Tuesday, October 11, 2011

too much?

I'm in the process – have been for a year or so now, I guess – of extending/expanding my "scholarly base," of stretching out from being a modernist/20th-century person to having more than a nodding familiarity with Victorian literature & culture. This year alone I've probably read about 30 books this year in the field, bunches of articles, etc. I've done a couple of related conference papers now; I wrote a review of a new Ruskin book a few months ago.

So when do I start actually writing this big book? My own inclination is to keep reading until I know enough to do it right, but there's always something more to read. I suspect that if I wait until I feel totally ready to tackle the next thing, that I'll die of old age before I ever put fingers to keyboard.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fucking write the thing; excise (one dictionary gives 'remove surgically') timid vacillations.

Jonathan Morse said...

Do you want a Victorian classic for monition and inspiration? A book, furthermore, that every graduate student in every field should be required to read? That would be Middlemarch.

Mark Scroggins said...

Yeah, you're right, Anon. And hey, I've started doing it.

Word, Jonathan. Just reread Middlemarch this summer, with much awe. The greatest novel ever?

Anonymous said...

(this from the "other" anon (me):
an ancient Victorian 'truism':

"He who hesitates is lost"

besides Middle-march read the series The Pearl

see what was REALLY behind and in those Victorian's ...
...... skirts

Jonathan said...

You probably won't know what else you have to read until you begin writing.