Tags: resources

Castle
  • x_los

Alberto Manguel, anyone?

I'm doing an MA thesis on the phenomenology of reading and writing fanfiction (focusing for the moment around questions of legitimacy, to be narrowed down to fit the scanty word limit, naturally and unfortunately x_x). My advisor recommended Alberto Manguel's work on reading and the culture of reading, but having amazon!perused his output, I'm not sure whether

a) A History of Reading,
b) A Reader on Reading,
c) The City of Words, or
d) potentially something I don't know yet

would be most appropriate, and I can't really get at them all in order to browse and decide before ordering one (thanks, somewhat meager uni!library). I've not encountered Manguel before. Just wondering if anyone who's read him has any thoughts?

As a side note, I feel Judith Butler should come into a discussion of gender performativity on the internet and fic-writing, ESPECIALLY as so much of said writing is about sex/queer themes/relationships, but I'm not sure exactly what Butler. Other feminist perspectives on writing might slot in well here (I'm already up to my elbows in Gilbert and Gubar), as would other work on erotica. If you happened to have recommendations and/or names, O gentle readers, I would appreciate them. :)

Thanks for any insight!
The Books One
  • x_los

National Epic?

I've googled, advisor-asked, j-stor'ed, citation-dipped, cross-referenced, etc., and I still cannot find a decent article about the concept of the National Epic. I've come across several arguments for "insert text here" *as* a National Epic, but I don't necessarily want to pull a definition sideways out of someone else's argumentative interpretation. I'd like to go back to a source definition and work from there. Does anyone know of any articles on the topic (hopefully (though not necessarily) stuff I'd be able to access via Jstor or some other internet means)? I'd be REALLY grateful.

I mean more this definition: "A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation; not necessarily a nation-state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with aspirations to independence or autonomy. National epics frequently recount the origin of a nation, a part of its history, or a crucial event in the development of national identity such as other national symbols. In a broader sense, a national epic may simply be an epic in the national language which the people or government of that nation are particularly proud of." than a strict 'only epic poetry/the Aeneid will do!!' interpretation of the term, if that helps.

Thank you for anything you might happen to be aware of!
Tired of analyzing
  • jillw

Resources

For those of you that are incredibly resourceful, I have a question. What are some of the best internet resources you have found?

To get the ball rolling, for me, I'm a visual learner and when I have to memorize, I like www.flashcardmachine.com. I'm trying to build up a nice list so that I have it when the new semester rolls around.

It doesn't just have to be study stuff, it can also be time management, stress sites, etc.

Edit: Despite some of the responses that I'm not sure how to address because seriously, we're adults, I'm getting some good feedback in this community and other communities. I'm going to try to paste some of the results of other communities here and you can read the results from this community in the comments here:

I'll keep a running tally up here from this post and the other communities I've posted it:

http://www.flashcardmachine.com
http://www.aigaion.nl/ (bibliography resource)
LiveScribe Pulse Pen (I actually have one of these and LOVE it)
http://diyplanner.com (you can create your own customized planner pages)
http://www.chegg.com (rent your textbooks and they donate to earth friendly charity)
http://noodletools.com (seriously, one of the best links I've received)
http://notely.net (nice, simple function to take notes)
http://www.easybib.com (bibliography program)
http://www.babelfish.com (translation tool!)
http://www.rememberthemilk.com (great reminder website)
http://www.google.com (use Google Scholar to find scholarly articles from peer reviewed journals)--Sidenote: If you don't have a gmail, you are missing out on serious resources. I can load my documents and pdfs online and access them from an internet enabled computer in the world. Take the google tour to find out all the neat stuff from gmail. It's worth it. I promise. I don't think you need an invite anymore to just sign up for an account.
http://www.versiontracker.com/wind… - new updates for your computer programs
http://www.versiontracker.com/maco… - new updates for your compute programs
http://www.economist.com/research/… - Economist magazine writers guide
http://www.consumersearch.com/ - Magazine reviews/epinions/amazon all rolled into one
http://www.cartalk.com/content/mec… - Find a good mechanic courtesy of the cartalk
http://www.archive.org/index.php - Text/Movies generally public domain stuff
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main… - Text/Movies generally public domain stuff
http://www.archives.gov/ - Text/Movies public domain stuff
http://rulers.org - The ultimate guide to rulers (kings, queens, dictators, etc.)
http://www.frengly.com/ - an alternative to babblefish
http://diplomaguide.com/articles /Online_Math_and_Statistics_Classes_Offered_Free_by_Top_Universities.html - internet classes/notes/guides/etc.
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home… - classes/notes/guides
http://oyc.yale.edu/ - classes/notes/guides
http://www.advantageedu.com/blog/2… - free online ivy courses everyone should take
http://www.bls.gov/OCO/ - Occupational handbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/public… - CIA world factbook
http://images.google.com/hosted/li… - Life Magazine photo archive
http://www.worldcat.org - Find books in non-local libraries