Laura Bowman

Thank you for that recommendation. I’ve written down Griffin’s name and the book and it is at the top of my list to look into! I’ve read Sedgwick and Butler before and really admire their work and way of thinking, so I am sure I will enjoy Griffin’s work!

I really like your topic and agree with your points. South Park is one of my favourites shows. I liked them in their earlier days but I also love how they evolved. I love how now in season 19 they are more continuously having running jokes from one episode to another. It feels more rewarding as a loyal viewer to stumble on an episode that continues a joke from two or three episodes from before without re-explaining it. It is an exclusive technique, but I don’t think Matt and Trey will suffer because they already do have a huge, loyal following.

As I was reading through I noticed a few typos and potentially missed words. I will list them below if you’d like to double check what I noticed and make any necessary edits.
paragraph 2: missing parenthesis
paragraph 3: transpositional typo in criticism
“South Park was There for You” paragraph 3: missing verb, “the public’s reaction _____” (I am assuming you meant to put “was” in that spot).
“Chef Gets Brainwashed” paragraph 6: incorrect verb, “the Return of Chef DOESN’T” when I think you may have wanted “isn’t”.
“Chef Gets Brainwashed” paragraph 7: missing word, “recounts the tale of _____ the SAC…” (I thought you might have meant to put “how” in that spot).

I agree with your argument about the evolution of the novel and like your ideas. Writers and artists are constantly following and breaking rules, and over time we see patterns and great shifts in trends within all forms of literature. You’ve mentioned a few titles I haven’t read and have written them down to look into!

However, I am curious to know where you have heard or read people stating that the novel is dead. You state that “Yet, in the context of history, there have been numerous sub-genres of the novel, and this an important concept to recognize when making such a strong assertion such as a fear the ‘death of the novel.'” Apart from the small grammatical hiccup, this quote is not cited and so I’m left wondering about its credibility.

As referenced earlier in the comments, “Print is dead has been said and quoted from the movie Ghostbusters. Without some follow-up on your first assertion that this is a topic of discussion around the novel I am a little confused and feel like you have two different theses running at the same time in this piece. Without any reference, I feel as though the focus of this article should be on the evolution of the novel, and maybe a brief reference to a quote of ‘the novel is dead’ being part of your evidence for the former.

I am particularly keen the visit The Eagle and the Child, and Les Deux Magots! I am definitely one of those people who gets excited by visiting the homes of my idols. This is a great list. Might I mention though, under Les Deux Magots, her proper last name is Simone de Beauvoir (not just Beauvoir).

I really enjoyed reading this article. As I read through I kept wondering to myself if you had seen Inside Out yet (I’m glad you have, and that you credited How to Train Your Dragon 2, as well). I hope we are about to see a return to some of these more emotionally deep family films. A lot of the ones you mentioned as having darker themes are ones I can account for as being some of my or my friends favourite childhood movies: Pinnochio, Bambi, The Rescuers, Fox and the Hound, An American Tale, Once Upon a Forest, and The Brave Little Toaster. Same with the books I enjoyed when I was young, (The Velveteen Rabbit, The Phantom Tollbooth, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Anne of Green Gables, The Diary of Anne Frank, Slaughterhouse-Five) the things that stuck with me into adulthood contained mature themes that paralleled the reality I understood. Other things are forgettable.