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April 23, 2007
I Love Apostrophes
"Apostrophe is an address to the absent as if present, the inanimate as if animate; a rhetorical question is one to which no answer is expected. These figures of power. To use them is to address someone who cannot talk back-a strategy that ensures not only that you will have the last work, but that your discourse will manifest a high degress of "'literariness'" (Garson 453).
It seems to me that Keats used apostrophes to allow for an unanswerable, unsolvable rhetorical question about the urn and the overall poem. Since the narrator speaks to her, the figure as it is noted that the urn is personified as a female, by apostrophizing her, he calls her into being; he tells her history even as he laments her citizens' inability to tell it (Garson 458).
This lack of identity to the urn/female as well as this dream of cultural possession shows a dream or desire of supplementing our lack with a borrowed integritas (Garson 458). The urn speaks to the spiritual ear in search of an answer that the urn/female as well as the readers are looking for to explain not only the urn but the overall theme of the poem rather than the material ear.
Posted by Denamarie at 12:20 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Can't we all just agree???
Barker and Hulme, ''Nymphs and Reapers Heavily Vanish'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
"Instead of having meaning, statements should be seen as performative of meaning; not as possessing some portable and 'universal' content but, rather, as instrumental in organisation and legitimation of powerrelations" (Barker and Hulme 445).
Jay explains in his blog that it is not the act as much as it is the reaction to the acts that matter. This focus from the interpretative problem of meaning to questions of instrumentality and function allow for the audience and critics to view the text and their meanings as yo-yos. Their meanings and ideas sway from side to side and everyone views them through different lenses.
These statements, discourses, and the level they operate at are not easy to observe but are only approachable through their effects similar to the way grammar work in certain sentences.
Who is to say that 'something' means this?? Where is the power held? And here we are back to the politics...
As Kevin Hinton states in his blog, culture itself is open to interpretation and can be changed to fit anything. This also applies to meanings of texts.
Posted by Denamarie at 12:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 22, 2007
Culture =]
Greenblatt, ''Culture'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
"And if an exploration of a particular culture will lead to a heightened understanding of a work of literature produced within that culture, so too a careful reading of a work of literature will lead to a heightened understanding of the culture within which it was produced" (Greenblatt 438).
Culture and literature depend on one another. Literature needs the culture to produce new ideas and suggestions to write about; and culture feeds of literature by looking back at works and understanding the themes and values at that time. So it seems to me that cultural criticism is a good thing. =]
A cultural analysis needs to go beyond the text though to establish links between the text and values, institutions and practices elsewhere in the culture. These links should not be considered a close reading. Literary texts are cultural by virtue of social values and contexts that they have themselves successfully absorbed, not just because of the reference to the world beyond themselves.
As Jay puts it nicely, Literature, or at least a majority of it, tries to find something that was against a culture, and through imagery and dialogue, the author completes the task of portraying a different spin on the representative culture portrayed in that story.
Posted by Denamarie at 11:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Belsey tells all
Belsey, ''Literature, History, Politics'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
"Here all writing and all speech is fiction in a timeless present without presence, adn the subject celebrates its own non-being in an infinite space where there is no room for politics" (Belsey 430).
So Belsey is stating that between literature, history and politics there is a connection while arguing against deconstructionists who take it that there is no such thing as meaning, adn in consequence, since meaningless language is literally unthinkable, that words mean whatever you want them to mean.
Along with the above quote, this meaningless language idea is almost related to fiction in a timeless presetn without presence and that in this infinite space it shows its own self. There seems to be an evaporated meaning of text that are from the past in the present. It almost seems that the language is almost useless to us because of the difference in cultures. This evaporation of meaning leaves us with no place to analyze meaning and that ther is no possibility of tracing changes of teh meaning/history.
Belsey argues this and says that it the text within a work shows everything about change in history.
Posted by Denamarie at 11:16 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 19, 2007
Term Project Presentation
A project by Denamarie Ercolani and Lorin Schumacher.
Most often, critics take a feminist approach to “The Yellow Wallpaper.” While this is a legitimate angle to take in regards to this story as there are many things to explore through this lens, we feel that looking at the story this way causes readers to miss the comment Gilman makes in regards to doctor/patient relationships.
Since there is already so much criticism done on the “The Yellow Wallpaper” with a feminist approach it was hard for us to see what else there might be to focus on besides how oppressed the woman is by her husband. But, at the beginning of the semester when we read Gilman’s “Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper” way back when we were studying authorial intent it made us think about Gilman’s resentment towards her bed rest treatment, but it wasn’t until we watched the film Garden State that we both realized the strong argument Gilman presents against unethical doctor/patient relationships such as the one presented between the woman and her husband in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
In Garden State, the main character, Andrew, is on all sorts of medications and has been since he was a kid because his father prescribed them to him. His father prescribed them to him due to an incident Andrew was involved in that caused his mother to become paralyzed and he assumed that his son was going to have all sorts of psychological problems as a result. After all these years of his father trying to protect him from having any sort of problems through these medications, Andrew really does develop issues that he probably wouldn’t have otherwise had.
In a similar way, John assumes that his wife in “The Yellow Wallpaper” has problems, or is going to have problems (perhaps as a result of the baby she’s just had?...although there is limited information given to the reader in regards to this) and he either amplifies or perhaps even causes them by putting her on bed rest, which seems to be more a result of him trying to protect her rather than cure her. (Because, as she says, he doesn’t really believe that she has a problem. Why treat someone who doesn’t have a problem? Because he thinks he is taking some sort of preventative measures.)
This is difficult for readers to notice in the story than it is in the film because the relationship is a husband/wife or male/female rather than the father/son or male/male relationship that is in Garden State.
Also, if Gilman was being truthful in her essay “Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper” and her goal of writing the story is really the result of her distrusting doctors, it makes sense that John would be portrayed negatively and made to look like the “bad guy” in the story. But, there is a big difference in the meaning of the story if you look at John as “the bad doctor” instead of as “the bad husband.”
So, ultimately, what we’ve discovered through our investigation of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Garden State is that the woman’s insanity is the result of her treatment, prescribed by her doctor, not the result of her husband’s oppression.
For our project, we thought it would be an interesting twist in the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” if we used an intertextual approach along with Garden State. We then decided on creating two new scenes to be incorporated into Gillman’s story which was similar to Garden State. These scenes contain lines from both stories and also emphasis the doctor/patient relationships in both plots. For “The Yellow Wallpaper” these two scenes would give the story an alternate ending that would conclude in a positive note and ultimately show the overall point in the story, doctor/patient relationships.
Posted by Denamarie at 12:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 9, 2007
Literature as my mother
Just a little emotional paper for a wildcard.
I wrote this last year, but I thought it was appropriate for this class.
I never had a Mother, so I had to compromise
I never really had a relationship with my mother so I didn’t know what feeling to expect when I read a piece of work that dealt with mother and children acts of love. By reading books that dealt with mothers and daughters, I, in a way, compromised having a mother by reading and reacting. I always wanted to know how it felt to have a mother.
"A daughter is a mother's gender partner, her closest ally in the family confederacy,
an extension of her self. And mothers are their daughters' role model, their biological
and emotional road map, the arbiter of all their relationships."
Victoria Secunda
I never had the chance to look up to my mother, but my mother isn’t a great role model to begin with. The quote above is everything I never had in my life. “What does it mean to have a mother, what are they supposed to do for me,” I would ask myself and my friends. Most reactions would be, “You don’t have a mom that stinks. I don’t know what I would do without my mom; she is always there for me.” Literature has answered the previous questions and has become my mother. It is always there when I need it and it helps me on my bad days. By reading literature it opened windows to let me feel and see how a mother-daughter relationship is like. After analyzing many pieces of literature that dealt with children with just fathers I realized that there are others out in the world that feel the same as I do. I finally realized what love was; having a father that loves you more than any mother could. Authors who write literature try to show a side of a mother that you don’t think is typical, for example in A Doll’s House, why would a mother leave her children; this is reality in my life. It is great to read books that deal with situations I went through and see how the author presented the characters that were left behind by their mothers. I thank my father every day for being there for me through thick and thin. My father is not only my dad, but also my mom.
If I never read literature, I wouldn’t know how to deal with a mother. By reviewing the stories that dealt with mothers, it made me grow into a stronger person physically and emotionally. My father was my backbone throughout my life. He helped me get over my mother in a way by just talking with me about how I felt. As I was eating breakfast before I left to go to first grade, my father interested me in tee ball. He showed me how to bat using my cereal as a ball and the spoon as a bat. Ever since that moment I have had sports in my life that have filled that emptiness from my mother. This emptiness came out a lot during sad movies and books, but it was therapy to me. I had to let her go, so by reading I did and I learned that I can go through life without her. At the end of the school day as I would swing on the old, rusty, squeaky swing set on the playground, I would see my best friends run into their mother’s arms. I felt left out and that I was the oddball for the reason that everyone would go home with their mothers, but I went home with my dad. I felt that I was swinging into the distance, and there was no one (mother) to push me. I didn’t need a mother to push me, I needed my dad. When I would cry, my father would get down on his knees and tell me, “You don’t need a mother Dena; I love you more than she could in a million years.” I know my father did love me a lot, but I felt that I was missing out on something that every child needs, a mother’s love.
One piece of literature that really touched me was A Doll’s House. The mother was never really involved in her children’s life. When she felt sheltered and lost her freedom she wanted to leave, and she did. Nora, the mother, just left her children without a good-bye and told her husband that she wasn’t a great mother and to keep the children away from her. My mom left in the middle of the night with out any warning and I never saw her until I was 14. To this day, I don’t speak to her because I have lost respect for her. She didn’t realize, well at least I think she didn’t, about my feelings or how I would be brought up and how my life would turn out. Personally, I lead a pretty good life. This story opened me up to my feelings about my mother; this book was a great therapeutic implement. I grew a little bit because of this play. I will never become my mother or Nora; I will be there at every moment for my children. Even though I did not grow up with both my mother and father, I received twice as much love and attention as well as care from my father.
Literature is a great piece of work that touches you, even if it is just in the slightest way. It will stick with you for the rest of your life; just like how not having a mother will stick with me for the rest of my life. I learned a lesson through my mother’s actions and literature. Not everyone will make the right choices. Literature makes you think in a whole new perspective and in a whole new light. By reading literature, you are helping your self grow as a person. For me personally, I took a lot into literature and came out with even more; I will never become a replica of any mother that leaves their children. Literature is my new mother; I want to be just like it.
Posted by Denamarie at 9:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Fan Fiction and Literary Criticism
Thank you Diana for starting this wonderful blog carnival that I know we all love to do.
=]
Diana is questioning FanFiction and how it should be portrayed in the literary world. To start off, let's explore the true defintion of FanFiction. It is defined as on dictionary.com a fictional account written by a fan of a show, movie, book, or video game to explore themes and ideas that will not or cannot be explored via the originating medium.
So bascially, FanFiction is an exploration of a world that would never be experienced on a normal basis. Examples of FanFiction are: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Goosebumps and Chornicles of Narnia.
Authorial intent is an integral part to FanFiction.The creator of the fan fiction wants a certain story to happen with the characters of the original work, so they write it in order to make it happen. The intention of all FanFiction it to create a world and characters that are out of the norm and experience situations that would never occur in a normal society. This intention is to allow the readers to step out of the real world and to let go and just be free with their imagination. Like Karissa said on her blog, FanFiction is an ORIGINAL authorial intent--not insofar that it is deriving something the author didn't intend, but that it deviates from the author's style and becomes a kind of Frankenstein of the original writing.
Posted by Denamarie at 9:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Blog Portfolio II
This is the second blogging portfolio for Literary Criticism. Since the first portfolio, we have discussed poststructuralism, historical criticism, intertextual criticism as well as mimetic criticism.
Coverage and Timeliness:
Structuralism and Literature
Pale Fire
Chapter 5 Introduction
The Uses of Psychology
Everyman
Miko and the Tempest
Feldstein
Postmortem for a Postmodernist
The New Psychoanalysis
Pictures and Poetry
Frye and the Tempest
Rhetoric
Chapter 6 Introduction
Depth:
Critical Path Presentation Blog
Beyond the Net
Gilbert's and Gubar's Yellow Wallpaper
Blog Carnival:
FanFiction
Interaction:
Karissa's Meaning Garden
Lorin's Postmortem
Blade Runner and Tiffany
Kevin, Blade Runner and I
Discussion:
Whodunnit?? Swann
Deja Vu and The Uncanny
Envy in Blade Runner
Wildcard:
Literature as my mother
Posted by Denamarie at 8:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
thick descriptions
Keesey, Ch 7 (Introduction) -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
Marxist critics have been opposed to New Historical practices of "thick descriptions". They are historically disabling, supposively.
One point made was that these descriptions of links between the most disparate elements in a society may imply power relationships at once so intricate and so agentless as to render futile any attempts to change them (414).
Also, the "thick descriptions" are like snapshots or stills that present a detailed picture of a society at a point in time but that offer no way to move from one time frame to another (414).
Marxist critics explain that this practice has no way to explain changes from one period to another and that its not really historical. There are inescapable biases that hinder our perception and recognition of a work historical.
Posted by Denamarie at 8:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A popular subject: Art
Eagleton, ''Literature and History'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
"...art does more than just passively reflect experience. It is held within ideology, but also manages to distance itself from it, to the point where it permits us to 'feel' and 'perceive' the ideology from which it springs" (425).
Art does not allow readers to know the truth. This ideology allows for readers to experience the real world in imaginary wasy which is similar to literature. It allows for us to experience a particular situation we normally would not be presented to. Art gives us the experience of a situation while science gives us the knowledge of it. However, it was once remarked that all art bears the imprint of its historical epoch, but that great art is that in which this imprint is most deeply marked. As students of literature, we are taught that the greatest art is that which timelessly transcends its historical conditions.
Posted by Denamarie at 8:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Perkins, Gillman, Perkins Gillman, Stetson???
"...the narrator's obsession with the wall-paper constitutes a regression from a linguistic presentation, the one she would write if John would allow her 'work', to an imaginary reconfiguration, an identification with mirror images in the paper as gestalt" (404).
The overdetermined signifier, the wallpaper, refers to both the title and the image of protean change featured in the story. The presentation of the wall-paper as mirror depicts the "intrapsychic splitting" of the protagionist (406). Lacan explains that hte mirror stage in child development shows the ability of an infant to differentiate itself from the projected image, a development from zero to one, self awareness. The narrator believes that her projections of the victims in a restrictive wallpaper might be similar to her and they share a common psychogenesis with her: they all want to come out.
Posted by Denamarie at 7:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
unveiling the urn
Guetti, ''Resisting the Aesthetic'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
"...we find a more indescribable, and perhaps less easily resolvable, feud between Keats's desire to 'know' the urn, to understand what it says and his suspicion that any such access to the meanings the urn once actually had in its culture would in fact seriously threaten its status as a distinct 'form,' or 'shape,' or coherent aesthetic object" (389).
It is suspected that Keats believes that it is better that off if the urn is left untouched and unknown. The mystery of the urn is the best part. The urn matters soo much to Keats because of his ignorance about it. It has not occured to anyone that Keats is attempting to read, rather thatn imagine, the urn. The ode does not give us the kind of concretely sensuous description of its object that we may have come to expect from Keats.
Posted by Denamarie at 6:52 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
i'm a dreamer
Miko, ''Tempest'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
"If Prosperso's art is a type (in any sense) of Art, the most obvious inference is not that Shakespeare yearns for a dream world, but that Art comes from one, or constitutes one, and that any effects Art has on the world "outside" must include recognizing this" (378).
Prospero's magic is seen as an Art and that it defines moral limits by illustrating psychological obduracy, including Prospero's own. Reading his behavior as stubborn and reluctant to leave his island, we can look at this as a preference of art (and dream) over "reality". Shakespeare in a sense drowns "The Tempest" and shows the idea that Art can, even in its own realm, control the desires it reflects.
Prospero's magic is used as a way of dreaming a perfect ending to a horrible beginning. By using his magical powers, he is using a sort of Art to create a perfect wonder.
Posted by Denamarie at 6:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
de Man showed me the sign
de Man, ''Semilogy and Rhetoric'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
The reproduction of signs has come loose in this article.
"The interpretation of the sign is not, for Pierce, a meaning but another sign; it is a reading, not a decodage, and this reading has, in its turn, to be interpreted into another sign, and so on ad infinitum" (367).
Basically, one sign gives birth to another. Within de Man's essay, it is described to us that a sign is not the thing but a meaning derived from teh thing by a process called representation. The sign entertains with its object. Readers are to interpret the signs in order to comprehend the meaning it is conveying.
de Man spoke of Pierce who laid the philosophical foundation for modern seminology, the study of signs as signifiers. Pierce stressed the distinction between grammar and rhetoric in his celebrated and so suggestively unfathomable definiton of the sign (367).
Posted by Denamarie at 6:07 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack