Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Welcome!

Welcome to the Literary Excavations blog! This will be a place for fun and fascinating excavations into a wide variety of literary works.

What you will find on this blog

* Close readings – I love to dig into the details of texts and see what the authors actually say and how they say it.

* Meditations on medieval literature – I'm a medievalist, so I have a special fascination with the works of the Middle Ages, particularly Beowulf, other Old English poetry, Arthurian stories, and Chaucer.

* Reflections on fantasy literature – Anyone for discussions of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, David Eddings, J.K. Rowling, and other fantasy authors?

* Word studies – How often do you think about the words you use, what they really mean, and where they come from?

* Reading recommendations – I have an extensive library, and I'm always ready to recommend another good book.

* Poetry analysis – Since I'm currently in the research stage of a new book about praying with poetry, I will occasionally share some of my discoveries.

* Literary tidbits – Because who doesn't enjoy trivia?

* A blend of light reading and more serious scholarship – I write both, and I like to share my ideas.

What you will not find on this blog

* Literary theories – I would rather interact with the text and let it speak than force it to fit into preconceived theoretical notions.

* Intellectual mumbo-jumbo – If you can't understand it, how can you learn from it?

* Extended, systematic, formal investigations – I'll be jumping around quite a bit as I work on various projects.

* Discussions of the latest best-sellers – Sorry, but I just don't read most of them, if any.

If this sounds like a good fit for you, please stop in now and then, read a post or two, leave a comment to keep the discussion going, and join me in some interesting literary excavations.

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