It's all about troubleshooting.
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Holiday Observation #19 (specifically regarding study schedules and busy lives)
It's all about troubleshooting.
Friday, December 8, 2017
Motif Madness
A few thoughts on motifs, for your consideration. I apologize that this comes from 2015; I am hopeful, gentle historian, that it is not too dated.
Kite Runner Meets Amazon
We are closing down on conversation on Hosseini's The Kite Runner. So, gentle reader, it is time to consider some more not-our-own ideas to tally a well-rounded consideration of themes, characters, motivations, and outcomes.
Click here for Timothy Aubry's essay from 2009, when The Kite Runner was dominating attention on Amazon and other book-selling outlets.
Monday, September 11, 2017
Scholarly Research: "The Lay of Finn"
Okay, gentle reader, we want better than Wikipedia or Sparknotes on this one...
What is the purpose of The Lay of Finn as it appears in the first agon of Beowulf? Digressions serve a function, if only to compare, heighten, contrast, or emphasize the main narrative action to the new "story-within-a-story." So. Which one is it here?
Try JSTOR to start your research.
What is the purpose of The Lay of Finn as it appears in the first agon of Beowulf? Digressions serve a function, if only to compare, heighten, contrast, or emphasize the main narrative action to the new "story-within-a-story." So. Which one is it here?
Try JSTOR to start your research.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Turnitin.com Launch Codes: 2017-18
Here, gentle reader, is this year's www.turnitin.com info:
0 Hour
Class ID: 16046881
P'word: English0
2nd Hour
Class ID: 16046914
P'word: English2
3rd Hour
Class ID: 16046930
P'word: English3
5th Hour
Class ID: 16046951
P'word: English89893849fj93jfijsafkdsjrokjfkaljafjdsafj;sjaf493493
Just kidding: English5
6th Hour
Class ID: 16046975
P'word: English6
0 Hour
Class ID: 16046881
P'word: English0
2nd Hour
Class ID: 16046914
P'word: English2
3rd Hour
Class ID: 16046930
P'word: English3
5th Hour
Class ID: 16046951
P'word: English89893849fj93jfijsafkdsjrokjfkaljafjdsafj;sjaf493493
Just kidding: English5
6th Hour
Class ID: 16046975
P'word: English6
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Friday, August 18, 2017
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Defining "World Literature"
In his essay "What Is World Literature?" David Damrosch states "[l]iterature in general, and world literature in particular, has often been seen in one or more of three ways: as an established body of classics, as an evolving canon of masterpieces, or as multiple windows on the world."
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, must surely be placed in one or more of these categories. For further framework on better defining world literature, please read Damrosch's essay. And be prepared, gentle reader, to cite Damrosch in class.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, must surely be placed in one or more of these categories. For further framework on better defining world literature, please read Damrosch's essay. And be prepared, gentle reader, to cite Damrosch in class.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Junior Researchers
If you are scratching your head at the Works Cited page, don't. Check out the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) for all your MLA formatting help.
There is nothing fancy to the process, no trick, no gimmick. Even if you are a fan of EasyBib.com (and you should be), you are still responsible for making sure of the following:
1. The final formatting of your Works Cited page is correct and consistent... cutting and pasting from multiple websites can lead to formatting glitches.
2. Items are in alphabetical order.
3. "Works Cited" is spelled correctly.
4. Items are NOT numbered.
5. Your entire document is double-spaced.
6. The first line of each item is left-justified.
7. Each line after the first line is indented over once.
8. Several other things that I can't think of but are still important, and I am reminded of them by visiting free, online resources like the Purdue OWL.
9. Even pros take a few minutes putting together a good-looking, properly formatted Works Cited page. Please allow AT LEAST 25 MINUTES to complete this process.
10. Three secondary sources + one primary source = FOUR TOTAL ITEMS included on your Works Cited page.
11. You get the idea. Please be meticulous, and please use your readily available resources for help.
There is nothing fancy to the process, no trick, no gimmick. Even if you are a fan of EasyBib.com (and you should be), you are still responsible for making sure of the following:
1. The final formatting of your Works Cited page is correct and consistent... cutting and pasting from multiple websites can lead to formatting glitches.
2. Items are in alphabetical order.
3. "Works Cited" is spelled correctly.
4. Items are NOT numbered.
5. Your entire document is double-spaced.
6. The first line of each item is left-justified.
7. Each line after the first line is indented over once.
8. Several other things that I can't think of but are still important, and I am reminded of them by visiting free, online resources like the Purdue OWL.
9. Even pros take a few minutes putting together a good-looking, properly formatted Works Cited page. Please allow AT LEAST 25 MINUTES to complete this process.
10. Three secondary sources + one primary source = FOUR TOTAL ITEMS included on your Works Cited page.
11. You get the idea. Please be meticulous, and please use your readily available resources for help.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Prufrock Literary Criticism
Are you looking for some knowledge? Are you bored with the status quo? Do you want to ponder on things like equivocation and nouns that lack specificity?
Me, too.
Check out Denis Donoghue's essay on Prufrock published in The Southern Review.
Me, too.
Check out Denis Donoghue's essay on Prufrock published in The Southern Review.
Monday, February 27, 2017
Is Prufrock Lame?
Yes, gentle reader, he is. J. Alfred Prufrock is as lame as they come. The man can't gain traction on anything. Visions and revisions. Daring to do stuff. Eating peaches. Mermaids. Hamlet. Baldness. And yes, asking overwhelming questions. Heck, wanting to think about the act of asking a question.
Can't. Do. Anything.
Lame.
But probably not. The whole point of this stream of consciousness interior monologue is to get as meta as possible. I always find it intriguing that we catch up with poor Alfred precisely as he is sticking his toes over the abyss, staring down the "overwhelming question" that we can't ask about. I find it intriguing because we, the audience (the understood "you" referenced in line 1), catch up with him after skipping over the all those visions and revisions. And yet he's still talking about them.
Why?
One question (and there are dozens and dozens of those for this poem...) to consider is:
Is Prufrock's uncertain position unique to his place in time? In other words, is Eliot exploring a strictly Modernist view of life? The idea of a common man being anchored, unwillingly, to indecision because of a some kind of self-prescribed existential self-loathing? If that's the case, then boo-hoo. If that's the case, then have things improved or proceeded to get worse, since this poem is about 100 years old. If not, then what?
If this poem is more universal in nature than just for the self-loathers out there (sorry to intrude!), then what else? This is, after all, a love song, and I don't think Eliot is using that term lightly.
Can't. Do. Anything.
Lame.
But probably not. The whole point of this stream of consciousness interior monologue is to get as meta as possible. I always find it intriguing that we catch up with poor Alfred precisely as he is sticking his toes over the abyss, staring down the "overwhelming question" that we can't ask about. I find it intriguing because we, the audience (the understood "you" referenced in line 1), catch up with him after skipping over the all those visions and revisions. And yet he's still talking about them.
Why?
One question (and there are dozens and dozens of those for this poem...) to consider is:
Is Prufrock's uncertain position unique to his place in time? In other words, is Eliot exploring a strictly Modernist view of life? The idea of a common man being anchored, unwillingly, to indecision because of a some kind of self-prescribed existential self-loathing? If that's the case, then boo-hoo. If that's the case, then have things improved or proceeded to get worse, since this poem is about 100 years old. If not, then what?
If this poem is more universal in nature than just for the self-loathers out there (sorry to intrude!), then what else? This is, after all, a love song, and I don't think Eliot is using that term lightly.
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