5/5

Assignment for this week:

For this week, I would like you to do 2 things. The first is an email to me where you tell me if you will be doing a critical edition or a translation project, including the author and title of the text you will work on and the bibliography (no annotations) of the 4 critical sources. The second is to fill out this survey:

5/4

Dear All,

Owing to my trouble finding PDFs in the public domain of “Giribala” by Devi, I am changing the assignment slightly. So, in addition to The Traffic in Women and “Girl,” please read these two poems:

“Living in Sin” by Adrienne Rich

“Daddy” by Sylvia Plath

4/28

Dear All,

Here is your assignment for this week. Please read as much as you can of Gayle Rubin’s The Traffic in Women: Notes on the “Political Economy” of Sex. The pdf is available here. It is a long and difficult article, but I think  very beneficial for you to read. Don’t stress if you cannot finish it, but aim to read the first 10 pages at least. In lieu of a response or comments on the blog, I want you to bring in a question into class on Tuesday that connects Rubin’s essay to the readings we will discuss. Due to length you are only responsible for reading “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “Giribala” by Mahasweta Devi. I will post the Devi reading tomorrow.

3/31 Ammended Syllabus:

April 14     Discuss Mrs. Dalloway; MoMA assignment due in class. Visit the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) for free with your CUNY ID and analyze any work of art made between 1900 and 1940 that is currently on view using the idea of simultaneity or any aspect of Modernism.

April 17      Annotation Assignment, Faulkner’, “Barn Burning” (P) (See complete assignment description in RESOURCES section of the blog)

April 21    Discuss Faulkner and Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son (Norton)

April 24     Watch the trailers for films posted on the blog and read the short except “The Stars” by Edgar Morin. Write a two page response on how Hollywood film creates a “dream of life” that reminds you of the protagonists Macabea and Rodrigo SM in Lispector’s The Hour of the Star.

April 28     Discuss Lispector, The Hour of the Star (purchase)

May 1          Read selection from Rubin, “The Traffic in Women” and respond.

May 5        Discuss Saikaku, Life of a Sensuous Woman (blog), Devi, “Giribala” (blog), and Kincaid, “Girl” (Norton)

May 8          Post-Colonial Theory Response TBD

May 12      Discuss Achebe, “Chike’s School Days” and Diaz, “Drown” (Norton)

May 13-15   Meet to Discuss Final Project

May 22      Final Project Due

 

3/24: Assignment Due Friday, March 27 at noon.

“Behind the cotton wool [of daily life] is hidden a pattern; that we—I mean all human beings—are connected with this; that the whole world is a work of art; that we are parts of the work of art. Hamlet or a Beethoven quartet is the truth about this vast mass that we call the world. But there is no Shakespeare, there is no Beethoven; certainly and emphatically there is no God; we are the words; we are the music; we are the thing itself.”
― Virginia Woolf, A Sketch of the Past

The passage above is from Woolf’s A Sketch of the Past, the closest thing to a memoir she ever wrote. She emphasizes the life of the work of art over that of its individual creator in order to celebrate “this vast mass that we call the world.” In her mind, individuals throughout the world are connected through art and by being a part of a world that is art. While pondering this idea, I want you to think about the individuals in Mrs. Dalloway, especially Clarissa and Septimus who never meet, and map out the hidden patterns of connection that construct personal, thematic, and stylistic relations that structure the text. Your map may be realized as an essay, a drawing, or other media, but she clearly explain the pattern you see in the text. I encourage creative work, so feel free to scan images, use video, make a collage, write a poem. All responses must be posted on the blog by noon on Friday 3/27.

 

3/17: Midterm Papers

Dear All,

I have made a change to your midterm papers. They will now be due on Monday, March 23 by 12:00pm (noon). Please submit on the drive or email to me. This extension is contingent on engaged class participation (and possible quiz) when we discuss the first half of Mrs. Dalloway the next day in class.

–Papers are to be 1,250 words (approx five pages). A few words over or under is fine, but please make sure you thoroughly argue your case.

–Analyze Don’t Summarize. I know what happens in these texts. I am more interested in your thoughts on why and how. Think about diction (word choice), structure, and theme: how do these notions function to support your interpretation?

–Use the Text. Quotations from the text are essential. Put them inside your own sentences like the engine in the car. Quotations keep the car running, and your own words make room for your own thoughts and well as provide the wheels to move your ideas along.

– Avoid personal anecdote, generalization or moralizing. Maintain critical thinking and don’t let ideas not in the text dilute your argument.

Please consult the full style guide here. Style Guide

3/3: Response Papers

Dear All,

I want you to know that your response papers were all very good. Also, you have many more of them over the course of the semester, so do not get discouraged about the grade, as this is a low-stakes grade. What am I looking for in a Check +? A Check + response will be written clearly, with proper grammar, very few mistakes (syntax, word choice, spelling, typos), will address the question at hand with direct engagement, and show YOUR reaction to the piece. I do not want a summary, but how you think about the piece: HOW does it challenge you, make you change your mind, confuse you? I really want to hear more about what you think in new and thoughtful ways that involves maturity and critical thinking. Do not tell me what you think I want to hear, or what the pieces itself says. Say something new about how it makes you feel.

Most of the papers that received a Check were strong but did not engage with the work personally and I was left wanting to know what you felt about the reading?

The few check minus papers needed more work on grammar and syntax. Always feel free to ask a partner in class to help you proofread your work or ask me for help if you are having consistent troubles.

 

2/24

For your next assignment, I would like you to read two poems by William Blake: “The Lamb” and “The Tyger.” After reading both, ask yourself the question: Is Frankenstein’s Creature more like Blake’s innocent but ignorant lamb or like his terrifying but natural tiger? With a partner, I want you EACH to write a one-page response in which you argue for one or the other (eg. one of you maintains the Creature is more lamb-like, the other more like the tyger), then co-write (please use different fonts or text styles) a one-page debate between the two of you. It is not necessary for the debate to be resolved with a clear agreement; rather, explore the idea thoroughly. Here are your assignment partners:

Karen/Ariella

Taf/Christine

Sayhonara/Raymond

Winnie/Tamjid

Mariana/Ivy

Aleksandra/Polina

Maxx/Amanda

Nazia/Warren

Ivanna/Danny

Felipe/Oksana

Eleni/Angela/Joan

2/17 (II)

Hello All,

Great class today! Hope you enjoyed it as well. I just wanted to let you know that for next Tuesday, please read Frankenstein (1818 version) from the Preface through the end of Vol. 2 Chapter VI (6). I look forward to reading your comments about the film clips.

 

MH

2/17

Change to Assignment:

I have changed the assignment slightly for this Friday. Make sure you have read Frankenstein through the end of Volume 1, chapter 4. The fourth chapter describes the birth of the creature, which has been re-created numerous times in the various adaptations of this famous story. I have posted two clips of the birth scene as presented in two different films in the response section of the blog. Watch both clips and “leave a comment” on one of the clips in which you discuss identify the most crucial difference between the film and the novel. Feel free to engage in discussion the previous comments on the clip and check regularly to respond to your classmates.

Dear Students,

Please look in the Response section of the blog to review samples from the last assignment that are good examples of what I am looking for in your writing. Also, remember to look at the Schedule under Discussion to see when you are responsible for posting a response for the class to read.