Sonnets, pt. 2

Today we focused on Petrarch's sonnets (in translation of course) and Gwendolyn Brooks' "the rites for Cousin Vit," a modern sonnet that follows Petrarch's format.  Among the translations were Wyatt's "Whoso List to Hunt": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45593/whoso-list-to-hunt-i-know-where-is-an-hind  We also examined a recent translation by AM Juster: https://web.archive.org/web/20170815005437/http://www.amjuster.net:80/blog/2015/9/18/312

Then we looked at 19th century editor and poet Thomas Wentworth Higginson's translation "Soleasi Nel Mio Cor" http://www.sonnets.org/petrarch.htm#010  Another is more recent and is by A.S. Kline: http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=3  Here is Kline's translation of the sonnet that Juster translated: http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=312  .  Here Kline translates the same sonnet that Higginson translated: http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=294

Gwendolyn Brooks' sonnet is at this site: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51983/the-rites-for-cousin-vit

On Sunday the fiction/folklore paper is due.  Monday we will be focusing on Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43768/my-last-duchess  It may help to listen to actor James Mason read this poem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZbNrNE9q8g&t=2s
I am also adding a villanelle for us, Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night."  https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night  Sir Anthony Hopkins reads the poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6Se1QpY5CM

Let's finish up with some questions about sonnets.

-- Could the speaker in "the rites for Cousin Vit" be a man or a woman?  Describe the speaker's relationship to Cousin Vit.  Justify your answer by referring to the poem.

-- Compare the modern sonnets (Juster and Kline's translations and Brooks' original) to the Early Modern sonnets (Shakespeare, Donne, and Wyatt's translation of Petrarch) or to the Victorian Higginson's translation.  What are their strengths?  What are their weaknesses?  How do they handle language?  How do they handle emotion?  How do they handle imagery?

-- Take a look at these scenes from The Tudors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxF4FaJnye8  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ4ArpxymWQ  How does watching these scenes help you understand "Whoso List to Hunt" more?

-- Take a look at this biography of Anne Boleyn: https://www.biography.com/people/anne-boleyn-9218155  How does reading it help you understand "Whoso List to Hunt" more?  (As it turns out, Henry VIII did *not* execute Sir Thomas Wyatt.  Although he did spend a month in the Tower of London, Wyatt later reconciled with the King and became one of his diplomats.)

-- Compare the various translations of Petrarch.  What do they tell you about Petrarch's love for Laura?  Do you believe that he loves her?  Or do you believe that she simply represents Love and Beauty?  Why?  Why not?

-- Which translation is your favorite?  Why?

-- Whose sonnets do you prefer?  Shakespeare's or Petrarch's?  Why?

-- What makes a good translation?  What makes a poor translation?  Why?

-- What do you make of the unrhymed translations?  Why?

-- Why is translation necessary?

-- What would ENGL 190 be without works in translation?  Consider that for some students all of our readings are works in a second language.

-- Should we read more works in translation?  Why?  Why not?

Here are a few questions about Browning and Thomas' poems.

-- We've moved on from the sonnet, but we are still examining rhymed poetry.  What are your impressions of rhymed poetry?  Why?

-- What are your impressions of rhymed poems that are not sonnets?  What is it like for you to read a rhymed poem that is not a sonnet?

-- How does form help you understand a poem more?

-- How does form get in your way?

-- Is the speaker in "My Last Duchess" reliable?  Why?  Why not?

-- How does the speaker seem to feel about his former wife?

-- Why does the speaker confide in his audience about his former wife?

-- What do you think that the audience does afterwards?

-- What do you think about poems where the speaker is definitely not the poet?  Why?  How do these poems fit into your idea of poetry?

-- How do the videos help you understand our readings for Monday?

Sonnets pt. 1

Above is a painting that imagines Petrarch's first glimpse of Laura, the subject of his sonnets.  By the way, Petrarch, a monk, knew who Laura was but never actually met her.

Today we began our examination of sonnets with poet Linda Gregorson's history of the sonnet:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsA5xZ4V7dQ  We also did a very close examination of Sonnet 18, turning it into a prose poem and replacing its semicolons with periods.  We also listened to two different readings of the poem, one by David Tenant and the other by Tom Hiddleston:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD6Of-pwKP4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Q_Ioj6AhQ

For Friday, we will continue with sonnets by poets other than Shakespeare: Sir Thomas Wyatt's "Whoso List to Hunt" (which predates Shakespeare and may be about Anne Boleyn--Linda Gregorson mentioned it in her talk), John Donne's Holy Sonnet 14, and two modern sonnets.  One is Gwendolyn Brooks' "the rites for cousin vit": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51983/the-rites-for-cousin-vit.  The other is A.M. Juster's "Moscow Zoo": http://web.archive.org/web/20120419102406/http://theformalist.evansville.edu/NemerovWinners/1995.htm  This is one of his translations of Petrarch: https://web.archive.org/web/20170815005437/http://www.amjuster.net:80/blog/2015/9/18/312

I want to add a couple other translations of Petrarch.  One is from the 1800s.  "Soleasi Nel Mio Cor" http://www.sonnets.org/petrarch.htm#010  Another is more recent and is by A.S. Kline: http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=3

On to the questions on Sonnet 18.

How did today's exercise help you understand Sonnet 18 a little more?

How did listening to the two readings of Sonnet 18 help you understand it a little more?

How does the poem's form (its relative brevity, meter, rhyme scheme) shape the poem?

Choose your favorite imagery from this poem.  How does it affect the poem?

Choose your favorite language from this poem.  How does it affect the poem?

Which emotions does Sonnet 18 evoke in you?  Why?

Compare/contrast Sonnet 18 with another of Shakespeare's sonnets (#20, #29, #130).  How are they similar?  How are they different?  How do they build on each other?

If Sonnet 18 is the archetypal sonnet, what does this tell us about this poetic form?

Compare/contrast Sonnet 18 to another love poem (not a sonnet).

What does Sonnet 18 tell us about the speaker?  his beloved?  their relationship?  their milieu?  Why?

How does looking at a poem's grammar help you understand it better?

Try turning another sonnet into a prose poem with more conventional punctuation.  What do you see?

Let's add a few more questions about our readings.

Compare/contrast Sonnet 18 to another sonnet by a poet other than Shakespeare.  If it is an earlier sonnet (Petrarch or Wyatt), how does Shakespeare's sonnet differ from the earlier sonnet?  how does it build on it?  If it is a later sonnet (everyone else), how does the later sonnet differ from Shakespeare's?  How does the later sonnet build on Shakespeare?

Why do you think that A.M. Juster chose to make "Moscow Zoo" a sonnet?  It's not a love poem.

In your opinion, are Petrarch's sonnets about a real woman?  Or are they about Love?  Why?

What do Petrarch's sonnets tell you about the speaker?  about Laura?  about their relationship?  about their milieu?  Why?

What does John Donne's sonnet tell you about the speaker?  about God?  about their relationship?  about their milieu?  Why?

What does Gwendolyn Brooks' sonnet tell you about the speaker?  about her cousin?  about their relationship?  about their milieu?  Why?

Have you written a sonnet before?  If so, what was it like?  Why?

Would you want to write a sonnet?  Why?  Why not?

Prose Poetry and Sonnets

Above is a 2008 portrait of prose poet Naomi Shihab Nye by micahd.  Here is some information about this portrait:  T"his photograph is of International Poet Naomi Shihab Nye at a book signing. Naomi Shihab Nye and Suzanne Crowley authors of Honeybee and The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous respectively gave a short meet and greet signing at The Twig Book Shop located at 5005 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209 on June 12, 2008. Naomi Nye's Honeybee is a book of poetry for young readers, and Suzanne Crowley's Very Ordered Existence is a novel featuring Merilee Monroe. Naomi Nye is holding a sampling of her gift of fresh picked tomatoes from a personal friend."

In class today, we went over four prose poems, Ms. Shihab Nye's "Hammer and Nail," Russell Edson's "The Canoeing," Harryette Mullen's [of a girl, in white] and "Dim Lady."  Since "Dim Lady is a reworking of Shakespeare's sonnet "My mistress' eyes..," we also looked at Shakespeare's sonnet.  Here is a link to "Dim Lady" juxtaposed with the sonnet: http://mail.horacemann.org/~adam_casdin/Poems/dimlady.html  We listened to Ms. Mullen read her prose poem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPunxHlPSXU  and to actor Alan Rickman read Shakespeare's poem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP06F0yynic

For Wednesday, we'll continue with the sonnet, starting with "My mistress' eyes..." (actually Sonnet #130), Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 and 29, Sir Thomas Wyatt's "Whoso List to Hunt" (which predates Shakespeare and may be about Anne Boleyn, John Donne's Holy Sonnet 14, and two modern sonnets.  One is Gwendolyn Brooks' "the rites for cousin vit": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51983/the-rites-for-cousin-vit.  The other is A.M. Juster's "Moscow Zoo": http://web.archive.org/web/20120419102406/http://theformalist.evansville.edu/NemerovWinners/1995.htm  This is one of his translations of Petrarch: https://web.archive.org/web/20170815005437/http://www.amjuster.net:80/blog/2015/9/18/312

All but Brooks and Juster's sonnets are in our book.

Here are a few questions about our prose poems.

-- Consider each of the prose poems we looked at on Monday.  What do they have in common? How are they different?

-- Choose one of the prose poems.  Unpack the emotions in it.  Which emotions are easiest to discover?  Which are hardest?  How do the emotions that are harder to discover add to your understanding of the poem?

-- Discuss Russell Edson's prose poems or Harryette Mullen's "Dim Lady" in terms of this quote from editor Peter Johnson: “Just as black humor straddles the fine line between comedy and tragedy, so the prose poem plants one foot in prose, the other in poetry, both heels resting precariously on banana peels.”

-- Does this quote apply to the other prose poems we looked at?  Why?  Why not?  Consider that black humor is considered "a form of humor that regards human suffering as absurd rather than pitiable, or that considers human existence as ironic and pointless but somehow comic," if we use dictionary.com's definition.

-- Compare Naomi Shihab Nye's "Hammer and Nail" to Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants."  Yes, yes, both take place in Spanish-speaking countries, and babies are involved.  Look further at language, imagery, and concision.  What do these pieces have in common?

-- What role does gender play in the prose poems we've read?

-- How does "Dim Lady" rework "Sonnet #130"?

-- Does "Dim Lady" stand on its own?  Why?  Why not?

-- Is "Dim Lady" a standalone poem?  Or a classroom exercise?  Why?  Why not?

-- What role does race play in Harryette Mullen's "Dim Lady" ?  Consider that she is a contemporary African-American poet.  How does race play a role in her other prose poem that we read?

Let's move on to the sonnets.

Here is an extended definition of the sonnet from Poets.org: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/sonnet-poetic-form

For a more concise definition, see this definition from Merriam-Webster's Learners' Dictionary: http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/sonnet

-- What do Wednesday's sonnets have in common?  How do they differ?

-- How are the newer sonnets (Brooks, Juster) different from the older ones?  How are they similar?

-- Shakespeare wrote sonnets both to men and women.  Sonnets 18, 20, and 29 are among his sonnets written to a young man.  How do they differ from his Sonnet 130 written to the "Dark Lady"?  What do these sonnets have in common?

-- John Donne's sonnet is about love for God.  How does he make this love come alive on the page?  If you are religious (whether Christian or another religion), how does that help you to understand his poem?  If you are not religious, how does that affect your reading of his sonnet?

-- How does the form of the sonnet affect the poet's ability to convey his/her message?

-- What is it like for you to return to rhyme after reading prose poems?

-- Compare one sonnet to one prose poem.  What is poetic about each?  What is not poetic about each?

I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say!

Makeup Study Guide

The format of the test will be as follows:

17 fill-in-the-blanks covering fiction (folklore, traditional short stories, graphic fiction, and flash fiction); authors, actors, & characters; and literary terms
7 multiple choice covering the works, genre, literary terms, and context
several short answer questions covering the works, genre, literary terms, and context
10 pts. extra credit drawing on your memory for detail and your opinion.

genres: folklore, traditional short stories, and flash fiction

folklore -- began as oral stories, later transcribed, often by person outside of the culture

orality -- episodic, begins in the middle of the story (in medias res), flat characters, action rather than insight, performative (story depends on time/place performed)

short stories/fiction --
narration -- 1st person (reliable, unreliable, naive) & 3rd person (objective, omniscient, limited)
setting
plot -- flashbacks & foreshadowing
dialogue
exposition
theme
symbolism
epiphany -- ending that sheds light on a situation or on a character (often the narrator). Note that this is different from a twist ending like "The Necklace"'s.

short stories -- under 10,000 words (read in a single setting)
graphic fiction -- words and images combine to tell story, create character, etc.
flash fiction -- under 1,000 words (there are different categories, but you are not responsible for knowing them)

folklore -- Godfather Death and Coyote & Eagle Visit the Land of the Dead

traditional short stories -- The Red Convertible, The Necklace, Love in LA, Everyday Use, Hills Like White Elephants, Cask of Amontillado

graphic fiction -- The Cigarette

flash fiction -- "Girl," "The Magic Rabbit," and "A Geronimo Moon"

folklore -- Godfather Death (German--transcribed and edited by Brothers Grimm) -- actual storyteller was female, archetypal characters (God, Devil, Death; princess is always beautiful), godson is a doctor who tries to cheat Death, orality

Coyote and Eagle Visit the Land of the Dead (Wishram/Native American) -- Coyote (trickster), Eagle (sidekick), moral, explanation of why death is in the world, orality

Coyote and Eagle Steal the Sun and the Moon (video only)

traditional short stories-- The Red Convertible (1984) (Louise Erdrich -- Native American heritage);  setting -- reservation after Vietnam, 1st person narrator (Lyman), Henry, Suzy (symbol), symbolism, did Henry intend to commit suicide?  Vietnam & post-traumatic stress  (Erdrich & Dorris' interview with Bill Moyers -- dark humor, patriotism, service in wartime) -- story is excerpt from Love Medicine, Ms. Erdrich's first novel

The Necklace (Guy de Maupassant -- French story, translated) -- Madame & Monsieur Loisel, rich friend, class & wealth, story with a surprise ending, older story (1885) -- 3rd person limited omniscience

Love in LA (1990s) (Dagoberto Gilb -- Latino-American) -- Jake & Mariana -- 3rd person limited omniscience-- setting: LA freeway -- almost a flash fiction

Everyday Use (1973) (Alice Walker -- African-American) -- Dee, Maggie, Hakim-a-barber, and mother/narrator -- 1st person (reliable?  unreliable?) -- setting -- rural Georgia in the 1970s -- dream: use of popular culture -- symbol: quilts -- politics & character

Hills Like White Elephants (1927) -- (Ernest Hemingway -- Caucasian-American) -- couple (Jig & the American) -- 3rd person objective -- we don't see inside people -- we don't see their pasts -- man vs. woman (over the decision to have an abortion) -- setting: a restaurant/bar at a railway station in Spain -- characters are rootless) -- is Hemingway the first writer of flash fiction?

The Cask of Amontillado (1846) (Edgar Allan Poe -- Caucasian-American) -- old man (Montresor) tells the story of his revenge against Fortunato for an unspecified injury -- 1st person -- is he reliable? is he unreliable?  -- story is set in the past and in an unspecified European city during carnival (is it Venice?) -- irony & tone -- plot -- Poe was also a critic who called for a literary work to have a single effect -- some say he is the "father" of the short story -- others say that Cask is really a tale (a narrative with fantastical elements, set in an exotic setting)

Graphic fiction
"The Cigarette" (2000) (Marjane Satrapi -- Iranian now living in France) -- words & images -- panel size -- adult narrator tells the story of her coming of age during the early years of the Islamic Republic and the Iran/Iraq War (1980-1989) -- symbols -- cigarette & hamburger -- conflict with mother -- cigarette was stolen from her uncle, an imprisoned dissident who would later be executed

Below is a photo of Tehran in the 1980s.

Flash fiction

I am including "Girl" even though some of you made a good argument for it being a prose poem.

"Girl" (1978 -- date of original publication in the New Yorker) (Jamaica Kincaid -- Antiguan (Caribbean) now living in the United States) -- 1st person -- A working-class Caribbean woman instructs her young daughter on how to be a woman, not a "slut" but the kind of woman a baker would allow to squeeze the bread -- language -- is there plot?  is there character?  there is setting   is there imagery?  -- We listened to Ms. Kincaid read this piece.  She is known for playing with autobiography

"The Magic Rabbit" (2010s). (Catfish McDaris -- Native American) -- 3rd person limited omniscience -- the story of Quick, a poet -- his writer's block -- while he is out on an errand for his wife, his car hits a rabbit, but Quick is able to save it -- while saving the rabbit, he can write again -- he forgets to buy his wife what she had asked for -- is Quick a good person?  -- symbols: rabbit, poem -- what do you make of the ending?

I also showed you McDaris' story "A Geronimo Moon," also a story from the 2010s.  On one level, this is a coming of age story set in the Southwest.  However, the father's sudden death gives this story a twist.  Note how the father dies and where he dies.  Why does McDaris write this twist?  1st person narrator -- as an adult -- is this autobiographical?  is it purely fictional?

Is it Prose Poetry? Is it Flash Fiction?

The picture above is of St. John's, Antigua, the birthplace of Jamaica Kincaid (born Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson).  In class today, we looked at two pieces, Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" and Catfish McDaris' "The Magic Rabbit."  Are they prose poetry?  Or are they flash fiction?

Flash fiction is a short story of fewer than 1,000 words.  As Grant Faulkner points out, flash fiction "[adheres] more than any other narrative form to Hemingway’s famous iceberg dictum: only show the top 10 percent of your story, and leave the other 90 percent below water to be conjured."  In other words, it focuses on what is not there rather than what is.

Poetry, to cite the Encyclopedia Britannica's definition, "evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm."

Poets.org defines prose poetry in the following way:

Though the name of the form may appear to be a contradiction, the prose poem essentially appears as prose, but reads like poetry. In the first issue of The Prose Poem: An International Journal, editor Peter Johnson explained, “Just as black humor straddles the fine line between comedy and tragedy, so the prose poem plants one foot in prose, the other in poetry, both heels resting precariously on banana peels.”

While it lacks the line breaks associated with poetry, the prose poem maintains a poetic quality, often utilizing techniques common to poetry, such as fragmentation, compression, repetition, and rhyme. The prose poem can range in length from a few lines to several pages long, and it may explore a limitless array of styles and subjects.

On Monday, we will look at some prose poems.  Here is our reading:  

Naomi Shihab Nye's "Hammer and Nail" http://www.webdelsol.com/tpp/tpp5/tpp5_nye.html

Russell Edson's "The Canoeing" and "The Fall"

http://www.prose-poems.com/edson.html

Harryette Mullen's [Of a girl, in white]: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51719/of-a-girl-in-white

Here are some questions relevant to our flash fiction by Kincaid and McDaris.  By the way, here is a link to "A Geronimo Moon," the story I mentioned towards the end of class: https://literallystories2014.com/2015/06/18/a-geronimo-moon-by-catfish-mcdaris/

Choose one of the flash fictions (including "A Geronimo Moon").  Choose at least one element of fiction.  How does that element contribute to the flash fiction?  Choose one element of fiction that seems to be missing.  How does the absence of that element affect the story?

Now that we've discussed "Girl," and that you've read other prose poetry, is Jamaica Kincaid's piece flash fiction?  Or is it prose poetry?  Why?  Why not?

Choose a symbol in "Girl."  How does it contribute to the piece's success?

Choose a passage of language in "Girl," "The Magic Rabbit," or "A Geronimo Moon."  How does that passage of language contribute to the story's success?

Discuss the impact of listening to the author read "Girl" on your understanding of this piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHr1HYW0mKE

Is the mother in "Girl" a good mother?  Why?

Is the daughter in "Girl" a good daughter?  Why?

What do you make of the ending of "The Magic Rabbit"?

What do you make of the ending of "A Geronimo Moon"?  Why does the story end the way it does?

Why is the father killed in "A Geronimo Moon"?

Is the son in "A Geronimo Moon" a good son?  Why?

What does Catfish McDaris appear to be saying about Native American culture in "A Geronimo Moon"?  (He is part Native American, by the way.)

Chose one of the flash fictions.  Contrast and compare it to one of the traditional length stories we've read previously.

Could "Love in LA" or "Hills Like White Elephants" be flash fiction?  Why?  Why not?

Here are a few questions about the prose poems.  

What is poetic about the prose poems?  Why?

What is not poetic about the prose poems?  Why?

How are these pieces different from flash fiction?  Why?

Choose one prose poem.  Which emotion does it evoke in you?  Why?

Choose one prose poem.  Choose a passage of language in it.  How does this passage contribute to the success of the prose poem?  to the effect it makes?

Choose one prose poem.  Break it into lines.  How does doing this affect your understanding of the poem?

Read one prose poem aloud.  What is it like?  How does reading it aloud affect your understanding of it?

Discuss the prose in the prose poems.  

Have a good weekend, and see you Monday!

Finishing Up Fiction

Art by Dano

Today we finished our full-length fiction with Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado."  On Wednesday we will move on to flash fiction.  Here are the two pieces we may discuss.  The first is Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" (http://www.saginaw-twp.k12.mi.us/view/8490.pdf).  The second piece, Catfish McDaris' "The Magic Rabbit," is on Blackboard in the fiction folder. 

Let's start with a few more questions about "The Cask of Amontillado."

-- Describe Montresor as a character. Has he grown or developed over time?  Is there more to him than his desire for revenge?

-- Describe Montresor as a narrator.  Is he reliable or unreliable?  Why?

-- Describe Fortunato as a character.  Does his personality really matter in this story?  Why?  Why not?

-- Why doesn't Fortunato turn back when Montresor seems to encourage him to?

-- Choose a symbol in Poe's story.  What does it represent?

-- Where do you see foreshadowing in "The Cask of Amontillado"? 

-- Poe maintains that a literary work should build towards a single effect.  Does "The Cask of Amontillado" do this?  Should a literary work build towards a single effect?  Why?  Why not?

Prof. Valerie Arvidson's definition of a short story is as follows: On the Form of the Short Story:

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrativeformat. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas (in the 20th and 21st century sense) and novels.

A classic definition of a short story is that one should be able to read it in one sitting, a point most notably made in Edgar Allan Poe's essay "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846). Interesting to note that the idea of "one sitting", may no longer mean the same time period, in modern, faster-paced times. Other definitions place the maximum word count of the short story at anywhere from 1,000 to 9,000 words. In contemporary usage, the term short story most often refers to a work of fiction no longer than 20,000 words and no shorter than 1,000. Stories of less than 1,000 words are sometimes referred to as "short short stories",^[2] or "flash fiction."

In longer forms of fiction, stories tend to contain certain core elements of dramatic structure: exposition (the introduction of setting, situation and main characters); complication (the event that introduces the conflict); rising action, crisis (the decisive moment for the protagonist and his commitment to a course of action); climax (the point of highest interest in terms of the conflict and the point with the most action); resolution (the point when the conflict is resolved); and moral.

Because of their length, short stories may or may not follow this pattern. Some do not follow patterns at all. For example, modern short stories only occasionally have an exposition. More typical, though, is an abrupt beginning, with the story starting in the middle of the action (in medias res). As with longer stories, plots of short stories also have a climax, crisis, or turning point. However, the endings of many short stories are abrupt and open and may or may not have a moral or practical lesson. As with any art forms, the exact characteristics of a short story will vary by creator.

Choose one of the short stories we've read so far.  How does it follow Prof. Arvidson's guidelines?  How does it not follow them?

Choose one of the flash fiction stories.  How does it follow Prof. Arvidson's guidelines?  How does it not follow them?

Here is Grant Faulkner's more detailed definition of flash fiction:  

Flash fiction, which is defined as being a story under 1,000 words, goes by the names of “short shorts,” “miniatures,” “sudden fiction” and “postcard fiction,” among many others. Flash communicates via caesuras and crevices. There is no asking more, no premise of comprehensiveness, because flash fiction is a form that privileges excision over agglomeration, adhering more than any other narrative form to Hemingway’s famous iceberg dictum: only show the top 10 percent of your story, and leave the other 90 percent below water to be conjured.

This form speaks to the singularity of stray moments by calling attention to the spectral blank spaces around them; it can perfectly capture the disconnections that existentially define us, whether it’s the gulf between a loved one, the natural world or God.

For more of Mr. Faulkner's thoughts on flash fiction, see this article: https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/going-long-going-short/

Choose "Girl," "The Magic Rabbit," "Hills Like White Elephants," or "Love in LA."  How does your chosen story fit Mr. Faulkner's definition?  How does it not fit?

Compare either "Girl" or "The Magic Rabbit" with a more traditional short story like "Hills Like White Elephants," "Everyday Use," or "The Red Convertible."  How are the stories similar?  How are they different?  How is flash fiction similar?  How is it different?

Choose one of the elements of fiction (plot, character, setting, narration, symbolism, theme).  How does either "Girl" or "The Magic Rabbit" manifest this element of fiction?

In your opinion, what does "Girl" or "The Magic Rabbit" leave out?

Is Quick in "The Magic Rabbit" a good person?  Why?  Why not?

Is the speaker in "Girl" a good mother?  Why?  Why not?

Why do you think that Jamaica Kincaid wrote "Girl" the way that she did?

I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing what you have to say!

After the Midterm

Today we began the second half of the semester, sampling graphic fiction (Marjane Satrapi's "The Cigarette").  After the break, we will continue with Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," an example of a horror story, and then we will move on to flash fiction and prose poetry.

Here is a link to "The Cask of Amontillado": https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/the_cask_of_amontillado.pdf

Below are some questions about Marjane Satrapi's "The Cigarette":

-- If you have read graphic fiction or manga, how does that experience help you to read "The Cigarette"?

-- How does Ms. Satrapi use images to tell her story?  Consider the size and content of a panel as well.

-- How does she use text to tell her story?  How does she use dialogue?  How does she use exposition?

-- Choose an element of fiction (character, plot, setting, symbolism, language, narration, theme, and irony/tone).  How does "The Cigarette" draw on this element?

-- What is more important in "The Cigarette"?  Words?  Images?  Why?

-- What do you make of the ending of the story?  Why?

-- Should we read more graphic fiction in ENGL 190?  Why?  Why not?

-- How does your understanding of the Middle East and/or Islam help you to read "The Cigarette"?

-- Is "The Cigarette" fiction?  Or is it a memoir?  Here are links to biographies of the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjane_Satrapi  https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/mar/29/biography

-- Where does the boundary between truth and fiction lie?  If you are writing a memoir, how much  fiction are you allowed?  If you are writing a novel, how closely should you follow real life, and how closely should your characters follow their real-life models?

-- Is "The Cigarette" literature?  Why?  Why not?

Here are a few questions about "The Cask of Amontillado."

-- What do you make of the ending of the story?  Why?

-- Is Montresor a reliable narrator?  Why?  Why not?

-- Why might Poe have chosen to give this story a first-person narration?

-- Should we study "The Cask of Amontillado" in ENGL 190?

-- What makes this story literary?

-- Choose an element of fiction.  How does this element shape "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Have a wonderful break, everyone!  See you on March 19!!

Midterm Study Guide

The format of the test will be as follows:

17 fill-in-the-blanks covering the works; authors, actors, & characters; and literary terms
7 multiple choice covering the works, genre, literary terms, and context
several short answer questions covering the works, genre, literary terms, and context
10 pts. extra credit drawing on your memory for detail and your opinion.

genres: drama and short story/fiction

drama -- drama (script)/theater (performance)

dialogue
stage directions
set
central idea
physical presence of the actors/casting
actors
directors

Drama --
A Doll's House (1879) -- Henrik Ibsen (Norwegian -- this is a translated play)

Nora, Helmer (Torvald), Dr. Rank, Mrs. Linde, Krogstad
Nora (Jane Fonda, Claire Bloom, Janet McTeer, Hattie Morahan)
Helmer (Anthony Hopkins, David Warner)
Dr. Rank (Ralph Richardson -- much older than Anthony Hopkins)
director (Joseph Losey, Patrick Garland, Carrie Cockrell)
setting -- Christiana (Oslo)

problem play
feminism -- feminist play or humanist play -- Ibsen said his play was not feminist
Aristotle's unity of time, plot, setting
well-made play
play about middle-class


Fences (1984)  -- August Wilson -- part of Century Cycle
setting -- Homewood, an African-American neighborhood in Pittsburgh

Troy (Denzel Washington, James Earl Jones)
Rose (Viola Davis)
Cory, Bono, Gabriel, Lyons, Raynell
director (Denzel Washington)

we do not see Alberta

follows unity of setting (in play) but not plot or time
orality -- characteristics of culture without reading or writing
Troy is illiterate
episodic
character
archetypes -- not individuals but types

short stories/fiction --
narration -- 1st person (reliable, unreliable, naive) & 3rd person (objective, omniscient, limited)
setting
plot -- flashbacks & foreshadowing
dialogue
exposition
theme
symbolism

The Red Convertible, The Necklace, Godfather Death, Love in LA, Everyday Use, Hills Like White Elephants, Coyote and Eagle Visit the Land of the Dead

folklore -- Godfather Death (German--transcribed and edited by Brothers Grimm) -- actual storyteller was female, archetypal characters (God, Devil, Death; princess is always beautiful), godson is a doctor who tries to cheat Death, orality

Coyote and Eagle Visit the Land of the Dead (Wishram/Native American) -- Coyote (trickster), Eagle (sidekick), moral, explanation of why death is in the world, orality

Coyote and Eagle Steal the Sun and the Moon (video only)

literary stories -- The Red Convertible (1984) (Louise Erdrich -- Native American heritage);  setting -- reservation after Vietnam, 1st person narrator (Lyman), Henry, Suzy (symbol), symbolism, did Henry intend to commit suicide?  Vietnam & post-traumatic stress  (Erdrich & Dorris' interview with Bill Moyers -- dark humor, patriotism, service in wartime)

The Necklace (Guy de Maupassant -- French story, translated) -- Madame & Monsieur Loisel, rich friend, class & wealth, story with a surprise ending, older story (1885) -- 3rd person limited omniscience

Love in LA (1990s) (Dagoberto Gilb -- Latino-American) -- Jake & Mariana -- 3rd person limited omniscience-- setting: LA freeway -- almost a flash fiction

Everyday Use (1973) (Alice Walker -- African-American) -- Dee, Maggie, Hakim-a-barber, and mother/narrator -- 1st person (reliable?  unreliable?) -- setting -- rural Georgia in the 1970s -- dream: use of popular culture -- symbol: quilts -- politics & character

Hills Like White Elephants (1927) -- (Ernest Hemingway -- Caucasian-American) -- couple (Jig & the American) -- 3rd person objective -- we don't see inside people -- we don't see their pasts -- man vs. woman (over the decision to have an abortion) -- setting: a restaurant/bar at a railway station in Spain -- characters are rootless)