where literary criticism meets social networks

[Portia]

So. Since I know most of you in the flesh, and those who don't would stalk me anyway, and those who don't care don't care, go read my post (and comment!) for a group blog on New Media. This basically is my main social network, and you are all smart and interested in literature and the series of tubes.

Or don't. But I won't ask you for money. :P

[Portia]

Here's the pitchfor my story for those of you who aren't my Facebook groupies.

I'm treating it more like a magazine story than a purely academic research paper. Think more Board answer, really: photos, accessible language, and hopefully "answering" a question (that fine, I myself pose).

If you're interested in Salt Lake City and literature, you might like this post! I got to touch a first edition--autographed!--of the book I mention last Thursday! :) Hooray HBLL Special Collections.

[Whistler]

I feel some disinterest in your pitches since I'm not from/in Salt Lake City. Are you going for the local thing, or could you make it have a broader appeal to Utah/outdoorspeople?

[Portia]

I feel some disinterest in your pitches since I'm not from/in Salt Lake City. Are you going for the local thing, or could you make it have a broader appeal to Utah/outdoorspeople?

Yeah, these are preliminary pitches, and I will probably hew to the literary angle more than the local angle. That surveying a city is a way of understanding surveying our lives, and that rewriting reality is a metaphor for what the author does. Reading some literary criticism this morning by Oscar Wilde ("all art is useless...") about how our brains construct reality has informed some of my thoughts.

I hope it could be an interesting paper to students of psychology, too!

Salt Lake City is an easy town to know. You can see it all. Lying in a great bowl valley, it can be
surmounted and comprehended and possessed wholly as few cities can. … The streets
are marked by a system so logical that you can instantly tell not merely where you are but
exactly how far you are from anywhere else … Looking into the blank walls of cities … breeds
things in people that eventually have to be lanced.

I think this is a provocative idea, and could feed into some interesting PoMo ideas about "reading" cities, and by extension, ourselves.

[Portia]

Also, this was just published today, and is not only awesome, but relevant.

Does Great Literature Make Us Better?

As a Comp Lit dropout, I feel like you are uniquely qualified to start answering that.

[S.A.M.]

5. Cause + Effect - As a pitch for an article to be published in Salt Lake magazine, find real locations/businesses that match Stegner's false but plausible locations, and compare the real life story of that location/business. That would be interesting reading, and ultimately advertisable.

[Portia]

5. Cause + Effect - As a pitch for an article to be published in Salt Lake magazine, find real locations/businesses that match Stegner's false but plausible locations, and compare the real life story of that location/business. That would be interesting reading, and ultimately advertisable.

yes, I want to do this! I probably will have to write two pieces (school literary criticism + mag article), but it will be good for me. Thanks Anti-Anti-SAM!

[Whistler]

Also, this was just published today, and is not only awesome, but relevant.

Does Great Literature Make Us Better?

As a Comp Lit dropout, I feel like you are uniquely qualified to start answering that.

It was English lit, but thanks. I have a soapbox that basically consists of: "reading is just as much of a waste of time as consuming other types of media, but it somehow seen as better" which the article goes into. I actually don't read books very much anymore, although some of the buying habits remain. Luckily my craziest book sprees occur only when books are really cheap.

[Laser Jock]

That article makes some interesting points, but doesn't even try to address other benefits of reading (which are much more testable, and I feel like probably have been proven? though I guess I'm not totally sure).