My Reading List for 03/25/10

Hello! Welcome to this "My Reading List for..." snippet. I finally finished reading Moby Dick. Actually, my professor told the class that one never really "finishes" reading books like Moby Dick and The Scarlet Letter. I totally concur with that statement. I also think this is the case with most of the works on our syllabus. Nineteenth-century American literature is so "loaded" in terms of content and symbolism (ex.: the multi-ethnic crew of the Pequod as an analogy for global diversity), and that's exactly why I love it. The discussion never gets boring! Anyway, I'm currently working on a presentation for April 6 in which I will compare and contrast Herman Melville's war-themed writings with those of Walt Whitman. In addition to discussing MD and reading some of Melville's other works, including Bartleby the Scrivener and Billy Budd, Sailor, I will examine some of Whitman's war poems, especially "The Wound-dresser." I will also discuss the lives and careers of both men. According to what I've already learned, Melville and Whitman were controversial figures, to say the least. Well, that's all for this snippet. Stay tuned for near-future installments of this series.