Author Archives: ASPECTOR

Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Final Project Prep

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Hi All,

A pleasure to chat with you yesterday.

By Thursday, please send by email (to: [email protected]) your final project proposal. You can find the Final Project Guidelines.

No later than Tuesday, 5/9 at 9am, please be sure to post your group’s essay about Kafka’s Metamorphosis to the class blog. For direction, please visit our class document here.

In preparation for Monday’s class, please read the following:

“‘I’m Trying to be as Honest as I can:’ An Interview with James Baldwin”
“To Hear Another Language”

Please be sure to print out the text and bring them to class for Monday’s discussion.

Kafka Assignment Part I

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In preparation for Monday’s class please address the following:
1. Please write 250 words in response to Kafka’s “Before the Law.” Your response should build on the conversation we started in class, and you might choose to pick a concept (law, power, agency, etc) and a character (law, gatekeeper, the man from the country, etc) and consider what the action and/or description of the character reveals about the way your concept functions in the text (ie what does the gatekeeper reveal about the nature of power as framed by the text).
2. Set the constraints and begin your “domestic writing” practice. You might choose to write a sentence per day or a stanza at the start of each of your classes. Or you might put a sheet of paper somewhere–on a cabinet or a mirror, etc–and write something on it each time you pass it. Once you have your constraint, you should maintain your writing practice for a minimum of one week.
3. Pick your focus text(s) and the audience for your final project.
4. Read Beckett’s Endgame in preparation for watching a staged version of the text on Monday. Details to follow.
Please don’t hesitate to be in touch with any questions.

Spring Break Assignments

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I hope your Spring Break is off to a great start!!

Because of Spring Break, we’ll next see each other on Thursday, April 20th (which Baruch is running as a Monday scheduled)

By Thursday, April 20th at 9am, please complete the following:

  1. Post 250 words in response to one of Emily Dickinson’s poems.
  2. Please read the Manifesto packet posted under course readings and complete the following:
    1. Pick a manifesto or excerpt of a manifesto that particularly resonated with you and write a blog post detailing your response to it / why it resonated. Your post should be approximately 250 words.
    2. Write a manifesto inspired by the form of one of the manifestos included on a topic that is important to you. You might choose to write about literature, sports, politics, food, etc.
    3. Post your manifesto and one paragraph analyzing the ways in which your manifesto pulls from the form and strategies you encountered in the packet.
  3. Read Kafka’s Metamorphosis and two other stories from you edition.