A very Gothic day!

Today started off a little hectic and ended up quite fun! I stayed up absurdly late last night because my brain refused to turn off, which was quite frustrating. On the other hand, the issue which my brain couldn't leave alone happened to be my dissertation topic, so in a way, it was a bit useful. I may be drifting a bit from my original idea, which was to frame a year of literature in the context of scientific or religious debate. Firstly, that's an incredibly broad topic, and secondly I'm finding it a bit uninspiring and a bit unfocused. So I'm leaning back towards an old love of mine which I had previously dismissed as too sensational: The Gothic. Granted, the Gothic of the 18th century is overwrought and a bit ridiculous, but I had been under the impression that it died out a bit once the Victorians came along. It didn't, of course, which I should have known given the dark and misty moors of Wuthering Heights and such. What's interesting to me, however, is how it changed in the Victorian period. Industry had effect on its character--the sublime could now be found in the steam engine, as well as the cliffs of Moher, and darkness was in the heart of London. Imperialism had its contributions to make as well. So I'm finding myself quite taken with the idea of studying this new Gothic. I'll have to email some people to find out whether it's viable. Also, what texts I should be using to focus the argument. Anyway, this is all the product of an overactive brain at 4:00 in the morning, so who knows whether it will actually work.

What this all adds up to is that I had to finish some reading this morning before seminar and then proceeded to oversleep a bit, so there was some manic balancing of breakfast and books. We read some poems from the anthology, The Poorhouse Fugitives, which seeks to compile works by self-taught and working class writers of the early 19th century. Some were clearly meant to be considered not as artistic works, but as political ones, while others took the artistic side seriously in addition to trying to get a point across. We focused mainly on the Chartists as a complement to Sybil, and while I can't say I was particularly taken with the verses, the varying agendas of the working class during the time was quite interesting. Some nice examples of the sublime in industry too, which I may need to take a second look at, considering my new dissertation thoughts.

The theme of the Gothic continued when I met up with Marta after class, and after wandering around a bit and grabbing some coffee, we saw the new adaptation of Dorian Gray. First of all, movie screens are vast here. It's quite a treat. As for the movie, it was not as bad as I expected it to be, but I had set the bar quite low, so take that as you will. The acting was acceptable, but the decadence was a bit overwrought, and they changed the last third of the movie almost completely, which was sort of inevitable given the brevity of the original work, but left me nonplussed. Hopefully Wilde won't have to roll over in his grave too many times. It was a nice ending to the evening, in any case. I have the urge to read some Poe now.