I'm starting to think I have a problem with finding ways to associate fine literature with lolita fashion. Oh well, at least it makes blogging easier! One of my favorite classes right now is an English course called "The American Renaissance," focusing on American writers from the 1803's-1860's- think Thoreau, Melville, and, my current focus, Emerson. This weekend we were assigned his essay "Self-Reliance," which was written around the 1830's or 40's and discusses the importance of non-conformity and being true to one's self. Now, while Emerson was writing to and for male academics of his era, I've been struck during this reading by how pertinent it is to followers of lolita fashion, who mostly have to follow their own internal compass but often get bogged down by the "rules." Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the essay, all of which I think a lolita could really benefit from:

"There comes a time in every [hu]man's education where he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide."*

"Whoso would be a [hu]man, must be a nonconformist"* 

"My life is for itself and not for a spectacle."

"What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."

"[...]conformity makes them not false in a few particulars, authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars. Their every truth is not quite true. [...]every word they say chagrins us and we know not where to begin to set them right."

"To be great is to be misunderstood."

"Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession."

"Do that which is assigned to you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much."

"For everything that is given something is taken. Society acquires new arts and loses old instincts."

 *Note: The original quote uses the gender-specific word "man;" however, it can still be surmised that Emerson was speaking to all people, not just penis-bearing individuals, hence my edit.

What is the lesson that can be taken away from these quotes, and how does it relate to lolita? Well, if you haven't picked up on it so far (you must be new here...), I am all for sartorial self-reliance. I believe it is the natural state of a person's aesthetics to be constantly evolving, and if one forces oneself to pigeon-hole into one style they are doing a disservice to themselves and their society- or subculture, as the case may be. It is only through standing on one's own feet and supporting one's own ideas that one reaches their true potential. This isn't to say that finding and using inspiration isn't important; however, one must take the essence or the details of an inspiring source (the softness of textures in mori-girl, or gyaru-style stilettos) and absorb them into one's own fashion without emulating the source outright. It's only through experimentation and absorption that a person's fashion style evolves, not through emulation and mimicry.

What do you think? Do you agree, or do you think that emulation is the sincerest form of flattery? Or do you think that I should shut up and stop pretending that Emerson was writing about floofy dresses and petticoats when he wrote this essay?

EDIT! 

Oh, I've just remembered! My assignment for my creative writing class this week is about establishing setting, and our homework was to write three paragraphs about a place we've been. Mine's still in the works, but it will be three paragraphs about places I've been in Japan. Would you all like to see it when it's done? I know a lot of people have been asking for more detail about my Japan trip - I know, I know, I still owe you one article on it- it's coming, promise!  - so if you're interested that'll be posted later this week! ♥

(Picture from F Yeah Nerdy Lolitas on Tumblr and originally posted to the sew_loli livejournal community)

School, work, family, and friends- we all have them, to some varying degree. Let's face it: as little as it can seem like it at times, there exists a life outside of our computer and away from our blogs. Not only is there nothing wrong with that as a blogger, if anything our passions and commitments make us stronger as writers because our experiences give us more to pull inspiration from. For example, my Literary Lolita series is based entirely off of books I'm studying in school as an English major, and almost all of my daily outfits are coordinates I put together for a day in the city with my friends. However, as a blogger, one will often encounter the problem of budgeting their time, and while this is true for all of one's commitments, as a blogger it seems to be even more pivotal. It's so important for us to take the time out to write, to brainstorm, to create truly inspired pieces for our adoring public while also being a source of catharsis and relaxation for the blogger. But when you're taking five classes and working two jobs and still have friends and dates and family (who has two thumbs and all of the above? This guy!), it can get hectic, to say the least, and often your blog will be the last thing on your mind. There's one little trick that can make this whole blogging thing that much easier, and that is a magical thing called scheduled posting.

And it isn't only you who benefits. Having a blog schedule makes blog-reading easier. Say your readers regularly read a large amount of blogs: I'd say most people have a handful they check often, some have over thirty on their blogroll or RSS feed, while some have over a hundred bookmarked that they look at only rarely. All of these readers' relationships with blogs is made possible by schedules. The blogs that they check every day are often updated every day; those which are read only through an RSS feed may update two or three times a week; and those which are checked only a handful of times a month probably update as many times sporadically. How often do you update? How many of your casual readers could you upgrade into devoted followers if you only changed your blogging schedule?

Scheduling posts doesn't only make blog-reading easier. It's also a great way for you to keep track of your blog. If you have a busy lifestyle and only find yourself able to sit down and write once or twice a month, you have two options: only post once or twice a month, or on these days, sit down and crank out three or four articles at once and schedule them to post for you throughout the week. It's a choice with one determines for oneself, based upon what one can realistically accomplish.

More importantly, though:

If you're having trouble meeting the needs of your blog, though, it may be time to reevaluate, and now I'm not just talking about scheduling but in general. If you're no longer happy, engaged, or interested in your blog, something's gotta give or this ennui is going to show, either in your own satisfaction with your work or that of your readers. While I'm not telling you to stop blogging completely, it's important to have a creative outlet that you can keep up with. It may be time to decide what of your needs your blog is meeting and on which it's falling flat. For example, I consider Miss Lumpy to be a blog where I discuss in-depth ideas on fashion and lifestyle, and that's what it always has been and always will be. However, when I started college, I realized that, even though it certainly went into philosophy, it was lacking a certain depth that I craved. One thing I was really loving about my English classes was the literature I was studying and how I related that in my mind with all of the above topics, so I started a blog series based on that (which is still being updated often despite already being a few years old). That being said, this blog is still not feeding my needs as a writer, an artist, and a person, so I have come to the conclusion that it is time to reevaluate.

As my personal aesthetic turns further from lolita and I begin to branch out in my sartorial desires, not to mention my interests outside of fashion, I am finding the current state of this blog to be less and less satisfying to write. If you've noticed a lack of lolita-based philosophy articles in the past few months, that would be why. That's why, as a new school year begins and I continue growing and evolving into a higher version of myself, I have decided that it's time not to grow away from this blog, but to start including other sides of myself. There is so much about myself that I find personally satisfying - my intellect, my personal relationships, my experiences and hopes and dreams - which I'm yearning to discuss with all of you and encourage all of you to share as well. I've done this a few times in the past, and it's been something I've wanted to do more of ever since. Consider this a warning, then, and I apologize from deviating so much from my original topic of keeping of with your blog (consider this the section of "making your blog keep up with you"), that things are going to change around here; I'll probably start leaning away from the strictly lolita side of things and include more of my life than I normally would. I'm taking a creative writing course this semester, as well as some really interesting history courses, so don't be surprised if you see more than a few related posts on those subjects!

In the end, the important thing to remember is that, as a blogger, you blog for yourself. You may have thousands of adoring fans or you may have a private blog open only to your dearest friends, but either way, in the end your blog needs to be about yourself and what satisfies you as a writer and a person in need of creative expression. Otherwise, what's the point?

What makes a work of literature a sweet lolita piece? Sweet lolita literature is a different breed from gothic and classic lolita. It is from a much different time period, starting about 1800 and going through the 1980's. Like the fashion itself, sweet lolita literature is more modern than its counterparts, but it is also focused on Europe and North America. Children's literature features heavily, especially those books which are written seemingly as children's novels, but are actually geared more towards adults. Other common themes are uniqueness, love, self-exploration, and the beauty of the world around the subject. Sweet lolita literature is light and effervescent with deeply-resonating undertones.

On the Sweet Lolita's Bookshelf...

In no particular order:

• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Serendipity book series by Stephen Cosgrove, especially Flutterby
• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
• Tales of my Mother Goose by Charles Perrault
• The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
• Any anthology by Shel Silverstein, but especially A Light in the Attic
• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Margaret
• Andrew Lang's Fairy Books, compiled by Andrew Lang
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

As always, fellow lolitas! What's on your sweet lolita required reading list?

And this concludes the Lolita Required Reading series! I may end up doing a few more, or maybe just one big post of a few lists for specific substyles, but I think everyone is sick of seeing these things by now! Sorry that this post is a little late, I was in Boston all week with friends and now I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get ready for school before the hurricane hits. Sigh!

art in this post by Cinnamoron on DeviantART

What makes a work of literature a gothic lolita piece? A work of gothic lolita literature is a little more broad time-wise than the classic lolita pieces; it can include everything from the Bible to modern vampire novels. However, for these works, I drew mainly on a similar time from as the classic lolita pieces, namely around the 1500's-1900's, also mainly written in Europe and North America. Gothic literature is actually its own genre, so this list taps greatly into those classics with a few other unexpected additions. Victorian horror is a heavy hitter in this list, but early science fiction and fantasy also make an appearance. Common themes in gothic lolita literature are, obviously, gothic classics like vampires and murder but also the supernatural in general, malaise with society, ennui, discontent with the modern world, and a deep-seated feeling of one's own strangeness. It is an escape from the false brightness of modern life like a London or Paris back alley; dark and shadowy, these works have a slightly foreboding air and rarely end happily.

On the Gothic Lolita's bookshelf...

In no particular order:

• The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
• Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
• A Modest Proposal by Johnathan Swift
• Grimm's Fairy Stories by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Anything by Edgar Allen Poe but especially his poetry and short stories
• Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire
• The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles
• Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
• A Light in August by William Faulkner
• Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

I have to admit, as someone who doesn't dapple much in gothic lolita or gothic fashion in general, this was a difficult one for me! So I encourage my more gothically-inclined followers to please add your suggestions to the comments section below! I'd love to see what you all recommend~

You know I love anything related to literature, so today it occurred to me, just for fun, to make a list of my reading recommendations for lolitas. However, as I was thinking about it, I realized that the books I wanted to recommend may not really inspire followers of every style, so I'm breaking them down into sub-styles. This is my required reading list for lovers of classic lolita; if it goes over well, I'll work on gothic and sweet lists, too!

What makes a work of literature a classic lolita piece? It was probably written between 1600-1900 in Europe or North America. This collection focuses mainly on novels but also includes essays, plays, and poetry. Early science fiction and the pastoral convention feature heavily. It focuses on themes like the domestic sphere, nature versus society, tradition, art and its importance to the human soul, science and its effects on humanity, and the importance of knowledge of oneself and the world around one. Like the lolita herself, it is classic and timeless with an implication of scandalous experimentation which, though it would cause little commotion these days, certainly rustled the petticoats of its time.

On the Classic Lolita's Bookshelf...

In no particular order:

• Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
• Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
• Walden by Henry David Thoreau
• Beauty and the Beast by Marie Le Prince de Beaumont
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• A collection of fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen
• The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
• The Passionate Shepherd to his Love by Christopher Marlowe
• Anything by Shakespeare but especially As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, or King Lear, or most of his sonnets.
• A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
• The Poet by Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous
• Il Canzonere by Francesco Petrarch
• L'Allegro and Il Penseroso by John Milton

Fellow classic lolitas! What's on your bookshelf?



Part of the Literary Lolita series