Dearest Students:
There comes a time in every unit when the reading schedule must be updated. Now is just such a time. I know it can be frustrating (if you put off a concert to discover Pearl's true nature) or relieving (if you didn't), but it must be done. Therefore:
Monday—Review of essays and "Chapter VI: "Pearl," discussion of "Chapter VIII: The Elf Child and the Minister"
Tuesday—Discussion of "The Leech" and "The Leech and His Patient"
Wednesday—Discussion of "The Interior of a Heart" and "The Minister's Vigil"
Thursday—Discussion of "Another View of Hester" and "Hester and the Physician"
Friday—Essay. (In the interest of not giving anything away, I'll explain the prompt at the appropriate moment. Just know it will be argumentative [not an analysis] and will focus on the ethical treatment of a few characters.)
With warmest regards and best wishes,
JS
Read More......Here's an online copy of the 1956 "Montgomery Story" comic book, for those who are interested.
You should be choosing your nonfiction book tonight. We will divide into groups tomorrow. If you have questions about a book, or want to run an idea by me, send an email.
Remember, article analyses are due tomorrow.
Read More......Amazing discussion today, guys. It gave me a chance to passively moderate the discussion while you all ran wild. I think we'll keep this up, unless there are any objections. Comment below if you have a concern or another idea.
From the board:
Be sure to keep up with your reading journals. I cannot stress enough how important these will be when we begin writing our papers.
[Note: I wasn't planning on posting these images, as they don't accurately capture the discussion we (you) had. It was a dynamic document created as you talked, so things were erased. I've added notes to clarify a bit, but next time I'll keep a more legible record. If you were absent today, I would greatly appreciate any feedback or questions about what we did, in order to help me clarify our discussion.]
Read More......As we decided in class on Friday, we are reading through chapter 10 of White Noise this weekend. (We will read through the first section, chapter 20, by Friday if you want to get a head start.) Here are a few themes you might want to focus on in your reading journals:
Death
- "'I have trouble imagining death at that income level.'" . . . "'Maybe there is no death as we know it. Just documents changing hands'" (6).
- "Who will die first?" (15).
- Is this what it's like, abrupt, preemptory? Shouldn't death, I thought, be a swan dive, graceful, white-winged and smooth, leaving the surface undisturbed? (18).
- "'I want to immerse myself in American magic and dread'" (19).
- "'All plots tend to move deathward'" (26).
"Naming of Things..."
- "'It's the day of the station wagons.'" . . . "He is known as Old Man Treadwell, as if he were a landmark, a rock formation or brooding swamp" (5).
- "'Do the women wear plaid skirts, cable-knit sweaters? Are the men in hacking jackets? What's a hacking jacket?'" (5)
- "'I'm totally captivated and intrigued. It's a gorgeous old crumbling house near the insane asylum. . . . A woman who harbors a terrible secret. A man with a haunted look. A man who never comes out of his room. A woman who stands by the letter box for hours, waiting for something that never seems to arrive. A man with no past. A woman with a past.' . . . 'I'm the Jew. What else would I be?'" (10).
- "We finally agreed that I should invent an extra initial and call myself J.A.K. Gladney, a tag I wore like a borrowed suit" (16).
- Note: This is incredible. His name is pronounced exactly the same, but by adding an initial it has a more authoritative air.
Consumer Aura
(We'll talk about this in class on Tuesday, but think "things being important because of how they are described or advertised, not because they are valuable in themselves."
- "'She feels guilty of she doesn't buy it, she feels guilty of she buys it and doesn't eat it, she feels guilty when she sees it in the fridge, she feels guilty when she throws it away'" (6).
- "'He is now your Hitler. Gladney's Hitler. . . . The college is internationally known as a result of Hitler studies. It has an identity, a sense of achievement. . . . It's what I want to do with Elvis'" (11).
- "'No one sees the barn. . . . Once you've seen the signs about the barn, it becomes impossible to see the barn'" (12). [Read this section twice. It's important.]
- "'You were right, Jack. This is the last avant-garde. Bold new forms. The power to shock'" (19). [They're peanuts.]
- "'This place recharges us spiritually, it prepares us, it's a gateway or pathway. Look how bright. It's full of psychic data. . . . Everything is concealed in symbolism, hidden by veils of mystery and layers of cultural material" (36).
A few more to search for: reality/perception, memory, and "white noise."
Remember, it is more important to enjoy the book than to focus solely on these themes. This is normally an activity reserved for the second reading of a text, but since most of you scoff at me when I suggest reading a book twice, I thought I'd give you a head start.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday.
Read More......at Barnes and Noble on 41st if you don't already have a copy. We will begin discussing the book tomorrow.
Read More......Yesterday, we chose to read and discuss Don Delillo's White Noise. Unfortunately, because it is an amazing book and the world is against us, there is a shortage of copies in Tulsa. For your convenience, here are the number of books and their locations around the city:
Border's 81st: 6
Border's Midtown: 3
B&N 41st: 1
Steve's Sundry: 0
Gardner's Used Books: 0
Waldenbooks in Promenade: 0
Grab a copy if you have a chance. I've ordered five more copies from B&N at 41st, but they will take around a week to come in. I'll let you know when they arrive.
We will begin this unit with shorter works that are thematically related to White Noise. The first of these will be "Raj, Bohemian" by Hari Kunzru (originally published in The New Yorker), a short story about modern identity and consumer culture. As we dive in, feel free to bring to class anything you feel will supplement our discussions.
Remember, article analyses are due every Tuesday and Thursday.
Enjoy your weekend. Go outside! Read near an open window if it's raining!
Read More......Hope you're all enjoying your break. I came across this book in B&N yesterday. Thought you might want to check it out.
Read More......Scientists claim to have discovered, using mitochondrial DNA, a link between 95 percent of Native Americans and six women that lived around 20,000 years ago. NPR Story
Remember the ballroom dancing documentary? Bronx students learn Irish jigs (with video!): The Gothamist
There has been a mild uproar in the media over Fred Armisen (a white/Asian actor) playing Obama on SNL. Is this an important discussion? Newsweek Story
Mastadon skeleton for sale: $115,000. Reuters Story
Read More......As you read (or re-read), refer to Wilde's aphorisms from the preface. How do these aphorisms apply to the characters, specifically Dorian, Lord Henry, and Basil Hallward? And what's the deal with Dorian's reaction to Miss Vane's death/suicide?
Wilde's final pithy statement in the prologue:
My question, in the form of a quotation:We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he
does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless
thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless
What-a is it good for?Read More......
-Edwin Starr
- Blankets by Craig Thompson
- Slaughterhouse Five because he was the greatest American author ever. Ever.
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
- Strunk & White (I had a copy of this for two years in college before I opened it.)
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers because it is, and I hate the author a little bit for it.
- The Brothers Karamazov because it is incredible. Really. Get the Volokhonsky trans.
- Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas
- The Cheap Bastard's Guide to New York City We used the Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, but it doesn't have cool stuff like Madison Ave. trash pickup dates and times.
- A Moleskine notebook. Okay, doesn't count as a book, but this is a must have, especially for people with phony majors like I had. You never know when you'll be inspired to write something about a book you are reading, an interaction you just witnessed, a song you just heard. Plus, there's a pocket in the back! I never use the pocket unless I want to lose something. Hey! There they are! I knew I bought stamps the other day...
These are bare necessities. This is not a list of my favorite books, because why would anyone want to know that? Besides, maybe a book I've never read is my favorite. Then my list would be incorrect. There are strict regulations that state, "Nothing innaccurate or incorrect should ever appear on a website." Really. I heard about it. Read More......
