Lyrique Tragedy Reviews

Book Review: Susannah, A Lawyer by Ruth Rymer

2009-10-05T21:26:00.000-04:00

Susannah, A Lawyer: From Tragedy to Triumph
by Ruth Rymer

Langdon Street Press

212 3rd Avenue North

Suite 290

Minneapolis, MN 55401

325 pages

978-1934938416$ 14.95

Rape. Sexual Harassment. Deeply ingrained, gender-based social mores. Victim blaming. The Denial of a woman’s identity. Trafficking in women (daughters) for social and economic advancement. Any one of these topics could be the subject of a lengthy body of work, but Ruth Rymer manages to draw all of the most common challenges facing women in the 19th century into Susannah’s journey from the halls of Mount Holyoke to the defendant’s chair, to a seat in one of the top firms in Chicago to read law before taking the bar exam. In Susannah, A Lawyer, Ruth Rymer manages to bring to life the complex world of intelligent women in a time where attending college was for meeting husbands, not for building careers.

One challenge of writing historical fiction is establishing the time and social climate in a period that is not in an unimaginable past in a relatable, clear manner. Conveying the differences between current social perspectives and perspectives from the past is a challenge for any historical fiction author. Add to that the need to unveil similarities between past and present social issues (sexual harassment, for example) that may seem simplified and “solved,” and you have a task that few authors are capable of negotiating effectively. At first glance, the layer upon layer of circumstantial bad luck that Susannah encounters from the first chapter to the last seems to be an almost over-saturation of political and social points. But when taken in conjunction with the period in which Susannah, A Lawyer is set, and the impact that historical fact plays on the pursuit of a law degree by a woman, her obstacles, and the strategies she employs in overcoming those obstacles, the laundry list of assaults by friends, family, and society all become representative of the struggles women of the 19th century faced collectively. In this respect, Rymer’s juggling of controversial issues (both in the 19th century and now) with historical accuracy and engaging dialogue makes the comparison between Susannah and the reader inevitable.

Don’t mistake Rymer’s accessible writing for lack of sophistication. Susannah is full of well researched detail of language, social mores, apparel, and customs of diverse groups of people. Rymer’s experience in law is immediately evident but not intimidating, and through the voice of Susannah, readers are able to encounter reading law with the same confidence she does. Rymer creates a cast of memorable and three dimensional characters that are fallible and real. Few are absolutely despicable. Few are completely lovable. Because of the range of experiences and actions of her characters, Susannah becomes more realistic, and the end of this novel leaves the reader expecting to hear the next installment over tea in the salon tomorrow rather than waiting for a sequel. Susannah becomes a character readers grow frustrated with because of her naivete in social situations that modern readers are all too familiar with, but at the same time the audience can’t help but root for her to stand up for herself, to challenge barriers and to be the path blazing woman the title promises.

VBT Interview: Ruth Rymer

2009-10-05T10:53:00.008-04:00

This is the first of two posts to go up on Lyrique Tragedy Reviews today for Ruth Rymer’s Virtual Book Tour for her new book Susannah, A Lawyer: From Tragedy to Triumph. (For the review, click here). Ruth was kind enough to answer a few questions that the book raised for me as I was reading it for review. Considering the topic of Susannah, Ruth’s background is that much more relevant and influenced the questions I asked:

About Ruth Rymer (From the Author’s website):

An early women’s rights scholar, Ruth Rymer practiced Family Law and lectured on “Women and the Law” in California before retiring to write. She holds a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from The Fielding Institute and wrote her dissertation on the historical, sociological, and psychological aspects of divorce.

Dr. Rymer, listed in Best Lawyers in America 1988-2000, is Past President of both Queen’s Bench (Bay Area women attorneys) and the Northern California Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

The author lives in the Bay Area with her husband. Susannah is her second book.

Dawn: Why historical fiction? Did you develop the legal and social issues you wanted to address first, or did you choose the time period and then extrapolate issues based on the period?

Ruth: Both. I like the time period. I know something about my great grandmother who was born at the same time and same place as Susannah. I am fascinated by the period thirty years after the first women’s rights conference, as women timidly began to shatter their chains. And finally, as a lawyer, I wanted to explore how hard it was for women to become attorneys initially. I’d read and taught about Myra Bradwell, the first woman lawyer in America, and wanted to bring her in as a mentor to my protagonist.

Dawn: Susannah is a very modern thinking character. How did you balance historical accuracy with modern notions of women? Was any aspect more difficult than another?

Ruth: Where women are concerned, there is always a first–the first woman lawyer, the first woman doctor, dentist, Congresswoman, Governor. No woman breaks out of the women’s sphere prison without “modern thinking.” To me, it is survival thinking–living one’s life by relying on oneself.

I loved the research and the writing. Editing and birthing the book were difficult.

Dawn: Do you consider Susannah, A Lawyer a feminist novel?

Ruth: I could argue that both ways, but in general I find feminism more shrill than it should be to bring women into full partnership in society with men. I tried to avoid lacing Susannah with feminist anger. That’s for the reader, if she would like, or not.

Dawn: You tackle domestic violence, rape and stigmatization of the victim, divorce, social and legal boundaries for women, and the right to independence and education of women in Susannah, A Lawyer (to name just a few). Why include all of these issues in one novel?

Ruth: I wanted to present a slice of life from 1877 to 1880. Any woman living during that period would encounter at least some of the issues presented in the novel, and a woman lawyer would deal with all of them in her quest to bring justice to her clients.

Dawn: Susannah, A Lawyer is historical fiction, but your protagonist and her struggles are anything but incidental. What do you want readers to walk away with once they finish reading?

Ruth: I think I’d like readers to miss Susannah after finishing the book. I’d like readers to appreciate the freedom we have now and to understand how much better we control our destinies than women did in 1880. Most of all, I hope readers will find Susannah a really good read!

Thank you, Ruth, for taking the time to answer my questions and to address some topics for discussion. Readers can get the book at Amazon and Ruth’s website (among other places). And read an excerpt of Susannah, A Lawyer on the book site, so go check it out and get reading. I promise it will leave you with plenty to talk about!

Temporary Hiatus & Updates

2009-09-17T09:55:00.004-04:00

It's been far too long since I've updated here at Lyrique Tragedy Reviews. A large reason for that has to do with the complete 180 my life has taken over the course of the past year. It also has a lot to do with the fact that my library is still in storage from the move from Pittsburgh, Pa to Baltimore, MD. As it stands I'll be moving (yet again) in October to a location closer to work to cut back on the 1 1/2 to 2 hour commute I have each way (if only I had 10 more hours a day, things would be a cake walk). Ideally, once that happens I can rescue my books from storage and jump back in the reviewing saddle and hopefully add on a few new voices who would like to contribute.

That being said, I've been reviewing Comic Books and Graphic Novels over at my other site Reality 101 and there promises to be an exciting announcement regarding that coming very soon. This may lead LTR down some interesting new avenues, but until the nuts and bolts are worked out, LTR will remain a general review site that will regain activity once I can get to my books. I'll be re-posting some of those reviews here in the coming weeks. So, if you see some changes around here in terms of layout and organization (let's not forget to clean up the blog roll and links while we're at it), don't be too alarmed.

In the meantime, you should look for a post on October 5, 2009 both here and at Reality 101! I've agreed to be one of the stops on Ruth Rymer's upcoming Virtual Book Tour promoting her new novel Susannah, A Lawyer. Ruth has graciously also agreed to answer a few interview questions, which will also be posted here. While you wait, pop over to her website and read an excerpt from the book! I'm always suspicious of Historical Fiction, but I've really enjoyed reading Susannah, A Lawyer thus far, and I'm looking forward to writing the review.

As always, write well...

Dawn

David Foster Wallace

2008-09-17T12:41:00.006-04:00

Contemporary American writer and recipient of the 1997 MacArthur Foundation's grant (affectionately dubbed the"Genius Grant"), David Foster Wallace was found dead in his home on Friday. There isn't much that I can say here that hasn't already been said elsewhere, but I do feel a remarkable sadness that such an interesting creative giant has taken what I can only imagine would have been his best works yet with him. It's always a sad day when the creative among us passes.

Wallace gave the world his popular collections of short stories such as, "Girl With Curious Hair" and "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men." But probably more notably, he gifted the contemporary literary stage with Infinite Jest. I started reading Infinite Jest at the beginning of the summer, and, admittedly, have yet to finish. Even without reaching the hallowed last page, it comes as a profound sadness to know that there will be no more dark wit, cynicism, and off-beat humor. Thus far, I am enjoying Infinite Jest immensely, and I recommend making an effort to pour through it at some point.

But if you don't have time to sit through his lengthy novel just yet, at least take a glimpse of the Commencement speech Wallace gave on May 25, 2005 at Kenyon. It's far from a traditional speech, but it holds some incredibly laid-bare, point blank insights that, while on the surface might sound disheartening, actually gift the graduates with incredible freedom and control of their lives. An excerpt:

As I'm sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside your own head (may be happening right now). Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed. Think of the old cliché about quote the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master.

This, like many clichés, so lame and unexciting on the surface, actually expresses a great and terrible truth. It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger.

His reference to suicide in this profound speech three years ago raises questions about his own personal existence and dealing with his own "Terrible Master." Many references to the old adage of the "thin line between genius and insanity" have been raised since Wallace's death, but I don't believe it can be summed up in such a cavalier way. It ignores the difficulties that creative, highly intelligent individuals experience daily. It ignores the nuts and bolts of every day living. Benjamin Strong from the Village Voice says it best:

The short answer is easy. Wallace's father told the New York Times that his son had been taking anti-depression medications for 20 years and, feeling their cumulative side effects, had tried in the summer of 2007 to wean himself off of them, only to land in shock therapy and hospital stays after his illness returned. The longer, more complicated answer—namely, what it was exactly that was going through the writer's head when he hanged himself in his own home, where he had to know it would be his wife of four years who would find him—let's face it, that explanation is not ever going to be forthcoming.

Unfortunately, we'll never know the actual reason David Foster Wallace chose to take his own life, but I submit that we don't necessarily need to. The over-intellectualizing of his actions is precisely the kind of thinking and day-to-day behavior he railed against in his commencement speech. Sometimes we should just take things for face value and see the Water for the Water.

Do yourselves a favor and pick up one of his books. At the very least skip on over to Harper's, where they so graciously posted every piece they have ever printed by him in PDF format.

Book Review: Comeback Season by Cathy Day

2008-03-21T16:05:00.004-04:00

Any time a woman writes a book about dating and relationships the market assumes it will be a trendy “how to” manual, a fluffy Chick Lit novel, or, worse yet, an insincere combination of the two genres. Most serious scholars wouldn’t look twice at books in this category. For many serious critics and readers, the thought of a book about football and the agony of traversing the dating world couldn’t possibly hold any literary value. For this reason, Cathy Day’s memoir Comeback Season: How I Learned to Play the Game of Love, is not only unable to be easily categorized, it shakes up notions of where and how about social theory and commentary can take place.

Comeback Season chronicles Cathy Day’s experience jumping back into the dating game over the course of the 2006 Indianapolis Colts season. A lover of both football and “locker room speeches,” Day uses the tenacity of Peyton Manning and the Colts as an inspiration to make a genuine effort to overcome dating obstacles in her career, a new city renowned for dating difficulty for professional women, and her own patterns of unsuccessful partner choices. She bravely reveals her foray into the online dating world, and single-handedly fights a predatory scam dating service. At times Day’s emotional admissions are all too painfully familiar to many professional women, but she manages to keep things in perspective with a sharp wit and outright laugh-out-loud humor. Day employs an imaginary female sports reporter to inject both self deprecating humor and social commentary, and it quickly becomes clear that the reporter embodies the traditional expectations that Day has to fight against throughout her dating season.

More importantly, Comeback Season is a commentary about the unexpected results of the feminist movement. It is now far more common for women to put off getting married out of high school or an undergrad program in order to pursue a career and education. This is, unquestionably, a success for the feminist movement, but it doesn’t take into consideration the disparity between developing personal relationships and professional success that so many of those independent women, such as Day, face. When young girls were told that they can be whatever they wanted, all too often their attentions turned to career aspirations woefully devoid of female role models. Logically, then, those same young girls looked to male heroes to pattern their career paths after. Decades later it is no wonder that daughters of the early feminist movement are the ones left with the task of figuring out how to navigate between domestic desires and professional aspirations without crumbling under pressure to abandon one or the other. Couple this with the high personal and professional expectations of university English departments, and Day captures the complex lives of many female academics today.

From Comeback Season: How I Learned to Play the Game of Love:

…The ivory tower is full of single professional women, but in my experience, they very rarely talk about the similarity of their situations.

I was feeling mighty down the day of the exit interview. When Hattie asked me why I was leaving the college, I paused for a second and said, “Deep, soul-crushing loneliness.”

For a second, I thought we both might start crying. Hattie looked deflated, like I’d knocked the wind out of her with those words. “I know what you mean,” she offered. But then she recovered herself. She stood up from her chair, smoothed her blue skirt, and gave me a firm, businesslike handshake. “Good luck, Cathy.” (109)

To dismiss Comeback Season as merely a dating memoir is a mistake. Too often “serious” social commentaries are expected to be dry, boring, emotionless, and full of jargon. Because Day writes with an accessible, often humorous, style and does so without masking the core issues of her journey behind opaque symbolism, the questions her experience raises will reach more women, and generate more constructive discussion about road blocks women face, but are ashamed to discuss for fear of being perceived as weak. After all, the problems that intelligent, professional women face aren’t trapped inside the ivory tower. Cathy Day brings those issues to the streets in a way anyone can understand.

Review by Dawn Papuga

Vote STBD! All the cool kids are doing it...

2008-03-12T19:19:00.001-04:00

For those of you in Pittsburgh, I’m hoping your sense of Pittsburgh Pride will kick in here. For those of you not in the Burgh, let’s just say it’s a favor for me, hmm?

STBD, one of the longest web series online and based, filmed, performed, and produced right here in Pittsburgh, has been selected as one of 5 nominees by Yahoo for “Best Series” in their 2008 Yahoo Video Awards!” This could be big, since it’s a chance to bring a lot of world-wide attention to a Pittsburgh-based creation!

STBD is one of five nominees, so please go take two or three seconds to place your VOTE! (pretty please? )

Why should you vote for STBD?

Because I said “pretty please?”
The show is created, shot, and produced right here in Pittsburgh!
These folks are passionate about their product, and it provides endless laughs to otherwise boring days.
Mathis wasn’t elected for Mayor, so we’ve got to help him win something!
It’s about time the creative content that comes out of Pittsburgh is recognized globally!

Write well,

~Dawn

Check out the show at Something to be Desired and here on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/stbd

Saving Lestat

2008-03-09T16:00:00.004-04:00

There are a few things that can cause an uproar in the literary community—the death of an author, the discovery of a fake "memoir," and the controversy surrounding an author’s work. All three have happened (sometimes in multiples) over the past few weeks, and each deserves its own discussion. A more detailed conversation regarding the “fake memoirs,” the industry that allowed their publication, and the audiences buying them will be posted later. What I’m most interested in at the moment is the comment Anne Rice made to Time magazine regarding her return to the much beloved Vampire Chronicles after having turned her back on them in 2002.

People are entitled to their personal systems of belief, of course. I’m not criticizing Rice’s decision to reenter the Catholic faith with gusto. That’s her business. What concerns me most is her public declaration to the industry and her fans of the abandonment of her work, as though it was somehow “wrong” or “tainted.” After her return to the church, she claimed that her future work would be only be in the service of god. In an interview with Christianity Today, Rice reflected on her decision to abandon her previous journey with the Vampire Chronicles: "I would never go back, not even if they say, 'You will be financially ruined; you've got to write another vampire book.' I would say no. I have no choice. I would be a fool for all eternity to turn my back on God like that."

Her vehemence is admirable. It also leaves the fans that she had accumulated over the decades who were (and still are) enthralled by the spiritual and moral conflicts of her characters, confused and lost. Rice claims that her experience writing the Chronicles was a record of her own pain (She wrote Interview with a Vampire after the death of her 5 year old daughter Michelle), questions about spirituality and the nature of man, and her journey back to God. Make no mistake; the Vampire Chronicles are not gratuitous blood letting novels. From Interview with the Vampire on, Rice chronicles the spiritual conflict of her characters. By the time the series reaches Memnoch the Devil, faith and spirituality are at the forefront of the plot. Memnoch, a fallen angel, takes Lestat on a whirlwind tour of heaven and hell, and reveals to him the inner workings of theology and cosmology in an attempt to convince him to join his struggle. This novel in particular drew heavy criticism from much of the Christian community for being heretical (i.e. God is imperfect), and in some scenes, blatantly blasphemous (i.e. Jesus offers Lestat his blood). The rest of the chronicles struggle with the idea of redemption and spirituality without the flagrant, direct interweaving of Christian themes.

So what’s the problem with Lestat and company? Wouldn’t it make more sense to continue the series once she found God again, and mirror that experience to a degree in her novels just as she had done when she was “lost?” Well, apparently, that same thought occurred to Rice. In a recent interview with Time magazine, rice announced that there may be one more Vampire book in the works. She stated that "When I published my first book about the Lord I said I would never write about those characters again," Rice acknowledged. "But I have one more book that I would really like to write. It will be a story that I need to tell." (“Lestat Lives,” Time)

This is the news fans have been waiting for since the unsatisfying ending of the last Vampire Chronicles novel, Blood Canticle. There was never a textual indication that Blood Canticle would be the last book involving Rice’s vampires and Mayfair Witches, and the announcement of no other Vampire book left readers blindsided and frustrated. Endings, particularly in a series, make all the difference in the world. To leave the entire story unfinished, with plot lines open and unresolved, does a disservice to the loyal readers and fans. Ultimately, no one can force an author to write anything, and how they choose to end a story is left to them. But few authors embraced their fan base as enthusiastically as Rice did, making her writings feel like more of a dialogue than a one way conversation. Understandably, there was a prevalent sense of betrayal from fans, and quite a bit of anger.

On February 25, in a message on her website, AnneRice.com, Rice makes clear that the book wouldn’t be in the works until she completed her current four book Christ the Lord series. That would place the release date for the last Lestat novel, at the earliest, in 2011. I can wait. But something else Rice said in her message to her readers raised concerns:

“There is no possibility for me to return to writing about the vampires as heroes of a dark realm in which they are the only authority on their actions. There will be no more rip roaring adventures for the godless Lestat. That is dead and gone. I found the light in Christ for which my old characters were always searching. The question is: can I bring my Christian faith back to one of those old characters in a meaningful and deeply religious way.
If this new novel is written – and it may never be --- it will be about the question of Lestat's salvation and it would, as I said, have to reflect in depth my Christian view of the world and my Christian values.”

Okay. Redemption and/or salvation for the Brat Prince. We get it. In fact, most of us welcome it! My concern is that she will “return” to those characters and destroy the decades of work she installed creating those highly flawed anti-heroes. When Anne Rice wrote Interview with the Vampire, she didn’t just give readers a modern gothic guilty pleasure—she changed the landscape of “monster” lit. Historically, monsters—particularly vampires—have been used as a didactic social tool. They typically embodied everything a refined, civilized, proper man or woman was supposed to avoid. They were promiscuous, forward, lusty, sneaky, and malicious. They attacked and destroyed men by preying on the women in their lives, and their strategic choice of innocent victims made them detestable. Readers aren’t supposed to empathize with Stoker’s Dracula, Polidori’s Lord Ruthven, or Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla. These vampires were “evil incarnate,” seeking to destroy social conventions and flout decadence with absolutely no redeeming qualities. Dracula infected women with the independent changes Victorian men were terrified of and witnessing in women of the day. By connecting these behaviors with an evil monster such as Dracula, it reinforced (in the mind of some critics) the more proper, traditional behaviors None of these vampire stories are told from the perspective of the vampire, but from the point of view of some one trying to destroy the vampire. Anne Rice turned these tropes on their head and made the monster the “hero” of the novel.

Lestat, Louis, Armand, Pandora, and Vittoiro give us personal accounts of their misunderstood experiences. You sympathize with the monster and turn your criticisms to society and spirituality rather than the very embodiment of evil that the vampire’s presence formerly indicated. The “anti-heroes” faced their own struggles—oftentimes mirroring the same struggles of the readers. In Anne Rice’s chronicles, the “other” became the focal point; the flawed, imperfect, sinning monster suddenly had a voice, and that voice was captivating. Her portrayal of vampires forced the focus of textual criticism to issues of society and faith at large rather than issues of proper gender roles. She documented conflicts of morality, mortality, sexuality, humanity, and spirituality. Those conflicts, which remain largely unresolved, tapped a genuine social concern, just as her predecessors did.

For Rice to return to a redemptive, salvation story for Lestat makes sense in terms of the plot lines of her Chronicles. It would tie up loose ends and finalize a number of unresolved issues. The danger is in her approach to the story. To dismiss the gauntlets her characters were put through, and to force them into a Christian salvation just for the sake of keeping her promise to God would be a grave career faux pas. Lestat’s redemption is something that must be handled with great delicacy. I have faith in Rice’s affection for the world and characters she created, and I hope beyond hope that she doesn’t turn the last novel into an excuse to proselytize for the sake of her renewed faith. If it makes sense in terms of character development and plot progression, I doubt her readers will complain.

Rice’s mistake was discussing the novel in terms of her faith. Had she written it, released it, and allowed her fans and readers the opportunity to parse the underlying themes together for themselves Lestat’s salvation wouldn’t have been questioned. Because she felt the need to explain and justify her decision to possibly return to those characters, the novel will be viewed skeptically by most of her readers. I look forward to seeing how this project develops over the years, and if anyone can navigate these choppy waters, it’s Anne Rice.

Write well,
~Dawn Papuga

Update: New site!

2008-03-09T00:16:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted here, mostly because I've recently taken a new job in the "real world" and my mind and body are just now starting to acclimate to no longer working 14 hours a day, late nights reaching into the dawning hours, and the chaos of running between schools with minutes to spare. I'm still teaching classes at two universities, but my load has lightened significantly, and for the first time in my life I actually have time to do the things I want without the anxiety of being late or missing a day of work from one of my jobs. I have to say, it's doing me wonders. I feel like a new world has opened up to me, and I now understand why folks leave the Ivory Tower for BnG jobs.

Along with finally having the time to rip through the stack of books that are in line for review, I've been working on developing my new site: DawnPapuga.com. As it stands, I'll be posting my reviews here on LTR and linking back to them, but I have a page dedicated to all of my reviews here.

DawnPapuga.com is my personal site that will house my daily blog, which will recount pretty much any and every thing that catches my interest. At the moment I'm participating in NaBloPoMo to try and prepare for the next round of NaNoWriMo (which, you may remember, my real life interfered with miserably). I have a page to post my lengthier essays and articles that I'm working on colleting, and a page for my photography. Depending on how long the design takes, and how brave I'm feeling, I also plan to install a page for my own writing.

This doesn't change much here at LTR, and if you're only interested in the reviews, then you're safe with the link, RSS feed, or email subscription you already have (you have subscribed, haven't you? It's free, you know. That's how I roll.). But if you're interested in the carnival of regular updates and more diverse content, head over to DawnPapuga.com and either update your links, or add that site as well!

Expect more reviews soon, as I have more time to read and review (finally!).

Write well,

~Dawn

REVIEW: The Vagina Monologues

2008-01-18T11:56:00.000-05:00

Since 1996, The Vagina Monologues has stirred up controversy across the country. The play has been banned, students have been suspended for performing monologues from the show, and protests have been waged outside of venues. I’ve seen clips of Eve Ensler’s play before, and I’ve read the script (one of the variations, at least), but never had the pleasure of sitting through a stage production. When I was invited by the City Theater to attend The Vagina Monologues through the Pittsburgh Bloggers this past weekend, I jumped at the opportunity (Special thanks to Cynthia Closkey of My Brilliant Mistakes and Pittsburgh Bloggers for the info).

I was well aware of the sensitive issues that the play brings up, particularly in public, but my experience with The Vagina Monologues didn’t really begin until the night before the show while attending The Lion King. When asked what other productions I would be seeing this month I unashamedly responded that I would be attending The Vagina Monologues, only to be met with head turns, raised eyebrows, and furious blinking from the people around me in the audience. Most directly, a patron responded, “Did you just say… Vagina …Monologues?” with a level of disgust that shocked even me. You would have thought I stood up and shouted a string of profanity rather than the name of a world renowned play.

The revulsion and discomfort of those around me was quite apparent, though I couldn’t understand why. Of all the groups of people in the Pittsburgh area, I like to think that theater goers are some of the more open minded. Not true, it would seem—at least not in this case. The show, now celebrating its 12th year running, is still inspiring controversy even in name alone.

The Vagina Monologues addresses this phenomenon early in the production when one of the actresses states, "No matter how many times you say it, it never sounds like a word you want to say.” The production focuses on the discomfort of both men and women with the topic at hand, and with surprising humor deflates that discomfort from the moment the actresses begin speaking. And contrary to popular belief, the audience was not made up entirely of women. About 10-12 % of the audience was made up of men who laughed just as loudly as the women, and none of whom were attacked openly as many feared.

The Vagina Monologues emphasized the need for women to appreciate their own sexuality, issues with rape, abuse, mutilation, fears, what lasting effects lack of education about your own body can have, and general self consciousness about the female body. By far the monologue about a Bosnian woman who experienced the horrors of a war rape camp was the most moving, and the most thought provoking.

Whether or not The Vagina Monologues is radical is a subject still up for debate. Noted feminist scholars attack the play for being too aggressive toward men, while others claim it isn’t aggressive enough toward society. The problem that Eve Ensler faced (and continues to face, it seems) is even getting people to discuss the topic of female sexuality openly without a pervasive sense of embarrassment or revulsion. Through humor, sentiment, and true stories of over 200 women, The Vagina Monologes opens the door for conversations that may never have occurred outside of the halls of academia. Every movement has to begin somewhere, and Eve Ensler’s play provides the starting line for a marathon of social change.

The City Theater’s Hamburg Studio was the perfect venue for The Vagina Monologues. It was intimate while retaining the quality of a major production. A note about the venue: there are only 111 seats, so get your tickets in advance!

The City Theater’s production of The Vagina Monologues stars Erica Bradshaw, Holli Hamilton, and Laurie Klatscher, and is directed by Tracy Brigden. The production runs until February 17th, and if you call and mention seeing the review on Lyrique Tragedy Reviews and give the secret code “blog,” you’ll get a $5 discount on tickets. At 75 minutes (with no intermission), this production is something every one, male or female, should see.

~Review By Dawn Papuga

REVIEW: The Lion King

2008-01-14T11:58:00.000-05:00

When a production has received as much acclaim as The Lion King has, it becomes expected that the reviews will all be equally as glowing and pristine. The awards and good press create a cultural blind spot. But unyielding praise of a production is as dangerous as a bad review. People who would generally not attend the theater to see a play, let alone a musical, show up in droves to see a performance of a production as big as The Lion King. The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and more recently, Wicked, and Rent have all been approached by audiences in the same way. Theater goers have heard glowing praise for the adaptation, or costumes, and instantly they forget that they too are critics and have the ability to dislike a production even though the mainstream consensus is that a particular production is the latest bit of genius to hit any stage in the world.

The Pittsburgh run of The Lion King has been no different.

Julie Taymor’s adaptation of the animated feature to stage was incredible. She had enormous shoes to fill considering the success of Disney’s animated feature, and to transform a cast entirely comprised of animals to something able to be performed in an understandable way by people was no small feat. The costumes were well deserving of the awards they received, and provided an overwhelming spectacle not often experienced in the theater any more. The set was versatile and the use of costumes to indicate movement across the plains was beautifully effective.

By far, Phindile Mkhize’s rendition of Rafiki and Mark Cameron Pow’s performance of ZaZu were the stand out performances. Mkhize’s voice alone is reason enough to just stand in the lobby for the production. Pow’s manipulation of the Zazu puppet and his ability to incorporate both emotion and physical comedy into his performance easily make Zazu one of the best loved characters in the show. But while the individual performances were excellent, the music outstanding, and the costumes unparalleled, there are other things to consider when judging whether or not a performance was good.

Perhaps, then, my criticism is more academic in nature than traditional reviews.

Part of the great impact of The Lion King on screen was the pace and momentum of the story, and a stage adaptation should be no different. The crucial scene where Simba finds his father, Mufasa, dead in the gorge is the turning point for the entire production. In the original film the audience was left with a significant amount of time to experience the loss of Mufasa. He was the driving force of goodness in the play up until this scene, and the most important emotional connection and influence for the main character. Allowing the audience to experience that loss with Simba is important for a number of reasons: it allows the audience to viscerally understand the loss and importance of that loss in the psychology of a child, and it also sets up the audience’s hatred of Scar at the end of that scene. To rush through the death of Mufasa and Simba’s panicked grieving minimalizes the cruelty of Scar’s words to the child. It reduces the power of Scar’s villainy, and leaves the audience potentially liking the villain rather than eagerly anticipating his downfall. It’s true, every character must be likable in some way for the audience to invest themselves in their outcome, but the root of Scar’s role as a villain is that specific scene. Without adequately allowing for the catharsis Mufasa’s death causes, Scar is just a bad guy—not the cruel, power hungry villain he was intended to be.

The stage production did a beautiful job of translating Mufasa’s murder to the stage, and the resulting power of his body lying on the stage was impacting, but the time between when Simba found the body of his father and when Scar enters and blames the child for his parent’s death was rushed. In fact, it was so rushed that it became anticlimactic. By the end of the show, the tragedy that Simba was forced to overcome was diminished because of the lack of catharsis in Mufasa’s death scene. Simba’s angst throughout the second act was reduced, and his subsequent return was then weakened. Without the power of that scene firmly established, and the emotional connections properly ingrained, the emotional and physical triumph of the hero was relegated to cliché.

Others have attempted to justify this change in this particular stage production because of the number of children who would attend the show. This is unfounded and ridiculous. The Disney film was a children’s film, marketed to children, and viewed obsessively by swaths of children around the world. The stage production should be no different. If anything, the translation to the stage provides ample opportunity to introduce a memorable theatrical experience to a young audience (and an audience of theater neglecting adults) who may never have been to a stage production before.

The Lion King is well worth a trip to the theater, and well worth the cost of admission. Enjoy the costumes, the music, and the effects that have garnered the acclaim the production deserves. For entertainment purposes, The Lion King is still one of the greatest spectacles to hit the Pittsburgh stage for quite some time.

~Review by Dawn Papuga

Book Review: Engleby by Sebastian Faulks

2008-01-06T12:16:00.000-05:00

Engleby
By Sebastian Faulks

Doubleday
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
http://www.doubleday.com/
342 pages

ISBN: 978-0-385-52405-6
$24.95

“I decided not to be mad any more; I was never going back to a place like that again.”
Engleby, pg. 191

Audiences love underdogs and surprises. They also love the formulaic nature of entertainment. Readers, even if they’ve never encountered the term “archetype,” recognize signature character types when they see them. Conventional literary signposts clue readers in on who to root for, who the good guys are, and who should be wearing the black hat. In Engleby, Sebastian Faulks turns conventional character development on its ear and, like Nabokov did with Humbert Humbert in Lolita, forces the audience to invest in a protagonist who is detestable, yet addictive.

By no means is Engleby merely a case study of a sociopath. Michael Engleby’s very thought process is intellectually elitist, condescending, and uncomfortably devoid of recognizable emotion. On page 2, he gives readers cause to question his own understanding of the world’s events. Because of the journal format of Engleby the protagonist is already set up as an unreliable narrator, but his intelligence and astuteness cause audiences to question the traditional literary device. Even still, through each analysis Engleby reveals regarding society and social practices in general, a clearer understanding of his anti-social mentality is gained. Engleby hovers on the fringe of social groups and is apt to point out that he likes “to be invisible.” At one point he invites himself to the country with a group of students working on an independent film to be close to Jennifer Arkland, and while no one can remember who invited him to begin with, they’re grateful for his cooking and drug supply. Other times he relives, in painful detail, the various abuses he sustains from countless others—both university dons and his fellow students at each of the schools he attends.

Though readers may sympathize with some of Engleby’s experiences and insights, there are equally as many instances for the reader to turn on him. The sharp disconnect between his intellectual understanding of the world and social interaction, and the practice of those skills and application of that knowledge, is the single most unsettling aspect in his character. You don’t like Engleby, but you want to understand him. You’re compelled to understand him. Through the entire journal you wait for some inkling of genuine emotion, for some signal that he hasn’t fully detached from society and reality, or that he is still, in some basic way, human. Faulks engineers this pseudo-diary in such a captivating way that the readers become co-conspirators with Engleby, and even to the very end, reserve a fraction of hope for the troubled young man.

Plenty of people have experiences or demonstrated the anti-social and intellectual superiority complexes that Engleby goes through, but not every one is Engleby. Not all intellectual elitists are certifiable. Not all highly intelligent people exist solely in the landscape of their own minds. Because Engleby had never experienced the guiding hand of a true teacher (he felt, and probably was, smarter than the “dons” at his various schools, including Cambridge). He stepped into the tiger pits of philosophy and sociology with no hand to help him back out into reality. His existential crisis is not merely a phase, but becomes a disease of the mind.

Engleby could be a treatise on the mind of a single mentally ill young man, but it shines a light on issues that are far more complicated. It’s about the lack of perception of those around troubled individuals, and it can easily be a warning to society about the dangers of closing your eyes to bullying—specifically bullying based on a warped sense of tradition or “boys will be boys” attitudes. Most importantly, Engleby speaks to the dangers of knowledge and unguided intelligence, and the dangerous line in the sand between intelligence and insanity.

The last third of the book shifts perspective from the Engleby readers know, to a medicated, institutionalized Engleby who can identify his behavioral problems of the past and the crimes he committed, but still cannot feel appropriate emotional responses. The difference is that he wants to. While others may criticize this turn in the novel, it is absolutely necessary to complete the story. To leave the journal incomplete, or to shift to third person would render the tragedy in Engleby trite and meaningless. Without his shift from book knowledge to personal knowledge, his experiences and writings would be rendered pointless because even after he is given the tools to help himself, Engleby chooses to remain locked in the safety of his own mind where he can rearrange reality and history, and that itself is his tragedy.

Faulks departed from his comfortable writing styles with Engleby, and readers may or may not be appreciative of the sudden shift in gears. He moves from his comfort zone of historical fiction to a fiction riddled with history and both mental and social illness in such a way that reading the novel once would cheat readers out of the carefully woven clues and allusions Faulks works into his writing that are only able to be appreciated after the final revelations of the protagonist. Engleby may be a departure from Faulk’s other writings, but it is a path well following him down.

Review by Dawn Papuga

Graphic Novels: An Overview and Debate

2007-12-01T15:03:00.000-05:00

Thus far Lyrique Tragedy Reviews has been focused on reviews of books, events, and exhibits, but I’ve neglected some of the areas I am most passionate about: Comics and Graphic Novels. The one question I hear more than others regarding this topic is, “Aren’t Graphic Novels and comics the same thing?” Well, that’s a matter of perspective, whose definition you abide by, and which works you’re considering. I separate the two because they really aren’t the same thing at all, and though many Graphic Novels have been compilations of an entire serial series, some were never intended to be anything but Graphic Novels in that form. Others were released serially, but are, under most definitions, Graphic Novels. Graphic Novels released this way are reminiscent of those major works of antiquity that were released in magazines or newspapers a chapter at a time (I’m thinking of Anna Karenina specifically here).

For example, though Neil Gaiman’s Sandman collection was originally released in individual issues, they are most widely available today in the trade paperback format. Though the Sandman series was issued serially, the prevailing notions of what constitutes a Graphic Novel require this mature, intelligent series to be labeled as such. The division of those issues into trade paperbacks divided them into what could be considered complete novels in a larger series. Gaiman’s use of literary, historical, mythical, and pop cultural allusions elevates this series to something more than a traditional comic (but believe me, I have no qualms about the delicious story arcs that various “traditional” comics offer!) The major difference between a Traditional Comic series and a Graphic Novel (single or in series form) is that there is a definitive end to the over arching storyline. Superman, Spiderman, The Punisher, Iron Man, Green Lantern, X-Men (and their many incarnations, including the more recent Astonishing X-Men co-written by another favorite of mine—Joss Whedon) may have definitive story arcs, but they are designed to be continued beyond any particular arc. Gaiman, for example, set out in 1988 to do a 75 issue run from start to finish. That’s it. No more. No mas.

Most accepted definitions separate Graphic Novels from Traditional Comics by their content, plot, and length. Graphic Novels are typically viewed for a more mature audience (which, to me, seems to imply “educated,” though certainly there are those Graphic Novels who take “graphic” literally and slather the pages in blood, sex, violence, nudity, and foul language). The notion that Graphic Novels differ from Traditional Comics because they feature a plot that includes a beginning, middle, and end is likewise argumentative. Comics feature story arcs that constitute what can be condensed into novel form—I’m thinking primarily of the original “Phoenix Saga” (X-Men, 19776-77) and the “Dark Phoenix Saga” (X-Men, 1980), and that have been collected in “Graphic Novel” format. The new Dark Phoenix- Endsong and Dark Phoenix- Warsong were released in 2005 and 2006 respectively, but appeared in the Traditional Comic format, in serial issues. Some would argue that because of the decisive story line these later released story arcs could constitute a Graphic Novel—a fact that remains to be seen.

In some cases the term “literary” is invoked to describe the more complex, serious thought provoking messages, allusions, and story lines supposedly present in Graphic Novels. Length becomes a distinct issue as well. Superheroes and Comic book characters that are intended to live into perpetuity in one manifestation or another in series after series would be hard pressed to find themselves in a pure Graphic Novel. In 1992, Superman’s death rocked the world, and in a mere seven issues he was brought back to life. Most recently, Captain America died in March of 2007, and in October it was announced that Cap will return in January of 2008 (armed with a handgun this time). Comics count on the dedication of fans to await triumphant returns. It seems no serial comic can keep their main characters dead for long, so they bring them back in a bigger and better way. In 1988 Jason Todd* the Boy Wonder, was killed off. But they didn’t bring Robin back in his initial form. Instead, the vacuum was filled by Tim Drake’s training to become the third young man to wear the Robin costume next to Batman. For these reasons, most mainstream Traditional Comic heroes don’t appear in Graphic Novels for this very reason. The ambiguous timelines and RetCon mentality (There’s still argument going on about what really happened when Spiderman died and what happened when) allow writers to play with history and plotlines in ways that would make a linear reader insane. And yet, Frank Miller accomplished placing a well known Traditional Comic hero in the Graphic Novel form to outstanding acclaim with Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

But the definition of “Graphic Novel” is spurious at best. It is ever changing, ever evolving, and ever under criticism. Some believe that the term is a marketing ploy to sell more comics, while others see the term as a way to differentiate certain works from what are perceived to be “childish” traditional comics. While I find some validity in both of those notions, the fact that comic books have been addressing political, global, and social issues from their inception cannot be ignored. Captain America and Superman both fought the Nazi’s, for example, and Captain America’s recent death was due to a sniper bullet while fighting the War on Terror. Neither can marketing collections of serial comics into a trade paperback be dismissed. If they cover a single story arc, appear as a trade paper back, and have a definite plot, it can be argued that it would fall under the category of Graphic Novel.

When push comes to shove in defining a work as a Graphic Novel, intent seems to be the key factor in whether or not something can be defined as such. I would tend to define serial comics that have been transformed into a trade paperback featuring Traditional Comic superheroes as “collections” or, perhaps, “anthologies” rather than Graphic Novels mainly because of their tendency to have those characters appear in other works continually. But it depends on if you’re looking at the definition from the perspective of a reader, a writer, or a publicist. Because of the success of Graphic Novels in the marketplace, every comic company has at one time or another tried to take their beloved heroes and fit them into that category for the sake of profit. Others may see it differently, as I do. Writers and fans seem to share at least a cursory notion of what constitutes a Graphic Novel, but ultimately, until a hard and fast definition is accepted into the industry, individuals will have to decide for themselves.

~Dawn Papuga

*Thank you to j.l. bell for the correction catches in this article, and for pointing out that it was Jason Todd, not Dick Grayson, who died in the '88 comic. Grayson lives on in his own right as Nightwing.

Book Review: Evacuation Plan by Joe M. O'Connell

2007-11-14T23:35:00.000-05:00

Evacuation Plan: A novel from the Hospice
By Joe M. O’Connell

Dalton Publishing
182 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9740703-8-4

Death isn’t usually the focus of contemporary novels. It’s dark, it’s uncomfortable, and it doesn’t typically inspire the warm and fuzzy feeling that mass market readers seem to require for beach reading selections. Death forces readers to confront their own shortcomings, failures, and emotions. But while death may be a topic most authors avoid directly, it plays a major role in most story lines. There are no murder mysteries without death. Some of the most beloved romances include characters forced to endure the world once the love of their life passes on. Epic journeys are often instigated by the death of a revered individual. What, then, frightens authors and audiences so much about dealing with death directly?

Joe M. O’Connell tackles the culture of death in his debut novel Evacuation Plan: A Novel from the Hospice. Matt, a wayward filmmaker determined to find the fodder for his screenplay, spends time with the patients, staff and family members of a local hospice and gets more than he bargained for. Through each character’s revelations, Matt inches his way closer to the issue that drove him to write the screenplay in the first place—his unresolved issues with his father’s death, and his abandonment by his mother. Ultimately, Matt realizes that the examination of death requires the examination of life as well. With the passing of his favorite patient, Mr. Wright, Matt comes to understand that forgiveness is as life changing as any cure.

O’Connell’s approach to story telling is reminiscent of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, or Boccaccio’s Decameron. While Matt plays the host, the stories that each individual shares provide snapshots of different cultures and socioeconomic classes, and illustrates how death effects everyone regardless of wealth, gender, education, or age. In an age where voyeuristic appetites are catered to with Reality TV, O’Connell shares a glimpse of how tragedy effects everyone, and how dealing with death is as important for the grieving as it is for the dying.

Each vignette has a unique flavor and is written in that specific character’s voice, leaving no question that each story is distinctly one character’s experience. Matt’s own journey throughout the book, however, creeps through the supporting narrative until the inklings that astute readers develop in chapter one about Matt’s true motivations come to fruition. The most impressive accomplishment of Evacuation Plan is that the structure of the novel and O’Connell’s vivid imagery encourage readers to visualize the entire narrative as a film even as Matt is scrounging to develop his own screen play.

Review by Dawn Papuga

You Want Young People to Vote?

2007-11-06T23:54:00.000-05:00

One of the complaints that is repeated over and over again following every election is that the public doesn't vote. The biggest complaints are usually directed at college aged students who fail to cast a vote in any election, be it a general election or a presidential election.

In the 2004 presidential election, only 47% of 18-24 year olds voted, according to the U.S. Census. That means that more than half of Americans who are college aged didn't vote. Even though less than half of the people belonging to that age group voted, it was the largest turn out for youth voters since the election in 1972.

Different polling groups have tried to discern the reason for voter apathy in that age group, and there have been a number of movements geared toward young people to get them to vote: Campaign for Young Voters (seemingly now defunct), Rock the Vote, and Citizen Change--most recognizable for their "Vote or Die!" campaign (Please note that the Citizen Change website hasn't been updated since the 2004 election, it seems. This speaks volumes about the all too typical sporadic attention spans that youth voters are characterized as having).

They are all focused on bringing awareness to young people of their civic duties, and the importance of their attention and involvement in politics. The campaigns may have had some effect. The turnout in the 2004 election was up 11 points for that age group from the previous presidential election in 2000.

Congratulations.

The problem is, no one is asking the right questions. Go walk into any college campus classroom and ask the students where they go to vote. Many of them (especially freshmen, most of which haven't ever voted before, and some aren't even registered) have absolutely no clue. If students are from out of state and haven't switched their residencies, then they can't vote locally and are required to submit an absentee ballot. In theory, I can understand this. In reality, I'm not surprised that more than half of the young adults of that age group don't vote. It's too complicated. If you want (and I do mean really want) young people of that age group to vote be logical about it!

There are already groups and associations that are able to take this issue head on to change it for the better. For example:

Campus Compact "is a national coalition of more than 900 college and university presidents committed to the civic purposes of higher education. To support this civic mission, Campus Compact promotes community service that develops students' citizenship skills and values, encourages partnerships between campuses and communities, and assists faculty who seek to integrate public and community engagement into their teaching and research." (Project Vote Smart)

What is more important to promoting community and citizenship skills than educating students on the electoral process and teaching them how to vote?

When accepted to a university or college, students get a litany of paperwork to fill out. Put a voting registration application and a change of residence form in that packet of paperwork, and submit it for the students. Better yet, set up polling locations on college campuses. There would still be a percentage of students who didn't vote, but the turnout would be remarkably different.

That's too logical, though. Makes too much sense. Of course, there will be complaints about how much it would cost to do that. Honestly, students are gouged with tuition, and tacking on another 5, 10, or 100 dollars to their tuition to cover the cost wouldn't make all that much of a difference. They'd have their youth voter turn out, alright.

Part of the problem is that college students exist with the fishbowl mentality. They are paying attention to what goes on in their classes (we hope), their required reading, campus politics, and campus issues. If a student is from Texas and attending college in Ohio, the likelihood that they have any clue what is going on locally is slim. That they usually have cable in their dorms and get their news from national news sources rather than local news presents another problem for election years that don't include a presidential race. While the acquisition of news from the Internet news sites rather than traditional news sources continues to rise, local politics will continue to fall further down the list of important issues to watch.

If we want more youth voters to turn up at the polls, then something more than offering t-shirts and periodic celebrity reminders needs to be offered for them to care and want to get involved in the democratic process.

~Dawn Papuga

Reading and Review Updates

2007-10-18T17:52:00.000-04:00

As you all know, I have quite a reading list going at the moment, and I’m enjoying everything that has been sent my way for review. Because I'm reading, I haven't been able to post as often as I would like here on LTR. Between reviews, I've taken to posting related commentaries and I intend to do more of that in the coming weeks. I’ve returned to my process of reading multiple books at once for a few reasons, really. I gave single book reading the old college try, but it’s just not my style. Once I abandoned the uncharacteristic practice, things have returned to highly enjoyable, productive levels. Here’s an update on where my list currently stands, and what you can expect in the way of reviews soon:

Books finished and in the review process:

Engleby by Sebastian Faulks
Evauation Plan by Joe M. O’Connell

Currently Reading:
Rodney by Dick Baldwin
Shadow of Innocence by Ric Wasley
Women of Magdalene by Rosemary-Poole Carter
Juliette Ascending by Rosemary-Poole Carter
Resonance by Chris Dolley

Interviews:
Interviews for authors whose books I've finished reviewing will be sent out this weekend. Plans for live call-in interviews are still in the works. Once the program is finalized and the Talkshoe show is set up, invites will be sent to authors expressing interest in being interviewed on the show as well as via email. Live show interviews will not be required.

Special Projects (Currently reading):
The Seige of Zolodex and Quest for the Shard by Clifford B. Bowyer

The Bowyer Project, as I've dubbed it, will be a look at all of the books in both author Clifford B. Bowyer's Young Adult and Adult fantasy series, and will be more in depth than a regular review because of the length of the project. I'll post occasional updates as the project continues to move along.

In terms of exhibit and event reviews, I will be posting a review of the poetry reading that took place at PPU last night, featuring Lynn Emanuel. When I get a free day I'll be attending the Body Exhibit at the Carnegie Science Center and posting a review as well.

In the meanwhile, if you have any issues or topics you'd like to see discussed, or books reviewed here on LTR, send an email my way, and I'll see what I can do! As always, thank you for the feedback!

Write Well,
Dawn Papuga

Yes, Virginia, that IS Plagiarism...

2007-09-30T21:46:00.000-04:00

The following “ad” was posted on Craigslist on 20 September 2007 (Name, number, and location omitted):

I have an MA in English and am a technical writer by trade. I can write quickly and proficiently. I am also skilled at using MLA and APA style formatting. I do not guarantee that I will write your paper proficiently only. I also guarantee that, as long as you give me detailed specifications about the assignment, you will receive an "A" grade. If you do not, your money will be refunded. I charge $20.00 per page. I live close to [City full of universities] in a small town called [Small Town Name], which is in [County]. You may contact [Mr.X] at [Number]. I accept PayPal and money orders.

*** Do not risk plagiarism. With the modern software applications available to professors (and they do use those applications) you will be caught.***

I was stunned to see this tonight, though I suppose I shouldn’t be. It’s no secret that students have used paper writing services, files, and websites that offer papers submitted for sale. It’s also no secret that making a living with an MA in English is difficult, to say the least. But an inherent requirement for receiving that degree is to understand the ethics of proper citation and the rules of plagiarism, and Mr. X, by virtue of his degree, should know that what he is doing is breaking any number of ethical codes.

Offering services like this only perpetuates the misunderstandings that many college students have about what constitutes plagiarism. Considering the relative ease with which students under deadline pressures can find pre-written papers, pay someone to write the paper for them, or even copy large chunks of websites into their papers without properly citing them, I am not surprised that such a market exists. Neither am I surprised that students think this is acceptable.

Mr. X states at the bottom of his post: “Do not risk plagiarism. With the modern software applications available to professors (and they do use those applications) you will be caught.” This is quite true. I often have students committing this crime (and it is, indeed, a crime), and have had more students fail my classes, or expelled from the university because of these kinds of behaviors than for anything else (including partying too much and general laziness). But what Mr. X fails to realize is that it is equally as easy to know when the student bought the paper, especially in a writing course. It may be more difficult to prove, but when you have files of student writing worthy of B’s and C’s from the semester to compare to an A paper that came out of the blue, you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce the origins of the paper.

The bottom line is that any work that you (student or professional) try to pass off as your own which was written by another party whom you do not cite, is plagiarism. Buying a paper is, in some cases, much worse than improperly citing a resource. Plagiarism is, in its basic terms, lying, cheating, and stealing. You are lying to the professor (or your boss) by claiming that it is your work. You are cheating because the work is not your own, and you are stealing (if you intentionally drop chunks of someone else’s text into your own writing without proper citation) by not giving proper credit to the author of the work you are claiming to be your own.

Plagiarism is taken very seriously at the university level, as it should be, and in the eyes of the law. And somehow I do not think that getting your money back will ease the blow of failing a course or being expelled.

~Dawn Papuga

A Class Can Change the World

2007-09-26T14:58:00.000-04:00

Thus far, Lyrique Tragedy Reviews has been a platform for reviews, interviews, and literary topics. It is, after all, the point of the site. But limiting the scope of topics on a site dedicated to intellectual, intelligent thought and topics seems anathema to the original purpose. Often have I wanted to post something of interest, but hesitated because of the stringent guidelines I’ve placed on the post topics here. I intend to begin including more wide ranging subject matter, while maintaining the original intent of the site. I hope you’ll enjoy the additions! So when will they start? Why, no better time than the present, friends…

A Class Can Change the World…

One of the universities I teach at instituted the Learning Communities program for the incoming humanities freshmen a few years ago. Last semester I was appointed Service Learning Coordinator for the learning community I was teaching in, and for various reasons it proved to be more difficult that any of us thought it should have been. After an entire semester of deliberation, and many projects proposed and shot down, we came up with what we believed would be an appropriate project for the students in our particular community to participate in and learn from.

Because our community functioned under the theme of world cultures (many of the students plan to be international business majors), the challenge was finding a project that allowed our students to make a difference on the world stage. Not an easy task. We settled on a World Conflict Symposium aimed to educate the community on conflicts abroad that may not be widely covered in the local (and in some cases, national) news. The students researched three areas: Burma, Sudan, and the Zapatista movement in Mexico. In their research they were to find the origins of the conflicts, the human toll, international involvement, and ways that people could help locally.

The presentations were adequate, and the turn out was less than favorable, but the majority of the students indicated that they learned a great deal from the project which, in itself, is a victory. Just the other day one of the students involved in the symposium approached me on campus to tell me how much of an impact our project actually had.

It turns out that this student had interviewed a fellow student and friend about his refugee status and his home, which happened to be Sudan. The student hadn’t been home, or seen his family, in over 10 years, and doubted that he would ever be able to return. Financially, it was no small feat to get back to Sudan, and he had no resources to do so. After listening to this young man’s circumstances, our student offered up some suggestions for aid and fundraisers to help him get back home. She had done a good deal of research on the region and ways individuals can help, and gave him some viable options that he didn’t know he had.

Following their conversation, the young man took her suggestions and raised enough money to travel back home to Sudan where he found his village and his family. It took him a few weeks to get there and find his town, but he did and stayed for most of his summer. The experience changed his life. He told my student about the sickness and the need for a higher education in his town, and how he wants to be a part of that after graduation. He intends to go back and do health work and educate the town. He thanked my student for her conversation with him that inspired him to gather the resources to go back, and she, in turn, felt compelled to share that gratitude with myself and the other faculty members in the Learning Community. My student was awed that something she and her classmates did could lead to the improvement of the lives of people across the world, and could inspire someone else to make a difference.

The rewards of being a teacher, on any level, are often not monetary. I have always believed that teachers don’t become so for the money alone, but something deeper drives them to stand in front of a class and challenge students to think critically and be the best people they can be—whether they are teaching first graders how to add, or graduate students how to navigate the competitive world of theory. That kind of dedication rarely gets rewarded in a tangible way. Even my student’s thanks were too much. I’m an educator, and that’s my job. Hearing this story from her, I tried very hard to not get misty eyed from seeing the immense pride and good faith this student had. I merely handed her the tools. She put them to work. And the moments like that remind me in a very palpable way that educating people can change the world in a profoundly better way.

~Dawn Papuga

Like LibraryThing? Yeah, Google did too...

2007-09-12T23:53:00.000-04:00

It's no secret that Google has been under some intense scrutiny for some time in regards to their Google Library project. The main issue that has authors, publishers, librarians, and book store owners up in arms is how what Google is doing by scanning works and making them searchable and accessible relates to copyright law. But Google isn't waiting for any decision from any authoritative body. In fact, many university libraries, and at least six of the world's leading research libraries have teamed up with Google for this project. Right, wrong, or indifferent, it doesn't seem like anything short of an injunction will stop Google from plugging along with the project.

For a remarkable analysis of the Google Library Project, see Jonathan Band's paper, "The Google Library Project: Both Sides of the Story." (HTML version: PDF version)

But this entry isn't to rehash an argument that many others are already having. While searching for updates on the project, I came across a short article in Publisher's Weekly by Calvin Reed entitled, "Google Adds 'My Library' to Book Search" (Publishers Weekly, 9/10/07). According to the Reed article, users will be able to create a "library" online of their favorite books, add their own reviews, add books by both search functions and ISBN numbers, and can share their "libraries" with others. I know what you're thinking...

"But wait. Isn't there already a site that does that? Isn't that called LibraryThing.com? Isn't that the widget on the right hand side of your page that updates us on all the books in your catalogued library?"

Why yes. And yes, it is.

Part of the beauty of LibraryThing.com is its Cinderella Story success and the passionate people who populate the site. Readers, writers, reviewers (of all skill level and seriousness), bibliophiles, librarians--everyone you meet there loves books in one way or another. It was novel when the site launched, and it remains so with every update and addition. But LibraryThing remains connected to the devoted users of their site with updates from the creators, blogs, and a genuine presence of the owners and creators not only on the home pages, but in the discussion areas and even, perhaps, in your personal library--something a Megacompany rarely can accomplish.

And now, once again, Google has zeroed in on something that has gained a large and motivated following, and they created their own version of something already in existence, with--in my opinion--the desire to take the best of what LibraryThing has and copy it, the worst, and improve on it, and then take the whole concept just one step further. Should you activate the "My Library" section of your Google account (of which Blogger is a part), and should you add your books to this feature, you will notice the "passages" feature. Click this feature and your book will highlight passages that have been quoted in other books.

Perhaps this is fun in theory. Perhaps someone, somewhere, thought this might be helpful to someone, and it very well may be, but what is one to do with Shakespeare's works, The Declaration of Independence, and dare I say, the Bible? How, other than a fleeting moment of "ah, that's interesting," can this be useful?

What it boils down to is offering LibraryThing users something (rather, two somethings, as you cannot search the books you have uploaded) that LT doesn't have in the hopes that users will be drawn to bells and whistles that do nothing, in the end, but make a bunch of noise. And I don't believe that any variation of "there's enough Internet space for all to coexist happily" is called for. Google is free. Period. Well, for now at least. Should they start charging for all of the various services that people have come to depend on in their daily lives, it will be a dark day on the Internet. True, LibraryThing only charges for users who wish to add more than 200 books to their library, and even a lifetime membership is $25 for an unlimited amount of books, $10 per year otherwise, but free is free. Sometimes that's all people see.

I hope those of you who have memberships to LibraryThing will continue to support their site, your personal library, and their efforts. I hope that the personalization of your experience makes the difference. I hope that, for once, the mom and pop start up can outlast the corporation looming in the shadows.

~Dawn Papuga

Book Review: Unscarred by R.M. Hamilton

2007-09-09T14:09:00.000-04:00

Unscarred
By R.M. Hamilton

Aventine Press
1023 4th Ave #204
San Diego, CA 92101
http://www.aventinepress.com/

239 pages

ISBN: 1-59330-401-3
$15.50 Paperback

Following the brutal overthrow of King Jonathan, the Land of Eir is thrust under the thumb of Maurader and the army of the Eternal Flame. Unscarred really begins when Kyle is forced by Maurader to accomplish a task that only he can undertake. Throughout the journey, young Kyle learns far more than he bargained for and is forced into manhood through torture, conflict, revelations of his heritage, his desire to become whole again, and his growing need to rescue his homeland from the megalomaniacal Maurader. R. M. Hamilton gives readers a coming of age story of magic, conflict, and triumph.

This first novel is a valiant effort to pull together all of the tropes of the fantasy genre, but falls short in a number of areas. The narrative is told in the offsetting and untraditional first person present tense—a distraction that often makes the story itself inaccessible. While the core of the plot is unquestionably Hamilton’s, the ancillary characters, plotlines, and set ups are instantly recognizable for any seasoned fantasy reader as archetypal and predictable.

Navigating the world of self publishing can be difficult and fraught with issues that traditional brick and mortar publishing corrects, particularly when dealing with fantasy. Unscarred would have benefited from a good editor and copyeditor. In the more engaging portions of the story, typos and grammatical issues pull readers out of the story and onto the physical page to figure out corrections. In places the dialogue is frustratingly modern and conflicts with the setting and genre, while other places take the dialogue too far into the melodramatic excess that fantasy can easily become. In the end, Unscarred reads like a tabletop game transcribed—an excellent concept that requires more fine tuning.

Unscarred does, however, illustrate the imagination, dedication and understanding of the genre that R.M. Hamilton possesses. Based on the tone of Unscarred, I would be surprised if Hamilton doesn’t eventually find a successful following in the Young Adult section with his future works. With his first novel completed, I look forward to seeing where his writing turns from here.

Review by Dawn Papuga

More Book Burning at Prospero's Books

2007-09-03T14:05:00.000-04:00

I blogged both here and elsewhere about the independant bookstore Prospero's Books in Kansas City, Mo. needing to get rid of books, and the signs of protest they were staging for the abandonment of thought in the US. Well, it looks like Tom Wayne, owner, is at it again, staging another book burning. I couldn't get the embed function to work for the current 10 second of coverage that KCTV posted, so here's the footage from the first book burning in May:

Did you see the title of that book burning? It was One Nation Under Television. How quaint. Here's the problem: I get the concept that your store is not doing well, and that you are trying to get rid of books. I understand your disgust that people won't take books for free (again, shocking, right? He can ship them to me, and I'll take them off his hands!) But the problem is, the man is mixing his messages. You can't whine about people not willing to take free books, and then when people offer to take them, say you want payment. Uh, what? Yeah. That's what Mr. Wayne is doing. Sure it would be great for him to get money for those books, but then what you need to do is to SELL THEM. Don't say you're trying to give them away (which, in itself, implies "free"), and then complain because people won't buy them.

Here's a clue: If they weren't buying them while they were sitting in your warehouse, then what makes you think they're going to buy them now? Especially after you just proved yourself an Indian Giver (wow, I now need to look up the origins of that phrase. I didn't even like typing it.). And for the love of all that is holy, do NOT burn books!! I watched that footage and actually had to calm my stomach! What's you're mentality? "Okay, if you don't buy this book I'm going to burn it!" That... You.... ~*seethe*~ You can't do that!

What is that proving? Yes, yes, you're lighting the funeral pyre for thought in America. You've said that already. But you said that in May of 07, and now it's September and you're doing it again. Same motive. To me that sounds like a publicity stunt. And publicity stunts at the expense of people who actually do read, makes them not like you, your transparent behavior and motivation to make money, or your store. I buy books. I buy a lot of books. I also have books sent to me for review, and I appreciate every last one that finds its way into my home. I had, at one point, considered contacting your store to purchase books--you know, back when I thought your publicity stunt was a genuinely motivated protest against the rampant anti-intellectualism in this country. But now? Now I'll go to the independant bookstores here in Pittsburgh, and Half Priced Books down the street. Thanks for saving me the time and effort.

~D.M. Papuga

“Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs.”*

2007-08-29T16:57:00.000-04:00

Alas, Poor Yorik…

For those of you who follow the media releases and occasional book release of content based in the Early Modern period (still widely referred to as the Renaissance), the following information may or may not come as a cheerless surprise.

According to an emailed release from Tanya Gough, "Chief Bard-Tender" of the PYSC, The Poor Yorik Shakespeare Catalogue and corresponding website will be closing its doors on October 31, 2007. Gough states in her email, “Please know that I have considered every possible avenue for the company’s survival, including a number of buyout offers and restructuring options, but it was not meant to be.”

I cannot fully express just how disheartening this news is to me. Because the merging of Early Modern drama and modern film is still an embattled subgenre of the field, and because films such as Love’s Labours Lost, Scotland, Pa, Richard III and even Titus don’t have the blockbuster attracting audiences (because of the poor showing of Love’s Labours Lost, Branagh chose to release his latest project, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It set in feudal Japan, directly to HBO for distribution on the cable channel rather than facing another box office flop), acquiring these types of film aren’t all that easy. Sure, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and some of the other media providers sell the same kinds of film (sometimes, that is. Poor Yorik still had an amazing collection of VHS tapes that were not transferred to the DVD format and therefore difficult to find in stores). The difference is, however, that the Poor Yorik Catalogue condensed, localized, and organized all things Early Modern that are transposed to dispensable forms of media.

Because my scholarly interests and research focus on this mediatization of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, I will likely feel this blow more directly than most, but it does not mean that Poor Yorik’s closing isn’t a blow to the field of study. It’s not a new concern that Literature is becoming more and more marginalized in the developing minds of the younger generations, and any disappearance of a company specializing in the Renaissance is disheartening.

So those of you eager to own some Shakespeare on film, cd, comic book, or trinkets, rush over to Poor Yorik before Halloween—an additional note: they will not be receiving new stock, so what you see is what you get! If it’s gone, you’ll have to find it elsewhere. So if that BBC box set you’ve had your eye on for a while is still on your “need to buy” list, get moving! You only have two months.

With regrets,
D. M. Papuga

* Richard II. Act III. Sc. ii

Pocamp Pittsburgh 2

2007-08-19T14:02:00.000-04:00

I've been remiss in posting for lack of internet connection but I'm making a quick little update here from Podcamp Pittsburgh 2 ! There will be a longer explanation and review of the festivities after the event, but if you missed it this year you can go to the site and check out the videos from the sessions, also you can check out the message board and the pictures from the event.

For now, I'm preparing for my sessions. See y'all later!

~Dawn

Updates from Boxtopia

2007-07-24T13:38:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to pop by to remind everyone that moving is no fun at all, and that I'm still trying to juggle this hectic life on top of organizing a new home. More than once I have considered figuring out how to just make the boxes in my home part of the decor, but I've come up with no satisfying solutions. Since my last post, I have received a number of requests for book reviews and interviews, so here is an updated list of those I agreed to:

Unfinished Business:
* Unscarred by R.M. Hamilton (Interview and Book Review to be posted ASAP)
* The Seige of Zolodex by Clifford B. Bowyer
* Quest for the Shard by Clifford B. Bowyer (Both of Mr. Bowyer's reviews to be posted ASAP)
* Resonance by Chris Dolley

New Business:
* Evacuation Plan by Joe M. O'Connell which will be released nationally in August of 2007.
* Rodney by Dick Baldwin, and
* Shadow of Innocence by Ric Wasley, who will also be doing an interview with LTR.

I've updated the sidebar to include these latest additions, and as more come in I will be sure to keep you posted. Also, keep an eye out for my pending review of Lerner & Lowe's Camelot that just ended at the CLO in Pittsburgh. I attended the show Saturday night, and there is much to say about the production and Mr. Michael York as King Arthur!

Write Well,
Dawn

The World is Not Flat

2007-07-05T19:01:00.000-04:00

As the title of this post suggests, the world is, indeed, not flat. Because it is round, there is no true direct line between points A and B, and any travel between A and B will result in some round about way of getting there--even if it looks like a direct, as the crow flies, shot. And it is because of this non-flat point that I am still in the process of moving into an apartment that is no more than seven blocks from my current residence. You'd imagine it would be an easy process. A done deal, even. Not so. Not in my world.

In my enthusiasm to move into this new apartment, I agreed to do the painting and minor repairs myself. I'm by no means complaining here. I truly enjoy every glob of Spackle that I have slathered onto my walls, and every drip of paint that found its way onto my clothes rather than the walls. But there were quite a bit more cracks than I had originally thought, and the painting became somewhat tedious, as it does with all perfectionists. So in a perfect world, I should be back to normal, in my new apartment, in my new office in my new apartment, by the weekend. That's if the universe allows it.

I haven't forgotten about LTR--not by a long shot! And I thank you all for your patience during this move. Here's what's on tap for the upcoming reviews:

Unscarred by R.M. Hamilton
Both of Clifford B. Bowyer's series (Fantasy, and young adult)
Resonance by Chris Dolley

Again, my sincere thanks to the above mentioned authors who have been beyond patient with me and my reviews. Also, I'll be accepting new books to review once I'm settled and able to function normally. This move has taken far longer than I would have liked, but it's given me some valuable insight on both the correct and incorrect way to move things. Perhaps there's a book in there somewhere.

Write Well,

~Dawn M. Papuga

Apartment Absentia

2007-06-16T20:35:00.000-04:00

Apologies for the long space of time between posts. I've been away from most online venues for about two weeks, and sadly, it seems I will be away for possibly up to two more. I've been dealing with finals, and trying to get students caught up. I also had a bad run in with back spasms that just didn't seem to understand how busy I am. And then there was the apartment issue.

While the back is nearly healed, and finals will be this week, I still have to move. I just signed my papers and got the keys today, but I still have to paint (In fact, I can't wait to do this part! Not only is it relaxing and meditative for me, it also makes me feel like I'm adding something to the character of the Apartment). After the painting comes the moving, and the setting up, and the shift back into the world of solitary living.

So until I manage to get through with those things, there may only be infrequent posts. I do have a review for Unscarred and Clifford B. Bowyer's books nearly finished, but the completed and polished versions of those reviews will have to wait just a bit longer until I'm moved into my new home.

Thanks for your patience, and I look forward to seeing you when I get back!

~Dawn