literature
Random, unpredictable, and inevitable...oh my!
In Anne Dalke’s discussion section, we talked about the last paragraph of The Plague in relation to what we’ve read so far. Many people in the class saw the last sentence as challenging our agency. People seemed troubled by the idea that, no matter what we do, the rats will rise up again – randomly, unpredictably, and inevitably. So what do we do? How do we create things and feel good if we think that no matter what we do, bad things are going to keep happening?
2nd half of the semester
A possible course outline for the final 6 weeks should explore the multiple ways that non-fictional prose can be written. I think continuing our exploration of the different possibilities available to us will be beneficial because we have already seen such amazingly distinct methods of composing (Bechdel's tragiocomic to Shield's). I think that seeing more of this variation will broaden our horizons so I chose books that interest me, but are written differently and cover different topics.
Transforming the unknown into the known
In Solnit's "A Field Guide to Getting Lost" she has a quote on page 5 saying, "But they transform the unknown into the known, haul it in like fishermen; artists get you out into that dark sea." They being scientists. She describes everything in terms of being lost and quite frankly reading the book provides that emotion for you sufficiently. She describes scientists beginning their journey in the dark sea but making their way back by transforming that unknown into the knows, I'm assuming this means discoveries and experimental data. I don't see it that way at all since many of todays science is based on theories and hypothesis' which aren't the known, but more like the assumed.
