#head heart

[merulae]

Heart weeps.  Head tries to help heart.  Head tries to tell heart how it is, again:  You will lose the ones you love. They will all go. But even the earth will go, someday.  Heart feels better, then.  But the words of head do not remain long in the ears of heart.  Heart is so new to this.  I want them back, says heart.  Head is all heart has.  Help, head. Help heart.

Lydia Davis, “Head, Heart” in The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis

[bts-and-aesthetic-pics]

[mad-lizarrd]

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7

Day 2 - head | heart

[irrelephanthope]

[flame-of-ostwick-archive]

Heart weeps. Head tries to help heart.

Lydia Davis, "Head, Heart"

[hashtagenglishmajor-blog]

6 of the best things I’ve read for class and 1 of the best things I haven’t

Because I wouldn’t have read them if someone hadn’t forced me to, so now I’m forcing you

1. Twelfth Night, or What you Will by William Shakespeare                “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit”

Disguise, mistaken identity, forbidden romance, unbelievably witty snarky fights, clever women, crossdressing, and a modern adaptation starring Amanda Bynes? What’s not to love? Twelfth Night is incredibly funny, and my absolute favorite out of the works by Shakespeare I’ve encountered (which, to be fair, isn’t that many). I read this play in my Intro to Lit Study I class, and I wrote one of my favorite essays I’ve ever written about it. And then I watched She’s the Man again.

2. “Head, Heart” by Lydia Davis            “Help, head. Help heart.”

This is a wonderful little poem that packs a lot of punch into a few short lines. I don’t have too terribly much to say about it, other than to eagerly encourage anyone and everyone reading this to go check it out for themselves. Of course, that’s my goal with everything on this list, but this particular entry is very short and readily accessible with just one quick Google search. Go ahead, Google away and enjoy. I’ll wait.

3. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie            “It had come about exactly in the way things happened in books”

This one I read for a class called Detective Fiction and Film. I’ve always had a considerable liking for mystery stories (I live for the triumphant moment when I actually figure out the twist more than two pages before it’s revealed), but somehow I’d never cracked open an Agatha Christie novel. This was one of those times a class forced me to read a great book I’d somewhat meant to read but probably never would have gotten around to picking up myself. For the record, I totally failed to guess the murderer. I know, I’m disappointed in me, too.

4. “Mid-Term Break” by Seamus Heaney            “Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest, / Away at school”

Seamus Heaney’s poetry is some of the more accessible I’ve read, but even so I definitely would not have read it if I hadn’t taken Modern Irish Literature. Sorry, Seamus. That said, the more I delved into his poems the more I liked them. Having to write a 9-page research paper on just a few poems really helps you form an attachment. “Mid-Term Break” sticks with me (haunts me, really) in a way none of the others really do. The narrative is clear and easy to understand, even as the reader is as alienated as the speaker from the events. It’s easy to feel what the speaker feels. My heart drops every time I hit that last line.

5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley             “If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear”

What I learned reading this book for class is that I really did not know the story of Frankenstein and his creature that well. I haven’t consumed a lot of Frankenstein-centered content, but I thought I knew the gist of the book. In actuality, I found the book contained a lot of central figures and ideas that are simply missing from the general public’s view of Frankenstein, or at least mine pre-reading (“Who is this Elizabeth person? And Clerval? Wait, I know Frankenstein-is-the-doctor-not-the-monster, but he’s not even the narrator? What’s up with this guy Walton?”). There were, of course, pieces that were familiar to me. For example, I knew the poor creature just wants to find love and decides that murder and threats are the appropriate course of action to achieve this goal. Whether you know it’s coming or not, it makes for an exciting read.

6. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs            “I am telling you the plain truth”

This, you may notice, is the only thing on my list that isn’t a novel or a poem. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a nonfiction slave narrative that I read for the first time this semester, but I definitely intend to read it again and recommend it far and wide. The autobiographical narrative follows, as you may have gleaned from the title, the life of a slave girl (referred to throughout by a pseudonym, Linda). Harriet’s story is a tragic story of suffering, but it is also a beautiful story of her perseverance, strength, love, and faith. Importantly, it is more than simply a documentation of her own trials—though that would have been enough. It is also a plea and a call to action for Northern women, asking for their help to end slavery and the suffering of their fellow women. In short, Harriet Jacobs was boss.

+1. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater            “Blue was a fanciful, but sensible thing. Like a platypus, or one of those sandwiches that had been cut into circles for a fancy tea party.”

Magical realism, dynamic characters so real you can hear them breathing, street racing, talking forests, psychics, rich and arrogant teenagers, deep and life-changing friendships, dangerous and desperate quests—I could go on for a while, but I think this brief list is a nice sampling of the incredibly large number of things the Raven Cycle has to offer.

Maggie Stiefvater’s four-book series has so much depth and so many layers it might take twice as much time to dig through them all as the years it took her to craft them. She herself said that “My goal with the Raven Cycle was to write a series that rewarded the re-read (and the re-read of the re-read) and required the reader to pay rather closer attention.” I’m confident they’d stand up to a semester’s worth of critical analysis—and likely much more. Besides that, they are simply breathtakingly easy to fall in love with.

The final book in the Cycle, The Raven King, came out April 26th, which means there is plenty of time for professors to catch up on them and prepare a course that could be offered next spring. I’m just saying…

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(***disclaimer--this post was originally written as an assignment for my intro to literary study ii class)

[pytmeddet]

Heart weeps. Head tries to help heart. Head tells heart how it is, again: You will lose the ones you love.  They will all go.  But even the earth will go, someday. Heart feels better, then. But the words of head do not remain long in the ears of heart. Heart is so new to this. I want them back, says heart. Head is all heart has. Help, head.  Help heart.

Lydia Davis, Head, Heart.