Andrew Kaplan's Narrative (English Lit MA/PhD)

Hi all,

First, let me say I'm excited to be here with this fantastic, accomplished, and diverse group of scholars. Second, note that in what follows, I will be "showing" you what my scholarly (and existential) interests are (if you want to skip the "Bio," feel free to start at ***).

I was born in a predominately white community Florida, but moved to and grew up in a predominately (heterogeneous) Hispanic community in West New York, NJ from the age of 5 through high school. My mother is from Cuba and my father is a Jewish-American. My mother began to bring me up by speaking to me in Spanish, until one day when some of the aides at the local Jewish Community Center in Florida told her I was not responding to them when they addressed me. Having herself experienced the challenges of entering school (in America) without knowing English (albeit at the age of 12), she proceeded to raise me only in that tongue.

Once arriving in WNY, I was quickly out of the house and running around, and although I could not speak Spanish, I understood a lot and my friends spoke mostly in English -- in other words, I was not "forced" to learn how to speak it. However, not knowing the language, and being virtually the only Jew in the area, it contributed to my "otherness" and subsequent experiences of alienation. Consequently, the alienation sparked a contemplative sensibility manifested itself in asking "Why?".

The "Why(s)?" lead me to the brain and its development in/through social contexts. So I began school (The College of New Jersey) as a Psych major. Although loving my experience in Psych 101, the subsequent semesters Research & Methods course made me quickly realize that my questions were too "large" (or lofty) to be narrowed down to a testable hypothesis (and/or I was much too impatient to try). I then pivoted to explore my interest in philosophy, which was never formal, but stemmed out of the same "Why(s)?". At this time, I was also developing into a "reader," as well as attempting to be a "writer." And before I could consecrate my "move" to philosophy, disillusioned with my college experience, I entered my "rebel stage" and decided to ditch the institution in the middle of my second semester and make it (intellectually) on my own -- as a writer...

Instead of continuing at this pace (with this detail), as I realize this post is long as is, let me fast-forward by saying I began to look into schools again, found The New School in NYC, and having rolling-admissions, was able to apply for the Fall '10 semester. The first semester was volatile, but it was exactly the kind of intellectual experience I was looking for, which was reinforced in the following semester, which entailed taking courses on Literature of the Absurd -- and my first "formal" encounters with philosophy -- St. Augustine of Hippo, Philosophy in Film, and Philosophy and Literature.

Although this was a beautiful experience, conditions were such that I decided to transfer again, and for the last time, to SUNY Oswego in upstate NY, where I intended on pursuing Cinema and Screen studies. All the while, I had finally become a reader, and feeling I had not read something "significant," and knowing of this guy James Joyce, and this thing "stream-of-consciousness," I decided to throw myself into Ulysses. And as things turned out, I met my advisor (a Shakespearean) who is an alumnus of UIUC, had a background and investment in philosophy, and was teaching Literary Criticism & Theory my first semester at Oswego. This course changed my life, caused me to go from Film to Literature, and next thing I know I was writing my writing sample for UIUC on Ulysses.

***More can be said (as if this isn't enough already), but what I wanted to convey is not just my life story, but that my (and your) LIFE is a STORY. And although (I am of the position) that none of this was "meant" to happen, these series of contingencies accumulate and line up to be MEANINGFUL -- without an appeal to any form of ideology/dogma, while also not succumbing to relativism (as in anything could mean anything). And Ulysses/James Joyce is my favorite novel/writer because he echoes this sentiment.

Hence, I am interested in how Narrative structures our existence, how we can (consequently) derive meaning from our lives, how our lives/narratives are inextricably tied to others, and how discovering our own meaning entails allowing/helping other to discover theirs, and how in this way this project is political, in that it requires/promotes freedom, while emphasizing our responsibility/contingency/dependence on others. Finally, I believe reading figures such as James Joyce can cultivate these faculties that are always-already-there in the world -- and more importantly, that not all texts achieve this; in fact, many impede/stunt such a cultivation. And so, in the same way there are better and worse texts, and there are (I think) way of discriminating between them, there are better and worse ways of living, and (some forms of) literary criticism presents a model for discriminating between them as well.

So as I begin the MA/PhD program in English Lit here, I hope to develop this project by first and foremost broadening my literary references; and as I proceed, being able to ground it in a select few:  most likely James Joyce and Samuel Beckett (20th century Irish expatriate Modernists). Then after (hopefully) finishing the PhD, pursuing the life of a professor -- reading, writing, and teaching -- with the goal of sharing this project with others.

This summer I will be returning to my writing sample on Ulysses as a develop/expand some of its themes (which have been expressed here) with Andrew Gaedtke in English Lit. Two disparate areas that I want to bring to bear on the text/paper are Franciscan Monasticism as a Form-of-Life and Post-Structuralist Anarchism, as some of their themes are directly and indirectly cribbed in Ulysses and my analysis.

Thanks for reading, and I'd be happy to carry this on with anyone who may be interested, including (especially) hearing your stories as well.

Best,

Andrew