EllenEinsporntag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//3832009-05-08T20:06:39ZMovable Type Commercial 4.23-enPost Presentation Perspectives tag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.319752009-05-08T19:50:34Z2009-05-08T20:06:39ZI thoroughly enjoyed all of my classmates presentations of their critical projects. Here's my reflection on a job well done by the entire class: Greta & Katie: These two came up with a very practical and orginal idea. As a...Ellen
Greta & Katie: These two came up with a very practical and orginal idea. As a future teacher, I thought their experimental lesson was very helpful. Also, it was clear that the two spent a lot of time on their project in order to do a quality job.
Quinn and Sue: Hilarious!...What more can I say? Their creative exploration of author intent was both informative and entertaining.
Derek and Angela: Intense...I will admit that I couldn't look at Derek for much of our last class and didn't give him a goodbye hug because he creeped me out...haha. That said, I thought their presentation was great--It was clear that they spent a lot of time preparing for their acting debut. Also, having looked at their website earlier, I also credit them for a job well done on the intellectual level.
Erica and Jenna: I loved their topic and their presentation. A fan of Jane Austen myself, I thought these two approached their intertextual study of Pride and Prejudice in a very logical way and came to logical conclusions. Can't wait to see their movie! ;)
Kayley and Mara: These two did a good job of presenting the differences between earlier and later texts of The Boxcar Children. More of a Nacy Drew fan myself, I only read a few of the novels as a kid and didn't know that the later ones were written by ghost writers. Specifically, these two did a nice job of comparing their two chosen texts through close reading.
Michelle and J.R.: Another great idea. These two focused on an aspect of pop culture and analyzed a pertinent issue today. I thought Michelle's idea to post their issue on Yahoo answers was very pertinent to the class, considering our blogging efforts and I was surprised by the number of responses she received.
All around, the class did a great job on these projects: as a whole, I think we've learned to take literary criticism and apply it to our own interests, even making it fun. ]]>
My last blog portfolio...ever!tag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.319742009-05-08T18:43:49Z2009-05-08T20:08:35ZBelow is the last collection of blogs I will create for a class at SHU. I began my student blogging as a sophomore in Dr. Jerz's Intro to Lit class. Since then, I think I have steadily improved as an...Ellen
An archie deBunker
Lessons LearnedHow do we compete?Upholding the Satus QuoJust one little hyphen doesn't matter..or does it?Progress ReportAn Optimistic TwistA Little Art History LessonThe Ugh of Exam QuestionsWar! Huh, What is it good for?
If you take a look at one of these blogs randomly, I'm sure the blog you pick will not dissappoint. On every blog, I tried to do a quality job: instead of just writing something to get the assignment done, I truly tried to create critically engaging comments and queries. While this method may not have been the best in terms of time management--reading the material, thinking of a response, and creating the blog were incredibly time consuming activities--despite this setback in my busy schedule, I value the time I was able to spend blogging because I feel that I have genuinely learned from my efforts.
Here's a few instances where I am particularly proud of my efforts:
An Art History LessonI taught myself how to upload pictures this semester, and was able to tie in past knowledge with new learning in this blog.An Optimistic TwistI was able to come to grips with an issue I've struggled on before this class even.Progress ReportIn this blog, I interact well with my classmates in discussion.The Ugh of Exam QuestionsI post a super-long explanatory comment in response to a classmates here.
Thus ends my academic blogging carreer at Seton Hill. WHile part of me wants to jump for joy when I think of the time I will no longer have set aside for blogging, ultimately, I've enjoyed the time spent blogging in this class because of how much I've learned from the experience.
To see my previous blog portfolios, click here and here.
To see my blog detailing my reactions to the class's project presentations, read my blog Post Presentation Perspectives.
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Term Project Progress Report: Intertextuality and "The Three Little Pigs"tag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.318262009-04-21T01:26:45Z2009-04-21T02:21:41ZBethany and I have chosen to focus on the story of “Three Little Pigs” and perform an intertextual study by comparing several different versions of the text. The following is a list of the texts we have chosen to focus...Ellen
Bethany and I have chosen to focus on the story of “Three Little Pigs” and perform an intertextual study by comparing several different versions of the text. The following is a list of the texts we have chosen to focus on:
• Joseph Jacobs version
o considered by many to be the original
• John Scieszka’s version
o This version twists the story to imply that the wolves actions resulted from a simple misunderstanding rather than malice
• “The Wolf and Seven Young Kids” by the Grimm brothers
o Still debating on this one…it’s more like “Little Red Riding Hood,” but it might be interesting to show how different tales overlap
• Eugene Trivizas’s “The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig”
o A cute twist on the classic where the roles of the pigs and the wolf are reversed
• Green Jello’s song, “Three Little Pigs”
o Hilarious…
• Disney’s song, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf”
o Part of a short film produced by Disney that retells the story in a more traditional manner
• “A Dairy Tale: The Three Little Pigs”
o Another Disney remake; interesting because it assumes the viewer’s familiarity with the story (like some of the other version above)
Obviously, we may not have time to cover everything in this list in our presentation, so we still have some narrowing down to go. This list is by no means finalized.
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A little art history lessontag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.318082009-04-20T16:45:51Z2009-04-20T17:08:22Z...when one Caryatid was removed from the Erechtheum, those that remained lamented "their ravished sister" with wailing that could be heard throughout the town (Garson 454)....Ellen
...when one Caryatid was removed from the Erechtheum, those that remained lamented "their ravished sister" with wailing that could be heard throughout the town (Garson 454). ]]>
When I read, this part of Garson's essay, I surprised: it touches on the very concept I blogged about earlier in my blog, War! Huh, what is it good for? in reaction to Barker and Hulme's essay. Just as Garson seems to imply that, in their enthusiasm, collectors such as Lord Elgin actually ruin the artwork they prize reducing "the fragments to architectural ruins" (455), I question whether our enthusiastic actions as literary critics damage the text we criticize. Do you think we run this danger?
(By the way, the picture above is an image of the Erechtheum, an ancient Greek temple located in Athens. "Caryatids" are the supporting pillars carved into female figures. In the Erechtheum, they are located in what is known as the Porch of Maidens as pictured below...this is where my year spent as an art history major kicks in...I always get excited when the essays we read link artwork to their literary arguments. I'm a very visual learner, so naturally, I love linking concepts to pretty pictures :) Pics taken from witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/acropolis.html & http://encarta.msn.com/media_461514456/porch_of_maidens_erechtheum.html.)
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War! Huh, What is it good for?tag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.318022009-04-20T06:00:51Z2009-04-20T06:36:47Z...different readings struggle with each other on the site of the text, and all that can count, however provisionally, as knowledge of the text, is achieved through this discursive conflict (Barker and Hulme 444)....Ellen
...different readings struggle with each other on the site of the text, and all that can count, however provisionally, as knowledge of the text, is achieved through this discursive conflict (Barker and Hulme 444). ]]>
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An Optimistic Twisttag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.318002009-04-20T05:24:34Z2009-04-20T05:45:02Z...despite our romantic cult of originality, most artists are themselves gifted creators of variations upon received themes. Even those great writers whom we regard with special awe, and whom we celebrate for their refusal to parrot the cliches of their...Ellen
...despite our romantic cult of originality, most artists are themselves gifted creators of variations upon received themes. Even those great writers whom we regard with special awe, and whom we celebrate for their refusal to parrot the cliches of their culture, tend to be particularly brilliant improvisers rather than absolute violaters or pure inventors...Such borrowing is not evidence of imaginative parsimony, still less a symptom of creative exhaustion--I am using Dickens, Shakespeare, and Spenser precisely because they are among the most exuberant, generous, and creative literary imaginations in our language (Greenblatt 439). ]]>
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The Ugh of Exam Questionstag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.317992009-04-20T04:35:00Z2009-04-20T04:57:35ZExamination questions, the ultimate location of institutional power, identify the boundaries of the discipline, and define what is permissible to "discuss," as they so invitingly and misleadingly put it (Belsey 428)....Ellen
Examination questions, the ultimate location of institutional power, identify the boundaries of the discipline, and define what is permissible to "discuss," as they so invitingly and misleadingly put it (Belsey 428).]]>
Teaching with a Critical Awareness and Play the Game). Catherine Belsey raises a good point when she questions the authority of examination questions on a topic in her essay "Literature, History, and Politics." As teachers, we need to be careful when we formulate exam questions because those questions will inevitably be taken by our students as a reference to the all-important meaning of the text. We need to be careful, because, as literary critics, we know there is not one single all-important meaning, but several possibilities, and, if these possibilities are well supported, they may make valid arguments, even when they conflict with one another. However, while I do recognize this need to be careful when formulating an examination question, this does not mean that I think examination questions should be abandoned. No, as teachers, especially at the high school level which is were I plan to teach, we need to provide our students with both freedom and guidance. Thus, we need to make sure our question prompts are not too limiting and we might even give our students the opportunity to write a few papers about a text with no specific prompt at all. While I think I was very blessed in high school for the most part in terms of my English teachers, I've heard horror stories from others about paper assignments where they had to write about the thematic topic of ambition in Macbeth when they really wanted to write a paper on the supernatural elements in the play instead. To me, as long as the student properly supports his or her arguments, both papers could turn out well. Hopefully, as a teacher I will be able to keep an open mind when it comes to creating question prompts and paper assignments so I don't hinder my students creative ideas. It's these creative ideas that will help them grow--they'll learn much more from developing an argument they've come up with all by themselves as opposed to an argument I think is right or important. Furthermore, I'll get much more interesting and diverse papers to grade, which is a plus for me :)
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How do we compete?tag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.317162009-04-15T01:26:00Z2009-04-15T01:40:49Z"I'm not, however, going to attempt even a sketchy summary of all the variant readings of the poem; instead I want to consider a point that none of the innumerable readings I've come across has made--at least, none has done...Ellen
"I'm not, however, going to attempt even a sketchy summary of all the variant readings of the poem; instead I want to consider a point that none of the innumerable readings I've come across has made--at least, none has done so emphatically enough" (Guetti 386).]]>
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Lessons Learned tag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.317092009-04-14T04:33:29Z2009-04-14T04:55:08ZAccording to Stephen J. Miko, Prospero's "exile is a consequence of both the natural evil in his brother and his own retreat fro ducal responsibilities into studies--magic and the liberal arts" (377)....Ellen
According to Stephen J. Miko, Prospero's "exile is a consequence of both the natural evil in his brother and his own retreat fro ducal responsibilities into studies--magic and the liberal arts" (377).
The Tempest. The manner in which Miko mentions "magic and liberal arts" in one breath seems to imply that these two concepts naturally go together. With this implication I immediately flashed to the world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts where magic is a part of liberal arts. However, for Prospero the combination of magic and his studies does is not progressive but rather the cause of his outcast "condition" as Miko argues. According to Miko, he Prospero believes that through his magic "he has brought out the evil in Antonio" and through his studies "to have lived too much in his mind (his dreams?)" (377). This added parenthetical "dreams?" intrigued me. In a sense, both Prospero's magical and intellectual abilities lead him to a dream-like existence on an isolated island. He has a paradoxical sense of power on the island: while he is ruler of this dream-like land, the fact remains that in "reality" he is an exile. In the same sense, we as critics control a paradoxical sense of power over the text. While we may be ruler of our own interpretations, the fact remains that a larger reality exists outside of our own thoughts. Thus, we can learn from Prospero's mistake and attempt to avoid being caught up "too much in our own minds (or dreams?)" and, instead, always balance our aspiring interpretations within the context of a larger reality.
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An archie Debunkertag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.316992009-04-14T02:43:21Z2009-04-14T03:08:16Z...asked by his wife whether he wants to have his bowling shoes laced over or under, Archie Bunker answers with a question: "What's the difference?"... As long as we're talking about bowling shoes, the consequences are relatively trivial; Archie Bunker,...Ellen
...asked by his wife whether he wants to have his bowling shoes laced over or under, Archie Bunker answers with a question: "What's the difference?"... As long as we're talking about bowling shoes, the consequences are relatively trivial; Archie Bunker, who is a great believer in the authority of origins (as long, of course, as they are the right origins) muddles along in a world where literal and figurative meanings get in each other's way though not without discomforts. But suppose that it is a de-bunker rather than a "Bunker," and a de-bunker of the arche (or origin), an archie Debunker such as Nietzsche or Jacques Derrida for instance, who asks the question "What is the Difference"--and we cannot even tell from his grammar whether he "really" wants to know "what" the difference is or is he just telling us so we shouldn't even try to find it. (de Man 368)]]>
laughed while reading for Lit Crit--and this laugh was not a sort of inward chuckle, no it was an out loud laugh that made my family look over at me, glance at the cover of what I was reading, then wonder what the hell I could be laughing at. Indeed, until that moment, I would have been right there with my family wondering what on earth could be so amusing in a book called Contexts for Criticism, particularly in a poststructuralist essay. While that's not really meant to be a bash on the book, it's true that for all of the reading we've done this semester I've had to worry much more about falling asleep or getting a headache than from getting a stitch in my side from laughter. But here I was sitting at home, laughing at Paul de Man's clever example of the difference between grammar and rhetoric, all the while further fermenting my family's analysis of me as a hopeless dork. Lucky for me, I'm ok with that analysis. That laugh was precious to me and worth putting up with any sort of judgments my family might make about me (they already knew I was a dork anyway). At least now, in my glorious dorkiness, I have found a blurb from our readings that I not only appreciate for it's intellectual value (as I have done so with so many other blurbs in my previous blogs), but I also appreciate this little blurb in particular because managed to give me laughter instead of a headache.
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Psychological Theory: Frued vs. Jungtag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.316612009-04-09T17:19:38Z2009-04-09T18:18:40ZAs a class, we have studied psychological criticism and how it applies to literature; however, we didn't ever go into detail about the different psychological theories that exist that we pull from when using this critical approach. While many psychologists...Ellen
As a class, we have studied psychological criticism and how it applies to literature; however, we didn't ever go into detail about the different psychological theories that exist that we pull from when using this critical approach. While many psychologists have been mentioned in the essays we have read: Freud, Lacan, Adler, Jung, etc, in this blog, I will focus on only two and attempt to differentiate the often overlapping theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.
To begin with, let's focus on Freud. The elder of the the two renowned psychiatrists, Freud (1856-1939) is best known for his theories on the unconscious mind involving issues of repression and sexual desire (Wikipedia). He is the acclaimed creator of the practice of psychoanalysis, which focuses on the interpretation of dreams to reveal unconscious desires. According to Freud, the mind can be divided into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego, which respectively refer to our instincts, our reality, and morality. Often times, the id (our instinctual desires) clashes with the superego (our moral concepts) as our id seeks to fulfill our basic needs while the superego seeks to achieve the ideal.
As a young, up and coming psychiatrist, Jung (1875-1961) became a follower of Freud, particularly supporting his theory of the unconscious and methods of dream analysis (Wikipedia); however, his theory diverged from Freud's sexually charged analysis to a wider encompassing focus of the unconscious rooted in spirituality. Like Freud, Jung divides the individual into three parts: "the self: the shadow, or the darker, unconscious self (usually the villain in literature); the persona, or a man's social personality (usually the hero); and the anima, or a man's "soul image" (usually the heroine)" (Hamilton Burris--check it out! This site is a great overview of what we've been learning in class). Like Freud, Jung argues that in order to maintain a healthy mental state, a person needs to successfully balance these three aspects of his/her existence.
In light of their similar theoretical beliefs, Freud and Jung became professional friends, working closely together and influencing each other for a number of years. This friendship ended, however, as the two became increasingly argumentative about their different concepts of the unconscious. One website details this difference stating, Freud "depicted the unconscious as a receptacle underlying the conscious mind, whose task is to contain rejected and un-encountered events, feelings, thoughts and experiences of the resenting conscious mind." Meanwhile, Jung viewed the unconscious as a two layer concept: "a personal unconscious, right under the conscious mind, taking in personal psychic contents and down below the collective unconscious, containing the accumulating experience of all humanity." Furthermore, while for Freud, everything derives from sexuality, Jung believed that "there is much more to life than sexuality, which is but a part of a greater wholeness, which underlies the process of Individuation and constant search for meaning."
Thus, in applying a psychological approach to literature, we, as writers, need to be aware of exactly whose psychological theory we are employing. Just as there are subtle differences between the theories of literary critics (for example contrast the deconstructivist theories of Derrida with those of Paul de Man), there are differences between psychological theories. As a result, perhaps it is not enough to say that we are doing a psychological reading of "The Yellow Wallpaper"; we may need to be more specific and claim that we are doing a Freudian or Jungian reading of the text. ]]>
Aliens are real, I swear...I just can't prove it to you.tag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.316132009-04-06T03:28:56Z2009-04-06T03:39:07ZReading a text is no longer considered an innocent activity. (Wright 393)...Ellen
Reading a text is no longer considered an innocent activity. (Wright 393)]]>
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Path over Product: Blogging Portfolio 2tag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.316152009-04-06T02:34:37Z2009-04-06T04:37:14ZThus begins blog portfolio two...you know what that means---only one left! However, while I am indeed excited that the semester's end is visible on the horizon, my excitement should not be mistaken to imply a dislike of this class. In...EllenCoverage:Here's a list of all the blogs I wrote since portfolio 1:Shadows in DustBooks Have Birth CertificatesThe LabyrinthMuddled MimeticallyYou know what they say: When you ASSuME...Free Will Isn't FreeRepetition Makes the Heart Grow FonderLiterary LiposuctionAn apple is not an orangeTeaching with a Critical AwarenessFrye Spies with his Critical EyeFrom Monolith to MonomythBack to RomanticsMore Muddiness to my Muddy PointsDeconstructing Derrida's DeconstructivismWhat's the Buzz?Aliens are real, I swear...I just can't prove it to you.
Depth:Here's a list of blog entries where I really invest myself in the material being discussed. In my opinion, almost all of my blogs are fitting for this category; however, here are the ones I spent the most time on:
Muddled MimeticallyYou know what they say...When you ASSuMEAn apple is not an orangeWhat's the Buzz?Deconstructing Derrida's DeconstructivismInteraction: Here's a few examples of where I contribute to my peer's blogs:
On Jenna's 5 Stars for SHU's Life is a Dream
On Angela's ...And the Point Was?
On Bethany's T.S. is back for more and it's muddy!!
Discussion:Here's a few examples of where my blog or my comments spark a discussion:
On Angela's The Terrible Terribleness That Exists Within a Terrible Criticism
On my Teaching With a Critical Awareness
On my Repetition Makes the Heart Grow FonderXenoblogging:Here's a few examples of where I help my classmates out through my comments and links:The comment grande:
On Angela's blog, What? He was supposed to be funny!
On Greta's Use the Tool that Works BestThe comment primo:
On Jenna's So, what's the center?
The comment informative:
On Sue's One big ol' muddy point
The link gracious:
In my blog Deconstructing Derrida's Deconstructivsim
Wild Card:And, drum roll, please....Here is my most prized blogging possession for this batch:Teaching with a Critical Awareness While this may be a surprising choice, I feel that this blog is most important to me because, in it, I link what we are doing in class directly to what I will be doing in the future. While I consider my blogging on Derrida to be important, particularly when I look at how many of my classmates I was able to help, I consider this small blog just as important, if not more so, because it shows how I can take what I've learned in class and help not just my current classmates, but, more importantly, my future students as well.
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Back to Romantics...tag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.316122009-04-06T00:51:38Z2009-04-06T02:28:29Z"The 'writable' text, usually a modernist one, has no determinate meaning, no settled signifieds, but is plural and diffuse, an inexhaustible tissue or galaxy of signifiers, a seamless weave of codes and fragments of codes, through which the critic my...Ellen
"The 'writable' text, usually a modernist one, has no determinate meaning, no settled signifieds, but is plural and diffuse, an inexhaustible tissue or galaxy of signifiers, a seamless weave of codes and fragments of codes, through which the critic my cut his own errant path" (Eagleton 119).
Literary Liposuction, in which I support the concepts of romantic creation--that is, as authors, we "half-create, half-perceive" what we read and write. Thus, Romantic theory applies not only to creative writing, but critical writing as well (which, is creative in a sense as well if you think about it). While Eagleton describes critics as "cutting their own path" through the "seamless weave of codes and fragments of codes," I see critics in a slightly different way. Instead of simply trying to cut through the crowd of codes, I visualize critics taking these "seamless codes" and weaving a path together that leads in a resolute direction. While many other paths may be chosen, the critic chooses to focus on one destination and creates his path by patching one code with another accordingly.
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More Muddiness to my Muddy Pointstag:blogs.setonhill.edu,2009:/EllenEinsporn//383.316092009-04-06T00:29:52Z2009-04-06T00:49:54Z"If we assume we can apply, say, a formal approach to The Tempest, and then a historical approach, an intertextual approach, and so forth, and see which approach works best, or see to what extent each 'works,' we implicitly claim...Ellen
"If we assume we can apply, say, a formal approach to The Tempest, and then a historical approach, an intertextual approach, and so forth, and see which approach works best, or see to what extent each 'works,' we implicitly claim that we possess already a standard of critical adequacy independent of any approach. We will know what 'works' when we see it" (Keesey 347).
"But it is the mark of the deconstructive critics not to stop at any certain point" (Keesey 348).
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do we "know what 'works' when we see it?" While I still don't know the answer to that question, I at least now realize that in asking that question, I was thinking like a poststructuralist. Furthermore, I have also named as my muddy point on multiple occasions an uncertainty of when to stop in critical analysis--"Couldn't we just go on forever?" I would ask, then worry about how to write a 3 page case study if this were the case. Well, for the deconstructionists, this is the case--there is no stopping point. While this may complicate things as opposed to clarifying them, I feel a little better knowing that my muddy points, in part, inspired a literary movement. While I'm still "answerless", at least I'm not alone in recognizing these issues...
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When I read, this part of Garson's essay, I surprised: it touches on the very concept I blogged about earlier in my blog, War! Huh, what is it good for? in reaction to Barker and Hulme's essay. Just as Garson seems to imply that, in their enthusiasm, collectors such as Lord Elgin actually ruin the artwork they prize reducing "the fragments to architectural ruins" (455), I question whether our enthusiastic actions as literary critics damage the text we criticize. Do you think we run this danger?
(By the way, the picture above is an image of the Erechtheum, an ancient Greek temple located in Athens. "Caryatids" are the supporting pillars carved into female figures. In the Erechtheum, they are located in what is known as the Porch of Maidens as pictured below...this is where my year spent as an art history major kicks in...I always get excited when the essays we read link artwork to their literary arguments. I'm a very visual learner, so naturally, I love linking concepts to pretty pictures :) Pics taken from witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/acropolis.html & http://encarta.msn.com/media_461514456/porch_of_maidens_erechtheum.html.)
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