books

I took an English course this past semester that covered poetry, film and the gothic novel. The term got off to a good start with a concise study of poetry. I used to read a fair amount of poetry and the six weeks of study brought me back to those roots. I feel a little revitalized and might pick up a pen again.

Film was interesting. The jargon used in studying film is different from that of literature and posed some problems at first. Talking in class about the techniques used to communicate the director's ideas was awkward in the beginning. It is difficult to discuss a visual medium accurately using only words -- unfamiliar words at that -- and I had a final paper to write comparing and contrasting a novel with a film. Ouch. Fortunately my instructor had a soft spot for me.

The novel. The class covered in rapid succession two novels: Beloved, by Toni Morrison and The Death of Vishnu, by Manil Suri. I started reading Vishnu before Beloved, got halfway through and put it down to focus on other schoolwork. By the time I got back to reading novels I was behind the eight ball and really only scanned through Beloved before getting back to Vishnu.

I have yet to finish Beloved, but I will. The last chapter is looming over me and I suppose I should finish it on general principle. To be fair I think I might find it to be a more enjoyable read the second time through. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and Morrison won a noble prize for literature, how bad can it be?

I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of Vishnu but tired towards the end. The novel is Suri's first and he received a princely sum of an advance for it. His web site says there will be two novels to follow, but I don't think I'll be forking out the money for either: Too many rhetorical questions. I didn't like the overt cleverness of his writing or his message and I'm not going to take the time to re-read it in the hopes of coming to a different conclusion.

So, the point of all this? Stick to poetry.