Monday, September 11, 2006
The text I am to reference for translating portions of Books III and VI of The Aeneid has not yet arrived at the campus bookstore, despite having been ordered by my instructor before school began two weeks ago. This afternoon Dr. Lavigne allowed me the use of an old copy in his possession which, he told me, was his ex-wife's from high school. The only time at which any hint of bitterness crosses into Dr. Lavigne's voice occurs when he mentions his ex-wife, who I believe he married at some time during college. Otherwise, Dr. Lavigne rarely seems perturbed by anything and has, indeed, allowed Adrian (Treasurer of the Classics Society) to solicit five dollars from him to join the Classics Society, of which he is already the advisor. I spent twenty minutes this afternoon trying to make Adrian feel guilty about her guile, but she also is one rarely perturbed.
Nicknames:
Dr. Lavigne = The Don (his first name is "Donald") or Dr. Lah-Vig-Nah or Dr. Don
Dr. Larmour = Dr. L'Amour or The Larmourater
Dr. Lavigne + Dr. Larmour = Don and Dave (Dr. Larmour's first name is "David") or The Larmourigne
Dr. Bonzo = Bonzai or Der Bonz
Dr. Grair = Der Grair Bear
Mr. Lynn = Mr. Soon-To-Be-Dr. Lynn
This morning my "Greek and Roman Sculpture" classmates and I dibsed topics for our term papers. The TA handed a sign-up sheet to Jason, the boy sitting to my left, whose jaw dropped and who then exclaimed, "We have to write a ten-page paper in here? Over what?!" I looked at him and said, "Well, honey... Greek and Roman sculpture." Jason, still befuddled, "But how will I find information over that?"
How indeed- tomes have been written on the subject, and anyone who knows anything about (western) antiquity probably understands it through the sculpture and architecture of the Greeks and Romans. Having read this weekend through the seventh chapter of the text, I determined that the sculpture adorning Greek pediments (the triangular section under the roof of a temple)- specifically, the adaptations over the Archaic and Classical time periods to accomodate problems concerning spatial proportion and thematic unity- would be sufficiently described and analyzed from both ancient and modern perspectives, enough at least for me to compose between ten and twelve pages of my own analysis with relative ease.
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 7:18 PM]