Okay, now that I've introduced myself, let me explain what's going on here, on this blog.
The title and theme floating around this is from the seventh book of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. The picture underneath the title is actually from his short story "The Little Sisters of Eluria", and the picture in the sidebar is from The Wastelands, the third book in the series. The title above that particular picture is a line from "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning - although the poem doesn't mention roses at all, that is what King's tower is in the midst of - a gigantic field of roses. Near the end of the seventh book, King explains exactly what these roses are and do.
I suppose the seventh book appeals to me so much because it draws together all the elements that have built up over the six previous books, as well as various links from other King novels that only briefly reference the Dark Tower canon. For example, Walter O'dim (better known as Flagg from Eyes of the Dragon and Randall Flagg from The Stand) is wearing a hoodie that he "borrowed" from French's Landing, Wisconsin, the site of the King-Straub collaboration, Black House. Another example is the character Patrick Danville, who was the target of the Crimson King's machinations in Insomnia (my favorite Stephen King novel to date). Patrick plays the part that he was mentioned and meant to play, but how he came from being a slightly battered, yet happy boy to a voiceless young man is not completely known.
The seventh book is also a book of endings. Resolutions. King gave it four subtitles - Reproduction, Revelation, Redemption, and Resumption. The final subtitle is actually the subtitle that he later gave to his first novel in the series, The Gunslinger. That is telling - because if the reader decides to go past the given ending and read the coda of the book, they will understand why that subtitle is there. The whole series, it turns out, is a cycle. Roland will start on his journey again and again until... until what? Each time, he changes a little, and hopefully he learns, although he also starts afresh, with no true memory of what occurred to him when and before he reached the Tower. The tarot reading in the end of the first novel now becomes clearer - Walter's final card drawn was Life ("... but not for you"). Roland does not die, but neither does he live in the sense of time that we do. He may have started out as a mortal, but he has gained an aspect which keeps him in this long loop... maybe it's because he has indeed become a Hero, the last that those worlds will ever truly see.
And he is a tale! As King has said in other stories, "it is the tale, not he who tells it". As long as these stories exist, Roland is immortal, and folks like me will go back and read his story through and through, over and over, relearning all the details. Folks like me... the obsessives, maybe, but can I really call myself an expert yet? I've impressed my old advisor (and second dad), Tony Magistrale, with the knowledge that I have of King's canon. I want to write the second Stephen King encyclopedia, once I have the ability to focus on the texts. It'll be time-consuming, and it'll take years, and I need to talk to the first author to see what may be necessary (hopefully Tony can help me out there). But it is my logical dream, my ambition, and with time, I will get it done. King's writing has slowed considerably since his accident in 1999, so there will be less worry of missing out on new novels.
Until then, there is the Tower to continually delve into - the linch-pin of all worlds, all the universes that King has created. Such a multiverse is what I want as my mental playground.
Hile and well met,
Grety
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
And So It Starts
In a month, I'm away from nearly all that I'm familiar with.
The folks that I once hung out with have drifted away, like leaves on a breezy lake. I will miss them, but at the same time there's some relief - i was always pinning my hopes on them, wishing for company, for someone to call me up and say, Hey, Gretchen, do you want to go here and do this? Sure, this did happen a few times... sometimes with good results, sometimes not. It's only through such outings that I realized my love for Dark and Stormies - a mix of rum and ginger beer. Some of these outings also helped me realize that folks can be more disturbing than even they know.
In a month, I'll be hanging out with new people, and familiar people, and the one person that I want to spend the rest of my life with. My true match, my companion. Soulbound and loving it. Yes, I know I'm whipped. And that he is as well. I've never truly felt a love that's been so solid, lasted so long without a single lapse. And long-distance, yet! Sure, we go on "dates" in WoW, doing quests together on our toons. He texts me at work, and I call him when I go on my lunch break. But apart from visits on both sides of the country, we really haven't spent so much time together. But we want to live together, more than anything else. First with his family - it'll be close quarters, I know, what with his parents, two brothers, his sister and her husband and their little baby daughter, Audrey.
But I've been so lonely in this room. The ceiling is so high, the walls so bare... it's empty, except for me, and it almost always stays that way. No stove, no separation between preparation and relaxation. It's a mess. God help me on the day when it has to disappear - for it will. Some things will be left behind - my desk, the round table... but not the couch. That couch has held my body curled up for nap after nap, or with my feet up and pressed against the wall. Plus, it folds out to a bed, which has hosted three different people over the spring and summer. And it's very, very light. I just need a little space to store it... the microwave is going to be saved, too. Far too reminiscent of home to leave behind. Speakers and stereo will be stored, along with all my utensils and dishware (except for my personal mug, I think I'm taking that with me). Computer will be coming with me, with its original speakers to save space. My clothes... hopefully what I bring will all fit into the big blue duffelbag (the one that I can fit into - seriously). I can definitely skimp on the heavy stuff, since I'll be living out in the desert. Oh, and the mini-fridge is coming, too - it'll come in handy for Case's room, in case we want to store snacks and drinks so that his family doesn't consume them in our absence.
Ah, my readers... the chapter of my college life has come to an end. I have my B.A in English, with the minor in Religion. I have a solid job at Lenscrafters, which will be transferred once I settle in Case's hometown. I have my car, my computer, my health. And most of all, I have my love, which has kept me from going completely insane during these last few months. Sometimes this love even inspires me to write...
I wish to give you words of love, my dear,
That Aphrodite, throned in cloud and sky
Would smile and weep, my flow'ry lines to hear,
Devotion from a woman such as I.
My darling man, you are my diamond light,
The sun and star that guides me to your heart,
That never fades in shadow, nor in night,
Nor over miles that keep us now apart.
Our souls entwined, the weaving of our fates
Comes clearer as the chapter comes to close
In a story that our destiny creates,
As seeds and summer bloom a gorgeous rose.
So we do bloom, in reason and in rhyme,
To love and live together for all our time.
Sweet dreams,
Grety
The folks that I once hung out with have drifted away, like leaves on a breezy lake. I will miss them, but at the same time there's some relief - i was always pinning my hopes on them, wishing for company, for someone to call me up and say, Hey, Gretchen, do you want to go here and do this? Sure, this did happen a few times... sometimes with good results, sometimes not. It's only through such outings that I realized my love for Dark and Stormies - a mix of rum and ginger beer. Some of these outings also helped me realize that folks can be more disturbing than even they know.
In a month, I'll be hanging out with new people, and familiar people, and the one person that I want to spend the rest of my life with. My true match, my companion. Soulbound and loving it. Yes, I know I'm whipped. And that he is as well. I've never truly felt a love that's been so solid, lasted so long without a single lapse. And long-distance, yet! Sure, we go on "dates" in WoW, doing quests together on our toons. He texts me at work, and I call him when I go on my lunch break. But apart from visits on both sides of the country, we really haven't spent so much time together. But we want to live together, more than anything else. First with his family - it'll be close quarters, I know, what with his parents, two brothers, his sister and her husband and their little baby daughter, Audrey.
But I've been so lonely in this room. The ceiling is so high, the walls so bare... it's empty, except for me, and it almost always stays that way. No stove, no separation between preparation and relaxation. It's a mess. God help me on the day when it has to disappear - for it will. Some things will be left behind - my desk, the round table... but not the couch. That couch has held my body curled up for nap after nap, or with my feet up and pressed against the wall. Plus, it folds out to a bed, which has hosted three different people over the spring and summer. And it's very, very light. I just need a little space to store it... the microwave is going to be saved, too. Far too reminiscent of home to leave behind. Speakers and stereo will be stored, along with all my utensils and dishware (except for my personal mug, I think I'm taking that with me). Computer will be coming with me, with its original speakers to save space. My clothes... hopefully what I bring will all fit into the big blue duffelbag (the one that I can fit into - seriously). I can definitely skimp on the heavy stuff, since I'll be living out in the desert. Oh, and the mini-fridge is coming, too - it'll come in handy for Case's room, in case we want to store snacks and drinks so that his family doesn't consume them in our absence.
Ah, my readers... the chapter of my college life has come to an end. I have my B.A in English, with the minor in Religion. I have a solid job at Lenscrafters, which will be transferred once I settle in Case's hometown. I have my car, my computer, my health. And most of all, I have my love, which has kept me from going completely insane during these last few months. Sometimes this love even inspires me to write...
I wish to give you words of love, my dear,
That Aphrodite, throned in cloud and sky
Would smile and weep, my flow'ry lines to hear,
Devotion from a woman such as I.
My darling man, you are my diamond light,
The sun and star that guides me to your heart,
That never fades in shadow, nor in night,
Nor over miles that keep us now apart.
Our souls entwined, the weaving of our fates
Comes clearer as the chapter comes to close
In a story that our destiny creates,
As seeds and summer bloom a gorgeous rose.
So we do bloom, in reason and in rhyme,
To love and live together for all our time.
Sweet dreams,
Grety
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