The two readings for Wednesday can be found at the following links:

“Rape Joke” by Patricia Lockwood can be found here at the online site called The Awl.

“Romani” by T.M. DeVos can be found here at the online literary journal Drunken Boat.

I should have thought of this in class but it didn’t occur to me in time. I suggest that after you’ve completed your essay you put a star next to or underline a sentence or sentences in which you’ve taken a risk or tried something you weren’t sure of.

This is not required. But asking you to consider this question might help you think consciously about experimenting and pushing the boundaries in your writing—something I very much wish to encourage you to do!

See you on Monday.

In line editing the editor (or writer line editing her own work) attempts to make the prose powerful and surprising. Here are a few things line editors might focus on, but remember, the real goal is to bring dazzle and spark to the writing.

• Address any remaining content issues
• Tightening:
  • Needless words, sentences
  • Redundancies (a grammar site here has some good examples)
  • Repetitions (same point made over again)
• Confusing phrases, sentences, or sections
• Tone problems
• Awkward or unnatural phrasing; confusing or unclear phrasing
• Unneeded material or digressions
• Use of hackneyed or dull language

Does the essay:

• Present a narrative that thematically addresses issues related, broadly speaking, to the formation of and “appropriation” or “exploitation” of self;
• Use narrative in a striking way to address deeper ideas, and does it interrogate these ideas with passion and precision;
• Employ a structure that is logical, effective, and striking;
• Use language in an original and powerful way, creating in readers a sense of surprise and delight;
• Adhere to the standards of written English, while additionally demonstrating an impressive understanding of audience and verbal register;
• Speak with authority to readers through the evident intensity of the writer’s engagement with subject matter?

For Monday, please read Chapter 4 of Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks. Here is the link. Chapter 4 is found on page 61.

Please read with great care. That means when you aren’t fully understanding something, read it over. In the chapter, Fanon presents a complex argument in response to another writer, Maud Mannoni, whom he refers to as M. Mannoni.

When you come to class be prepared to identify the thesis of Mannoni’s argument, as Fanon interprets it, the thesis of Fanon’s response, and the key elements of Fanon’s argument. (In other words, what premises and evidence does he present to prove his case?) Finally, also think carefully about what Fanon says about the nature of racism. How does his take on the nature of racism differ from other views of how racism operates at both the psychological and social levels?

In order to understand some points offered in the chapter, you may need to do go online to find some background about the colonial regimes Fanon discusses.

See you Monday.

The following is an addendum to the syllabus, a course schedule that will give you a rough idea of how we’ll proceed with major due dates for papers and, generally, our reading schedule. However, please be aware, this schedule is tentative and will be changed. So always refer to the blog or your notes from class with respect to specific due dates and reading assignments. Click English 2100 Fall Schedule 1 for the Course Schedule.

For those of you who want to get a running start on the reading for Thursday, please go to this link.

You will find there an article in The Atlantic, one of the more important and prominent national magazines, by Ta-Nehisi Coates that examines some of the issues we’ve been discussing in class. This essay advances an argument, and so you’ll want to follow that argument carefully, tracing the steps in its development and assessing the evidence marshaled in support of it.

Hello everyone,

For next Wednesday you’ll need to have done the following:

1) Come up with three ideas for your creative non-fiction essay;

2) Read the Paul Beatty excerpt from his recent novel, The Sellout.

3) Write a response in which you examine the similarities and contrasts between Beatty’s work and Richard Wright”s. This response should look at what the two excerpts say, their tone, the authors’ differing styles, and the language elements (rhetoric and tropes) they employ.

Here is the excerpt from The Sellout: The Sellout excerpt1

Have a great Labor Day weekend. See you Wednesday.

Professor Vilbig