#thoughts that occur while reading

[tommo-draws]

I need to draw my sibling's reaction to the most recent dungeon meshi episode. Their face fucking dropped and we both got misty eyed lol.

#dungeon meshi #dunmeshi #dungeon meshi spoilers #dunmeshi spoilers #tommo.txt #ough it was such a good episode and I was so excited!!!! I forgot to warn them about it though. so it was my bad 😔 #tbh I understand why they felt so shocked and why others probably did because even in the manga— #it was a gut punch to read. and even when I knew it would occur. I felt so much lol #ngl while I thought it a bit funny. I also feel really bad about not warning them. #I'll have to be extra mindful for the later bits in the series. like extra mindful because I am bad at remembering

[dodger-chan]

Today in I might be the oldest person on earth in the Stranger Things fandom: cars used to have cigarette lighters. If a character is driving somewhere, they don't need to find their pocket lighter, you pressed a button on the center console and pulled out a cylinder of very hot metal you could touch to the end of a cigarette.

Yes, really.

#i was just reading a character bitching about his lack of lighter while driving and thought #'use the car lighter dumbass' #before it occurred to me that cars haven't had those in probably twenty years #and that i am essentially a dessicated corpse with an ao3 account

[fictionadventurer]

Maybe "King Thrushbeard" is also a great story for Lent? If we take it on a purely allegorical level, it's actually a pretty decent analogy for the Christian life. Like, completely forget about this guy as a real person who has no right to do this to his wife. Forget about the insults and the purposeful humiliation. Just purely focus on the imagery of the story, and the parallels are pretty interesting.

The princess who grew up with luxury is given her choice of the greatest of her world's men, and instead of being grateful, she just insults and rejects every one of them.

She marries a beggar and is reduced to a state of extreme poverty where she learns how inadequate she is on her own, learns gratitude for what she had, and learns humility.

Right when she reaches her lowest point, she learns that her beggar husband was actually also the king all along.

The king took the form of a beggar and was beside her in all her struggles!

After her struggles have reformed her, she is able to take her rightful position in glory.

If we get beyond the extremely dicey dynamic between the characters as characters, the frame of the story is strong, and it might explain one reason why it maintains my interest.

#random thought of the day #king thrushbeard #fairy tales #thought that occurred to me while reading kate stradling's 'maid and minstrel' #which like all her books is much better on reread #now that i can get past what *i'd* want from the fairy tale and can appreciate it for what it is #her thrushbeard is a sweetheart and he specifically gives up *everything* trying to save her #and she endures struggles and learns gratitude #combine that with the fact that the cover is *purple* and it's shockingly apt for the season

[semi-official-bird]

I love books of the raksura but I gotta say trying to eliminate the Fell will clearly cause untold damage to the overall ecosystem of the 3 worlds due to their role as an apex predator species keeping populations in check

#books of the raksura #martha wells #biology #its been a while since i read them but this thought just occurred to me

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

I’m really starting to feel like Gregor Samsa now

#exjw #going pomo #my mom knows I’m gay and also “opposed” but my dad doesn’t yet so I’m hiding in my room #So naturally I don’t feel well; but I’m going to work anyway because I don’t feel as bad there as I do here #Now all I need is for my dad to throw something at me (I don’t think he would but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did) #I think my mom is hoping that maybe when I start ADHD meds I’ll “come to my senses” #because she asked if I thought my ADHD had anything to do with my decisions #And she went on and on yesterday reading stuff she researched about these specific meds #Like… no? If anything the ADHD meds will make me pack up faster because then I won’t be as inhibited to gtfo #She oddly doesn’t seem as angry/sad as I thought she would; so maybe she hasn’t fully accepted it yet #I start meds tomorrow btw so we’ll see what happens. Hell of a time to be messing with my brain chemistry sjdjdjdjdndndn #This will either make things way better or way worse. We’ll see #I’m just afraid that they’ll make my already VERY high anxiety worse because they are stimulants #the anxiety wasn’t high before but it is now that I’m obligated to tell my dad knowing how much he hates gays #I don’t want to suddenly pass out projectile vomit or shit myself; because that’s what high anxiety does to me #I’ve almost passed out twice because of nerves in the past year in reaction to this situation #one such incident occurring just three days ago… while projectile vomiting

[hua-fei-hua]

nice writer feeling is being able to read your own stuff from four-ish years ago and finding it's still pretty good. maybe not quite like how you'd write it today but definitely not painful to read

#花話 #was rereading diary entries from like 2020-ish last night tho i also read a bit of late 2019 #and stumbled across the entry from the time after i published my first ~lime~ lol n so in order to reflect back on my changing character #since then (i.e. currently working on. A ~*Lemon*~) i figured i'd read it #i also published that one anonymously for a while... it's kind of funny bc i expressed the same feelings then as the ones #that eventually contributed to my decision to publish anonymously for gnshn altogether #so like yeah fear of living in the shadow of my own bn/ha days forever; but having skimmed the like late 2019/2020 part of my life again #after the. Ordeal(tm) of my late 2018/early 2019. n stuff. and also the 'who would ever wanna read smth You wrote' thing from The Ordeal(tm) #it's occurring to me that perhaps... my bn/ha days were much more Marked by my late high school life than left Unmarked. if that makes sense #like i knew they were related n all like the resentment n jealousy n whatnot but looking at it now #the first year fresh out of Suffering is always the most fragile i suppose. which isn't smth i noticed then bc i thought i was Over It lol #anyway. learning to love one's own art is hard work but i'm glad to have put in the effort hehe

[tiredstressedemotionalmess]

so im thinking about ttid! poison and ghoul

like specifically the way they kind of reflect off of each other? like especially in the beginning, they're both equally angry (usually at each other) but they also sorta reflect each others respective energies, yk? like, ghoul is wary of city kids and that presents itself usually in him being very stubborn and standoffish towards anything relating to a city kid. whereas poison's been beat down and bruised by the city so many times, they hate it as much as ghoul does, and they're angry because he doesn't seem to understand that they should understand each other, common enemy and all that. also, poisons jealous, but thats a whole other thing. anyway i was thinking about all this and about how it would work if they got in a fight together, where they had to actually fight together to save both of their asses, and about how i think they'd actually probably end up working pretty well in sync cause i think they think in similar ways. anyway.

this is what i thought of

and this is poison

im having a heartwork day ok bye bye :P

OH. MY GOD. KAZ. IM GONNA BE FUCKING THINKING ABT THIS FOR THE REST OF FOREVER HOLY SHIT GDHGSDHG

ive always thought of blow me as a ghoul/poison song (i stg i put it on their playlist but i just checked and it wasnt there??? hello?? okay my bad fixing that rn-). i mean everything abt the song is just THEM to me- the chorus especially god- but then the second verse too is like- fucking- "Look what I did, I made a mess/Blood on my hands is sentimental" FUCKIN. POISON AT GHOUL AFTER THEY FIGHT LITERALLY ITS THEM

BUT THEN ALSO OH MY GOD??? BLOODY NOSE FOR POISON IS ACTUALLY INCREDIBLE GHSGHS I STG HEARTWORK HAS THE BEST FUCKING SONGS FOR THESE FUCKS (yes im biased shut up its the album of all time) OH MY GODDDDD. "Stuck inside a cage/I kinda wanna stay/Kinda wanna stay fucked up" - AND THEN THE ENTIRE FUCKING CHORUS "im looking for a place to crash and burn" "do i deserve whats coming?" " never thought itd take this long to learn" HI HELLO ITS ABT THEM AND THE AWARENESS OF THEIR SELF DESTRUCTIVE TENDENCIES BUT ALSO THE COMFORT THEY FIND WITHIN THOSE TENDENCIES BC IT KEEPS THEM SAFE FROM THE UNKNOWN AHHHH

an yeah you are so incredibly right abt them matching each other's energies and shit. its like i had kobra and jet saying in earlier chapters- the two are so fucking similar because they are both Stubborn As Hell bc they find safety in their worldview/their reactions to things.and i fucking LOVE the idea of them being forced to actually fight together- not stuck in the Am, not with Jet or Kobra around, just them on their own forced to actually confront each other and work together (maybe that'll become another oneshot if i cant find a way to fit it into the main book...) and both of these songs work SO WELL for that bc i think they both show the anger, but more than that the AWARENESS of the anger and their situation, particularly from party's perspective bc i like to think they're the more self aware of the two in the sense that like. they know WHY ghoul's how he is, and they know why THEY act like they do, and a lot of times they know when they're in the wrong and they CAN see ghoul's side, they just don't care and they ignore it and they act like they're unquestionably in the right bc they dislike(d) ghoul, didn't want him around, and didn't wanna show any weakness by conceding anything to him

#asks #i hope at least of of this made sense bc i was just once again typing out all my thoughts as they occurred to me lmao #danger days #ttid #also uh. please excuse me while i go a little bit insane over the fact that you were thinking abt ttid like this???? #its still fucking BAFFLING to me to realize like. i exist to ppl and my writing exists to ppl in real life and thats something they can lik #*think* abt outside of this imaginary context ive made up or whatever. like yall are real people who actually take time to read and think #abt my words that is WILD to me lmao

[glitchbirds]

the more i play red dead redemption 2 the more i lament (and/or am grateful for) the fact that it did not exist when i was a child obsessed with warrior cats because i would have gone entirely off the deep end then and there crafting terrible little aus

#so theres this gang in the woods. theres a leader (dutch) second in command (hosea; later micah) and healer (strauss) #they survive on the outskirts of civilization and defend their territory #some members of the gang dont fight and instead maintain the camp itself but the majority explore the territory and fight outsiders #and hunt wild animals to bring food back to the camp #eventually the leader becomes enrolled in a downward spiral of paranoia and distrust and begins accusing everyone of being traitors #including the ppl the leader once held in higher esteem than anyone else #anyway what im saying is in another world fireheart would have died of tuberculosis and arthur morgan would have gotten 9 lives #txt #sorry. but this whole train of thought has occurred to me more times than i can count #esp whenever i stumble across a plant whose name i only heard for the first time while reading those books (burdock root. feverfew. yarrow) #i did beat the game about a week or two ago btw. epilogue missions included. but i have almost no interest in john #so i have a new chapter 2 save im exploring the entire world in (in even more depth than before)

[gentlyouttatime]

i am absolutely just 'making up a guy then getting mad at the guy i made up' here because i have not seen it but. making quincy a moc or a mixed moc but leaving the rest of the cast white would uh. not be ideal huh

#the thought occurred to me while thinking about how the rest of the story would be different reading him as nonwhite #especially in light of that info about some of stoker's other stories. yikes

[nbmahoushoujo]

so much star guardian content has just come out in a very short span of time i've actually been over-exciting myself too much to talk about it

#millie.txt #star guardians #lol #i've read the ''short'' story #it's called a short story but i'd hardly call it short #the kai'sa and akali parts are adorable #and the parts with the pre-established guardians felt very satisfying #after all this time we get a resolution to light and shadow #sarah's trauma really hurt to read about but i'm so glad they're exploring what happened with the old team like that #also some of the little comedy bits were great #janna and soraka's ''you go first'' ''no after you'' ''no i insist you go ahead'' is brilliant #i guess it's all set up for the visual novel to be more focused on kai'sa and akali's team #as a sort of new generation of star guardians #it never occurred to me that they were significantly younger than the previous guardians #but it seems that they were still in middle school or something in this story #while lux's team is in high school #which means star guardian kahri may not be as shippable as once thought #i like there being different popular ship in this universe to k/da though

[notsosuperkonoha]

every once in a while i realize my bio is like completely outdated. like that shit still said 18 meanwhile my 19th birthday was over half a year ago. like nooooo haha don't follow me when the main source of info you can see about me was describing a version of myself that is no longer me hahaaaaa. i cleaned it up though so its up to date now

#i'm also thinking abt how like #i can just make posts on here. i should do that every once in a while #like lately ive read a lot of mangas that had me like man i wish i had someone to talk to this about!!! #and i couldve just been posting my silly thoughts here on tumblr. #and it only occurred to me when i was updating the part of my bio that says like what media im into right now #that like i never even talk abt that stuff here! and i could be doing that! #idk if anybody would care to listen but that doesnt rlly matter #do ppl still use made up tags for their random text posts? like for a while i was using 'my state of the world' to tag mine #cause its like a kagepro reference #but when i think abt it is there rlly a point to that? #ig theres not really a reason to think abt it rn anyways though #cause its the boopening or whatever we're calling it so theres more important stuff to think about #so i'll just do it anyways #my state of the world

[dodger-chan]

Today in I might be the oldest person on earth in the Stranger Things fandom: cars used to have cigarette lighters. If a character is driving somewhere, they don't need to find their pocket lighter, you pressed a button on the center console and pulled out a cylinder of very hot metal you could touch to the end of a cigarette.

Yes, really.

#i was just reading a character bitching about his lack of lighter while driving and thought #'use the car lighter dumbass' #before it occurred to me that cars haven't had those in probably twenty years #and that i am essentially a dessicated corpse with an ao3 account

[neganium]

Last night or so, I accidentally discovered that someone seemed to have blocked me (tho it’s possible that I blocked them some time ago and forgot about it, and it was long enough ago that I couldn’t find them in my blocklist; or they’re blacklisted by Tumblr or something, which is a thing I’ve seen happen from time to time seemingly at random). After I naturally had my little snit about being upset about it and not being able to let go (I deleted that post, but trust that if you’ve known me long enough, it was as full of as much unhealthy thought processes and mildly caustic bitching as usual), it occurs to me today suddenly, after mulling unhappily about something else that’s much more pertinent: what if they blocked me because of the Gofundme post? Specifically, what if they’re super bad at telling a scam blog from the real thing? Because if you’ve been on here long enough you should be able to tell the difference; not every person who posts one is a scam, or hacked, or whatever some of these people think. For god’s sake, if I really got blocked because of that, then that’s fucking ghoulish; please spend more than five seconds trying to vet someone asking for money if they’re not literally climbing into your inbox to ebeg like the most dubious motherfucker alive. I didn’t do anything to you.

#sorry but the thought occurred to me and while it's understandable; it's also incredibly stupid #learn to tell the difference better; if you block people who need help anyways even if you're certain that they're the real thing #like don't even have to read the post or reblog it; just block them right out of the gate; then you're clearly some kind of ghoulish #and I hope something terrible happens to you

[pussymasterdooku]

.

#okay don’t ask me why but i can’t ramble in text posts. too much pressure. the blogging part of my blog occurs in the tags. who cares! #ANYWAY #i’m in like! a writing era again! it’s been so long since any creative writing flowed #(though i’ve been having fun w writing for my classes for Some Time Now!! but i haven’t been Inspired since my reddie smau #which i started pre covid and then covid happened like. it was doomed. anyway it’s been a While since i last wrote fic) #and as may be evident from my recent blogging i finally got into star wars in early 2022 #and then i started thinking about a codywan necrocav Situation and that turned into something a LOT bigger #which is very much still in development it’s my baby #but it’s huge. definitely two full stories and they will not be short. #but i was making good progress on that and then i busted my fucking wrist #so it was kind of on hold #and then a single thought about a time travel story DID take hold of my entire consciousness #and i’m not posting ANYTHINGGGG until it’s Done Done so that i don’t fall into my brain traps when people read as i go lol #so it’ll be a while before any of this sees the light of day anyway #BUT i’ve now finished my fleshing out the shape of it document beginning to end which i’m now working on beating into a coherent outline #anyway that doc was 10.5k which is longer than all but one thing i’ve posted on ao3 LOL #but anyway. it’s happening and it’s special to write again it’s been SO long!!!!! #me turning up after a decade of not publishing anything to my ao3: hey guys who wants 200k of vaderwan time travel lol #me four years later when i finish the other story: and now 800k of whatever this monstrosity is #BUT ANYWAY IT’S FUN! THANK U TO ANYONE WHO READ THIS FAR LOL #that includes you future self who will definitely read these tags at some point. love u girl!!!! xoxo #a ten is blogging #bycbwg #uyaf #arhtbtad #(those r based on their working titles but for future sorting reasons)

[iicarused]

Hi! ^^ I saw that your requests are open. Can you please do nsfw headcanons for Vox, Alastor and maybe Adam (if you’re open to write for him if not no worries!) with an S/O (separte) who is really sweet, but when they get to the bedroom for the first time she starts some kinky stuff once she’s comfortable enough. Stuff that they never knew would leave her mouth? How would they react?

I hope you have a beautiful day! ^^

##good girl

separate! vox x reader / alastor x reader / adam x reader

beware: smut, blowjob, knife play, biting, choking, cockwarming, rut, breeding kink, overstimulation, electric play, degradation, praise, mention of rope bunny, marking

a/n: thanks for being the reason why i post nsfw for the first time LMFAOO like actually i never posted it before so mb if these aren’t great<3

VOX

when you and vox started dating, the last thing he thought of was you being fun in the bedroom. now don’t get him wrong, he enjoys a little vanilla sex from time to time: but for you? a whole different story.

he thought you were more tame, to be fair, you were a whole sweetheart. but there came a time where he got a little too in his head and light electricity emitted from the palms of his hands.

he was so close to pulling away but the sound that came from you? he couldn’t stop. now, the electricity was not harsh, but instead sizzled over your skin: it’s how he often took off steam. the two words that really tied the knot is when you said “use me,” between kisses

the last thing he figured is that you were into choking, and here he is with his fingers curled around your neck. heavy breaths and degrading words being whispered to your ear.

“such a fucking whore begging for my cock like this, and here i thought i knew you.”

honestly, he gets even more ecstatic to know you’re a freak just as much as he is. his a corruption kink and your putter sona of portraying and innocent sweet heart really sparks that in him.

after figuring out this information, he enjoys calling you into his office and have you ccokwarm him. feeling you clench around him the longer you cannot move, or he will grip on your thighs to make you still.

ALASTOR

breeding link goes heavy and it was because that is how he found out about you’re kinky side. it was while he had you in a mating press when you let out those sweet words of “breed me, breed me, please alastor!” the begging and the way your fingers dug into his shoulders when he released.

“gun’na fill you right up until your dripping with my seed.”

he was quick to play into it that night, because things got more exciting after that. there was no genuine shock because to alastor? you were just so sweet and kind that you had to be hiding something. being a freak in bed was one of the last things but it was there.

the last thing he expected was stop being until knife play — it would be waaay later until he found that out, and how he did? he noticed the way you writhed under him whenever this his claws glided against your plush skin. the sounds you makes when his digs his nails into your thighs while he’s rutting into you.

breeding link mixed with overstimulation for this radio demon — only during a rut — other times, he’s fine and sex doesn’t occur often. usually to satisfy you when he isn’t in the mood, he lays you out on the bed while he reads a book and fingers you. can and will eat you out like it’s his last meal if you’re being too whiny.

ADAM

“such a slut, couldn’t wait for my cock and had to be fucked on the table in my office, huh?”

he knew you were a freak, he loved tying you up in the bedroom and using you until you were overstimulated. but when you came into his office and was more touchy, that caught him off guard. first, he thought you were joking. now he has you bent over his desk with a hand over your mouth, praying internally that the seraphim’s don’t catch this.

another part of him hopes to be caught. everyone believes that you’re some sweet angel who can do better than adam, but he’s the only one who can rail you until your legs begin to shake. (you wonder why lilith and eve left him sometimes)

goes crazy when you take his hand and place it where you wanna be touched. “i need words, sugar, what do you want me to do?” very oral with you, especially when he ties you up. leaving hickies isn’t enough, this man will bite into your skin (if you’re okay with it.) and ruin you

please be oral with him too, it will drive him fucking nuts. sharper thrusts and loves pressing you against the wall.

no because he will definitely have you bounce on his cock in the office but his wings will spread around the two of you for more privacy after he became the lead extermination angel.

#ᥫ᭡. #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel headcanon #hazbin hotel smut #vox x reader #alastor x reader #adam x reader

[rachel-614]

Okay, let me tell you a story:

Once upon a time, there was a prose translation of the Pearl Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It was wonderfully charming and lyrical and perfect for use in a high school, and so a clever English teacher (as one did in the 70s) made a scan of the book for her students, saved it as a pdf, and printed copies off for her students every year. In true teacher tradition, she shared the file with her colleagues, and so for many years the students of the high school all studied Sir Gawain and the Green Knight from the same (very badly scanned) version of this wonderful prose translation.

In time, a new teacher became head of the English Department, and while he agreed that the prose translation was very wonderful he felt that the quality of the scan was much less so. Also in true teacher tradition, he then spent hours typing up the scan into a word processor, with a few typos here and there and a few places where he was genuinely just guessing wildly at what the scan actually said. This completed word document was much cleaner and easier for the students to read, and so of course he shared it with his colleagues, including his very new wide-eyed faculty member who was teaching British Literature for the first time (this was me).

As teachers sometimes do, he moved on for greener (ie, better paying) pastures, leaving behind the word document, but not the original pdf scan. This of course meant that as I was attempting to verify whether a weird word was a typo or a genuine artifact of the original translation, I had no other version to compare it to. Being a good card-holding gen zillenial I of course turned to google, making good use of the super secret plagiarism-checking teacher technique “Quotation Marks”, with an astonishing result:

By which I mean literally one result.

For my purposes, this was precisely what I needed: a very clean and crisp scan that allowed me to make corrections to my typed edition: a happily ever after, amen.

But beware, for deep within my soul a terrible Monster was stirring. Bane of procrastinators everywhere, my Curiosity had found a likely looking rabbit hole. See, this wonderfully clear and crisp scan was lacking in two rather important pieces of identifying information: the title of the book from which the scan was taken, and the name of the translator. The only identifying features were the section title “Precursors” (and no, that is not the title of the book, believe me I looked) and this little leaf-like motif by the page numbers:

(Remember the leaf. This will be important later.)

We shall not dwell at length on the hours of internet research that ensued—how the sun slowly dipped behind the horizon, grading abandoned in shadows half-lit by the the blue glow of the computer screen—how google search after search racked up, until an email warning of “unusual activity on your account” flashed into momentary existence before being consigned immediately and with some prejudice to the digital void—how one third of the way through a “comprehensive but not exhaustive” list of Sir Gawain translators despair crept in until I was left in utter darkness, screen black and eyes staring dully at the wall.

Above all, let us not admit to the fact that such an afternoon occurred not once, not twice, but three times.

Suffice to say, many hours had been spent in fruitless pursuit before a new thought crept in: if this book was so mysterious, so obscure as to defeat the modern search engine, perhaps the answer lay not in the technologies of today, but the wisdom of the past. Fingers trembling, I pulled up the last blast email that had been sent to current and former faculty and staff, and began to compose an email to the timeless and indomitable woman who had taught English to me when I was a student, and who had, after nearly fifty years, retired from teaching just before I returned to my alma mater.

After staring at the email for approximately five or so minutes, I winced, pressed send, and let my plea sail out into the void. I cannot adequately describe for you the instinctive reverence I possess towards this teacher; suffice to say that Ms English was and is a woman of remarkable character, as much a legend as an institution as a woman of flesh and blood whose enduring influence inspired countless students. There is not a student taught by Ms. English who does not have a story to tell about her, and her decline in her last years of teaching and eventual retirement in the face of COVID was the end of an era. She still remembers me, and every couple months one of her contemporaries and dear friends who still works as a guidance counsellor stops me in the hall to tell me that Ms. English says hello and that she is thrilled that I am teaching here—thrilled that I am teaching honors students—thrilled that I am now teaching the AP students. “Tell her I said hello back,” I always say, and smile.

Ms. English is a legend, and one does not expect legends to respond to you immediately. Who knows when a woman of her generation would next think to check her email? Who knows if she would remember?

The day after I sent the email I got this response:

My friends, I was shaken. I was stunned. Imagine asking God a question and he turns to you and says, “Hold on one moment, let me check with my predecessor.”

The idea that even Ms. English had inherited this mysterious translation had never even occurred to me as a possibility, not when Ms. English had been a faculty member since the early days of the school. How wonderful, I thought to myself. What a great thing, that this translation is so obscure and mysterious that it defeats even Ms. English.

A few days later, Ms. English emailed me again:

(I had, in fact searched through both the English office and the Annex—a dark, weirdly shaped concrete storage area containing a great deal of dust and many aging copies of various books—a few days prior. I had no luck, sadly.)

At last, though, I had a title and a description! I returned to my internet search, only to find to my dismay that there was no book that exactly matched the title. I found THE BRITISH TRADITION: POETRY, PROSE, AND DRAMA (which was not black and the table of contents I found did not include Sir Gawain) and THE ENGLISH TRADITION, a super early edition of the Prentice Hall textbooks we use today, which did have a black cover but there were absolutely zero images I could find of the table of contents or the interior and so I had no way of determining if it was the correct book short of laying out an unfortunate amount of cold hard cash for a potential dead end.

So I sighed, and relinquished my dreams of solving the mystery. Perhaps someday 30 years from now, I thought, I’ll be wandering through one of those mysterious bookshops filled with out of print books and I’ll pick up a book and there will be the translation, found out last!

So I sighed, and told the whole story to my colleagues for a laugh. I sent screenshots of Ms. English’s emails to my siblings who were also taught by her. I told the story to my Dad over dinner as my Great Adventure of the Week.

…my friends. I come by my rabbit-hole curiosity honestly, but my Dad is of a different generation of computer literacy and knows a few Deep Secrets that I have never learned. He asked me the title that Ms. English gave me, pulled up some mysterious catalogue site, and within ten minutes found a title card. There are apparently two copies available in libraries worldwide, one in Philadelphia and the other in British Columbia. I said, “sure, Dad,” and went upstairs. He texted me a link. Rolling my eyes, I opened it and looked at the description.

Huh, I thought. Four volumes, just like Ms. English said. I wonder…

Armed with a slightly different title and a publisher, I looked up “The English Tradition: Fiction macmillan” and the first entry is an eBay sale that had picture of the interior and LO AND BEHOLD:

THE LEAF. LOOK AT THE LEAF.

My dad found it! He found the book!!

Except for one teensy tiny problem which is that the cover of the book is uh a very bright green and not at all black like Ms. English said. Alas, it was a case of mistaken identity, because The English Tradition: Poetry does have a black cover, although it is the fiction volume which contains Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

And so having found the book at last, I have decided to purchase it for the sum of $8, that ever after the origins of this translation may once more be known.

In this year of 2022 this adventure took place, as this post bears witness, the end, amen.

(Edit: See here for part 2!)

#sir gawain and the green knight #translations #internet research #english literature #teaching things #dads are the best #long post #story telling #I STILL don’t know the name of the translator but I WILL find out #obscure books