literature studies

literature + writing blog

[raylangivins]

has everyone seen the website that gives you a rothko for your local weather?

[literaturestudies]

I started this blog in 2016 as a way to explore my love of literature and art through a shared online space. Now 10 years later I have a PhD in English Literature and Creative Writing studying ekphrastic paintings. I thought I’d be horrified and embarrassed looking back at this blog, but I feel happy and think my younger self would be proud of where I am today.

[bebemoon]

“…the celestial silence of the moon.”

— Juan Ramón Jiménez, from “Portrait of an Unseasonable Time,” wr. c. 1911 (via violentwavesofemotion)

[vesselsofmercy]

“Love is ultimately poverty. Love is not having.”

– Clarice Lispector, from Complete Stories; “The Egg and the Chicken,”

[heartshop]

Anne Carson, Decreation

[bluebeardsbride-archive]

#this reminds me of tarkovsky’s ‘if it involves less than total giving it is not love’ #the heart is also the cemetery (via feuillesmortes)

[relatablepoetryandquotes]

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” - Franz Kafka

[byjoveimbeinghumble]

A research tip from a friendly neighborhood librarian! 

I want to introduce you to the wonderful world of subject librarians and Libguides. 

I’m sure it’s common knowledge that scholars and writers have academic specialties. The same is true for subject librarians! Most libraries use a tool called Libguides to amass and describe resources on a given topic, course, work, person, etc. (I use them for everything. All hail Libguides.) These resources can include: print and ebooks, databases, journals, full-text collections, films/video, leading scholars, data visualizations, recommended search terms, archival collections, digital collections, reliable web resources, oral histories, and professional organizations. 

So, consider that somewhere out there in the world, there may be a librarian with a subject specialty on the topic you’re writing on, and this librarian may have made a libguide for it. 

Are you writing about vampires? 

Duquesne University has a guide on Dracula

University of Northern Iowa: Monsters and Religion

Fontbonne University has a particularly good one on Monsters, Ghosts, and Mysteries

Washington University in St. Louis: a course guide on Monsters and Strangeness 

How about poverty? 

Michigan State: Poverty and Inequality with great recommended terms and links to datasets 

Notre Dame: a multimedia guide on Poverty Studies.

Do you need particular details about how medicine or hygiene was practiced in early 20th century America?

UNC Chapel Hill: Food and Nutrition through the 20th Century (with a whole section on race, gender, and class)

Brown University: Primary Sources for History of Health in the Americas

Duke University: Ad*Access, a digital collection of advertisements from the early 20th century, with a section on beauty and hygiene  

You can learn about Japanese Imperial maps, the American West, controlled vocabularies, Crimes against art and art forgeries, anti-Catholicism, East European and Eurasian vernacular languages, geology, vaudeville, home improvement and repairs, big data, death and dying, and conspiracy theories.

Because you’re searching library collections, you won’t have access to all the content in the guides, and there will probably be some link rot (dead links), but you can still request resources through your own library with interlibrary loan, or even request that your library purchase the resources! Even without the possibility of full-text access, libguides can give you the words, works, people, sites, and collections to improve your research.

Search [your topic] + libguide and see what you get!

[violentwavesofemotion-deactivat]

“She had swallowed her own heart and she could hardly stand it,”

— Clarice Lispector, from “The Chandelier,” originally published c. 1946

[studyblr]

study tip: don‘t think about studying as something you need to do. that implies it’s some tedious process, something you can’t really enjoy, just another task ruining your day. rather, try to enjoy the process. think of yourself as someone who loves the subject, who loves studying for the sake of learning. you’re someone for whom studying comes easily, it’s just another good part of your day. if you change your identity and sense of self from someone who struggles with studying or with a particular task, it will be much easier to get done, as we always strive to stay consistent with who we think we are. think of yourself as a productive person, and it's much easier to act like a productive person would.

[valakusjo]

reblog if the dark academia community has ever made you feel excluded, unwanted, unworthy

[pastperfectcontinuous]

Art coaxes out of us emotions we normally do not feel. It is not that art sets out to shock (that is rare), it is rather that art occupies ground unconquered by social niceties. Seeking neither to please nor to displease, art works to enlarge emotional possibility. In a dead society that inevitably puts it on the side of the rebels. Do not mistake me, I am not of the voting party of bohemians and bad boys, and the rebelliousness of art does not make every rebel an artist. The rebellion of art is a daily rebellion against the state of living death routinely called real life.

Jeanette Winterson, Art Objects: Essays on Ecstacy and Effrontery

Where every public decision has to be justified in the scale of corporate profit, poetry unsettles these apparently self-evident propositions, not through ideology, but by its very presence and ways of being, its embodiment of states of longing and desire.

Adrienne Rich, What is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics

[nehmesis]

Margaret Atwood, published on Eating Fire;

[parisgellerstudy]

MASSIVE list of book recs

plays

death of a salesman, arthur miller

macbeth, shakespeare

a streetcar named desire, tennessee williams

hamlet, shakespeare

a raisin in the sun, lorraine hansberry

a midsummer night’s dream, shakespeare

antigone, sophocles

king lear, shakespeare

the glass menagerie, tennessee williams

othello, shakespeare

pygmalion, george bernard shaw

the tempest, shakespeare,

much ado about nothing, shakespeare

as you like it, shakespeare

the taming of the shrew, shakespeare

the merry wives of windsor, shakespeare

the merchant of venice, shakespeare

oedipus rex, sophocles

an ideal husband, oscar wilde

who’s afraid of virginia wolf, edward albee

our town, thornton wilder

waiting for godot, samuel beckett

fantasy/fairy tales

the ranger’s apprentice, john flanagan

harry potter series, j.k. rowling

inkheart by cornelia funke

throne of glass, sarah j. maas

the chronicles of narnia, c.s. louis

the lord of the rings, j.r.r. tolkien

the hobbit, j.r.r. tolkien

percy jackson and the olympions, rick riordan

eragon by christopher paolini

the bartimaeus trilogy, jonathan stroud

howl’s moving castle, dianna wynne jones

the wonderful wizard of oz, lyman frank baum

the books of bayern, shannon hale

ella enchanted, gail carson levine

the princess bride, william goldman

the raven cycle, maggie stiefvater

the sisters grimm, michael buckley

the spiderwick chronicles, tony diterlizzi and holly black

the alchemist, paulo coelho

forgive my fins, tera lynn childs

alice in wonderland, lewis carroll

the faerie path, allan jones frewin

the school for good and evil, soman chainani

the grimm legacy, polly shulman

the sweetest spell, suzanne selfors

the tales of the frog princess, e.d. baker

the wide-awake princess, e.d. baker

once a witch, carolyn maccullough

the silver bowl series, diane stanley

the emily windsnap series, liz kessler

fairest, gail carson levine

the fairy realm series, emily rodda

the water mirror, kai meyer

the two princesses of bamarre, gail carson levine

non-fiction

the seven habits of highly effective people, stephen covey

the seven habits of highly effective teens, sean covey

mencken’s chrestomathy, h.l. mencken

yes please, amy poehler

is everyone hanging out without me? (and other concerns), mindy kaling

audrey hepburn: an elegant spirit, sean hepburn ferrer

how to be lovely: the audrey hepburn way of life, melissa hellstern

how to win friends and influence people, dale carnegie

how to win friends and influence people for teen girls, donna dale carnegie

#girlboss by sophia amuroso

14,000 things to be happy about, barbara ann kipfer

choose to matter, julie foudy

the little book of skin care: korean beauty secrets for healthy, glowing skin, charlotte cho

where stylists shop: the fashion insider’s ultimate guide, booth moore

the girls’ book of glamour: a guide to being a goddess, jeffrie sally

the girls’ book: how to be the best at everything, juliana foster

the girls’ book of excellence: even more ways to be the best at everything, sally norton

the life-changing magic of not giving a f*ck: how to stop spending time you don’t have with people you don’t like doing things you don’t want to do (a no f*cks given guide), sarah knight

bossypants, tina fey

we should all be feminists by chimamanda ngozi adichie

behind the scenes: or, thirty years a slave, and four years in the white house, elizabeth keckley

the pillow book, sei shōnagon

eat pretty: nutrition for beauty, inside and out, jolene hart

eat pretty every day: 365 daily inspirations for nourishing beauty, inside and out, jolene hart

narrative of the life of frederick douglass, frederick douglass

narrative of sojourner truth, sojourner truth

12 years a slave, solomon northup

night, elie wiesel

poetry

the flowers of evil, charles baudelaire

a season in hell, arthur rimbaud

she walks in beauty, lord byron

shakespeare’s sonnets, shakespeare

we real cool, gwendolyn brooks

poems of emily dickinson

poems of robert frost

leaves of grass, walt whitman

the raven, edgar allen poe

poems of edgar allen poe

milk and honey by rupi kaur

the sun and her flowers, rupi kaur

the princess saves herself in this one, amanda lovelace

romance

romeo and juliet, shakespeare

emma, jane austen

ever, gail carson levine

pride and prejudice, jane austen

eleanor and park, rainbow rowell

sense and sensibility, jane austen

jane eyre, charlotte brontë

landline, rainbow rowell

madame bovary, gustave flaubert

to all the boys i’ve loved before, jenny han

love in the time of cholera, gabriel garcía márquez

the sun is also a star, nicola yoon

young adult

fangirl, rainbow rowell

great expectations, charles dickens

aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe, benjamin alire sáenz

when the moon was ours, anna-marie mclemore

the goldfinch, donna tartt

looking for alaska, john green

we were liars, e. lockhart

the wrath and the dawn, renée ahdieh

little women, louisa may alcott

palace of spies, sarah zettel

the clique series, lisi harrison

the finishing school series, gail carriger

eyes like stars, lisa mantchev

the ever after high series, shannon hale

along for the ride, sarah dessen

girl online, zoe sugg

keeping the castle, patrice kindl

stargirl, jerry spinelli

stir it up, ramin ganeshram

prom and prejudice, elizabeth eulberg

the summer i saved the world…in 65 days, michele weber hurwitz

pink and green series by lisa greenwald

six of crows, leigh bardugo

the catcher in the rye, j.d. salinger

the house on mango street, sandra cisneros

turtles all the way down, john green

under the lights, dahlia adler

geekerella, ashley poston

simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda, becky albertalli

it’s not like it’s a secret, misa sugiura

the idiot, elif batuman

the outsiders, s.e. hinton

everything leads to you, nina lacour

a wrinkle in time, madeleine l’engle

dumplin’, julie murphy

historical fiction

the great gatsby, f. scott fitzgerald

the scarlet letter, nathaniel hawthorne

a tale of two cities, charles dickens

the song of achilles, madeline miller

the last of the mohicans, james fenimore cooper

the constant princess, philippa gregory

the count of monte cristo, alexandre dumas

les misérables, victor hugo

war and peace, leo tolstoy

a mad, wicked folly, sharon biggs waller

manor of secrets, katherine longshore

to kill a mockingbird, harper lee

uncle tom’s cabin, harriet beecher stowe

atonement ian mcewan

the unbearable lightness of being, milan kundera

things fall apart, chinua achebe

ophelia, lisa m. klein

the god of small things, arundhati roy

gothic fiction

frankenstein, mary shelley

dracula, bram stoker

the picture of dorian gray, oscar wilde

wuthering heights, emily brontë

parody/satire

catch-22, joseph heller 

candide, voltaire

don quixote, miguel de cervantes

animal farm, george orwell

the importance of being earnest, oscar wilde

science fiction

the city of ember, jeanne duprau

1984, george orwell

the handmaid’s tale, margaret atwood

brave new world, aldous huxley

the lunar chronicles, marissa meyer

the time machine, h.g. wells

the fourteenth goldfish, jennifer l. holm

fahrenheit 451, ray bradbury

twenty thousand leagues under the sea, jules verne

the extraordinary voyages series, jules verne

epics

beowulf, author unknow

the odyssey, homer

the iliad, homer

the bhagavad gita, vyasa

the mahabharata, vyasa

inferno, dante alighieri

miscellaneous

the bell jar, sylvia plath

the secret history, donna tartt

swann’s way, marcel proust

the art of war, sun tzu

the awakening, kate chopin

moby dick, herman melville

anna karenina, leo tolstoy

the canterbury tales, geoffrey chaucer

the crucible, arthur miller

one flew over the cuckoo’s nest, ken kesey

the antichrist, friedrich nietzsche

sew zoey, nancy taylor and chloe zhang

the candymakers, wendy mass

my sister the vampire series, sienna mercer

eight hundred grapes, laura dave

their eyes were watching god, zora neale hurston

the adventures of huckleberry finn, mark twain

the adventures of tom sawyer, mark twain

a christmas carol, charles dickens

the old man and the sea, ernest hemingway

to the lighthouse, virginia woolf

utopia, thomas more

a spy in the house of love, anaïs nin

crime and punishment, fyodor dostoyevsky

the assistants, camille perri

a room of one’s own, virginia woolf

the joy luck club, amy tan

sputnik sweetheart, haruki murakami

the namesake, jhumpa lahiri

a thousand splendid suns, khaled hosseini

crazy rich asians, kevin kwan

save the date, morgan matson

neuromancer, william gibson

thanks for reading! i hope this helped some of you out. hugs, mel ✨✨✨

[adrasteiax]

“Men have used her meanly. She will eat them. Eat them, eat them, eat them in the end.”

— Sylvia Plath, from Three Women in “The Collected Poems Of Sylvia Plath”

[weepforadonais]

“The eternal Hunger sits, but pity and awe soothe her pale rage, nor dares she to deface so fair a prey,”

— Percy Bysshe Shelley, from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats.

[twirld]

Judith with the Head of Holofernes (ca.1633-37, detail) Francesco Cairo

[valakusjo]

What is Dark Academia?

I’ve seen a lot of questions recently about what the term dark academia means, so I thought I’d break it down into a generalised, comprehensive post for those interested. This is referencing dark academia as a subculture, rather than the genre of literature.

Definition:

Dark

The condition of being hidden from view, obscure, or unknown; obscurity. in the dark: in concealment or secrecy.

Absence of light; dark state or condition; darkness, esp. that of night.

Dark colour or shade.

 Academia

The environment or community concerned with the pursuit of research, education, and scholarship.

These definitions dictate the essential structure of the subculture. The ‘dark’ part of academia can be literal: the fashion style predominantly focuses on dark colours, the photography is darker, emphasis on evenings and nights, dim lighting, preferences for autumn and winter, etc. But the darkness can also mean mystery, as suggested above – a lot of the community pride themselves in being mysterious or private.

This darkness can also be applied to the academic half of this subculture – often people enjoy the darker sides of the subjects they are studying, for example gothic literature or historical tragedy.

Academia is the other significant part of this subculture. It focuses heavily on learning, studying, working hard for the things you are passionate about. You do not have to be a student to be a dark academic, as what makes you an academic in this regard is a consistent desire to learn.

These are the two main principles of the dark academia subculture, and they can be adaptable to your own lifestyle. There are, however, other traits associated with this community which I will discuss.

Other:

Buying Vintage or Second-hand. There is a focus on buying second-hand clothes, books, items, accessories. Whilst this is not always possible for each individual for many reasons, it is encouraged as not only does it help the environment, but it is always interesting to buy something with a history behind it. But do not be ashamed if you cannot – there are plenty of big retailers that sell clothes/items that can fit into this lifestyle.

Studying. You can study anything: science, literature, history, sports, cookery, etc. The core principle of academia is learning and being passionate about what you love, regardless of the subject. Even if you have a regular nine-to-five job, you can still spend your free time reading, studying, writing, visiting museums, art galleries, the theatre.

Name. The people within the subculture are often referred to as ‘academics’.

Influences:

This subculture stems heavily from the genre of literature, which is commonly based in an academic setting, such as a university, and has dark themes involving murder, the occult, suicide, etc. Particular influences are Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, and Kill Your Darlings dir. by John Krokidas, to name a few. These often involve characters with morally dubious actions, such as murder (prevalent in both titles above). The subculture, however, removes these immoral traits and focuses on the other parts of it – the dark colours, the desperation to learn more, vintage things, etc. Both of these texts also encourage rebellion of the norm, which is how the occurrence of buying vintage/second-hand came about (anti-consumerism, focuses on quality rather than quantity), and so rejection of current societal standards is common within this subculture.

On the flip side of this is something called light academia, which is the sister subculture to dark academia. It focuses on brighter colours, spring and summer, dawn and day, lighter topics of academia.  

Summary:

In short, the foundations of dark academia are the desire to learn more, to absorb yourself into your studies (be they university studies or your own personal studies) similarly to the ‘studyblr’ community, and a focus on darker things such as colours, seasons, areas of research, etc.

Disclaimer: these are merely guidelines and observations made on the current subculture. You can apply this to the things you love, have your own unique version of dark academia – there are no set rules. We are working to be an inclusive, welcoming community to newcomers, and encourage diversity within race, gender and sexuality.

[violentwavesofemotion-deactivat]

Franz Kafka, from a letter to Milena Jesenská wr. c. September 1920