Literature Notes
Journeys, Quests and Travel in Literature
The Dual Motifs of the Literary Journal
Literature is built on 2 narratives: A person goes on a journey or a stranger arrives in town. Examples being Gilgamesh wandering in search of immortality
Analyzing Reality
In Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, philologist Erich Auerbach compared 2 foundational journey texts to show how different cultures represent reality. Wrote during WW2 in Istanbul
He argued that The Odyssey is a luminous narrative, everything is clear. Odysseus says and does what he means; we understand his motives.
On the contrary, The story of Abraham and Isaac is considered an obscure narrative. It is mysterious, the meanings lie deep beneath the surface, the motives are left in the shadows
The Archetype of the Quest
A quest narrative is a recurring story structure featuring a hero, a goal, and a challenging journey to reach it, resulting in a transformation
Examples include The Odyssey (A quest to reclaim a kingdom), Beowulf (A quest to destroy monsters and a dragon to protect his people), The Count of Monte Cristo (Edmond Dantes seeks revenge against those who’ve wrongly imprisoned him) AND The Remains of the Day (An almost retired butler takes a road trip, an emotional quest)
Geographical, Ethical and Existential Transformations
Geographical: Features dramatic shifts in location, venturing into unfamiliar or extreme environments
Ethical: Tests and revises the hero’s values and moral beliefs about right and wrong
Existential: Centers on a changed understanding of identity, purpose and place in the universe
The Bildungsroman frequently weaves all 3 together
Examples of a bildungsroman include the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, What did you do during the revolution grandma, the remains of the day, Creation Lake and Shogun
The Aesthetics and Politics of Travel Writing
For most of human history, travel writing was the primary way people encountered distant cultures. Scholars identify 2 broad strands
Autobiographical Project: Using the journey as a means to understand and present oneself (EX: Walden)
External Record: Documenting the details of a specific place or society (EX: South)
Travel writing actively creates the subject in the act of describing it, rather than mirroring reality
Representation and Power: Orientalism and Contact Zones
In Orientalism by Edward Said, he demonstrates how European writers manufactured a distorted, exotic and false image of Middle Eastern and Asian Cultures
In Contact Zones by Mary Louise Pratt, she introduces the concept of social spaces where different cultures meet, often under highly asymmetrical conditions of power
Examples of books with contact zones include Walden, South and The Wonder of England (fictional, ROTD)
Perceptive readers must consider context and whether a portrayal promotes helpful understanding or creates harmful illusions
Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro: Biographical Timeline
Born on November 8th, 1954 in Nagasaki, Japan
In 1960, his family moves to Surrey, UK because his father got invited to work at the National Institute of Oceanography
Attended the Stoughton Primary School and then the Woking County Grammar School
Dreamt of a future as a songwriter, was inspired by songwriters like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen
1978, graduated from the University of Kent, studied English and Philosophy
1979, he enters the creative writing program in East Anglia. Wrote his first stories set in Japan there. Teachers included Malcolm Bradbury and Angela Carter
Other idols included Anton Chekhov and Fyodor Dostoevsky, he was similar to them in that he was drawn to universal experiences such as grief, regret and loss
1989, Wins the Booker Prize and publishes Remains of the Day
2017, Wins a Nobel Prize in Literature. His acceptance speech was titled “My Twentieth Century Evening and Other Small Breakthroughs”
His double upbringing in Japan and England influenced his thematic focus on memory, distance and belonging
The Process of Writing “Remains of the Day”
Wrote the book in an intense 4 weeks he described as “The Crash”
With his wife, Lorna Macdonald’s, support, he was able to clear his schedule and write for long hours
Work without distraction helped Ishiguro pretend to be Steven’s in thought and voice
Faber and Faber was his publisher and Deborah Rodgers was his literary agent
Listening to Tom Waits, an experimental singer-songwriter, and his song “Ruby’s Arms” helped Ishiguro understand the extra detail he needed to complete his book. Steven’s formal voice would slip into something deeply personal when his heart was breaking
When the book was released, Terrence Rafferty from The New Yorker called it “a triumph of craft”, describing Steven’s as one of fictions most reliable unreliable narrators. Anthony Twait focused on the expansion of historical issues in the book such as appeasement, antisemitism and the misuse of authority
Some films Ishiguro has written include
The Saddest Music in the World
The White Countess
Living
The Gourmet
Kazuo Ishiguro: Major Works
A Pale View of Hills, 1982: Follows a Japanese Widow in England recalling post-war Nagasaki
The Remains of the Day, 1989: An aging butler goes on a trip, reflecting on duty, memory and lost love
Never Let Me Go, 2005: A dystopian novel exploring humanity, class, sacrifice and the deep bonds of friendship
John Steinbeck: Travels With Charley
John Steinbeck bio
Born 1902, Salinas CA
Father was the treasurer of Monterey County, Mother was a former schoolteacher
Family was middle class. Gave him an early eye for who held power and who was powerless. By his teenage years he was out working in the fields
Matriculated at Stanford in 1919, weaving in and out until 1925 where he left without a degree. He took courses from all over the catalog, lots of English and Science classes
Started publishing early in The Stanford Spectator with short fiction and sketches. After college he took whatever work he could get. These jobs inspired most of the characters in his books
Late 1920s, he finished his first novel Cup Of Gold. Real recognition arrived with Tortilla Flat in 1935 and then the books started pouring out of him, with The Grapes of Wrath (Won a Pulitzer Prize in 1940) and Of Mice and Men
Turned travel into a research method, sailing with his friend Ed Ricketts to the Gulf of California. This journey produced his book The Sea of Cortez
In 1947 he toured the Soviet Union and wrote up A Russian Journal
His range of writing was enormous. In 1952 he returned to his family history in the Salinas Valley and wrote East of Eden
Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, although some were dismissive of the choice
Married 3 times to Carol Henning, Gwyndolyn Conger and Elaine Scott, having 2 sons with Conger
Died of heart disease on December 20, 1968 in NYC, ashes were sent back to Salinas
“Travels With Charley”
Tells the story of a 1960 road trip Steinbeck took with his poodle Charley in a GMC pickup truck named “Rocinante”. We see an aging Steinbeck who wants to meet his own country again face to face, to see how Americans lives have shifted underneath him
This memoir reveals that no one has an objective perspective, so the image the writer gives is only partial and mediated by his own concerns
His journey has 2 goals. One was personal, after having a stroke at almost 60, he prescribed himself a hard journey that would challenge his body and mind, giving him a chance to rediscover himself. The second was professional, he set to re-encounter America with a fresh perspective. This goal made some tension as he was nostalgic for past America
Takes a road trip of 10,000 miles over 34 states. Culminated in New Orleans where he witnessed white women giving it their all, screaming at 6 year old Ruby Bridges
Portrays himself as reporting on whatever crosses his path although he had his own preoccupations. He gravitates towards people who share his nostalgia and views most new things with distrust
Repeatedly uses a synecdoche, where a part is meant to represent the whole. It can be seen as a logical error in his writing since generalizing a whole country based on one experience in it is wrong. He was very objective about geography, pro rural and anti urban
It is seen that Steinbeck may be an unreliable narrator. When a journalist retraced his journey, many of the places he says he visited appear to be embellished or invented completely. Some things he described simply could not have happened
His New York license plates cause interest with the public
Orders lots of different alcohols at a store and the cashier thinks its for a party, but Steinbeck says it’s just traveling supplies
Describes a farmer as having a yankey face and pronunciation
Elizabeth Bishop: Questions of Travel
Elizabeth Bishop bio
Born 1911, Worcester MA
Father died when she was 5, Mother was hospitalized for a mental illness. Lived with grandparents in Nova Scotia
Attended Vassar College, founded the literary magazine Con Spirito
Poet Marianne Moore was one of her mentors
Lived in a variety of places as an adult: NY, Key West, Brazil. Traveled widely in Europe, North Africa, Mexico and South America
1930s-40s= Key West
1949-1950 served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
1950s = Brazil and 15 year relationship with an architect and urban planner (Lota de Macedo Soares)
Houghton Mifflin Poetry Prize (North and South)
Winner of Pulitzer Prize (A Cold Spring), National Book Award (Questions of Travel), National Book Critics Circle Award (Geography 3)
Professor at UWash, Harvard, NYU and MIT
Died in Boston, 1979 of a cerebral aneurysm
“Questions of Travel”
First section suggests a case against travel, whether it is childish, whether the traveler should’ve stayed home. Second section answers these objections by dramatizing travel as an enchanting poetic experience.
The tone suggests that Bishop means to defend travel through beauty, tone, imagery and style of vivid detailed description. Travel gives sights that imagination cannot supply
Set in Brazil, it starts off playful, describing beauty, then switches up, defending travel in the second section. The full aesthetic and poetic experience would have been missed if the traveler had stayed home and in routine.
She does not defend travel by saying that it makes people wiser. She simply says that it gives the mind material that cannot be generalized and is strange, vivid and local.
She alludes to Blaise Pascal, a French philosopher, “Pascal”. In the first movement, she asks if Pascal is right about his idea that unhappiness comes from the inability to remain content in ones room. She concludes that he was not entirely right, his idea seems wise until she shows how much is gained coming out of one’s room
She concludes, like some of the other authors, that we are all fundamentally constrained in where we can go and what we can do
Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost bio
Born 1874, San Francisco
Father, journalist and local political figure, died of Tuberculosis when Frost was 11. Him, his sister and mother then moved to Lawrence, MA. This put him in New England, where most of his poetry takes place
Married Elinor White, co-valedictorian from high school, in 1895
Briefly attended Dartmouth, then did a variety of jobs such as teaching, factory work, farming and newspaper work
Attended Harvard in 1897 but had to drop out due to health and familial responsibilities
Grandfather bought him a farm in 1900 in Derry, NH. He became familiar with rural life as a result
In 1912, He moved him and his family to England to try and become a famous poet. He was successful, publishing A Boys Will in 1913 and North of Boston in 1914. He also met Ezra Pound and his BFF named Edward Thomas, who became the inspiration for The Road Not Taken
Came home in 1915, won 4 Pulitzer Prizes and started getting published, with The Road Not Taken appearing in the Atlantic Monthly that same year
Was JFK’S inaugural poet
1962 he met Nikita Khrushchev
Died in 1963 of complications after prostate surgery
“The Road Not Taken”
Represents life as a travel narrative. The stakes are high, however the scene is simple. An autumn wood and a morning walk with leaves on the ground.
At the crossroads, the speaker must make a choice between freedom and finitude. Every choice entails the loss of another choice. He chooses one road that seems to have “the better claim” but really both roads are more or less the same
The speaker says that he will return to the other path another day but knows that return is unlikely
Frost is very simple in his writing, using ordinary words and a simple scene. But the poem itself is actually very deep. The quote that “way leads on to way” is insight on how our future becomes entangled with the choices in our lives. The poem is about the freedom to choose but also about the unchosen inescapability of our choices
Each stanza has the ABAAB rhyme form and usually move in an iambic rhythm. It is flexible enough to sound conversational but regular enough to give order
In the end, the speaker, like all of us, can never know what difference each path made because we never get to live the other life to make the comparison. We must simply create a story based on the choice we make and convince ourselves to believe it.
George Orwell: As I Please
George Orwell Bio
Real name was Eric Blair
Born 1903 in British India, both mother and father were involved in the British Empire
Attended St. Cyprian’s prep school and Eton College, where Aldous Huxley was one of his teachers
Joined the Indian Imperial Police in 1922 (Burma), resigned in 1927 when he developed anti colonial perspective
Worked odd jobs and hung out with the poor and working class British
In 1936 he was commissioned to investigate unemployment and housing in England
Also in 1936 fought in the Spanish Civil War and the POUM militia
During WW2, he worked for the BBC and The Tribune
Adopted a son in 1944, first wife died during surgery in 1945, remarried in 1949
Died of tuberculosis in 1950 in London
Famous works include 1984, Animal Farm, The Road to Wigan Pier, Homage to Catalonia, Down and Out in Paris and London
“As I Please”
Argues against the idea that in the 20th century the world is getting smaller and more interdependent
When talking about immigration, he talks about it being “dried up”. Japanese and Chinese immigration to the Americas had been stopped, Europeans had to stay and be slaughtered when 40 years ago they could flee in all directions. 40 years ago people could go wherever they wanted without visas or a thought
States that modern communication actually isolated the countries since if a large amount of people listened to the foreign radio, the government would prevent it using penalties or confiscation. He says that the national radio is a totalitarian world, bringing propaganda to whoever listens. With letters and newspapers, propaganda also spreads along with tampering and censorship when traveling from country to country. Lastly he talks about how schools mess with their history books so that other countries look “bad” or “good” depending on that countries view on others
Lastly, he talks about how increased self sufficiency may/may not be reversible and as the world tends to shift towards nationalism, scientific progress and totalitarianism, the world will just be more cut off. How imports do not matter when there are substitutes for everything now. How prices have gone up since the war and how comfort comes to him when he sees a law on second hand good prices
This shift reduces international dependence and fosters the development of totalitarian states
Audre Lorde: The Fourth of July
Audre Lorde Bio
Born 1934, NYC. Parents were immigrants from Grenada
Legally blind as a child, poetry was one of the first tools she had to put her thoughts in order
Spent a year in Mexico in 1954, there she found independence, her queer identity and a dream to be a writer
Earned a BA from Hunter College in 1959, a masters in library science from Columbia in 1961
Married Edwin Rollins and had 2 children (divorced)
Started publishing poetry in 1968 and throughout the 70s, first poetry collection was The First Cities
National Book Award (From a Land Where Other People Live), American Book Award (A Burst of Light)
Taught at Hunter College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Writing often focuses on Black feminism, lesbian identity, anger, illness and desire
Traveled a lot to Berlin and Saint Croix with her partner Gloria Joseph
Diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 1978 and liver cancer, died on November 17 1992
A year before her death she was named Poet Laureate of New York State
Henry David Thoreau: Walking
Henry David Thoreau Bio
Born 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts
Parents ran a small business in pencil making. They often hosted discussions with people who had the same beliefs as them, such as the abolition of slavery
Studied graphite and clay mixtures along with other natural materials. He used this knowledge to help the company
Entered Harvard College in 1833, graduated in 1837. Studies included sciences, mathematics, philosophy, etc.
Briefly taught at Concords public school but resigned since he did not believe in corporal punishment
Opened the Concord Academy with his brother, a private school that incorporated field trips, conversation and direct observation more freely than conventional classrooms did
In 1837 he met Ralph Waldo Emerson, who became a friend, mentor, employer, neighbor and influential literary contact. At times Thoreau lived at Emerson’s house. He published The Dial and joined the Transcendentalist circle centered around Emerson, writer Margaret Fuller and education reformer Bronson Alcott.
In 1839 he traveled by boat with his brother John on the Concord and Merrimack rivers, a trip that was memorialized in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.
From July 1845 to September 1847, he lived in a cabin he built near Walden Pond on land owned by Emerson. This produced his most well known work, Walden, in 1854.
In 1846, he spent a night in the Concord jail after refusing to pay a poll tax because of his opposition to slavery and the Mexican War. This led to his most well known essay, Resistance to Civil Government. This essay argues in favor of refusal to obey one’s government when doing so makes one complicit with things one believes are morally abhorrent
Wrote Slavery in Massachusetts after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act and defended John Brown, abolitionist who believed violence was necessary to overthrow slavery
Died of tuberculosis on May 6, 1862 in Concord
“Walking” Condensed Notes
Thoreau states that he wishes to speak for nature and for absolute freedom and wildness. He says that he has met one or 2 people in his life who understood the art of Walking, who had a genius for sauntering. He derives this from a la Sainte Terre, the holy land. He says that some would derive it from sans terre, meaning without a land or home, but he prefers the first since every walk is some sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us
He says that instead of being faint of heart crusaders, we should go on the shortest walk, in the spirit of undying adventure, and never return. If you are ready to leave your whole family, settled your debts and affairs, then you are ready for a walk. It requires direct dispensation from Heaven to be a walker, you must be born into a family of walkers
To preserve health and spirits, you must spend 4 hours a day sauntering through the woods and over the hills. He states that since he cannot spend a day in his chamber without rusting, he has stolen a walk at 11 am or at 4 Pm, but feels like he is committing a sin every time. He doesn’t know how women stay confined in a house or shopkeepers who sit in a shop all day haven’t “committed suicide a long time ago”
He talks about Robin Hood returning to the Greenwood, hearing birdsong and longing to shoot at deer. He uses it to show how neighbors used to be forest dwellers in previous times
He concedes that age and temperament matter, as a man grows older he may only go out for half hour walks
He distinguishes walking from true exercising. He says that Walking is not medicine taken at a specific time, it is a search for the springs of life
You must walk in the afternoon since the morning is for labor. You must go alone, have no destination and return by a different route. You also must walk like a camel since it is the only animal that ruminates while walking.
He insists that the best walks are taken westward, since the west is a symbol of wildness, freedom and the future. Going east is by force but going west is free, connecting this to a magnetic pull and American Destiny.
He argues that civilization drains vitality, everything draws strength from its wild roots. He praises the tonic of wildness, the power of untamed nature. He contrasts the sturdy wild man with the civilized man.
He describes swamps, bogs and thickets as the most valuable parts of landscape since they are the most untamable. He praises the savage and primitive. He argues that a perfect landscape must include a swamp, a place where civilization cannot fully penetrate.
He says that private property is not really private, the landscape belongs to the eyes of whoever sees it. No one can own a view or a sunset. No one can really own land, but they can appreciate it. He walks across private property freely, saying that fences and deeds are artificial constraints
A true walker is the reformer of the world by living in relation to nature. Walking is a form of prayer, pilgrimage. It restores a person to the state of original grace.