On memory

[yendi]

Wrote a long entry that got munched by LJ earlier. Short summary: Am working from home (as this is one of those hell work weeks), Elayna's off from school until tomorrow (but thankfully slept until 7:45), shadesong is home sick, and I am constantly reminded how much OS9 (and any other OS, too) sucks compared to OSX.

Anyway, I took a break for some reading, and found something I liked. Elayne Riggs, in her recent blog entry, sums up so many of my problems with memorizing pop culture, and has a very similar attitude to mine. It's one of the reasons I don't buy trilogies or series books until they're all released, and also why I prefer buying graphic novels to comics.

And the whole memorization thing is why I really wanted to bitch-slap every single character in Pamela Dean's Tam Lin, much as I enjoyed the book.

Anyway, back to work. Coffee good.

Comments

[amberfox.livejournal.com]

*looks puzzled* I think my brain must not be working yet. How did that apply to Tam Lin? (One of the few books I own multiple copies of on purpose, including a personally autographed hardback.) Not criticizing, just curious. =)

[yendi]

It applies because every one of the characters memorized everything. "Oh, that reminds me of this thirty-line passage from Virgil." People like that really bother me. I still loved the book (and also have a signed hardback -- did you get yours from her when she offered them on her website, or did you get to meet her?), but that really made it harder for me to identify with some of the characters.

[amberfox.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I only recall Janet and the Classics majors doing that, though I haven't read it recently. From them it made sense, since literature was the center of their lives.

And alas, I got it off the website. It would have been interesting to have met her. I did email her once to ask if she knew where to find a copy of Chapman's Homer, but hers was old and had been bought used. It was reprinted a few years ago, though, and I bought both the Iliad and Oddysey then. It's beautiful. Not terribly accurate all of the time, but beautiful nonetheless. Plus he puts in these wonderful side-notes criticizing other translators, or with the original phrase in Greek, for those who doubt his accuracy. ^_^

[yendi]

Hmm. I only recall Janet and the Classics majors doing that, though I haven't read it recently. From them it made sense, since literature was the center of their lives.

Well, my memory of books in general is pretty bad, after all. :-)

As for Chapman, I dug up a copy at my high school library after reading the Keats poem, and found it unimpressive. He was poetic enough, but it didn't seem to really capture the spirit of Homer (although I don't doubt it was leagues ahead of the translations of his peers). Given a choice, I always prefer translaters who capture the true spirit of a work (Fagles for Homer, Ciardi for Dante).

[tikimama.livejournal.com]

I'm with Peter on this one. If it is important or interesting to you, you pay attention to what is going on. I have a terrible memory, honestly, I can never remember errands or people's names. But, in the words of Elizabeth Bennett, I have always considered this to be my own failing, since I don't pay close attention.

If it isn't intriguing enough to remember what happened, why would one bother in the first place?

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

HATE!Fagles. ew, yuck, ptui.