Life Between the Lines

Final Project. How do The Stranger and Nausea reveal differences and universalities in existentialist thought? Camus and Sartre are often used as interchangeable representations of existentialism, a philosophy underscoring the inherent absurdity of life but the ability of humans to define their own meanings. However, although Camus and Sartre both contributed largely to the meaning of the existentialist movement, the two differed on their individual views of existentialism, with Camus even refusing to refer to himself as a true existentialist (although much of his work contains existentialist undertones). As representations of these two great thinkers, writers, and philosophers, The Stranger and Nausea  are widely considered to be chef-d'oeuvres of Camus and Sartre, respectively. In these works, Sartre and Camus define their own existentialist (or near-existentialist, if you asked Camus) philosophies, and in turn also defined the existentialist movement and philosophy. Thus, i...

As we watched today's TedEd video on Descartes's cogito, I was reminded of an idea I saw once in a textbook: that Descartes's famous cogito, ergo sum  was never originally written in that manner, even though it was often referred to as such to preserve the "originality" of the phrase. No, instead, it had been written as je pense, donc je suis , dowsed in what was once considered to be a common man's language, even though French nowadays is associated with pretentiousness. In a fun stroke of coincidence (or perhaps not...), Waiting for Godot  was also originally written in French as En attendant Godot , Beckett's original masterpiece that he later translated to the English version with which we more commonly associate the playwright. But, as referenced in my last blogpost, pieces can change meanings as they're translated from one language to another, and even though Waiting for Godot is a self-translation, the play is not immune from this effect.  I fou...

I grew up surrounded by Chinese culture, which inevitably included thorough references to Chinese poems, which (unsurprisingly) were written in Chinese (in case it wasn't clear, I'm Chinese). I think I've always considered the worlds of Chinese poetry and English poetry separate from one another, not just because they're divided by the sounds and words that form their structure and body but also because they've existed in different spheres of life for me.  But just like international and domestic politics, non-English and English poetry are connected in innumerable ways, interweaved through intertextuality, structure, and rhythm, even if they often can, are, and should be reviewed in different lights. Non-English poetry isn't as accessible to us because, simply put, we can't read the words that constitute the poem. However, some poems contain translations, most often accomplished by other poets or amateur students but sometimes created by the original poet t...

The first time I ever saw a poem written by e e cummings, I thought it was something created by an amateur middle schooler excited to use Tumblr for the first time. I learned that e e cummings liked lowercase letters. The second time I ever saw a poem written by e e cummings, I thought someone (or their cat) had fell on their keyboard. I learned that e e cummings didn't subscribe to society's expectations of formatting. The third time I ever saw a poem written by e e cummings, I thought it was a run-of-the-mill poet. I learned that e e cummings didn't always play by his own "rules." "grasshopper" by e e cummings To me, e e cummings exemplifies the kind of poet whose poetry is loved by English teachers searching for meaning between lines, letters, and spaces, yet hated by the group of English students who believe symbolism is dead and literal meaning trumps all. "next to of course god america i" is still one of my favorite poems of his; the titl...

My memory is hazy, but I think the first poem I ever encountered was in a Shel Silverstein book an elementary school teacher had introduced to me during reading time. The collection, topped with a silver book jacket (if my memory serves me right), was relatively breezy, and I remember skimming through them within a few days. I loved the relatively ease of reading them, the interesting drawings that accompanied them, the laughs I shared with classmates as I shared the ridiculous ones, and the pattern poems; in short, I loved all of them. Elementary school poetry was lighthearted and fun, filled with puns and limericks that mattered little in the grand scheme of things. It was a while until I encountered poetry again. In middle school, I found Ellen Hopkins's Crank , a collection of poems recounting addictions to meth, a sharp turn from the lighthearted Shel Silverstein books I had enjoyed in elementary school. I'm not even sure how I discovered her books in the first place, but ...

At their surface,  Siddhartha  and The Matrix  seem like polar opposites; one explores nature and its relationship with spirituality while the other explores the bounds of technology and its dangerous repercussions. Yet, guiding the "one story" that dominates literature, film, art, and more, elements of the hero's journey exist throughout these two works, pushing — or arguably being pushed — by their protagonists and environments. Although some elements differ in their portrayal or context, the basic structure holds: a special but relatively unnoticed hero makes a life-altering decision that sends them on a journey filled with many challenges, and an unexpected environmental factor leads to their ending, but it's not the environment that leads to their success; it merely awakens someone that has always been inside of them. In Siddhartha , our protagonist, aptly named Siddhartha, begins as a talented kid noticed in his town but relatively unnoticed in the broader setti...