The Reading Room

12:05 AM

1

Q: How 'human' are the animals in The Wind in the Willows meant to look?

I always imagined the animals in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows - Mole, Ratty, Badger, Toad, and so on - to be actual animals, clearly anthropomorphised to some extent (walking on two legs, able to row boats and drive cars, and so on) but still essentially anatomically nonhuman. So I w...

Nice Q. Now I've got to do some research. :\

Rand al'Thor

@Mick I thought you'd appreciate that one :-)

BESW

@Mick Check what kind of contact the original illustrator had with the author.

That's usually a solid lead.

Rand al'Thor

Oh, good idea!

Speaking of illustrations, @BESW, would you be willing to make a nice literature-related image for use in Community Promotion Ads for this site across the network?

IIRC you have some professional skill in that area, and I'd like to get all the Literature CPAs updated once we move into public beta.

Riker

this is why rand would make a good mod

he thinks ahead to what needs to get done soon, and starts preparing for it

BESW

Hmmm. I'm kinda swamped right now. What kind of timeline are we looking at, and am I being asked to come up with the design from whole cloth or will there be some themes or visuals for me to work from?

(I'm currently trying to design a poster for a production of The Crucible which is treating the script as a historical drama rather than a political allegory.)

(And, you know. Two other logos and a set of game icons, a class on using Mac programs with tools for the visually impaired, computer learning certification...)

HDE 226868

12:21 AM

@Randal'Thor 10 silver badges? Geez.

Rand al'Thor

@BESW Well, we go public in (at least) 6 days, but there's no rush - we can always use some generic image until you have the time to make something better.

As for themes or visuals ... perhaps I should make a post about this on meta, so that everyone can chip in with ideas.

@HDE226868 Yep. I got four just today (Strunk & White, Civic Duty, and two Enlightened).

Zizouz212

Wait what! 10?

That's like... The number I have on Open Source

After 550 something days

To get 10 badges after 15 days... Wowz

BESW

@Randal'Thor The more clearly a client has defined their message before they call me in, the easier and cheaper my work is.

Rand al'Thor

@Zizouz212 Well, at least you have some golds too. Nobody has a gold here yet, except HDE on meta.

HDE 226868

@BESW Really? I have yet to see it done like that.

Zizouz212

12:26 AM

Yeah, but I don't have a gold here

My golds there are Fanatic, Electorate and Constable

Rand al'Thor

@BESW Fair enough. I was more making preliminary inquiries than officially 'calling you in' :-) Like Riker said, thinking ahead.

Zizouz212

All of which are impossible to get here

BESW

@HDE226868 I'm... not impressed so far. I figure if you want to do a play about the Salem witch trials, there's plenty of options which aren't just using that setting as an allegory for McCarthyism. Seems like the text will be fighting you every step of the way.

Rand al'Thor

@Zizouz212 Oh, the easy golds :-P

Zizouz212

lol yeah :P

Seriously though, I think Constable was the easiest

I don't exactly do much as a mod

4 Answers, highest at -2 I don't even know what to do... :(

Rand al'Thor

12:30 AM

Speaking of which, I just got Sheriff over on SFF.

BESW

@Randal'Thor Gotcha. I'm just laying down parameters--if I'm being asked to invent the whole thing, that'll take longer and be more effort, so I won't be able to slot it in as quickly.

Rand al'Thor

@Zizouz212 Wait?

Zizouz212

Yeah

-2, -3, -3, -6

Welcome to Literature SE! Where all you can do is disagree!

BESW

@Zizouz212 I'm not really sure what else people expected. The last hundred or two years of Western literary analysis have been almost nothing but teapot-sized tempests.

HDE 226868

@BESW I studied that concurrently with historical writings (as well as modern fiction inspired from them) from the period, pertaining to the subject, and I'm going to have to agree with you there.

BESW

12:35 AM

@HDE226868 So I'm sort of at a loss for how to present this on a poster. [sigh]

I figure the accurate thing to do would be using ren-faire visuals.

Rand al'Thor

12:53 AM

@BESW FYI, posted to meta: meta.literature.stackexchange.com/q/395/17

BESW

@Randal'Thor Hmm. Less "what should it look like" and more "What message should it convey," perhaps.

Rand al'Thor

Edited in some more specific questions at the bottom.

And flagged to ask for a featured tag.

BESW

Yey!

steelersquirrel

@HDE226868 I'm so glad that I have another person who declined a nomination. Now I don't feel so alone ;)

Rand al'Thor

@steelersquirrel If you like, I'll post a nomination for BESW too ;-)

HDE 226868

1:07 AM

@steelersquirrel Well, you're still the only one to decline after getting formally nominated . . . but yeah, I don't really want the job, either. :-)

steelersquirrel

@Randal'Thor Hehehe! I just felt bad for Skooba because I declined. I didn't want to seem ungrateful. I'm just glad that I am not alone now!!!

@HDE226868 Yeah. I just don't have the personality to be a mod. I would rather just be a contributor to the community. I hear ya! I wouldn't want some of the stuff that mods have to deal with!

Rand al'Thor

@steelersquirrel When someone tries to get you a job which involves making all the tough decisions and being blamed for everything, why shouldn't you be ungrateful? :-P

What was it Shog said?

Jan 19 at 0:14, by Shog9

@bleh No one in their right mind wants to be a protem mod. Those are the folks who have to deal with all of the bitter arguments that spring up in the early days of a site, who get all the blame when crap isn't dealt with but called names and spat on when they try to exercise any authority. So rand would be a good fit.

Oh, wait, @steeler isn't in her right mind anyway ;-)

BESW

I'm wary of anyone who's eager to be a moderator.

3

steelersquirrel

Hehehe! True!!!!

@BESW Good point. The worst thing is a moderator who takes their job a little too seriously.

Rand al'Thor

> "Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?"
"I — I don't think I do, Sir," said Caspian. "I'm only a kid."
"Good," said Aslan. "If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been a proof that you were not."

I did notice there were surprisingly few self-nominations here.

Only DForck, fi12, Skooba, and Chenmunka. And DForck is the only popular choice among them.

steelersquirrel

1:19 AM

I didn't know that DForck was a mod over on M&TV a long time ago.

Rand al'Thor

@steelersquirrel I believe it was DForck, TylerShads, and iandotkelly back in the beta days.

But iandotkelly was the only one who wanted to continue after graduation.

steelersquirrel

Ahhhh...gotcha. We rarely see him over there.

steelersquirrel

1:33 AM

On another note...I just got back from skiing today!!

Riker

hello

@steelersquirrel did you hvae fun?

steelersquirrel

@Riker I did have fun! I love skiing!

Riker

nice!

never been myself

steelersquirrel

It's fun! I tried snowboarding last time I went. I failed miserably ;)

Riker

1:54 AM

ah nice

Bookworm

2:36 AM

0

Q: Is there a recommended reading order for Jane Austen's work?

For someone who never read any of Jane Austen's books, what would be a recommended reading order for her works to start off with and why?

reading-order jane-austen

Bookworm

7:55 AM

1

Q: Ancient Egyptian Book Identification

A couple years ago, I read a book which I would like to revisit. I don't remember much, but here's what I have. Setting is Ancient Egypt One of the primary characters is a Pharaoh or other reputable monarch (definitely female) Religion is a major aspect of the book Plot may have been a mystery...

story-identification

Gallifreyan

8:15 AM

Can we get this reopened?

7

Q: What are the challenges in translating a work of literature?

I'm currently in the process of reading Cyrano de Bergerac (translated by Charles Renauld). There, an introduction is made by Adolphe Cohn, said to be the Professor of the Romance languages and Literatures in Columbia University. You can find a copy on Project Gutenberg, here. He says: … for...

translation

It's not a stellar question, but the updated version is ok, and DVK's answer is on-point

Zizouz212

8:34 AM

@Gallifreyan The problem is that the existence of an answer doesn't always help a question

Personally, I'm kinda mixed about the question. But I'm tired.

Librarian

8

Q: Let's design an ad for our site

There are a lot of Community Promotion Ads for Literature SE on various other sites around the network, which a few of us posted up during the Definition stage of the Area 51 proposal: Science Fiction & Fantasy (by me) English Language & Usage (by @Helmar) Worldbuilding (by me) Movies & TV (by ...

Literature Community Ad

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