Literature

I'm currently writing a college essay specifically regarding Atwood's usage of architecture, but I'd like to see it on a more global level. Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale shows an area titled the Republic of Gilead that everyone lives in and the narrator provides vivid descriptions of the architecture in the area – a Late Victorian style with the simplicity of early Neoclassical beliefs in the United States. Atwood has said in interviews that it is also inspired by Cambridge, MA as far as the style and layout. Although I haven't read any other Atwood novel I have heard that she also describes architecture in great detail in those. Many other writers such as William Faulkner and Edgar Allen Poe have done similar things with their work where they take real architectural styling and use it to create a unique, sometimes metaphorical, space. How does the architecture change our perception of the story i regards to its surface value? Should architecture be described more in writing to create a surreal sense of space?

Analysing how the heroic virtues of the protagonist of Odysseus in Homer's 'The Odyssey' befalls tragedy and misfortune on his travels in the form of overt heroic confidence, contrasting it with his characterization in 'The Illiad'.

Conrad's Heart of Darkness explores the mysteries of human corruption. Francis Ford Coppola adapted Conrad's novel in Apocalypse Now, re-telling Conrad's story in the context of the Vietnam War instead of the Belgian colonization of the Congo. Matthew Stover's Star Wars novel, Shatterpoint, adapts Heart of Darkness with Mace Windu as the protagonist. Stover's novel is set on Mace's home world, the jungle planet of Haruun Kal, whose guerrilla uprising clearly echoes Coppola's film. How do Coppola and Stover adapt Conrad's novel? How does the portrayal of racism and colonialism differ in these appropriations? How do their endings diverge from each other?

Something I've been thinking about lately is how competitive getting published is. Novelists who want to write a "less accessible" kind of story may find themselves struggling with finding an audience, or even an interested agent. Meanwhile, the list of national bestsellers is filled with novels that, generally, play it safe. For instance, The Girl on the Train is regarded in its promotional material as another Gone Girl. Would the former have been written the way it was or even be written at all if the latter didn't precede it? Are the heavily publicized novels becoming too homogeneous? And how is this reflected across genres?

There is great unbalance between the popularity of works of prose and works of poetry in today's world. Everyone and their mother has read a novel or two, and you might even hear them recommend one. Poetry, on the other hand, seems to be something hidden from mainstream conversation and even recognition. I can go on naming celebrated contemporary authors and novelists, while the only poet I can think of as being worthy of "celebrity" status is Billy Collins. That is not to say that there are not skilled or renowned poets today, but it seems that neither they nor their work are nearly as recognized. Why might this be?

In Richard Halliburton's 1927 book "The Glorious Adventure" the reporter explored Greece, Italy and the Mediterranean in attempts to follow the paths of Odysseus of "The Odyssey" and Lord Byron's escapades across Europe. What other fictional of historic "Odyssey" could one go on? Explore this idea in writing and explain why one would want to make this journey.

The writers of the Beat generation, including Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and several other men, have been called many things, from revolutionary to obscene, profound to self-indulgent. Though feminist backlash notes the exclusion of women from the movement and the misogynistic attitudes towards women advocated in Beat literature, many are willing to overlook this criticism and focus on the widespread influence of the Beats. This could lead into a conversation about art as art versus art as social statement, and the social responsibility of artists. Notably, the Beats are seen as opening the door for the hippie movement, which certainly espoused feminist ideologies. Perhaps, in the long run, feminism benefitted from the Beats opening the door for a counterculture. Perhaps not. But given the lasting romantic view of the Beats and the pseudo-revival they've experienced with recent film adaptations including Howl and Kill Your Darlings, their messages are worth scrutinizing.

Analysis of King Lear that focuses on Lear's downfall and what is the morally correct course of action. In other words, do the characters of King Lear owe Lear help out of his situation or is he personally responsible for pulling himself out of the problem? In what ways must people take control of their own lives and destiny? In what ways do the people in the society owe fellow human beings help out of unjust and/or dangerous situations?