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DAILY ASSIGNMENTS For Friday, December 9: We will talk about the final exam, and I will give you some sample questions. We will discuss some strategies for studying for the final. The final exam will consist of several short essays. You can take the exam either on Friday, December 16, at 7:30 a.m., in our regular classroom (206 EPB), or on Tuesday, December 13, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 204 EPB. You can watch the Billie Holliday performance of "Strange Fruit," which we talked about on Wednesday, here. We will finish discussing Sapphira and the Slave Girl and tie it to the other works we've read this semester. For Wednesday, December 7: If you are writing the optional third essay, it is due in class today; details here. I will give you back your final quiz today along with your quiz grade for the second half of the semester. On Friday, we will talk about the final exam, and I'll give you some sample questions. The final exam will consist of several short essays. You can take the exam either on Friday, December 16, at 7:30 a.m., in our regular classroom (206 EPB), or on Tuesday, December 13, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 204 EPB. We will continue discussing Sapphira and the Slave Girl today, as a class and in small groups. Small group discussion will focus on the following topics, which you should think through, keeping in mind the genealogy we tracked in class on Monday, and keeping in mind the "Double S," and keeping in mind the distinction between "history" and "hist'ry." --What can you piece together about Nancy's parents? Till is her mother, but who is her father? What are the possibilities? We talked about this a little bit, but think further: How do we or how can we know? What is the difference between the various possible fathers? Why does it matter? --What are Sapphira's motivations in inviting Martin Colbert to visit Mill House? What does she imagine will happen, and why? --Is Sapphira a kind and gentle slaveowner? What are the signs of her kindness? Are there any signs of her viciousness? --What are the implications of the fact that two of the most trusted slaves on the plantation are named Washington and Jefferson? --You have now looked up Sapphira in the Bible (Acts 5). What resonance does the Biblical Sapphira add to Cather's character Sapphira? --Jezebel also has a Biblical name; think about the slave Jezebel's relationship to her namesake (1 Kings 16-22). In what ways does the Biblical Jezebel's devotion to the pagan god Baal resonate with Jezebel's life, coming from a "cannibalistic tribe" and ending up converted to Christianity. What does the slave Jezebel's deathbed scene suggest about the efficacy of her conversion? --Why is the title Sapphira and the Slave Girl? What would be the effect of the following titles: Nancy and the Slave Owner, Sapphira and Nancy ? We talked about his some, but think further--why does the title matter, and what does it suggest? --We're told Sapphira has other daughters besides Rachel. Why do they never come to visit her? --Rachel Blake is married to a Congressman and lives with him in Washington DC during the 1840s and into the 1850s when the most important Congressional debates over slavery took place, including debates on the Fugitive Slave Law, emancipation of slaves in DC, the permitting of slavery in new states, etc. Rachel, we know, cares deeply about the issue. Why do we hear nothing about these debates in the Washington section of the novel? What role does Rachel's husband play in the novel? --There are some episodes in the novel that initially do not seem relevant to the main story. Think, for example, of the scene where Rachel goes up the Double-S to visit Mandy Ringer and hears the story of how Casper Flight has been accused of stealing the silver communion service from the local church; Rachel then confronts the Keyser boys, who have bound Casper to a tree and are flogging him. This all takes place on the Double-S. How does this scene fit in to the larger patterns of the novel? --Are there other characters with Biblical names in the novel? Think of Sampson, for example. How does he fit into and develop patterns in the novel? Henry Colbert scours his Bible for evidence that slavery is a sin, and he manages to miss the most obvious messages. How is Cather using Biblical references in this novel, and how many of those messages do we as readers miss the first time we read it? (Rachel, too, is a Biblical name.) --At the end of this novel, we discover that Cather has pulled a kind of amazing narrative trick. The narrator that we thought was omniscient turns out to be a character, very much implicated in the family histories that she is writing about. When we find out who the narrator is, we need to go back through the novel and re-think everything. What "facts" that you were given early on turn out now to be highly selective tellings of only parts of the story? What motives does the narrator have in telling this story the way she does? When Nancy returns at the end of the novel, the narrator does not like the way Nancy says the word "history." Why? What's going on with the difference between "hist'ry" and "his-tor-y"? What examples of "hist'ry" do we get? For Monday, December 5: Quiz on the second half of Sapphira and the Slave Girl (Books V-IX). Your third essay, which is optional, is due on Wednesday: details here. We will discuss Sapphira and the Slave Girl, in small groups and as a class. Write a short paragraph (to be turned in) on some aspect of one of the following topics, and think through all the topics: --What can you piece together about Nancy's parents? Till is her mother, but who is her father? What are the possibilities? We talked about this a little bit, but think further: How do we or how can we know? What is the difference between the various possible fathers? Why does it matter? --What are Sapphira's motivations in inviting Martin Colbert to visit Mill House? What does she imagine will happen, and why? --Is Sapphira a kind and gentle slaveowner? What are the signs of her kindness? Are there any signs of her viciousness? --What are the implications of the fact that two of the most trusted slaves on the plantation are named Washington and Jefferson? --You have now looked up Sapphira in the Bible (Acts 5). What resonance does the Biblical Sapphira add to Cather's character Sapphira? --Jezebel also has a Biblical name; think about the slave Jezebel's relationship to her namesake (1 Kings 16-22). In what ways does the Biblical Jezebel's devotion to the pagan god Baal resonate with Jezebel's life, coming from a "cannibalistic tribe" and ending up converted to Christianity. What does the slave Jezebel's deathbed scene suggest about the efficacy of her conversion? --Why is the title Sapphira and the Slave Girl? What would be the effect of the following titles: Nancy and the Slave Owner, Sapphira and Nancy ? We talked about his some, but think further--why does the title matter, and what does it suggest? --We're told Sapphira has other daughters besides Rachel. Why do they never come to visit her? --Rachel Blake is married to a Congressman and lives with him in Washington DC during the 1840s and into the 1850s when the most important Congressional debates over slavery took place, including debates on the Fugitive Slave Law, emancipation of slaves in DC, the permitting of slavery in new states, etc. Rachel, we know, cares deeply about the issue. Why do we hear nothing about these debates in the Washington section of the novel? What role does Rachel's husband play in the novel? --There are some episodes in the novel that initially do not seem relevant to the main story. Think, for example, of the scene where Rachel goes up the Double-S to visit Mandy Ringer and hears the story of how Casper Flight has been accused of stealing the silver communion service from the local church; Rachel then confronts the Keyser boys, who have bound Casper to a tree and are flogging him. This all takes place on the Double-S. How does this scene fit in to the larger patterns of the novel? --Are there other characters with Biblical names in the novel? Think of Sampson, for example. How does he fit into and develop patterns in the novel? Henry Colbert scours his Bible for evidence that slavery is a sin, and he manages to miss the most obvious messages. How is Cather using Biblical references in this novel, and how many of those messages do we as readers miss the first time we read it? (Rachel, too, is a Biblical name.) --At the end of this novel, we discover that Cather has pulled a kind of amazing narrative trick. The narrator that we thought was omniscient turns out to be a character, very much implicated in the family histories that she is writing about. When we find out who the narrator is, we need to go back through the novel and re-think everything. What "facts" that you were given early on turn out now to be highly selective tellings of only parts of the story? What motives does the narrator have in telling this story the way she does? When Nancy returns at the end of the novel, the narrator does not like the way Nancy says the word "history." Why? What's going on with the difference between "hist'ry" and "his-tor-y"? What examples of "hist'ry" do we get?
For Friday, December 2: Finish reading Sapphira and the Slave Girl; there will be a quiz on the rest of the novel on Monday. Try to get through the book early, though, so you have time to go back this weekend and re-read, contemplate the very complex genealogy, re-think the things the narrator has told you, once you discover who the narrator is. We will discuss the novel in some depth today, trying to get a handle on the subtle ways that Cather gets us very deep into the same issues Faulkner began raising in Absalom, Absalom! Think about the moments of analepsis (a textual point that reaches back to a time anterior to the time being narrated) and prolepsis (a textual point that jumps forward in time from the time being narrated): what moments of analepsis and prolepsis have you found in Sapphira? For Wednesday, November 30: Quiz on the first four books of Sapphira and the Slave Girl (through p. 145). Your third essay, which is optional, is due on Wednesday, December 7: details here. Read over the Langston Hughes poems I gave you in class on Monday; they are also available here. We'll discuss them together today, and we'll begin our discussion of Sapphira. Look up Sapphira in the Bible (Acts 5): how does the Biblical story related to Cather's novel? For Monday, November 28: We will talk one more day about Absalom, Absalom! Think particularly about Jim Bond, the one character who emerges from Sutpen's genealogy to live into the future. What do you make of him? We will also look at a few poems by Langston Hughes (the great African American poet writing at the same time Faulkner was writing), and begin thinking about some of the names of characters in both Faulkner's novel (Clytemnestra, Judith, Absalom) and Cather's Sapphira and the Slave Girl (like the name "Sapphira" itself). Over Thanksgiving break, read as much of Sapphira and the Slave Girl as you can; this is a novel that demands a second reading, so try to allow yourself the time to do that (it will move much, much more quickly than Absalom). In some ways, as we will discuss, it is Cather's direct answer to Faulkner's Absalom, so, as you read it, think about ways that Cather seems to be engaging the same issues, the same historical period, the same region, as Faulkner. On Wednesday of this week, there will be a quiz on the first four books of Sapphira and the Slave Girl (through p. 145). Try to get as far beyond Book Four as possible. On Monday (December 5), there will be a quiz on the rest of the book (your final quiz of the semester). Langston Hughes (1902-1967), American poet, published "Three Songs about Lynching" in 1936. We'll discuss these poems in relation to the racial atmosphere in the U.S. in the 1930s, when both Sapphira and Absalom appeared. Think of them, too, in relation to the "Without Sanctuary" website about lynching in the U.S. Here are the poems, along with a fourth one called "Mulatto": Langston Hughes, "Silhouette": Southern gentle lady, They've hung a black man For the world to see Southern gentle lady, Langston Hughes, "Flight" Plant your toes in the cool swamp mud. No, I didn't touch her. Hurry, black boy, hurry! Langston Hughes, "Lynching Song": Pull at the rope! Pull it, boys, The white folks die? That black boy's Langston Hughes, "Mulatto" I am your son, white man! Georgia dusk You are my son! The moon over the turpentine woods. What's a body but a toy? Naw, you ain't my brother. The Southern night is full of stars, Git on back there in the night, The bright stars scatter everywhere. I am your son, white man! A little yellow For Friday, November 18: Today will be your final quiz on Absalsom, Absalom!, this one covering chapters 8 and 9. We will talk about what you discovered in small groups on Wednesday, and we'll work together to figure out what happens in these final chapters and what to make of the very strange conclusion to the novel. For Wednesday, November 16: Quiz today on chapter 7 (quiz Friday on chapters 8-9). Think more about what we were talking about in class on Monday about Rosa's "You, too, sister, sister?" statement, and the wildly resonant implications of the doubling of "sister, sister," a doubling that is echoed in the novel's title as well as in "brother, brother" later on. This is a novel of doubling, where brothers and sisters, fathers and sons, who have been made invisible by the cultural force of slavery, are suddenly, uncannily, made visible again. We'll talk in both large and small groups, using the questions you began talking about last Friday: Discuss your individual experiences in reading this novel. Have you
found yourself engaged by it, obsessed with it, bored by it, disgusted
with it, frustrated with it, entranced by it? What have been the greatest
challenges in reading it? What parts have brought you the most pleasure?
What parts do you just not understand, and can you help each other out
with any of those parts? For Monday, November 14: Quiz today over chapters 5-6 of Absalom, Absalom! (quiz on chapter 7 Wednesday, and quiz on chapters 8-9 Friday). We will continue the very illuminating small group discussions that began on Friday, and we'll continue as a large group to work on the dark heart of this novel (a novel that Faulkner originally entitled Dark House) by continuing the explore the incest/miscegenation obsession that lies at the core of the Sutpen story. How many instances of "miscegenation" can you think of in the novel? Please review the small-group discussion topics that your group did not get to on Friday, so that you're ready to contribute today. Here are the topics again: Discuss your individual experiences in reading this novel. Have you
found yourself engaged by it, obsessed with it, bored by it, disgusted
with it, frustrated with it, entranced by it? What have been the greatest
challenges in reading it? What parts have brought you the most pleasure?
What parts do you just not understand, and can you help each other out
with any of those parts? For Friday, November 11: Keep reading Absalom, Absalom! You will have quizes covering the rest of the book on all three days next week. On Monday, there will be a quiz over chapters 5-6 (quiz on chapter 7 next Wednesday, and quiz on chapters 8-9 next Friday.) We will work in small groups to help each other figure out just what we know so far in this novel, and from whom we know it. Think about the novel as a kind of critique of history: we never encounter Sutpen directly, but rather only get at him and Henry and Judith and Bon through the words of other characters, and those words are stories that are contradictory and mediated by people of various ages with various motives for telling the stories. Some are second-hand, some are third- and fourth-hand. What is Rosa's motive in telling this story to Quentin? What is Quentin's motive in telling it to Shreve? What is Mr. Compson's motive in telling it to Quentin? Begin to ask yourself how this novel goes back to enfold The Sound and the Fury: what does Absalom tell us about Quentin's motives for suicide that Sound and Fury never revealed? With whom in the Sutpen saga does Quentin identify? Why? The small group discussions will cover the following topics, which you should think about and make notes about before class: Discuss your individual experiences in reading this novel. Have you
found yourself engaged by it, obsessed with it, bored by it, disgusted
with it, frustrated with it, entranced by it? What have been the greatest
challenges in reading it? What parts have brought you the most pleasure?
What parts do you just not understand, and can you help each other out
with any of those parts? For Wednesday, November 9: Quiz today on the first four chapters of Absalom, Absalom! (through p. 106). Your main focus now is on reading this amazing and challenging book. There will be a quiz on chapter 5 and 6 this coming Monday. Bring both A Mortal Enemy and Absalom to class today. We will finish discussing My Mortal Enemy and begin on Absalom. Be sure to check the very useful website on Absalom; it will help you sort out the chronology and the narrative. Spend time getting used to how this website functions. For the discussion on A Mortal Enemy, consider the three times the phrase "my mortal enemy" occurs in the book--once when Nellie quotes Myra saying it (where it ends with a question mark), the second when Nellie recites it when she is older and is wearing the amethyst necklace (where it ends with an exclamation point), the third (or the first) when it appears without punctuation as the title to the book. How does each context shift the meaning for us and for Nellie? For Monday, November 7: Your second essay is due today; assignment is here. We will continue discussing My Mortal Enemy and get reports from the small group discussions that you had on Friday. Meanwhile, your main work now is reading Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, which will be one of the great reads of your life, but also one of the most challenging. There will be a quiz on the first four chapters of Absalom (through p. 106) on Wednesday (Nov. 9), followed by a quiz on chapters 5-6 the following Monday. Since Faulkner's title alludes to a specific Biblical story, be sure to look up the Biblical story about Absalom; read the Second Book of Samuel. A quick summary of the story is available here . As you read the novel, think about how Faulkner uses the "mythic method" here, playing a modern-day story against a historical story against a Biblical one, adding growing resonance as we discover deeper and deeper layers. This is a website that will help you sort out the often confusing chronology of events, narrative settings, and shifting narrators; you will need to spend some time getting used to the site and its sometimes cumbersome navigation, but the aggravation will be worth it. For Friday, November 4: Your second essay is due on Monday, November 7; the assignment is available here. Today we will continue discussing My Mortal Enemy. We will begin by working in small groups on the following topics. These will require you to prepare ahead of time. Use the links provided here to do some background reading on the various plot-frames that Nellie uses to try to understand and narrate the story of Myra Henshawe. Here are some of the stories, songs, and myths that get mentioned or alluded to in My Mortal Enemy: if you want to hear "The Irish Washerwoman" and see one set of lyrics, go here. "Casta Diva" lyrics (from Bellini's opera Norma) are here, along with a quick plot summary of the opera; you can watch a staged version of the scene from the opera here, with "Casta Diva" sung by the great Joan Sutherland. You can also hear the song (sung by the legendary Maria Callas) here and here. Saint-Gaudens' Diana sculpture is here and here (along with information about the installation of the sculpture, the very one that Nellie saw). Been a while since you've read "Sleeping Beauty"? Go here for something more than the Disney version and see just how various this tale is, and how evocative. Here are topics for small group discussions. Groups will be the same as last time. Please note who the discussion leaders are; discussion leaders should prepare by reading over the questions carefully ahead of time and making notes on parts of the novel that are important to discuss in relation to each question. Group One: Lydia Adolphson, Michael Leonard, Larissa Wolf, Stacia Scott, Froy Orozco (discussion leader). Group Two: Renee Jansen, Jordan Beck, Michael Toner, Amanda Rossmiller, Jenny Tokheim, Jim Poggi (discussion leader). Group Three: Nicholas Maas, Zach Elsbecker, Lucie Heck (discussion leader), Audrey Smith, Tyler Rath, Leah Wolfe. Group Four: Autumn Williams, Natalie Deam, Christopher McCracken, Brent Smith, John Miller (discussion leader). Note that item four requires you to write a short paragraph ahead of time in response to that question. (I'll collect the paragraphs at the end of class.) --We finally have a novel told from a female character's point of view. Nellie Birdseye gives us literally a "Birdseye" view of things. Does it make a difference to have the story told from a female point of view? How? What do you make of the narrator's name, and what does her name suggest about the narrative perspective? --Some critics have suggested My Mortal Enemy is a kind of rewriting of A Lost Lady. How might it be? How is it not? Which characters from each novel correspond to each other? Is there a Captain Forrester in My Mortal Enemy? An Ivy Peters? Who corresponds to Marian Forrester; who to Niel? --The two parts of the novel are very different in all kinds of ways. One is narrated from Nellie's perspective as a 15-year-old, the other from her perspective as a 25-year-old, yet both seem told to us from some unspecified present much later in Nellie's life. How would you describe the differences in the ways the two sections are narrated? Does it help to think of one as "romance," the other as "realism"? One as "love," the other as "religion"? One as youth, the other as age? --Think about the title. Here's that "my" again. Who is the mortal enemy? And who is the "my"? And why does the "my" perceive itself to have a "mortal enemy"? And who is the "my" (that is, who is the speaker of the title)? And why does the "my" perceive itself to have a "mortal enemy"? Write a paragraph on this topic; share with each other what you discovered and discuss your various views. --Many stories get mentioned or alluded to in this little novel. Everyone in Group One should look up the story of Sleeping Beauty and think about how it functions in this novel. Everyone in Group Two should find a synopsis of Bellini's opera Norma and the lyrics of the Casta Diva and think about how the plot is echoed in Cather's novel, especially in the scene immediately following the singing of Casta Diva. Group Three should look up the myth of Diana and think how the presence of Diana, indicated by statue of her that Nellie sees in New York, is suggestive in this novel. Group Four should look up the plot summaries of Shakespeare's Hamlet, which Nellie sees with a female playing the role of Hamlet, of King Lear, especially the cliff scene with a blinded Gloucester trying to commit suicide, and of Macbeth, especially the scene of the knocking at the gate after Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have murdered the king. How does each story function in the narration? How do these stories help Nellie structure her memory of Myra Henshawe? For Wednesday, November 2: Bring your copies of As I Lay Dying and My Mortal Enemy with you; we'll finish discussing the Faulkner novel and begin Cather's. Quiz today on My Mortal Enemy (the entire novel). Either today or Friday we will discuss in small groups a number of the stories and myths that get mentioned or alluded to in My Mortal Enemy: think about some of them, and look up a summary or synopsis--Bellini's opera Norma , for example, or "Sleeping Beauty." If you want to hear "The Irish Washerwoman" and see one set of lyrics, go here. "Casta Diva" lyrics are here, along with a quick plot summary of the opera; you can watch a staged version of the scene from the opera here, with "Casta Diva" sung by the great Joan Sutherland. You can also hear the song (sung by the legendary Maria Callas) here and here. Saint-Gaudens' Diana sculpture is here and here (along with information about the installation of the sculpture, the very one that Nellie saw). Been a while since you've read "Sleeping Beauty"? Go here for something more than the Disney version and see just how various this tale is, and how evocative. Don't forget that your second essay will be due on Monday, November 7; the assignment is available here. And don't forget that Absalom, Absalom! is always lurking on the horizon: it's time to begin grappling with that book, if you haven't begun already. If you haven't yet done so, be sure to read the short Faulkner and Cather biographies online. For Monday, October 31: Re-read the Addie chapter of As I Lay Dying: we will talk through that chapter together, seeking to see how language and story come together in her own wild distrust of words. Read Cather's My Mortal Enemy. As always with Cather, be particularly attentive to the narrative perspective. Think about Nellie Birdseye (our first female first-person narrator) in relation to Niel Herbert and Jim Burden. What do you make of the huge gap in time between Part One and Part Two of the novel? There will be a quiz on the whole novel on Wednesday. Think through this short but very problematic novel, a book that is so short and so complex that you need to read it twice. Consider the title of the novel, My Mortal Enemy: there's that Cather "my" again (as in My Antonia ). Who is the mortal enemy? And who is the "my" (that is, who is the speaker of the title)? And why does the "my" perceive itself to have a "mortal enemy"? In class on Wednesday, we will discuss in small groups a number of the stories and myths that get mentioned or alluded to in this little novel: think about some of them, and look up a summary or synopsis--Bellini's opera Norma , for example, or "Sleeping Beauty." If you want to hear "The Irish Washerwoman" and see one set of lyrics, go here. "Casta Diva" lyrics are here, along with a quick plot summary of the opera; you can watch a staged version of the scene from the opera here, with "Casta Diva" sung by the great Joan Sutherland. You can also hear the song (sung by the legendary Maria Callas) here and here. Saint-Gaudens' Diana sculpture is here and here (along with information about the installation of the sculpture, the very one that Nellie saw). Been a while since you've read "Sleeping Beauty"? Go here for something more than the Disney version and see just how various this tale is, and how evocative. Don't forget that your second essay will be due on Monday, November 7; the assignment is available here. And don't forget that Absalom, Absalom! is always lurking on the horizon: it's time to begin grappling with that book, if you haven't begun already. If you haven't yet done so, be sure to read the short Faulkner and Cather biographies online. For Friday, October 28: We will continue our discussion of As I Lay Dying. Keep thinking about how Addie's relationship to her children structures this novel in some surprising ways. A&A (Anse and Addie) generate C and D, then J intervenes, then double-D (Dewey Dell) works as makeup, and V (Vardaman) ends the alphabet. Your second essay will be due on Monday, November 7; the assignment is available here. And don't forget that Absalom, Absalom! is hovering on the horizon. It is never too early to begin reading this very large and mind-blowing novel. For Wednesday, October 26: We will gather the ideas from small groups and begin to discuss as a large group some of the challenges and complexities of As I Lay Dying. For Monday, October 24: Quiz on the second half of As I Lay Dying. We will start class today with small group discussions, focusing on the following questions, having to do with working carefully through the first four sections of the novel and then confronting the Addie chapter::
Remember you are responsible for the short biography of Faulkner available on the Web; click here to read it now. You are responsible for both this biography and the biographical sketch of Cather (by Amy Ahearn) available on the Cather Archive. The quiz may cover biographical questions as well as questions about the novel. For Friday, October 21: Discussion leaders from the small groups will report on the most illuminating points raised in Wednesday's discussion, and we'll work to bring these comments together to get a firm sense of what Cather was trying to accomplish with A Lost Lady. Continue reading As I Lay Dying. Quiz on the second half of the novel on Monday (October 24). There's a brief plot summary of the novel here, along with links to descriptions of the major characters and places. Keep reading the sections over, go back, draw connections, edge forward. Faulkner has set you loose in a fictional universe where the reliable or cohering narrator is dead. It's not just Addie Bundren who "lay dying" in this novel; it's the whole novel as the world had known it up to this point that's being carted to its burial, section by fragmented section. If you have not yet read the short biography of Faulkner available on the Web, click here and read it now. You are responsible for both this biography and the biographical sketch of Cather (by Amy Ahearn) available on the Cather Archive. For Wednesday, October 19: There will be a quiz Wednesday on As I Lay Dying, first half of the novel (through the long Darl section, ending on p. 136 [p. 129 in the older editions]). This will be the first quiz of the second half of the semester, so it's a new beginning for everyone. If you have not yet read the short biography of Faulkner available on the Web, click here and read it now. You are responsible for both this biography and the biographical sketch of Cather (by Amy Ahearn) available on the Cather Archive . Today we will continue for the first part of class in small groups, focusing on the three middle questions (2, 3, 4) on the discussion sheet about A Lost Lady. Then we will work to bring together ideas that have emerged in the small group and see if we can make some general observations about how this novel works. For Monday, October 17: We will continue our discussion of A Lost Lady. We will work in small groups as well as in the full-class mode. Look at the epigraph to A Lost Lady ("Come, my coach! / Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, / Good night, good night."). This epigraph has a double source: it's from Hamlet, but also T.S. Eliot quotes it in The Waste Land (1922), a work Cather knew and responded to as she wrote Lost Lady. How does the epigraph work? What sections of the novel are evoked by the epigraph? Continue reading Faulkner's As I Lay Dying; this is a novel you'll need to read through a couple of times. Each short section will open up more and more as you return to it. There will be a quiz Wednesday on As I Lay Dying, first half of the novel (through the long Darl section, ending on p. 136 [p. 129 in the older editions]). This will be the first quiz of the second half of the semester, so it's a new beginning for everyone. I will give you your quiz grades for the first half of the semester on Monday. Quiz on second half next Monday (October 24). There's a brief plot summary of the novel here , along with links to descriptions of the major characters and places. Keep reading the sections over, go back, draw connections, edge forward. Faulkner has set you loose in a fictional universe where the reliable or cohering narrator is dead. It's not just Addie Bundren who "lay dying" in this novel; it's the whole novel as the world had known it up to this point that's being carted to its burial, section by fragmented section. As you read Faulkner's novel, think about As I Lay Dying in relation to A Lost Lady . If you think of the second book of A Lost Lady as a competition between Niel and Ivy for Marian Forrester, how does that story resonate with As I Lay Dying, where Darl and Jewel wrestle for control of Addie? Go back to My Antonia, and read chapter 15 of Book One (pp. 81-87) and see if you can find some interesting anticipations of Faulkner's novel. For Friday, October 14: We will begin our discussion of The Lost Lady. Since you had very little time to discuss the novel in small groups on Wednesday, we will break into small groups again today after some introductory discussion. Meanwhile, you should be starting Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. For Monday and Wednesday, October 10 and 12: I want you to see a film about Faulkner and Southern Writers; it will be shown Monday in class. It reveals a lot about Southern literature and Southern culture from a Southern viewpoint, and it will give you a lot of visual memories of the South during the 1920s and 1930s, images you'll find useful as you continue reading Faulkner. You'll see the rest of the film on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, there will be a quiz on A Lost Lady (the entire novel), and then we'll break into small groups to begin discussing your initial reactions to this novel. Look for the odd narrative fractures in the novel, and think especially about the striking shift of perspective in Chapter 5 of Part One, when a key scene between Mrs. Forrester and Ellinger is witnessed only by Adolph Blum and presumably kept secret (except the narrator knows that Blum saw it--how?). What do you make of Ivy Peters in Part Two? Can you see reasons that Marian Forrester feels affection for him? Think back to the first scene in which we meet Ivy Peters. Why is that scene (with his removal of the woodpecker's eyes) in the novel? What do you make of his name and the initial physical description of him. What things are you most surprised about in the second part of the novel? Here are the small groups for Wednesday: Group One: Lydia Adolphson , Jordan Beck, Natalie Deam (discussion leader), Zach Elsbecker, Lucie Heck. Group Two: Renee Jansen, Michael Leonard, Christopher McCracken (discussion leader), Amanda Rossmiller, Stacia Scott, John Miller. Group Three: Nicholas Maas, Froy Orozco, Jim Poggi, Audrey Smith, Jenny Tokheim (discussion leader), Autumn Williams. Group Four: Leah Wolfe (discussion leader), Larissa Wolf, Michael Toner, Tyler Rath, Brent Smith. Look over the following questions and be ready to offer comments and insights about these topics. --To begin our discussion of The Lost Lady, think about the relationship of various characters in this novel as related to various characters in the novels we've read. Niel Herbert is the focalized point of view here. He does not narrate the novel, but the narrator stays very close to his perspective on the events that are told. What are the similarities and differences between Niel and Jim Burden? How about between Niel and Quentin Compson? Niel, Quentin, and Jim all have a Southern heritage. How does that Southern heritage play out for Niel? --Think of how Quentin Compson still lives by the Southern chivalric code: he believes he is the protector of female virtue. How does Niel Herbert live by the chivalric code? What virtues in his "lady" does he feel he is protecting? Is his reaction to his "lady's" loss of virtue similar to or different from Quentin's reaction to Caddie's loss of virtue? Is Marian Forrester in any way like Caddie? Like Tony? Like Lena? Like Drusilla? --Think of Ivy Peters in relation to Wick Cutter in My Antonia. How are they similar; how are they different? What do you make of Ivy Peters in Part Two? Can you see reasons that Marian Forrester feels affection for him? Think back to the first scene in which we meet Ivy Peters. Why is that scene (with his removal of the woodpecker's eyes) in the novel? What do you make of his name and the initial physical description of him. --Look at the beginning of Chapter 7 (p. 66). Niel spends a lot of time reading through a set of books called the "Bohn classics." Read the first two paragraphs of the chapter. These books come from Virginia; Judge Pommeroy has brought them out West. They are part of the education of a Southern gentleman. What books does Niel read? Why are they significant? What do they tell us about his views of what a Southern gentleman needs to do? --Look closely at the first chapter of the novel. Discuss what the social breakdown of Sweet Water is. What is the narrator's attitude toward the social classes in the town? What do you make of the narrator's attitude as she/he describes the society of the community? For Friday, October 7: Begin reading Cather's A Lost Lady; there will be a quiz on the entire novel on Wednesday (the novel is in two parts, each part with nine chapters; to stay on pace, read part one by Saturday and part two by Wednesday). The reading comes quickly now, so work to keep up. You'll find the pace of reading in Cather's novel significantly quicker than in Faulkner, but don't be fooled: look for the interstices in Cather's work--those significant things that are implied but not directly said! Think about the structure of Cather's novel; the first part is composed of nine chapters, covering nine years, but seven years are skipped between chapters 2 and 3. The time structure does not initially seem as radically fragmented as The Sound and the Fury , but why is there such a gap in time? In Sound and the Fury, Quentin recalls at one point (p. 81) that " Father said it used to be a gentleman was known by his books; nowadays he is known by the ones he has not returned ." Think about Niel Herbert's own Southern roots, and recall that he too learns a lot by reading the books in Judge Pommeroy's library, which comes from the South and which marks him as a "gentleman." How are these books (in chapter 7) important? Today we will finish discussing The Sound and the Fury, so bring your copy of the novel to class. For Wednesday, October 5: We will try to pull together the insights the small groups have generated as we think about how The Sound and the Fury coheres around the themes of repression, "purity," virginity, shadows, and blackness/whiteness. Quiz today on the final two books of the novel ("April Sixth, 1928" and "April Eighth, 1928"). And, as a final assignment dealing with The Sound and the Fury, go to the website you're now familiar with and read Faulkner's "Appendix" to the novel (it's on the main menu right after the sections of the novel itself), and be amazed at how 15 years after writing this book, Faulkner was still writing it, still adding to it and learning what its implications are. If you're using the edition of the novel that I ordered for the course, the appendix may be printed in the back of your book (otherwise, read it on the website). And be sure to read this short biographical summary of Faulkner's life. For Monday, October 3: We will continue the small group discussions on The Sound and the Fury and then come back together as a large group to begin to work out the ways that blackness functions for the Compsons--as a racial and psychological marker. Bring the discussion-topic sheets with you. You're finishing the novel now, and on Wednesday there will be quiz on the final two sections of the book. For Friday, September 30: Your essays are due in class today: details available here. We will talk about a few general ideas about The Sound and the Fury today, and then we will break into small group discussions to form interpretive communities where you can help each other through the thicket of the Benjy and Quentin sections. We will discuss in those groups the questions that I handed out to you on Wednesday. For next week, you will read the final two sections of the novel; there will be a quiz on them on Wednesday (October 5). Discussion groups and leaders will be: Group One: Lydia Adolphson (discussion leader), Jordan Beck, Natalie Deam, Zach Elsbecker, Lucie Heck, Ethan Kazmerzak. Group Two: Renee Jansen, Michael Leonard, Christopher McCracken (discussion leader), Amanda Rossmiller, Stacia Scott, John Miller. Group Three: Nicholas Maas, Froy Orozco, Jim Poggi, Audrey Smith (discussion leader), Jenny Tokheim, Autumn Williams (discussion leader). Group Four: Leah Wolfe, Larissa Wolf, Michael Toner, Tyler Rath (discussion leader), Brent Smith. For Wednesday, September 28: There will be a quiz on the second section (narrated by Quentin Compson, titled "June Second 1910") today, and next Wednesday (October 5) a quiz on the final two sections, so be sure to keep working on reading the novel, even as you work on your short essay, due on this coming Friday--details available here. Think about why the novel drops back eighteen years in time from the first section to the second section. Again, spend some time with the Sound and the Fury website (when you get to the website, click on the cover of the book to open the site up) to help guide you through this sometimes difficult section. We'll begin discussion of the novel today, so bring your copy to class. At the Sound and the Fury website, you'll see the original cover of Faulkner's novel; what is the significance of that cover? How does it relate to the novel? Keep your eye out for scenes in which the black/white, body/shadow, primitive/refined, sullied/pure tensions are most apparent. Keep thinking of the significance of TIME and SHADOWS in the book, and, on the Sound and the Fury website, look under "Criticism" at the Joel DeShaye "Brief Analysis of The Sound and the Fury's Namesake"; there you will find the passage from Macbeth that is the source of Faulkner's title, and DeShaye traces the ways that various parts of Macbeth's words echo through Faulkner's novel. For Monday, September 26: Continue to read carefully the second section of The Sound and the Fury ("June Second, 1910"), told by Quentin Compson, Benjy's and Caddy's and Jason's brother, on the last day of his life. Continue to spend some time with the Sound and the Fury website to help guide you through this sometimes difficult section. Then read the more easily navigated third and fourth sections of the novel. We'll begin discussion of the novel on Wednesday, so bring your copy to class starting then. There will be a quiz on the second section (narrated by Quentin Compson) on Wednesday, and next Monday (October 3) a quiz on the final two sections, so be sure to keep working on reading the novel, even as you work on your short essay, due on this coming Friday--details available here. Today we'll finish up discussing My Antonia. Think about what Wick Cutter repesents in Jim's memory of his growing up, about why we get the long description of the horrific night in Russia on Peter and Pavel's sled, about why we get that tramp in the thresher (and why he carried a copy of the "Old Oaken Bucket" in his pocket). We want to get so we understand how each of these seeming digressions takes us to the very heart of what this novel is about. For Friday, September 23: There will be a quiz on the first section of The Sound and the Fury ("April Seventh, 1928," pp. 3-75). Be sure to explore the very helpful website on Sound and the Fury that allows you to rearrange the first two sections of the novel so that you can track things chronologically. But don't do this until you have read through the section: if this is your first time reading the novel, don't spoil this once-in-a-lifetime possibility of confronting the character Benjy's broken but astonishing mind in all its fractured glory. Experience this as it is meant to be experienced before you try organizing, categorizing, and straightening out the scenes and incidents you will be exposed to. Your first short essay, on My Antonia or The Unvanquished, will be due a week from today (Friday, September 30): the asssignment is available here. Today, we will continue discussing My Antonia. Re-read the scene about Blind d'Arnault: think about why Jim calls the piano that d'Arnault first learns to play on "The Thing." What else does Jim refer to as "the thing"? What is the significance of the kind of music that d'Arnault plays? What force does the music have in Jim's life and in the life of the town? Continue reading The Sound and the Fury. Read carefully the second section of The Sound and the Fury ("June Second, 1910"), told by Quentin Compson, Benjy's and Caddy's and Jason's brother, on the last day of his life. Think about why the novel drops back eighteen years in time from the first section. Again, spend some time with the Sound and the Fury website to help guide you through this sometimes difficult section. Think about how TIME works in this novel: how does Benjy experience time differently from Quentin? What do you make of the clock imagery in the book (think of Emily Grierson's invisible watch in "A Rose for Emily")? We'll begin discussion of the novel next week. For Wednesday, September 21: Jot notes about how the novel changes tone and focus as Jim moves into Black Hawk. Think about the significance of Blind d'Arnault, the piano player, and the effect he has on the town and on Jim's memory. How does d'Arnault relate to Jim's childhood in the South? I'd like to hear from the small groups that talked about d'Arnault: is he in any way a model for Jim as he writes his memoir of Antonia? Think, too about the role of Gaston Cleric, Jim's teacher. How is he important to the overall structure of the novel? What does Jim learn from him that might eventually help him write this book? And think about what we talked about at the end of class--the gigantic fact that Jim is writing this book during the First World War (1914-1918) but never mentions the events of the war. How does this book respond to the war? Explore the Willa Cather Archive online. Be sure to read the 300-word biographical sketch of Cather here. For Monday, September 19: We will bring together the good comments made in small groups and use them to generate the questions we need to ask about this very strange novel. You should have completed the reading of the novel and reviewed it by Monday. There will be a quiz today on Books III-V (the remainder of the novel). Be ready to bring up points that were made in the small discussion groups. From now on, the reading will be nonstop, so it is always good to be reading ahead. If you've finished My Antonia, review the last three books for Monday, but start reading Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. The opening book of that novel, narrated by Benjy, who suffers from mental incapacity. You have never read anything quite like this before. It will at times drive you crazy, at times amaze you, at all times confuse you. It sets out to confuse you: that's part of what this novel is about. There's no way to deal with it but to go with the flow and let Benjy's words cascade over you. Gradually you will pick up events and patterns. Don't destroy this opportunity to encounter one of the great pieces of writing in the twentieth centry: read it straight through before going to any summary of the book. After you've read the section, visit the amazing website on The Sound and the Fury, where, with the click of the mouse, you can rearrange Benjy's section into a chronological narrative. This is an amazing resource, but, again, don't use it until you have experienced being lost at sea in Benjy's world, which coheres in ways that chronology cannot begin to explain. For Friday, September 16: We will begin our discussion of Willa Cather's My Antonia. Finish reading the novel, then take this weekend to re-read and pick up details in this detail-rich book. There will be a quiz today over Book II only ("The Hired Girls"), so be sure to read over that book again. Then on Monday there will be a quiz over the final books (III-V). I know I mentioned to a couple of you today that the quiz would be on Monday, but in fact the material is these books is so dense that we will need to have two quizes to cover it all. So: a quiz on Book II today (Friday), and a separate quiz on Books III-V on Monday. My graduate assistant, Eric Conrad, will be here today to help with small discussion groups. Occasionally during the semester, I will break the class into small groups for intensive discussion of key points in the various novels we are reading. The point of the small groups is to give everyone the opportunity to actively take part in the interpretive community we are building in this class. Use the opportunity to try out ideas, raise questions, and explore issues in more detail than we can usually do in the large group. I will appoint discussion leaders each time; the job of the discussion leader is to guide the group through the topics, allow for everybody to make contributions, keep the discussion going, and also to jot down notes about the most interesting points that come up, so that you can report them back to the large group. Here are today's groups. I've indicated the discussion leader; you'll all get a chance to do this at some point. Group One: Lydia Adolphson, Jordan Beck, Natalie Deam, Zach Elsbecker, Lucie Heck (discussion leader), Ethan Kazmerzak. Group Two: Renee Jansen (discussion leader), Michael Leonard, Christopher McCracken, Amanda Rossmiller, Stacia Scott, John Miller. Group Three: Nicholas Maas, Froy Orozco, Jim Poggi, Audrey Smith (discussion leader), Jenny Tokheim, Autumn Williams. Group Four: Leah Wolfe, Larissa Wolf, Michael Toner (discussion leader), Tyler Rath, Brent Smith. Below are the questions for discussion. Think about them between now and Friday's class. You won't get through all of these questions during the class period; it's more important to discuss a few in depth than try to get to all of them superficially. Feel free, as a group, to skip questions that don't seem to generate much response and instead focus on the ones that people want to express views about. 1. Discuss the kinds of variety that you find in Book One of the novel--linguistic variety, cultural variety, religious variety, class variety, regional variety, and so on. What scenes capture the sense of multiplicity most effectively and why? 2. Discuss how the novel changes tone and focus from Book One to Book Two as Jim moves into Black Hawk after a gap of a couple of years. 3. Discuss Blind d'Arnault's role in the novel. Think about the significance of Blind d'Arnault, the piano player, and the effect he has on the town and on Jim's memory. How does d'Arnault relate to Jim's childhood in the South? How does he manifest the issues of race in Cather's novel as compared to, say, Ringo or Loosh in The Unvanquished? What character in My Αntonia serves as the greatest contrast to Blind d'Arnault? How? 4. How would you describe Jim Burden? Jim is ten years old when we first see him, but, like Bayard, he is telling us this story as an adult looking back on his childhood. Discuss the impact of Jim Burden narrating this story; how does his voice compare to that of Bayard Sartoris? Do you trust one more than the other? Why? What is the effect of Jim's Southern upbringing, and how do the attitudes he has carried with him from the South affect the way he sees Nebraska? 5. Think about the title of the novel. What is the impact of the "introduction" to the novel, which introduces a narrator outside the frame of Jim Burden, a narrator who in fact tells us how Jim came up with the title. Just how possessive is the "my" of the title, and why does Jim add it? 6. What information do we get about Jim Burden in the "introduction" that we don't get in the novel? What is the significance of that information? How does the introductory narrator's view of Jim Burden help us understand Jim's attitudes in the novel? 7. Discuss the surprising number of violent incidents in the novel. Try to generate a list. How many violent events occur in this novel? Is there any pattern to the way these events are told in Jim's narrative? 8. Jim begins by telling us the landscape of Nebraska seems to him a blank. But as he tells the story, that landscape seems to hide many buried things. What things can you think of in the novel that are in some sense buried in the landscape?
For Wednesday, September 14: We will finish discussion of The Unvanquished. Look again at pp. 100-101, where Drusilla makes the odd comment to Bayard about how she is "keeping a dog quiet," how this dog, which doesn't seem to exist, "doesn't bother anybody anymore now." Read the whole passage and think about what she is saying. Why does Bayard recall this moment? How does it relate to Drusilla's actions in the final chapter, as she seems to have a wildly various response to Bayard's dealing with John's death. What is Drusilla trying to keep quiet? Continue reading Willa Cather's My Antonia. Read Book II, "The Hired Girls," for today, then finish your first reading of the novel by Friday. For Monday, September 12: We will continue talking about The Unvanquished. What parts of te novel still are puzzling to you and why? What parts have begun to open up in ways you had not initially seen as a result of the contextualizing reading you've been doing and the discussions we've been having? Be sure to have finished reading carefully the Introduction and Book One ("The Shimerdas") of Cather's My Antonia (pp. 3-106). There will be a quiz over this reading today. Think about the discussion of "miscegenation" we had in class, and think about how it applies to this book. This book, too, is about "mixing," about the class and ethnic distinctions that operate something like the way race operated in The Unvanquished. There's one amazing scene of an African American entering into Black Hawk: when you get to this scene (in "The Hired Girls" section), think about how the racial issues interrelate to the class and ethnic issues. What is Jim Burden's attitudes toward social "mixing" between the hired girls and the town's elite "white" class? Where did Jim come from? What do we know of his life at the time he's writing the book (which is a very different time from the time he is telling us about). If you haven't yet read the introduction to the 1860 U.S. Census that I emailed to you, do so; focus on the section on race (pp. vii-xv). Note particularly the commentary on the future of the "colored" population in America. For Friday, September 9: We will continue our discussion of The Unvanquished, exploring some of the strange episodes in the book. Why, for example, are we given the lynching scene on p. 177? What is its purpose? Why has the black man been lynched? What would have been the resonance of this scene in the late 1930s, when the novel was published? Read the introduction to the 1860 U.S. Census that I emailed to you; focus on the section on race. What is surprising to you about the analysis of America's racial makeup just before the Civil War began? Keep thinking about and working on the Sartoris family genealogy, and the family tree of the slaves in the novel. Start reading carefully the Introduction and Book One ("The Shimerdas") of Cather's My Antonia (pp. 3-106). There will be a quiz over this reading next Monday. I'd like you to jot down notes on the kinds of variety that you find in Book One of the novel--linguistic variety, cultural variety, religious variety, class variety, regional variety, and so on. What scenes capture the sense of multiplicity most effectively and why? (Again, these notes are for your own use in preparing for class discussion, but they will help you with your first writing assignment coming up soon.) For Wednesday, September 7: There will be a quiz over the rest of The Unvanquished (chapters III-VII: "Riposte in Tertio," "Vendee," "Skirmish at Sartoris," and "An Odor of Verbena"). Keep thinking, as you read, about the genealogies of the families represented in the novel: how, for example, is Aunt Jenny related to John Sartoris and to Bayard, and how is Drusilla related to John and to Bayard? How does Ringo's relationship to Bayard change over the course of the novel? Is he essentially different or the same by the novel's end? Read through the following resources, and think about the terms "miscegenation" and "mulatto" and where they come from. Look at this very disturbing and important site about lynchings in the U.S., with eighty photographs that will trouble your sleep. And read through this history of the word "miscegenation," about the origins of the word and its role in mid-19th century American politics. Think about this in relation to The Unvanquished, which begins at just the time the word was coming into use in America. Is there any indication of the "mixing of races" in the novel? Where? For Friday, September 2: There will be a quiz over the first three chapters of The Unvanquished ("Ambuscade," "Retreat," and "Raid"). Keep reading ahead in the novel, and plan to have it finished by next Wednesday (we have no class on Monday, Labor Day), but review the first three chapters to get the details fresh in your mind for today's quiz. We will finish discussing "A Rose for Emily" and use this story to transition to The Unvanquished. As I mentioned in class, try keeping a genealogical chart for the various characters in the book: how much do we know about Ringo's family; how much do we know about Bayard's? We know Granny is Bayard's grandmother, but is she John Sartoris's mother or is she Bayard's mother's mother? Why does that matter? For Wednesday, August 31: We will discuss "A Rose for Emily" today. We will use this story to set up Faulkner's amazing achievement of imaginative fiction, his creation of Yoknapatawpha County in Mississippi, an entire county populated with his fictional characters. I apologize for the glitch in not getting the last assignment posted until Sunday night. Because of that, the quiz over the first three chapters of The Unvanquished ("Ambuscade," "Retreat," and "Raid") will be on Friday instead of today. However, you should continue to read beyond those three chapters and plan to have the novel completed by the Wednesday after Labor Day (September 7). Also, today you will hand in a paragraph on some aspect of Emily Grierson that ties her to Old Mrs. Harris; discuss how these two very different characters share some trait or attitude or destiny. Type up this paragraph (no more than a page, double-spaced) to hand in today. For Monday, August 29: Start reading carefully William Faulkner's The Unvanquished. Read Chapters 1-3 ("Ambuscade," "Retreat," and "Raid"). There will be a quiz over this reading on Wednesday. We will finish discussion of "Old Mrs. Harris" and discuss "A Rose for Emily" today--jot down some notes on the stylistic differences between Cather and Faulkner, based on your reading of "Old Mrs. Harris" and "A Rose for Emily." (These notes are for your own use in preparing for class discussion and will not be turned in.) Also, write a paragraph on some aspect of Emily Grierson that ties her to Old Mrs. Harris; discuss how these two very different characters share some trait or attitude or destiny. Type up this paragraph (no more than a page, double-spaced) to hand in today. For Friday, August 26: As you finish reading Cather's "Old Mrs. Harris" and Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," and think about the questions I ask you below, consider in relation to Cather's first title for her story ("Three Women") that mythological three Fates (Clotho, Lachisis, Atropos), who appear in many mythological stories and in thousands of paintings. Look at Francisco Goya's haunting 1820s painting of the three fates here, and then look at other classic illustrations of the Fates here. Read about the Fates here. Don't forget, there will be a quiz today on the two stories. For Wednesday, August 24 and Friday, August 26: Read (and bring with you) the four poems--two by Cather, two by Faulkner--that I gave you in class. Make notes on the poems: what strikes you about each one? Who is the better poet? (You can mark up the photocopies of the poems and stories all you want: they're yours to keep). Read the two short stories I've given you, one by Cather and one by Faulkner--one I assume many of you have read at some point and one I assume few of you have encountered. The stories are available on the Web: you can find Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" here, and here in an easily printable PDF version, also here. Cather's "Old Mrs. Harris" can be found in an easily readable Web version here, and in an easily printable version here; it's available here, too, though you need to scroll through the first story to get to "Old Mrs. Harris" (scroll about a third of the way through). These are both stories about the death of an old woman in a small regional town. Just to reverse the usual balance, Cather's is very long and Faulkner's is very short. "Old Mrs. Harris" appeared in the Ladies' Home Journal in 1931, where it was entitled "Three Women," and was republished in Cather's collection of three stories, Obscure Destinies (1932). "A Rose for Emily" originally appeared in Forum in 1930, Faulkner's first publication in a major national magazine, and was revised and included in These 13 (1931). So these two stories were written and published within a year of each other and deal with comparable situations. Let's use them as a place to begin to track out some differences and some similarities between the two authors. Begin reading "Old Mrs. Harris" for next class; on Friday there will be a quiz covering both stories. Think about and make some notes about the following things: (1) "Old Mrs. Harris" was originally entitled (when it was published in Ladies Home Journal) "Three Women." What does the original title do to the story? Given Cather's education in classical languages and literature, do "three women" suggest any mythic figures? If so, how do they influence our reading of the story? What does the change to "Old Mrs. Harris" do? What does that title indicate or suggest to you? (2) Determine the earliest event in the story. Why does it appear when it appears, and what is its significance? Is there a place in the story where it opens up to a vastly earlier time (before any of the characters lived)? |
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