Narrative
Dr. Barry Wood is an older man, teaching for at least 40 years, with a breadth of research and scholarship. He doesn't seem too friendly with technology, and in fact encouraged us not to use e-mail to communicate with him, but has an understanding of ideas that would seem to include the advent of technology, and certainly the ideas that bring about technological changes.
I know four of the folks in the seminar: Mandy and another woman who were in Folklore last semester; Chris Webb who was in Bibliography, and another woman who might have been in Bibliography as well (quiet, one of those who rarely say anything ... like me, I suppose). I sat near a guy who is Post-Bac, Alan, and we struck up a conversation. I was disappointed that Wood didn't have everyone introduce themselves or call out a roll, since I was prepared to mark everyone's name down in my page of "Who are the People in my Neighborhood" in my journal. Only 11 of 13 registered students in all.
I contributed, some, to the question of narrative ... what it is, perhaps what it is not. I posited that narrative is more than story and plot, but an attempt to find meaning in story, in our world. Wood seemed to like that. He later came back to my comments and asked me to provide an example and I suggested the novel I just finished, Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter: in and out of reform school, jail, prison, falling in love with the wrong woman, his son taken from him, the hero still find contentment in spite of his pain. Mandy countered, saying that her four year old daughter tells narratives without seeking meaning, but I wonder if that is true, and should research that question.
Have a seminar discussion assignment for 22 Feb on Virgil's Aeneid. Chris Webb has the same topic on the same night, and he's a very sharp student with lots of insight, so I will see it as somewhat a competition. And this is good, as I need some competition. So ordered a copy of the Aeneid and will see what I can add to a conversation that's been going on for over 2000 years.
I know four of the folks in the seminar: Mandy and another woman who were in Folklore last semester; Chris Webb who was in Bibliography, and another woman who might have been in Bibliography as well (quiet, one of those who rarely say anything ... like me, I suppose). I sat near a guy who is Post-Bac, Alan, and we struck up a conversation. I was disappointed that Wood didn't have everyone introduce themselves or call out a roll, since I was prepared to mark everyone's name down in my page of "Who are the People in my Neighborhood" in my journal. Only 11 of 13 registered students in all.
I contributed, some, to the question of narrative ... what it is, perhaps what it is not. I posited that narrative is more than story and plot, but an attempt to find meaning in story, in our world. Wood seemed to like that. He later came back to my comments and asked me to provide an example and I suggested the novel I just finished, Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter: in and out of reform school, jail, prison, falling in love with the wrong woman, his son taken from him, the hero still find contentment in spite of his pain. Mandy countered, saying that her four year old daughter tells narratives without seeking meaning, but I wonder if that is true, and should research that question.
Have a seminar discussion assignment for 22 Feb on Virgil's Aeneid. Chris Webb has the same topic on the same night, and he's a very sharp student with lots of insight, so I will see it as somewhat a competition. And this is good, as I need some competition. So ordered a copy of the Aeneid and will see what I can add to a conversation that's been going on for over 2000 years.
