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the conspiracy is spiraling out of control (libra)

  hey all, last blog post so no capitalization. (i make the rules here on bog blog (on a frog on a log)). today i want to talk about the actual plot of LIBRA-- the conspiracy.  so we all know that this gang of cia-disgraced agents are plotting to kill JFK. win leads this effort, in order to bring back the issue causing the bay of pigs incident, getting the US to go after cuba again. huge, complicated plot to 'fake kill' the president. then it sort of becomes murky if theyre going to fake kill JFK or actually kill him. not a super great lapse in confidence for a plot. how does this happen? well there's a couple different one answer is pretty simple: the plot spirals out of control. one way you could think of this as a nice little metaphor for the writing process. for example, when i write creatively, i often start with a huge drawn out plot, with 17 different side plots, wide themes and lots of random scenes and details that piece together in my head but apparently no one el...
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lee oswalds mom is literally writing the book

 Quick post. Why not. Let's skip the formalities.  I know in class we talked about how a lot of the information of this novel is sourced from the something (Warren???) files which investigated Lee's life before y'know, being presumed to have shot the president and then shot dead. A lot of this information, as we covered in class, had come from his mom. Who just sort of rambled at the interviewer until eventually she had to stop talking. His mom kinda comes off as a little crazy, with long tangents and sprees about random things. We get that sense in the book too, when she speaks to her son. Solid. DeLilo is getting her character from her interview, then putting that into the book. But I don't think that's where the parallels stop.  You see, a lot of what we know about Lee comes from his mom's interview. His life is retold by her. He never got a chance to elaborate on his life, because, he is dead. That's sort of what happens when you die. It would be a littl...
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dana's complicated and potentially abusive relationships

 Hi all, as you all know we're reading Kindred this time. Or well, we finished it. Regardless, let's talk about Dana. More specifically, her relationships, and how she becomes unhealthily depend on them.  I'd like to start off with her relationship with Kevin. While this is the milder one of the two relationships I'd like to talk about today- being that messing it up doesn't result in something akin to death/severe harm to self- it still has huge impacts on the story. Now, while I can't speak about how interracial relationships with older men tended to go in 1976- I can say that their relationship has somewhat given me a weird vibe. More so towards the middle of the book. (By the end the weirdness is somehow magically removed. Maybe Kevin went to couple's therapy). By this, I mean the weird dependency Kevin is trying to get Dana to form with him.  Now, while not every relationship is meant to be abusive, and symptoms of an abusive relationship could very wel...
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Ishmael Reed is a conspiratorist

 2nd blog post for this section because I have no other homework to do. So why not talk about Mumbo Jumbo? Gotta stay productive.  On the notion of Ishmael Reed being a conspiracy theorist. Because he 100% is. Throughout the entire book he develops an almost crazed persona- talking about how the Atonists are scheming to take down Jes Grew. He has an entire "partial bibliography" where he cites his sources. Except... this isn't an academic paper. Or is it? You see more books of fiction don't have sources... and if they do have sources they don't cite them. Because who cares. It's a book of fiction. Your research about how this species of tiger has 72 stripes instead of 71 doesn't matter in a book of fiction- because if you're wrong then it's just considered artistic liberty. So clearly, Reed here is tryna prove a point.  That point is that Jes Grew exists... and was simply covered up by the Atonists. You see, for the reason that he's arguing the...
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mumbo jumbo is music on paper kinda literally

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Regardless of the fact that not very much at all of Mumbo Jumbo actually makes enough sense for you to understand what's going on after reading a chapter- one thing does in fact stick with you. One of the first things you notice when reading this book is the mistyped words, the sort of strange flow to the words on the page that you don't get in a lot of books- either from this time period or even now. Why is this?  Well, our class has the conclusion that the Wallflower Order got a hold of Mumbo Jumbo and misspelled it to delegitimize it. I honestly really like that theory, I'm always a sucker for meta-aspects of literature and film. Regardless, I also want to present the theory of the context of this book.  The entire plot of this book revolves around Jes Grew as it spreads across America. Jes Grew sounding an awful lot like "just groove", seemingly as-well a metaphor for jazz. Perhaps the spirit of Jes Grew has possessed this book, to possess the life in the text...
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a review of ragtimes *interesting* characters

 Here on the world-reknowned bog blog, we well acknowledge that I hate Ragtime. More specifically, its characters. The author's not-so-well hidden god complex shows through in several of them. Doctorow builds his character's "private" lives through the text, showcasing his abilities as the author of this book to create strange situations for them to interact in.  Does this book count as historical fan-fiction? I think it does. In some ways it almost feels like a self-insert fan-fiction. Though, I'm not sure how to explain how I get that connection other than just "it feels like it". Maybe its because he just sorta waltzes through history and writes in whatever element he chooses. "Emma Goldman and Evelyn Nesbit meet up together? Heck yeah. It's now in the book." "The Little Boy just so happens to come across Harry Houdini in a completely outlandish car accident? Yeah, why not." None of these characters are actually supposed to mee...
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emma goldman is an element of satire, i will die on this hill

 before I get into this- yes I am aware I have already posted for this time's blog post. (Extra credit..?) However, I am bored and writing this allows me the air of productivity while still procrastinating on the homework I should be working on this weekend. Aha. Alas, never could be a better time to rant about how much I hate Ragtime and subsequently the author.  Quick CW for this post! By no means is it incredibly explicit, but I will describing explicit themes that are described in the novel. This includes mention of rape and pedophellia.  On today's topic: Emma Goldman. By far my favorite character in the book-- up until she sympathized with mother's younger brother. (perhaps a list of opinions on the book's characters next blog post?) Recently in class we have discussed her role in the book, because it is certainly not like the other characters. However, it is. And I'm here to prove it.  First and foremost, to introduce the context. Emma Goldman, as we all kno...
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