As I write this blog post, the Norse gods are fighting to the death—their deaths, according to Norse mythology. They will all die and this world will be submerged in water, only to emerge anew some time in the future.
A few links to while away your last few minutes on this planet:
And, last but not least, an interview with a viking.
(I’ll get links up soon to the readings for Thursday, just in case the world keeps going after all…)
For Tuesday, read (print, annotate, bring with you) the following short story by the Dominican-American writer Junot Diaz: Monstro
(This is a scan of the story straight from The New Yorker, where it was first published. You can, of course, ignore the ads, cartoons, and poems that surround the story.)
The following essay, also by Diaz, is optional. I’ll tell you about it, but you don’t need to bring it to class. I’ll put the link here in case you’re interested: Apocalypse
Remember to also bring a printed copy of your revised beginning. We’ll workshop these in class, so be prepared to share and discuss.
Finally, it’s a good time to start thinking ahead about watching the films for unit 2: Melancholia and Dr. Strangelove. (The former is available through Netflix streaming; the latter is available through several online sites and can be rented through Google play or Amazon. Let me know if you’re having trouble.)
Remember to take good notes as you watch (including timestamps when relevant) so that you can refer back to those notes when you start writing.
For Tuesday, please read the texts at the links below. Be sure to bring a printed copy with you to class. The first is a poem by the British poet Lord Byron. The second is an essay about that poem by a literary critic, Gillen D’Arcy Wood. We’ll be talking about the content of both, but you should also think about the moves that Wood makes as a writer (the same way we did with the sample essay last Thursday).
In class I asked you to bring in a draft of your own essays on Tuesday, but I want to revise that a bit: just make sure you bring in your thesis statement. Bringing the draft with you is absolutely fine, then, but make sure you bring at least your thesis statement.
For class Thursday, print, read, and annotate the texts that can be found at the links below. Think in particular about moments that you find puzzling or that raise questions for you. Jot these questions down as you read.
First, a short introduction, situating Defoe’s novel at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse genre: The Zombie Apocalypse of Daniel Defoe
And excerpts from the beginning of Defoe’s novel: Selections from A Journal of the Plague Year
As you read and annotate, make a list of terms that you needed to look up in the dictionary or on Google—either because they were totally unfamiliar to you or because they appeared, in context, to have meanings other than the ones you are most familiar with. Be prepared to share this list with the class.
This is our course blog for ENG 2150. I’ll post assignments and handouts here, along with readings, videos, and images. You can always find a copy of the syllabus here, too, so check if you have any questions.
I recommend that you bookmark this page so that you can check in periodically.
Here’s a link to a supercut of disaster movies we’ll discuss in class next time: Apocalypse: A Disaster Movie Montage
If you’re interested in learning more about the vocabulary of endings, check out this Language Log post: No Word for Rapture
Make sure to leave a comment below to introduce yourself and to share your answer to the question: “How do you think the world will end?”