The Digital Wake Up Call

At the beginning of this English course I felt completely out of place and slightly incompetent. I had just returned from an 18-month mission for my church, and had immersed myself in a foreign language during that time. I was unsure if I could even write anything coherent in English.

Registering for this class I knew it would be a challenge, but I have always loved literature. I kept telling myself that anything worth it is difficult, and so I plunged into this new world. I was able to discover the diverse world of literature all on the digital platform the Kindle; a device I was completely unfamiliar with. I remember ordering it off of Amazon and to my surprise receiving it only 3 days later because of Amazon Prime membership, but that wasn’t the biggest surprise. I opened the Kindle and was amazed by its appearance as a printed book. I had never seen the screen of a Kindle, and in that moment it changed my opinion of the device almost instantaneously. (Check out chapter one of our class ebook, Becoming Digiliterate to learn more about the Kindle.)

Through reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad I began to see that the Kindle models traditional literary study; notes can still be taken, highlighting can be done, bookmarks may be placed and much more. It resembled a printed book, but it also enhanced note taking, highlighting, and bookmarking. Instead of tediously flipping through pages of the book I could see on one page all highlights, notes, or bookmarks I may have placed. This was very beneficial as my class collectively authored this blog and we all wrote several posts about Heart of Darkness.

Twice a week my classmates and I wrote in our class blog, ranging from blog posts about books that had impacted us to writing our own sonnets. I had read fashion blogs before, but had never actually desired to start to author my own blog. At first, it was such a stressful homework assignment that I would spend most of the day just brainstorming what to write about; it made me so nervous to post any of my personal thoughts about literature online. Literature was supposed to be something private right? Not anymore… If that wasn’t social enough my class was also assigned to have a Goodreads account.

The first time I was on Goodreads I probably spent the rest of my evening finding books I had read, and also adding some to my to-read list. I was surprised that many of my friends already had a Goodreads account as well, and I was able to see what books we had both read. I no longer had to rely on what a librarian insisted that I read, but Goodreads could recommend books based on what I had read and rated.

Through all these mediums my literary study has been enhanced. It goes deeper than just the sparknote study that I was used to, but into social sites such as twitter and youtube. This class has helped to see that traditional literary study has been changing since it begun from just an oral medium and it will continue to do so. The Kindle and any other form of digital literature are becoming just as much traditional as a printed book.

One and the Same.

My semester of literary studies is quickly coming to an end. My class has studied everything from poetry, to plays, to literature online, and everything in between. We’ve sort of gone through everything in our quest to learn about the importance of literature both classically and digitally. This class was my first class I’ve taken that is actually required for being an English major, and some days it really made me question my life decisions concerning being in this major.

The beginning of the class started with jumping from different forms of literature each week. Nonfiction, fiction, poetry, plays, etc.. – you name it, we did it. And all the while we were beginning our journey into using and finding this literature online. There were two big pieces of work that really stood out to me. The really big one was when we read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. We spent a lot of time on this one, and I think it sticks out to me so much because of the amount of time I personally spent with it. I had to fully read and analyze this book, and it was very difficult for me to get into. This was sort of my gateway book into online literature though, as the difficulty of it and the analysis I had to make of it took me right into the heart of the Internet for help. It was during my studies of this book that I first really entered into Goodreads and discovered how reviews work and how a book can connect me with other people. In fact, there was a particular review that really stood out to me and helped me understand why this book matters. When I read that review, I decided to follow the man who wrote it, and since I’ve become so enraptured by his other reviews and have become in new books simply because of his high opinions of them. It was because of this section that my ideas began to form for my chapters about both reviews and Goodreads for my class’ semester ebook we would soon be writing.

My other big work of literature that really stood out to me during this class was during our poetry unit. This was in the beginning of the semester before we had really delved into the online world. So while I was finding and reading poetry online, I was also focusing on the more traditional poetry such as Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. This poem showed me the ways of traditional literature analyses and how to compare the ways in which an analysis must be made. This was quite a challenge for me as I hadn’t before done a formal analysis in this way. We also had to write our own sonnet during this portion of our studies. While struggling with my rhythm and wording of my own poem, I began to feel a connection with these other poems I had been trying so hard to understand. I found beauty in them that before I hadn’t seen, and I developed a deeper appreciation for the authors and the pains they went through to bring us their words.

I could probably go on forever about what works I used and how they helped and frustrated me, but that would get old quite fast. This semester and the class ebook project have taught me so much about the importance of classic literature as well as its introduction into the digital age. Classic literary analysis is still valid, and I would hate to ever lose that part of literature or understanding. But after this semester, I do believe that working with the more social and online aspects of literature are now becoming just as important as the classic. It opens more doors and ideas than before, and allows people to actually connect to these books and people and authors in ways that have never been seen before. It's becoming almost impossible to have literature without including the digital in some way. They're becoming one and the same.

Literature is changing. And to keep it alive it must be allowed to change and grow as the world continues to change and grow.

A Psychological Connection

As of recently, I've been delving into the world that is Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. In my last post, which you can view here, I discussed the way that a double narrative and shift in time affects the way that the reader takes in the novel.
This time, however, I'm going to be getting a bit more into the psychological aspect of the novel, and the way that it affects the way the reader actually connects with this particular work. Because of this, this post is also going to be a much more personal analysis.

Jacques Lacan.
Just look at that head of hair. 

To do so I first need to explain a theory about a dead French dude named Jacques Lacan who created this thing called the Lacanian Theory. (How would it be to become famous enough that you get a theory named after you?) To sum his theory up, he believes that the moment you begin to recognize yourself in the mirror is the moment you go in search of what your identity actually is. And so when you're reading a book,  you automatically seek out different parts of that book that can apply to what your life is as a whole. Follow me there? So basically when you find all this hidden symbolism in the book that you think was obviously written just for you (when it really wasn't) you're supporting Lacan's theory.

Now onto Heart of Darkness!

One of the most common ways to work through this novel is by looking between the symbolism and the characters throughout. For the sake of length, I'm just going to discuss the narrators and the thought itself of the darkness.

We obviously have our main character/ narrator Marlow, who goes on his dark journey through the Congo in search of an Ivory trader. Strangely enough, as I was reading the novel I actually didn't connect all that much with Marlow. He wasn't much to me, he simply was. The character in this novel that I mirrored the most actually turned out to be the unknown narrator that would just occasionally throw something out there explaining the way that he was hearing and seeing the tale from Marlow. In my own life, I can be a very quiet listener. I don't often jump into conversations, and if someone else is telling a story, often the only time I'll speak up is when necessary. Because of this, this unknown narrator became part of my identity as I took in the book.

Me, pondering the existence
 of a book inside of me.

Then there's the symbolism of the darkness. What does it mean? What did Conrad intend it to mean? Is it a physical darkness? Mental? When looking at the symbolism of this and how I took it into my own life, I was also reminded of the reader response theory. This states that the reader basically becomes the author of the work in a different way. So although the darkness came to mean the darkness of the heart to me, perhaps Conrad meant it in a totally different way, and perhaps someone else who has read this novel painted the darkness in their mind in a completely different way. But because of my reader response to the darkness, I absorbed this symbolism into the person that I am, and the way that the book will impact me is strongly based upon this.

When talking about the psychology of Heart of Darkness, it can be difficult because it becomes a very subjective subject. My responses vastly alter the way that the book is mirrored in my life, in the same way it would be vastly different from the way the book would be mirrored in another person's life. There are so many different ways to view Conrad's work, but if you take the time to dive into it, you're likely to find parts that contribute to you as a person.

So tell me, what part of you is mirrored back when reading Heart of Darkness?

The Untold Story of the Native Woman

I was extremely fascinated by the only strong female character that is mentioned maybe just two times in Joseph Conrad’s entire novel Heart of Darkness.

He first depicts her from a crowd of native people, which was code in my mind that she is important and I immediately began trying to put together a story for her. After setting the scene he introduces her “along the lighted shore moved a wild and gorgeous apparition of a woman.” Conrad seldom spoke of woman and often it was derogatory and the main character somehow saw this woman in a more positive light. It is as if he welcomes us to make up her role as the story moves along.

I was immediately drawn to this woman, I wanted to know who she was and what her part in the story was, but other than physical descriptions Conrad leads us the readers to write his own novel or in other words to have our own reader-response criticism.  

Reader-response criticism is simply stated in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism as, “reading is really a process of combining what is physically in print with what you make up in your mind….texts never tell you absolutely everything, and when the author doesn’t give you a particular detail, you may supply it yourself.”

I initially thought that this woman was the infamous Mr. Kurtz’s “intended;” however, as we come to understand that he left a grieving fiancé at home. Although I was wrong about the mysterious native woman being his intended I still believe that they had a romantic relationship. It is written that she was more than upset at Mr. Kurtz sickly departure from the African Congo. How empowering is it that we get to be somewhat of a writer in such an amazing novel!

Then also from this same empowered woman that somehow empowers our own thinking and mental writing we find paradox in who she is. “She walked with measured steps.. treading the earth proudly… she carried her head high” she seems to have it all together and to be perfectly balanced. However, in the very next paragraph she seems to be falling apart, “Her face had a tragic and fierce aspect of wild sorrow.” His description leaves us with the impression that such a strong and controlled woman has no control at all, and that is the wonder of deconstruction. This native woman becomes so much more alive and real to us through the irony that she is both carrying her head high but fiercely sorrowful. Conrad uses deconstruction to also allow us to be the author alongside him, and for me it is proof of her love for Conrad.

You can also see more criticism for nameless native woman here. 

My sister and I on a little trip to Mexico; trying to accessorize like the native woman. 

"her hair was done in the shape of a helmet; she had brass leggings to the knee, brass wire gauntlets to the elbow , a crimson spot on her tawny cheek, innumerable necklaces of glass beads on her neck; bizarre things, charms , gifts of witch-men, that hung about her, glittered and trembled at every step."

Culture in the Congo

We’ve already discussed Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad quite a bit on this blog if you’ve been following along with us.  I am going to keep expounding on that novel by looking at it in the context of “cultural studies.” It was pretty hard for me to pinpoint exactly what I wanted to discuss about cultural studies because I didn’t even know what it was to begin with before I read from our textbook Literary Theory and Criticism.  Basically, as defined by our textbook, “cultural studies investigates meaning in the social text of everyday life.” “Culture” is a very broad definition.  Some define culture as something that lots of people participate in, and some define culture as something that is made up of the “best” of society. I am going to be basing my analysis off of the following passage from the text of the novel:

“Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth!”

The passage above relates clearly to the many themes of colonization that prevail throughout the novel.  Discussed in Literary Theory and Criticism is a theory developed by F. R. Leavis and his wife.  Leavis said that Joseph Conrad is one of the most important writers for those of society to read.  He said reading Conrad could help a society “struggling against war, mechanization, commercialism, and the diminishing impact of religion.”  From the above passage, we can interpret why Leavis chose Conrad as one of the most culturally important authors to read. Conrad brings to light in Heart of Darkness the great sufferings of the people who lived in the Congo at that time.   

Also, from the Literary and Theory Criticism book, I read about “enlightenment rationality replacing myth.”  Two prominent theorists from the 1930s, Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, said that the Enlightenment Era, which began in the 1600s, was a cultural movement designed to move people out of captivity.  But, because cultural practices became so ingrained in peoples’ minds, enlightenment replaced “rational myth.”

We see so clearly throughout Heart of Darkness the people of the Congo being oppressed by the “conquerors.”  But, we don’t see people too upset over the fact that people are starving and dying in the name of enlightenment and civilization.  Kurtz uses Marlow’s character to break the cultural norms that generally accepted the “ration myth” of enlightenment.  We see through Marlow’s eyes the horrors that actually happened in the Congo, and we feel for the people there. 

The two above theories relate in the sense that they both comment on the 

culture happening around and within Heart of Darkness.  Themes of oppression serve as a guide to comment on the “rational myth” that had replaced theories of enlightenment.  These same themes of oppression also serve as a cultural guide of “what not to do.”  After reading Literary Theory and Criticism, I have a better grasp on cultural studies and how they apply to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

I found a presentation that deals with enlightenment in Heart of Darkness.  Click here to view.

My picture is a bit unrelated just as Nathan's is, but this is me and my fiancé!

Underneath Imperialism

In our class’s study of reviews for Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, I have noticed a significant trend in the idea that Conrad’s sole purpose in writing the novel was to portray the evil nature of imperialism. While this is a valid argument, I would argue that Conrad’s purpose was less about imperialism itself and more about how the materialism of the people of England in the 19th century allowed for imperialism to prosper. Conrad shows the materialistic nature of multiple characters: the Swede captain discussing a man who hanged himself as if it's a common occurrence rather than a tragedy, the Doctor who exams Marlow making light of men being changed from the inside rather than the outside when "going out there", the two men plotting to hang a man for the purpose of keeping their positions. For the sake of length, let’s take a closer look at the two main characters, Marlow and Mr. Kurtz.

Materialism: a way of thinking that gives too much importance to material possessions.
Obviously, Dr. Pepper is more important to me than a friendship with my roommate.

As the main character and narrator of Heart of Darkness, Marlow begins his story by speaking of how he came to acquire his position as captain of a steamboat traveling down the Congo. He states that his desire to be captain was so great that he sought the influential help of his aunt in finding the position. When he received news that a position was open – because the previous captain was killed in a fight with a native – he showed no empathy toward the previous captain, but was instead excited to accept the captainship. In his conceit he even states, “I got my appointment – of course. I got it very quick.” Marlow was so enthralled with the mystery and adventure that awaited him in the Congo that he even ignored the conspiratorial feeling that began to pervade his mind when he signed the contract to not reveal “trade secrets”. Marlow’s materialism lands him in the Congo unprepared to witness the terrible on goings that occur.

Mr. Kurtz is a mystery to Marlow and the reader for most of the novel, but eventually we learn that he is a trader that has set himself as a leader over the natives by brutal force. Kurtz’ greed for ivory lead him to act in this uncivilized manner and eventually consumed Kurtz to the point where he suffered death by illness. His materialism is directly linked to imperialism because he becomes the worst sort of man in the “heart” of the Congo by mistreating the natives. Even when Kurtz was dying he said to Marlow, “this lot of ivory now is really mine. The Company did not pay for it. I collected it myself at a very great personal risk.” He spoke as a possessed soul – possessed with the greed for ivory and not a care for how he got it.

Whom Do We Blame?

Girls get a pretty bad rap in most societies. "You throw like a girl!" "Boys are stronger (smarter, more inclined to understand money, maps, you name it), it's science!" and similar phrases plague young girls' minds and raise them to believe that by natural, indisputable law, boys are generally better at everything except being nice and baking (I don't think I'm exaggerating). So who is to blame? All men? Nope! Women, then? I don't think that's fair. How did we get to this place? Literature provides a concrete and fascinating platform from which we can analyze the world's interpretation of what it means to be female. 

Here's a picture of me (far left) with my favorite female (my mother) and my favorite feminist (far right, my father) in Moscow, Russia after my 18 month church service in the Ural Mountains and Siberia. 

So in my last post about Heart of Darkness, I explored the ways in which we, as readers may be just as responsible for misconceptions about what it means to be "female" as Joseph Conrad, who penned the novel himself and has been highly criticized for the way in which females are portrayed. After reading a lot more about feminist literary criticism (see here for a great essay about it), Marxism, Freudism, and reader response theories, I'm looking at Heart of Darkness through a whole different lens... or a couple of lenses all at once, I guess.

Steven J. Venturino's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism provides thorough and accessible explanations for different literary criticism theories, and I will be referencing the kindle version (available here on Amazon) often in this post. As defined by Venturino, feminist literary criticism seeks to expose the effects of patriarchy (or a world controlled by men) and to advance equal opportunities for women (Loc 3178). Basically, feminist criticism assumes that all literary texts come from authors and historical settings that oppress women, regardless of the the author's gender or upbringing. Furthermore, a feminist critic's job is to expose the patriarchal nature of the world to the light of reality, and then to undo an oppressive view of women that has been drilled into our minds since birth, unbeknownst to us. (After all, "political and social forces can succeed best when they don't look like force at all" (Loc 3178). That's the genius of patriarchal society, it appears to be normal and natural!) 

In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, there are three female characters who basically serve to embody the traits that aren't already taken by the main characters, which are: naivety, innocence, ignorance, gentleness, and ignorant but hysteric emotion. Marlow's aunt gives ridiculous, naive advice that Marlow scoffs at, Kurtz' mistress' main character traits are her beauty, wealth, and frightening influence over Kurtz and the natives, and Kurtz' betrothed has basically no idea what's going on and is only soothed from her feminine fussiness when lied to. Critics blame Conrad for these two dimensional characters who paint female as simply the opposite of male, who power stands at the center of the universe. However, feminist theory as a whole, much like Marxism, blames society itself. 

Furthermore, according to reader response theory, it isn't Conrad or society who defines what these characters mean, but the reader. I've got a problem with that though; please tell me another way I could interpret Conrad's opinion on women based off of this novel? The characters are primarily male, and their attitudes toward women showcase annoyance--as if the women are meant to be puppetted by the men, and when they act out, they are a burden to everyone else. I used to think that Conrad might be signaling that men were a part of the problem for women's ignorance (because of Marlow's final thoughts about lying to Kurtz' betrothed), but when I look at it again, Conrad didn't put a single female character in the novel who consciously contributed something worthwhile to the plot. 

To a degree, I disagree with reader response theory that I share equal weight with the author for how his work is interpreted, because Conrad left me with little choice. For this misrepresentation of women specifically, I blame Conrad more than society as a whole or society during Conrad's life or anything else.

Words on Words on Words

For me, analyzing a WHOLE text is very hard. (Especially in a short blog post) But there is so much to "Heart of Darkness" that it definitely needs some more attention than I was able to give it in my last post. 

As a semi simple person...

(It's actually a family trait)

....I need to zero in on specific aspects when I do analysis. Let's talk about how Conrad uses copious amounts of words when he writes about something. Check out this passage:

"Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma. There it is before you, smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering, 'Come and find out.'” 

Whoa. Right?

A deconstructuralist approach informs this verse well. Deconstructuralists focus on the concept that words are as important as thinking. (Maybe more imporant?) They are the frame through which we form thoughts. The words of this paragraph are to teach us about thinking, specifically thinking about an "enigma." By definition an enigma is "a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation." Words are all we have to understand this thought process. The way that Conrad does this is by creating a paradox by describing the coast as "smiling, frowning." This language is self-aware of the fact that it is contradictory, therefore not only describing how the coast was like "thinking about an enigma" but also WHAT an enigma is. This sentence is an enigma! 

Now let's see if we can do a little bit of Russian Formalist analysis. The Formalists felt that literature was important because the form would allow the author to take a habitual experience, something normal, and recast it in a way that we as readers could have a fresh experience. To them literature was literature if the work caused the reader to sort of "wake up" and see something in a new way. 

Here Conrad uses an extreme amount of description (a common thing for him) to take the experience of watching a coast from a ship and renew it for the reader. This is a decently familiar experience, most have watched a coast at some point. But most haven't thought about how the experience is like "thinking about an enigma." Or what about those adjectives he uses? A smiling coast? Mean? Savage? As "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism" notes, "There are several ways to achieve defamiliarization in literature. A writer can draw out an experience with extreme detail or can otherwise interrupt an ordinary description." Now, this is a fairly short example of this (especially for Conrad) but you get the idea of how extending a description can facilitate this "dehabituation" experience. And according to Russian Formalists, this is exactly what makes great literature! 

To see another example of how Conrad's intense descriptions reinvent an experience check out this analysis.

So together these forms of analysis show us that Conrad's verbose form (that is sometimes interpreted by high schoolers on Amazon as worse than "breathing in a pail of cat hair") is a actually a means of giving us readers an experience that shakes up our familiar world through powerfully self-aware writing. He is not long-winded, he is actually using each word carefully for this purpose.

Woah, Nellie!

I have heard it said that a skilled writer can put the themes that will be relevant to the entirety of a text within the first few sentences. Especially good writers can do it within the first sentence. 

Today, I'll be analyzing Heart of Darkness and its themes, basing my analysis of the entire text upon the first two paragraphs of the text. Without further ado, let's get started, shall we?

"The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of
the sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly
calm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come
to and wait for the turn of the tide.

The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of
an interminable waterway. In the offing the sea and the sky were welded
together without a joint, and in the luminous space the tanned sails
of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red
clusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits. A
haze rested on the low shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness.
The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed
condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest,
and the greatest, town on earth."

Let's begin with the first two words of the first sentence: The Nellie. "The Nellie" is the name of a ship, and after a little bit of poking around I discovered that the name Nellie has a few different potential origins. The one that is most prevalent to us is its origin in Old German as an alternate of Eleanor. Eleanor, and by extension Nellie, means "other" or "foreign." Within the first two words, Conrad is encoding foreignness into his narrative about the Congo. 

From there, we identify the sort of boat that The Nellie is. It is identified as a "cruising yawl." A yawl is a two-masted ship, commonly used in the 1800's by fishermen. They were most common in the early 1800's, though they remained popular for quite a while. We can likely surmise that The Nellie is an older vessel rather than a newer one, and has likely seen some use in its time. The Nellie is also identified as "cruising." Cruising in the sailing sense usually means sailing for pleasure. So from this we learn that The Nellie is most likely owned by a rich man. If it were used for fishing, it would be called a fishing yawl. Instead, it is called a "cruising yawl," which indicates that its primary use is for pleasure. It is unusual for a member of the working class in the 1800's to be able to afford a boat simply for pleasure. At this point, both the overarching meta-themes of rich, old men is starting to shine through. An old ship, owned by a rich man who is likely to also be older if his ship is old. Both of these assumptions are later proven true about the occupants of the ship. 

Next, we'll look at the first sentence of the second paragraph. In case you don't feel like scrolling, it reads: "The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of

an interminable waterway." A sea-reach is the point of a river as it reaches the ocean and begins to straighten, indicating that they are near the coast. Unsurprising since they are in a boat. Yet, they describe the Thames as an "interminable waterway" or "a navigable body of water without end." This brings to our minds one of the main focuses of the book: The Congo River. The Congo is described in terms that make it feel endless, and mysterious. 

From there, we pass through several more major themes from the book. Light and Darkness: "Limunous space" and "Mournful gloom." And we see the air of European superiority made manifest in the statment of "the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth." 

A well-crafted book prepares its readers from the very start, even if they don't know it yet. All it takes to find the symbolism and meaning deep within the prose, is to take the time to look for it. 

A picture of myself and my wife from the night we got engaged. Not related, but a great photo!

Everyone Has an Opinion

Our English 251 class has been doing a lot of work with Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness lately. For this assignment, we were tasked with taking the novel and interacting socially with online communities and our own social networks.

Before I could create my own review of the novel, I needed to discover what made a review a good review. Below, I have listed my findings.

1. Catch the reader’s attention immediately with a clever/interesting hook.
2. Definitely do not be objective. The point of a review isn’t to give a summary of the novel--the point of a review is to encourage others to read/not read the book depending on your opinion.
3. Appropriate length. No one wants to read a novel before they actually read a novel.
4. For Amazon in particular: Some people comment on the actual layout of the book. Amazon reviews are a little more formal than Goodreads reviews.
5. For Goodreads in particular: Put more of a personal anecdote in your review.

We were also instructed to create criteria that illustrates a credible Amazon/Goodreads user:

1. I found that I trusted the reviewers who reviewed a variety of things of Amazon. I enjoyed browsing through different users’ reviews and seeing little snippets of their lives. I also trusted users on Goodreads who reviewed lots of different books and who were active in their online community.
2. I trusted those who used their actual name as opposed to a pseudonym.
3. In essence, I followed people on Goodreads and Amazon who seemed more “real.”

For my Amazon review, I tried to stay a little more formal. I gave Heart of Darkness 3 stars. I commented that I enjoyed reading the novel, but I acknowledged that it is a difficult read. I also commented on the layout of the kindle edition of Heart of Darkness. For my Goodreads post, I tried to be more personal so people could see a little bit of my personality while touching on the same things that I discussed in my Amazon review. I am really new at this, but I think I did all right!

With the internet, we tend to judge people and their personalities extremely quickly. As such, I believe it is somewhat important to show who we truly are online--not for the benefit of others, but for ourselves. We are all super great, so we should show that to other people! Hopefully as I become more involved with the Amazon and Goodreads communities, I will be better able to represent myself.

After I completed my reviews, I posted my Goodreads review on Facebook. I can’t say that I had too much interaction, sadly. I had a few past teachers like my status on Facebook., but no one really commented. I tried engaging other people on Goodreads as well. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten much of a response yet. I followed a few people and looked at the profiles of A LOT of users. I made a comment on an active forum but no one replied!

Ten outta Ten

The future is upon us. Or rather, it has been here for a rather long time and only recently are people jumping on the bandwagon. The voice of the singular man is slowly coming to be on par with the opinions of the great critics, in terms of swaying public opinion.

The only thing standing in their way, is making sure their review is worth reading.

What makes for a good review? I spent a little bit of time looking through and finding reviews that seemed to be well liked by fellow reviewers. They tended to have the following distinct aspects:

• The review included at least a small summary of the book, or at very least its major themes. In doing this, it treats the readers as if they had not read the book already. They avoid bringing up or revealing major plot turning points without fair warning. The review understands that those who are reading it have likely not read the book yet, and may use this review to ultimately make their choice.
• The review was edited for grammar, and presented professionally. The writing is solid and avoids unnecessary repetition. 
• The review is stated not as an opinion, but as an analysis of the book's merits. This means that they rarely use the terms "I liked" or "I disliked" but rather terms such as "Conrad demonstrates skill with..." The review seeks to be more than a simple opinion piece, but a brief analysis of the work itself and what it stands for. From there, conclusions are made as to whether or not the book is worth the time and effort needed to read it. 

With this in mind, I went to Goodreads and posted my own review. See it here.

I then went on to post a link to my review on my Facebook, which I won't be sharing for personal reasons. However, I will note that my review gathered a small amount of attention, mostly in the form of "likes." Most of my friends aren't particularly avid readers, and so I only got comments from two of my friends who are intense readers. They disagreed with some of my thoughts, but that doesn't particularly bother me. Everyone who reads the book will have a different stance by the time they get to the end. Getting their opinions about my review was valuable, however.

I found that people on Goodreads are a little more willing to talk to you than people on Amazon or Facebook. This is likely because the site is much more focused on books. Much like you would be more likely to get interaction about your movie review on Rotten Tomatoes than on Facebook. 

The internet is changing the way that reviews work. We have broader options to choose from than just the expert critics and those of our friends who have consumed the media in question. We can now read and enjoy the opinions of individuals around the world. We can make decisions about what we want to read based on reviews made by those who share a similar passion to us. The only caution to take into account, is that the most common reviews will come from those who have a strong opinion. Most of the readers will read the book and never bother to leave a review of it. This can cause things to skew either highly in favor of a book or highly out of its favor. I will admit that I review things very rarely, simply because I hardly ever feel strongly enough about a work to put in that much effort. By contrast, I tend to look at the reviews of a product before I purchase it. So perhaps I am hypocritical in this regard. 

Venturing into the Woods of Reviews

When I finishing Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad on my Kindle app on my phone it forced me to write a review before I could easily access the last page! I hurried and wrote a short review because I wanted to read the ending of the book without delay…

However, I felt as if the review I wrote was quite cliché and could be improved, but this was the first time EVER that I had rated a book publicly. So to see what could be improved of course I looked up others reviews to get a few ideas of what it takes to have a helpful review.

I was surprised to see that someone had already rated my short review helpful before I revised it on Amazon! So I took that as one of my criteria, a review on the shorter side. No one wants to read a novel of a review to find out if the novel is readable. The review also should be semi-personal but not biased; it should have a good balance. I shuffled through so many reviews that were also too short like, “was alright” or “a must for any bookshelf.” I did not find that either of these did justice for the novel if they hated it or loved it, I did not know why. They needed to back up their opinion. I also enjoyed hearing about methods that others used to enjoy the book; maybe they had read the reviews, or reread it several times. 

So with those observations I took a stab in the dark of writing my own review, and then even publishing it online for my Facebook friends to see!

So here it is:

“Finely written novel with a theme of imperialism. The two main characters Marlow and Kurtz are interesting and thought provoking. It is a dark novel that takes no empathy for the loss of human life. At some points the racism and sexism demonstrated by the characters is painful; however, this portrays very explicitly the historical context and the author Joseph Conrad's own voice. I did not fully understand the book until I understood to the context of why it was written. Reviews and Spark Notes helped me understand and get lost in the book that initially made me cringe at its darkness. The novel is thought provoking, and well detailed, but leaves reader with a dark impression.”

So obviously I kept it pretty short. I discussed the theme of the book, but also showed how initially the book was hard for me to read, until I understood Joseph Conrad, both expressing my opinion with facts.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed to not receive too much of a response to my post on Facebook about the review. I know my friends read, but maybe they use Goodreads for books and Facebook for socializing? Any tips on getting more of a response on Facebook? 

However, while interacting on Goodreads and Amazon through reviews I was surprised to find so many others who were able to appreciate Heart of Darkness as I had. I needed to first understand Conrad to truly get lost in the book, and a few other reviews discussed that! I looked at their other reviews and one of my favorite ones was actually on Amazon, and she rated mostly books! It was entertaining to see what other things people have rated like guns and knives and then Heart of Darkness. I feel like it could help identify me with the person or completely differentiate. It was a fun experiment!

I still feel pretty amateur and that I am venturing lost in the dark woods of the review world, so what does it take to have a well-written review for you?

The Future of Reading: Goodreads, Take Me With You!

I’M NOT TIMID IN REAL LIFE, SO WHY AM I ONLINE? 

That is the struggle. This is the twenty-first century, get with it, Lauren! I'm trying to stop resisting the future of reading, and it's working! 

I've never been one to post reviews or comments on general online. I'm an avid observer, but I've never felt comfortable interacting with people that I don't know personally. It is completely out of my comfort zone to "friend" someone who I've never seen in real life, so my insides are churning just thinking abut interacting with new cyber friends. Over the course of the past couple weeks, I've slowly grown more comfortable with interactions online...especially online communities like Goodreads that are more academically focused. While perusing the book reviews on Goodreads and Amazon (as well as film, etc. on Amazon) I found a few common themes among the reviews that seemed most helpful, which seem inherit in the subject matter of the website and the people who are attracted to it. 

My favorite reviews are those that incorporate their honest opinion into an unbiased, brief analysis of the book or movie with just a little bit of summary, if any. People who have given intelligent thought to a work but aren't writing just to sound smart are the ones I want to listen to. A couple of weeks ago, I started following a few people on Goodreads who I didn't know before. I appreciate that they give honest opinions and write about the literary quality and personal relevance the the work. I noticed that they didn't rate every single classic book as four or five stars. If they don't like a book, they aren't afraid to say so, but they support their opinions with evidence or thoughtful reasoning. I'm most prompted to follow people who have thoughtful reviews on a myriad of books, don't write sarcastically or ironically, and don't seem pretentious. I can go to other sources to find those kinds of reviews! 

I also feel comfortable "friending" people on Goodreads who have read similar books to me, and rated them similarly. The comparing ratings feature is extremely helpful with that. I was fascinated to see how many random strangers have similar opinions to me, and where we varied. I found many people who had read many of the same books as me, but given wildly different reviews. With one girl I decided to follow, I noticed that I give Diary of Anne Frank 5 stars while she gave it 3, I gave In the Time of the Butterflies 2 stars while she gave it 3, and we both gave Of Mice and Men 4 stars. I imagine that people who generally like the same books that I like will be a good place to find new books to read that I will actually enjoy. There is definitely a danger of the "echo chamber" effect here, but as I get older, I have less and less time to read for myself and I want to spend my precious reading time on books that I will really enjoy. 

THE HARD PART: MY TURN

When it came time for me to start writing reviews, I decided that I wanted to keep it brief, fair, and based on my personal experience with the book. There are so many resources to read plot summary; when people put summaries into their reviews, I tend to skip over it. For my Goodreads review, I wrote just slightly more about literary elements that I enjoyed, because I think that more people on Goodreads are looking for those qualities. For my Amazon review, I focused more on the product of the Kindle Reading experience, because Amazon is clearly more consumer based. My Amazon review was also a little trickier for me to navigate because I share the account with my family. I felt a lot more comfortable writing a personal review on Goodreads than I did on Amazon under my father's name. 

After writing my review on Goodreads, it automatically popped up on Facebook, and a few of my close friends liked it (probably out of some bizarre moral code of liking anything I post even though they may have not read the book), and a few random people who I haven't connected with in a long time liked it as well! That was a fun surprise and an intellectual way to reconnect. 

It was difficult for me to engage with people on Goodreads about Heart of Darkness; it doesn’t seem that very many people are talking about it right now. I’m trying! Engage with me! I decided to write my own discussion question to see if anyone could provide insight or answers that would intrigue me and lead me to friend someone. No one has yet to respond, but I’m actually excited about it and will be sure to report if anyone does respond on a comment below...if not, I guess only my Goodreads friends will see the shame of my unanswered question. 

Basically, I had way too much anxiety about becoming an active reviewer and interacter on Goodreads and Amazon. I’ve been taking way too much advantage of other people’s thoughtful reviews to not contribute some of my own. Here’s to the future of literary consumption! I want to be a part of it!