Final Reflection and Synthesis
Tom Standage made an excellent connection to Common Place Books acting a lot like social media. I would say that I have found the experience of creating a Common Place Book to seem very similar to that of my Twitter, Instagram or even Facebook account. Standage also made the comment that in the 16th and 17th centuries when Common Placing was more “popular,” no one really tried to hide any of it. People would lend their Commonplace books to anyone and they would show them to anyone. Oftentimes while doing this Common Place Book it did feel weird for me to make posts. I think that is because some of the connections I would make or the things I would choose to write about felt more personal to me. Or I was nervous that it wouldn’t make sense to anyone else reading it.
Another point that Standage shared was that there was less original content in the commonplace books and more of snippets of other people’s things. For example, there were recipes in there to refer back to that someone else had written, jokes, medical remedies, diary entries that recalled their days, the list goes on. One of the main points of a commonplace book according to Standage was to “collect useful snippets of information so that they can easily be retrieved when needed.” That is similar to the commonplace books that we had made. It was very easy once they were written to refer back to them when it came time for discussions. I will say that upon reflecting on my own commonplace book, I did look at other works and other opinions and use that as a basis for my commonplace book. For instance, I was big on adaptations of the novels that we were reading. I was constantly looking up movies, plays, radio shows, anything that even slightly resembled or was influenced by the novels we read. I was especially fond of the movie adaptations. I think that seeing what the novel was talking about and trying to convey made me make a better connection with it because sometimes it is hard for me to imagine/picture myself. In a few cases (Jane Eyre) I actually watched the movies so I did get to see what someone had made it into and in that novel’s case, there were multiple movies made.
Standage also made an observation that what you decided to put in the commonplace book said a lot about who you are as it is a “reflection of you and your personality”. I would definitely agree with this statement. Reflecting on the class as a whole for a minute, one of my favorite things was to see what everyone chose to talk about and the kinds of things others would choose to further look into also intrigued me. Additionally I would also like to compare our ePortfolios in the same way. I loved getting to see everyone’s personalized ePortfolios. I had never been able to figure out how to customize mine like that so I was also a little jealous and a little embarrassed that mine didn’t truly represent me. But I am a huge movie fan as well as reading so the fact that I chose to look at movies and that’s what a lot of my commonplace book is, is very fitting for me. In addition to that though, I also liked the times that I didn’t choose adaptations or even when I would just explain the adaptation. The writing process was so fun and the finished product was so fun to see because looking back and reading what I wrote versus my classmates, once you start to know you classmates, you can hear them in their writings. I love that each person has a different style of writing and a different “voice” because two people could be saying the same thing, but they would be conveyed very differently.
I wanted my commonplace book to serve as an actual book. That is why when I was uploading it, I made it all on the same page so that you could read it similarly to how people in the 16th and 17 centuries used to write. As I previously mentioned, I liked to look at adaptations for my commonplace book so that is usually where I would start. My commonplace book served as a soundboard for me. I wouldn’t say that I usually wrote for others or with the intention of others reading it or with the consideration of how others would read it. I suppose it is safe to say that I wrote it as kind of a diary in a way. However, I did have a lot of fun with certain entries and I have a few favorites.
“The Beetle vs Dracula
-Both published in the same year, the beetle had outsold dracula at the time of publication.
-’The Beetle” was not the original title of the book, it was originally called The Peril of Paul Lessingham: The Story of a Haunted Man which would work because although does not occupy a major chunk of the narrative, he is essentially the main character so in a sense both title for the story would have worked but the title of “The Beetle” focused more on the antagonist//true monster of the story and I believe it made it more attractive as a story.
-Since the Beetle was so popular at its time, it inspired adaptations. Such as a silent film, a stage play and a radio play.
Silent film: Considered a “lost film”
-Suggests that the Beetle is originally described as female, yet male so that the reader would really never know”
The entry above was by far my most favorite one to research. As you can see I did use the approach of adaptations for this one as well. However, there was not much to go on. In my research I found that the only film adaptation of “The Beetle” was lost and there is no record of it. I did find the cast list, how long the movie was, the directors and a few reviews of it but I was unable to find tangible evidence of the movie itself. This intrigued me so much because I had to put in extra work to find it. A trait about me is that I love to solve puzzles and mysteries so this is another way that my personality was shown through my commonplace book.
Another memorable commonplace book entry for me was my first one. Although it was very underwhelming and not necessarily what we were supposed to be doing, I liked to reflect on it when creating my other entries. Like many others in the class, I didn’t really have a system yet or a certain way of doing things. So I think it is important to acknowledge that entry when reflecting on commonplacing as a whole. I noticed after the fact that I had incorporated an adaptation for Frankenstein and I think that started my “routine” of always looking for those in my commonplace book. Additionally I loved researching Frankenstein because the evolution of the “monster” intrigued me a lot and I think the play that I had found did a very good job of illustrating that as in the play, the “monster” was beautiful. I also at the beginning, treated it more like a QCQ with pictures but had since evolved my way of commonplacing. I have included the entry below.
Frankenstein:
Passages to focus on:
“Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to by thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Every where I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous” (pg. 93)
Related Texts:
“ This also encouraged a sense of realism throughout such novels, increasing its believability and therefore its popularity”
The Authentic Fear of Monsters in Victorian Gothicism
Frankenstein playwright:
I’m not sure if I will continue commonplacing in the future. I do really love the idea of keeping a sort of “journal” or “diary” when reading. I read a lot of mysteries and I would say that I read about 2-3 books recreationally every semester and then about 6-8 in the summer and sometimes I can’t always remember specifics of the book. I usually just remember that I’ve read it and that I liked or didn’t like it and I think that by keeping a log of what I read and maybe writing something more similar to a QCQ would be something that I would be interested in. Keeping a log like that and then showing my kids or grandkids or even if some historians in the future where to find it and have that record just seems like such a fun possibility that I would deeply consider continuing it but putting my own spin on it. I would also make it very private and probably handwritten because that just seems more personal to me and I know that I would get more out of it that way.
