My best writing for this week probably
came in the form of my comments on the blogs of other students. I’m in another
online class, and the professor is adamant about the respect and courtesy shown
by students to each other online. So, I’m trying to be more cordial and polite
this semester, while also beneficially critiquing.
I’m also reading something really cool
right now for my other online class. Arthur Hertzberg is the author of The Zionist Idea. It depicts
the history of Zionism throughout Jewish culture, and I find it fascinating to
place a religion / people into a context politically and in world history. It describes Zionism as
an assimilation into outside culture while still remembering the past
traditions of previous generations of Jews. I’m also in a class called History
and Memory, which observes the relationship of what we remember and what we
write down. So, this book is really relevant to my studies right now.
I’m also
reading a book called This Side of
Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald. He is my favorite author, and this is one
of my very favorite books. It’s a semi-autobiography about a boy named Amory
Blaine (who represents F. Scott Fitzgerald). He grows up in Minnesota, just
like Fitzgerald, and goes to boarding school in the northeast. After boarding
school, he attends Princeton, just like Fitzgerald. It’s interesting because it
is a fiction book, but it loosely depicts the life of Fitzgerald. I’ve often
thought about writing one myself, mostly for my enjoyment in my later years.
But this is also a discussion from my History and Memory class. How much of a
semi-autobiography is embellished? How much of a regular autobiography is
embellished? Is it deliberate, or is it simply the dreamlike state in which we
remember things? These are all interesting perspectives on history, memory, and
biography.
Image Information: This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Source: The Literary Snob
