Hello, Internet!
Busy week. Need more coffee.
Reading
All of my reading this week has been for class. Not a bad thing; just a true thing.
I’ve disappeared down the rabbit hole of history once again. Research is fun, but time consuming. I’ve gathered most of my materials on Alcibiades (ranging from ancient oratory and history up through modern analysis) although I still need a copy of Diodorus Siculus. He wrote a history of the Peloponnesian War based on sources now lost to us, and a perspective apart from Thucydides would be useful.
Writing
I’ve got about a thousand words written of my Alcibiades article. I’m aiming to be over two, under three. Writing both to be informative and entertaining is proving to be a puzzle, but not an unpleasant one.
The biggest challenge I’m having with the piece is structure. My inclination is to write chronologically, from birth to death, but this provides less opportunity for drama and narrative. I think I would write a biography that way, but not this shorter piece.
Currently I’m using Plato’s dramatization of Alcibiades at the end of Symposium as an opening hook – I find the Dionysiac image as he stumbles in, welcomed by all, to be fascinating – and then writing that point in the historical present, while writing in the past tense to provide background. I’ll probably continue the historical present, or a future tense (or a combination) as I progress through Alcibiades’ life.
In Review:
Last Week: Go down the history rabbit hole. Did that. Need to stay longer, get more rabbits.
This Week: Finish that article, hopefully revise it too. It’s due Monday.
Back at it!
Akhelas 