This week was very different from previous weeks for me, in part because of the drastically different nature of the reading I chose: Kaurava Empire Volume 1. I mean, what a fresh and interesting take on Indian Epics. And not only just the sci-fi feel of it, but the fact that the hero actually dies in the end, and the man who kills him feels remorse in his hollow victory- these are themes left totally untouched in the canonical Ramayana/Mahabharata.
 |
| The Kaurava Empire Volume 1 |
But, and there is a but, this reading did not inspire me. I loved it, don't get me wrong, but I don't feel like I have anything to add. In a sense, I don't fell that I can 'twist' the story in a way that will leave me feeling satisfied, especially after the last two weeks of storytelling.
My stories for week 5 and 6 were a joy to write. They tie together directly and I am really proud of both of them. If I wrote a story this week, I feel that I would not live up to these prior stories due to my lack of strong inspiration. When I read Arjuna's tale of gathering the God's weapons, I immediately knew I HAD to write about it. And then when I finished that story, I knew that next week I wanted to write about him putting these weapons I had crafted to use. There was a strong desire to write. I don't feel that for the reading this week.
But, these things come in cycles. Whatever the reading is for next week, I'm sure it will get my creative juices flowing!
Just a quick note to say again how excited I am that you like the graphic novels! And about the storytelling: not a problem! That's why there are all the different extra credit things like the Last Words, etc. Some weeks are story-ful, some weeks not so much. And I am really excited you liked the graphic novels. Bizzell Library gave this class a special grant last summer to buy all those materials, and I felt like a kid in a candy store getting to buy all these books that came all the way from India! :-)
ReplyDeleteGrayson, I thought I was the only one who felt this way. The Mahabharata was enjoyable, but to me there were so many chances to produce gap filling stories from The Ramayana. I have not read any of the graphic novels; I usually click on the link and talk myself out of reading them. Because of your comments and experiences, I may be missing out on something great!
ReplyDelete