Interests Meme

[intertext]

This is a meme where you ask about people's Interests (from their el jay profile). Comment on this post, and I'll pick six of yours, and you explain them on a post you make. Then you post this on your journal and it becomes a never ending spiral... and good fun.

tree_and_leaf asked me about these:
battlestar galactica, bitching about harold bloom, chickadees, fantasy of manners, narrative theory, tintin.

Battlestar Galactica: I am probably not the only person around to have been a fan of the original series, but one of the few who will admit to it. I used to watch it faithfully, and have a copy of the "movie" on VHS. However, I also adore the new series, which really only shares the name. I admire the production values - everything from set design to music - and the terrific writing.

Bitching about Harold Bloom: I nicked this one from majrgenrl8, and I think we're still the only two users on LJ to have it. We should start a trend. Bloom's own theory, in Anxiety of Influence - that young authors have a kind of Oedipal relationship with their predecessors and have to "kill" them before they can do anything good themselves - comes into play with all present day English scholars, too, I should think. We all want to kill Harold Bloom :) He's one of those old school scholars who knows EVERYTHING and will talk at length about it. I run up against him because he's written some good stuff about Romanticism, which is one of my areas, and narrative theory (another). I also think he's a boring old fart about Harry Potter. Get a life, Harold.

Chickadees:

We don't go in much for really "cute" birds here in Canada, not having many like blue-tits or your British robin, but we do have chickadees. My favourite bird. They are cheeky and friendly, and I have a gang of them in my garden, and I love them.





Fantasy of Manners: Fantasy that may rely more on interaction between characters in society rather than grand quests to save the world and may have little or no magic. A subgroup of the new vogue for fantasy set in vaguely Napoleonic worlds. Typified by Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint and its sequels, and I think sartorias's Crown Duel duology fits the criteria as well.

Narrative Theory: underpins a lot of my own scholarly "work" - not that I do much these days beyond teaching, let's say what I would do if I had to to earn a living. I'm particularly interested in intertextuality (what a surprise!) - the use of previous texts in an existing text - and am drawn to writers, like Jeanette Winterson, Michael Ondaatje, Timothy Findley, et al, who use it in interesting ways. This has lately made me interested in fan fiction from a theoretical point of view... I also tend to respond well to non-linear narratives, and like to think about why and how they work.

Tintin: I read my first - The Crab With the Golden Claws - while staying with my boy cousins when I was nine. I think they were considered "boys" things, and nobody had thought to give them to me. I've been a fan ever since. I love the detailed drawing and the amusing social satire interwoven with "ripping yarns."

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

This is fascinating! I like the new BSG very much, though I've only seen the first two seasons because of not having cable (and being too lazy or tech-phobic to try downloading; I'm waiting for my friend heyes to buy and then lend the DVDs--how bad is that?!) I agree with you about the music--we've all commented, at my house, about how evocative it is. I agree that it only really shares a name with the old series; I only vaguely remember it, but definitely know I enjoyed it.

Chickadees are delightful. They're friendly! I love friendly animals, especially friendly birds.

Harold Bloom hovers only on the outskirts of my awareness, I'm happy to say, but he was more present when I was in academia...

I learned the term "fantasy of manners" from sartorias and yes! I've become fascinated by it as well... must read that Ellen Kushner, because I hear about it everywhere, but meanwhile I very much enjoy sartorias's stuff.

Narrative theory--I have not really read anything about it, but I love to hear people talk about it, and it's fun to think about.

Tin Tin--never read it as a kid, but have seen it since (my kids read some) and really like the art. I like that he tries for accuracy.

I'm pretty shy about doing memes, so you needn't bother picking interests of mine--or, to put it more directly... I don't really want to post about mine--but I'm very happy to share on *your* page if there are any you're particularly interested in (but they're all pretty self evident, I think. Well, most.)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

This came out waaay more self-centered than I intended! Sorry about that. Your interests are cool, and mainly I wanted to say--yes! yes! I like this too... but as I read it over, it sounds like one big blab about meeeee! Kind of inappropriate :-|

[intertext.livejournal.com]

No worries - I took it as meant. It's cool that we respond to things in the same way :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Phew! thanks :-)