From the Mixed Up Bloggings of Annie Em

Posts Tagged ‘literature

Brave Writers

Posted by: annieem on: October 12, 2009

“[M]erely to write fiction is an optimistic gesture: pessimists don’t write novels. To write is to make a plea for some sort of human sympathy and communication. To write is to risk being rejected, ridiculed, misunderstood. To write is to make contact between the world out there and the world in here, both of them [...]

Aging Lotharios?

Posted by: annieem on: July 5, 2009

I know I’m not the only one: I read several novels at a time. One is usually in the kitchen; the other by my bed, a third in the living room (or even the bathroom, though magazines are more appropriate there since I need a pen or post its when I read).
By some odd coincidence, [...]

Summertime Blogging

Posted by: annieem on: May 26, 2009

The Academic Blogosphere (the blogging world in which I live) seems to go on semi-hiatus once classes end—or at least once they end for you semester system schools. We on the quarter system are still plugging away for 2 more weeks. Interestingly, I’ve found few community college instructors who are bloggers (as is also true with [...]

Because Most People Stop With the Z

Posted by: annieem on: April 12, 2009

At a packed house Easter sermon this morning, our pastor read from Dr. Seuss’ classic but lesser known work, On Beyond Zebra. Now, this didn’t surprise me, since as I’ve noted briefly before, he twitters ideas from the sermons he is working on each week. 
But I hadn’t read this particular work before so I wasn’t sure what theological [...]

Why the Humanities Matter

Posted by: annieem on: February 22, 2009

Still grading analysis essays this Sunday (and they are, as they were last quarter as I’ve noted here, a joy to read for the most part since for many students, this is their first true understanding of how to do analysis and interpretation), so no new posting. But here are a few highlights from the [...]

Why Does Literature Matter?

Posted by: annieem on: December 16, 2008

My Oprah’s Book Club talk last week (discussed here) led to a 3-page conclusion on why her 12-year old book club encourages readers to address the question, why does literature matter?  I quoted Morris Dickstein’s recent essay (also posted here).  I always bring this question up in my literature classes (from introductory to senior seminars) and it [...]

Preaching the Gospel of Reading

Posted by: annieem on: December 8, 2008

Evan Agostini / Getty Images file

I just finished doing a run through of my presentation on Oprah’s Book Club that I’ve titled “Preaching the Gospel of Reading” (not exactly an original title considering all the essays on OBC that use variations on that title), practicing for the Wednesday morning presentation.  I finally found a clear, and [...]

What a Long Strange Trip It Is

Posted by: annieem on: November 29, 2008

Well, since I finished reading most of the research paper drafts (see post below), I did some errands and surfed through my blogroll for a bit to catch up.  I must tell you about the following article I discovered:
It’s an article that, serendipitously, relates to a project I’m working on, and, at the same time, [...]


About Annie Em

Annie Em is a professor of English who, like oodles of other academics, blogs about her work, her readings, her life. E-mail Annie at annieem [at] ymail [dot] com or leave a comment.

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