dagblog - Comments for "Reading the Renaissance for Fun (and Profit)"

Sure, Peter. Sorry to be coy

Doctor Cleveland — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 03:25:58 +0000

Sure, Peter. Sorry to be coy about it. The careerist in me hates publicly announcing that there are major works in my field that I don't intend to do advanced work on. But I think by this point my resume lets that cat out of the bag anyway.

I'm reading Spenser's Faerie Queene, one canto a day, and breaking that up with a book of Paradise Lost once a week. The two most famous door-stoppers in my field. Since PL is twelve books long and the six books of FQ are twelve cantos apiece (plus two stray cantos from one of the books that Spenser didn't live to finish), my schedule takes a minimum of twelve weeks to finish them both. When that wraps up, I'll see what I feel like reading next.

Part of the pleasure lies in giving The Faerie Queene this much time. It's an extremely slow-moving poem, which can make it frustrating to some readers. But that frustration comes from trying to make it go at a speed it really isn't designed to go. Letting it move at its own pace is great.

Can you give us a list of

Peter Schwartz — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:14:09 +0000

In reply to Reading the Renaissance for Fun (and Profit)

Can you give us a list of what you're reading, Doc?

Good to see that I'm

Doctor Cleveland — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 20:25:42 +0000

In reply to Very wise words, professor.

Good to see that I'm spreading my bad blogging habits effectively. Bwa ha ha!

Very wise words, professor.

Michael Maiello — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 17:15:36 +0000

In reply to Reading the Renaissance for Fun (and Profit)

Very wise words, professor. This struck me:

"If I spent the next quarter-century reading only instrumentally, in order to complete some task or other, I would risk losing touch with why I am doing this at all. My connection to this material is not a permanent thing to be taken for granted. It is something that I need to leave time and space, something that I need to husband and renew."

I'm struggling with this as well. When I left journalism for a marketing job I told myself that I'd use the time in pursuit of more important, creative endeavors. But, as certain media outlets have called, or at least shown an interest, I've found myself putting those things aside to write more about politics and the economy. There's some thrill in doing it for money and for a certain audience and all of that, and of being able to claim professionalism.

But then there's writing for the love of it, which is how I got myself into this mess, isn't it?

Okay, I was going to blog today but I will write something else instead. Maybe tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder.