing
happens. Yet the concept behind the book is the search. Sal begins his
numerous voyages in New York but, after three years, he ends up in the
same city, nearly broke and alone as before. Dean eventually dies, but
during the story he lives so intensely that a whole city of people would
probably have less life experiences than him. This is the heart of the
story: Dean doesn’t know moderation and this is the quality that
attracts Sal. None of the major characters enjoy a slower version of life
and thus are constantly searching for a lifestyle of excitement and meaning.
This lifestyle, of course, can only be found in the search. Once Dean
or Sal stop searching, the lifestyle is lost.
This is probably the only answer found in the book, but the book still
presents a philosophy toward the life that is compelling. Dean Moriarty
never has a bad experience. Any experience that a “normal” human
citizen might find frustrating or painful Dean welcomes – he lives
for experience. Dean is a truly memorable character, but Sal Paradise
is perhaps more intriguing. Sal comes from a background of security (exemplifying
the lifestyle he is trying to escape) and never exhibit’s the recalcitrant
behavior of Dean. Sal is in reality an observer: he wants to take in what
he can. Like Dean, Sal lives for experience and search.
I discuss the book through its characters because that is the aspect that
made the lasting impression on me. Since reading this book I have already
found myself considering “How would Dean feel,” or “What
would Sal think,” during or after a harrowing or exciting experience.
The feeling of this book is difficult to articulate – it spreads
a sort of carefree but intense outlook. I dislike the fact that the book
hungers for meaningful action or a resolution but I feel that will have
a positive, lasting impact on me.
Naked Lunch
Author: William Burroughs
In Naked Lunch William
Burroughs serves up an unnerving and apocalyptic account of his sixteen
years of opium addiction. The seminal book often careens into hallucinations,
splicing seemingly random images into already disturbing scenes. Yet,
amongst the occasionally unintelligible overload of Burroughs’ writing
lurks a crippling satire of addiction, intolerance, and the abuse of power
in American society.
After an initial survey, the book as a whole is simply shocking, but under
the alarming surface, Naked Lunch is, in my estimation, an endless book.
What I like most about this book is also what I dislike most: the often
undecipherable and random ramblings provide almost no help for the reader
to divine meaning from the story. I doubt that one would find Cliff’s
Notes on the book; literary explication seems to be almost pointless for
the twisted story.
But the fact that confusion and a lack of concrete meaning exists in Burroughs’
writing means that the reader is on an exciting ride. Between Burroughs’
hallucinations and his drug deals in Interzone, the surreal city without
any locks, there are enough provoking and astounding ideas to rival the
internet. The text, which thrives on its lack of major characters and
cohesion, is alternately disturbing, confusing, and hilarious. Burroughs’
humor has its own twisted feel to it, and I laughed out loud at numerous
points. The book may be a little (or a lot) too flavorful for some readers’
palates; however, I would gladly reread is, in my estimation, an endless
book. What I like most about this book is also what I dislike most: the
often undecipherable and random ramblings provide almost no help for the
reader to divine meaning from the story. I doubt that one would find Cliff’s
Notes on the book; literary explication seems to be almost pointless for
the twisted story.
But the fact that confusion and a lack of concrete meaning exists in Burroughs’
writing means that the reader is on an exciting ride. Between Burroughs’
hallucinations and his drug deals in Interzone, the surreal city without
any locks, there are enough provoking and astounding ideas to rival the
internet. The text, which thrives on its lack of major characters and
cohesion, is alternately disturbing, confusing, and hilarious. Burroughs’
humor has its own twisted feel to it, and I laughed out loud at numerous
points. The book may be a little (or a lot) too flavorful for some readers’
palates; however, I would gladly reread Naked Lunch with the anticipation
of an engaging and entirely new experience, independent of the first reading.
The Metamorphosis
Author: Franz Kafka
Any reader knows
he has began a unique tale when the main character turns into a giant
bug in the first sentence. In the famous story by Franz Kafka, Gregor
Samsa has found himself transformed in his own bed and must find a way
to deal with his literal alienation. I found Gregor Samsa to be one big
metaphor: his existence as a bug leaves him linguistically and socially
isolated. His family cannot understand what he says and they assume (wrongly)
that he cannot understand them. This predicament perhaps mirrors the predicament
of middle class youth or Jews in Europe during the middle of the 20th
century.
The basic concept of the book – a man turns into a giant insect –
is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the story. Kafka writes precisely:
if the reader pays attention he can see, even with a translation, that
Kafka chooses his words and especially his verb tenses carefully. The
word natural or some form of it appears repeatedly throughout the book
and has a direct bearing on the events that follow. Indeed, the word metamorphosis
is a term originating in the study of natural processes. It also seems
that Gregor could be paying the price of falling out of tune with human
nature: Kafka emphasizes the importance of work and money to Gregor and
he may be making a statement about the price that earning a living in
modern Europe extracts from the natural quality of life.
No matter what Kafka’s message is, the book is thick with symbols
and metaphor. Language is a key point, as Gregor effectively loses the
ability to communicate and nobody will communicate with him. Another interesting
point to consider is one that I discovered on a second perusal of the
book: Gregor gains many new abilities when he turns into a bug (for example:
he can walk on walls and almost anywhere) but nobody, including the reader,
considers his metamorphosis to be a positive one. The family is understandably
terrified of Gregor at first, but after they have enough evidence to know
that he is harmless only the younger sister wants anything to do with
him. Gregor’s new state could be seen as positive, but the fact that
he cannot communicate and he only eats rotten food convinces everyone
that the metamorphosis is a disaster. The book has few glimmers of optimism
(Gregor dies in the end) and only refrains from being a dark horror story
a la Poe because of the somewhat cumbersome and unthreatening writing
style of Kafka. Despite the exciting subject matter the story moves slowly,
but I still enjoyed it.
Lolita
Author: Vladimir Nabokov
The famous story
of Lolita: a man has penchant for young (very young) girls and rents a
room in household where a particularly striking girl (Lolita) lives. He
eventually marries her mother, who eventually dies, and he goes on long
road trips, building a lecherous and mutually manipulative relationship
until the girl finally decides to leave him some 15 months later. He eventually
finds the other man who convinced her to leave and kills him. The man
then goes to jail where he writes his story, the book Lolita.
In my estimation no writer is more linguistically skilled or erudite then
Vladimir Nabokov. He crafts his stories meticulously, including countless
wordplays and allusions, most of which I could not grasp. Due to this
precise weaving, the story takes effort to understand and navigate through.
In reality, it is a dark story – the narrator Humbert has an extremely
sexual and dependent relationship with a pre-teen girl, lies to become
her legal guardian, and shoots her other seducer, an insane child pornographer.
The novel is filled with sudden deaths, including the famous death of
Humbert’s mother in the exposition: “ My very photogenic mother
died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three.”
Despite these alarming and disastrous themes, the book does not read as
a dark tale. Instead, it reads as a fanciful and elaborate story, like
the crafting of frilly white cake that pungent black jelly, perhaps. That
may be over dramatizing the idea, but Nabokov does a remarkable job of
masking the evil deeds of the book behind an elaborate and usually cryptic
vernacular. This proves one of Nabokov’s points in the book: language
has the power to simultaneously reveal and conceal. I found the main character
Humbert to be quite intelligent but highly deceptive. This effect was
created by the aforementioned vernacular and the narrative point of view
of the story.
I love and respect the book Lolita, but I fell like I have not completely
grasped it. It is certainly a difficult read because of the complex style
of writing, but most high school students could follow the story easily.
What is more difficult is catching the references and jokes of Nabokov.
Experiencing the nuances of Nabokov’s writing takes effort and ability,
and I came up short. I plan to find more enjoyment from another reading
of the book in a year or two, but for now it is an arduous but still rewarding
experience.
Jennifer Government
Author: Max Barry
Jennifer Government
offers the reader an antithesis of the future proposed by Orwell’s
1984. This version has the U.S. nearing world domination and a capitalist
economy so unrestricted that companies are contracting people to kill
individuals who buy their products so that the product will gain publicity
and prestige. Jennifer Government is at times funny and at times insightful
in its approach to a truly free market and its implications on society.
As a science fiction novel, it lacks inordinate amounts of technology
or aliens. Instead, Jennifer Government dabbles in a future where Mattel
sponsors most public education and civilians adopt their employing company’s
name as their last name (the main character’s name is Hack Nike;
his adversaries are John Nike and John Nike).
Jennifer Government is by no means a masterpiece, nor does it exhibit
a highly tuned and innovative writing style. What the book does have to
offer is some interesting suggestions about a future based on the economy,
with some interesting implications of its own. I am attracted to any book
that provides creative, surprising, yet logical conjectures about society
that make you laugh and think.
Jennifer Government is, of course, the name of an agent who works for
the government. Barry’s use of her name has the potential of entering
into American speech in the same way that Catch-22 did. In fact, the book
is similar to Catch-22 in composition and sense of humor. The denouncement
of a hands-way-off government is too obvious, but Barry lets humor flow
through his satire almost as well as Twain.
Though the book lacks the luster of originality in style, it makes up
for it with a luster of content. Despite the shortcomings, I thoroughly
enjoyed the story. The characters are as close to stock characters as
you can get, the paths of the storylines are predictable, and the author
is slow to dish out any powerful metaphors to enhance the events. Still,
the way in which Barry allows private businesses to take over in the story
is mind-boggling and delightful, and he backs it up with a penchant for
description that allows the reader to visualize the story clearly. Unfortunately,
the picture that emerges isn’t as pleasing to the eye as it could
be.
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