Tonight will more than likely be spent in the library. At least until it closes at 8pm. That would be an embarrassing admission, if I weren't looking forward to it. Class was canceled again on Tuesday thanks to the snow, but Dr. Foster still sent out an assignment (I may have e-mailed him asking what work could be done to stay on track for next week but I could not have been the only person and he'd probably would have assigned something regardless...don't start with me.)
I'm not entirely sure I like "The Secret Sharer". Either it's exceedingly obvious so we can use it to dip our toes into lit crit, or I missed something. My fear is the latter. Throughout the short story, the unnamed narrator refers to the man who climbs aboard his ship in the middle of the night as his double. His secret self. Occasionally, his other. Never once uses the man's name and despite knowing nothing about him apart from his amphibious aptitude and the reason he left his own ship (he killed a man) he takes him in, hides him away from the rest of the crew and risks their lives and the ship to insure that Leggatt can make an anonymous get away from the ship. There has to be something more to it than the obvious (literal, really) twinning Conrad's doing. There just has to be. It's short, I'll read it again.
First assignments, while I always look forward to them, are unnerving when prepared for someone I've never met. I always wonder if this is the time they'll finally figure out I have no earthly idea what I'm talking about. It's times like this that I really worry that Radford was too easy and has not prepared me at all for the work I'm about to encounter.
I really want to be good at this school thing. I really like it. I'm just a little afraid I've been operating under a false impression of myself. I don't like short stories whose apparent obvious makes me second-guess my ability. I don't like them at all.
At least I recognize the names of the critics in this edition, that has to count for something.
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2 comments:
I (supposedly) read The Secret Sharer in high school. All I remember is the design on the cover, featuring a man in a funny hat. If you wanted to really blow their minds, you could talk about that.
Can we go partnership on that taco stand? I also doubt my professional abilities learned at Radford PLUS I make a decent salsa.
Can I open an adjoining, yet self-deductively inferior schnitzel stand?
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