Violence and the Constitution of the Novel

Well, here we are with the first official "reading blog" for this class and what a challenge!! I'm not sure how the reading of the Lloyd piece went for anyone else, but it was very difficult for me. I got through it, but it took me quite a while and I had to have dictionary.com open while reading it because I felt like I needed to look up every 10th word. Maybe I need to work on my vocabulary skills some more.

Despite this essay being difficult to read, I did find it quite interesting and it brought up some really unique points that I hadn't ever thought about before. For me, when I think about Ireland, violence isn't one of the first things that come to my mind. However, as Lloyd pointed out in his first sentence, "With the possible exception of greenness, no quality has more frequently or repetitiously been attributed to Ireland than violence" (125); violence is a definite part of Ireland's history. One of the concepts that I found interesting when Lloyd was talking about violence is essentially how it's defined. What the British and others may have considered violence of the Irish people seemed to almost hold a double standard for the violence that was inflicted upon the Irish by the British. My take on what Lloyd was saying is that the term violence and the amount of violence really depend on your perspective. The British didn't seem to see their violence as violence and instead because they claimed that they were upholding the law felt that their use of "force" was sanctioned and therefore not considered violence. However, when they looked at the rural culture and people of Ireland, when the Irish would "cause a disturbance" typically related to land and land rights, the British saw this as archaic and violent.

Ok, well that may have been kind of twisted in what I was trying to say, but I think that is what Lloyd was saying. Anyone else agree?

I think I found this topic interesting because it's like a stereotype, like that of the "Irish temper" (which I was told I had a lot while growing up ;D). I never really thought that much about it or the implications of the violence stereotype that this would have on a culture. As I was reading this essay it seemed to me that some of what Lloyd was saying was when critics are reading Irish novels from the 19th century; they are judging them against a standard novel format used in other cultures at that time such as England and other areas of Europe. However, according to Lloyd this is inadequate because Ireland was in a "different place" culturally, socially, and politically during this time so the usual standards can't apply. Specifically with regards to having a distinct middle class that was somewhat uniform in its wants. Ireland had a so called middle class, but probably not of the same definitions used by English society. Again, did anyone else get this out of the reading or am I completely off base?

(Blogger just deleted the remainder of my blog, so now I’m starting over…not happy!!)

Lloyd also talked about how the different forms of representation may have impacted the Irish novel at this time. I interpreted this as meaning that because Irish culture is rich with oral traditions of storytelling and singing as well as dancing, these forms may have lessened the importance and development of the novel at that time.

One of the areas I found particularly interesting was the discussion regarding the political/religious issues between Ireland and England especially in the area of Ulster. I found it interesting that this area was predominately Protestant and was quite unstable at times. This is so interesting to me because this is the area that my family emigrated from when they came to the US in 1870. What is interesting to me is that my family is Catholic and has primarily been farmers which seem to fit with the description of that area at that time and why they likely wanted/needed to leave.

Another area that I was a little unsure of was the discussion of the Irish novel authors like Edgeworth and Morgan. I thought that what Lloyd was trying to say was that these authors at the time knew that Irish culture/history did not fit the standard mold of a traditional novel that ended with a concise resolution; however, they wrote novels that way because they felt that the truth of the violence and instability of Ireland at that time was too real and no one would want to read about it. Again, does anyone agree or am I completely off base?

Overall, I think this was a very challenging essay to understand, but I enjoyed reading it and it definitely made me think of things I hadn’t thought about before.

Blog #1 introductions...

Hi all-

My name is Marie. I'm a registered nurse with my BSN from UW-Madison in 2001. I'm currently a grad student in a dual degree program working on an MS Nursing and an MBA. This is my last semester. Three interesting facts about me would be...since 1996 I've moved about 13 times including to Florida and Arizona. Apparently I'm somewhat nomadic. I'm the first person in my mother's and father's families to go to college . A year ago I went to Ireland and loved it, my grandmother's family came from Ireland.

I signed up for the course because I'm currently fascinated by all things Irish. As I stated before, I had so much fun exploring in Ireland and I can't wait to go back. Really I just hope to get a better idea of the various cultures related to Ireland that has developed over the years.

My favorite novel remains, "Gone With The Wind". I read it when I was in high school and have loved it since. I've also read the supposed sequel, "Scarlett" and enjoyed that as well. I'm really a fan of almost any historical romance novel. Stephanie Laurens is my current favorite. As for my expectations in a book, I generally love a story that actually draws you in. The kind of novel where you actually feel like you are there and it almost plays out like a movie in your head.

The only college English courses courses I've taken were in my undergrad program. I took a basic composition course and a women in literature course. I think the biggest difference with an online literature course is just the interactions with classmates.

I don't have much of a background with Irish literature or literature in general. However, as I stated earlier, I went to Ireland last year and my grandmother is Irish. I've done a lot of geneology searching for that side of my family in trying to learn more and I learned a fair amount about Irish history during some of the tours from my trip last year.

As for other online communities, I'm on Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, and a few various chat rooms and forums. I've had several online courses already and I find that online communication works well. I like being able to read other people's thoughts and opinions and love being able to respond openly. The only issues I've encountered with online communication is that telling the tone of a comment is difficult to interpret. Some discussions can become heated due to a misinterpretation. Also people tend to be less inhibited in their commentary which can sometimes become antagonistic.

At the top of my blog page is a picture from my trip to Ireland. This was from a hiking trip in the Glendalough (pronounced Glendalock) mountains. It was absolutely beautiful. This picture was taken in January and it was pretty cold, but everything was so green. I really want to go back again in spring/summer to see what it looks like then as well.

Not sure if these next answers were supposed to be somehow related to the course, but mine are not.

A website that I frequent would be http://www.woot.com/ . I like it because I love a good deal and they often have funny t-shirts.

Here is a youtube video I like because I think it's hysterical, probably because I have 3 cats myself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiFLTP076Wg I think that humor is one of the most important things to have in life because it can help you get through just about anything. ;D