We have been assinged the authors we will appear as to teach others the gist of their theory and/or approach. I've gotten Longinus. I'll confess I was secretly hoping to get Virginia Woolf(the truth is I have a massive intellectual crush on her), but perhaps it will prove to be more advantagous to do a writer whom I am deeply familiar with.

I learned today that Northrop Frye was a fan of the radio show "20 Questions", which often involved the question "Is it animal, vegetable, or mineral?" Frye obviously picked up on this for the diagramming at the conclusion of "The Archetypes of Literature."

And also the figure of the alazon, which means "imposter" and of which there are two types: the braggart soldier and the pedant(profesor type). And from the revealtion that both Presidential candiates could be described as both types came the other revelation that we are all characters in literature. This automatically made me wonder what kind of character I would be, but then I wondered if perhaps we can't truly be aware of what literary stamp we fall under, because then we might become something other then we were by false design or affectation and then where woud we be?

Or I could just be rambling.

I knew nothing about this Vico character(an 18th century Italian philosopher) who apparently was instrumental to the forming of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. He apparently felt that civilization arose from a clap of thunder, and had a poetic view of human history which went, in order:

1. Age of Gods(when there was no language, only pictures)
2. Age of Heroes(when there was the language of epics)
3. Age of Men(when there is the langauge of commerce)
4. Age of Chaos(when there is/will be nothing but gibberish)

His is a myth of declination, just like Frye's theory of modes is. I find it rather intriguing that the worst state there could be(the Ironic for Frye, and presumably the Age of Chaos for Vico)is the age one is currently in. This is just so fascinating, how throughout the ages, people always long for the past rather than the time they are in. I think I can understand why, but it still just seems very intruging to me.

And on this note, we will stop.