She leaned in close, the light reflecting off her slightly disheveled locks of red that wisped still constrained from her largish forehead. It was in this moment that the darkness of the window-lighted room hit him, giving her words and eerie permanence, a presence their own that he had not anticipated. Her whisper, thick, Hungarian, could have penetrated deaf ears, "Are you serious about this?" Without even giving him so much as an instant to answer - not that he would have, the sudden gravity had sunk him deeply into the crimson cotton beneath him - she asked again, with a voice rising only enough for effect. "Are you serious about this? Do you just need the credit....or....are you serious about this course?"
The onus had fallen to him. She leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over the sea of black material dotted with gold and ornaments of jewels and metals dangling across her chest, and she waited.
************
This was the scene that played out a few minutes ago as I met with one of my professors for the first time. We have discussed doing and independent study for the Fall semester, but today was the first time we sat and worked through what would be covered. After leaving her office forty-five minutes later, all I can say is that it probably would have been prudent of me to say NO.
In all seriousness, I am very excited about studying Thomas Mann with her this semester. She is a revered member of the UTD faculty, and I am exceedingly fortunate that she has taken enough interest in my studies to do this with me. Mann is her area of expertise, and I believe she is truly excited to immerse me in her idol. My wariness comes from the fact that Mann is incapable of writing with brevity. For instance, his brother, Heinrich, wrote an essay that attacked Thomas, criticizing him for his political leanings. Heinrich's essay was ten or less pages - a standard length for such a thing - so Thomas immediately sets out to write an essay in response. He does so, but his spans 700+ pages. She gave me a few works to begin with, but even this handful is already somewhere in the ballpark of 3o00 pages! Maybe next semester I can study a cartoonist or something.
Michael, you're a great writer. I'd really like to read some of the book you're working on.