Part 1: Reader and Writer Biography
As an English major with the affinity for literary analysis, I quite enjoy the process of synthesizing close reading and academic research to form a coherent argument about any given text. Engaging with media in this formal environment has proven to be quite fruitful for my critical thinking capabilities, and such analysis is conducive to a generally meaningful relationship with media (both inside and outside of academic settings). However, I am also an avid Twitter and Tumblr user and find it easy to express a more casual, opinionated voice in this sort of arena. Writing a lengthy academic paper about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example, flexes different muscles than my informal, personal, and sometimes sardonic musings on social media. I treasure my formal and analytical voice just as much as my “fangirl” voice, but the latter does not often bleed into academic work. On Tumblr or Twitter, however, the process of collaboration is much more immediate and even satisfying, because I am afforded instant access to the thoughts of those who care equally about entertainment media. In sum, both academic and more fan-based modes of communication offer great joy and present opportunities to tackle the media that thrills me (or infuriates me, or baffles me).
In regard to reading preferences, I adore the “traditional” novel structure and find myself drawn to that format of fiction more often than graphic novels or poetic storytelling. However, I do read the occasional comic and am consistently impressed by the added dimension that visual art provides for a text. I will admit that poems, especially those of the dense variety, are not my forte (a topical admission to make at the commencement of a Milton class, perhaps?). Despite this aversion, confounding literature provides the most rewarding fodder for analysis, so I am excited to approach Milton’s tough material this semester and build upon my appreciation for an author with whom I have only dabbled. (On Twitter, in contrast, I might post something short and not-so-sweet about the ineffability of Milton). I also enjoy a stimulating scholarly essay, especially one that approaches another text from fresh and critical angles; these sorts of analysis will be particularly useful for a text so challenging as Paradise Lost and will aid me in my own preferred form of writing, the scholarly paper. Let the Milton extravaganza begin!