Author Archives: JSylvor

Sorry to be slow in posting this, but if you missed last Monday’s call (April 6th), here is a link to a recording of our conversation.  It includes me saying a few words about Literary Realism, the literary movement/period that follows Romanticism in the second half of the nineteenth century.

https://baruch.zoom.us/rec/share/5Ot5NLbp_FxOWqPMtRv6fYQ7Ab-mX6a8hyQc_KJbmgFxBGKWYM3XnY-rbzfdxI0

In conjunction with our reading of Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, I’d like you to complete the second of your three “Reader Response” assignments.  In this case, rather than simply responding to the question, “Is this a great work?” that we used last time, I’d like you to reflect on what it’s like to read this particular text at this particular moment in time.  After all, as you know, Tolstoy’s novella describes how the rhythm of Ivan Ilyich’s daily life is interrupted by profound illness, and it explores the responses of Ivan and the other characters to the fact of his mortality.  Your response can take whatever form you like as long as it addresses or reflects what it was like for you to encounter this text amid the disruption and uncertainty of this moment in our own history.

Your responses should be posted to the blog as “new posts” and should be a minimum of 350 words.

Now that you have finished reading the play, please respond to one of the questions below.  You can post your answer as a comment on this post, or feel free to offer a response to one of your classmates comments.  Please post your response by Sunday, April 12th.

1.  What is the significance of Loevborg’s unfinished manuscript?  Why does Hedda burn it?  What ramifications does that act have for Loevborg and the other characters in the play?
2. Why does Hedda give Loevborg the pistol? What does she mean when she urges him, “Can you see to it that – that when you do it, you bathe it in beauty?”  How does that work out?
3. Is Hedda pregnant? What difference does her possible pregnancy make in terms of our understanding of her character and her fate?
4. Discuss the character of Judge Brack.  What function does he serve in the play? What does Hedda mean when, in her final line of the play, she says, “Yes, that’s what you’re hoping for, isn’t it, Judge? You, the one and only cock of the walk –“?
5. Why do you think Hedda kills herself? What evidence can you find in the text to support your response?
6. What is the significance of the play’s last line: “But God have mercy — People just don’t act that way!”?

Here is our reading schedule for the duration of the semester.  For continuity’s sake, I have continued to think in terms of a Monday reading and a Wednesday reading.  However, I would encourage you to spread your reading out over the week.  You will have a manageable assignment to complete for each reading.  I will continue to host zoom calls each Monday and Wednesday to discuss the text.  I am also going to try to record some short video introductions to the material that I can post to our blog.  As always, if you have suggestions about how I could make this new reality work better for you, don’t hesitate to reach out.   And even more importantly, if your personal circumstances are making it difficult for you to keep up, I want to help you, but I can only help you if you communicate with me, so don’t be shy!

M 4/6  Hedda Gabler

T 4/7. Hedda Gabler

M 4/13 Tolstoy,  The Death of Ivan Ilyich

W 4/15  Tagore, “Punishment”

M 4/20. T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

W 4/22. Lu Xun, “In the Wineshop”

M 4/27  Kafka, The Metamorphosis

M 4/29. Kafka, The Metamorphosis

M 5/4  Borowski, “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen”

W 5/6 Tayeb Salih, “The Doum Tree of Wad Hamid”

M 5/11. Toni Morrison, “Recitatif”

W 5/13  Allende, “And of Clay are They Created”

Hi Everyone,

Baruch is back in business today after our “recalibration hiatus.”  I hope that everyone has sorted out his/her technology issues, that we are all HEALTHY (most importantly), and that you are ready to get back to work!  I have a few important things to share with you, so I hope you are all checking this space regularly!

• I hope that you have gone to turnitin.com to access your graded essays.  Please feel free to reach out to me to schedule a time to go over your essay together or email me with any questions you have.  When you log on to turnitin.com, open up your paper, and then wait a few minutes for my comments to load.  When you scroll all the way to the end of your essay, you will find my end comment, and after that, your grade.
• I will be hosting two zoom calls this week, on both Monday, April 6th and Tuesday, April 7th at 3pm.  The “invitation” to the calls can be found under the “ZOOM” tab above.  We will be covering similar information in both calls, so just plan to be on one or the other.   If you know that these zoom calls will not work for you, you need to email me ASAP, so that we can figure out an alternative way for you to get the information.
• This week’s text is Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen.  I have posted an assignment below.  Please read Acts I and II of the play before completing the assignment.  I will be posting a second assignment for the second half of the play.  I also recommend that you read “Realism across the Globe” in volume E of your anthology (pp.625-630) to understand the literary historical context for this text.
• If you find that you have lots of extra time for reading, please feel free to start next week’s text: The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (also in volume E.).
• If you know that you are missing work or are struggling to keep up with these assignments, please reach out to me so that we can figure out a way to get you back on track.

I am looking forward to seeing you next week.  In the meantime, stay safe and healthy, and feel free to be in touch.  I am home (haha) and available.

Take care,

Professor Sylvor

Read Acts I and II of Hedda Gabler. Then, using the link below, watch the opening scene of the film version of the play, made for television in 1963, starring Ingrid Bergman.

Watch until Thea Elvsted enters. In a blog entry of 300-400 words, compare the written and film versions of the opening of the play. How might we view the film as an interpretation of Ibsen’s original text? Where has the filmmaker made changes to Ibsen? To what effect? What do we notice when we watch the film that we may have missed upon first reading the play?

Hi Friends:

Many of your were on the call with me yesterday.  Here is a brief re-cap of where we are in terms of upcoming assignments and our shift to online learning:

• Recalibration Period, March 27th – April 1st.  As you are probably aware, the CUNY Chancellor has announced that we are pausing our online learning temporarily while the various CUNY colleges work to make sure that all students have the ability to access online instruction.
• NO MIDTERM. In light of this announcement, I have decided that it doesn’t make sense to give you a midterm exam next week, as I had planned.  This does mean, however, that your final exam will cover the entire semester’s worth of material, not just the second half of the course.
• Check-In.   As part of this recalibration effort, I need to hear from those of you who were not on either of the two zoom calls we’ve had.  Please take a minute to send me an email and let me know how you are, what’s been going on with you during this crazy time, and what issues and concerns you have about moving forward in this course.  This would be the right time to share with me any limiting factors – like familial obligations, health issues, technology problems, etc….  It’s important that I hear from you!
• Moving Forward.  Even though instruction is paused, you may want to continue with your reading.  Next on our agenda is Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen.  I will post an Ibsen-related assignment for you next week.  In the meantime, thank you to those of you who have already posted your Frederick Douglass assignments.  Don’t forget that I have also posted an assignment related to the Harriet Jacobs reading.  You may have to scroll down a bit on the blog to find it.

Because of the “recalibration period,” we will not be having a class zoom call on Wednesday as planned, but I will leave that hour open for a drop-in office hour, so log on and say hello!  Please take good care of yourselves and your loved ones during this very challenging time!!!

Take care,
Professor Sylvor

Your assignment for Sunday has two parts.

1. First, read the  excerpts from Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl that I have linked to on our “Readings” page. In a brief (250 word) post to our blog, comment on the reading. What does Harriet Jacobs’ narrative add to our understanding of the experience of slavery? How does this narrative connect to or differ from Douglass’? (As you read Jacobs’ description of her attic hiding spot, which she refers to as a “loophole of retreat,”  keep in mind that she remained in this hiding place for seven years!)

2. Although slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, slavery in various forms continues to be an important Human Rights issue even in our own day. Spend some time exploring the topic of contemporary slavery on the internet, and share on the blog three important things that you learn about this subject.

Choose a passage or quotation from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass that made a strong impression on you in your reading. Post the passage on our class blog and provide a brief (300 word) analysis of its significance. Some things to consider: What does this passage add to our understanding of slavery in America? What does it reveal about Frederick Douglass? What do Douglass’ diction, syntax, and literary style add to his story here? What questions are raised for you by the passage you’ve selected?  Please share your response as a “new post” (not as a comment on this post), and include your name in the title of the post.  Your post must be up by Wednesday, March 25th in order to receive full credit.

Hi Everyone,

We won’t be starting our online assignments until next week, but I wanted to check in to see how you are doing?  I miss you, and I miss the rhythm of the work week.  I am guessing that some of you are feeling anxious or disconnected too, so I just wanted to invite you to stay in communication with me and with your classmates.  To that end, I would love to know what’s going on with you.  How are you practicing “social distancing”? How is your family managing with all this stress and uncertainty?  What are you most worried about?  How are you spending the time when you would ordinarily be in school or doing homework?  Feel free to share your response as a comment to this post.  Also, if it feels more comfortable, you can also reach out to me personally — particularly if there is something going on that you need real, practical help with.  Remember – I am your professor, but I am also a mom, a giver of free advice, and a fellow New Yorker; I am here to help you get through this crazy time!!!

Take care (and keep washing your hands!)

Professor Sylvor