Ladies, gentlemen, faithful readers of my blog, and everybody else, as of 10:20-ish this evening, I AM DONE WITH CATCH-22!
I didn't like it. It is insane. 100% insane.
I made a previous blog entry explaining what the term "Catch-22" actually means, so if you are interested, go there. It is kinda important to note that in the final chapter, Yossarian (the main character) and one other character finally find a way to break out of the no-win situation. I'm not gonna spoil it, but I have to admit, the way that the other guy pulls it off is simply incredible.
4 books with blog entries? Check
Posts on at least 10 other people's blogs? Check.
Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Full Circle
Remember when I temporarily gave up on Catch-22 because I really, really hated it? Well, I've run out of other books to read. So now it's time for Catch-22, round deux. Everybody wish me luck. On the plus side, it's about half as long as Don Quixote, so I should be able to take this one down in about two or three days.
P.S. I pulled an all nighter because I wanted to get Don Quixote out of the way. I finished at 6:30 this morning. I got about two hours of sleep before church. I was pretty much a zombie until I got some lunch. Not fun, but on the plus side, I learned that the Olympics make great background noise when you are pulling a marathon reading session. DO NOT DO WHAT I DID.
P.P.S. Mrs. Paradise, what time are you at school this week? I want to have a quick talk about my papers.
P.S. I pulled an all nighter because I wanted to get Don Quixote out of the way. I finished at 6:30 this morning. I got about two hours of sleep before church. I was pretty much a zombie until I got some lunch. Not fun, but on the plus side, I learned that the Olympics make great background noise when you are pulling a marathon reading session. DO NOT DO WHAT I DID.
P.P.S. Mrs. Paradise, what time are you at school this week? I want to have a quick talk about my papers.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Taking a Sledgehammer to the Fourth Wall
Ok, time to talk about Don Quixote. It's a good book, with my only major complaint being that everybody talks way too much. Having said that, I do realize that that is part of Mr. Quixote's knight persona.
But something really weird just happened.
First, I need to explain the concept of the fourth wall, just in case anybody doesn't understand the title of this entry.
The fourth wall is what separates the world of the story from the real world. In TV, movies, and video games, that wall is the screen. In literature, I think that the wall is the pages and covers of the book.
"Breaking" the fourth wall is when the boundary suddenly becomes much less clear. It arguably occurs the most often in TV and movies, when a character suddenly turns to the camera and directly addresses the audience.
Here's where Don Quixote gets weird. I've just started Part 2, which was published ten years after Part 1. In Part 1, other works by the author, Miguel de Cervantes, made brief, cameo-type appearances, such as one of his books being saved from a mass burning of Don Quixote's chivalry novels. However, very shortly into Part 2, things get really screwy, as it turns out that Part 1 ACTUALLY EXISTS WITHIN THE WORLD OF PART 2, and the characters of Part 2 are currently critiquing it, such as Don Quixote asking someone else if certain events are represented in the book, to which the answer is invariably yes. They even point out the completely random insertion of a short story that bore very little, if any at all, relation to the main plot. Their argument is exactly the same that I made when I got to that part. (Looking back, those were probably three chapters I could have safely skipped.)
It just doesn't seem right.
P.S. The title quote came from me. Keep sending me your quotes.
P.P.S. If there's anybody else who read Gulliver's Travels, could you please give me ideas for my paper? Please?
But something really weird just happened.
First, I need to explain the concept of the fourth wall, just in case anybody doesn't understand the title of this entry.
The fourth wall is what separates the world of the story from the real world. In TV, movies, and video games, that wall is the screen. In literature, I think that the wall is the pages and covers of the book.
"Breaking" the fourth wall is when the boundary suddenly becomes much less clear. It arguably occurs the most often in TV and movies, when a character suddenly turns to the camera and directly addresses the audience.
Here's where Don Quixote gets weird. I've just started Part 2, which was published ten years after Part 1. In Part 1, other works by the author, Miguel de Cervantes, made brief, cameo-type appearances, such as one of his books being saved from a mass burning of Don Quixote's chivalry novels. However, very shortly into Part 2, things get really screwy, as it turns out that Part 1 ACTUALLY EXISTS WITHIN THE WORLD OF PART 2, and the characters of Part 2 are currently critiquing it, such as Don Quixote asking someone else if certain events are represented in the book, to which the answer is invariably yes. They even point out the completely random insertion of a short story that bore very little, if any at all, relation to the main plot. Their argument is exactly the same that I made when I got to that part. (Looking back, those were probably three chapters I could have safely skipped.)
It just doesn't seem right.
P.S. The title quote came from me. Keep sending me your quotes.
P.P.S. If there's anybody else who read Gulliver's Travels, could you please give me ideas for my paper? Please?
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