I really kind of love this place...
I’m pretty happy about being back at the university. I love having an office and reading and talking about literature. But, oh, golly, it’s been awhile and it’s going to be tough to find a rhythm. I’m teaching only one class (albeit with 80+ students). The kids are in school MWF, the days I teach. I teach from 11-12, so I have 8-10ish and 12-2:45ish each of those days to finish everything I possibly can. That’s almost 5 hours. It’s amazing how quickly it slides by. Wow.
My class is Medieval and Early Modern (Renaissance) Romances. We began with Song of Roland. Squeak shares a name with Roland’s best friend, Oliver, who represents wisdom and the mind where Roland represents strength and the body. Computerguy is the one who picked the name, and I’m not sure he really knows the literary associations–well, I’ve mentioned them, but I’m sure he does not–but I liked them. This one, anyway. And even in As You Like It. Even though Oliver is the bad guy, he is allowed to repent and there is reconciliation and restoration. Good stuff.
Anyway… class was a little uninspired today, but it should get better. Roland is hardly my number one thing, but I thought it was important enough to not leave off the syllabus. The beginning of class, when I solicited students’ first impressions, before I started talking, was fun. One student said he was surprised to be reading something with so little depth. He compared it to HBO, called it “merely entertainment.” Pretty much. So what do we have to learn from that?
And those are the quick, exhausted, mid-afternoon thoughts of a University Lecturer. Thanks for listening.
So what did you say to the student about the HBO-merely entertainment comment? As an adjunct instructor, I’m curious.
I didn’t disagree. Song of Roland is pretty much all action. It will be interesting to use that comparison as we continue to look at other texts, and then, as we go on, we can talk about what any of it means, how genres grow and change, and what it is people–whether in the 10th C or the 21st–are looking for. Something like that, anyway.
Love that you are a university lecturer.
I’m so glad you’re back in the classroom!
Nice photo. Will love to keep hearing of this marvelous adventure! Maybe GDN will fill me in after his time there. How’s Oliver enjoying his schooling?