The Reading Room

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Educ

9:43 AM

good morning

Do you know any good website that does Literature Study Guides? I'm looking for study guides for Shirley Saad Amina

1 hour later…

Mithrandir

10:49 AM

I'm a bit curious why What is the main metaphore in Eragon/Inheritance Cycle? was closed as POB. Doesn't seem POB to me, but I'd be curious in hearing thoughts before reopening it.

Christophe Strobbe

11:24 AM

@Mithrandir It depends on whether there is clearly just one dominant metaphor or several competing ones. Also, "metaphor" and "mora"l are two different things, so the question actually combines two questions.

Gareth Rees

11:56 AM

@ChristopheStrobbe I think you're being a bit unfair on the OP. The way I interpret that question is that the OP wants to know whether there is some kind of structure underlying Eragon, and isn't expert enough to be confident whether such a structure would properly be called a "metaphor", a "moral", or something else.

@Mithrandir The question doesn't seem "primarily opinion based" to me. If there is some kind of structural principle in Eragon, then someone could answer it by making an argument and provide evidence from the text. (I don't know the work, so maybe this won't be possible and the question will go unanswered, but if someone asked a similarly phrased question about The Faerie Queene, say, it would not be difficult to answer.)

2 hours later…

Bookworm

2:03 PM

Q: Ann Quin’s ambiguous prose

I am currently reading Berg by Ann Quin, a famous British experimental writer, and having a hard time understanding some of her prose. Although I realise that it is written in a vague, stream-of-consciousness style, using poetic/abstract language, I’m unclear about certain bits as to whether they...

meaning

3 hours later…

Gareth Rees

5:12 PM

@Bookworm This question is not too difficult, I think — it helps to have a bit more context than the OP quoted, but the passages are in the first 8 pages of the novel and are visible on Amazon's "Look Inside". But someone other than me should give it a go, I have answered too many meaning questions.

Mithrandir

> I have answered too many meaning questions.

Impossible! ;)

Gareth Rees

If you need help with your interpretation, ask

3 hours later…

Educ

8:08 PM

Do you know any good website that does Literature Study Guides? I'm looking for study guides for Shirley Saad Amina

2 hours later…

Bookworm

10:08 PM

Q: Why are the locations of the publication offices required for citations?

When I'm citing books, I need to mention the city in which the publisher's main office is in. Why would it really matter where the publisher's headquarters are? Most of them are in New York anyway...

literary-criticism

Q: Opposite of accismus in Julius Caesar

A preliminary definition: accismus is a rhetorical device in which the rhetor turns down an offer for something that he/she earnestly desires (usually in order to come off as humble/temperate/etc). Earlier today, I read the following passage from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, in which Brutus appe...