(no subject)

The nice surprise (because my family doesn't so much do surprises) among my birthday presents is "Uncovering Heian Japan" by Prof. Lamarre at McGill; it's very very very dense and chewy (I should've expected as much). I remember taking his classes and not understanding a word of the assigned readings until the class discussion cleared them up. Similarly, this is a book that goes down a little easier if I can picture him reading it aloud, sitting on his desk, looking a little like Anderson Cooper but smarter.

I've cozied up a little to capital-T Theory and historiography since I was an undergrad. I think that spending my sophomore year in Japan meant that I didn't get enough of a chance to dogpaddle at the shallow end of the Theory pool before I was thrust into the deep end. But it's surprising to come back to that kind of writing and realize, hey, this is maybe not so hard after all. And it is worth doing. Even if it doesn't inspire any burning desire to be a historian.