"Clam" means "in secret" in Latin - it are fact, I know because of my learnings

[montagnarde1793]

It's been a long time since I've posted anything, I know.  I've been busy, but that's not really the reason. After all, I'm busier than ever and I'm still posting now. I just haven't really had much of relevance to say. It's sad, but what can you do?

I missed a couple of birthdays last month, so a very belated birthday to Charlotte Robespierre and Jeanbon Saint-André.

Really, I just wanted to point out this article, by Lynn Hunt, whom you may remember as one of the better American historians. Which isn't saying too much, but beggars can't be choosers. (Though if that limited choice were all that was available to me, I'd still pick Timothy Tackett over her any day).

I'm not sure whether I like the article or not. It's one of those pieces where I'm on a borderline between thinking it's useful for pointing out a few things that I've noticed to be true about writing, and getting annoyed with it for stating the obvious. In light of some of Hunt's work, I'm also going to have to be a bit snarky and add that if your instinct tells you that Freudian analysis is the right approach to your study of the French Revolution, maybe it's time to stop listening to your instinct. On the other hand, I'm quite possibly being too hard on her, both in terms of the article and in terms of her other writings, so I'll let you come to your own conclusions (which I would be happy to hear about!)

In other news, applying to study abroad is incredibly stressful when added to all my other work. Cumulative Latin exams are likewise stressful - there's a good 200 lines of Cicero's "In Verrem" I should be studying right now - so do wish me luck. (For the record, I like "In Verrem," which is Cicero's prosecution of the corrupt governor of Sicily, Verres, who, if Cicero is to be believed, stole everything he could get his hands on in the whole province, and also - in the part I'm not being tested on - had a Roman citizen crucified - which you really don't do. However, there is so much vocabulary that I don't know, that my brain may explode between now and tomorrow afternoon. And there's parsing. I hate parsing. D:)

...


CLAM.

...

Utinam haec lingua facilior sit. ;-;

Comments

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

I hope your Latin exam went well!

As for the article, the first thing that comes to mind is: I completely sympathize with her being a horrid note-taker. XD And it's well-written enough. I quite like this part:
Everyone who has written at any substantial length, whether prose or poetry, knows that the process of writing itself leads to previously unthought thoughts. Or to be more precise, writing crystallizes previously half-formulated or unformulated thoughts, gives them form, and extends chains of thoughts in new directions.
Very true, in my experience...when I sit around and think, "Oh dear, what am I going to write?" I don't get much done. When I actually just start typing to see where it takes me, I get a lot farther. I think you're right, though, that she does tend to state the obvious in a lot of other cases.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

I think it did. There were a couple of grammar questions I wasn't sure about, and then my test-taking strategy was probably a bit off, but I think I did well anyway. At least I hope so. :/

You're right, that part is very true. And most of it is. It's just a question of where the line between very true and stating the obvious is. I'm not sure I know, frankly.

Whichever it is, she's also right about the note-taking. Taking notes isn't useful for paper writing in my experience either. Honestly, I don't know why anyone bothers. It's much better to make photocopies or, in the case of published books, take the whole book, and bookmark the relevant passages. That way you can see/quote the original wording and you can look up other things the source you're using might have to offer as you write. I mean, I realize that's not always possible, but it's much better than taking notes.