Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Purpose of My Readings

Here begins my blogging about what I'm reading and studying for my comprehensive exams (PhD in English Literature) and what I'm discovering in my research.

My initial focus is on how identity is created in 20th Century Anglophone (mainly American) writing (fiction, poetry, drama, and even a bit of non-fiction). I'm beginning with some work on Nabokov, Tennessee Williams, Gwendolyn Brooks, H. D., and Philip Roth. I'm going to work on trying to tie these disparate authors together by focusing on how they create and undermine character identity -- and I'm going to try to remember that they are writing about characters (and not themselves), even when those characters are based on real people.

Wish me luck.