The 19th Century 21st Century Spring Syllabus
WARNING: A pretentious entry.
The other day, I practically whipped myself into a panic thinking about all the things I hope to accomplish in my lifetime, and what I need to do now to make them possible. This did yield some innovation in my thinking, mainly that not being able to do all things at once, or the necessity of focusing on one or a few projects or themes at a time, can give that time a rich uniqueness that is something to be savored.
Lately, as I’m nearing completion of the web series that I’ve been at work on for so many years, I’ve been faulting myself for not having any ideas for a new series on hand, not knowing more or seriously thought much about how digital media might be changing the future of TV or even having the first clue where to look to connect with other writers/actors beyond my little circles who are seeking to create such new content. But I have been beating myself up for this even as I have been struggling to break through on a variety of other projects- policy analysis & historical research, prose writing, studying foreign languages.
I don’t think I’ll be living in the City until this summer, and it’s at that point that it will be easiest and probably most enjoyable to start seeking out people and organizations to connect with who might share my interest in writing series and exploring the possibilities for film or video that changes in the field may present. But if that is an ideal time to focus on specially 21st century forms and concerns, then this spring is an ideal time to explore issues of form and substance that I associate with the mantel of the writer inherited from the 19th century. To that end, I’d like to:
-Learn French
-Study the classic French 19th century realist novel- The Red and the Black?
-Read The Flowers of Evil?
-Write about world affairs, especially EU governance and its implications for democracy
-Read accounts of the events that precipitated the Great Recession and the economic and social changes that have followed
-Try my own hand at writing a realist novel about the Great Recession in some way
There’s more that I can’t think of right now, I’m sure- I write these things in part just to present some organizing principle that I might later be able to push off against, or perhaps use to create a productive creative tension.
