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Free document courtesy of Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51060/51060-h/51060-h.htm Penguin Random House https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/296558/the-narrative-of-arthur-gordon-pym-of-nantucket-by-edgar-allan-poe/ ThriftBooks https://www.thriftbooks.com/browse/?b.search=The%20Narrative%20of%20Arthur%20Gordon%20Pym%20of%20Nantucket#b.s=mostPopular-desc&b.p=1&b.pp=50&b.oos&b.tile Broadview Press https://broadviewpress.com/product/the-narrative-of-arthur

This month we're reading  Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit . This is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Jeanette Winterson that explores her coming-of-age as a lesbian in a religious household. Our speaker has a complicated relationship with her mother and religion. Winterson weaves a fantastical narrative throughout the piece, forcing the audience to take a breather from the heaviness of our main speaker's day-to-day life.   As you're reading, think about every time oran

Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe are two of the most influential poets to come out of the 19 th  century. Each of their styles, thematic qualities, and tone, alongside their common life struggles, pairs them together to create a gothic landscape focused on contemplating the impact of religion, life and death, and the power of self-identity. Their impacts on literature in terms of styles and content are incontestable, let alone on society.   To start, Dickinson and Poe’s th

When comparing blud  by Rachel McKibbens and thrall  by Natasha Trethewey, the connections to be made about how the authors use similar motifs are clear. While they are not always discussing the same themes, these collections are an incredible example of how motifs and symbols can be used to express completely different points. That being said, their themes do overlap at times; the authors comment on generational wounds, women of color's experiences, and learned negative beha

Barthes’ stance on who the author is in relation to their audience and story forces us, especially writers, to reconsider the level of importance placed on the author. As a writer myself, I have often spoken with other writers about how important I think it is to not speak when someone is talking to you about your work; mostly when it is a critique of something you’ve written. There have been countless times for me that someone has told me that they noticed a specific image o

Breton talks about the importance of using our imagination and specifically our unconscious imagination from our dreams. The word “surrealism” comes from the French word “sur” meaning on top of added to “realism” and that’s exactly what Breton is talking about in his essay “Manifesto of Surrealism.” He says there’s a need for a “future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality, if one

Arnold’s beliefs were vastly different from the ideas of Mallarmé, especially when looking at what he thought about literature regarding to the creation of ideas. Both Baudelaire and Mallarmé thought about poetry and literature in general to be something that people could use to create new pieces, new ideas, new structures, etc. However, according to Arnold, “The grand work of literary genius is a work of synthesis and exposition, not of analysis and discovery” showing how mu

Baudelaire wrote during a time of revolution that was not just about literature. It was during a period of societal revolution that therefore influenced a political revolution. These things combined led to themes in literature changing drastically. This era was post-enlightenment, which meant that people were less focused on intellectual improvement and discoveries, and ended up being focused more on the emotional sides of life. On top of this, Baudelaire was a part of creati

The article discusses intersectionality as a whole by surveying various scholars who have critiqued it, analyzing its impact, and considering who it takes into account. Nash says we must “engage with its [intersectionality’s] contradictions, absences, and murkiness” as if to say that acknowledging intersectionality in and of itself creates more “murkiness” than the issue at hand (195). The overarching point that Nash seems to be attempting to make is to “expose the assumption

As the idea of nationalism begins to appear in literary criticism starting around the early to mid-1800s, what nationalism means to various writers such as Emerson and Arnold alongside Baudelaire and Mallarmé each generate their own specific legacies. All four share notions of nationalism that seep into the inner workings of their literary criticisms with Emerson and Arnold’s inflated sense of their own country’s importance and impact on the literary world. Baudelaire and Mal