Tanner/Mills the Wanderer

As of tonight, it is officially Reading Week for me here!!!  Which means I do not have class for the next week! :)  I am very ready for a break - although very aware I should still be studying.  It has been a long week of working very hard and now I am simply exhausted.  It was a nerd heaven week in that I was right in the middle of all the tough critical and analytic work and discussion I love - but, it was also incredibly tiring.  Finishing the 600 page Melmoth the Wanderer was only the beginning!!  I have decided to write my first paper on Melmoth - arguing that he is a sympathetic character (like Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost) and that he tells us his own story (of being led to make his 'Faustian bargain') through the tales of those people he has tempted.  I am very excited about the idea and my professor has said she would be very interested to see what I come up with on this topic and that she thinks it could be very strong.
I am still trying to find my niche in an area of all this wonderful Irish material which has not been as overdone as Joyce so that I can perhaps make a bit more of a critical mark with my research.  So far Melmoth and my Irish drama class (especially the plays of Sean O'Casey) are really inspiring me.  Don't worry - I still love Joyce - but he may not be the best choice for a Ph.D. thesis.  Although I am still very much interested in masculinity in Joyce and the link between writing and sexuality.
After all this intellectual business, the great news is tomorrow afternoon my aunt and godmother Gail will be here to share Ireland with me for the week!  I could not be more excited to see her and show her around Dublin and campus.  I know we will have some crazy adventures.  Pictures and stories to come!