The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I read it, I read it!

So far three friends, each of whom I feel to be extraordinarily intelligent and of cultivated taste (see Ish's book reviews, i.e., proof!), asked me about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Well, yes, I read it. Also I read the second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire and third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Make no mistake, these are not great works of literary genius. My lovely friend Brittany, who has been living in Sweden for like, forever, (1 1/2 years?) says that the Swedish title is Män Som Hatar Kvinnor, or, the man who hates women. (Britt is going to read it in Swedish! Of this I am impressed.) But anyway, here is a brief summary of my thoughts, which are in no way academic in nature, mostly they are feelings and intuitings:

1) A new translator, with a literary background or at least a more imaginative approach, needs to look at in the original Swedish and decide if the writing is REALLY ACTUALLY that cliched. And repetitive. The number of times "leveled her/his gaze at her/him" was used makes me want to die. I could almost call it before it happened. Now is the time for some gaze leveling. Sunglasses on.

2) A new editor, with brevity in mind, needs to chop a significant portion of the repetitive plot-summaries. (More noticeable in the second and third books).

3) I don't know. The rape/violence against women scenes are *this close* to being titillating and not instructive of violence against women. Also the repetitions of the events of the scenes, again and again, deaden their effects (affect!) on the reader. Uh.. "I don't have a definition of porn but I know it when I see it".. well, I don't have a definition of sado-masochistic softcore pornography (is that even possible?! a contradiction in terms?) but I feel like it might be happening before my readerly eyes.

4) I'm pretty sure lil' Stieg does not hate, in fact probably loves, women, but he is also very interested in what it would be like, imaginatively at least, to be involved in sexually charged violent behavior.

5) THE IMPLANTS*

*will have to wait until I know how far you've read.

Too Blue? Seriously, Wordsworth.

There seems to be a notion of a balanced palette here, that feels very picturesque (Lauren connected WW to Gilpin's ideas of the picturesque in her post for class). In 1794, William Gilpin makes this dinstinction:

between such objects as are beautiful, and

such as are picturesque – between those, which please the eye in their natural state;

and those, which please from some quality, capable of being illustrated by painting.

What is this violence, then, that Wordsworth does to the inherent beauty of nature by making such a statement! "The chief DEFECT in the colouring of the Country of the Lakes is an over-prevalence of a BLUISH TINGE" ?!

Stressed staff can't get no satisfaction

People working in higher education are "dissatisfied with their jobs and careers" and are "stressed at work", according to new research.

Academics from The Open University, the University of Portsmouth and the University of Bedfordshire quizzed more than 2,500 people from four universities for the paper, "The work-related quality of life scale for higher education employees", published by the journal Quality in Higher Education.

Staff were asked questions about job satisfaction, well-being, work-life balance, stress at work, control at work and working conditions using a Work-related Quality of Life (WrQoL) scale devised by Darren Van Laar, a Portsmouth psychologist.

"Overall, higher education employees in the sample are dissatisfied with their jobs and careers, are generally dissatisfied with working conditions and control at work, and report that they are stressed at work," the authors write.

The paper says the WrQoL scale has "psychometric properties" that would be useful to institutions "throughout the UK to evaluate employees' quality of working life".

The authors argue that issues such as career satisfaction, stress and work-life balance must be looked at as a whole.

Increasing well-being would "enhance the delivery of education to students and improve working relationships among work colleagues", they write.

Simon Easton, senior lecturer in psychology at Portsmouth and one of the authors, said: "Studies around the world show work-related stress is widespread in higher education.

"University staff in the UK tend to report that demands are increasing, while support and a sense of having control at work have fallen. Many complain about the rushed pace of work, the lack of respect and esteem, having too much administrative work to do, inadequate support and lack of opportunity for promotion. The psychological stress among university employees appears to be much higher than in other professional groups and the general population."

From: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk

Wordsworth v. Kant

The beginning of a series of pairings, from Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1802) and Kant's Critique of Judgment (1802). The leading question: Did Wordsworth read Kant?

Wordsworth: "Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge--it is as immortal as the heart of man."

& Wordsworth again: "What is a Poet? To whom does he address himself? And what language is to be expected from him? He is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endued with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be common among mankind; a man pleased with his own passions and volitions, and who rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life that is in him; delighting to contemplate similar volitions and passions as manifested in the goings-on of the Universe, and habitually impelled to create them where he does not find them."

Kant: "Poetry (which owes its origin almost entirely to genius and is least willing to be led by precepts or example) holds the first rank among all the arts” (SS 53).

Sanguine Dispositions: Parson Adams, Covered in Blood Pudding

As the final blow, the Wife, “in her Fury,” (Henry Fielding 115) throws a pan of hog’s blood over Adams, leaving him “all over covered in Blood” and looking “no longer for this world” (116).

from The Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his friend Mr. Abraham Adams.

Henry Fielding: I just want to kiss his little face

just look at the cocked eyebrow, the sultry lips, that crooked nose.

and the hair. You are never going to find a guy like that on Plenty of Fish. Luscious locks.

he looks a little hot under the collar, circa the 18th C.

Poverty: The First Step To Genius

By Isaac Disraeli, 1863.

...In addition, the word "melancholy" appears in the book 41 times.