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For our meeting this Wednesday, please read Chapter Two of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.”
Please prepare one discussion question to share with the class. I suggest focusing on a particular passage, as some of you have done already in your posts, and then asking a question that the passage raises for you.
You may write your question anonymously, but I will be checking to make sure everyone has prepared one.
I wanted to upload a link to the interview we listened to in class with Chinua Achebe, on why he thinks the language of “Heart of Darkness” is, from his perspective, “inappropriate.”
Please keep his perspective in mind as we read on.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113835207
Please begin reading Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Try to read up to the point where Marlow says, “I left in a French steamer” – about 13 pages, depending on your edition. Make sure to read at least to the point where Marlow begins telling his story.
Here is an example of a completed Close Reading worksheet about the poem we read in class by Emily Dickinson, “Pain – has an Element of Blank-” Please review it. We will return to this “Close Reading” exercise soon.
The poem that begins, “There is no Frigate like a Book to take us Lands away,” is an important one to understand both Emily Dickinson as well as the reading we have done so far in class. The notion that any person, of any background or means, can be transported by reading a book, is one which seems universal, but is not. Dickinson was an isolated person who spent much of her life writing, and did so in private. Her own poetry was an exploration into an internal and natural world where she took a more passive role. It is clear though from this poem that she believed that the human soul could be accessed by anyone who could read a book.
As we have ventured through stories of the picaresque, we see this is not always the case – either from the perspective of the author, or the characters in the story. In the very beginning of the course, we looked the Anansi stories. Many of these were not written, as they were told between people in transition or who may have been unable to read – they had the function that Dickinson speaks to in her poem, but they were a tool of people who were oppressed by a power structure. She also touches on the accessibility in relating “without oppress of toll- how frugal is the chariot…,” meaning that it is free for anyone who can hear or read to take the passage into discovery of the soul, which is subversive in this same way.
Looking at The life of Lazarillo de Tormes, the unknown author had a clear perspective; the book was a vehicle to undermine the power structure of the establishments, but also to show the value and universality of the protagonist, Lazarillo. On the other hand, in the introductory section of the The Swindler, the author has a tone which is clear in seeking to exclude certain people from validity in society.
On a larger scale, we all have read the same assignments and have had varying perspectives on their meanings. We all have been transported to another time and place through literature, which is the point of Dickinson’s poem.
For our next class meeting, on Monday, October 17th, we will continue to discuss the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” We will also discuss three poems by Emily Dickinson, which you can find here and also here.
Please read poems: 657, 1593, and also 1263 (“There is no frigate like a book”).
If you have not yet received an email with comments on your essay, you should receive it no later than tomorrow. I will also put all first drafts into my mailbox, on the 7th floor of the Vertical Campus, no later than tomorrow. Thanks!
Please remember that the final draft of Essay#1 is due at our next class meeting, on Monday October 17th. You will find my grading rubric here.
Please follow the guidelines below, and include a cover page, previous draft and outline.
1) For the second draft of your essay, please include a new cover letter. The cover letter is a chance for you to reflect on the writing process, and to introduce readers to your essay. Here are some questions to consider in your cover letter:
Describe your revision process. What suggestions did you get from others that you tried to follow? Point to specific places in your draft where you followed someone else’s advice. Where do you feel your revision succeeded? Where did it fail? What would you have liked to continue working on?
2) Please give your essay a creative, original title – and “Essay #1” does not count as creative or original. Titles are very important; they help to focus the reader (and the writer) on the heart of the matter.
3) Please format your essay according to the MLA formatting guidelines (ie): indenting paragraph breaks (including for dialogue); normal margins; double-spacing; and include the date.
4) Please include page numbers.
5) Please staple all of your revision material together; that means:
– Your final draft on top
– Your first draft underneath that
– The critiques you received from your fellow students
– Your outline
The swindler
Remember, everyone in the class should have added at least one comment to the class blog by our next meeting on Wednesday, October 5th.