literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Literary Analysis
In Eudora Welty’s short story, “A Worn Path,” an African American woman named Phoenix Jackson travels into town for her beloved grandson. Set within the Christmas season in Southern Mississippi during the reconstruction era, the author shows the hard years of racism and prejudice that continued to persist since the emancipation proclamation in 1865.
By Sophie Jiwoo7 years ago in Geeks
'The Iliad' by Homer
The book's name is translated directly into "the song of Ilium" and written entirely in dactylic hexameter; The Iliad and The Odyssey are two of the most well-known and widely read epic poems ever written. It documents the siege of Troy throughout ten years and one man's gruelling journey back over the course of another ten years, having it been 20 since he had seen his family. Written around the 8th century BCE, the Iliad has stood the test of time and continues to be adapted, revisited and re-analysed to this day. This is the text we will focus on.
By Annie Kapur7 years ago in Geeks
Ten of the Best Fantasy Novels of All Time
The border between science fiction and fantasy can often be hard to define, but for the purposes of this list, the ones that fall on that border have been ignored, and the selection below clearly falls into the fantasy camp, from epic sagas such as Lord of the Rings to the short but famous Dracula. More modern fantasies are represented by the likes of Neil Gaiman’s Hugo Award winning American Gods and the Harry Potter books.
By Betty Glauder7 years ago in Geeks
'The Aeneid' by Virgil (Pt. 3)
We are now going to look at the history of TheAeneid briefly as there are a couple of question which require immediate answering. These questions, when answered, change the meaning of the text and change how we understand why it was written at all. The very first question is of whether Virgil died before he could finish writing it.
By Annie Kapur7 years ago in Geeks
'The Aeneid' by Virgil (Pt. 2)
Now what we're going to look at is the mythology regarding The Aeneid and where we think it came from. These include the Roman Gods and Goddesses and the Roman foundation myth of Romulus and Remus. Of course, Virgil didn't really establish these myths, but he brought them into the mainstream of ancient Roman literary culture. Let's begin with Romulus and Remus since that is the foundation myth of ancient Rome.
By Annie Kapur7 years ago in Geeks
'The Aeneid' by Virgil
The Aeneid was written during the reign of Emperor Augustus, and penned between the years of 29 and 19 BC. It is normally split into two sections–the first deals with Aeneas' journey, and the next deals with a full-scale war. Virgil, according to scholars, wrote The Aeneid to rival Homer's works, but this is not confirmed. What is confirmed though, is the fact that the people of Ancient Rome treated The Aeneid as historical fact, and therefore, it solidified the Julio-Claudian dynasty as the descendants of the heroes of Rome and Troy.
By Annie Kapur7 years ago in Geeks
'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde (Pt. 4)
We are now going to look at ThePicture of Dorian Gray in comparison to two other texts presenting to us the destruction of character. Dorian is a tragedy, that much is true, but we will look at other seminal texts that present this to us regarding before and after the writing of the book. This will be in order to examine how Dorian's character has changed the way in which literature writes the tragic character and themes to do with how the tragic character is presented to us.
By Annie Kapur7 years ago in Geeks
'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde (Pt. 3)
Now that we have gone through how Dorian's identity is changed and influenced, we are going to look through some lenses to do with the novel and the character of Dorian. The two lenses we will use are: orientalism and aestheticism. We will then contextually compare The Picture of Dorian Gray in terms of the protagonist's character, to a work written before it and therefore more traditionally gothic than Wilde's novel and then, a work written after it, and therefore more into the era of 20th Century Realism.
By Annie Kapur7 years ago in Geeks
'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde (Pt. 2)
We are now going to go through what circumstances, situations and events change and mould Dorian's personality. We will find this out by analysing the first few chapters and what they tell us about the authority of influence.
By Annie Kapur7 years ago in Geeks
An Introduction to William Wordsworth
Most commonly known as one of the greatest poets of the English Language, William Wordsworth was also a philosophical man, writing famously in his preface to the co-authored work The Lyrical Ballads that “our elementary feelings coexist in a state of greater simplicity.” In order to get the word across that he was attempting to write poetry for every type of person to read and understand, Wordsworth penned most of his poetry in normal standard English, as opposed to the more flowery language written by poets like Shelley, Byron, and before him, Pope. Wordsworth actually explained the difference between his own writing and the writing of more artistic and elaborate poets as:
By Annie Kapur7 years ago in Geeks
Machiavellian Authority on the Renaissance Stage
It is commonly interpreted in Early Modern Drama that Machiavelli "appears as the Devil incarnate, or at least as the incorporation of all hypocrisy" (Meyer, 1969). According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2012), a "Machiavellian" is defined as a "very cunning and deceitful" identity that was "brought on stage as an incarnation of villainy" (Meyer, 1969). Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince serves as the subversion, and the impression of villainy with the corruption of religion used as a guard. Thus forming the Early Modern attitude towards theatre being somewhat "ungodly," as the dishonest stigma attached to it was that there were plays containing these Machiavellian characters, or Machiavellian stereotypes.
By Annie Kapur7 years ago in Geeks
