Writer. Contributing Editor at The Discarded Image. Digital Content Strategist. Here's where I publicly explore the books I'm reading, the projects I'm working on, and other current interests. A morning in the reference section
So my more productive days lately are those spent in the Samford University library, equipped with all the necessities of research—comfy chairs, task lighting, internet access, dictionaries on every study table, and huge semicircular windows overlooking the fountains (where on nice days I submit to the siren call and go out with a book). I usually establish my working area in the vicinity of the literature reference section because I like to see over the shorter bookcases while I’m typing and because 20-volume sets of Shakespearean criticism are perspective-granting. But this morning, in yet another episode of “Mindy Avoids Writing A Novel,” I decided to spend a few hours getting better acquainted with the surrounding reference materials. Here’s some of what I found in the toybox:
Plays for Children and Young Adults: An Evaluative Index and Guide, edited by Rashelle E Karp and June H. Schlessinger. This is a cool resource for teachers or other kiddie theatre producers. Over 3,500 dramatic pieces are summarized, indicating appropriate grade level, cast analysis, playing time, minimal setting and stage requirements, royalty info, etc. The most helpful aspect is probably the “Subject/Play Type Index,†where you can search for plays about, say, Bunnies, Clocks, Danish folk tales, Dating, Identity, Immigrants, Nuclear war, Responsibility, Thanksgiving, or Harriet Tubman. Surely you’ve been looking for just such a thing!
Contemporary American Women Poets: An A-Z Guide, edited by Catherine Cucinella. I grabbed this one in honor of National Poetry Month and learned a few things (mostly lurid personal details) about Sylvia Plath and Maya Angelou. It was also the first I’d heard of Florence Ai Ogawa, better known simply as Ai. Each entry in this varied collection includes a biography, list of major works and themes, critical reception, and bibliography—but no poetry. So I’ll have to go up to Literature on the 3rd floor to read Ai in her own words.
Contemporary Novelists is a hefty one-volume index of writers and their novels. Two days ago Mike Garrett at Beeson recommended Larry Woiwode’s novels to me, so I looked him up and learned that Beyond the Bedroom Wall: A Family Album is considered his best work so far; another to add to the stack. Curiously, Gabriel Garcia Marquez was not in the list. I meant to see what other novelists had been overlooked for whatever reason, but got distracted…
A Reference Guide to the Bible in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry, by Fordyce R. Bennett, is an odd one. It contains “a listing of words, phrases, and passages echoed or quoted from the Authorized Version of the Bible in the poems of Emily Dickinson.†From what I could tell, several allusions were listed for each of her poems. Bennett might be overreaching; there is little question that many of the phrases are taken from the King James—if not intentionally, then at least by virtue of being standard vocabulary components in ED’s day—but when her use of a single word produces multiple Scripture references that happen to contain that word, I have to wonder about Bennett’s agenda. Still, it must be quite the time-saving reference for Dickinson scholars.
My favorite discovery today was The Encyclopedia of Murder and Mystery, by Bruce F. Murphy, which “contains entries on authors, characters, individual works, terminology, famous criminal cases, slang, subgenres and plot devices, murder techniques and poisons, all of which are part of the matter and manner and context of crime and murder literatureâ€! A great little preface, “The Triumph of the Mystery Story,†provides a short history of the development and critical reception of the murder mystery. Flipping through this fascinating volume, I learned that Guy de Maupassant (one of my favorites) wrote over 300 short stories before attempting suicide and dying in an asylum; that Dorothy Sayers (another favorite) perfected the art of mystery and suspense in real life, as she gave birth to an illegitimate son and kept him a secret from her parents and colleagues forever (the facts came to light only upon her death); and that since no one likes an unsolved mystery, dozens of unfinished mystery novels have been completed by “finishers†and in some cases estates have even granted permission for characters (such as Nero Wolfe) to be officially resurrected decades later by fans. Jerome Charyn is quoted as saying that based on the existence of evil, “one might even argue that God himself is a crime novelist.†That’s some serious justification of your craft!
By 11:00 am I was back to my task for the day, which, I am chagrined to admit, was still not novel writing but reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemna, since the public library is demanding I return it by Saturday. More on that book later. Anyway, it’s necessary to have goals, but it’s just plain fun to ignore them for a few hours and go exploring. If you haven’t visited your reference section lately, you’re missing out!
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