The Alchemist

ALSO whilst I am in the blogging mood! I never wrote what I thought about The Alchemist! I have to say that it was VERY hard going from reading all the very High Brow books to something so fun and simple! It was kind of nice to be able to shut my brain off for a second and just relax and read! No MaMaLuJo and Paddybarkes echo good safe firelamp bappy go gully! No talk of eggs, Shem, Shaun, or Issy! No Burnt, Giddings, Salvages! However (of course) there was the whole theme of "the eternal returen" and the act of beinging where one started and knowing the place for the first time so point proven, High Brow and Low Brow are very much one in the same in the very simpilist of ways. I like that we had to read that book, it was really calming to have such an easy read yet at the end of it I found myself a little in aw that I had just read this entire book and the whole point was that the treasure was where he had begun, and I was also somewhat annoyed at this because there is so much that goes into the High Brow books. There is the theme of coming back to where one started, the eternal return but on top of that there is five other themes lolling around in the book as well, and on top of THAT perhaps the book happens to be in a DREAM LANGUAGE???? So yes I was somewhat stunned when I realized that was all that there was to The Alchemist, yet as I mentioned it was a very nice break!

Final Paper Idea

As for my Final Paper, I was thinking of writing about a young boy named Burnt and involving all the different characters from all our books in some form or another in a short story of the adventures of Burnt the rebelious teen who is kicked out of class one day and sent to the principals office only to notice a man in a pinstriped suit standing under a Yew tree who claims the boy's name is Guddo and that he must hurry with him through the woods to the man's office. Burnt and the man are accompanied by three of his leather clad cronies and rush off in a panic that is at the moment a mystery to poor Burnt. As the story unravels Burnt will eventually begin where he started and of course know the place for the first time.

Word vomit

I loved all the videos! I just watched some of the ones I missed in class (I have been slacking BUT do not be mistaken, Sexson's class is by far my still my favorite) the videos were fantastic and I am glad I stumbled across them on Rio's blog because now if ever I feel the need over the summer to have a quick refresher of all that we have learned I can simply hop on to my handy dandy blog and check it out! Also on a more serious note-- I am somewhat panicing on what stuff to cram into my last few blogs... I breezed through a few of Jennie Lynn's Bloggs and well... that just made me feel like never writing again ESPECIALLY not on such a public site for fear that people will read my low brow mumbo jumbo and giggle at me... god forbid. Then I skimmed through Rio's blogs... and well... he has all those fancy "Smart Pen" things on his blog... and I thought to myself "at least I have the Penguins and the gold fist on my page" perhaps that will be the deciding factor on if I pass this daughnting four-hundred level class? I would not be surprised, those Penguins are amazing. Ah but still here I am waisting time blogging and lacking any and all profound thoughts! At least I am having a hard time articulating them... I could go on for awhile on this one... this is why I rarely blog... ha! I could do a blog on why I don't blog! Hm or not.. I am at a loss, I truely hope that no one reads this blog... which they most likely will not... I am just having a gay ole time typing... I may not even post this one... it is just nice to type. Perhaps I will make the last of my blogs just translations of Finnigins Wake, which is now my favorite book. Yes indeed, I know it is hard to believe but it may have taken the place of the wonderous Harry Potter, MAY HAVE.

Study Guide TEST 2

1. Name Elliot's Four Quartets
-Burnt Norton
-Little Gidding
-East Coker
-Dry Salvages

2. "When I wake I cry to dream again" - Caliban (in Shakespeare's The Tempest)

3. Memorize verbatum: "We shall not cease from exploration/ And the end of all our exploring/ Will be to arrive where we started/ And know the place for the first time."

4. "I only want to please you" - Prospero (from The Tempest) and the lady in the airplane

5. What are the last words from The Following Story?
"the folloing story"

6. What river do they end up on in The Following Story?
The amazon river (the eternal return --> left and returned to the same place)

7. What is the name of the hollowed out book Neo keeps his money in in "The Matrix"?
Simulacra and Simulation

8. What are the symbols for life and death in Elliot's Four Quartets?
the rose (life) and the yew tree (death)

9. What river related symbol represents Anna Livia?
a delta (Δ)

10. What arabic word in The Alchemist means "it is written?"
"maktub"

11. In Little Gidding, what is the cost of simplicity?
everything --> "A condition of complete simplicity (costing not less than everything)" (59)

12. Where does the main character in The Alchemist find the treasure?
under the tree (at home)

13. According to gnostics, what did Jesus come to bring mankind?
knowledge (gnosis)

14. What does Prospero say to Miranda in The Tempest to stimulate her memory?
"What seest thou else in the dark backward and abysm of time?"

15. What is the essence of alchemy according to Christina?
it is a process of purification

16. What little animal is in the garden in Burnt Norton?
a bird

17. What is the nickname given to Herman Mussert by his students?
Socrates (due to the way he looks -->ugly)
* also goes by the pseudonym Dr. Strabo for his travel guides

18. Santiago de Compostela
-->The camino de Santiago is a collection of pilgramage roots all ending at Santiago de Compostela in Spain (taken to experience transcendence) , also called the path of St. James
--> Santiago is the name of main character in The Alchemist who goes on a journey to find his "personal legend"

19. What is the glitch in the matrix?
déjà vu (Neo experiences it with a black cat)

20. answer: "Mysterious mental maneuver"
--> from Vladimir Nabokov's Transparent Things
--> also used to separate the two parts in Noteboom's The Following Story

21. Shakespeare is to Prospero, as Becket is to Malloy (according to Maggie)

22. What is the name of Santiago's desert girl?
Fatima

23. What is:
The emerald tablet:
The Elixir of Life:
The Philosopher's Stone:

24. Who else is on the boat with Herman Mussert?
- child
- priest
- teacher
- academic
- pilot
- journalist

25. What language was The Alchemist originally written in?
Portuguese

26. What is "anima mundi"?
"soul/spirit of the world" --> The Alchemist

27. Which 2 colors symbolize alchemy (the rose)?
red and white (from the wiki article)

28. What is the most repeated word in The Tempest?
"now"

29. What game are Ferdinand and Miranda playing?
chess

30. What is Mussert's profession"
latin teacher, teacher of the classics, and travel guide writer

31. According to Dr. Sexon, what to Miranda's attendants symbolize mythologically speaking?
the 9 muses

32. What is the latin word meaning "time?"
"dies"

33. What are the two exceptions to the rule that low brow books are popular and high brow books are not popular?
(1) the bible and (2) Shakespeare's writings

34. How long is The Following Story; how much time passes?
2 seconds (one for each part)

35. Who is in the foilage in Burnt Norton?
children

36. What story from Ovid's Metamorphosis does Mussert play out for his students?
Phaethon driving his father's chariot

37. Mussert - "The world in a never ending cross reference"

38. Prospero - "Release me from these bands with the help of your great hands"
--> asking the audience to clap if they liked the show (in the end of the book/play

Study Guide Test 1 (that I never posted)

Below are the questions from class that need to be remembered for the test.

1. dolce dumum: home sweet home

2. What kind of litterature goes on during plerosis (the filling up)?
comedy and romance

3. What/Who does Mama Lujo refer to in Finnegans Wake?
Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John

4. What does "God safe firelamp" sound like in Finnegans Wake?
"God save Ireland"

5. Who are the five main characters of Finnegans Wake?
1. HCE
2. ALP
3. Shem
4. Shaun
5. Issy


6. Name 2 of the 4 imaginary lands mentioned at the begining of Haroun and the Sea of Stories.
1. Zemla
2. Zenda
3. Xanado
4. Zafar

7. How does Malloy get into communication with his mother?
By knocking on her skull

8. What happened to Moran's son?
We don't really know for sure

9. $ in "Malloy"
--> gives son 4 pence for bike
--> an indication of the deteration of the character as even material wealth deteriorates by end

10. The begining of "East Coker," in the Four Quartets, begins with what theme from class?
*Myth of Eternal Return
--> memorize the first 3 lines of East Coker: "In my begining is my end. In succession/ Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,/ Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place/ Is an open field, or factory, or a by-pass.

11. Who was the German philosopher that was responsible for the rethinking of the myth of eternal return?
Frederick Nietzsche

12. Nietzsche said, "The closest approximation of coming into being" (I'm what is was in reference to though)

13. portmanteau: when two words are combined to make another word that infers multiple meanings
--> image of a portmanteau brief case with two separate compartments

14. metathesis: corpse + crops = cropse

15. What is the name of the maid in the Skin of Our Teeth? What does it refer to historically?
Her name is "Sabina", and it is a reference to the Sabine women (the abduction of Sabine women by Romans for wives)


16. 4 elements in the Four Quartets
1. Air (Burnt Norton)
2. Earth (East Coker)
3. Water (Dry Salvages)
4. Fire (Little Gidding)

17. Who is Maggie from the Skin of Our Teeth compared to in Finnegans Wake?
Analivia Plurabell

18. Henry = Cain (scar on his forehead is in a "c" shape)

19. demotic language: "dude language"; language of the common men
-->Giambatista Vico's decline of ages/language *gods-heroes-men-chaos-

20. What happens in the space between "the" and "river run..."?
*the whole day
*the completion of the novel through the completion of the sentence

21. What does P2C2E mean?
Process too Complicated to Explain

22. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is profoundly referential to other pieces of literature, to what 4 digit number does Haroun and the Sea of Stories and Finnegans Wake refer to?
1001

23. What is the name of the song played in class to introduce Finnegans Wake?
The Ballad of Tim Finnegan

24. FINNEGAN'S WAKE...what is wrong with this?
There is no apostrophe, indicating it is referring to multiple people, not just one person

*Be familiar with the terms in the glossary of Haroun and the Sea of Stories

*Review the class notes found in Sam Clanton's "master" blog

List of items in the top drawer of my Ugly desk

Drawer Items:
Book- "Many ways to say I Love You" by Mister Rogers, two very large randomly placed and rarely worn metal bracelt cuffs from Thailand, an unpaid parking ticket, yellow note cards, unused calculator, The Sims 3, tanning goggles, white out, pencils of many kinds one of which a person I hate gave me which is of Disney Princesses, a sparkley wallet, Midol, paper clips, lead, a broken mirror that my friend brought back for me from the Moulin Rouge, old chapstick, more old chapstick, a decorative stone that has inscribed the words "Clarity", a piece of paper with my old english teachers phone number on it, Sharpies of multiple colors, a rubber band, an old hearsheys kiss wrapper, hand sanitizer, a tag that says 'Coach' that fell off my purse, a To Do list that never got done, a nail file, a gift card from Salon Rituals (DO NOT GO THERE)

Items in Room

I have a large picture on my wall directly across from my bed, it is huge and it is of some species of purple flowers that I have always been unsure of. Below this gigantic picture is my desk. A white desk, very old. The desk was given to me by my sister who decided one day that she hated the thing and that it was ugly-- I have yet to be grasped by a surge of hate for the desk although many people do comment on the ugliness of the white desk. Atop the ugly desk is my lap top, my crappy, crappy dell that continually shuts down of its own accord and cannot be unplugged from the wall. Dear dell I hate you. There is a framed picture of my dad and I dancing at my brothers wedding in Texas, I love that picture. There is a crappy lamp that my mother pawned off to me from her collection of junk, this lamp matches my ugly desk. Lastly there is a crappy, crappy Dell printer to match my crappy laptop, this printer is just as moody as the laptop. The contents of the drawers I will not go into, maybe I will save that for the listing blog. Next I have a little white cabinet next to my ugly white desk, within this cabinet are all the wonders of make up and hair accessories. Atop my little white cabinet is my brown jewelry box over flowing with gobs of costume jewelry that I will hopefully never wear into public although I love every piece very much (almost as much as my ugly white desk, and my crappy laptop). I have old roses that are crunching onto the top of my dresser from Valentines day-- I should probably throw those away-- and a picture of my childhood friend and I together in Texas, and another framed photo of my family right beside it. My picture frames are ugly and tacky. They are large obnoxious flowers on one of them and the other looks like a boa that belongs to a cheep Vegas stripper, this frame is pink feathered. Do not ask why I have such a profound love of tacky things because I do not understand it either. I have my handy dandy elephant piggy bank, that is much too full because of my horrible spending habits and my constant in flow of change left over from these spending habits. I have a yoga mat shoved in the corner of my room-- much too unused-- and some paper lamps that are also much too rarely used. Ah and now for my bed, it is a huge brass bed that looks like something that floated to shore when the Titanic sank-- anther one of my mothers treasures that she pawned off on me. Covering my brassy wonder of a bed is what my boyfriend describes as a "grandma's comforter" maybe it is just another one of my tacky collections or maybe college kids can't recognize good taste, I am not sure.