Thankfully, the kind folks at VCFA, and my new advisor for the semester, have agreed to work with me. It means an accelerated work plan, and so I’m taking the semester off from teaching to try to make it all happen. And then Baby 2 will come. And my little world will spontaneously combust.
This semester is a bit different from the
others: it’s the critical semester, which means along with producing new work
(in my case, work on the new novel and hopefully-maybe an essay), I must
complete a long, formal paper called a Critical Thesis. I’m okay with long
academic papers–when I earned my MA in English I ended up finishing with two
75+ page theses–but it’s the time crunch that I think’ll get me this time.
Or,
as Butch tells Sundance, “Are you crazy? The fall’ll probably kill ya.”
Oh, Newman. Oh, Redford.
But I digress.
My critical paper topic is going to focus
generally on the role of place/setting in historical fiction. While my reading
list isn’t quite as intensive as earlier semesters (I’m also using works I’ve
already read to aid in thesis research), I still thought I’d share. And maybe
throw in a few pleasure-books as an added bonus. Here we go:
Published in 1814, Waverly is Scott’s epic
account of the Jacobite uprising of 1745 (also known as “the ’45″), based
mainly on all the stories he’d grown up hearing from his Scottish grandparents.
He wrote it anonymously, even though by then he was already a famous writer. Apparently,
popular novels were pooh-poohed in the “real” literary community. (Hm… sounds
familiar.) Here’s what Jane Austen had to say about it, “Walter Scott has no
business to write novels, especially good ones … I do not like him, and do not
mean to like Waverly if I can help it–but I fear I must.”
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Ironweed
is the story of Francis Phelan, an “ex-big-leaguer, part-time gravedigger, full-time
bum with the gift of gab,” who’s returned to his hometown.
These are two of the novels in Cooper’s famous
The Leatherstocking Tales, chronicling the adventures of the
frontiersman Natty Bumpo. I read The Last of the Mohicans when I was far
too young to be reading it, and so I say it’s time for a second go-round.
My Name is Mary Sutter won the prestigious 2011 Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in
Civil War fiction. Cool fact: Oliveira is a 2006 graduate of the MFA in Writing
program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Suggested by my advisor, who’s a friend of
Durham’s, Walk Through Darkness is the story of William, an antebellum
slave on the hunt for his pregnant wife. It sounds like nothing I’ve read
before, which makes me happy.
And now, on to books I’ve read before but will be re-examining for my critical thesis this semester:
6. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
No explanation needed. I love this novel; have
since I was a little girl. And as the protagonist of my work-in-progress is
sort of a Southern “Jo March,” I’m heading back to the source.
7. The Last Report on the Miracles of
Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
Though I’d read quite a bit of Erdrich, I read
The Last Report… for the first time last semester, and fell crashing
into love. The story of a woman posing as a male priest on the Ojibwe
reservation of Little No Horse, and of the adventures, foibles, and tragedies
of her flock, it’s a novel that will stay with you long after you put it down.
8. The English Patient by Michael
Ondaatje
Another work I read only last semester, The
English Patient is a stunning, epic of a novel rooted in WWII history and
drama. Ondaatje’s gorgeous, laser-like focus on each of his central characters,
and of the settings they inhabit–an Italian Villa, North Afria–is utterly
masterful. (On a side note, if you weren’t a fan of the movie, forget it. Read
the book!)
Next, on my bedside table for
pleasure-reading. I know, it seems nonsensical to be reading anything other
than books for my grad program, especially since it’s not like I have a lot of
free time, but I can’t help it. It’s my disease.
Penney is a Scottish screenwriter, and I loved
her debut, The Tenderness of Wolves. In fact, now that I think about it,
I may have to use that book in my thesis, too!
A collection of essays about life in the small
rural town of Madison, Minnesota, this is one of Bly’s best-loved works.
“A Memoir of Farm and Family,” The
Blueberry Years was the winner of the 2011 Southern Independent Booksellers
Alliance Best Nonfiction Book. It’s the story of a couple and their blueberry
farm, and a look at food culture in America as we know it today.
Robert Morgan’s Boone was one of the
best biographies I’ve ever read, and I used it to aid in my research for Keowee Valley. When Lions of the West was
released, I knew I had to have it for my personal library. Thank you, my
favorite in-laws, for fufilling a Christmas wish! This book tells the story of
westward expansion through 10 Americans full of adventure and land-lust,
including Thomas Jefferson, John “Johnny” Appleseed, David Crockett, Sam
Houston, and more. It’s also the story of the tragic displacement of Native
Americans, and the roots of the Civil War.
If you haven’t noticed, I’m a book-a-holic. My
list could go on and on. If I included my research list for Novel 2, you’d
groan (and probably throw something at your computer). But there’s not much I
like more than sharing books!
Join me on my journey, if you get a hankering.
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