tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post509068662239820813..comments2023-12-23T04:56:29.702-05:00Comments on Ferule & Fescue: No interiority, no inwardnessFlaviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-54275697785392964682010-02-25T01:33:18.252-05:002010-02-25T01:33:18.252-05:00I'm on the genre theory train here. In fact, I...I'm on the genre theory train here. In fact, I'm delighted (and relieved) to hear there are some other Frye-lovers out there. I teach an intro to lit course that I structure according to Frye's comedy, romance, tragedy, satire. I think it works well in the classroom. They have a hard time doing the reading, but when we discuss the material, it allows us to bring in movie narratives and analyse how they work as well. We spent the past two weeks reading Menander and Wilde, but I also found myself talking speculating that the tricky servant has morphed into the "buddy" figure in contemporary romcoms, noting that "Knocked Up" demonstrates that the side characters tend to be more interesting than the couple (a point made by Frye), and, when a student mentioned "Dirty Dancing," having the class go through a checklist of generic comedic traits it shows. Dance at the end? Check. Class difference keeps couple apart? Check. Surly, rich father who is won over? Check. Dad stands in the way of the relationship because of mistaken identity/character? Check.<br /><br />But yes, I think getting worked up about how to categorize a narrative is silly. Categorizing is the least interesting use of genre theory. But I do find it a good way of thinking about how narrative is constructed, and what its effects are on the audience.ihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14105686105741162480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-3779371566705744542010-02-17T17:19:16.467-05:002010-02-17T17:19:16.467-05:00Heh. I'm teaching a graduate genre theory cou...Heh. I'm teaching a graduate genre theory course right now. I'm not yet sick of it. BUT my thesis is that texts resist generic categorization and therefore theorization in generic terms. Can we still be friends?Renaissance Girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06243095907452011303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-68337969323115984292010-02-17T15:22:49.291-05:002010-02-17T15:22:49.291-05:00Side note: HOW IS IT POSSIBLE that I wound up assi...Side note: HOW IS IT POSSIBLE that I wound up assigning my grad students, for this week, an essay BY MY ADVISOR that I forgot was all about generic categories in an author/set of works that my current project tangentially involves?<br /><br />I'll stop shouting now. But dude, synchronicity.Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-41613009630522205152010-02-17T11:13:58.125-05:002010-02-17T11:13:58.125-05:00Damn. All my work involves giving funky names to ...Damn. All my work involves giving funky names to sub-genres that only I see. ("I see sub-genres!") Seriously. Read the first paragraph of my book.<br /><br />But it's not quite the same thing as old-fashioned genre theory. I don't know how anyone could do that with medieval lit, anyhow, since it seems like *everything* is a mashup. And half the genre designators we have are wrong-headed, anachronistic, or misapplied in some way.<br /><br />As for interiority, yeah, I don't do that, so at least I'm still half in your graces.Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-61787965954368211592010-02-17T10:16:43.405-05:002010-02-17T10:16:43.405-05:00So wait...Is it ok to do genre theory and interior...So wait...Is it ok to do genre theory and interiority in periods other than the Renaissance. Because my current project is kinda about genres of interiority (howzat for a double whammy?), but the material is from our own lifetimes.Horacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15662740021328265642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-59743662875808915762010-02-16T23:24:01.878-05:002010-02-16T23:24:01.878-05:00Anon: I don't know you (or at least, I don'...Anon: I don't know you (or at least, I don't know that I know you), but you have my blessing, and I eagerly await your book.<br /><br />(And if you title it, "Against Interiority: For Flavia," I'll know to pick it up.)Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-88253192837309207212010-02-16T18:34:59.595-05:002010-02-16T18:34:59.595-05:00In biblical studies, James Muilenburg hated on our...In biblical studies, James Muilenburg hated on our genre theorists (of the kind you describe in your comment) in 1968. The result was a field-wide great leap forward in literary criticism in biblical studies (such that we are now only about 25 years behind secular literary criticism, instead of the usual 70-odd years that we lag behind our ancillary disciplines like archaeology or social science).<br /><br />So, you go and hate on them genre theorists! Anything might happen as a result.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-38314431621844792982010-02-16T15:08:34.305-05:002010-02-16T15:08:34.305-05:00I'm glad that hating on interiority is still o...I'm glad that hating on interiority is still ok because a significant portion of my book is about that, and I wouldn't want to end up on the wrong side of the ferule.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-55146276468251830982010-02-16T14:07:38.100-05:002010-02-16T14:07:38.100-05:00Agreed about this type of genre theory. In fact, ...Agreed about this type of genre theory. In fact, I have little patience with any classifying/taxonomizing that does not then deliver payoff -- it's like chopping up the mirepoix and then not cooking anything with it.meghttp://xom.blogs.com/xoomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-80036068715247728662010-02-16T13:29:06.271-05:002010-02-16T13:29:06.271-05:00Hey! No hating on genre theory!
... Says the girl...Hey! No hating on genre theory!<br /><br />... Says the girl who's thinking of structuring a whole writing course around Northrop Frye. Critically, but with no apologies.moriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12390704103460109691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-67848635218067555722010-02-16T12:32:24.408-05:002010-02-16T12:32:24.408-05:00Anon: hey, that's what I'm doing. So have ...Anon: hey, that's what I'm doing. So have at it.<br /><br />Meg: eh, actual genre theorists are okay--since in my experience they tend to emphasize the provisionality of their descriptions, and take them as a starting place, etc. It can be useful.<br /><br />My problem is with people who are obsessed with genre classification: the project of labeling things as either-this-or-that, and then closing down discussion: it's this genre, because it does A, B, and C. It's <i>not</i> properly that genre, because it <i>doesn't</i> do A or B, although it sorta does C. And well of course the text makes those moves, because they're conventional for the genre. The End.<br /><br />Makes me want to kill someone.Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-63108032296686083582010-02-16T12:15:22.195-05:002010-02-16T12:15:22.195-05:00I think arguments about interiority are better whe...I think arguments about interiority are better when they're kept on the inside.Doctor Clevelandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07326408523926507003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-69569376310167939732010-02-16T12:13:26.416-05:002010-02-16T12:13:26.416-05:00Genre theory still interests me (sorry), but I hav...Genre theory still interests me (sorry), but I have never gotten the so-what of interiority. I promise not to write about it vis-à-vis the Renaissance, the Middle Ages, the Long 18th Century, or postapocalyptic Alpha-Centauri.meghttp://xom.blogs.com/xoomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-76091399130533184532010-02-16T11:47:32.120-05:002010-02-16T11:47:32.120-05:00What if we want to write about how much we hate in...What if we want to write about how much we hate interiority and its effects? Is that still ok?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-16348948707824992662010-02-16T07:39:56.986-05:002010-02-16T07:39:56.986-05:00Ugh, I hate genre theory, too. And I seem to remem...Ugh, I hate genre theory, too. And I seem to remember a plague of interiority in grad school. You have my sympathies.T.E.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18054738772022337270noreply@blogger.com