Author: melanie cole

I seem to be having trouble thinking of an even slightly cohesive topic for this week’s blog post.  As I seem to be really into Walter Benjamin lately, I keep going back to that “constellation” thing we discussed in class.  On second thought, since I’m using Benjamin extensively in my final paper, I don’t want… Continue reading Genres

I still find it very interesting how difficult  it is to articulate some (well, most) aspects of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  I love this book and I do think it’s cute.   As someone who experienced loss similar to Oskar’s as a child, I find the accuracy and profundity of his thoughts and experiences to… Continue reading EL&IC

It seems as though “trauma” is an inadequate word to describe what the characters from The Road have been through.  Trauma of this magnitude has never been experienced, especially over such a prolonged period of time, therefore in a psychological manner if would be difficult if not impossible to predict what kind of effect such an experience… Continue reading The Road and Trauma

It seems as though “trauma” is an inadequate word to describe what the characters from The Road have been through.  Trauma of this magnitude has never been experienced, especially over such a prolonged period of time, therefore in a psychological manner if would be difficult if not impossible to predict what kind of effect such… Continue reading Last The Road Post

I’m going to work with the scene early in the novel where they come upon a supermarket and the father finds a coke and gives it to the son.  The first issue I’d like to address is the landscape in general.  The novel’s descriptions are so clear in often defining it as gray and covered… Continue reading The Road Film

Parable of the Sower was a quick and simple read, perhaps too simple. The parallels which Butler drew between slavery and her near-future society were alarmingly obvious. It didn’t seem to me to be so much a parallel as it was a re-telling, set in a different time. I also had issues with the whole… Continue reading A Simple Parable

I really enjoyed Benjamin’s piece, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Well, maybe “enjoyed” is notthe proper word, but I got a lot out of it. Many of his points relate directly to some of the main themes in White Noise. According Benjamin, once a piece of art is reproduced, it… Continue reading Benjamin and White Noise

In the JC food court. I usually try to avoid this place as much as possible, the noise, the crowd, the “kids.” It’s early, so there aren’t that many people here yet. I’m still looking for patterns and codes though. The noise of the fountain in the background, distracting yet soothing? But not really. What… Continue reading JC Food Court

The first thing I’d like to touch on is the title, Lucifer’s Hammer. I think that something alone the line of God’s Hammer would have been more fitting. Obviously the wacko minister would agree with this title because he viewed the comet as God’s work, a way to think out the population and destroy all… Continue reading God’s Hammer

Pre-Hammer: SWM iso SWF who appreciates intelligence and wealth.  Interest in Astronomy is a plus but not a must.  Looking for someone to share long evenings in my (yes, I own it) remote observatory.  Please do not be staunchly independent as I do require a fair amount of attention and coddling. Post-Hammer: SWM iso SWF… Continue reading Personals Ad – Hamner

One of the binary oppositions that was listed in class was civilization or culture vs. nature. A classmate brought up in discussion that to them, civilization seems more cyclical than nature and nature is more unpredictable. I take issue with this assessment in both the novel and actual life. In his article, “The Archetypes of… Continue reading Nature and Civilization