Hard Day's Night

The whirlwind tour of London is catching up with me today; I've spent 4 pounds on espresso, with a long night ahead of me. Regardless of my sleepiness, I'm pressing onward! It's hard for me to take extensive naps when I know I'm in Oxford - and when I know my first paper is due in 4 days.

I spent most of the morning at the Bodelian (the Lower Camera Reading Room, to be precise) studying up on my buddy Jane. Our first paper topic is: ‘Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility are unquestionably concerned with the correction and reform of affect and imagination – but how consistently, and to what end, is less clear.’ Discuss. I feel like I have a good handle on the subject, but there is an incredible amount of information to sift through. In Oxford, I can find every book ever published on her novels, so narrowing down this prompt is proving to be difficult. Right now, I'm considering analyzing her reconstruction of literary heroes/heroines. My only hesitation is that it's overdone in modern criticisms, so I'm going to spend the evening trying to find my own twist.

After lunch, I headed with some friends to Unicorn. I'll give you a few seconds to ponder what "Unicorn" could possibly be...

...It is, in fact, a secondhand clothing store located on Ship Street. It's operated by an old woman who holds no regular hours. If she wants to be there, she will; if she doesn't, she won't. Emily B has been trying to get inside for over a year, and when I wandered by this afternoon, it was miraculously open. I gathered up the troops and we rushed back, excited to go exploring in this treasure trove of vintage clothing - and we couldn't believe what met us. There are so many clothing items in this store that, unless you have a sherpa and climbing gear, only one person can fit inside at a time. They aren't organized by size, color, type, or brand. They aren't organized at all. Essentially, the store is one gigantic pile of shirts and skirts and dresses, with a tiny 2-3 yard clearance that guides you partway around the mountain. We decided it would be best to come back one-at-a-time at another date - trip #1 was a little too overwhelming.

And with the day's mundane adventures summarized for your reading pleasure, I'm off to write some literary analysis. I'll probably write again once I turn in this paper.