Something occured to me last night when I spoke with my three-year-old nephew: listening to Colin is akin to reading James Joyce. Allow me to demonstrate with a loose transcription:
"We went to a birthday party for Isabelle I sat on Elmo's lap there was a huge Elmo and I sat on his lap I ate cake My daddy flies on airplanes he works and works and works I got a tattoo on my hand Mommy might go to work she'll be at work all the time I have a fire truck I am going to take a bath bye love you!"
Showing posts with label james joyce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label james joyce. Show all posts
Monday, March 17, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Just in time for Valentine's Day...
...A thoroughly depressing Atlantic Monthly article with advice for single women age 30 and up: Settle! Ugh.
I will admit, though, that I related to this passage, even though I never watched Will and Grace:
"It’s not that I’ve become jaded to the point that I don’t believe in, or even crave, romantic connection. It’s that my understanding of it has changed. In my formative years, romance was John Cusack and Ione Skye in Say Anything. But when I think about marriage nowadays, my role models are the television characters Will and Grace, who, though Will was gay and his relationship with Grace was platonic, were one of the most romantic couples I can think of. What I long for in a marriage is that sense of having a partner in crime. Someone who knows your day-to-day trivia. Someone who both calls you on your bullshit and puts up with your quirks."
Actually, I think that what the author describes here (changing notions of romance) isn't settling at all, so much as it's growing up. Than again, maybe growing up is about settling into reality, whatever the heck that is.
Interestingly, I have just re-read Joyce's "Araby," a text we'll discuss in my ENG 102 course on Wednesday, and a story all about idealistic, romantic notions being crushed and put away:
"Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger."
Wake me up on February 15, okay?
I will admit, though, that I related to this passage, even though I never watched Will and Grace:
"It’s not that I’ve become jaded to the point that I don’t believe in, or even crave, romantic connection. It’s that my understanding of it has changed. In my formative years, romance was John Cusack and Ione Skye in Say Anything. But when I think about marriage nowadays, my role models are the television characters Will and Grace, who, though Will was gay and his relationship with Grace was platonic, were one of the most romantic couples I can think of. What I long for in a marriage is that sense of having a partner in crime. Someone who knows your day-to-day trivia. Someone who both calls you on your bullshit and puts up with your quirks."
Actually, I think that what the author describes here (changing notions of romance) isn't settling at all, so much as it's growing up. Than again, maybe growing up is about settling into reality, whatever the heck that is.
Interestingly, I have just re-read Joyce's "Araby," a text we'll discuss in my ENG 102 course on Wednesday, and a story all about idealistic, romantic notions being crushed and put away:
"Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger."
Wake me up on February 15, okay?
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