You have two options:

1. Go visit the Met museum. Take a photo of a Romantic work of art (go to the European paintings this section is FULL of Romantic artworks) and discuss. Post the picture on the blog as a comment with your blog post (350 words) and bring your ticket in to class on Monday for full credit.

 

2. Make a playlist (10 songs) that Werther would make for Lotte. For each song find a quote from the text to justify your choice and explain why you’ve chosen this song. MAKE SURE you use textual evidence and your own interpretation to justify your song choice.

Keep in mind, you will be sharing this with the class. 🙂 Due Sunday night at 9 p.m. ( I will check at 9 and you will lose points should you submit later than 9)

 

Have a great weekend!

Selections from The Sufferings of Young Werther- Goethe

2012 Edition: Published by Norton

Translator: Stanley Corngold

Below you will find your reading for Wednesday. Since we will be skipping around quite a bit in the book- I suggest you read a summary of the book online and of each chapter to get the gist of the main plot. (The plot is not SUPER important here so this is not cheating in the slightest.)

While reading please look for the sensuous as we described it in class today. Please also consider the language, the narrative structure, and the atmosphere of the text.

You are to read:

Beginning- p.27

May 30th: p. 32-43

July 26th- p. 58

January 8th 1772 (When Werther has gone away) p. 84

The Editor to the Reader: p. 116-120

December 12th p. 112

p. 147- end

( it is not as long as it seems these are mostly written as diary entries/letters) The text is here in PDF form:

sufferings

Please bring this to class on Wednesday! Read closely. Underline. Come up with themes for discussion as we have been doing.

 

 

 

In our short time together we have really focused on the theme of Reason and more specifically how very complicated it can be to define what Reason is in any given context. We looked at Kant and Descartes who created a very specific philosophical vision of Universal Reason meant to fuel the Enlightenment. This gave us a lot of pros and  cons to think about ( think about the double edged sword of Enlightenment). We also looked at those who have critiqued this reason (Moliere, Akinari, Voltaire) and have tried to offer us a type of irrationality that seems inherent to our very nature.

One of the results of this kind of Universal Reason (or even of the Mind/Body split) is the creation of many binaries. Good/Evil; Feminine/Masculine; Strong/Weak; Naive/Experienced; Pessimism/Optimism; Religious beliefs/ Secular beliefs (there are many more). This week for your first blog post, I would like you to very informally discuss what you think happens when these binaries break down (as they do in the case of every text we have read thus far).

I want you to think of literature as an experimental space where we can think about the blurring of lines and the breakdown of two distinct types of thought that aim to dismiss anything that doesn’t categorically fit.

Please choose one of the texts and write 250 words or more (but don’t get too crazy!) about a binary that is being questioned. Tell me how the binary is being questioned..and what this means for the meaning of the text as a whole. This is informal and meant to be a brainstorming activity for you. However, I expect you to write something thoughtful and engage with the texts. 

Please post your response as a comment to this post. All responses are due by Friday at Midnight. (I will read them with my coffee Saturday am 🙂 )

 

See you next week!

 

no blog post for Bewitched- this will be moved to a later date! Please read the text regardless for Monday’s class.

-CL

Reading here for 9/12

 

Bewitched, Akinari (1)

Below you will find a the stage performance of Tartuffe in English. It is a bit cheesy but I think it works well to visualize the text. I highly recommend reading the text first and then watching the performance otherwise you may be a bit lost. This particular production uses a different translation, however, you still could follow along in the text should you choose. Have a wonderful labor day weekend!