you know that peter handke book of three novellas which is published under the title of 3 x Handke? i feel a bit like that today: 3 x Virginia.first, i got an email from jenny geer. when i was hanging around alderman library pouncing on grad students jenny was one of those who readily allowed themselves be pounced on. she is now a professor of children's literature and victorian lit at the university of louisiana - lafayette, and her emails always contain interesting snippets about children's books. this time: that wizard of oz was the harry potter of its day: part of a series, wildly popular, and fiercely attacked. i was just noticing the other day that the pseudo-critical literature on harry potter has taken up nearly a shelf and a half in widener now, and that is simply ridiculous. if i get some time i will read some book reviews on the early reception on oz.
then, a thoughtful reply from professor tucker, to an email i'd written him seven weeks ago and had quite forgotten about! w.g. sebald's the rings of saturn, no surprise, is still our subject, and i'm glad to be spreading the melancholia around (nay i lie, he says he has a low depression-quotient, but added that the person he had recommended "the rings" to had "a spell of real though temporary despondency" after reading it, so i am not alone.
and then a few days ago it was kai-ting. she graduated from uva in may this year, and is in law school at washington-lee now. we communicate by email several times a year ordinarily, and i had last heard from her in june, and had given her my new contact information just before i moved to cambridge. so all of a sudden i am mystified by a ringing phone. why would anyone call me in the day?! does anyone expect me to be in, and if in, awake? isn't it obvious that if someone wanted me the right time to call is between 10pm and 4am? and so i answer the phone and it was her, and that was so completely out of the blue and so pleasant we chatted for a good half hour before i had to go to class.