Adam Hochschild's "Meeting Mr. Kurtz"

-Konrad Korzeniowski was born in Poland and had always wanted to travel to Africa (blank map)
-At 32 years old, he sailed for the Congo believing that Leopold's mission in Africa was truly "noble"
-Korzeniowski became Joseph Conrad
-He was horrified by the greed and brutality of the white men in the Congo and his view on human nature was profoundly affected, leading him to write Heart of Darkness after 8 years of brooding
-Hochschild describes Charlie Marlow as "Conrad's alter ego"
-Hocschild also reveals that Mr. Kurtz's enigmatic character is based off of real people:
1. Georges Antoine Klein--a French agent for an ivory-gathering firm who died on shipboard just like Kurtz did in the story
2. Major Edmund Barttelot--put in charge of the rear column on the Emin Pasha expedition and went crazy and started to bite/hurt/kill people, until he himself was ultimately murdered
3. Arthur Hodister, a Belgian infamous for his harem of African women and gathering of ivory
-But, Hochschild says that Kurtz resembles 4. Captain Leon Rom the most.
-Leon Rom was the captain of the Force Publique, Leopold's private army and police force in the Congo
-the collection of African heads surrounding Kurtz's house is true to life when it comes to Rom
-What's more-- Conrad and Rom actually met in the Congo in the year 1890!

An Average Post

I chose to research the word 'average' because it is a word that does not draw too much attention to itself. It is not flowery or overdramatic--rather, it is just...well, average.

The word 'average' is average looking and average sounding. It reflects its meaning almost perfectly. Average. We don't think about this word too often. It's not a word that we spend time on. We call upon 'average' and use it when we think something is regular, everyday, or even boring. 'Average' is a humble word, and that's why I chose it. This word chooses to attach itself to everyday, real-life things. It is not complicated or overbearing. Rather, it is simple, and just average.

Average is the day at school when nothing good happens, but nothing bad happens either. Average is a meal you swallow without tasting. Average is a night without nightmares or sweet dreams. Average is what you get when you add up a bunch of numbers, and then divide. Average.

I look forward to learning more about this word.

Nicolas Flamel: The Immortal Alchemist

Nicolas Flamel was a famous French scrivener, alchemist, philosopher, and manuscript-seller--but perhaps I should use the present tense is, because Flamel is rumored to be immortal and still alive today.

Many of us are familiar with Nicolas Flamel's name from reading J.K. Rowling's famous Harry Potter books. However, not as many of us are aware of the fact that Flamel actually did exist, and, just like in Rowling's books, he did attempt to create the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone, to us Americans).

Flamel was a highly accomplished European alchemist who supposedly achieved the two main goals of alchemy: creating the Philosopher's Stone, which turns metals into gold and stone into gemstone,  and creating the Elixir of Life, which gives the drinker immortality.

If fable is indeed fact, Flamel and his wife, Perenelle, are alive and kicking even today. In fact, Flamel makes several appearances in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, Indiana Jones and the Philosopher's Stone, and even a manga series called Fullmetal Alchemist. 

Can You Answer Me?

The following is a piece of creative writing inspired by John Gardner's novel Grendel.

He does not realize that I think—that I moan and groan and quake and think like everything else moans and groans and quakes and thinks. I live in the darkness, yes, and I am fearful of the light—bodies upon things upon bodies clutter my space, but I do think.

I am, therefore I think. No one can deny that I am. Sum.

He thinks that I am a bloodthirsty creature with no sense, and I admit to the former allegation but not to the latter. I have sense and I do sense. After all, I am able to sense his disdain for me. Oh Mother, she is just a savage, she lives among her bones and her bodies, her massive flesh too dense to be pierced by intelligent thought, oh Mother.

My son, with his unnatural rage, cavorts with the humans and drinks their useless blood. Grendel—always wicked, always my son—is blinded by selfishness.

He is my son, yes, he was born out of my very flesh—created not in silly god’s image, but rather, in my own image. I carried him, I created him, though he did not want to be carried or created.

My son is having troubles because he does not understand; he struggles to make sense of himself and his life just as I struggle to transport my massive body across this fetid cave.

The bodies surround me, ah yes, here is the blacksmith’s youngest daughter, and here is the carpenter—such a shame I feasted upon them, yet I am indifferent to their half-eaten stares. I began the task of devouring them, then grew tired and cast them away.

The humans, like myself, are thinkers, but their thoughts have reason. Their thoughts have a how and a why and a because. Their thoughts are carefully planned out, pathetic pattern-makers; as if anything matters. My thoughts are foreign to reason—the two do not overlap.

I want, I act. I desire, I do. There is no how. There is no why. There is no because. There is simply a need and the need is fulfilled by any means necessary. There is simply a small push in what is called the brain, a small twitch of necessity and that is all that is needed.

There is no reason for reason. Why complicate things further when things are, by nature, complicated? I only trust the big ideas, the big needs. Hunger, thirst, jealousy, desire, anger, sadness, and revenge. Anything more is nothing at all.

Grendel has much to learn. 

William Caxton: First English Printer!

Most of us have heard of Johannes Gutenberg, the man who invented the printing press, but few have heard of William Caxton, the man who introduced the printing press to England. 

Caxton was born in the fifteenth century, between the years of 1415 and 1424. In 1438, he became the apprentice of a mercer named Robert Large. When Large died in 1441, Caxton made the important move to a city in Belgium called Bruges, which was, at that time, the center of the European wool trade. In Bruges, Caxton became "Governor of the English Nation of Merchant Adventures". 

Soon, Caxton's interests began to shift to literature. He began to translate various foreign works into English. In Cologne, Germany, Caxton learned about the process of printing. After this, he became dedicated to translating works into English and then printing them in English. In 1476, he returned to England, bringing with him the printing press. 

He established a press in Westminster, England. His first printed book was called Dictes and Sayenges of the Phylosophers. 

Three Key Ideas from Modern Criticism of Frankenstein

I read Frankenstein and the Tradition of Realism by George Levine, which is a modern criticism of Mary Shelley's famous classic Frankenstein. Three key ideas present in this criticism are:

1. "the hero and his antagonist are one". Levine brings up the point that it is actually commonplace in literature for our hero and his/her enemy to be one and the same. Levine says that Victor and his monster are doubles that resemble and depend upon each other. They are tied together and cannot escape this.

2. "the responsibility of father to son". Levine compares Victor to a father figure and the monster to a son figure. Victor is essentially the monster's father because he deliberately and willfully created it. However, Victor rejects the monster. Levine says that this novel is an "examination of the responsibility of the father to the son.

3. "a claustrophobic novel". Levine says that this book is very claustrophobic because it doesn't really present readers with the whole landscape of the world. It only presents us with "a single mind" and the only figure who "stands outside of that mind" is Walton. Walton works as a connection between our real world and Frankenstein's world. Levine calls this book claustrophobic because so many relationships in it are blood-related. Walton is an outlier with this, too. Even Elizabeth and Victor, who are going to be married, are related to each other. All of these blood relations suffer because of Victor; as he tries to eliminate the monster, he really eliminates his family.

Dr. Frankenstein vs. Plain Old Victor

How does Mary Shelley establish a complex attitude towards Victor's work?

Shelley is able to establish a complex attitude towards Victor's work immediately; after all, Victor's work is not an everyday job. It is thrilling, unnatural, and complex stuff. Shelley starts out by describing Victor's initial feelings about his task--he is anticipatory and excited to create a new species. He is thrilled by the thought of a species that owes its very existence to him. That feeling of supreme power and godlike authority clearly excites Victor greatly ("A new species would bless me as its creator and source"). So, at first, Shelley describes Victor's work as exciting and innovative.

However, Shelley develops a complex attitude towards Victor's work by shifting and showing Victor's slow loss of his initial thrill. Victor grows unhealthy, thin, and pale--still barely clinging to his goal. He spends all of his time working on this crazy project of his; it becomes an undeniable obsession ("I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit"). Victor is in a "trance", so blindly consumed by his ungodly task. So, by adding this low to the initial high, Shelley establishes a very complex attitude towards Victor's work.

To add to the complexity, Shelley writes graphic sentences describing Victor's work process to create tension in the story. Victor does unspeakable things just to get materials for his work. He steals dead bodies from graves and proceeds to dissect and mutilate them. Shelley calls Victor "profane" and refers to his work spot as a "cell". These harsh words are creating tension. There is also tension between the obsessed Dr. Frankenstein and the human being, Victor: "often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased..." The two very different halves of Victor Frankenstein are pulling away from each other, and the reader is able to sense this disconnect.

Thus, Mary Shelley establishes a complex attitude towards Victor's work by describing his initial reaction, showing his gradual downward spiral, and by creating heavy tension.