Well, I finished my Rainbow Fish-as-seen-through-the-eyes-of-Nietzsche paper for the Philosophy in Children's Literature collection. It didn't look ridiculously short in my nice old-fashioned Courier font, but when I reformatted it into the prescribed Times Roman it shrank alarmingly. It really does look pitiful now! But I said all that I have to say, and maybe brevity is not only the soul of wit but the soul of something deep and philosophical as well.
When I had my review for tenure a decade ago, I remember being worried that my tenure file was "scanty, skimpy, and quirky," where "scanty" referred to the number of articles, "skimpy" to their length, and "quirky" to their content. And, hey, I did get tenure anyway. So I hope my skimpy Rainbow Fish/Nietzsche paper will pass muster with the volume's editor. And if it doesn't, maybe he'll have some good ideas for things to add. And in any case, right this minute it's off my desk and onto his.
So now I can pack for the Children's Literature Association conference in Roanoke. I'm giving a paper on Rufus M, by Eleanor Estes, making the fourth in a series of papers I've given/published on her books - one on The Hundred Dresses, one on The Witch Family, one on The Middle Moffat and The Alley, and now this one on Rufus M. It's also skimpy, but that's good for conference presentations, and I know the wonderful supportive audience at the conference will have great suggestions for expanding it into publishable form. And I need to find something to read at our annual "midnight feast," where a bunch of us crowd together into one of our rooms, garbed in pajamas if possible, and read aloud to each other from favorite children's books.
So right now I'm off to start my packing pile with a light conscience from having added another skimpy entry to my no-longer-all-that-scanty list of quirky papers.
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What goes through the head of those who read your blog: (In case you wanted to know)
ReplyDeleteThoughts between the lines:
That sounds like so much fun; discussing picture books as the different didactic messages they send... next, she might argue The Rainbow Fish Meets the Big Blue Whale as the fodder between the Machiavelli vs Thomas Merton ideas. How does she choose which philosophy idea to pursue? Does she start with the book or the philosopher? Maybe its random.
How about--The picture book, "The Big, Fat, Enormous Lie" from Freud's perspective. She wouldn't do that.
I wish I knew enough to play. :)
"Dear Claudia, Tell us all about Eleanor Estes when you have a minute. Thanks."
I'm in the mood for someone to read some scenes from L"Engle'sWRINKLE IN TIME (is that considered a children's book? I read it to my kids) or read me some Nora Roberts (I still think of myself as a child, does that mean what kids actually read is children's lit? By definition? I'll ask)(No, I didn't read Nora Roberts to my kids. Sheesh.)
And
(Don't say the answer to this next question is vocabulary because, HONESTLY, my 2 year old grandson uses words like onomonopeia (sp?) and palandrome and says "Is Superman a portmanteau, grammy?" "Why?" ..."Oh." ..." Why?")
"Dear Claudia, How are the labels children's, MG, and YA decided?"
"Why"
Hope you are having fun.