res gerendae
Ξ Monday, 04 Jun 2007 at 00:35 | → Comments Off | ∇ Normal |
there is, in fact, a list of things I wish to accomplish this summer. i’m largely generating this on the spot, but there are and have been things in the back of my mind that ought to be more in the fore of it. right now I’m reading Franz Kafka’s Amerika (a passage of which I would quote, the page of which I’ve dog-eared for future reference, although without any context it would be nigh unintelligible), alternate title “The Man Who Disappeared.” it’s a fantastic book so far, full of Kafka’s little tics and neuroses that he so maddeningly (although entertainingly as well) magnifies in his other works. afterwards, however, when I finish, I plan on reading a great many other books while on summer break, and doing other things to further my education and keep my mind extremely active. A few of these things follow:
- Finish my incompletes in Archaeology and the Pre-Socratics seminar. I need to copy as many inscriptions as possible out of Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) vol. 4 (Pompeii and surrounding area) before 06 Jun, when the book is due; the other books I’m using for my papers have a longer checkout time and can be renewed indefinitely.
- Read secondary literature on epic, including (parts, at least) of Wolf’s Prolegomena to Homer, and attempt to formulate a thesis topic. The following items will help with this as well.
- Research schools that I wish to apply to for a PhD program, and plan on applying there in the fall. This is another catalyst to getting the incompletes done, since I don’t want I-grades showing up on transcripts which I send out.
- Read Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in English, and as much as I can of the Greek.
- Read Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days; a good amount of the Greek as well.
- Read Thucydides in toto in English; I doubt I will get to any of the Greek, but who knows.
- Read Herodotos’ in toto in English.
- Read Vergil’s Aeneid again in English, and perhaps some of the Latin which I’ve not read.
- (perhaps) Read Lucretius’ De rerum natura again in English; I read it last summer and enjoyed it immensely.
- Read Apollonios Rhodios’ Argonautika in English, and try to look at some of the Greek in the Loeb as well.
- Read Plato’s Republic, most likely with Nicole, since she knows it far better than I — and perhaps the Symposium and Phaedrus as well. I also want to read Phaedo in preparation for Greek in the fall.
- Read Aristotle’s Poetics, which I started at the time which I bought it and never picked up again.
- Read Aeschylus’ entire corpus in English.
- Read Sophocles’ Oedipus cycle in English. Eventually I plan on purchasing the Cambridge Oedipus Rex commentary.
- Read Pindar, at least as much as I can stomach of him; this may prove useful for the seminar in the fall.
- Learn French for the modern language MA exam, which I will take in the fall; if I do not pass it, I’ll take it again in the spring and hope to pass it. I’m planning on using French for Reading, which I bought a little while ago.
These are lofty goals, but I want to complete a number of them if not all. I want this to be a productive summer as well as a fun one, and I don’t want to get rusty on my Latin and Greek skills. I want to most of all improve my Greek over the summer.
it’s getting late and I must sleep. I’ve got to go to jury duty tomorrow, and I really hope it won’t last long, since every day I’m there will be detracting $60 or so from my paycheck for this month. Nicole recommended I bring a book tomorrow, because apparently it’s a very boring process much of the time. I think back to the Greek court system with its paid jurors; the dignity which permeated that process seems strangely lacking today, although perhaps I’m biased. it’s time to dream like the dead.
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