Final CPB Reflection
Final CPB Reflection;
April 29th, 2020
When starting out on this journey of creating a commonplace book I really wanted to focus on creating something that showed my own interests in relation to the novels we have read throughout the semester. I feel like my finished CPB has become, as Tom Standage states, a form of self-definition and the book as a whole was a reflection of my character and personality. The first decision that I had to make in this creative process was the actual format of my CPB. I could have chosen to create my entries all online, however I felt that an actual notebook fit my personality best. I have always gotten the most out of what I do by writing things down first. Therefore having the physical book to write my entries in was the best choice for me. It also allowed for a more creative approach to this assignment. Also, I enjoy journaling and writing down my thoughts every day, so I found that how I created my CPB was very similar to that type of process.
When reflecting back on my entries I began to see an evolution of in my process. The first CPB entries on Frankenstein seemed to focus primarily on the actual text of the novel paired with images that either expanded upon those sections or gave some sort of visual representation. After these first entries I found that I wanted to not just use quotes from the novel that were of interest to me but I wanted to also look at scholarly works and articles that showed how the real world may have had an influence on how the novel was written. I began to look at literary pieces that had a historical connection to the novel. I found these by looking in the appendix of each novel as well as through the use of the online database, The British Library. I found that using two direct quotes from either an article from The British Library or from the scholarly editions of our novels along with 1-2 images became my consistent format. To demonstrate this, I have chosen a few of my entries, one of which being my favorite one, to exemplify this process and why it worked best for me.
The first entry that I have chosen can be found here. This entry was written in response to the first half of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde and focused on a primary document that I found through The British Library. The quote that I focused on was from a mental asylum record book of patients from the year 1895. I really let my curiosity lead the way with this entry because the novel left me with some questions. One question was what people in the Victorian era believed mental illness actually was and how they recorded it. Mental illness and how it has been treated throughout history has always been a fascinating topic to me which also led me to choose this particular element of the novel to focus on. The quotes I have chosen describe how a patient was recorded as switching from an English to a Welsh accent and along with this also displaying different behavioral characteristics. I found this to be very similar to the actions of Stevenson’s main character. I really enjoyed this look into a real patient with a mental illness during this time period and the connection of how this may have influenced Stevenson in creating his character of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. These real-life examples and how they influenced Victorian writers are something that stuck with me throughout my other entries.
“In the English stage. He was very restless, destructive and constantly stealing from his fellow patients.”“He was in the English stage all day. 9pm. Awakened from sleep he was in the Welsh stage and left handed.”(Brain: A Journal of Neurology by Lewis C. Bruce, Assistant Physician, Royal Asylum, Edinburgh, 1895; Accessed from The British Library) |
Another one of my entries that I really enjoyed was on the novel The Beetle which can be found here . This was my favorite entry that I did throughout my CPB because I believe it displayed my own personal interests along with a unique connection to the novel. I had previously had an interest in the mystical and supernatural genre and that is why this novel was one of favorites. This entry utilized quotes from a piece in the Broadview Edition of the novel titled “English Interest and Involvement in Egypt” and also an article located at The British Library.
“Magic in it’s highest sense was part of the daily life of the Egyptian Priests…This magic was practiced by the priests in diverse ways, some of which we can only guess at…” (“English Interest and Involvement in Egypt” ;The Beetle Broadview Edition: Appendix C)“East and central Africa attracted particular attention from the 1850’s; driven by geographical curiosity, especially the search for the Nile, and by a quest for wealth.” (“Echoes of Empire by Tim Young’s, Accessed from The British Library) |
These both connected to the attraction that Egypt had on those living in England. The first quote I chose to include in this entry highlighted how Egyptians have always had magic as a part of their daily lives. The second quote I selected stated that many Englanders who visited Egypt throughout the Victorian era went due to a geographical curiosity along with a quest for wealth. In the novel it was interesting to see the draw to Egypt as a combination of all three of these elements. The magic of Egypt and how its influence infiltrated London made for a fascinating story. It went outside of the normal daily structure that Victorian society held so close to them.
Throughout my later entries I began to learn about and understand the set of Victorian anxieties that people during that time held. For many who lived in the Victorian era, the common beliefs practiced were to have a life of elegance, structure, and a society where women were meant to act in their supposed social class. This, however, was not what the authors chose to display, instead they took those beliefs and twisted them around by showing a world where that becomes disrupted. Introducing monsters, by whatever definition of that they saw fit, they allowed people to see a different and unique society. This is yet another reason why I chose the information that I did in my entries because the information helps to exemplify this process of how exactly these authors achieved this effect on the reader. Creating a commonplace book throughout this semester has allowed me to find connection between all of these stories and create successful entries.
Without even realizing it I focused on visuals and scholarly works that resonated with my own interests while also still connecting to what each novel was about. In the future I will continue to not just read a novel but to think about what has made the author to come up with the story and what influenced them. Overall this CPB has allowed for my personality to shine through in terms of using a physical book, coming up with a format that worked for me specifically, and also to let my curiosity on certain topics lead the way as it does in my real life.
Works Cited
Tom Standage, “How Commonplace Books Were like Tumblr and Pinterest,” tomstandage.com, May 5, 2013, https://tomstandage.wordpress.com
The British Library. 2020. https://www.bl.uk/ . Accessed 28th April 2020.
Marsh, Richard. The Beetle, Edited by Julian Wolfreys, Broadview Press. 2004.
