Rohan Maitzen
@rohanmaitzen.bsky.social
English prof at King's / Dalhousie (mostly Victorian lit, detective fiction), critic, blogger at 'Novel Readings'. Essays and reviews in the TLS, LRC, Q&Q, CNQ, LARB, etc. It's pronounced "Rowan." She / her. Halifax, NS. http://rohanmaitzen.com
Anyone who tells me they are doing any of this or fine with colleagues doing any of this is dead to me. The cut direct is the only appropriate response. ☹️
Dr. Lisa Corrigan@drlisacorrigan.bsky.social · 3h agoI know everyone is riled up about student AI plagiarism and I also think that's gross (esp grad students). But I, for one, am disgusted by *faculty* colleagues using AI for: their research, letters of recommendation, peer reviews, student evaluations, etc.
Instead of spending at least $50 billion of public money on fueling more climate chaos, Canadians deserve a government that invests in building the green economy of tomorrow – creating good jobs, lowering costs, and protecting our future.
I'm going to try to get through the coming hot spell by insisting to myself that this is summer's last gasp and soon there will be that refreshing hint of fall in the air, especially in the evenings. Please don't remind me that September (and October) can also be hot. 🥵
I can't even remember what I used to do with all the time I now spend looking under every piece of furniture trying to find where Mousie or Fishie has gone. 😂 (OK, they aren't the most creative names; I used up all that energy naming Maddie's stuffies back in the day!)
I tried to convert my Jane Austen & Anthony Trollope-loving octogenarian dad to romance novels with Georgette Heyer, Tessa Dare, and Loretta Chase - without success. It turns out his conversion novels are the Heated Rivalry ones, which is both surprising and kind of delightful. 😂❤️
'Calling Invisible Women' is a pointed but mild feminist satire softened by empathy. Acknowledgements: Many thanks to Fred for snoozing on my lap so I couldn't do anything but keep reading until I finished the book, and then standing by to make sure I didn't slack off until the post was written. 😍
In(di)visible: Jeanne Ray, Calling Invisible Women
For maybe the first time since I was fourteen I don’t care what I weigh. I don’t care how my clothes look because most of the time I’m not wearing any. I don’t care that I&#…
rohanmaitzen.com
Rohan Maitzen@rohanmaitzen.bsky.social · 2d agoFred is helping me with my blog post. 😆🐈⬛
TFW it's clear a lot of your colleagues don't actually look at the materials you send them even if you explicitly note that there are changes they need to know about. 😆 (Bless your hearts, I get it! It's just always funny given how we complain about our students not reading the syllabus.)
I’ve been reading about “loss aversion” and geez does it explain a lot about how the richest people on earth behave.
It’s sweet (sort of) how keen Freddie is for me to wake up so that as soon as I’ve settled in my chair with my tea she can nap on my lap. (I mean, surely napping on the bed is RIGHT THERE as an option? 😆) ❤️🐈⬛
I decided the best way to read Heaney’s Beowulf is out loud and Fred is very annoyed with me. Apparently dramatic renderings of the battle with Grendel’s mother are incompatible with lap naps. 😆
The thing is, "in translation" is not a genre (neither is NYRB 🙃) so as reading prompts these don't always play out well for me.
This is a cool initiative from King's: FYPals (Foundation Year Program Adult Learner Series).
Foundation Year Program Adult Learner Series
Join us for a new adult learning experience—a 12-part, non-credit program exploring influential thinkers from ancient civilizations to contemporary philosophy.
ukings.ca
Hoping 7 days is a long enough mute period for That Classic. 😆
One thing that's discouraging about the latest 'discourse' around reviewing / criticism is that there's plenty of low-key thoughtful analytical reviewing going on and nobody really cares about it or engages with it. Hot takes and click bait are what works in the attention economy.
Once I wrote a scathing review of Ian McEwan's appalling novel Nutshell and a reply guy told me condescendingly that he had read "3 of Ian's [?!] novels" and I was all wrong about it. I was happy to inform him that I had read 10 myself and stood by my judgments. Not all men but way too many.
Why is the music in movies twice as loud as the dialogue? I had to keep my hand on the remote so I could constantly turn the volume down then back up. 😩
A wholly unoriginal take I'm sure, but it has finally clicked for me just how much the Cal Hooper books pretend (sort of) to be crime novels but are really just novels about Ireland. If you start from that expectation all this yammering is probably less tedious and more evocative. Or something. 🙃
Rohan Maitzen@rohanmaitzen.bsky.social · last wk.I’m about 75 pages into the new Tana French and tbh I am finding it dull. I’m sure the long stretches of tedious yammering among the villagers contain clues and are meant also to create atmosphere and a sense of the community and characters but geez they go on and on. 🙃
I’m about 75 pages into the new Tana French and tbh I am finding it dull. I’m sure the long stretches of tedious yammering among the villagers contain clues and are meant also to create atmosphere and a sense of the community and characters but geez they go on and on. 🙃
Watercolour practice - from one of yesterday's photos of Fisherman's Cove
Can't wait to start charging the US for all THEIR unwanted exports. 😏
Spent a very Nova Scotia morning - including the "fog" (looked like clouds to me) which never did burn off as promised in the forecast. 🙃
Who's more anxious about the first trip to the vet since last summer, me or Freddie? (Me, of course, as she has no idea, so far, that anything is up.) (I think I will be more chill about it this time as I have now mastered administering meds and clipping claws.)
