stratofanatic

Currently in the middle of The True Story of the Novel by Margaret Anne Doody, and Bleak House by Dickens. That's GRR Martin cartoon is great. I just read the first two books of the series this December. I'm wary of getting any more involved with it -- not only because writing such long books is bad manners, but because I've waited 21 years for Robert Jordan to finish his Wheel of Time series, and I'm scared the same thing might happen with Martin!

Postmodernists typically have an edge on lists like this. Thomas Pynchon, anyone? I couldn't get past the first 40 pages of Gravity's Rainbow. It was so bad that, in rage, I dug a hole and buried the book in it. This is especially bad as it was a library book, so I had to dig it up again, but dang, it would have been a favor to future generations who somehow imagined it was worth a try. John Barth is also up on the list for Giles Goat-boy.

for Michigan, I pretty sure you're already too late. You had to have ALL materials in by the deadline, Dec 9th, including transcripts. As for Penn State, the application status will tell you if the materials have arrived.

The mail thing is weird, isn't it, mresene? I get the feeling their admissions office isn't quite up to the 21st century yet -- virtually nothing was electronic. I still haven't gotten my letter yet; I only knew b/c of a results post to check the website. @Lamo, I'm pretty mixed about their program -- their strongest areas seem to be children's lit and popular genres like sf\ fantasy.. On one hand, I have a personal friend who's a baseball historian and told me they were an "up and coming" department; she attends their annual baseball conference every year. On the other hand, what kind of school doesn't require a writing sample? The more I think about it, the more doubts I have, so I really wanted to hear people's opinions. Part of me is seriously considering refusing the offer and applying again next year. How did you end up finding the school?

Saw that there's been a few acceptances here. Just wondering who the acceptances were (I was one) and if you were thinking of accepting. Then we could. . . um. . . introduce ourselves. lol.

And now I can safely join this thread! I, too, suffered the youth-in-asia problem as a youngen!~

An acceptance *and* a rejection on the results thread. . . but still no e-mail for us. I'm starting to get paranoid.

Movies better than the book?' Forrest Gump would head my list! Worse adaptation? A Passage to India. I don't care how many Oscars it win or was nominated for, film just couldn't capture what prose had created.

@Dorinda, I was hoping that was the case! @Marlowe, haha, yes. I saw that when it aired, and it's terrific. But here's the thing -- when Colbert asks him if he writes childrens' books, and Sendak that gives a writer's typical eyeroll-inducing-response, "I don't write childrens's stories. . . I WRITE, and then someone says, 'That's for children!'" my question to Sendak is, "Your stories are 500 words long!!!! What the heck do you think they are if not childrens's stories?????"

The delicious irony in the situation is that the (perceived) disparagement of Joyce evoked spluttering outrage, yet the placing of the Bible on here elicited almost no comment whatsoever. @Dorinda, Since I don't want any (more) misunderstanding, the original "illiteracy" remark was directed towards yours truly. Hoked on fonix werked 4 me & all that. I certainly wasn't calling anyone *here* iilliterate.

Sweet jiminmy crickets! Well, canon fanacticism is certainly alive and well. (Although I think the responder(s), I can't remember their name, did not quite realize the spirit of playfulness in which I offered the remark.) Although, if a serious debate about the canon is what you want. . . . . . we might not get it here, what with the illiterate population being what it is.

Oooh, a hater on YA fiction *and* a defender of Joyce! What if I told you Harry Potter deserves priority in the canon over Joyce? To be more precise, Joyce is a writer's write, imho. His ability to put words on page is absolutely amazing -- but in terms of plot, theme, characters, I would rank him very low. It's a criticism I would level against much of the modernists. @Eggers, I'm half in, half out on this one. What is the What and Where the Wild Things are masterpieces. A Heartbreaking work I just couldn't stomach. Writers really need to stay away from postmodernist tendencies. Speaking of which. . . . My candidates: Giles Goat-boy by John Barth Anything by Thomas Pynchon. Oh em gee, how do I loath Thomas Pynchon.

Well, the implicit rejection is a bit more of a blow than I expected. Somebody tell me my chances weren't killed simply b/c I somehow called U-M "Michigan State" in the SOP. Please?

Proof that the average age of professors is increasing -- this one hasn't yet heard of cell phones!

Oh gawd. Whoever said you should never re-read your statements of purpose was right. I did -- and discovered that, instead of calling the school "University of Michigan" (at Ann Arbor), I called it "Michigan State." After 20 revisions of that statement of purpose, it just now occurred to me taht U-M and Michigan State are probably completely different schools.