HELLO WORLD LIT STUDENTS--
Please come to E228 at 11:45 (computer lab) on Thursday December 12. Our purpose is to upload your research essays to ePortfolio.
You will need to bring the essay in digital form (send it to yourself or bring flash drive).
If you sent me a digital copy this week, I returned it via email with comments. I have written to those of you who gave me a hard copy last week indicating that I will leave your essay in my mailbox (E103) at about 2pm this Monday, December 9 (tomorrow) in case you wish to make final revisions for Thursday. Some of you have a little work to do on documentation--worth doing to improve your grade!! If you did not hear from me, there is no need for revision.
I will be checking the uploads to make sure everyone has deposited and cannot assign your grade until your essay is uploaded.
In addition to your research essay, you should bring your final essay exam to our Thursday meeting. Don't forget! This is the last day we meet.
I will probably be putting in the grades on Friday, December 13. I will let you know what time I will be in my office in case you wish to stop by to receive your grade.
Thanks for being a really thoughtful class and for your good insights and strong writing!
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Monday, December 2, 2013
Instructions for Submission of Final Version of Research Essay and Final Essay
1. Please send me your revised research essay by Wednesday December 4, midnight. If I have any last minute suggestions, I will mail it back to you with comments on the weekend of December 7-8.
2. There will be no class Thursday, December 5, but if you are on campus, I will also accept a hard copy of your research essay in my mailbox in E103. I will be on campus until 5pm. (If you leave me hard copy instead of email on Wednesday, there can be no further revision.)
3. VERY IMPORTANT: BRING YOUR FINAL ESSAY TO E228 AT 11:45 AM ON THURSDAY DECEMBER 12 AND A DIGITAL VERSION OF YOUR RESEARCH ESSAY TO BE UPLOADED. BE SURE TO REMOVE YOUR NAME AND MINE FROM THE ESSAY. THE HEADING SHOULD SIMPLY BE ENGLISH 295, FALL 2013.
4. I will be available Monday and Tuesday of December 16-17 reviewing essays and grades. You may stop into my office between 11-3 both of those days. I will reconfirm this and set up appointments on December 12.
Thank you for writing such great essays this semester. It was a pleasure to read them and to get your insights into the literature :).
Hope to see you in another class. I will be teaching The Woman Writer (English 245) in Spring 2014.
2. There will be no class Thursday, December 5, but if you are on campus, I will also accept a hard copy of your research essay in my mailbox in E103. I will be on campus until 5pm. (If you leave me hard copy instead of email on Wednesday, there can be no further revision.)
3. VERY IMPORTANT: BRING YOUR FINAL ESSAY TO E228 AT 11:45 AM ON THURSDAY DECEMBER 12 AND A DIGITAL VERSION OF YOUR RESEARCH ESSAY TO BE UPLOADED. BE SURE TO REMOVE YOUR NAME AND MINE FROM THE ESSAY. THE HEADING SHOULD SIMPLY BE ENGLISH 295, FALL 2013.
4. I will be available Monday and Tuesday of December 16-17 reviewing essays and grades. You may stop into my office between 11-3 both of those days. I will reconfirm this and set up appointments on December 12.
Thank you for writing such great essays this semester. It was a pleasure to read them and to get your insights into the literature :).
Hope to see you in another class. I will be teaching The Woman Writer (English 245) in Spring 2014.
Friday, November 22, 2013
End of Semester Instructions :)
Greetings World Lit Class!
1. I will review all the essays given to me in class on Thursday and give them back to you on Monday.
2. Anyone who did not submit an essay to me on Thursday MUST send me a draft this weekend--by Saturday evening, midnight.
3. Brooke and Jonathan I will see you at 10:30 and 11:00 on Monday to review your research projects--my office is E103. Brooke if you are the one who borrowed the book on Disgrace, would you bring it on Monday?
4. On Monday we will discuss research drafts and continue screening of Disgrace!
5. Revisions of research will be due on December 2--no exceptions! We are screening Dirty Pretty Things week of Dec 2-5.
6. You will upload your research essays (removing your names and mine--just heading of English 295/Fall 2013) and UPLOAD them to ePortfolio site on December 7.
7. December 7 your final essay-exam will be due. We will discuss topic(s) week of December 2.
1. I will review all the essays given to me in class on Thursday and give them back to you on Monday.
2. Anyone who did not submit an essay to me on Thursday MUST send me a draft this weekend--by Saturday evening, midnight.
3. Brooke and Jonathan I will see you at 10:30 and 11:00 on Monday to review your research projects--my office is E103. Brooke if you are the one who borrowed the book on Disgrace, would you bring it on Monday?
4. On Monday we will discuss research drafts and continue screening of Disgrace!
5. Revisions of research will be due on December 2--no exceptions! We are screening Dirty Pretty Things week of Dec 2-5.
6. You will upload your research essays (removing your names and mine--just heading of English 295/Fall 2013) and UPLOAD them to ePortfolio site on December 7.
7. December 7 your final essay-exam will be due. We will discuss topic(s) week of December 2.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Schedule for Week of November 18--Monday's Class will be Conferences in My Office: E103N
Hi Everyone:
So our task for this week is to get your research essays in almost perfect shape. We will not have our regular Monday class but here is the appointment schedule for Monday. If you are not going to make this appointment please let me know so I can give your space to someone else!
Monday Conferences
9:00: Sean
9:30: Soffwana
10:00: Irma
10:30: OPEN
11:00: Geovanni
11:30: Yawo
12:00: Jorge
12:30: Patricia
2:34: Matthew
3:00: Guilherme
3:30: Simge
Tuesday Conferences:
10:00: Tamika
10:30: Carlos
11:00: OPEN
11:30: Kierra
1:00: Rhiana
1:30: Manuel
What you should bring: your draft and all your sources--preferably in a form that I can review!
See you next week--go forth and work on your wonderful research essays!
So our task for this week is to get your research essays in almost perfect shape. We will not have our regular Monday class but here is the appointment schedule for Monday. If you are not going to make this appointment please let me know so I can give your space to someone else!
Monday Conferences
9:00: Sean
9:30: Soffwana
10:00: Irma
10:30: OPEN
11:00: Geovanni
11:30: Yawo
12:00: Jorge
12:30: Patricia
2:34: Matthew
3:00: Guilherme
3:30: Simge
Tuesday Conferences:
10:00: Tamika
10:30: Carlos
11:00: OPEN
11:30: Kierra
1:00: Rhiana
1:30: Manuel
What you should bring: your draft and all your sources--preferably in a form that I can review!
See you next week--go forth and work on your wonderful research essays!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Coetzee's Allusions and Their Meanings in Disgrace
Coetzee's Disgrace is full of important allusions that are worth investigating in relation to his themes. Here is just one example of a reading of "Lucy" (citation below)
"Her name is an allusion to St Lucy the Sicilian virgin martyr, patron saint of virgins, the blind and writers, who has a silencing throat wound described in the novel thus: 'Over the body of the woman silence is being drawn like a blanket. Too ashamed, they will say to each other, too ashamed to tell' (Coetzee 110). It is difficult not to infer that patriarchy is a rape which silences. . . .St Lucy's day falls on the thirteenth of December in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice which emphasizes a long dark night of the soul and, of course, December is astrologically the time of Capricorn, the goat, with all its connotations of earthy lust. Ironically, it is Lurie who is reduced to silence by Lucy's experience. Her rape is all the harder for a father to bear because not only must it cause vicarious suffering via empathy, but it also emasculates him via his impotence and inability to imagine what was involved (97, 110, 158, 160) and this is compounded by Lucy's refusal to "share" the experience in any way or to listen to any of his paternalistic advice.
Source:
Gaylard, Gerald. "Disgraceful metafiction: intertextuality in the postcolony." Journal of Literary Studies 21.3-4 (2005): 315+. Academic OneFile. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Other areas of this text worthy of exploration for their allusiveness--ie references to other texts, stories, history: these may become final exam questions!!!! Please review.
Dogs and other animals; goats for example: how are these connected to Lurie? Why does he cringe at the sight of the goat's damaged testicles? How is this an allusion to his own sexuality? Why is castration an important theme in the novel? How is it related to South Africa, post-apartheid? How do his feelings towards dogs change and why is this change significant?
Pastoral life in South Africa: how is the earth, the land, the farm (smallholding) Lucy occupies and works related to her, to South Africa? We speak of mother earth (never father earth). How does what happens to Lucy reflect what has happened to South Africa? What has happened that is evident in this novel about ownership of land post-apartheid? Who has power? Who does not? Is the female body symbolic of the land, of ownership?
The two crimes against women, Melanie and Lucy, have qualities that mirror each other. Lucy considers her rape a private matter much as Lurie considers his actions private, not something to be discussed or fought about publicly. Lurie is not interested in Melanie's feelings (at least not at the time of the almost rape), but he is deeply interested in Lucy's situation and wants revenge--much like the father of Melanie does! Does Lurie grow, change, discover feelings for others in the course of the novel?
Does Lurie's attitude towards life, towards the idea of control, towards others (friendship), towards animals, towards the land change? Why does Lurie allow the dog to be killed at the end of the novel? Why is this upsetting? What does it suggest about Coetzee's ideas about love, sacrifice, the ability to accept mortality? Has he achieved grace? Is he no longer in disgrace?
"Her name is an allusion to St Lucy the Sicilian virgin martyr, patron saint of virgins, the blind and writers, who has a silencing throat wound described in the novel thus: 'Over the body of the woman silence is being drawn like a blanket. Too ashamed, they will say to each other, too ashamed to tell' (Coetzee 110). It is difficult not to infer that patriarchy is a rape which silences. . . .St Lucy's day falls on the thirteenth of December in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice which emphasizes a long dark night of the soul and, of course, December is astrologically the time of Capricorn, the goat, with all its connotations of earthy lust. Ironically, it is Lurie who is reduced to silence by Lucy's experience. Her rape is all the harder for a father to bear because not only must it cause vicarious suffering via empathy, but it also emasculates him via his impotence and inability to imagine what was involved (97, 110, 158, 160) and this is compounded by Lucy's refusal to "share" the experience in any way or to listen to any of his paternalistic advice.
Source:
Gaylard, Gerald. "Disgraceful metafiction: intertextuality in the postcolony." Journal of Literary Studies 21.3-4 (2005): 315+. Academic OneFile. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Other areas of this text worthy of exploration for their allusiveness--ie references to other texts, stories, history: these may become final exam questions!!!! Please review.
Dogs and other animals; goats for example: how are these connected to Lurie? Why does he cringe at the sight of the goat's damaged testicles? How is this an allusion to his own sexuality? Why is castration an important theme in the novel? How is it related to South Africa, post-apartheid? How do his feelings towards dogs change and why is this change significant?
Pastoral life in South Africa: how is the earth, the land, the farm (smallholding) Lucy occupies and works related to her, to South Africa? We speak of mother earth (never father earth). How does what happens to Lucy reflect what has happened to South Africa? What has happened that is evident in this novel about ownership of land post-apartheid? Who has power? Who does not? Is the female body symbolic of the land, of ownership?
The two crimes against women, Melanie and Lucy, have qualities that mirror each other. Lucy considers her rape a private matter much as Lurie considers his actions private, not something to be discussed or fought about publicly. Lurie is not interested in Melanie's feelings (at least not at the time of the almost rape), but he is deeply interested in Lucy's situation and wants revenge--much like the father of Melanie does! Does Lurie grow, change, discover feelings for others in the course of the novel?
Does Lurie's attitude towards life, towards the idea of control, towards others (friendship), towards animals, towards the land change? Why does Lurie allow the dog to be killed at the end of the novel? Why is this upsetting? What does it suggest about Coetzee's ideas about love, sacrifice, the ability to accept mortality? Has he achieved grace? Is he no longer in disgrace?
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Instructions for Tomorrow and for Developing Your Research Topics--Next Stage Due Thursday November 14
FOR TOMORROW, MONDAY NOVEMBER 18 PLEASE READ COETZEE'S DISGRACE TO PAGE 100 (CHAPTER 12)--VERY IMPORTANT--KEY SCENE IN CHAPTER 11--TURNING POINT! We may have a quiz :)
Greetings World Lit Researchers:
Here is what you need to do for next Thursday November 14:
1. Expand/Complete blog from last week to include answers to all questions.
2. Bring to class on Thursday a rough draft of your essay for peer critique. This is VERY important. Our Thursday class will be a workshop devoted to your research essays.
3. Go on JStor and find at least two sources for your essay; if JStor does not provide what you need, try google scholar and see if you can find sources that end in .net, .edu or .org
4. For literature go to library, find articles etc in online databases, go to English and World Literatures, then scroll to JStor--type in your author and titles of stories or novels--bring what you find to class--be prepared to discuss on Thursday.
Greetings World Lit Researchers:
Here is what you need to do for next Thursday November 14:
1. Expand/Complete blog from last week to include answers to all questions.
2. Bring to class on Thursday a rough draft of your essay for peer critique. This is VERY important. Our Thursday class will be a workshop devoted to your research essays.
3. Go on JStor and find at least two sources for your essay; if JStor does not provide what you need, try google scholar and see if you can find sources that end in .net, .edu or .org
4. For literature go to library, find articles etc in online databases, go to English and World Literatures, then scroll to JStor--type in your author and titles of stories or novels--bring what you find to class--be prepared to discuss on Thursday.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Beginning Your Research: Post Blog Here by Sunday Evening November 3
We will devote the month of November to your research papers (alongside reading Disgrace).
Here are some guide questions to help you complete this blog:
1. What text or texts (including films) are you planning to focus on and what is the main reason you are interested in this text or film? What issue or theme really speaks to you?
2. State your thesis or working hypothesis.
3. What particular scenes or moments in the text (describe at least 3) will help you with a close reading and discussion of your chosen theme?
4. What specific areas of research do you know will be important to pursue--do you need historical information, cultural information? Explain. Do an initial search for at least one kind of information and note in the blog what you have found (include link to source).
5. Ask your classmates (and professor) one specific question about your topic that, if we can answer, will help you!
NOTE: All stages of the research essay, including this blog, count toward your grade for the project :)
Here are some guide questions to help you complete this blog:
1. What text or texts (including films) are you planning to focus on and what is the main reason you are interested in this text or film? What issue or theme really speaks to you?
2. State your thesis or working hypothesis.
3. What particular scenes or moments in the text (describe at least 3) will help you with a close reading and discussion of your chosen theme?
4. What specific areas of research do you know will be important to pursue--do you need historical information, cultural information? Explain. Do an initial search for at least one kind of information and note in the blog what you have found (include link to source).
5. Ask your classmates (and professor) one specific question about your topic that, if we can answer, will help you!
NOTE: All stages of the research essay, including this blog, count toward your grade for the project :)
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