Two Archetypal Years

Two years ago on this day, with a succinct, autogenous “Hello, World!” announcing its quiet arrival on the heavily populated, cyber literary landscape, Archetype was born.  Originally conceived to chronicle my journey through Chapman University’s MFA program, I promptly posted original essay excerpts on Jonathan Franzen and the waning of a literary America (“Antisocial or socially isolated?”), mirrors and reflective imagery in world literature (“Masks, Manipulation, and Madness”), and the literary doppelganger (“The Self We Seek”), all of which I was studying in those first few months of back-to-school bliss.  I also posted passages from one of my short stories (“Windmill Ridge”) and my work-in-turmoil novel, Time of Death, and welcomed classmates to contribute their work. 

Like any creative endeavor, the site evolved as I did and now reflects my deepening involvement in and commitment to literary pursuits.  In addition to promoting Chapman fiction and poetry readings and publication opportunities, I mine journals and the Internet for interesting and informative local events taking place beyond the university’s borders.  Details regarding local and national writing contests and Calls for Submissions are also posted regularly, which I think my small but dedicated audience appreciates.

Thanks to my passionate professors and their fascinating courses on Oscar Wilde and the Aesthetic Movement and the life and works of Virginia Woolf, both Wilde and Woolf became frequent Archetype subjects these last two years.  Posts on Wilde culminated in November 2009 with the writing of my course thesis on The Picture of Dorian Gray (“The Act of Creation,” “Wilde Irony”), while Woolf reigned in the fall of 2010.  (Click on these links to review excerpts from “The I in the Portrait: A Bakhtinian Analysis of The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “On the Wings of Angels and Butterflies: The Chaotic Journey to Woman in Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse.”)  I’ve also written about other prominent novelists, essayists, and poets, typically to commemorate a birthday, as I’ve done each year for Poe and the mysterious Poe Toaster (“Another Poe No-Show?,” “Poe Tradition May Be Toast”), or in memoriam, as in the case of Salinger upon learning the somber news of his death last year (“In Memoriam”).  Brief profiles and favorite quotes of literary figures such as Plath, Kafka, Pynchon, Nabokov, Beckett, Hugo, Chopin, and O’Connor are presented frequently as tributes to their contributions and literary genius.   

Commentary on the technical craft of writing is another recurrent theme on Archetype; “In Celebration of Technique,” “Last Writes,” “More is More,” “Not Quite Write,” and “Drafting Perfection” are a few of my personal favorites.  However, it is the angst of writing about which I tend to muse and articulate most freely; “Why Write?,” “One True Sentence,” “Bird by Bird,” “Write About Now,” “Demons and Darlings,” “The Reality of Rejection,” “In conclusion…,” and “A New Summer of Writing” convey my own struggles with the creative stall and feelings of inadequacy. 

In the last 730 days, I have written 260 posts about literature, critical theory and writing technique, literary figures and events, submission opportunities, favorite poems and passages, articles of interest, books I’m reading, other literary blogs I’m following, conferences I’m attending, and demons I’m wrestling.  The site now has a seemingly loyal band of subscribers and blogroll partners, to whom I feel completely accountable and utterly grateful.  Archetype celebrates holidays, welcomes new seasons, and even gives the occasional nod to lunar activity.  Finally, poignant moments of my life are memorialized and shared (“Write of Passage,” “Cartwheels Under the Arch,” “Pathetic Fallacy,” “Beyond Words”), even when the discovery and healing are mine alone.