Final Prompts for EN 230 -- Spring 2012

Below are the prompts for your take home part of the final.  Please choose one prompt and use the questions to create an essay with an introduction, thesis statement, body paragraphs, and conclusion.  This essay may be from two to five pages.

Question #1:

Consider the plays that we've read and seen so far this semester (including Pygmalion and Trifles).  What do they tell us about modern and contemporary drama?  (Modern drama includes "Soul Gone Home," Trifles, Pygmalion, Hedda Gabler, The Good Person of Szechuan, Waiting for Godot, Death of a Salesman, and A Streetcar Named Desire.  Contemporary drama includes Fences, Angels in America, The Metamorphoses, and M. Butterfly.)  What do these plays have in common?  How are they distinct from other, earlier plays such as The Taming of the Shrew or other plays by Shakespeare?  Or from the newer plays I showed or referred to?  Consider performance as well as the text of plays.  If you are revising your midterm, be sure to include two plays from the second half of the semester.

Below are links to some plays that may be postmodern:

First is Charles Mee's bobrauschenbergamerica:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZczgZwZGqA

Next is Suzan-Lori Parks' The America Play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeE7xe_KgTA

Finally, we have a scene from Tarell McCraney's Brother/Sister Plays, the ones that I consider more enjoyable to read.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh1M-8eI4C4

And here are aspects of the postmodern:

http://postmodernblog.tumblr.com/post/106532710/a-list-of-postmodern-characteristics

Question #2:

What does performance add to the plays that we've read?  How does performance limit these plays?  How does poor or critically panned performance (like Mary Louise Parker's Hedda Gabler) affect these plays?  How have watching the various clips helped you understand our plays?  Discuss the differences between film/TV and stage versions, and feel free to consider versions we did not see in class.  Can a play still be worth reading if it is never performed?  Why?  Why not?   Which of our plays are still worth performing?  Why?  Why not?  (Consider venues as well.)

Here are some articles from the Guardian's theater blog:

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2012/apr/19/noises-off-theatre-safe-risks

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2012/apr/02/taped-theatre-live-recorded-jerusalem

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2012/mar/16/noises-off-theatre-faithful-texts

Consider the differences between drama (play text) and theater (performance).

Question #3:

How is American modern and contemporary drama similar to European modern drama like Hedda Gabler, Pygmalion, Waiting for Godot, or The Good Person of Szechuan?  How is it different?  Which themes, characters, plot, language, and setting seem to be particularly American?  Which stagings seem to be particularly American?  Why?  What do European plays add to the mix?  Consider plays like M. Butterfly, Waiting for Godot, or The Good Person of Szechuan that are more cosmopolitan.

Question #4:

How are women represented in modern drama?  Although The Taming of the Shrew is not modern, feel free to bring in what you noticed while watching the performance at MC.  Consider the work of female directors as well as actors and playwrights.  Here are some interesting articles from the Guardian's theater blog on women playwrights:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2008/oct/29/theatre?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2010/nov/17/young-women-playwrights-wasserstein-prize?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2009/jul/02/women-in-theatre?INTCMP=SRCH

How might a female playwright work with characters like Hedda Gabler, Linda Loman, Blanche duBois, Stella Kowalski, and so on?

Midterm Prompts -- EN 230 -- Spring 2012

Above is a picture of a 2004 production of M. Butterfly.  It was staged at the David Henry Hwang Theater!

Below are the prompts for your take home part of the midterm.  Please choose one prompt and use the questions to create an essay with an introduction, thesis statement, body paragraphs, and conclusion.  This essay may be from two to five pages.

Question #1:

Consider the plays that we've read and seen so far this semester (including "Soul Gone Home" and A Streetcar Named Desire).  What do they tell us about modern and contemporary drama?  (Modern drama includes "Soul Gone Home," Death of a Salesman, and A Streetcar Named Desire.  Contemporary drama includes Fences, Angels in America, and M. Butterfly.)  What do these plays have in common?  How are they distinct from other, earlier plays such as Oedipus Rex, Shakespeare's plays, or Ibsen's plays?  (Note that Ibsen *is* modern.  Also, the modern era ends in 1970.)  Consider performance as well as the text of plays.

BTW, here are some scenes from a 1970s production of The Country Wife, a comedy of the Restoration era (after Shakespeare and before Ibsen):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI8z9eiQ1Y8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hah-HprxzPA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROI9FhR6URI&feature=related

Question #2:

What does performance add to the plays that we've read?  How does performance limit these plays?  How have watching the various clips helped you understand our plays?  Discuss the differences between film/TV and stage versions, and feel free to consider versions we did not see in class.  Can a play still be worth reading if it is never performed?  Why?  Why not?  Consider the argument made in the following 2007 essay from the City Paper:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/34341/test-case-scenarios

Consider the differences between drama (play text) and theater (performance).

Question #3:

 Discuss the family dynamics that you see in two to three of the plays that you've read and seen.  All of the playwrights we have read so far are men.  How might a female playwright view these families that we see on stage?  How might a director of today reinterpret these families?

Feel free to bring in the insights Justin Emeka and Avery Brooks give us in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqXkNA3vQDY

Question #4:

In the first part of the semester we are examining American drama, both modern and contemporary.  Which trends seem to be emerging?  What appears to be distinctly American about our plays?  Consider that some plays depict what one might call the ethnic American experience.  Also, M. Butterfly is *not* set in the US although its author is (Asian-)American.  Feel free to discuss differences between regions, classes, and time periods.  You may also want to refer to Justin Emeka and Avery Brooks' discussion of their production of Death of a Salesman at Oberlin College.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC4UUhUZRX8&feature=related

Here is a trailer from their production:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPnEFZJafjE&feature=related

Subjective Final in EN 230

The picture above is from a Finnish production of Miss Julie.

Below are your prompts for the final.  Please choose one for your two to five page essay.  You may revise your midterm if you include at least two plays from the second half of the semester (Pygmalion and after).

Question #1:  

Consider the plays that we've read and seen so far this semester (including Living Out, "Soul Gone Home," and Master Harold…and the Boys).  What do they tell us about modern and contemporary drama?  (Modern drama includes "Soul Gone Home," Death of a Salesman, The Good Person of Szechuan, Pygmalion, Miss Julie, Streetcar, Hedda Gabler, Trifles, and Waiting for Godot.  Contemporary drama includes Fences, Angels in America, M. Butterfly, Living Out, and Master Harold.)  What do these plays have in common?  How are they distinct from other, earlier plays such as Oedipus Rex or Shakespeare's plays?  How have the plays from the first half of the semester differed from those in the second half?  How has your opinion evolved?  Consider performance as well as the text of plays.  Be sure to mention at least two plays from the second half as well as one from the first half.  

Question #2:  

What does performance add to the plays that we've read?  How does performance limit these plays?  How have watching the various clips helped you understand our plays?  Discuss the differences between film/TV and stage versions.  Can a play still be worth reading if it is never performed?  Why?  Why not?  Consider the argument made in the following 2007 essay from the City Paper:   http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/34341/test-case-scenarios Also, consider the reviews I’ve posted at Multiply.  These reviews may be glowing; they may be jeering.  Finally, how much can a director change a play before he/she has distorted it?  Be sure to mention at least two plays from the second half as well as one from the first half.  

Question #3:  

Discuss the depiction of men and women in the plays we have read and seen.  Does it make a difference when a play was written?  Or whether a play is written by a man, a woman, or someone who is from a minority group?  Does it make a difference whether the woman is at the center of the play or on the periphery?  Consider the role that history, culture, and even genre (comedy, tragedy) play in defining what appropriate masculinity and femininity are.  Consider how a director may change or frame a play.  Also, consider your viewpoint as a 21st century man or woman.  Be sure to mention at least two plays from the second half as well as one from the first half.  

Question #4:  

Does realism have a place on the stage?  Why?  Why not?  Support your argument with examples from your reading and viewing.  Note how a play may change from production to production.  Be sure to mention at least two plays from the second half as well as one from the first half.

Good luck!

Subjective Midterm in EN 230

I thought that you might like to see a picture from the Forum Theater's version of Angels in America.  Above Harper is touring Antarctica while Mr. Lies the travel agent looks on.  (Mr. Lies is played by the same actor who plays the nurse Belize.)

Below are the prompts for your take home part of the midterm.  Please choose one prompt and use the questions to create an essay with an introduction, thesis statement, body paragraphs, and conclusion.  This essay may be from two to five pages.

Question #1:

Consider the plays that we've read and seen so far this semester (including Living Out and "Soul Gone Home").  What do they tell us about modern and contemporary drama?  (Modern drama includes "Soul Gone Home," Death of a Salesman, and The Good Person of Szechuan.  Contemporary drama includes Fences, Angels in America, M. Butterfly, and Living Out.)  What do these plays have in common?  How are they distinct from other, earlier plays such as Oedipus Rex, Shakespeare's plays, or Ibsen's plays?  (Note that Ibsen *is* modern.)  Consider performance as well as the text of plays.

Question #2:

What does performance add to the plays that we've read?  How does performance limit these plays?  How have watching the various clips helped you understand our plays?  Discuss the differences between film/TV and stage versions.  Can a play still be worth reading if it is never performed?  Why?  Why not?  Consider the argument made in the following 2007 essay from the City Paper:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/34341/test-case-scenarios

Question #3:

Discuss the depiction of men and women in the plays we have read and seen.  Does it make a difference when a play was written?  Or whether a play is written by a man, a woman, or someone who is from a minority group?  Consider the role that history, culture, and even genre (comedy, tragedy) play in defining what appropriate masculinity and femininity are.  Also, consider your viewpoint as a 21st century man or woman.

Question #4:

Does realism have a place on the stage?  Why?  Why not?  Support your argument with examples from your reading and viewing.

Below is a scene from a New Delhi theater's adaptation of The Good Person of Szechuan:

Final Prompts for EN 202 Summer 2010

Below are the prompts for the take home part of the midterm.  Choose only one prompt.  The essay will be due to me by Monday, August 16

The picture above is of Arthur Hughes' "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," yet another British artist's response to Keats' poem.

1.  Must the protagonist of a story, poem, or film from the second part of the session (from Songlian onwards) follow the hero's journey (Joseph Campbell's monomyth)?  In what ways does he *not* follow this monomyth?  How does this affect the plot of the story, the character's coherence and believability, and the genre of the work?  How does this affect the audience's response?  Consider alternate models for narrative: tragedy, naturalism, Achebe's depiction of society, etc..

2.    How does the presence of works NOT originally written in English (Candide, Raise the Red Lantern, Leopold Sedar Senghor's poems, Baudelaire's "The Albatross," the stories by the Brothers Grimm, Ruben Dario's poems, Nosferatu, Petrarch's sonnets, Hans Christian Andersen's story) affect your definition of world literature?  Which works are you comfortable reading?  Which works are you uncomfortable reading?  Why?  How comfortable should you be in a course like EN 202? Consider the impact of translation, genre, and readers' expectations here.  Note that technically Fitzcarraldo was filmed in English although we saw the German version.

3.  Discuss the role that masculinity and/or femininity play in up to four of the works we've read so far.  (At least two works must be from the second part of the session, which began with Raise the Red Lantern.)  Consider the role that history, culture, and even genre play in defining what appropriate masculinity and femininity are.  Consider the impact of the author or filmmaker's gender.  Also, consider your viewpoint as a 21st century man or woman. 


4.    Comment on Chinua Achebe’s statement: “Art is more than just good sentences; this is what makes this situation tragic. The man is a capable artist and as such I expect better from him. I mean, what is the point in that book? Art is not intended to put people down. If so, then art would ultimately discredit itself.” How does it apply to up to three of the works we've read or watched this session? How does it not apply?  Consider the purpose of satire.  Does Achebe's statement apply to Candide?  Should it apply?

5.    How do you define literature?  Support your definition with four separate works from various genres and cultures.  Two works must be from the second part of the session.  Also, be sure to consider what is NOT literature. You may discuss the folktale as a genre of literature.  Consider the role that orality, performance, and audience may play.  Should it matter that today's storytellers' audiences are often children?  You may also discuss the idea of film as literature.  Again, consider the role that print, audience, and performance plays.  Note the distinction between silent film and movies with sound.  Does it matter whether a film is based on an earlier work of literature?  Or whether this piece of literature is worthwhile?   I encourage you to discuss poetry as literature, considering the role of form, rhyme, meter, and translation.

6.   This session we are watching a number of older, more slower-paced films without CGI as well as reading older works (18th & 19th century). These films and texts also come from cultures other than America's.  How are these films and texts different from the films and texts that you are used to?  How are they similar?  What do they add to your understanding of films and film history?  to your understanding of world literature?  Be sure to justify your reasons with examples from the movies that we have seen.  At least one film must be Raise the Red Lantern or Nosferatu.  At least one text must be from the second part of the session.

Midterm Prompts for EN 202 Summer 2010

Below are the prompts for the take home part of the midterm.  Choose only one prompt.  The essay will be due on Tuesday, July 27.

The picture above is from Brussels!  The building is the Centre for Fine Arts.

1.  How well does one of the following characters (Marlow, Kurtz, Fitzcarraldo, Okonkwo) follow the hero's journey (Joseph Campbell's monomyth)?  In what ways does he *not* follow this monomyth?  How does this affect the plot of the story, the character's coherence and believability, and the genre of the work? 

2.   One theme that we've talked about this session is Imperialism or Colonialism and Post-Colonialism.  Choose up to three works that we have read or viewed so far, and examine how each fits--or doesn't fit into this focus.  Do any works complicate this focus?  Also, how have authors' and readers' attitudes changed over time?  Consider that Leopold Sedar Senghor is from the Francophone culture, Werner Herzog is (West) German, and Okot P'bitek originally wrote his poems in Acholi, an African language.  Feel free to choose one of the interviews or essays that I have assigned as one of your three works.

3.  Discuss the role that masculinity and/or femininity play in up to three of the works we've read so far.  Consider the role that history, culture, and even genre play in defining what appropriate masculinity and femininity are.  Also, consider your viewpoint as a 21st century man or woman.


4.  I have assigned a number of optional essays along with our required readings.  In addition, we have seen various videos in class--as well as Fitzcarraldo.  Choose up to three essays and/or videos.  How have they helped you understand our readings better?  How have they helped you understand world literature better?  How have they gotten in your way?  What have they added to your understanding?  How have they complicated it?

5.   As genres, novels, films, and poems each have different qualities and constraints.  Choose one genre.  Based on what you've read in our class as well as what you've read (or written) elsewhere, how would you characterize this genre?  How do the works so far add to your understanding of this genre?  How do they complicate it?  Note that understanding of and responses to genre change not only from time to time but also from culture to culture.  We have read and viewed works from a few different and even distinct cultures. 

6.   This session we are watching a number of older, more slower-paced films without CGI.  These films also come from cultures other than America's.  How are these films different from the films that you are used to?  How are they similar?  What do these films add to your understanding of films and film history?  to your understanding of world literature?  Be sure to justify your reasons with examples from the movies that we have seen.

Final Prompts for EN 211

 

Below are the prompts for the take home part of the midterm.  Choose only one prompt.  The essay will be due on Monday, May 10. Note that you may choose to write about works that we have not discussed in class.

1.  What does the term American literature mean to you?  Discuss the contributions of up to four of our readings to your understanding of American literature.  Include at least two from after midterms (Irving, Hawthorne, et al).  Feel free to consider works from different genres as well as those from both Colonial America and the United States of America.  Consider canonical literature (works by Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, & Dickinson) as well as more marginal works (readings by Fanny Fern, Catherine Maria Sedgwick, et al).  What role does realism play?  What role does non-fiction play?  You may also consider works we did not discuss in class.  What does each work have in common with the others?  How does each work trouble or complicate your understanding of American literature?  Who is the audience for each of the works you talk about?

2.  What role do women play in American literature before 1865?  Consider women as characters, audiences, and authors in up to four different works.  At least two of these works must be from after the midterm.  Discuss the impact of True Womanhood on the way that women are portrayed and that women portray their world and appeal to their audiences.  Note that women are both canonical writers (Dickinson, Bradstreet), semi-canonical (Beecher Stowe, Fuller), and more marginal (Sedgwick, Fern). Also, note that men like Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman were published anonymously and that some semi-canonical or marginal authors like Fanny Fern were popular in their day.  Recognize that your viewpoint will be grounded in your historical perspective as a 21st century American, a time when more and more college graduates are women.

3.  How does American literature before 1865 depict work and the worker?  What role does race, gender, and class play?  Does it matter whether the worker is slave or free?  Or whether the worker is male or female?  What role does realism play?  What role does audience play?  Feel free to discuss both fiction and non-fiction.  You may discuss up to four works. Up to two may be from the first half of the semester.

 

4.  What role does race play in American literature before 1865?  Consider not only African-American and/or Native American authors and their writing but also African-American and/or Native American characters and audiences as well as European-Americans as a race.  Also, consider how race impacts important themes in American literature such as freedom and individualism.  Be sure to discuss the upcoming Civil War, slavery, and their impact on the nation and its literature.  Discuss up to four works from the semester so far.  Of these four works, two must be from after the midterm. 


5.  What role does genre play in American literature before 1865?  Consider the genres that you have read in other literature classes (especially at the college & AP level) and those that we are reading this semester. Discuss the impact of gender, class, race, and historical period.  Note that we have talked about some British authors (John Donne, George Herbert, Aphra Behn, Katherine Phillips, etc.) as well.  Refer to up to four works.  (The British works are above and beyond your four works to discuss.)  At least two works must be from after the midterm.

6.  What role do landscape and geography play in American literature before 1865?  Consider differences in genre, historical period, gender, race, and class among authors and their works.  Consider how attitudes towards nature have changed from Bradstreet and Rowlandson's time to Whitman and Thoreau's as Puritanism recedes into the past.  If you have studied later American literature and/or read the work of nature writers such as Terry Tempest Williams or Barry Lopez, feel free to bring their insights into your discussion.  You may also bring in insights from your reading of British writers, especially the Romantics.


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

Midterm Prompts for EN 211

Below are the prompts for the take home part of the midterm.  Choose only one prompt.  The essay will be due on Monday, March 22. Note that you may choose to write about works that we have not discussed in class.

1.  What does the term American literature mean to you?  Discuss the contributions of up to three of our readings to your understanding of American literature.  Feel free to consider works from different genres as well as those from both Colonial America and the United States of America.  You may also consider works we did not discuss in class.  What does each work have in common with the others?  How does each work trouble or complicate your understanding of American literature?  Note that we have talked about some British authors (John Donne, George Herbert, Aphra Behn, Katherine Phillips, etc.) as well.  (The British works are above and beyond your three works to discuss.)

2.  What role do women play in American literature before 1865?  Consider women as characters, audiences, and authors in up to three different works.  Discuss the impact of True Womanhood on the way that women are portrayed and that women portray their world and appeal to their audiences.  Recognize that your viewpoint will be grounded in your historical perspective as a 21st century American.

3.  Should it matter whether or not a work is published during its author's life?  Why?  Why not?  Should it matter whether or not a work was popular when it was first published?  Why or why not?  Refer to up to three of the works that we've read so far this semester.  Consider how publication may change a work.  Consider the authors' race, class, and gender and these factors' impact on their work and its publication.  Note that some of the British authors we've talked about were not published in print (as opposed to manuscript circulation) either.  (The British works are above and beyond your three works to discuss.)

4.  What role does race play in American literature before 1865?  Consider not only African-American and/or Native American authors and their writing but also African-American and/or Native American characters and audiences as well as European-Americans as a race.  Also, consider how race impacts important themes in American literature such as freedom and individualism.  Feel free to use 20/20 hindsight, especially about the upcoming Civil War.  Discuss up to three works from the semester so far.

5.  What role does genre play in American literature before 1865?  Consider the genres that you have read in other literature classes (especially at the college & AP level) and those that we are reading this semester.  (By the way, have we read any novels or short stories yet?!)   Discuss the impact of gender, class, race, and historical period.  Note that we have talked about some British authors (John Donne, George Herbert, Aphra Behn, Katherine Phillips, etc.) as well.  Refer to up to three works.  (The British works are above and beyond your three works to discuss.)

6.  What role do landscape and geography play in American literature before 1865?  Consider differences in genre, historical period, gender, race, and class among authors and their works.  If you have studied later American literature and/or read the work of nature writers such as Terry Tempest Williams, Barry Lopez, or Henry David Thoreau, feel free to bring their insights into your discussion.  You may also bring in insights from your reading of British writers, especially the Romantics.


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

Midterm Prompts for Summer 2009! Note new #1 prompt!

Below are the prompts for the take home part of the midterm.  Choose only one prompt.  The essay will be due on Monday, July 27.

1.  Discuss the way that childhood is depicted in up to three of our works.  What does the author seem to assume about childhood, parents, and the family?  What role does class and/or gender play?  How do depictions of childhood change from culture to culture or genre to genre?  Feel free to talk about your own assumptions about childhood.

2.   One theme that we've talked about this session is Imperialism or Colonialism and Post-Colonialism.  Choose up to three works that we have read so far, and examine how each fits--or doesn't fit into this focus.  Do any works complicate this focus?  Consider that Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is writing about a flourishing Ottoman Empire and that The Story of the Stone is set during the last dynasty of the Chinese Empire.  Raise the Red Lantern and "Stale Mates" are set in the aftermath of empire.

3.  Discuss the role that masculinity and/or femininity play in up to three of the works we've read so far.  Consider the role that history, culture, and even genre play in defining what appropriate masculinity and femininity are.  Also, consider your viewpoint as a 21st century man or woman.


4.  Consider the novel as a genre.  What do our novels (Heart of Darkness, Things Fall Apart, The Story of the Stone) have in common?  How are they different?  Feel free to bring in other novels that you have read in the past.  How does the novel change from time period to time period?  How does it change from culture to culture?  Also, how are novels different from  autobiographies like Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl?

5.  Discuss life writing as a genre of literature.  Given your definition of literature, how is lifewriting (not only autobiographies and memoirs but also biographies, letters, and diaries) literature?  How is it NOT literature?  Could life writing be a more personal form of history? Consider The Turkish Embassy Letters, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl as your main examples, but feel free to include other examples from your reading (The Diary of Anne Frank, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Black Elk Speaks, Into the Wild).

6.  Discuss film as a genre of literature.  Given your definition of literature, how is film literature?  How is it NOT literature?  If you were to teach a film and literature course, which films would you include?  Why?  In this type of course, is it more important for a film to be a groundbreaking film (like Apocalypse Now) or for a film to be based on an important work of literature (like Jane Eyre or David Copperfield or Things Fall Apart)?  Why? 

Prompts for Our Midterm

Below are the prompts for the take home part of the midterm.  Choose only one prompt.  The essay will be due on Friday, March 27.

1.  A number of our works so far this semester were originally written in English although not every author was a native English speaker.  How does the presence of these works affect your definition of world literature?  (Consider that both Joseph Conrad and Zhang Ailing wrote in English and that Zhang had written a number of novels and short stories in Chinese.)  How does the presence of works NOT originally written in English (Candide, Raise the Red Lantern, The Story of the Stone) change your definition of world literature?  Consider Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiongo's arguments about the language one writes in.  With all this in mind, what role does English-language literature play in world literature after 1650?  What role should it play?  Why?  Why not?  What do works in translation like Candide or The Story of the Stone add to a world literature class? What does a film with subtitles add?  (If you have taken EN 201, feel free to make some comparisons between the classes.)  Consider the concept of World English.


2.   A common focus for a course like EN 202 is Imperialism or Colonialism and Post-Colonialism.  Choose up to three works that we have read so far, and examine how each fits--or doesn't fit into this focus.  Do any works complicate this focus?  Consider that we have also read works about the Ottoman Empire and that The Story of the Stone is set during the last dynasty of the Chinese Empire.  Raise the Red Lantern and "Stale Mates" are set in the aftermath of empire.

3.  Another common focus for a course like ours is geography.  Choose up to three works that are written by someone from a particular part of the world or are written about a particular part of the world.  Examine how each fits--or doesn't fit into the focus.  For example, how does Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart complement or correct Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness?  Then what does Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative add to the mix?  If you have read other works from African, Chinese, or Middle-Eastern literature, feel free to bring them in.


4. Consider the novel as a genre.  What do our novels (Heart of Darkness, Things Fall Apart, Oroonoko, The Story of the Stone, Jane Eyre) have in common?  How are they different?  Feel free to bring in other novels that you have read in the past.  How does the novel change from time period to time period?  How does it change from culture to culture?  Also, how are novels different from satires like Candide or autobiographies like Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl?

5.  Discuss life writing as a genre of literature.  Given your definition of literature, how is lifewriting (not only autobiographies and memoirs but also biographies, letters, and diaries) literature?  How is it NOT literature?  Could life writing be a more personal form of history? Consider The Turkish Embassy Letters, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl as your main examples, but feel free to include other examples from your reading (The Diary of Anne Frank, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Black Elk Speaks, Into the Wild).

 

A Few Poems to Start With

Since our books may or may not be in by the time our semester starts, I thought that I'd post a few readings up here to begin with.  These poems will respond to the prompts I've posted on the discussion board.  In these poems, poets will introduce themselves, recall their first memories of language, and pay homage to earlier poets.  This homage may not be as elaborate as John Berryman's Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, but there are many ways to honor the past.

I will post links to seven poems.  Feel free to comment on any or all of them.  Some will be older than the poems in our anthology.  Others may be newer.

Let's start with Emily Dickinson's "I'm nobody.  Who are you?"

http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/2619.html

The picture below is from a site where you may listen to two of her poems set to music by Nancy Robinson.

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/ngal/z-dickinson.htm

In Langston Hughes' "Theme for English B," the speaker might be introducing himself to a professor in his writing class at Columbia University.

http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/English_B.html

Below is a picture of Hughes a year or so after he left Columbia.  (He would eventually graduate from Lincoln University.)

Here is a link to "I am the woman," a poem by one of my former teachers, Joan Dobbie.  (I was in her workshop in Eugene, OR.)  The link contains the text version of the poem and a YouTube video of her reading her poem.  (By the way, you might notice that this poem really fits one of the prompts for our writing practice. Joan's poem was the one that gave me the idea for it!  Thanks, Joan!)

http://iamthewoman.blogspot.com/

Now I'd like to change the mood a little and move onto a poem about an unusual name.  How many of you remember reading Shel Silverstein's poetry?  One of the poems he wrote was "A Boy Named Sue."

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/shel_silverstein/poems/14827

You may also know it as a song that Johnny Cash sang.  This YouTube video is of his performance at San Quentin Prison in California:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M89c3hWx3RQ

FYAmuse, here is a small picture of the cover of Shel Silverstein's album A Boy Named Sue.


Cheryl Savageau's "Looking for Indians" is kind of about language and kind of about one's name.  I thought that you might like to read it.

http://www.curbstone.org/bookexcerpt.cfm?BookID=69

Here is a little more information about the Abenaki.

http://www.native-languages.org/abenaki.htm

http://www.abenakination.org/

The Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario wrote this tribute to Walt Whitman in 1887, when Whitman was still alive.  I'm afraid that I don't know the name of the translator.

http://falcon.tamucc.edu/~stalley/2335Resources/DarioWhitman.htm

Here is the original poem in Spanish:

http://www.poemas-del-alma.com/walt-whitman.htm

Interestingly, in English at least, the translation of Dario's blast against Theodore Roosevelt is more available than his homage to Whitman.

The poem below, Philip Levine's "M. Degas Teaches Art and Science at Durfee Intermediate School -- Detroit 1942," is not an homage to an earlier poet, but I thought that you would like it.  Moreover, this site includes an audio file of the poet reading his work.

http://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/poems/levine/m._degas_teaches_art_and_science_at_durfee_intermediate_school--detroit1942.php

In case you are not familiar with Edgar Degas' work, here is an example below:


Feel free to post your own responses to these poems at our discussion board or here.  Here are some questions, though, to start with.

-- Which of these poems are you reading for the first time?  What is your first impression of each poem and poet?

-- Which of these poems are you re-reading?  When did you first read this poem?  What jumped out at you then?  What jumps out at you now?

-- If you read Spanish, what jumped out at you as you read Ruben Dario's "Walt Whitman" in its original language?

-- What does Ruben Dario admire about Walt Whitman?  If you've read Whitman's work or know of him, how is Dario's Whitman different from yours?  How are they the same?

-- What kind of a teacher does M. Degas seem to be?  Which poet, painter, or musician would you imagine teaching at MC?  Why?

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

This is It! The Entry with the Midterm Prompts Is Now Up!!

  The picture above is of Senegalese singer/actor Youssou N'Dour who played author Olaudah Equiano in the 2007 movie Amazing Grace.

Below are the prompts.  I will be going over them in tomorrow's class.

1.  Discuss life writing as a genre of literature.  Given your definition of literature, how is lifewriting (not only autobiographies and memoirs but also biographies, letters, and diaries) literature?  How is it NOT literature?  Could life writing be a more personal form of history? Consider The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl as your main examples, but feel free to include other examples from your reading (The Diary of Anne Frank, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Black Elk Speaks, Into the Wild).


2.  Discuss film as a genre of literature.  Given your definition of literature, how is film literature?  How is it NOT literature?  If you were to teach a film and literature course, which films would you include?  Why?  In this type of course, is it more important for a film to be a groundbreaking film (like Citizen Kane or Apocalypse Now) or for a film to be based on an important work of literature (like Jane Eyre or A Doll's House)?  Why? 


3.  A number of our works so far this semester were originally written in English although not every author was a native English speaker.  How does the presence of these works affect your definition of world literature?  How does the presence of works NOT originally written in English (A Doll's House, So Long a Letter) change your definition of world literature?  Consider Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiongo's arguments about the language one writes in.  Keep in mind that our class' common language is English, but could some of us branch out in EN 202?  Take a look at the blog entries and see that A Doll's House was translated into English fairly quickly and has remained a staple of the Anglophone repertoire.  Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano were translated into other languages.  Does this mean that Joseph Conrad should have written in Polish and relied on translators for his English or French audience?

4.  Consider the novel as a genre.  What do the works we've read have in common?  Where do they differ?  How has the novel developed if we start with Oroonoko and move on from there to Heart of Darkness and So Long a Letter?  Consider other novels that you've read (novels by Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Albert Camus, or J.R.R. Tolkein) as well.  Feel free to discuss elements such as narration, point of view, the protagonist (who may be a protagonist, for example), plot, setting, character, and mimesis (attempt to depict reality or realism in art).  Have contemporary literary critics feminized the novel?!  

Good luck!