Woman Wandering in the Working Class, Wondering about Will

Well, I finished Working Class Women in the Academy, and was inspired to get back to my dissertation topic. I came up with all kinds of ideas that I could apply to a possible article or book on working class as represented in Shakespeare. I've also been reading Radical Shakespeare, by Chris Fitter. It's a literary criticism book on the element of lower class resistance in some of Shakespeare's plays. That is, of course my topic, but I see that no one is arguing exactly what I'm arguing yet. It gives me hope.

In addition to those two books, a third book that I've started reading is actually on my reading list, Working, the famous and wonderful book of oral history by Studs Terkel. It relates to my topic, and I can check off one more "T" book when I've finished it!

So, I'm steeped in working class issues at a very good time, it seems, since it's lately been a media focus: the increasingly wide gap between rich and poor giving people a cause for concern.

I'm having fun with all this. I'll get back to you with my thoughts soon.

From Murder to Lit Crit

The Walter Mosley book, When the Thrill Is Gone, was very entertaining and philosophical (for a murder mystery), as all Mosley's books are. I always enjoy them--they are fast paced but somehow also deep. The characters are flawed but noble. He's a great writer. The only problem I have with his novels (and others of that genre) is his insistence on honoring the tradition among murder mystery writers of including detailed descriptions of characters' clothing. I don't know how this sartorial motif started, but it's puzzling--and a bit annoying--to me. Ah well, it's also amusing in a way, too.

Next I decided to return to the "T" books so I could get the complete set read. Having perused a free book by Time magazine called The Making of America containing some of the old traditional stories of American history, I decided the book would just make me irritated because by now most of the old historical accounts I learned in school have been thoroughly debunked or revised. So that one's going to the library.

I have two Studs Terkel books I'm saving for later, and one literary criticism book edited by Michelle Tokarczyk and Elizabeth Fay called Working Class Women in the Academy, a volume of essays that came out about 20 years ago. I've read one or two of the articles, but decided it was time I read the rest. So that's what I've been doing this week, and much to my surprise, I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm also remembering why I was studying the subject back in my graduate school days.

So I guess it'll be a while longer before I get to the "M" books.

I'll report on my progress next time.