For Wednesday: Final In-Class Writing: Bring Your Carver Book!

 As a way of rounding out the class, we're going to do one more in-class writing (a useful way to get credit if you've missed some responses!) based on Chapter 8 and Carver, so be sure to bring your Carver book to class. Otherwise, start thinking about your Final Presentation a few posts down. Let me know if you have any questions! 

For Monday: Culler, Chapter 8: "Identity, Identification, and the Subject"

This is the LAST chapter of Culler that we'll read for class, but it's an important one. It's a little tricky, so bear with it, since the better you understand this chapter, the easier you'll see connections (and implications) for your Final Project. 

Answer TWO of the following: 

Q1: Why is the word "subject" in English such a tricky one? How do the various definitions of the word suggesting the theoretical complications of the term? Do you think this is an instance when our language knows more than it lets on? 

Q2: Culler writes that iconic characters in literature like Huck Finn or Jane Eyre carry the "presumption that these characters' problems are exemplary. But exemplary of what? The novels don't tell. It's the critics or theorists who have to take up the question of exemplarity and tell us what group or class of people the characters stand for" (111). Does this mean that books don't mean anything unless they are interpreted by others? Aren't the secrets in the text itself? Or does this merely suggest that each culture has to decide who a book speaks to--or if a book continues to speak to them?

Q3: What does Culler mean, quoting Nancy Armstrong, that novels "produced 'the modern individual' who was first of all a woman" (113)? Why would novels create an identity which was primarily female in nature? And how might that have shaped even male identity for people who read books? In other words, why is the 'modern' self, in some senses, more female than male?

Q4: Lacan, a student of Freud, believed identity is a process of mirroring, of copying various performances which we come to believe are 'normal' or 'ideal.' Yet in doing so, "we do not happily become men or women...[and] always encounter resistance" (114). What "resistance" do we encounter in trying to copying our ideal male and female role models, and why does this ultimately doom are performance to be a "failure"? Why can't we become perfect copies of our models? 

Q5: In postcolonial studies, scholars often debate on how societies who have emerged from colonial ownership can best assert their identity and independence. If, for example, a novelist from post-colonial India writes a novel in English, are they still subject to English identity, even in the novel and its characters are Indian? Does an author have to utterly reject everything remotely sway to English identity to become liberated? Is a novel, by its very European roots, an agent of colonial identity? Is English? 

For Friday: Carver, "Cathedral" and "A Small, Good Thing"

NOTE: The Final Project assignment is the post below this one, though I think everyone was in class on Wednesday and received the hard copy. But it's here if you need it! 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Why might the story, "A Small, Good Thing" be a meditation on the nature of evil? As the baker says, "I'm not an evil man, I don't think. Not evil, like you said on the phone" (404). Why might something as small as a $16 cake (though $16 back then was a lot more than it is today!) turn something 'evil,' or at least malicious? Is the explanation of evil often this simple? 

Q2: Throughout the visit with his wife's friend in "Cathedral," the narrator is waging a silent war with his wife. As he tells us, "My wife looked at me with irritation. She was heading toward a boil" (365). Why is egging her on throughout? What makes him feel annoyed or threatened by her friend's visit?

Q3: In the same story, the narrator admits that after drawing the picture of the cathedral with the blind man, "It was like nothing else in my life up to now" (374). Why is this moment an almost religious experience for him? What is it exactly that he's responding to?

Q4: Obviously, "A Small, Good Thing" is a story about unthinkable grief, the moment your life changes forever, especially when before it had been rather simple and unremarkable. What do you feel is the most important thing Carver tries to communicate about the nature of the couple's grief? Though we get relatively little of their inner thoughts, what makes this experience so real and insightful? 

Final Project Assignment: The Theory of You

“Literature has not only made identity a theme; it has played a significant role in the construction of the identity of readers. The value of literature has long been linked to the vicarious experiences it gives readers, enabling them to know how it feels to be in particular situations and thus to acquire dispositions to act and feel in certain ways. Literary works encourage identification with characters by showing things from their point of view” (Culler 112).

For your final project—note, not paper—I want you to make a brief presentation on the four works of art that have most shaped your ‘theoretical’ identity. By “identity,” I mean how you see yourself ideally, in your own mind, and/or how hope to identify yourself in the years to come (since identity is a performance we never quite master—see page 114). Your presentation should be a series of slides—as few or as many as you would like, so long as the presentation is no longer than 10 minutes. The slides should include at least ONE passage from Culler to contextualize the project, and at some point, how each work contributes to the ever-evolving theory of you.

Each slide should contain one of the works that influenced you, with whatever information you want t0 include about it: when you first discovered it, why you feel it affected you so strongly, how you tried to emulate it, what it says about your personality/beliefs, whether your understanding/relationship with the work has changed over time, why you think others need to read/watch/experience it, whether you could respect someone who hated this work, etc. The works in question can be any type of art: books, movies, albums/songs, paintings, video games, etc., though try to include at least one book or one artwork that isn’t a book. There’s no right way to do this, as long as you explore the idea of how you collaboratively created your identity with these four works of art, and what we can learn about you—or your idea of yourself—by understanding each one.

Since this isn’t a paper, we will be presenting these in class on the last week of classes. The Presentations will begin on Monday, November 29^th and go until Friday, December 3^rd. All you need to do is bring your presentation on a flash drive or be able to pull it up via Google docs, or some other format. You will go through the slides and narrate them for us, so don’t feel like everything has to be on the slide.

Remember, this is basically a Final Exam for the class, though it’s designed to be a low-key, low-stakes way to digest some of the themes of the course and present them in a personal, reflective manner. And yes, you will get bonus points if one or more of the works you chose come from the books in class (ha—kidding!). Good luck and try to have fun with this assignment: I know I did when choosing the books in this class—all of which were my four works that shaped my theoretical self!

For Wednesday: In-Class Writing & Final Lit Study Project!

 Remember that there's no reading for Wednesday's class, though we will pick up Carver's stories on Friday, reading "Cathedral," and "A Small, Good Thing." Start reading those if you like, though I won't post questions until after Wednesday's class. 

On Wednesday, we'll do an in-class writing response to introduce your Final Project for the class. Don't worry--it's not another paper. But hopefully you'll find it interesting and somewhat worthwhile. More soon...

For Monday: Carver, "So Much Water So Close To Home" and "Where I'm Calling From"

Read the two stories, "So Much Water So Close To Home," and "Where I'm Calling From" and answer TWO of the questions below:

Q1: In the story, "So Much Water So Close To Home," the narrator, Claire, at one point begins slapping her husband, while at the same time thinking, "This is crazy...We need to lock our fingers together. We need to help one another. This is crazy" (221). Why can't she tell her husband this, or try to talk to him about what happened at the lake? Why does she take this as an unforgiveable betrayal?

Q2: "Where I'm Calling From" is a loosely autobiographical story of Carver's own attempts to get his life back in order at a detox center. It took him several tries over many years to get sober, and in this story, it's the narrator's second trip to Frank Martin's. Does the story make us think he has a chance of beating it this time? Or is he just making a pit stop before the next bender? 

Q3: "So Much Water..." has the atmosphere of a horror story, almost like Stephen King or Shirley Jackson, though without the ghosts and vampires. What gives the story its 'gothic' feel, or sense of tense claustrophobia? Why is this a story of the 'normal' world becoming suddenly uncanny or terrifying?

Q4: How might "Where I'm Calling From" echo many of the same sentiments and ideas from "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love?" In other words, how is this a story about love--and love lost--as much as drinking? Or better yet, why people end of drinking so much? 

For Friday: Carver, Where I'm Calling From (stories below)

 

NOTE: Remember Paper #3 is due on Wednesday, so we don't have class tomorrow. I look forward to reading your Austen papers!

READ: "Put Yourself In My Shoes," "Are These Actual Miles?" and "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love"

Answer TWO of the following: 

Q1: In many ways, "Put Yourself In My Shoes" is a story about writing stories, and how a story should be told. Why does Morgan get so offended when Myers laughs at his second story (and why does he)? Why does he think this is proof that Myers is not a writer at all? 

Q2: Is it ever clear what Toni has to do to sell the car in "Are These Actual Miles?" And more importantly, does Leo understand what is involved in this transaction? Is he guilty about letting her go in the story, or does he gradually realize what she's prepared to do to save them?

Q3: The humorously titled, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" has a first-person narrator, even though it's almost entirely back-and-forth dialogue. What does this perspective add to the story? How does it subtly change what we hear and how we understand it?

Q4: Many find Carver's stories hopelessly depressing and pessimistic, while others think he finds the simple beauty and love in down-and-out people and situations. How do you respond to these stories and why? Is he trying to humanize these characters, or satirize them?  

For Monday: Carver, Where I'm Calling From (stories below)

NOTE: On the syllabus it says we'll read Chapter 8 of Culler, but I decided to table that for now. I would rather start reading some short stories to contrast with our recent reading of Austen. But don't worry--we'll get to Chapter 8 a little later.  

STORIES: “The Student’s Wife,” “What Do You Do In San Francisco,” “Neighbors”

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Most of Carver's stories are very light on "story" (what happens) and indeed, some of them are basically just conversations between the main characters. So how does Carver use "plot" (how the story is told) to make them more interesting and literary? How does his storytelling make each story rise above being a mere anecdote or just a collection of overhead conversations? 

Q2: "What Do You Do In San Francisco?" is typical of Carver's first-person stories, where the narrator typically becomes obsessed and increasingly erratic as the story goes on. Why does the narrator become so fascinated with Marston? What does he seem to represent for the narrator? Related to this, do we like and/or sympathize with the narrator's efforts?

Q3: Almost all of Carver's stories are about lower middle-class relationships, usually a husband and wife, usually inching into middle age. Why might these characters, who are extremely ordinary, have been so 'new' at the time they were published? Why might, in a sense, did Carver have to "create" these characters (to quote Culler) to be able to use them in his stories? 

Q4: In the story, "Neighbors," a "happy" married couple finds new excitement in their marriage by rummaging through their neighbors' apartment. Toward the end of the story, the wife tells her husband, "Maybe they won't come back," to which he replies, "It could happen" (92). What do they seem to find in the apartment that makes them wish for the neighbors' demise? What does sneaking through drawers and closets seem to invigorate their marriage? 

Paper #3: “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural [Austen]”

[NOTE: Wednesday's reading is in the post BELOW this one.]

In Chapter 7 of Culler’s Literary Theory, he writes that “no one would ever have thought of being in love if they hadn’t read about it in books” (96). In the same way, we might argue that Jane Austen single-handedly created many common-sense notions and genres, including:

• Marriage and courtship (in life or fiction)
• The plucky heroine
• Sisters and/or the family in fiction
• The modern novel and/or the romance novel
• The romantic comedy (in film, especially) 
• The “period piece” (again, in film)

For your third theoretical paper, I want you to discuss how Pride and Prejudice largely created and continues to shape one of the previous categories. What ideas or passages in the book seem to be the most influential and why? Where do we see them emulated today in other works of art? Consider how Austen has created a theory that is so tried-and-true it became a common-sense notion, almost unquestioned in life and art. Discuss at least one other work (post-Austen) that seems to have been inspired by its example, or takes its truths to be self-evident (even if they change/challenge them a little).

Use Culler and at least two other sources to help you discuss this. Sources can be articles, novels, stories, films, etc.—though you must quote from anything you discuss. Don’t merely recount the plot of a movie that resembles it—zero-in on a passage or some dialogue from the film to help us see it. But be sure to use Culler as your ‘lens’ to focus the discussion of how a work can define a culture’s discourse about one of the above terms, and where theories of identity and genre come from.

REQUIREMENTS

• Page limit optional, but say something meaningful
• Must close-read from Pride and Prejudice; don’t just summarize the plot
• Use Culler to help focus your discussion
• Two additional sources
• DUE IN TWO WEEKS: Wednesday, November 3^rd by 5pm

For Wednesday: In-Class Writing Response for Pride and Prejudice: Appendix A, B & C

 

No questions for Wednesday, but we'll be reading the following excerpts from the back of the Pride and Prejudice book:

* Appendix A: From the Juvenilia (works from Jane Austen's teenage notebooks)

* Appendix B: Form Austen's Letters to Her Sister Cassdandra

* Appendix C: Contemporary Periodical Reviews of Pride and Prejudice 

These are relatively short readings, but they'll give us some contemporary context for where Pride and Prejudice came from, and what people thought of it when it was still a brand new work. As you read, think about how pieces of Austen's earlier work and her private letters may have shaped the work we have today, as any creative work (autobiographical or not) is crafted from the raw material of a writer's life and experience. 

For Monday: Austen, Pride and Prejudice (finish the book!)

Q1: In Chapter 6 of Culler, he writes that "[t]he story may be focalized through a microscope, as it were, or through a telescope, proceeding slowly with great detail or quickly telling us what happened" (89). Why, after the slow lead-up to Darcy's final proposal, does Austen suddenly race through the subsequent marriages and get everyone settled in a single chapter, stopping only to include a brief letter from Lydia? In other words, why does she end with a telescope where many people would have preferred a microscopic approach?

Q2: One of the qualities that makes Pride and Prejudice such a great novel is how Austen cultivates a sense of mystery, or what Culler calls "epistemophilia, a desire to know: we want to discover secrets, to know the end, to find the truth" (91). How does Austen particularly excite the reader's sense of epitemophilia in this final section of the novel? What makes it hard to put the book down, even if we can guess the eventual outcome?

Q3:One of the greatest 'scenes' in the book is the verbal duel between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine in Chapter XIV. In many ways, this scene illustrates something Culler says in Chapter 7: "the performative breaks the link between meaning and the intention of the speaker, for what act I perform with my words is not determined by my intention but by social and linguistic conventions" (97). Based on this, why do Darcy and Lady Catherine interpret her words so differently? How can these utterances be 'read' as different performances? 

Q4: Once you finish the book, do you have a sense that the book polices Austen's society into accepting the age-old prejudices of marriage, female servitude, and male infallibility? Does Austen question these aspects of her society merely to affirm them? After all, the two main sisters are ultimately married off to very eligible bachelors just as Mrs. Bennet wished, so to her, this is a completely happy ending. Should we desire the same happy ending as Mrs. Bennet? 

For Friday: Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Part III, Chapters 1-8 (or so)

Answer TWO of the following:  

Q1: When Elizabeth visits Pemberley with her aunt and uncle, she quickly comes to the realization that “She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt, that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!” (227). What does she see her specifically that makes her go into such rhapsodies? Why might this also be the beginning of her love for Darcy, even if the seed was planted much earlier? 

Q2: Since Pride and Prejudice is very much a novel of class, and class distinctions are read in every gesture, conversation, and action, how does Darcy signal his ‘transformation’ through his class behavior alone at Pemberley? Besides simply being nicer, how does Elizabeth (and the Gardners) read his intentions through what he says and how he acts? Why might this have been unthinkable from him in Chapter 1? And why does Elizabeth still not expect him to act this way?

Q3: What role do letters play in the novel? From Volume II on, there are several important letters, notably Darcy's letter to Elizabeth, but also the letter from Elizabeth's Aunt Gardner, as well as other communications from London: undoubtedly, these are probably hold-overs from the first draft of the novel (which was a novel in letters). Why do you think Austen retained them in the novel? What is the significance of reading a character's letters rather than hearing them speak directly to another character?

Q4: Why does Wickham run off with Lydia knowing what he knows about the Bennet family? Similarly, why does Lydia agree to run off with him, since he, too, has no money or fortune? What does the family hope for that turns out not to be true?

For Wednesday: In-Class Writing #9 (no reading--catch up and finish Book II!)

I'm flip-flopping Wednesday and Friday's assignments to give you more time to catch up on the reading. So no reading is assigned for Wednesday, since we'll do an in-class writing assignment based on P&P, and I'll assign Paper #3. Below is the slightly revised syllabus calendar for the next three weeks, just FYI:

18        Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Part II

20        In-Class Writing #9

22        Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Part III

 

25        Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Part III

27        Supplemental Readings: Appendix D: “From the Conduct Books” and                     Appendix G: “Discussion of Women’s Role after the French Revolution”

29        In-Class Writing #10

 

NOVEMBER

1          Culler, Literary Theory, Chapter 8: “Identity, Identification, and the                      Subject”

3          Paper #3 due by 5pm

5          Carver, Where I’m Calling From: “The Student’s Wife,” “What Do You Do                In San Francisco,” “Neighbors”

For Monday: Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Part II (pp.145-224)

Try to read all or as much of Part II as you can for Monday's class since you have a few extra days (and what else would you want to do, except spend all day reading Austen?!). 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: How does Austen satirize the upper classes in the mode of Sheridan at Rosings (with Lady Catherine de Bourgh)? How does she treat her social inferiors--the Collins and Elizabeth--and how might Austen be sharing Elizabeth's delight here in "anything ridiculous"?  

Q2: How does the manner of Darcy’s proposal echo, in some particulars, that of Mr. Collins? Why is each one incapable of a truly flattering, romantic proposal? What factors does Darcy apparently have to overcome to express his love and affection to Elizabeth?

Q3: Why do you think Elizabeth conceals the proposal from her family, as well as the truth about Wickham, and only reveals her secrets to Jane? Is she ashamed of turning down a fortune? Or is she secretly flattered? Consider her reflection shortly after their meeting, “That she should receive an offer of marriage from Mr. Darcy! that he should have been in love with her for so many months! so much in love as to wish to marry her in spite of all the objections...”

Q4: In Chapter XIX, the Narrator notes that “Had Elizabeth’s opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort" (219). What does she notice in her own family to make her disinclined to ever marry, or to think that love exists outside of novels? According to the novel so far, do you think Jane Austen was of the same opinion?

For Monday: Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Chapters 14-23 (finish Book 1), pp.90-141

Answer TWO of the following as usual...

Q1: After a fairly short acquaintance, Elizabeth Bennet, the "smart" girl ironically falls for one of the officers that Kitty and Lydia chase about--George Wickham. As she herself says, "he is, beyond all comparison, the most agreeable man I ever saw." Why does she fall for him? Is it out of character for her? Or might it tie into the overarching themes of the novel itself?

Q2: Why does Charlotte agree to marry Mr. Collins after Elizabeth has already refused him? And more importantly, why doesn't Elizabeth believe that her best friend would make a different decision? Is there more to Collins than meets the eye? Is this an example of Elizabeth's "pride" or "prejudice"? 

Q3: The Narrator writes of Mrs. Bennet that "Elizabeth was the least dear to her of all her children." Why would this be, considering she is generally the reader's favorite daughter (or character) and everyone decent in the book loves her, including her father. Where does this dislike or animosity come from, particularly considering this is her second-born daughter?

Q4: How does Austen complicate the Elizabeth/Darcy relationship in these chapters? Or more accurately, how does the narrator reveal aspects that often escape the notice of Elizabeth? Why might this be an advantage of unlimited third-person narration? 

For Friday: Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Chapters I-XIII, pp.41-90)

As always, answer TWO of the following, and get as far as you can in the novel before Friday's class, even if you don't finish all 13 chapters (but go further if you like!): 

Q1: Some of the most famous lines in English literature are the opening lines of this novel, which begin, "It is a truth generally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife..." (41). How might these lines immediately offer a commentary on the theme of the novel--marriage--and Austen's own views on the subject? Why might we go even further and claim that these opening lines offer a 'theory' that challenges common-sense beliefs and offers their own alternative? 

Q2: Culler reminds us that story and plot are two different things, and a story is how a writer tells the plot, from what perspective, and what narrator. Though the novel isn't a first-person account of English life in the country, the narration seems to borrow something from a first-person perspective. Discuss a passage where the narrator seems to be more of a character (whether first-person or not) than we would expect them to be today, and how this affects how we read the passage.

Q3: The first draft of Pride and Prejudice, written in the 1790’s, was entitled First Impressions (Austen changed the title when, a decade later, she learned another novelist had already used it). However, where might the idea behind the original shine through in the opening chapters? How do we know this is a book about the first appearance of things, when the “masks” of society can obscure the goodness—or deceitfulness—within?

Q4: In one of the most humorous passages in the novel, Miss Bingley lists all the accomplishments modern women are supposed to possess, to which Elizabeth Bennet responds, “I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any” (27). What is Elizabeth—and behind her, Austen herself—satirizing here? Related to this, what kind of women does Elizabeth represent, and why does Darcy seemed intrigued by this new kind of woman?

For Wednesday: Culler, Chapter 7: "Performative Language"

NOTE: Don't forget Paper #2 (The Sonnet Drama) is due today (Monday) by 5pm! You can turn it in as late as Wednesday, but you lose -10 a day, so be careful! 

ALSO: We'll start reading Pride and Prejudice for Friday, so make sure you have a copy, and preferably the Broadview edition I ordered in the bookstore. Feel free to start reading to get ahead and if you're a slow reader like me...otherwise, read Chapter 7 of Culler for Wednesday's class.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: What does Culler mean when he writes, "no one would have ever thought of being in love if they hadn't read about it in books, and the notion of romantic love...is arguably a massive literary creation" (96)? How could love, something which is so essential to the identity of being human, a creation of books and literature? Or is he talking about something slightly different than simply 'love'?

Q2: Culler argues that language is performative, meaning that, like a play, it has to be staged, repeated, and performed 'by rote.' He gives the example of a wedding, where the groom and bride are asked, "do you take this man/woman...?" and the answer is always, "I do" (if they do, that is). Does this also suggest that the nature of language is derivative, and that to speak is to merely rehearse the language and actions of everyone who has gone before you? Is it possible not to repeat and not to rehearse previous language?

Q3: Using the work of Judith Butler, a prominent theorist of queer identity, Culler explains that "categories of identity are cultural and social productions, more likely to be the result of political cooperation than its condition of possibility" (102). Does this suggest that language itself creates the idea of being male or female? Is gender also a product of language? (assuming, of course, that gender is separate from sex).

Q4: If we define literature as "an act or event," how does this further limit the role of the author in determining meaning? And if so, who decides what "act" or "event" is produced from a book? Can a book create any act a reader wants it to? Or are there limitations? 

For Friday: Culler, Chapter 6: "Narrative"

Remember, Paper #2 is due on Monday (no class on Monday). Please let me know if you have any questions or I can help you in any way with the Sonnet Drama! Don't forget to read Chapter 6 in Culler in preparation for starting Pride and Prejudice late next week! You can start now if you're a slow reader, though don't worry--it's not a very long book and we'll take it pretty slow.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: If a narrative plot can be translated into a different form (a comic, a TV series, a movie, a play, etc.), how does each change of angle change how we experience the plot? In other words, why does telling the same story from a different character's perspective, or in a different medium, change our experience of the plot, even if the story is exactly the same (same beginning, middle, and end)?

Q2: As Culler explains, "Feminist criticism has been especially interested in the way that European and American narratives frequently posit a male reader: the reader is implicitly addressed as one who shares a masculine view" (87). What does this mean? How can a book, or a film, which will be read by potentially millions of men and women be focused on a "male" reader? What makes it so? Can you think of an example of a text that does this?

Q3: Mikhail Bakhtin, a famous Russian theorist of the novel, claims that novels are "fundamentally polyphonic (multi-voiced) or dialogic rather than monological (single-voiced)"(87). Why do you think the novel is geared to expressing multiple voices/perspectives in a way that poetry is not? Related to this, why might novels have become the bona fide form of writing, considering that narrative takes other forms and a story doesn't have to be a novel? 

Q4: Traditionally, third-person omniscient storytelling was the norm, though since the 19th century first-person has become more and more popular, until today it is usually the most dominant perspective. Why do you think this is? Why do readers generally prefer a first-person approach, particularly in more popular forms of literature (YA, romance, horror, etc.)?

Q5: Culler writes that "narratives police," suggesting that a narrative can enforce social norms as often as they contest or challenge them. How can a narrative "police" a reader or a culture? Can you think about a text that does that, and was popular largely because it did this (whether consciously or subconsciously for the reader)?

For Wednesday: Finish the Sonnets (Nos.127-154)

 There are NO questions for Wednesday's class, but try to read all or as many of the last group of sonnets as you can. We'll have an in-class writing on some aspect of these sonnets in class on Wednesday (since I'll give you questions for Ch.6 of Culler on Friday--I didn't want to give you three back-to-back days of questions!). 

In particular, you might want to be sure to read Sonnets 129, 130, 135, 144, 145, & 147, 152.  But read as many as you can! These are just particularly important/interesting ones. 

ALSO, Sonnet 145 is different than most of the Sonnets in the sequence, and many scholars consider it an example of Shakespeare's earliest work. Can you tell why? There's also a pun hidden in the poem that has to do with Shakespeare's biography (hint, hint). 

See you on Wednesday! 

For Monday: Shakespeare, The Sonnets, Nos.95-126

NOTE: We moved the Paper #2 assignment back a day, so it's due a week from Monday, and not on Friday (the 1st). So you can take the weekend to work on it! I'll remind you of this in class as well. 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In class on Friday, we discussed the idea that many of the sonnets are actually rough drafts, or old versions of newer sonnets, all of which appear in this collection. Do you see any poems in this sequence (95-126) that seem to be revisions of older poems? Not just variations on them, but actually a better version of an older poem? Discuss why you think so.

Q2: In David Harper's essay, "Revising Obsession in Sonnets 153 and 154," he quotes another scholar who notes that "72% of the sonnets are “entirely unmarked for gender" (120). Discuss a sonnet that could arguably have nothing to do with the story of the young man, and could easily exist on its own. What possibilities does this offer in interpreting the sonnet? 

Q3: Sonnet 126 is the last poem that seems addressed solely to the young man, since Sonnet 127 is addressed to a woman for the first time. Interestingly, it's only 12 lines long, and all sonnets have 14 lines. The expected final couplet is missing, though lines 11-12 become that final couplet prematurely. The original Quarto version of 1609 placed brackets in the final lines, as if something was missing. Why do you think he ended the sonnet early? Is this poem a fragment? Were the lines lost? Were they too scandalous to print? Or was it an artistic omission? Does the poem itself give a clue?

Q4: In many of these sonnets, the poet is acknowledging his own bad behavior, betrayal, and questionable reputation. In essence, he seems to be blaming the break-up on himself? Do you think is sincere or is it another poetic ploy to win back the young man's affection? A sonnet that convinces you one way or the other?

Finding Sources for Paper #2: The Sonnet Drama

 We'll be doing In-Class Writing #4 on Friday to help you with your Sonnet Drama paper, due very soon! So keep reading the Sonnets and look for connections/themes that tell a story you find interesting. As I suggested in class, the best way to write this paper is to READ first. Not just The Sonnets, but critical works about them. The more ideas you get, the easier it will be to put the poems together into a loose narrative. Below are some sources via our library that you might want to check out. I highly recommend the books by Mirsky and Vendler. And remember, you don't have to read an entire book to find it useful...each one highlights specific sonnets and in the case of Vendler, her book is literally a close reading of every single sonnet. So simply look up the ones you're interested in! 

Books and DVDs in our Library

* A Waste of Shame: The Mystery of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (DVD)

Call number (3^rd floor): PN1997 W.3880

* Mirsky, Mark. The Drama in Shakespeare’s Sonnets: “a satire to decay.”

Call number: PR2848.M57

* Rackin, Phyllis. Shakespeare and Women. Call number: PR2991.R33

 * Vendler, Helen. The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

Call number: PR2848.V46

Articles

Cheney, Patrick. “‘O, Let My Books Be ... Dumb Presagers’: Poetry and Theater in Shakespeare’s Sonnets.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 52, no. 2, [Folger Shakespeare Library, The Shakespeare Association of America, Inc., Johns Hopkins University Press, George Washington University], 2001, pp. 222–54, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3648668.

Dubrow, Heather. “‘Incertainties Now Crown Themselves Assur’d’: The Politics of Plotting Shakespeare’s Sonnets.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 47, no. 3, [Folger Shakespeare Library, The Shakespeare Association of America, Inc., Johns Hopkins University Press, George Washington University], 1996, pp. 291–305, https://doi.org/10.2307/2871379.

Harper, David A. “Revising Obsession in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 153 and 154.” Studies in Philology, vol. 112, no. 1, University of North Carolina Press, 2015, pp. 114–38, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24392050.

Hokama, Rhema. “Love’s Rites: Performing Prayer in Shakespeare’s Sonnets.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 2, Folger Shakespeare Library, 2012, pp. 199–223, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41679747.

Rosmarin, Adena. “Hermeneutics versus Erotics: Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Interpretive History.” PMLA, vol. 100, no. 1, Modern Language Association, 1985, pp. 20–37, https://doi.org/10.2307/462198.

Sarkar, Malabika. “The Magic of Shakespeare’s Sonnets.” Renaissance Studies, vol. 12, no. 2, Wiley, 1998, pp. 251–60, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24412540.

Stockard, Emily E.. “Patterns of Consolation in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 1-126.” Studies in Philology, vol. 94, no. 4, University of North Carolina Press, 1997, pp. 465–93, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4174591.

 WANT MORE? Search JSTOR through the A-Z Databases at the library website

 

 

For Wednesday: Shakespeare, The Sonnets Nos.73-94

 

Answer TWO of the following for our next class:

Q1: These sonnets begin the downward spiral of the poet's relationship with the young man. Though we've seen flickers of this previously, where does it become most apparent that their relationship has ended? What does the poet seem to accuse the young man of? Or was it his fault? 

Q2: Sonnets 79, 80, 85, and 86 introduce a rival poet, someone else who is either writing sonnets for the young man, or writing plays for the young man to act in (if we follow that theory). Since Shakespeare clearly believes his verse has the greatest chance of surviving the ages (Sonnet 18, etc.), why is he worried about a rival? What does the rival seem to have that he lacks? 

Q3: In several sonnets so far, including 66, 71, 72, and now 87, the poet seems to be taking his leave of the young man, and basically saying the relationship is over. What seems to keep the poet coming back to his favorite subject and Muse? Do these poems seem sincere--or are they calculated to win him back? 

Q4: Sonnet 73 is one of Shakespeare's most famous and most quoted, even though its theme seems to follow the typical memento mori formula "death is always with us, even in youth, etc." What makes this poem particularly powerful, so that it rises above the "death" cliche and says something powerful and unusual? In other words, how does it draw attention to itself? 

For Monday: Shakespeare, The Sonnets, Nos.42-72 & Paper #2 assignment

NOTE: As always, I don't necessarily expect you to read every sonnet in this sequence, though you never know when a magical sonnet will strike you! But read every other sonnet, or every third one if you like. But be sure to read enough so you can see more of the possibilities of these amazing poems, and get more ideas for your Paper #2 assignment! (I've pasted that below these questions) 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Discuss a poem that seems to be a 'throwback' to an earlier poem or series of poems. Why do you think Shakespeare reverts back to an earlier topic or style? Do you think this poem belongs with the earlier sonnet(s)? Or is it revising the earlier theme or style from a new perspective? 

Q2: Discuss a series of sonnets where the pronoun of the lover switches from thee to you, or you to thee. What do you think happened between these sonnets? Does the second one give any indication? Or is the second sonnet somehow an 'answer' to the first?

Q3: Discuss a sonnet that seems to particularly call attention to itself in terms of poetics: either a strange use of language, constant repetition, an odd metaphor, or some other striking turn of phrase. How does this formal structure aid in the meaning or the emotion of the poem? 

Q4: Based on the story outline I shared with you earlier (in the post below this one), where does the story change or shift in this series of sonnets? Where is the relationship at this point? Do they reconcile? Break up? Become enemies? Discuss where you see a new 'Act' occurring in this sequence. 

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Intro to Literary Study

Paper #2: The Sonnet Drama

“…poems work like conversation, even if they get no direct answer…they make a demand on the interpreter to imagine who would say this to whom, and in what situation. Speech is a social activity: what one says depends on whom one speaks to and in what context” (Magnusson 630).

INTRO: As we’ve discussed in class, The Sonnets explore the inner workings of a poet’s mind as he pursues a beautiful young man into the labyrinth of Elizabethan society, encountering love, hope, confusion, and betrayal at every turn. Even the story itself is murky, and it really depends on who we think is speaking from sonnet to sonnet, who they’re speaking to, and how the social context around each sonnet changes to create drama and conflict. Like a play, each line could be a piece of monologue, a scrap of dialogue, or even a haunting chorus. No one has definitely explained what it all means yet…well, not until this paper!

PROMPT: I want you to choose 10-12 sonnets to put together into a mini “Sonnet drama” that functions as a kind of play that could be acted or read aloud. The sonnets can come from anywhere in the sequence, and you should put them together to tell the story that you see, spoken by anywhere from 2 to 4 characters (but more than one—that’s the challenge). You don’t have to write the play, just pick the sonnets and imagine who would speak each one, or how you might divide one sonnet between two speakers, etc. It could be a play between two lovers, or a love triangle, or a love quadrangle!

ASSIGNMENT: The paper is in two parts: ONE, you’re going to list your 10-12 sonnets and the characters that speak each one. This requires no writing, just a list like a “cast of characters.” Then, TWO, you’re going to write an essay explaining the THEORY of your play by close reading from several of the sonnets, and highlighting why a certain character would speak these lines, and what they say about this character and this part of the story. I want you to use at least TWO outside sources to help you explain and explore your ideas, and these could include: Culler’s book, Magnusson’s essay, Sappho’s poetry, books about the Sonnets in our library, or articles on-line. The goal in this assignment is simply to show us why your ‘theory’ of The Sonnets is interesting and could shed light on many of the secrets of these poems. You don’t have to be ‘right’ or get someone to agree with you—it’s just an attempt to make these old poems speak in a new language, and tell a new story.

REQUIREMENTS

• Use 10-12 Sonnets to fashion a rough “Sonnet Drama” (you DO NOT have to write the script)
• Write a paper that explains your theory, performs some close reading, and uses at least TWO sources to help you discuss the poems
• Be sure to introduce all poems and sources and cite them according to MLA guidelines. Include a Works Cited page, too, of course.
• DUE in two weeks, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1^st BY 5pm (no class that day)

For Friday: In-Class Writing #4 (and the Paper #2 assignment!)

No new reading for Friday's class, though we'll have an in-class writing response on something related to the Sonnets to introduce you to the Paper #2 assignment. In the meantime, here's the handout I gave in class in case you lost in or want to reference it quickly. Think about the next parts of the story as you read on in the Sonnets...

A THEORY OF THE SONNETS SO FAR…

Sonnets 1-14: Memento Mori. The sonnets are trying to convince the young man to “increase” and “print more, not let that copy die.” Sonnet 1 states the general theme, and each sonnet is a variation on this theme, with the poet trying to find new ways to persuade him of his argument. These are the most conventional sonnets, following many of the standard themes/images of his age.

Ex: “But if you live remembered not to be,/Die single, and thine imagine dies with thee” Sonnet 3).

Sonnet 15: The Switch. The poet suddenly introduces subtle acting metaphors (the stage, shows, cheered and checked) and suggests for the first time that the poet, not procreation, will make a lasting image of the young man.

Sonnets 16-19: The Poet. These sonnets start to focus more on the poet’s skill in verse and how they can immortalize the lover. He’s clearly trying to dazzle the lover with his skill, and is trying to show confidence in his abilities (which will later falter).

Ex: “So long as men can breathe and eyes can see,/So long lives this, and this gives life to thee” (Sonnet 18).

Sonnet 20: The Reveal. In this sonnet, the poet comes out and declares his love for the young man, though also suggesting that this might be a more platonic or idealized love than a sexual one (“But since she pricked thee out for women’s pleasure”). But he also seems to suggest that the young man is an actor (either literally or figuratively), and able to embody both sexes at once (“the master-mistress”).

Sonnets 21-32: The Ambivalence. In these sonnets, the poet is trying to define the nature of their relationship, becoming possessive, feeling inadequate, and basking in love of the young man. He also starts to question the power of his verse, and several times suggests that though it might not live forever, the emotions contained within them will. He also suggests that his low class and/or reputation might get in the way of their love.

Ex: “When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,/I all alone beweep my outcast state” (Sonnet 29).

Sonnets 33-41: The Betrayal. The young man is betraying the poet by having other lovers, and eventually, stealing the poet’s own mistress. He poet is having to himself in order to maintain the relationship, and possibly, people are starting to talk. The poet suggests they’ll have to separate so he won’t ruin the young man’s reputation (or fame). He wants what’s best for the young man…but still feels maligned.

Ex: “That I an accessory needs must be/To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me” (Sonnet 35).

For Wednesday: Shakespeare's Sonnets, Nos.21-41

NOTE: see the close reading of Sonnet 15 in the post below, which gives you some hints about how to read these poems, and what to take note of. Remember, don't read it like a novel--listen to the sounds, look at the metaphors, puzzle over the syntax. It's like listening to any song: first you hear the music, then you get stuck on the chorus, then you think about the lyrics, then you see how it all fits together. Don't expect to "get it" at once. A reason why these poems might seem so repetitive is so Shakespeare can 'teach' you to read them, so that once you get the general theme, you can then be aware of the small changes and variations within.

Q1: Only ONE question for today, but about any TWO Sonnets. Choose two sonnets from the series 21-41 that you feel are very similar but offer some slight change between them. Close read them to explain what both are generally saying, and how one of them twists the meaning/experience in a different light. What changes? Is it who the poet is speaking to? What he wants from him? The nature of their relationship? The way he understands it? Etc. 

Think too about how these poems relate to Sappho...you can always use ideas from Sappho (theory!) to help you read these poems. Ultimately, these poems are very similar to Sappho, as they are about someone older/wiser who is trying to teach someone younger/more beautiful, and how this relationship is doomed to fail. So think about how a poem might remind you of one of Sappho's fragments and how this can help you read it. 

A Close Reading of Sonnet 15

Reading Shakespeare's language is tricky, but the best way to do it at first is to go SLOW. Use the side notes to help you define difficult or arcane words and phrases. But as you read, (a) think about the metaphors--what are they helping you see; (b) look at weird syntax--why is he trying to hide a meaning in tangled speech; (c) think about what he's saying to the lover. Why would he say this? Why is this still a 'love poem'?

For example, here's my close reading of Sonnet 15, showing you how a single word or two can change the direction of the poem. These sonnets are puzzles, and they require a little 'assembly' until you get the hang of them. 

Sonnet 15 

When I consider everything that grows

Holds in perfection but a little moment,

[Everything is perfect--young, powerful, strong, blossoming--just for a short space before time sets in]

That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows 

Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;

[Read this carefully; literally it means that the earth only reveals a drama that makes sense to the gods/the stars/the heavens. BUT look at the metaphors: "this huge stage," "shows," and "stars in secret influence comment." Shakespeare is a playwright, so he uses the world of the stage as a metaphor...but he could also mean this more literally, too. A play is just a "little moment" of perfection, that ends after 2 or 3 hours, and then everything "dies." And the stage can only present "shows" that make sense to the audience--many of whom are "stars," or aristocrats who can comment in "secret influence" on the success or failure of a play.]

When I perceive that men as plants increase,

Cheered and checked even by the selfsame sky,

Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,

And wear their brave state out of memory;

[Again, this continues the metaphor that men are like plants: they grow tall, reach their zenith, and then die and are forgotten. But this also relates to the stage references above: new "men" are "cheered and checked" by the audience, but just as they make a name for themselves, they "wear their brave state out of memory," meaning they get too old and people move on and forget them. An acting career is VERY brief, even today, for most actors.]

Then the conceit of this inconstant stay

Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,

Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay

To change your day of youth to sullied night;

[Thinking about this inevitable decline, the poet appreciates anew the young man's beauty and (talent)? He's clearly at the height of his power and his fame, perhaps, even though "Time and Decay" are already plotting to take him out. Maybe he has rivals in the theater, too, which is why Time and Decay are also personified? It works beautifully both ways.]

And, all in war with Time for love of you,

As he takes from you, I engraft  you new.

[The couplet always has a little twist of meaning, and so, too, here. The poet is allying himself with the young man in two ways: one, he says that I'll always be on your side in the "war," and two, I can make your career/beauty last forever. I can "engraft you new." This goes back to the plant metaphor, since "grafting" (see note on page 48) is a way to create new life for plants. He is going to defy death for the young man by writing about him; the poet is taking the ability to cheat death onto himself. 

So this is no longer a poem saying "procreate and live forever," since the poet is now saying, "procreate WITH ME, by letting me write about you (or for you), and your fame will live forever." This ties directly into the next Sonnet 18, which says the same thing in a different way, and Sonnet 20, which makes the acting metaphor even more distinct. 

For Monday: Shakespeare's Sonnets, Nos.1-20

For Monday's class, read the first 20 sonnets from Shakespeare's sequence. As we'll discuss, they collectively tell a loose story with initially two, and later three main characters (and there are some background characters as well). You don't have to read the Sonnets for the story, but it makes them more interesting. For this first assignment, read through them slowly (they'll take some getting used to) and remember all the ideas we've discussed about poetry, metaphor, and poetics in Chapters 4 and 5. 

A Shakespearean sonnet follows a very strict formal scheme: 

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

The sonnets are always in iambic pentameter, which means 10 syllables with five unaccented and accented syllables. For example, in Sonnet 1:

from FAIR-est CREA-tures WE des-IRE in-CREASE (always starts with an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one, etc.) 

The concluding couplet (GG) usually places a twist on the meaning of the entire poem, either affirming it, or lightly contradicting it, or giving us a surprising reveal. Try to think about how the couplet responds to the poem in each one. 

Answer TWO of the following questions for TWO of the Sonnets. So yes, you'll answer 4 questions this time, but the catch is each set of questions will cover only one Sonnet. So for example, you could answers Questions 1 and 3 for Sonnet 14, and 2 and 3 for Sonnet 20. This is a rare time I'll make you answer 4 questions, but some of the questions will have shortish answers, so don't fear. 

ANSWER TWO OF THE FOLLOWING FOR TWO DIFFERENT SONNETS:

Q1: How does Shakespeare used a cliched metaphor or sentiment in this sonnet in a new light? In other words, how does he make us see or experience it differently, even though the overall idea is pretty common?

Q2: Discuss a line that has very unusual syntax (sentence/grammatical structure). What do you think it literally means, and why do you think he writes it this way?

Q3: Which poem really seems to reveal the identity of the narrator of the poem? Why is this? What 'clues' are in the poem itself? 

Q4: Discuss a concluding couplet that seems to change the meaning of the preceding lines? How does it do this? 

For Next Week: Paper #1 and Culler, Chapter 5: "Rhetoric, Poetics, and Poetry"

REMEMBER to bring your Paper #1 assignment to class on Wednesday to turn in. We'll also discuss it in class, because I want to see all the different ways you used Sappho as a theory to examine other works of art. Remember, too, that you should basically use 'poetics' to analyze the poem, and then use 'hermeneutics' to examine your selected work of art. The paper assignment is a few posts down, but remember what we discussed on Friday from Chapter 4 of Culler. 

Below are the questions for Chapter 5, which you can start reading/answering if you have nothing else to do over the three-day weekend. But they won't be due until Friday, of course. 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Culler writes that poetry is not only the "making strange" of language, but it is the "abundant use of figures of speech and language that aims to be powerfully persuasive" (69). How can poetry be "persuasive" if it has more than one meaning? Isn't persuading someone of something the very essence of propaganda? Also, how might Sappho's poems be "powerfully persuasive" even in their fragmentary state?

Q2: On page 70, Culler, quoting theoretical debates on language, asks if a metaphor is "literal or figurative?" Why is this a very hard question to answer? And how does this tie into the larger question about literature: are cliches just metaphors we've forgotten to see? Is anything in literature NOT figurative? Is anything in literature TRULY literal?

Q3: Most of Sappho's poems can be considered 'lyric poems,' which Culler defines as "fictional imitations of personal utterance" (75). Because of this, he argues that "lyric poems strive to be an event" (77). What do you think he means by this? What 'event' are they trying to create, and how does this relate to the "fictional" aspect of the speaker's "real" emotions? In other words, what makes lyric poetry so much trickier to read and interpret than most other literature?

Q4: Culler advises us to read a poem not as a fragment of a larger conversation, but to "assume that it has a structure of its own" (79). How do we do that in practice, especially for Sappho, whose poems literally are fragments? Can we assume that even Sappho's poetry is an "aesthetic whole" (79)? What would be the advantage of doing this? 

For Friday: Culler, Literary Theory, Chapter 4: "Language, Meaning, and Interpretation"

"This Is Not a Pipe" (Rene Magritte)

As promised, we're back to Culler after a brief foray into Sappho's poetry! But don't worry, we'll be moving onto Shakespeare's Sonnets before long. Don't forget that I moved the Paper #1 assignment back to Wednesday (after Labor Day), so you have time to keep thinking about it. This chapter might give you more ideas when it comes to interpreting poems, discovering meaning, and using words to uncover theories. 

Answer TWO of the following: 

Q1: If ‘poetics’ is about the meaning of texts and how these meanings are achieved, then what is ‘hermenutics’? Why might this be equally important in reading or discussing a text? When might hermeneutics also get in the way?

Q2: What is the "Intentional Fallacy," and why is it a "fallacy"? Why do you think intention used to matter for so much, and now, we tend to question it rather than accept it at face value? Similarly, how does this free us up to discuss Sappho in a way we normally couldn’t?

Q3: On page 63, Culler writes that “a work is interpreted as answering questions posed by [the] horizon of expectations, and a reader of the 1990s approaches Hamlet with expectations different from those of a contemporary of Shakespeare’s.” So if Shakespeare was writing to his audience and their expectations, how does it make reading his works especially difficult? How can a modern reader be aware of a previous age’s—and even their own—horizon of expectations?

Q4: What does it mean that a word's form and meaning have an arbitrary relationship? How can a dog not be a dog? Or a moon not be a moon? Does this relate to the idea that “meaning is context-bound, but context is boundless” (67)?

 

For Wednesday: Sappho, Stung With Love: Her Girls and Family (pp.33-53) & The Wisdom of Sappho (pp.83-87)

For Wednesday's class, be sure to read the poems listed above and instead of questions, we'll have our In-Class Writing #3 now instead of next week over some aspect of the reading.

But here's a hint: many of these poems seem to play into her role as a teacher, or instructor for younger girls. In this way, they sound like advice or wisdom literature, some of them direct, others cleverly disguised. Think about how we might construct the roles expected of women at this time, and how Sappho tries to teach women to navigate these roles without losing their sense of individuality and female community. 

See you on Wednesday! 

Slight Schedule Change!

NOTE: Monday's reading/questions are in the post below this one

I've decided to make a slight change to this week and next week in order to give you a solid two weeks to write Paper #1. I always meant to do this, but I assigned the paper later than I expected. So I moved two days around so that the paper will be due immediately after Labor Day. The schedule for the next two weeks will now look like this:

30        Sappho, Stung With Love: Desire and Death-Longing (pp.21-29) & Troy               (p.59)

SEPTEMBER

1          Sappho, Stung With Love: Her Girls and Family (pp.33-53) & The Wisdom             of Sappho (pp.83-87)/In-Class Writing #3

3          Culler, Literary Theory, Chapter 4: “Language, Meaning, and                                 Interpretation”

 

6          LABOR DAY

8          Paper #1 due in class

10        Culler, Literary Theory, Chapter 5: “Rhetorics, Poetics, and Poetry”/

            In-Class Writing #4

Let me know if you have any questions! The Paper #1 assignment is a few posts down if you misplaced your hard copy.