Forbidden Knowledge in Great Works
Hello all,
I’m having an issue posting grades right now. I’ve sent a message to Luke Waltzer, and as soon as I hear back, your grades for the two assignments will be up. If you want to know your grades in the meantime, e-mail me at [email protected]
LG
Update: Some of you need to check the discussion settings on your blog. Go into settings, and then discussion and make sure that you uncheck the box that requires an administrator to approve responses.
The assignment is simple: Take one of the three creation myths we’ve encountered so far (Gilgamesh, Metamorphoses or “Genesis”) and explain which one you prefer and why. 300 words, max, and a minimum of one quotation.
WATCH YOUR GRAMMAR AND SPELLING!!! As you’re all doing such good creative work, I’m being picky on details when I grade.
Your assignment for this week is to write a 300-500 page response to The Odyssey, Books 19 – 22. The idea is to sit down as soon as you’ve finished reading, and articulate your thoughts. My suggestions, if you’re looking for a place to get started is to think about the following:
– how did you feel about the end? Did it feel appropriate or expected? What surprised you about what you read?
– how does the resolution of Odysseus’s story tie into the themes we’re discussing in class?
– Can you see any symbolic value in the end of the text?
I’d like to reiterate that these are just ideas. I’m interested in anything you have to say.
There is one requirement: I’d like you to select at least one quotation and explain its significance. Talk about the context, why you chose it, what it has to offer our collective understanding of The Odyssey.
Due: 9/21 by 5pm
What I like about this snake image is the way in which it’s playing on the idea of snake = rampant sexuality. The joke is based on the notion that untrustworthy men are known colloquially as snakes, which is an idea that goes all the way back to the idea of the serpent tempting Eve with lies (there’s also a phallic connection, but I think that’s slightly less relevant right now). A snake is untrustworthy because a) it damned us all in Judeo-Christian thought, and b) it can shed its skin – start anew in a way that people can’t. The cartoon plays on both of these notions: the woman is being betrayed by a snake once more and the snake’s assumption that because it’s a snake, she should have expected his behavior.
Your assignment for this week is quite simple, and in keeping with some of the images we’ve been discussing in class. I would like for each of you to go online and find a media image from within the past couple of decades (we’ll say from 1990 on) that employs snake imagery. It could be a clip from a tv show, or movie, an advertising image or cartoon – whatever you can find. Once you’ve posted your clip, I’d like you to write a short paragraph explaining the way in which the symbolism is being used.
Due: 9/14 at 5pm
Whenever I think of my perfect vacation, I usually go right to the cliché: tropical beach, quiet, peaceful, etc. Clearly, I have been watching too many Corona advertisements on television. And I do love the sea – whenever any ocean-based movie is on, I have to watch it, whether it’s the brilliance of Jaws, or the utter hideousness of Deep Blue Sea (yes, you may judge me). But I’m English. I need my seasons. Much as the idea of being at sea delights me, I can’t imagine that I’d want to spend eternity there, and paradise is supposed to be forever.
So, I think to myself that I need to retool the question: supposing money wasn’t an issue, and that I never had to work, I’m thirty two years old, and have the rest of my life to live wherever I like, as I please. What pops into my head is an advertisement in The Sunday Times (of London), that I must have seen years ago, and simply can’t forget. It was an advert for a relatively small, nineteenth century house in the center of England, right in the heart of the Midlands. The house is square, with faded red brick, and reminds me of the house in the BBC Pride and Prejudice. The house is quite simple, and I suspect, not very fancy. I think I might want to put in a little annex on the side with an indoor pool (this is England, after all), but it would be dishonest to the look of the house, so I suppose I’ll just have to imagine a nice lake nearby to swim in during the summer.
What I remember most clearly about this advertisement, and where the charm is for me, is the garden. The house backs onto the site of a ruined twelfth century monastery. There are enough ruins for it to be a stunning backdrop to my new back garden, but not enough for it to be creepy and keep me awake at night! If I remember correctly, the picture I saw had a good-sized garden, surrounded by a low brick wall, with a gate at the end, after which were fields of long, wild grass, turned yellowish green in the late summer sun. I can’t imagine ever becoming bored of a view like that, and if I’m pushing my vision of paradise on it, we’ll pop a couple of ponies in the field behind, so that they can wander around, whinnying and swishing their tails, lazily.
In my paradise, my lovely little home (which would have a name like “Cornfields House”) would be on the edge of a small village, with a local store and a pub that I could walk to in the evening for a roast beef dinner. I come from a tiny little town in England called Woodham Ferrers, and after living in New York for ten years, the idea of small town appeals. Of course, we’d also be near enough to Stratford-Upon-Avon so I could get my theatre and shopping fix when I needed to, but I’d have somewhere old and pretty to relax in when I have people-fatigue.
That’s paradise to me.
LG
Your first assignment is simple: write a 300-500 word description of your paradise. Simply describe what you would like eternity to be. This should be a paradise that is personal to you. If possible, use pictures to help illustrate your vision.
This is due 9/7 at 9am.