Friday, April 27, 2007

updated want list

Here's the updated list of books I need -- again, if anyone would like a small amount of cash and a large amount of gratitude to get rid of any of these titles, I would be thrilled to adopt them from you. This list has changed since the last one due to a Chapters order falling through so please do read over it again!

Roberts, Charles G.D. The Last Barrier and Other Stories.
Sime, J.G. Sister Woman.
Atwood, Margaret. Moral Disorder.
Campbell, Maria. Halfbreed.
Johnston, Wayne. Custodian of Paradise.
Kroetsch, Robert. Gone Indian.
Goldsmith, Oliver. The Rising Village.
Sangster, Charles. The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay.
Crawford, Isabella Valency. Malcolm's Katie.
Johnson, E. Pauline. Flint and Feather.
Clarke, George Elliot. Execution Poems.
Ondaatje, Michael. The Cinnamon Peeler.
Campbell, Maria and Linda Griffiths. The Book of Jessica.
Clark, Sally. Moo.
Highway, Tomson. Rose.
Lil, Wendy. All Fall Down.
Mojica, Monica. Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots.
Thompson, Judith. White Biting Dog.

schedule of events

I think I've mapped out my schedule of readings. This is what I'm working with, having pushed my start date back to May 7th in response to a need for more time off, quite frankly. Right now I'm hoping to follow this schedule doing about 40 - 50 hours / week of readings -- that may not be realistic, but it's my hope that I won't have to read for 70 hours a week. If I can do eight to ten hours of reading five days a week, I'm hoping I will be able to both make it through my reading list in a timely fashion.

Why do I have a sinking, "famous last words" feeling about the whole thing...?

May 7 - May 19: Criticism

May 21 - June 2: Colonial Prose

June 4 - June 13: Confederation Prose

June 14 - June 30: Modern Prose

July 2 - July 21: Poetry

July 23 - July 31: Drama

August 1 - August 18: Contemporary Prose

August 20 - August 31: Criticism

Sunday, April 22, 2007

getting there

Two on-line orders later, and though my credit card may now have a sprain I've only got twenty more texts to track down. If you happen to have any of these lying around that you would part with for a little cash and a lot of gratitude, please drop me a comment or a line.

  1. Hart Beckwith, Julia. St. Ursula's Convent.
  2. Roberts, Charles G.D. The Last Barrier and Other Stories.
  3. Sime, J.G. Sister Woman
  4. Atwood, Margaret. Moral Disorder.
  5. Findley, Timothy. Spadework.
  6. Johnston, Wayne. The Custodian of Paradise.
  7. Kogawa, Joyce. Obasan.
  8. Wilson, Milton (ed). Poets Between the Wars.
  9. Goldsmith, Oliver. The Rising Village.
  10. Crawford, Isabella Valency. Malcolm's Katie.
  11. Johnson, E. Pauline. Flint and Feather.
  12. Clarke, George Elliot. Execution Poem.
  13. Campbell, Maria and Linda Griffiths. The Book of Jessica.
  14. Clark, Sally. Moo.
  15. Mojica, Monique. Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots.
  16. Thompson, Judith. White Biting Dog.
  17. Hutcheon, Linda. The Canadian Postmodern.
  18. Jones, D.G. Butterfly on a Rock.
  19. Kertzer, Jonathan. Worrying the Nation: Imagining a National Literature in English Canada.
  20. Mandel, Eli (ed). Contexts of Canadian Criticism.

Oh man, that list feels long! As Will Farrell would say, this list is like a fifteen-year-old girl but not hot.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

the pile, she is growing...

So Chapters (aka Big Book Conglom Corp) only coughed up a measly 7 titles -- at over $20 a pop, no less! It seems I will have to find a cheaper place with more selections.

Quick! TO THE INTERNET!

I didn't want to order books on-line because most places have either outrageous shipping prices or outrageous wait times. Oh, yeah, Amazon, sure. I'll wait 4 months for _The Canadian Postmodern_. That's not unreasonable at all.

(I did however find this fantastic bag at Chapters, which I will use to carry my readings all over Fredericton all summer long. It even has a zipper in the side. A zipper!!) (It is turquoise for those playing the home game.)

Friday, April 20, 2007

$115 later...



This is how many of the books I have.

Only 43 more to track down!

wheels are in motion or emoting or something

After a meeting with my can't-say-enough-good-things-about-her supervisor, I have a first stab at my reading list for comprehensive #1, Canadian Literature. This could change and evolve over the next few days, and some texts are my own proposals (Michael Winter and Lisa Moore, I'm cramming you both into the canon whether you like it or not). Overall, I'm pretty stoked with the list. I'm dreading a few (Colonial Period, I'm looking in your direction), but I think it's a diverse list with a lot of fun choices. The contemporary stuff won't feel like work at all, with so many brand new books on it.

Off to Owl's Nest this afternoon to see what I can scrounge up on the used market.

I'm starting to get really, really excited!

Here's the proposed list, in all its glory. Did I mention that Comp 1 (this complete list) is only four months away...?

PROSE

Colonial (1670-1867)

Brooke, Frances. The History of Emily Montague.
Jameson, Anna. Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada.
Moodie, Susanna. Roughing It in the Bush.
Richardson, John. Wacousta.
Traill, Catherine Parr. The Backwoods of Canada.
Beckwith, Julia. St. Ursula’s Convent.

Confederation (1867-1920)

Duncan, Sarah Jeannette. The Imperialist.
Kirby, William. The Golden Dog.
Leacock, Stephen. Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town.
Roberts, Charles G.D. The Last Barrier and Other Stories.
Sime, J.G. Sister Woman.

Modern (1920-1970)

Buckler, Earnet. The Mountain and the Valley.
Callaghan, Morley. Such is My Beloved.
Cohen, Leonard. Beautiful Losers.
Davies, Robertson. Tempest-Tost.
Grove, Frederick Phillip. Settlers of the Marsh.
Klein, A.M. The Second Scroll.
Laurence, Margaret. A Jest of God.
McLennan, Hugh. Two Solitudes.
Richler, Mordechai. St. Urbain’s Horseman.
Ross, Sinclair. As For Me and My House.
Watson, Sheila. The Double Hook.

Contemporary (1970-present)

Atwood, Margaret. Moral Disorder.
Atwood, Margaret and Robert Weaver, eds. The New Canadian Book of Short Stories.
Campbell, Maria. Halfbreed.
Findley, Timothy. Spadework.
Gallant, Mavis. Home Truths.
Johnston, Wayne. The Custodian of Paradise.
King, Thomas. Medicine River.
Kogawa, Joy. Obasan.
Kroetsch, Robert. Gone Indian.
Mistry, Rohinton. Tales from Firozha Baag.
Moore, Lisa. Alligator.
Munro, Alice. The View from Castle Rock.
Ondaatje, Michael. Anil’s Ghost.
Richards, David Adams. Mercy Among the Children.
Shields, Carol. A Fairly Conventional Woman.
Urquhart, Jane. The Underpainter.
Wiebe, Rudy. The Temptation of Big Bear.
Winter, Michael. The Big Why.

POETRY

Gerson, Carol and Gwen Davies, eds. Canadian Poetry: From the Beginnings Through the First World War.
Geddes, Gary, ed. 15 Canadian Poets x3. (Includes: Pratt, Livesay, Gustafson, Klein, Birney, Purdy, Waddington, Scott, Layton, Page, Souster, Webb, Cohen, Jones, Nowlan, Mandel, Avison, MacEwan, Newlove, Bowering, Wah, Atwood, Lane, Nichol, Ondaatje, Lowther, Marlatt, Geddes, Bringhurst, McKay, Kroetsch, Crozier, Borson, Brand, Moure, Thesen, Friesen, Wallace, Lilburn, Carson, Zwicky, and Halfe.)
Wilson, Milton, ed. Poets Between the Wars. (A.J.M. Smith and F.R. Scott)

Colonial (1670-1867)

Goldsmith, Oliver. The Rising Village.
Sangster, Charles. The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay.

Confederation (1867-1920)

Crawford, Isabella Valency. Malcom’s Katie.
Johnson, E. Pauline. Flint and Feather.

Contemporary (1970-present)

Atwood, Margaret. Selected Poems 1966-1984.
Clarke, George Elliot. Execution Poems.
Ondaatje, Michael. The Cinnamon Peeler.

DRAMA

Modern (1920-1970)

Wasserman, Jerry, ed. Modern Canadian Plays, Volumes 1 and 2.

Contemporary (1970- present)

Campbell, Maria and Linda Griffiths. The Book of Jessica.
Clark, Sally. Moo.
Highway, Tomson. Rose.
Hollingsworth, Margaret. The Apple in the Eye.
Lil, Wendy. All Fall Down.
Mojica, Monique. Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots.
Pollock, Sharon. Blood Relations.
Thompson, Judith. White Biting Dog.

CRITICISM

Atwood, Margaret. Survival.
Benson, Eugene and William Toye, eds. The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature.
Blodgett, E.D. Five-Part Invention: A History of Literary History in Canada.
Dickinson, Peter. Here is Queer.
Frye, Northrop. The Bush Garden.
Heble, Ajay, et al., eds. New Contexts of Canadian Criticism.
Hutcheon, Linda. The Canadian Postmodern.
Jones, D.G. Butterfly on a Rock.
Kertzer, Jonathan. Worrying the Nation: Imagining a National Literature in English Canada.
Mandel, Eli, ed. Contexts of Canadian Criticism.

Friday, April 13, 2007

welcome to another blog i will forget to update

Welcome to my new blog.

The intention of this blog is to chronicle my experiences studying for and writing my ph.d. comprehensive exams. This process should take approximately one year from beginning to end. I hope that this blog will both enable me to keep in touch with people through this process, and help my studying by giving me an opportunity to journal my thoughts on each novel as I work my way through my reading list.

Occasionally, I intend to be funny. Or at least pithy.

Please feel free to comment and discuss the novels I will be working through. My first comprehensive will be on Canadian Literature, and the second on American. My third comprehensive will be a list directly related to my thesis, so the readings will focus on Douglas Coupland and masculinity / gender / sexuality theory.

If you are also a blogging ph.d. candidate, please comment so that I can add you to my blogroll.

The preparations for my comprehensives begin on April 19th with a meeting with my advisor. Then I'm giving myself a week to recover from my coursework, get my office ready, track down all the books, and get my supplies together. I intend to start my reading on May 1st.