November the Fourth Post

"Satire shou'd, like a polish'd Razor keen,
Wound with a Touch, that's scarcely felt or seen.
Thine is an Oyster-Knife, that hacks and hews;
The Rage, but not the Talent to Abuse; . . .
Sure 'tis as fair to beat who cannot fight,
As 'tis to libel those who cannot write."
-- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, "Verses Address'd to the Imitator of Horace," pages 189-90

"and that women, in particular, are rendered weak and wretched by a variety of concurring causes . . . . One cause of this barren blooming I attribute to a false system of education, gathered from the books written on this subject by men who, considering females rather as women than human creatures, have been more anxious to make them alluring mistresses than affectionate wives and rational mothers; and the understanding of the sex has been so bubbled by this specious homage, that the civilized women of the present century, with a few exceptions, are only anxious to inspire love, when they ought to cherish a nobler ambition, and by their abilities and virtues exact respect." -- Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, page 258

Final Paper Proposal

For my final research paper, I'd like to investigate the connection or relationship between boredom, interest and attention//distraction. I'd like to look at Robinson Cruseo and Tristram Shandy, particularly in how Cruseo meticulously quantitifies everything on his island, and marks his time religiously. As to Tristram Shandy, I would look for instances when he attempts to organize his thoughts. How the brain quantitifies and organizes things is of particular interest, and I'm hoping to find evidence for these things in these novels.