It's all greek to me.

I was looking around at the blogs the other day to see just how far behind I was on posting. I came across Jiwon’s blog –which I’ve cruised over before- just to see what she had been doing and I saw this picture of Edward Said. At the time I didn’t even think that this may have been her critic to study, I thought that maybe she was just into Said as a figure. Because I myself am “into” him because I support his ideas on a progressive peaceful plan for and end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. (its more of a symbiosis) but anyway… Edward Said once wrote-and is probably most famous for- the book Orientalism which explores this idea that the western world views the east with a set of preconceived notions that in turn skew our view of things that we don’t fully understand. Its kind of like measuring the weight of and unknown object in milliliters. I feel that this idea –for me at least- has to be understood when analyzing Idea of Order at Key West. For I don’t think it’s a poem that adheres to anything typical or on a plane that I am familiar, instead it “sings beyond the genius…” and to see beyond, I can’t look at it completely conventionally. This idea is shared by Frye, or at least I believe that is what he is getting at in Archetypes of Literature. That there are many different schools or views that can be taken in the critical world, but maybe that the key is not to be restricted or locked into one particular school or lens in which we choose to see.

Also I would like to mention, and not to embarrass Jiwon, instead I mean to praise her. Reading her blog I learned that this is the first class she has taken in English, meaning taught in English. Imagine-if you can- going to Korea and taking a class with the Korean equivalent to Dr. Sexson with all his vast and extensive knowledge of mythology and so forth that is constantly brought into discussion. Now that’s pretty damn impressive. And speaking of a different cultural lens, I guess I’d really like to see what she thinks of Wallace Stevens.