As the semester is wrapping up I thought to myself, "I wonder which of these theories I will use most when I am teaching?" I liked the question so much that I decided to pose it to the rest of the class as well. I think that my views need to be stated first. I had a feeling (and one that I was right in having) that this topic would be taken up by a variety of people. Myself heading into the elementary field I think might be the most hard pressed to enter into the topic of criticism with these still developing students.
I think that my views are this. I will probably use some aspect of Authorial Intent and Culture in History to introduce my students to the literature they will be reading. I'm not so sure, and I could be entirely wrong in this, that any of the other aspects of literary criticism could be grasped by the still developing minds of elementary students.
That said, I think that it will become my job to try and introduce as many of the different ways of criticism as possible. Because the mind of a fifth or sixth grader might be able to handle the material easier than a first or second grader I think that the earliest I would introduce anything other than Authorial Intent and Culture would be fifth grade. This can be done through teacher led discussions and even through writing prompts. If in fact I do have these upper elementary grades, I think that it will be my job, no my duty, to prepare them for what they might expect in the middle school and into high school.
Another aspect that elementary students are involved in is Reader Response. "How?" you ask? Well...any type of project that I set my younger students to do will be their response to a book. I look back on my elementary years and think about the projects that I worked on with my parents. These projects (everything from mobiles to shoe box creations) all prepared me to make a verbal response to a book. I was just putting it in this form first.
I can't wait to read what my secondary, and even those that are looking into Higher Education, have to say about this topic. I think that this carnival is going to be amazing!
At this moment in a mere two weeks I will officially be a college graduate. I never thought that this day would come, even as it advanced closer and closer. This semester has been so full of changes in me that I never thought it was possible. The first blogging portfolio found me hesitant to this field of study and rusty on my blogging skills. My blogs were long and thought out, but they didn't really say very much. As the semester moved on and I entered into the meat of the class, I found that my blogs were getting shorter. However they were getting more interesting to read. I was making my points faster and a lot of people seemed able to discuss and to interact with on these topics.
I was also more willing to discuss in this part of the class. Many of my classmates, including myself, presented during this time. It was interesting to see what they had to say and although I got my presentation blog up late, I felt that I was able to accomplish a lot during my presentation. As I mentioned in my reflection to Dr. Jerz, the presentation part of my blog was a bit lacking, however the discussion part of the presentation went really well. (Thanks guys!)
This third part of the semester has been very interesting. I have been writing papers left and write, but my mini papers for this class have gotten better. I felt a huge sense of pride and accomplishment when I saw that my grades had improved because this is something that I have struggled with all semester. I also found that I had begun making connections to many different aspects of the course. I think that what helped this was the critical project. Val and I had a blast getting into Harry's mind and where the reader fit into it all. I also enjoyed seeing what the others did. I attribute the light bulb that finally went off to this class.
The last major accomplishment for this semester will be completing the monster of a paper that was assigned. I have never even thought about writing a paper of this size. As I mention here, I have been struggling. After a meeting that I had with Dr. Jerz today, I find that I may be further along than I thought.
If there is anything that I have learned this semester in literary criticism it is that by sticking with it you can accomplish a ton of things. Around the middle of the semester I was ready to give up and just throw in the towel, but now I know that if I just put my mind to it I can get through anything. I'm really glad that I didn't throw in the towel. I think that, after being away from literature all of last summer and the fall semester, I came back into it with trepidation. I was worried that this course, the toughest literature course Seton Hill offers, would be the end of me and I almost let it.
All of that said, I think that it is time to get to the portfolio. I want to send out a thank you to everyone that participated in my (soon to be completed) carnival. No worries if you haven't posted your carnival entry yet. You have until Wednesday at 6 to get it done...I'll get that hostess entry up shortly thereafter. Have a great summer everyone!
The Coverage and Timeliness
de Man confuses me...
A nod to the psychological
Full of assumptions
Finally, something I think I semi-understand
Marx? A Literary Critic?
The Yin and Yang of Literature
The Theories Lie in History
Barker and Hulme...I just don't know what to say....
A writing on the Ode
Depth
The Yin and Yang of Literature
The Theories Lie in History
Blog Carnival
Ferris Wheel of Literary Criticism
The hostess entry..."Step right up and enter in the mystical world of educational criticism!"
Thanks to all who participated!
Interaction
Barker and Hulme...I just don't know what to say....
I feel bad that I didn't interact more with my classmates, but I found that I was writing my entries long before anyone else had theirs up, or that I had an idea that I particularly wanted to hit on.
Discussions
de Man confuses me...
Kevin Hinton's Ideology And Childhood
Vanessa's The Irony of Wallpaper- Feldstein Presentation
Extra Stuff
Literary Escapades into Harry Potter
There is creativity in criticism?
Struggling with the Narrator
Sixteen pages!!!
Xennoblogging
Comment Grande: Vanessa's Ah, the French
Comment Informative: Vanessa's The Irony of Wallpaper- Feldstein Presentation
Link Gracious: Kevin Hinton's Ideology And Childhood and David's It's All About Production
Wildcard
I'm sorry for those of you that are tired of Harry Potter, but I am particularly proud of the following entry. Written on a rainy afternoon, I was appalled to learn that Laura Mallory was taking a THIRD SHOT at my beloved teenage wizard. Thus this entry was spawned.
Well, with Portfolio III looming I have decided to take up the role as hostess. I wanted to do something with education and after a conversation with Lorin have decided to pose you all a few questions.
With all of the different methods that we have studied, I'm sure that you all have your own ideas of how to introduce a work. My question is which way do you think will be best for you and your students? Why? Will you use more than one method?
I think that I am the only elementary person here so I really am interested in the way that you all will be teaching because I will have your students before you. I would like to prepare them in anyway possible for what they might expect when entering into your classroom.
If any of you are interested in this please let me know asap by responding to this blog entry and by posting the link to your entry on this topic in this blog as well. If you are interested, could you have your blog up by Wednesday at 6 PM? That way I can work on the cover entry for everyone's portfolio and have it up that night. Hope to hear from you all soon!
I figured that tonight I would take a break from all of the paper writing and reflect back on what I have been doing for this particular paper in the class at this moment. Right now, I'm very frustrated with myself. I can't seem to get up the motivation to take the neccessary steps to get it done. I know that there are others out there because I have talked to them, but talking about my frustration at not being able to get it done is not going to get it done. Wow. Lots of repeating going on here. I think that what has me down is that I have one severe case of senioritis. With graduation a mere 13 days away and the fact that I have had to do some pretty major things lately in order to graduate has made me want to do just that.
My paper is on the unreliable narrator in The Sound and the Fury and "Benito Cereno." After reviewing the notes that were on my presubmission report, I have decided that I'm going to try and do something else in my thesis other than psychoanalysis. I think that what might help my thesis a lot is studying how the different styles that are used for each of the characters shows how each can be an unreliable narrator and show how each of these characters play into the culture of their characters. For instance, Captain Delano plays into the culture of the American captain because he is very arrogant and feels that he needs to step in and take over what is happening aboard Benito Cereno's ship, a Spanish ship.
In order to do this, I am going to need to find different articles that would help me to explain the way that I am using culture. I am most assuredly going to use Greenblatt's essay from our class because I feel that this has been the form of literature that I understand the most. I also think that I will try and fit in deconstruction and formalism somehow because I will be deconstructing the characters that I use in a formalistic way. Also, I will focus a bit on reader response because most of the articles that I have found on the unreliable narrator have mentioned that the narrator is only unreliable if the reader allows him or her to be.
Any comments or feedback on this would be amazing! Like I said. I'm really struggling to get this done. I do have a meeting with Dr. Jerz Monday at 2, so after that I might update my entry a bit to see if I have a game plan.
Well, on April 19, 2007, my literary criticism class took lit crit to a whole new level. Everything from skits on "A Streetcar Named Desire" to a website on Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" and lots in between. The applications on the things that we have learned to our favorite things made for one amazingly funny and interesting night.
Let's start of with the group that pretty much blew everyone else out of the water. Karissa and Jay presented on "A Streetcar Named Desire" and how that can be translated into AIM Chat. There renditions were interesting, but what I enjoyed more was their assertion that this kind of "writing" could be used in order to do prewriting activities with students. I jumped all over that being the elementary teacher that I am and presented a con argument for it, but I can see where they are coming from too. I absolutely howled when they did their skit at the end. It was very thought out and well played on both their parts.
The next people to go were Val and myself. We didn't plan our time very well and thus did not get through all of our information, however, we have had some interest in the blog. Well, Val's entry on The Uncanny has had some interest. Also, Mitchell checked out the blog and he (as a fan) seemed to like it a lot so it was good to see that. Throughout working on our presentation I did learn more about MT than I thought I ever would. With the technical difficulties that we had, I had to learn fast too! It was interesting to see how ever little number I changed in the index would change some small aspect of the blog that I never even knew was there until I went to try and change it.
Speaking of Mitchell, he and Gina did an excellent job on theirs as well. I would have never thought to do a MySpace page! They used YouTube clips and explained how cartoon characters can fit into idea of the implied or ideal reader. Some of the clips they showed were a bit graphic, but it proved their point that the ideal viewer differs from place to place.
I also enjoyed Vanessa and Diana's presentation. They created a very attractive website for "Sleeping Beauty" and applied several of the techniques that we have been studying. It is easy to tell that the two of them worked very long and very hard on this. Vanessa mentioned during the presentation that Diana did a lot of the work in .html formating and that just amazes me. I wish, at times, that I could do that.
The other presentations that night I didn't really understand. Because I don't follow music I couldn't really get into their examples. I felt bad because I didn't understand so I couldn't participate in their presentations.
The last presentation occured just this week. Denamarie and Lorin presented an amazing video rendition of "The Yellow Wall-paper" that paralleled "Garden State." They made really good connections and the rewrites of the scenes were awesome too. I would never have been able to make those connections. (Mostly because I haven't ever seen "Garden State" the whole way through, but I definitely think that these two could be directors some day! :-) I also liked that one of their actors (the girl that played the narrator (Katie Burns)) is the now Vice President of MAW. Hurray!
Phew. There were a lot of presentations and a lot of really good ideas. One never knows what to expect going into these things and I certainly did not expect what happened.
Finally, a critic that just comes out and says it. When looking at the historical background of Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" no one can say what urn Keats is talking about!
Scholars interested in more culturally prestigious sources have attempted, without success, to discover on specific urn that Keats might have seen and used as his model. Ian Jack has concluded that Keats probably drew on a number of museum-pieces that he had seen, or seen drawings of, and constructed a composite ideal urn from their details.
I have to say that when I read those lines above I smiled a little inside. I have heard it said over and over again that no one can place whether a real urn was used for this poem or not, and I have never been sure what to believe because I have not seen it in writing anywhere whether this has happened or not happened. Well, now I have. It makes complete sense for this poem to have been put together through the pieces that Keats has seen. Actually I think that it makes more sense than it probably did before because now the "Grecian" part of this poem is a bit more broad. Granted there might be an urn out there somewhere that is similar to the one found in the poem, but I doubt it because the images are so different. Can't wait to discuss this one in class....
Just when I thought I had the hang of a cultural approach everything is blown out of the water. I understand where they are coming from when they say that The Tempest is just trying to show another way of approaching the colonialism issue, however what they are trying to do with con-text really confuses me. In one little section (Section III on 444-445) is the only place in the essay that they really focus on what they mean by con-text. They state:
These con-texts are the precondition of the plays' historical and political signification, although literary criticism has operated systematically to close down that signification by a continual process of occlusion.
And so I turned to my classmates for help in this matter.
The first classmate that I turned to was David because he is presenting on this matter. His entry made more sense to me than the original article did. He explained the essay in very clear and stated terms that helped me to understand what Barker and Hulme were trying to say. From that I now understand that the beginning of this essay was about showing how the other criticisms have pretty much brushed over historicism and paid it little heed. Also, David explained in more detail about how colonialism tied into Barker and Hulme's argument.
I don't really have much more to say other than I hope that the discussion on this essay helps me to understand it a bit better.
Barker and Hulme, ''Nymphs and Reapers Heavily Vanish'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
Ok....Little story first. I didn't know that we had to do this until like, well now. Harry Potter is a character that sits near and dear to both Valerie and myself so we chose to do our term project on that. What started out as a wonderful idea for a website turned into a disaster for a blog. When Val and I went in to try and change our colors and layout to the blog we had no idea what was in for us. Somehow we managed to completely mess up everything and we had to start from the beginning with the default codes off of the MT Website. Even these default codes gave us trouble because at first we couldn't find them. We actually started making plans B and C (plan B being a blogspot blog and plan C being panic), and then Valerie cries, "OMG! HOW STUPID AM I???" She then proceeds to do a flurry of activity which threw me into a state of confusion. Long story short, we (meaning Val) figured out what was wrong and we have now ended with this plain, but effective blog.
A note on our entries. We took two different stances to this project. Val's end of it focused very much on the actual novel that we were studying, while I chose to give a bit more background on the theories that we decided to do. When they are brought together I think that they make a pretty darn cohesive blog about our literary escapades into the world of Harry Potter. I would like to say that I learned more about MT by working with Valerie than I ever thought possible. I think that it is also important to note that Karissa was key in our success because she directed us to the MT defaults that for some reason we could not find. Thanks Karissa!
Let me start off by saying that since I read the Greenblatt essay first, this essay confused me completely. There were times when I was reading this article that I was able to pick up on the connections that Belsey was trying to draw, but most of the time it just seemed to me that she was bashing the other forms of literary criticism. This seems to go against everything that Greenblatt told us to believe. Greenblatt called for a connection between culture and other forms of criticism while Belsey puts them down. She states:
...the opening pages of Grammatology invite vulgar deconstructionists to take it that there is no such thing as meaning, and in consequence, since meaningless language is literally unthinkable, that words mean whatever you want them to mean.
Now Catherine, is it really necessary to call people names?
All her name calling aside, Belsey does make some very good points in my mind when it came to literary criticism. After giving a breakdown of how history and politics enter the playing field of literature she states:
Literature is not a knowledge. Literary criticism is a knowledge, produced in and reproducing an institution. Some of the most important and radical work of the last decade has been devoted to analysis of the institution of literary criticism, challenging its assumptions, exposing its ideological implications and relativising its claims to universality and timelessness.
Belsey, ''Literature, History, Politics'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
Of any of the articles, Greenblatt seems to have described the theory behind Culture in precise details. I think that it helped that I have had some background in Shakespeare and with Spenser, but that aside I think that he explained his argument well. I thought that the questions he posed to his readers on how to determine the culture of a reading were very helpful and I'll probably try to apply these questions to my tenth exercise. The biggest quotation of this article that stood out to me was as follows:
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. (438)
It seems to me that this is the basic ying/yang concept.
What is the Yin Yang concept? Well it is a concept begun by the Chinese and is a basic balance concept. It is described here as:
The Yin-Yang doctrine teaches that everything is the product of two principles: Yin, which is weak, female and destructive and Yang, which is strong, male and creative. It is the interaction of these two principles that produces the arising of the five elements and enables change to take place within the world.
What does this have to do with the above quote? Well it is simple. Without the culture in which a work is produced, that particular work might not have been created. I know that the philosophic principle is a bit of a stretch but it really works. The culture of a society plays off of the literature in the time and the literature plays off of the culture. It is almost as if everything comes full circle. Greenblatt mentions later that the novel plays directly into the hands of this concept. It is a way for "Individuals to come to terms with the governing patterns of culture" (439). Simply put, the novel is a way for people to respond to changes in culture or even to influence culture.
Greenblatt also does not put down other theories of literary study, but embraces them. He calls for a balance (again playing back on the yin yang concept) between cultural study of literature and formalism (or a close reading) because it is through formalism that a cultural study is possible.
I have to say that this is one of my favorite essays so far this semester. I just hope that I can use it in some way.
OK. I have tried to be good and keep my commenting on Harry Potter to the minimum because I know peoples feelings on it in this class. I also know that Valerie and I are working on this for our project. However, in doing research for our project I came across something that I want to comment on away from the Harry Potter Criticism blog because it is purely my opinion. So, the rest of this entry is going to be devoted to the Laura Mallory case against Harry Potter in Gwinnett County, GA.
First some background on the case. This began almost a year ago when a mother of, then, three children (now four) brought the case up in a school board meeting. As reported by the Gwinnett Daily Post, Mrs. Mallory claimed that the Harry Potter series supported witchcraft in children and that adults, those who are supposed to protect their children from the things the Bible calls evil, were promoting the behavior that would send their children straight to Satan's loving arms. The result of the hearing was that the books would stay on the shelf. Quoting the article:
District 2 Representative Daniel Seckinger and Chairman Robert McClure said they had not made their decision because it was the popular one or because the books encouraged kids to read. Their main priority was whether the books were appropriate for students. They also said the fact that Mallory had not read the book series was not a consideration in their decision.
When I read that she was pursuing this without every opening the cover of one of the books I was appalled. Mallory has the right to her opinion, however making that opinion and trying to fight to have books removed from a library without ever reading them makes you more hypocritical than if you read the books first and decided afterwards that the books were bad.
But, the unanimous decision was not enough for her. The Gwinnett Daily Post reported a month later that Mallory was appealing the decision. And so, the school's superintendent submitted the appeal to the Georgia State Board of Education. The Board of Education decided to hold a public hearing on October 3, 2006 to decide Harry's fate. The Post again reports Mallory as saying:
“Witchcraft is being mainstreamed to our children today,’’ she said. “My children are the most precious thing in the world to me. I surely do not want them to be indoctrinated into a religion whose practices are evil.’’ Mallory also referred to research by the American Academy of Pediatrics that found young children cannot readily distinguish fantasy from reality and try to imitate what they’ve read. But Victoria Sweeny, the Gwinnett school board’s lawyer, said the Potter books are clearly “fantasy fiction’’ and are kept in the fiction section of school libraries.
No decision was reported in this article, however on December 14, 2006 her case was overturned and the final vote the following day another report in the paper restated that fact.
Then, on January 19, 2007 Mallory appealed the state's decision. (Third times the charm?) Mallory's comment on the appeal? Well you have to read it to believe it:
Laura Mallory said her one-sentence appeal, dated Jan. 9, was filed after "a lot of prayer ... (and) a very, very specific answer to prayer."
"I didn't want to do it if the Lord didn't want me to," said Mallory, who has two children in elementary school this year. "It's not easy, the criticism, but I'm trying to do what's right."
How does the school board feel about it? Well:
Roach said Mallory "certainly has a right" to appeal, but the school system believes the appeal will affirm the decisions of the local and state boards. Mallory, however, says the power of God will ultimately win.
Who knows what is going to happen with this third round of hearings, but they have been set for May 29, 2007. This will mean a full year has gone by where this mother has been attending and preparing for hearings.
One has to applaud her consistency. Many would have given up by now. I just feel like she is wasting her time. The last article linked to here states that, according to the American Library Association, the book has been challenged "at least 115 times since 2000, making them the most challenged texts of the 21st century." That's a lot of challenges for a series.
Mallory's attempts to have this book have come under some extreme fire and caused much controversy. Emil Steiner writes on her efforts in a blog titled: Laura Mallory v. Harry Potter 3: This Time It's Idiotic. I came across this when searching about the controversy and this is actually what sparked my desire to write this entry. I didn't know about it until reading this post found on the Washington Post website. Some people in the comments on this blog call her quite a source for entertainment, however others have taken up the task to demeaning or upholding what she has to say.
One comment, made by someone calling herself AtlantaMom states:
I think all you folks hate Laura because you know deep down she has a point but you are afraid to admit it. You are cowards because you cannot be honest with yourselves. That is my main problem with HP, the deception and lying. I commend you Laura, for taking a stand however unpopular it might be. Fight on inspite of the sinners trying to bring you down. You cause is that of righteousness and you will get your just desserts.
And another by someone calling themselves Dagmar states:
Look, you either follow the Bible or you don't, but it clearly states that witchcraft and the like is evil. Now if you don't follow the Bible and are choosing darkness, that's fine, but at least own up to it. Don't try and have it both ways just because you are entertained by these satanic writings but you still think you should be saved. Its all there in black and white, my friends, "you reap what you sow." GOD BLESS
And if these were not enough the people on the con side of what Mallory is doing are even more numerous and even more outrageous in the commenting. Many of the people on this side begin attacking Mallory for her parenting habits. One person, Claire Spencer, states at the beginning of a very lengthy comment:
The merits or otherwise regarding the content in the Harry Potter books is neither here nor there - what Laura Mallory appears to be insinuating is that a book has the power to change a young person's moral fibre for the worse. I would argue that a person's quality is a combination of nurture and nature, and if a child were so easily convinced to lie, cheat or steal - then something is wrong elsewhere. To spell it out: their upbringing has failed them. That responsibility lies with the parents to ensure that a child know what right and wrong are. Reading about the wrongs of others is not wrong. It is informative.
What does all this say to me? As a future teacher, a literature major, and a fan of the novels all it says to me is that some people just like to take a fan to flames. While I am most assuredly for the books, I do believe that people have a right to their opinion. I don't agree that Mallory should be trying to force her religious beliefs onto other parents through her efforts to have the books removed from her school's library, but at the same time I don't think that people should be attacking the way that she has chosen to raise her children either. With the fast approaching arrival of the final book and the fifth movie I can't help but brace myself for the oncoming slaughter on both sides. Mallory's appeal comes out just a mere month and a half before both release dates and I can only imagine what is going to happen. Thankfully I'll be at camp by that time so the controversy won't ruin the book for me, but I really feel for others that have to see that in their papers and their news.
I think that is enough for now. I hope I didn't bore you to sleep through this long entry, but it was something that I had to do.
So. Marx deserves some credit for literary criticism. Who knew? Obviously Keesy, but that is neither here nor there. I enjoyed reading about Marx's idea that style isn't everything. The author needs to keep in mind that the time period the author was writing in had a huge influence on what he or she was writing.
To write well is more than a matter of "style"; it also means having at one's disposal an ideological perspective which can penetrate to the realities of men's experience in a certain situation...not just because its author happens to have an excellent prose-style, but because his historical situation allows him access to such insights.
I think that the above quote goes back to what Keesey was saying about being aware of your historical biases when you are writing. Many of us are studying style in Advanced Literature right now and we can see some of this come into play. Style is often affected by the surrounding times. Sometimes style is even a reaction to another style. It is interesting the way that these things come in and out of fashion the way that clothes do and I think that is what Marx is trying to say. By keeping in mine the historical situation you are in, it can help you to write a better piece because you will know what your audiences are looking for. Style is also something fun to experiment with and your experiments can either go well for you or they can backfire. It all depends on what the people want to read at that time.
Eagleton, ''Literature and History'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
Reading this introduction was like breathing the fresh, clean, warm air of spring. (Too bad mother nature won't cooperate outside.) All semester I have been struggling with concepts in this class and history is a concept that I can do - I think anyway. I found this introduction particularly interesting because Keesey pretty much says that historicism is evident in some shape and form in all the concepts we have studied and vice versa. However, he does put in a disclaimer:
Quite consistently, therefore, cultural critics have joined other poststurcturalist historians in stressing the inquirer's need for self-awareness. As we atempt to investigate cultural phenomena across geographical, temporal, and class boundaries, we need to know what cultural baggage we carry with us and how we acquired it.
This is a good warning to have when entering into a historical reading of a work in my opinion.
Why? Well because our present day views of Shakespeare's time are much more knowing than say what Shakespeare knew. We can look at Google or Wikipedia and get an idea of what the upper-class and lower-class of that time were thinking, but Shakespeare couldn't read minds. In my (humble) opinion, he wrote his plays more to put food on his table than to make any actual statement. We have so much access to information these days, that we tend to forget sometimes (or at least I do) that authors we read lived in very different time periods and in very different places. I like to think that some day we can time travel back to the time of our authors, but for now all we can do is rely on the knowledge that we have to get us through. However when relying on that knowledge we have to keep in mind our own biases as well. Good Job Keesey.
Keesey, Ch 7 (Introduction) -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
I'm probably getting this very wrong, but when I read the article written by Feldstein I found it full of assumptions. The general use of poststructuralism was there, but after that there were many guesses made at what could have happened after the last period. For instance:
After he is revived, would he characterize her ritual as one of the Narrator's many fixations with the wall-paper or with the women in it? if he did so, John's condemnation would not dissuade the narrator from recognizing that he exhibits his own fixations, especially the claim to a definitive diagnosis of her case, articulated with a fixed certainty that feigns objectivity while denying the countertransference.
Now my question is...If at the beginning of the essay Feldstein is trying to reconcile the different uses of wall paper in the story, what does speculating and making assumptions about what happened afterwards help in the argument?
I know that I am probably really far off base here, but it was a nagging question in my mind from the moment these assumptions began. I know that they probably have some sort of relavance that I'm not seeing (and if so someone please feel free to point them out), but all I could think about was the discussion that we had at the beginning of the semester about not trying to find solutions where none can be found.
On the other hand, I found the idea that the narrator writing a memoir instead of a journal interesting. While I'm not sure that I agree with this idea 100% the idea does have some merit. I will be interested to see what other people think.
I am continually amazed at how some of the theories seem to blur the lines of distinction when it comes to choosing a theory. While i will admit that I found most of Miko's essay to be in the poststructural category (I think), I was interested to see how a little bit of psychology slid into the essay as well. Miko paraphrases E. E. Stoll's assessment of Caliban:
E. E. Stoll has with particular relish laid out the psychology of the "brute," who loves his sensual pleasures and is more amoral than immoral, and who may be allowed an imagination - must be allowed one, if we refuse to dismiss his lyrical speech on dream-inducing music...as out of character.
I was actually excited to see that these lines had blurred. In a conversation I had with Dr. A he said that psychology was a good spring board to poststructuralism. Until reading the above passage I couldn't see how. From what I understand, through psychology Miko is trying to show his readers the deconstruction of Caliban's character. I actually wish that he had gone deeper into this idea. I think that it would be interesting to deconstruct Caliban's psyche to see what Shakespeare intended in his character. Or is that too many blending of lines?
As with most of the essays in this course, I once again find myself confused on the actual theory behind the theory. On the other hand, I was glad to see an author admit that it really is confusing. Many questions are asked by de Man as he states his case and that is actually the main point to his essay (I think). This author takes the idea of the rhetorical question and breaks it down (or deconstructs it). Mr. de Man states:
The point is as follows. A perfectly clear syntactical paradigm (the question) engenders a sentence that has at least two meanings of which the one asserts and the other denies its own illocutionary mode. It is not so that there are simply two meanings, on literal and the other figural, and that we have to decide which one of these meanings is the right one in this particular situation.
Never in my life did I think I would read something that broke down the idea behind a rhetorical question in such a manner.
I have to say that as I was reading this passage about the question and the different ways to read it I questioned to myself why? I am consistently amazed each week as I am reading the sections on theory that are supposed to help me understand the ideas behind the theory only to discover that I become more confused with each reading. That being said, I think that I actually got this one. De Man is trying to show his readers how to deconstruct an idea using a staple of the human language. Who doesn't ask rhetorical questions from time to time? I mean come on. They slip out when one is trying to be sarcastic or when frustrated. Anyway. I found this essay interesting because a relatively simple idea has just been taken and made more complicated than I ever thought possible.
de Man, ''Semilogy and Rhetoric'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
Once again I find myself at the blogging portfolio point in time. This time graduation is a little over a month away and there is a mountain of work to be completed. This Friday I turn in my last university portfolio, I have just completed my last lesson for pre-student teaching clinical lab, and I'm getting ready to buy that cap and gown with my diploma frame waiting in the wings. It is almost too good to be true.
So once again I look back on my blog entries and gather them here in order to show my completion of the work. Please feel free to peruse them, but note that they are for class.
*Note: These entries begin with the readings that were due from February 22 until those that were due for the week before Easter Break.
The Coverage
Musical Poetry
Standing on it's own feet...or clauses as the case may be
I agree with [insert name of classmate]...
The reader is what is important!
From a Fantasy Fanatic
Insert Mission Impossible music here
The Woman's Perspective
Reality is just a part of life
Inside the mind
Combinding the new with the old
Religion for Women Steroetyping...
There's something concrete about this
Is it mimetic or is it authorial intent?
It's all about the visual
Practice, Practice, Practice
The difficulties of Frye
A Guide Through Literature
Compare/Contrast is what it's all about
Elementary my dear Watson!
Remember when things made sense?
Persona to the rescue
Learning history through the novel
Attack of the EYES!
Blade Runner is uncanny, but not according to Jentsch
Americans are clueless
Concrete Poetry is Postmodern????
Is Keesey trying to kill me?
I'm not so sure I get this one...
My (very long overdue) Gathering of the Wright ...
Depth
Musical Poetry
The reader is what is important!
Reality is just a part of life
Inside the mind
Combinding the new with the old
There's something concrete about this
The difficulties of Frye
A Guide Through Literature
My (very long overdue) Gathering of the Wright ...
The blog carnival
My entry: Fan Fiction Fun
Host Entry (Thanks Diana!): A Critical Fan Fiction Medley
Interaction
The Woman's Perspective
Reality is just a part of life
There's something concrete about this
The difficulties of Frye
Is Keesey trying to kill me?
My (very long overdue) Gathering of the Wright ...
Discussions
Reality is just a part of life
Inside the mind
Attack of the EYES!
Timeliness
*Note: I struggled with this for this portfolio. As things got down to the end of this time my life seemed to spin out of control, however that said. Most of my entries were on time with the exception of the last three.
Musical Poetry
Standing on it's own feet...or clauses as the case may be
I agree with [insert name of classmate]...
The reader is what is important!
From a Fantasy Fanatic
Insert Mission Impossible music here
The Woman's Perspective
Reality is just a part of life
Inside the mind
Combinding the new with the old
Religion for Women Steroetyping...
There's something concrete about this
Is it mimetic or is it authorial intent?
It's all about the visual
Practice, Practice, Practice
The difficulties of Frye
A Guide Through Literature
Compare/Contrast is what it's all about
Elementary my dear Watson!
Remember when things made sense?
Persona to the rescue
Learning history through the novel
Attack of the EYES!
Blade Runner is uncanny, but not according to Jentsch
Americans are clueless
Concrete Poetry is Postmodern????
Xenoblogging
Comment Primo: This can be found on Erin's blog and on Karissa's blog.
Comment Grande: This can be found on Mitchell's blog.
Link Gracious: After reading Karissa's blog on Frye's essay, I felt that I needed to quote her in my entry on the same subject.
Wildcard
My wildcard is a poem that I wrote and posted on my blog called "Roller Coaster Emotions." It is very unfinished and I hope to work on it later when I have some more time.
Well everyone here is my blog carnival post for portfolio II. Diana has graciously decided to host this one so I'm going to do my best to answer the questions that she asks in her blog. Here goes...
Diana is questioning FanFiction and how it should be portrayed in the literary world. I would have to say that it really is a genre all in its own. As someone that has frequented fanfiction sites since I discovered they exsisted I have to say that sometimes I enjoy these when there is nothing left to enjoy. What do I mean by that you ask? Well, since America stops showing episodes of my favorite anime I turned to the Internet in order to get my fix. I discovered that the fanfictions took this to a new level. One that maybe the original authors of the show might not have gone to or could not go to. Fanfiction is most assuredly something that is going to be around for a long time. There is actually a whole series of books out there that are devoted to telling the story of Buffy in between the episodes as well as Star Trek and what happened afterwards. So then Diana questions how literary criticism should handle it. Should it be reader response and what is the authorial intent on these fanfictions?
The reader response aspect first. I would have to say yes to this topic. For our Term Project, Val and I are actually exploring this aspect of Harry Potter for different reasons. I think that this is a huge reader response. From what I understand some authors have lashed out at the fans for taking their work and turning it into something new. Others have looked at it as the greatest form of flattery that is out there. I would think that when a fan sits down to write a fanfiction this is what they have going through their minds. Responding to what they have read and taking it a step further to their enjoyment and to the enjoyment of other fans as well. (AHEM My Dad and Buffy AHEM).
As far as what the authorial intent is I would have to say that it is simply for their enjoyment and to show their love for the characters and the story line. I know that there are probably some out there that can say that they didn't like the story line that is protrayed in the book or show so they rewrote it to fit what they think that it should be, but that would also be their intent.
For the most part I would say that this is a pretty open and shut case. Fanfiction is made by fans to show their love (or hate) for a particular series or book (be it in print or on screen), and their intent is simply to continue the story of their favorite characters. It will be interesting to see what others think of this topic as well.