Thursday, February 13, 2014

Snap-a-roos!

Hey guys, sorry this is late!

By now pretty much everyone has expanded on what I thought was the most impacting of Arac's essay.

The terms hypercanonization and idalotry really peaked my interest. In high school way before I appreciated literature as much as I do now I still kept questioning what was it that classifies GREAT literature? How did the classics become the classics? What makes them standout?

Those terms mentioned by Arac really resonated with me because I can see it everyday. I don't know if this is a good example, but Harry Potter, man. Yes I do love those books but I can't imagine what it must be like for someone who never having read the book and having that made public to a room of people... all the dirty looks and jaw dropped faces! Insulting or criticizing Harry Potter is nearly considered something so DRASTIC as a crime! I can't help but ask myself, to what extent has people's passion for the series affected my own perception of the story?

Totally unrelated to Huck Finn, so here we go: Again, not knowing any of the content of Twain's novel, I did not know what I was in for, only that this book has been very beloved and discussed yay number of times. So the first day of class (which I was totally unprepared for, didn't even have the book yet) I was shocked witht he discussion of racism and the problems addressed in the story. So when I started reading it after class I already had the impression of the controversies throughout Huck Finn's adventure. But I enjoyed the last 12 chapters as I did because it was in those sections I felt immersed in Huck's old intimate world but still see the issues that go with it. Basically everything I'd said in my presentation.

1 comment:

  1. It's so interesting that you bring up Harry Potter! He is sort of idoled, isn't he?! It's also interesting to think about whether we perceive the HP books differently because other people love the books so much. Arac makes the point that over so much time Huck gets idoled, especially when people start opposing it in the 60s-80s (I think those were the dates mentioned in class when Huck became an idol) and we see Huck Finn and other classics through that lens. But for Harry Potter, we all read them fresh off the press so I think there might be a bit of a difference there.

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