So, I’m embroiled in this very long reserach paper that I’ll be writing this weekend and turning in on Tuesday. It’s about H.D., who I mentioned in one of my earlier posts. I’m pretty frustrated with the “Cannon” right now, because I’m working on my second graduate degree, and until this semester, I had never read H.D.’s poetry. This is directly related to the fact that H.D. is a female poet, and there’s a historical prejudice against female writers and poets in our country. I love her poetry and it turns me on more than Pound or Elliot, even though she’s doing a lot of similar experimentation. Anyways, I was reading this critical article as part of my research in my tutoring office the other day when I didn’t have any students in there. The article is written by a very prominent feminist literary critic, and I started getting very emotional reading it because her writing was so beautiful and she was articulating so much of what was in my heart about this particular writer and her work. After I read her article I had this really strong urge to thank her for writing it. After a few minutes I said to myself, “aw hell..the internet is used for stupid stuff all the time…why not?” So I googled her, found out where she taught, and then wrote her a brief letter, trying not to sound like a crazy person, thanking her for her critical work and particularly that one article about H.D., because, as a poet, I had never read H.D. until this semester and I think that work by critics like her is the reason that I’m reading H.D. at all…and I think it’s very important to read H.D. SO, I open my e-mail this morning, and Susan Grubar wrote me back. Here’s what she said:
Well, this has made my day! It is rainy, some students cut class, there was a long departmental meeting, but your email brings me such pleasure. Many thanks,
Susan Gubar
Also, here’s a link on Susan Gubar:
http://smpcollege.com/litlinks/critical/gubar.htm
Who knew the internet could do good things?
–Ben
go internet use for good, not evil! there was a piece on npr yesterday about a number of young male poets from the topeka area, i know you’re not from there, but perhaps wahtever was in the water that got them published will trickle into your life, ben. good luck with your paper writing:)
that was a really good story, ben. i mean it…thanks for sharing it!
Susan Gubar holds the world together. This morning, I was reading an article about 20th century Chinese women poets, and there was a reference in the article to something Susan Gubar had written that tied in directly with the thing I think is going to become my thesis project. It was exactly what I needed to find someone saying in order for my proposed project to have any relevance at all. Susan Gubar saved my day.