Search_soleil: once again harnessing her fangirlish powers for great (literary) justice!

[searchsoleil]

Okay, so I've been driving myself batty trying to come up with a research topic for Heart of Darkness that wasn't "COLONIALISM WAS BAD!!1!" because LAWD, wouldn't that bore me and my teacher to tears, it's THAT overdone. That is, I was driving myself batty until I hit upon the fact that I could finally put to good use all of the energy I expended in Fern's class last year being a smart-arse and harping on how homoerotically charged that book is. So now I sort of have a topic, except that I can't seem to reword it in a way that isn't, "Joseph Conrad was all about teh ghei in Victorian England! Le gasp!"

The words "repression of sexuality" sound kind of appropriate, but I fear that goes kind of broad. Then again, I don't know how receptive my passive-agressive teacher is to "teh ghei," so I suppose broad might be a good place to begin? Indecision!

Comments

[zoesque.livejournal.com]

...you know, if I'd realized that book was gay back when I first studied it three years ago, it might not have earned its eternal place in my Top Five Novels That Suck So Hard They Make Me Want to Cry for Literature Whenever I Think of Them list.

But then again, the Buddhism reading of the text didn't have any noticeable effect, so possibly not. :/

*edited because I can't conjugate or type*

[search-soleil.livejournal.com]

I love Heart of Darkness, though I will admit all of the fond memories I have of flustering my (male) English teacher with all of my discussion-derailing comments have probably made me biased. But really, the "rainbow" Russian is just a walking, talking metaphor for homosexuality. "It isn't what you think," my ass.

[zoesque.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha, too right you are! I just found the prose and Deep Literary Meaning SUPER-pretentious, but I'm pretty twitchy when it comes to that god only knows how I can say that and yet love modernism to absolute bits.

[loweryourwand.livejournal.com]

haha our class was all about the ironic mode

[splintercat.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, so much respect for you. I give your paper a preemptive A++.

[arekuru.livejournal.com]

I don't know if even teh gay can save Heart of Darkness, but good luck!