I'm recreating this just as they had it on the board. (To the best of my abilities) ;)
Potent Potables Cliche People Key Concepts The Works History
100 100 100 100 100 100
200 200 200 200 200 200
300 300 300 300 300 300
400 400 400 400 400 400
I hope this turns out ok in the actual blog window, lol.
Friday, December 12, 2008
THE FINAL!
Make sure to show up at Rm. 222 at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday the 18th (this is more of a reminder for myself than anything els :) , and "NO LATER". If we show up later, punishment will be given. (I'm sure MS would be happy to give you a lecture on something wonderful, even if you were late for his test...but is that really punishment? ;)
300 - December 11th, 2008
Final - Thursday, December 18th, 2008
Chris - Talked about a power he had.... his English power.
John - Read his poem that was his term paper.
Alex - Talked about how he hates the world and the people who are not English Majors.
New Criticism
Values technique. Stay inside the text it says. STC, says that one part is integral to everything within the whole.
Deconstruction
Suggests that there is no absolute meaning to text. (Really, no absolute meaning to deconstruction either). It says there is no outside the text, creating story as we read it. *Counters the unity of New Criticism too. Says that the unity aspires to the Well Wrought Urn - Brookes. (Uses the Grecian Urn as a model, Keats's relation to unity in an urn). Deconstructors say there is no such thing as a unified whole.
Frye- "Everything is partially rhetorical and hence literary." Frye, pg 350
"Our literary universe has expanded into a verbal universe...." Frye is a deconstructionist because he says that there is no boundaries.
Feminism
Reductive Feminism - How many women, was it written by women, how does it think of them. Throw it out if it doesn't work for us.
Expansive - About forces of domination, suggesting Marxism and Feminism are related, what do we understand about sexes in the text...."What type of literary text is this?"
Reader Response
Spectacles of the reader - Depending on where you come from and what your background is, you will see different things in the text. Reader response SAYS you will see not only the text in the text, but see yourself in the text. THEY see it's important.
You can't make something mean whatever you want it to mean!
Psychoanalysis
Don't make fun of Freud. He has created our YOU! He created it. The truth is unseen so we'll have to look through a glass darkly. See into the mind of the author.
Marxism
Says that the culture and the system around us has made us the people we have become and the class/economical status that makes up our history and our stories.
Difference between a criticism and complaint? MAY NOT BE ON TEST :)
Harold Bloom's Intro - Compares Edith Grossman as THE GLENN GOULD OF TRANSLATORS
What secret echanted thing does Don Antonio tell Don Quixote about that will reveal the truth? THE ENCHANTED HEAD
What is the English translation of Don Quixote De La Mancha? Don Quixote of the Stains
What happened to DQ in the cave? -years added to his life
Name of the Knight that defeated DQ? Knight of the White Moon
Who really was the 3 different knights? The Bachelor Sanson Carrasco
pg. 804 DQ, "To believe that the things of this life will remain unchanged is to believe in the impossible."
Frye where's the spectacles of every critical theorist. Sexson has never read a man who sees through so many different views.
pg 346 Frye. "The culture of the past is not only the memory of mankind, but our own barried life, and the study of it leads to a revalation scene.....In which we see, not our past lives, but the total cultural form of our present life."
To make it original you have to go back to the origins.
Ezra Pound: "Make it new"
Chris - Talked about a power he had.... his English power.
John - Read his poem that was his term paper.
Alex - Talked about how he hates the world and the people who are not English Majors.
New Criticism
Values technique. Stay inside the text it says. STC, says that one part is integral to everything within the whole.
Deconstruction
Suggests that there is no absolute meaning to text. (Really, no absolute meaning to deconstruction either). It says there is no outside the text, creating story as we read it. *Counters the unity of New Criticism too. Says that the unity aspires to the Well Wrought Urn - Brookes. (Uses the Grecian Urn as a model, Keats's relation to unity in an urn). Deconstructors say there is no such thing as a unified whole.
Frye- "Everything is partially rhetorical and hence literary." Frye, pg 350
"Our literary universe has expanded into a verbal universe...." Frye is a deconstructionist because he says that there is no boundaries.
Feminism
Reductive Feminism - How many women, was it written by women, how does it think of them. Throw it out if it doesn't work for us.
Expansive - About forces of domination, suggesting Marxism and Feminism are related, what do we understand about sexes in the text...."What type of literary text is this?"
Reader Response
Spectacles of the reader - Depending on where you come from and what your background is, you will see different things in the text. Reader response SAYS you will see not only the text in the text, but see yourself in the text. THEY see it's important.
You can't make something mean whatever you want it to mean!
Psychoanalysis
Don't make fun of Freud. He has created our YOU! He created it. The truth is unseen so we'll have to look through a glass darkly. See into the mind of the author.
Marxism
Says that the culture and the system around us has made us the people we have become and the class/economical status that makes up our history and our stories.
Difference between a criticism and complaint? MAY NOT BE ON TEST :)
Harold Bloom's Intro - Compares Edith Grossman as THE GLENN GOULD OF TRANSLATORS
What secret echanted thing does Don Antonio tell Don Quixote about that will reveal the truth? THE ENCHANTED HEAD
What is the English translation of Don Quixote De La Mancha? Don Quixote of the Stains
What happened to DQ in the cave? -years added to his life
Name of the Knight that defeated DQ? Knight of the White Moon
Who really was the 3 different knights? The Bachelor Sanson Carrasco
pg. 804 DQ, "To believe that the things of this life will remain unchanged is to believe in the impossible."
Frye where's the spectacles of every critical theorist. Sexson has never read a man who sees through so many different views.
pg 346 Frye. "The culture of the past is not only the memory of mankind, but our own barried life, and the study of it leads to a revalation scene.....In which we see, not our past lives, but the total cultural form of our present life."
To make it original you have to go back to the origins.
Ezra Pound: "Make it new"
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
300 - December 10th, 2008
Group 6
-Wonderful Psychoanalysis of different books like Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Don Quixote, and Little Red Riding Hood.
-They did this by interviewing the different characters from the books (and Cervantes himself, who came out and had a very cool control of Don Quixote by rewriting the script and he was standing in front of him).
- Wonderful job of answering the questions afterwards about doing psychoanalysis without knowing who the author was and others like that.
Group 5
-Marxist Video incorporating Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Marx himself, STC, Walter Benjamin, and George Lukas.
-Very good video (and editing) about Marxism and its importance in Quixote and other important works.
-Cultural criticism
-Property and economics are more important than imagination.
-The capitalist class taking control of the proletariat lowlies. (The rich critics are controlling Quixote and Panza)
-Physical existence and what we live and die for that matters.
-Went into an actual store in their outifts! :)
-Wonderful Psychoanalysis of different books like Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Don Quixote, and Little Red Riding Hood.
-They did this by interviewing the different characters from the books (and Cervantes himself, who came out and had a very cool control of Don Quixote by rewriting the script and he was standing in front of him).
- Wonderful job of answering the questions afterwards about doing psychoanalysis without knowing who the author was and others like that.
Group 5
-Marxist Video incorporating Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Marx himself, STC, Walter Benjamin, and George Lukas.
-Very good video (and editing) about Marxism and its importance in Quixote and other important works.
-Cultural criticism
-Property and economics are more important than imagination.
-The capitalist class taking control of the proletariat lowlies. (The rich critics are controlling Quixote and Panza)
-Physical existence and what we live and die for that matters.
-Went into an actual store in their outifts! :)
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Crazy Ones Hold The Power
"Was not all the knowledge
Of the Egyptians writ in mystic symbols?
Speak not the scriptures oft in parables?
Are not the choicest fables of the poets,
That were the fountains and first springs of wisdom,
Wrapped in perplexed allegories?"
-Subtle, Ben Jonson's "The Alchemist"
We are the crazy ones. We've wrapped our minds in perplexed allegories, hidden our knowledge away in mystic symbols and speak oft in parables. Only we can understand the word power when I say that it is a power beyond all other powers which I hold and no one else does. No one.
Other people have a power that resembles mine, but it is not the same.
Don Quixote had a power that resembles mine, but it was not the same. I have a power.
Let me explain.
I continued my stroll down the sidewalk, and came across a marvelous ruby that sparkled with the most amazing deep color of red I had ever seen. It was about the size of my head, and when I tried to pick it up it did not move. "Oh well," I said to myself, "this ruby must belong to someone else." So I continued my walk down the street, leaving the most beautiful rock I had ever seen in the street behind me.
Pretty soon, I turned from the sidewalk and onto the grass, and began to walk across a lush field of green. The lushness was so much, actually, that it closed in all around me. I was the only human in this crushing jungle. The only thing that could feel.
I saw that only a few feet in front of me there was a castle, hidden mostly by an enormous amount of shrubbery. To be honest with you, all I could see was the entrance through the thick vegetation, but I knew this was the place I was going because I had been there before. Actually, this is where I started walking from, but it doesn't look like I remember it. I think that's a good thing, so I continue on in to the castle doors.
Once inside, I see staircases all around me. Staircases to my left, staircases to my right. I see a staircase right in front of me and a staircase right behind me. There's circular stairs, square stairs, pointy stairs and hairy stairs. The heavily carpeted stairs look nice to walk upon, and the old, rickety stairs look like they're about to fall apart. There's even a staircase on top of a staircase. I decide to take the old, rickety stairs.
When I reach the top, I find a door. This door has symbols on it, and they make perfect sense to me. I look in and see a room full of monsters, and it makes me smile. This is my destination. So I walk into the room of monsters and take my seat down beside them. One by one the monsters move up and down and all around. The monsters are not aggressive, and they speak beautifully of places I'd like to visit and thoughts I wish to share.
(These monsters have so much hair. All different colors, flowing, flying, whipping, and dying. The hair was all I could focus on. One hair was so different from the next. Why is there so much hair?! And why do they smell so funny?)
Then it came to be my time to step before these hairy, scary beasts that speak in beautiful words and talk to them about... a power I have.
I tell them about how I walked down the sidewalk to get to where I stood. I tell them about how I met a man who questioned me and fell into the sidewalk, and about how I saw the most beautiful ruby. Then I tell them about deviating from this sidewalk in order to find my destination, being stuck in an intense jungle of green, and how I discover a castle that I knew I was going to all along but had never seen before. I talk of many stairs, many hairs, and a little about.... a power I have.
Have I explained myself enough? Will your journey to you next class be slightly altered because of this? Perhaps. Perhaps you will look at the different hairs on every one of your peers head next time you enter class, realizing how beautiful each individual one is, yet without the others how horribly pointless one hair would be. Like the words of a work of literature.
Perhaps I will have affected only one of you, but one of you is all I need to be remembered.
You see, my power is in two things: my mind and my words. You have the power, but it is not the same. Other people in other majors have the power, but it is definitely not the same. It is much weaker. I wanted this power to be strong, so I became an English Major.
When I read you this story of my quest for class today, you were there. You might still be there.
You may still be watching that man fall backwards into the sidewalk, or the ruby that would not move, or the jungle as I walked up to our castle, or maybe my decision to come up these stairs to class. You may even, right now, be looking around at your peers as the grotesque creatures they are... stinky, sweating, hairy creatures of a type you never thought of until I gave you this gift. Until I sang you my song.
But you must remember, it is not my song anymore once it leaves my lips and enters your brain. After that, the song is yours to create as you wish. This is also the reason I became an English Major.
I wanted to create songs to pass onto others. I wanted to take others songs and play with them as if I were child molding my play-doh. Forming it to be my own, feeling it as if I too sang their song, as you too sang mine.
Keats knew the secret. He knew that no other curriculum in school could give you the same happy ending, the same fulfillment, as that of the study of the arts, especially literature. For it is literature that defines us, literature that makes us the society that we are, and to be oblivious to that knowledge would be to never try to know who you, or the people around you, "truly" are. "And, although all men observe a similar, they observe not the same order, in the motions of the dance, in the melody of the song, in the combinations of language, in the series of their imitations of natural objects." (Shelley, A Defense of Poetry)
Literature gives you my reality, it gives you Don Quixote's reality, and it gives me your reality. The arts shape our reality, as Oscar Wilde got at when he said "life imitates art", and it is this knowledge and this love for the stories we all hold dear to our hearts that make me proud to say I'm a Literature Major. I'll always be a Literature Major, no matter where I go in my life, and that's all that matters to me.
Deconstruction Trial
Judge: The case of the People vs. William Blake is now in session. You may proceed with your opening statements counsel.
The People have accused William Blake of obscenity in his poem “The Sick Rose”. It is wrong that such vulgarity should be lauded as a contribution to literature! It reflects our own moral deficiency as a culture and this amorality is perpetuated because we teach it to our children in schools.
It will be up to you, ladies and gentlemen of the Jury, to determine for yourselves the value of such profanity in the literary canon, of teaching our children the poems of a man who describes a violent sex act in his poem that is falsely praised for genius. Please use your best judgment, and remember that “The Sick Rose” is sick and vulgar.
Defense:
William Blake is innocent of these ridiculous charges. This poem can in no way be considered immoral or obscene, because the meaning of this poem is not set in stone. It is ambiguous and the interpretation and any meaning which can be derived is a meaning which can only determined by the individual reader.
Prosecution: The People call William Blake to the stand:
Please state your name and profession.
Blake:
My name is William Blake and I am a visionary.
Prosecution: Is this your poem, Mr. Blake?
Blake: No, that poem doesn’t belong to me!
Prosecution: Did you write a poem entitled “The Sick Rose” that is the same as this poem, line for line?
Blake: Oh, well yes, I suppose I did.
.
Prosecution: The People would like to submit this evidence as Exhibit A.
(Pass out Exhibit A to class)
What did you intend for “The Sick Rose” to mean?
Defense: I object on the grounds that the author’s intent has no importance in the theory of Deconstruction under form C3 of intentional fallacies.
Judge: Sustained.
Prosecution: No more questions your honor.
Defense: The defense has no questions for the accused, he and so he may step down.
Prosecution: The People call Dr. Sigmund Freud to the stand.
Dr. Feud, please state your profession for the court.
Freud: I am a psychoanalysis and literary critic.
Prosecution: And in what way are you qualified to relay your expertise on “The Sick Rose”?
Freud: I have extensively studied the human psyche and have come to the conclusion that sexual references are everywhere. You see the rose signifies the female reproductive organ and the invisible worm, oh well, you can guess what that is!
Prosecution: In your opinion, is “The Sick Rose” about a rape?
Freud: Undoubtedly so. The rose is slowly dismantled by a number of destructive elements. All very sexual of course. Simply look to the fifth and sixth lines of the poem if you don’t believe me, “has found out thy bed of crimson joy.” Truly, the rose doesn’t stand a chance.
Prosecution: No more questions, your Honor.
Defense: Dr. Freud, does your knowledge of literary criticism extend to all fields? Are you as familiar, say, with the literary school of Deconstruction as you are Psychoanalytical theories?
Freud: Well, of course not.
Defense: So isn’t it possible that because of your extensive study in Psychoanalytical that your objectivity may be off? Perhaps you have a case of tunnel vision? I mean you were taught to see the world with sexual connotations attached. So why not find those sexual undertones in this poem as well? Isn’t it just one man’s opinion you bring to this courtroom?
Freud: Yes, I have given my opinion based on my literary and career background. I will say no more.
Defense: No more questions your honor, the witness may step down.
The Defense calls Jaques Derrida to the stand.
Please state your name and occupation for the record.
Derrida: My name is Jaques Derrida and I have been called the father of Deconstruction.
Defense: Thank you. And could you tell me Mr. Derrida how many interpretations this poem, “The Sick Rose,” could have?
Derrida: It has any number of interpretations. The absence of the author when generally reading a work of literature leaves us only with the text as a source of meaning. Texts are read in various ways and on multiple levels. Now, I do encourage close reading because this is a heavy responsibility. One can’t merely read about a rabbit and make up interpretations that the rabbit represents old age and stinginess. No, of course not. At the same time there is no fixed meaning of a work just as the sun is not our only star in the universe. It is the most obvious, but certainly not one of a kind.
Defense: What advice would you give those that wish to condemn William Blake today?
Derrida: ALWAYS rethink your interpretations, play with texts you read, be willing to hear what it is saying and above all, QUESTION it - for this is when understanding (deconstruction) takes place.
Defense: Thank you, Mr. Derrida. No more questions, your honor.
Prosecution: Mr. Derrida, why should the reader have so much power? Shouldn’t it be up to better educated peoples to decide what material is inappropriate based on content?
Derrida: It is my understanding that to read is to experience. If a person is reading, then they have enough intelligence to listen to what the work is telling them. A person’s commentary or interpretation of a work of literature is a very personal aspect, and since there is such diversity among the peoples of this earth, that leads to multiple interpretations. And who has the power, knowledge or hubris to say which of those is the correct interpretation?
Prosecution: I’ll ask the questions, Mr. Derrida. What do you think the poem means?
Derrida: Well first I would take it line by line and determine what each word means. Because words themselves are quite ambiguous.
Prosecution: The meaning, Mr. Derrida?
Derrida: Right, well I see it as a struggle for life. A once beautiful flower has come to the end of her long life. She has been through many storms in her life and has but one more obstacle ahead of her. Death is wooing her, and I think she will answer him. But that is one interpretation, my dear.
Prosecution: Thank you; I have no more questions your honor.
Defense: The Defense calls Hans-Georg Gadamer to the stand.
Please state your name and profession for the record.
Gadamer: Yes, my name is Hans-Georg Gadamer and I am a philosopher and literary critic.
Defense: And your School of Criticism would be..?
Gadamer: Deconstruction.
Defense: And why is that?
Gadamer: I take the experience of beauty to be central to an understanding of the nature of art. The beautiful is that which is self-evidently present to us (as ‘radiant’). And we must explore the close relationship between the beautiful and the true. It is this continual exploration that leads to different points of view. I mean just look at all the Literary Schools of Criticism. Their arguing actually supports Deconstruction. All these varying point of views, interpretations, and criticisms are what make up the fabric of literature. How boring it would be to be constrained to one idea or thought process. I couldn’t live in a world like that.
Defense: What do you think the line, “The invisible worm,” means?
Gadamer: One can make a word anything they want it to be. Invisible can mean withdrawn from, out of sight, hidden, not visible, not perceptible by the eye, or any number of things. The word ‘worm’ has even more definitions. Did you know that worm can actually be traced back to legends of dragons? And that’s just scratching the surface. We haven’t even discussed portmanteaus or homonyms yet.
Defense: Thank you, professor. That will be all. No more questions, your honor. Defense rests.
Prosecution: No questions, your honor.
Judge: Closing Arguments
Prosecution:
The People have argued that “The Sick Rose” is a poem about rape, a poem about a violent, disturbing sexual act that doesn’t need to be taught in schools as a work of outstanding genius or act as a pillar in the canon of English literature. The Defense has argued that there is more than one way to view a piece of literature. If this is true then it is also true that the vulgar interpretation still stands, and if “The Sick Rose” can be interpreted in such a way, then it should be banned in schools and not heralded as a beautiful poem but denounced instead.
Defense: As we have seen from these various witnesses and Mr. Blake himself, The meaning of a poem or any piece of literature is not a static thing which has but a singular meaning, Since so much symbolism can be locked into a single word and this meaning can only be derived through the individual understanding of the reader, it only stands to reason that due to the complexity and infinite possibilities which can arise from the text…it only stands to reason that as a judge and jury that in your personal wisdom you can see the fault with in accusing Mr William Blake as being obscene and will allow readers to derive their own interpretation from the words which are found in this simple yet complex poem.
Opening Statements
Prosecution:The People have accused William Blake of obscenity in his poem “The Sick Rose”. It is wrong that such vulgarity should be lauded as a contribution to literature! It reflects our own moral deficiency as a culture and this amorality is perpetuated because we teach it to our children in schools.
It will be up to you, ladies and gentlemen of the Jury, to determine for yourselves the value of such profanity in the literary canon, of teaching our children the poems of a man who describes a violent sex act in his poem that is falsely praised for genius. Please use your best judgment, and remember that “The Sick Rose” is sick and vulgar.
Defense:
William Blake is innocent of these ridiculous charges. This poem can in no way be considered immoral or obscene, because the meaning of this poem is not set in stone. It is ambiguous and the interpretation and any meaning which can be derived is a meaning which can only determined by the individual reader.
Trial
Prosecution: The People call William Blake to the stand:
Please state your name and profession.
Blake:
My name is William Blake and I am a visionary.
Prosecution: Is this your poem, Mr. Blake?
Blake: No, that poem doesn’t belong to me!
Prosecution: Did you write a poem entitled “The Sick Rose” that is the same as this poem, line for line?
Blake: Oh, well yes, I suppose I did.
.
Prosecution: The People would like to submit this evidence as Exhibit A.
(Pass out Exhibit A to class)
What did you intend for “The Sick Rose” to mean?
Defense: I object on the grounds that the author’s intent has no importance in the theory of Deconstruction under form C3 of intentional fallacies.
Judge: Sustained.
Prosecution: No more questions your honor.
Defense: The defense has no questions for the accused, he and so he may step down.
Prosecution: The People call Dr. Sigmund Freud to the stand.
Dr. Feud, please state your profession for the court.
Freud: I am a psychoanalysis and literary critic.
Prosecution: And in what way are you qualified to relay your expertise on “The Sick Rose”?
Freud: I have extensively studied the human psyche and have come to the conclusion that sexual references are everywhere. You see the rose signifies the female reproductive organ and the invisible worm, oh well, you can guess what that is!
Prosecution: In your opinion, is “The Sick Rose” about a rape?
Freud: Undoubtedly so. The rose is slowly dismantled by a number of destructive elements. All very sexual of course. Simply look to the fifth and sixth lines of the poem if you don’t believe me, “has found out thy bed of crimson joy.” Truly, the rose doesn’t stand a chance.
Prosecution: No more questions, your Honor.
Defense: Dr. Freud, does your knowledge of literary criticism extend to all fields? Are you as familiar, say, with the literary school of Deconstruction as you are Psychoanalytical theories?
Freud: Well, of course not.
Defense: So isn’t it possible that because of your extensive study in Psychoanalytical that your objectivity may be off? Perhaps you have a case of tunnel vision? I mean you were taught to see the world with sexual connotations attached. So why not find those sexual undertones in this poem as well? Isn’t it just one man’s opinion you bring to this courtroom?
Freud: Yes, I have given my opinion based on my literary and career background. I will say no more.
Defense: No more questions your honor, the witness may step down.
The Defense calls Jaques Derrida to the stand.
Please state your name and occupation for the record.
Derrida: My name is Jaques Derrida and I have been called the father of Deconstruction.
Defense: Thank you. And could you tell me Mr. Derrida how many interpretations this poem, “The Sick Rose,” could have?
Derrida: It has any number of interpretations. The absence of the author when generally reading a work of literature leaves us only with the text as a source of meaning. Texts are read in various ways and on multiple levels. Now, I do encourage close reading because this is a heavy responsibility. One can’t merely read about a rabbit and make up interpretations that the rabbit represents old age and stinginess. No, of course not. At the same time there is no fixed meaning of a work just as the sun is not our only star in the universe. It is the most obvious, but certainly not one of a kind.
Defense: What advice would you give those that wish to condemn William Blake today?
Derrida: ALWAYS rethink your interpretations, play with texts you read, be willing to hear what it is saying and above all, QUESTION it - for this is when understanding (deconstruction) takes place.
Defense: Thank you, Mr. Derrida. No more questions, your honor.
Prosecution: Mr. Derrida, why should the reader have so much power? Shouldn’t it be up to better educated peoples to decide what material is inappropriate based on content?
Derrida: It is my understanding that to read is to experience. If a person is reading, then they have enough intelligence to listen to what the work is telling them. A person’s commentary or interpretation of a work of literature is a very personal aspect, and since there is such diversity among the peoples of this earth, that leads to multiple interpretations. And who has the power, knowledge or hubris to say which of those is the correct interpretation?
Prosecution: I’ll ask the questions, Mr. Derrida. What do you think the poem means?
Derrida: Well first I would take it line by line and determine what each word means. Because words themselves are quite ambiguous.
Prosecution: The meaning, Mr. Derrida?
Derrida: Right, well I see it as a struggle for life. A once beautiful flower has come to the end of her long life. She has been through many storms in her life and has but one more obstacle ahead of her. Death is wooing her, and I think she will answer him. But that is one interpretation, my dear.
Prosecution: Thank you; I have no more questions your honor.
Defense: The Defense calls Hans-Georg Gadamer to the stand.
Please state your name and profession for the record.
Gadamer: Yes, my name is Hans-Georg Gadamer and I am a philosopher and literary critic.
Defense: And your School of Criticism would be..?
Gadamer: Deconstruction.
Defense: And why is that?
Gadamer: I take the experience of beauty to be central to an understanding of the nature of art. The beautiful is that which is self-evidently present to us (as ‘radiant’). And we must explore the close relationship between the beautiful and the true. It is this continual exploration that leads to different points of view. I mean just look at all the Literary Schools of Criticism. Their arguing actually supports Deconstruction. All these varying point of views, interpretations, and criticisms are what make up the fabric of literature. How boring it would be to be constrained to one idea or thought process. I couldn’t live in a world like that.
Defense: What do you think the line, “The invisible worm,” means?
Gadamer: One can make a word anything they want it to be. Invisible can mean withdrawn from, out of sight, hidden, not visible, not perceptible by the eye, or any number of things. The word ‘worm’ has even more definitions. Did you know that worm can actually be traced back to legends of dragons? And that’s just scratching the surface. We haven’t even discussed portmanteaus or homonyms yet.
Defense: Thank you, professor. That will be all. No more questions, your honor. Defense rests.
Prosecution: No questions, your honor.
Judge: Closing Arguments
Prosecution:
The People have argued that “The Sick Rose” is a poem about rape, a poem about a violent, disturbing sexual act that doesn’t need to be taught in schools as a work of outstanding genius or act as a pillar in the canon of English literature. The Defense has argued that there is more than one way to view a piece of literature. If this is true then it is also true that the vulgar interpretation still stands, and if “The Sick Rose” can be interpreted in such a way, then it should be banned in schools and not heralded as a beautiful poem but denounced instead.
Defense: As we have seen from these various witnesses and Mr. Blake himself, The meaning of a poem or any piece of literature is not a static thing which has but a singular meaning, Since so much symbolism can be locked into a single word and this meaning can only be derived through the individual understanding of the reader, it only stands to reason that due to the complexity and infinite possibilities which can arise from the text…it only stands to reason that as a judge and jury that in your personal wisdom you can see the fault with in accusing Mr William Blake as being obscene and will allow readers to derive their own interpretation from the words which are found in this simple yet complex poem.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
2nd Day of Apologies
Kevin
-Channeling the Barman Poet
-Why are you doing it man? To Graduate, but so much more.
-Channel Arnold Keats and Pater now to tell why all is so important
-Using Don Quixote for apology!
-English students know the benefits of studying poetry while others (outside) remain oblivious.
-Beyond the greater good.
Gabby
-A Sudden Manifestation of the Divine
-Science Class - Wanted to be Nurse
-The Pig-In-A-Bag was her future!
-The Pig recited lines from Frye!
-She incorporated the semester into her story. It was sublime. ;)
-They never will get it.
-"A fool that persists in his folly will become wise."
Ben
-40 year old illiterate man
-Began seeing with poetry seeing eyes in his hometown, and became an English Major.
-Talked of center and circumference, he said that a person would never be happy in the center of their lives until they engage in the circumference of it too. Those that don't engage in poetry are only waiting to die.
Rosanne
-4th class with Dr. Sexson
-She feels like she needs to read classical mythology over and over and over.
-She wrote a poem for her apology.
-Many incorporated themes and stories from semester (and past semesters) in poem. It was sublime. ;)
Kyle 1
-Personal explanation of why I am an English Major. He's stressed :) but he loves stories.
-"If stories are not important, why have we not quit making them?"
- For millenia, stories have been fun and diversion.... this has now poured over into movies and video games.
-Why are they important? A world of nature that is olblivious to our wants and desire. We want to turn this world into a better representation of what we call home.
-Don Quixote understood this better than them all.
-I would lose my ability to make the world what I want it to be if stories and the ability to make them was gone.
- Haroon and the Sea of Stories!
Jake
-If a major does not offer high salary and many job offers after college, it is considered worthless. Literature falls here. But literature is the major of passion.
-Literature is emotion. Building a bridge is not.
-Cruelty is just a word but it becomes more, it becomes real, when we read of it from Harriet Beecher Stowe or Anne Franke.
-As long as there is love and suffering, we need literature.
Kayla
-Words whisper to her in her sleep.
-Words teach her to live, love, observe, write, and embrace her forever companion, her imagination.
-As a reader I can only visit other worlds, but as a writer I can create.
-It is the mirror that makes that which is distorted beautiful.
-People burn books because they are afraid of the power within them.
-Proud to be a part of that power.
Erica
-Personal story: English teaching major - Parents not surprised by her decision to teach, but were surprised by decision to go to grad school for literature.
-All literature teaches us, even if it is by seeing a new word in a crazy poem.
-Don Quixote is not just a satire of chivalry, it's a beacon for those people who need to be inspired to do what they want!
-Self-proclaimed romantic. Only she, a literature lover, can be amongst the gods.
-Channeling the Barman Poet
-Why are you doing it man? To Graduate, but so much more.
-Channel Arnold Keats and Pater now to tell why all is so important
-Using Don Quixote for apology!
-English students know the benefits of studying poetry while others (outside) remain oblivious.
-Beyond the greater good.
Gabby
-A Sudden Manifestation of the Divine
-Science Class - Wanted to be Nurse
-The Pig-In-A-Bag was her future!
-The Pig recited lines from Frye!
-She incorporated the semester into her story. It was sublime. ;)
-They never will get it.
-"A fool that persists in his folly will become wise."
Ben
-40 year old illiterate man
-Began seeing with poetry seeing eyes in his hometown, and became an English Major.
-Talked of center and circumference, he said that a person would never be happy in the center of their lives until they engage in the circumference of it too. Those that don't engage in poetry are only waiting to die.
Rosanne
-4th class with Dr. Sexson
-She feels like she needs to read classical mythology over and over and over.
-She wrote a poem for her apology.
-Many incorporated themes and stories from semester (and past semesters) in poem. It was sublime. ;)
Kyle 1
-Personal explanation of why I am an English Major. He's stressed :) but he loves stories.
-"If stories are not important, why have we not quit making them?"
- For millenia, stories have been fun and diversion.... this has now poured over into movies and video games.
-Why are they important? A world of nature that is olblivious to our wants and desire. We want to turn this world into a better representation of what we call home.
-Don Quixote understood this better than them all.
-I would lose my ability to make the world what I want it to be if stories and the ability to make them was gone.
- Haroon and the Sea of Stories!
Jake
-If a major does not offer high salary and many job offers after college, it is considered worthless. Literature falls here. But literature is the major of passion.
-Literature is emotion. Building a bridge is not.
-Cruelty is just a word but it becomes more, it becomes real, when we read of it from Harriet Beecher Stowe or Anne Franke.
-As long as there is love and suffering, we need literature.
Kayla
-Words whisper to her in her sleep.
-Words teach her to live, love, observe, write, and embrace her forever companion, her imagination.
-As a reader I can only visit other worlds, but as a writer I can create.
-It is the mirror that makes that which is distorted beautiful.
-People burn books because they are afraid of the power within them.
-Proud to be a part of that power.
Erica
-Personal story: English teaching major - Parents not surprised by her decision to teach, but were surprised by decision to go to grad school for literature.
-All literature teaches us, even if it is by seeing a new word in a crazy poem.
-Don Quixote is not just a satire of chivalry, it's a beacon for those people who need to be inspired to do what they want!
-Self-proclaimed romantic. Only she, a literature lover, can be amongst the gods.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
1st Day of Apologies
Sarah
- Ghostlier Demarcations, Keener Sounds
- Not English Major, but embraces the power of art.
-Girl born in prison image
-Fish and Wildlife Management and Liberal Studies
Doug
-Pragmatic approach to Lit.
-German approach, he was illiterate and felt stupid.
-Basic blocks of what words are, simple letters, 26 in our alphabet/Germans 32 letters
-Within every symbol in a word, you totally change meaning of word. Same with word is where a sentence is. Same with where sentence is in paragraph, paragraph in chapter, chapter in book, and book in culture and so on.
-Culturally based literature, you can't have one without the other.
-Ovid and Homer achieve immortality because we can understand their words on paper. It is the words that give them immortality.
Jessica
-"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"
-Plato calls poets "Liars" and "Madmen", we take English classes without knowing what they'll be about.
-Aristotle, learning to write by reading what you like.
-"The Matrix" and the Allegory of the Cave, enjoying it without this knowledge, enjoying it more with it.
-John Dunne, recon quote
Kelsey
-Worse than normal english major, english ed.
-Talked about class and how random it is.
-Without imagination, there would be no NO writers.
-"Imagine all the people" sharing all the while (Not in her speech).
-Allows me to morph into a better person/Allows me to be truly myself
Kyle 2
-"I'm an English Major because I think I do a lot more work than everyone else does."
-Receive immortality. (with culture surviving)
-Touched on touchstones.
-Personal touchstone is last lines from Robert Frost's "Road less taken"
-Matt Arnold's right - Poet informs beyond nature.
Lisa
-I'm sorry for gaining tons of knowledge from literature!
-What will I do with this Major?
-Where will I NOT go with this Major!?
-"I have an imagination to feed"
-People in other majors student's caught in Keat's "Dark Chamber", and other major's are looking for us, the secret, in the mist. They won't find it.
-Many peers caught up in age of Chaos. ("like totally awesome dude"), Economics won't take use from here. You were boring listening to my presentation.
Heather
-Not english major, why apologize.
-They have applied the work to themselves, so they should apologize to the work.
(Does she know we're not saying sorry, we're saying I love what I do!)
-Psychology major now, wants to stay connected to the literary world.
-Poetry is all around us. People go through their lives not knowing that it's all around, she doesn't want to be this.
-The ignorant owe the apologies.
Claire
-Film major, and we're all story tellers.
-Bored with reality.
-I'd rather live in someone elses world.
-Shelley lives this out best, at least writes it best. Wants to create other worlds for us.
-Suspension of Disbelief, first heard in theatre, now in literature, and on film. We accept the ridiculous because it's fun and good and somewhere deep inside we all want this.
-Don Quixote, we all want to keep the storytelling alive and in life.
-Shelley says we should live by these rules, and fiction is a catalyst. Don Quixote does this and does something that's different than everyone else. He could have done this.
Carly
-Statement of why we love literature. In Praise of my literary hero, Don Quixote.
-Don Quixotes mission is to become like his heroes, and she wants her quest to be just like that. His dignity in presenting himself is everytime more entertaining.
-He explains why he does what he does and he gets looked at as even more crazy.
-Reading and experiencing that divine is as close to bringing God to earth as we can get.
-Quoted pg. 88 from Quixote, great words.
MS - "In the prison of his days/Teach the free man how to praise." -In Memory of W.B. Yeats
- Ghostlier Demarcations, Keener Sounds
- Not English Major, but embraces the power of art.
-Girl born in prison image
-Fish and Wildlife Management and Liberal Studies
Doug
-Pragmatic approach to Lit.
-German approach, he was illiterate and felt stupid.
-Basic blocks of what words are, simple letters, 26 in our alphabet/Germans 32 letters
-Within every symbol in a word, you totally change meaning of word. Same with word is where a sentence is. Same with where sentence is in paragraph, paragraph in chapter, chapter in book, and book in culture and so on.
-Culturally based literature, you can't have one without the other.
-Ovid and Homer achieve immortality because we can understand their words on paper. It is the words that give them immortality.
Jessica
-"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"
-Plato calls poets "Liars" and "Madmen", we take English classes without knowing what they'll be about.
-Aristotle, learning to write by reading what you like.
-"The Matrix" and the Allegory of the Cave, enjoying it without this knowledge, enjoying it more with it.
-John Dunne, recon quote
Kelsey
-Worse than normal english major, english ed.
-Talked about class and how random it is.
-Without imagination, there would be no NO writers.
-"Imagine all the people" sharing all the while (Not in her speech).
-Allows me to morph into a better person/Allows me to be truly myself
Kyle 2
-"I'm an English Major because I think I do a lot more work than everyone else does."
-Receive immortality. (with culture surviving)
-Touched on touchstones.
-Personal touchstone is last lines from Robert Frost's "Road less taken"
-Matt Arnold's right - Poet informs beyond nature.
Lisa
-I'm sorry for gaining tons of knowledge from literature!
-What will I do with this Major?
-Where will I NOT go with this Major!?
-"I have an imagination to feed"
-People in other majors student's caught in Keat's "Dark Chamber", and other major's are looking for us, the secret, in the mist. They won't find it.
-Many peers caught up in age of Chaos. ("like totally awesome dude"), Economics won't take use from here. You were boring listening to my presentation.
Heather
-Not english major, why apologize.
-They have applied the work to themselves, so they should apologize to the work.
(Does she know we're not saying sorry, we're saying I love what I do!)
-Psychology major now, wants to stay connected to the literary world.
-Poetry is all around us. People go through their lives not knowing that it's all around, she doesn't want to be this.
-The ignorant owe the apologies.
Claire
-Film major, and we're all story tellers.
-Bored with reality.
-I'd rather live in someone elses world.
-Shelley lives this out best, at least writes it best. Wants to create other worlds for us.
-Suspension of Disbelief, first heard in theatre, now in literature, and on film. We accept the ridiculous because it's fun and good and somewhere deep inside we all want this.
-Don Quixote, we all want to keep the storytelling alive and in life.
-Shelley says we should live by these rules, and fiction is a catalyst. Don Quixote does this and does something that's different than everyone else. He could have done this.
Carly
-Statement of why we love literature. In Praise of my literary hero, Don Quixote.
-Don Quixotes mission is to become like his heroes, and she wants her quest to be just like that. His dignity in presenting himself is everytime more entertaining.
-He explains why he does what he does and he gets looked at as even more crazy.
-Reading and experiencing that divine is as close to bringing God to earth as we can get.
-Quoted pg. 88 from Quixote, great words.
MS - "In the prison of his days/Teach the free man how to praise." -In Memory of W.B. Yeats
Friday, November 21, 2008
Don't Vomit Your Paper!
But what if it was as beautiful as that? Perhaps then he would like us to "vomit" our papers for the class. ;)
Response to Maggie's "I am Don Quixote"
Let's just get it all out of the way, right up front and honest.
YOU are not Don Quixote. ;-)
YOU are a regurgitation.
I am a regurgitation.
Yes, Dr. Sexson did say that the world is "divided into pragmatic Sancho Panzas and idealistic Don Quixotes." But I believe that on Wednseday he proved himself wrong. I think what he really wants to say is that the world is divided into regurgiations of the pragmatic Sancho Panza and regurgitations of the idealistic Don Quixote. Because we all know that it doesn't matter how much we want to be in the books, be in the stories... he WAS living the fantasy. (I wish I could do this myself, sometime... maybe always...).
I would go as far to say that our lives would be extended even further than they already are though our love of books.... if we could live as Don Quixote lives.
Imagine that! If he were to believe he was able to live 1,000 years old because of an incredible story he had read in his time of reading/going koo-koo, then he would "really" live that long.
But back to my point at hand, if you and I can both be regurgitations of a man as idealistic and wonderful as Don Quixote, that's perfect. I don't think that any human being can find a more perfect person to be the regurgitative product of. So enjoy it and embrace every story like that... it's how we al should and I'd even go as far as saying it's the reason that English Majors are English Majors (we all have a little Quixote in us. ;)
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Don Quixote and Neo
Both Don Quixote and Neo have something in common: that their everyday world of reality is an illusion. These men in each of their respective narratives is differently situated with regard to this theme, however. In the book, the idea that the everyday world is an illusion is a falsehood, and Don Quixote would be perhaps less amusing but more himself if he would reject the idea. In the movie, this idea is true and Neo must come to accept it. In both cases, however, what the work presents as the reality to which the protagonist must be reconciled is a fiction replete with outlandish unrealities, and we (the reader of the book or the viewer of the film) are expected to know this. And thus we draw a connection with Alice In Wonderland, because as we all know, The Matrix is a "displacement" of Alice's story.
Oh, the connections to be made. ;)
Touchstone
- "This is the way the world ends
- This is the way the world ends
- This is the way the world ends
- Not with a bang but a whimper."
BEAUTIFUL!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Read Before Watching - A Defense of Poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley
So doing my daily hop and sift through the wonderful and dangerous land that is the World Wide Web, I discovered an "experience" that one could only express through the use of the (now common vocab to us all) sublime.
I believe even Longinus would be proud of these people and their work they have so wonderfully portrayed here. :)
At first you'd think I'd be blown away by the fact that they were doing an excellent job of reading the defense (even if it is a slightly abridged version) but I was not. It was the background music that caught me off guard. As soon as I heard it, all I could think was, "Yes....mmmmmmm........perfect".
It was simply divine listening to the Bach Suites play along as some of the most eloquent words ever written on poetry were voiced in a very well thought out video. The most incredible thing about this was the fact that I was just allowed, about a week ago, to listen to one of my classmates in another class (Sexson's 304) play the very song they begin reading with.
The coincidence was beyond words, the connections between these people and the two classes were almost to much for my mind to handle at once. So, I did the only thing reasonable. I just laid back and soaked it in, dealing with it the only true way the sublime, in all its beauty and mystique, can be dealt with. So go ahead and enjoy this, please.
(What else is there to be said? What else can be said?).
Nothing
I believe even Longinus would be proud of these people and their work they have so wonderfully portrayed here. :)
At first you'd think I'd be blown away by the fact that they were doing an excellent job of reading the defense (even if it is a slightly abridged version) but I was not. It was the background music that caught me off guard. As soon as I heard it, all I could think was, "Yes....mmmmmmm........perfect".
It was simply divine listening to the Bach Suites play along as some of the most eloquent words ever written on poetry were voiced in a very well thought out video. The most incredible thing about this was the fact that I was just allowed, about a week ago, to listen to one of my classmates in another class (Sexson's 304) play the very song they begin reading with.
The coincidence was beyond words, the connections between these people and the two classes were almost to much for my mind to handle at once. So, I did the only thing reasonable. I just laid back and soaked it in, dealing with it the only true way the sublime, in all its beauty and mystique, can be dealt with. So go ahead and enjoy this, please.
(What else is there to be said? What else can be said?).
Nothing
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A Trope
HA! The dictionary really has a great definition of what a trope is! It says, "A figure of speech using words in nonliteral ways, such as a metaphor." Real to the point, right!? I don't think so. Looks like I'm going to have to dig a little deeper to figure out exactly what types of tropes there are out there. So I fly around the net, finding these little facts:
I found some types of tropes:
- Trope comes from the Greek word τρόπος - tropos, which means turn, it is relate to the root of the verb τρέπω (trepō), "to turn, to direct, to alter, to change".
- That linguistically, trope means a rhetorical figure of speech that consists of a play on words.
- That literally, a trope is a common pattern, theme, or motif in literature often used to denote figures of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning.
I found some types of tropes:
- Metonomy - a trope through proximity or correspondence, for example referring to actions of the U.S. President as "actions of the White House."
- Irony - creating a trope through implying the opposite of the standard meaning, such as describing poverty as "good times."
- Metaphor - an explanation of an object or idea through juxtaposition of disparate things with a similar characteristic, such as describing a courageous person as having a "heart of a lion."
- Synechdoche - related to metonymy and metaphor, creates a play on words by referring to something with a related concept: for example, referring to the whole with the name of a part, such as "hired hands" for workers; a part with the name of the whole, such as "the law" for police officers; the general with the specific, such as "bread" for food; the specific with the general, such as "cat" for a lion; or an object with the material it is made from, such as "bricks and mortar" for a building.
- antanaclasis - is the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time. Antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.
- allegory - A sustained metaphor continued through whole sentences or even through a whole discourse. For example "The ship of state has sailed through rougher storms than the tempest of these lobbyists."
- oxymoron
- hyperbole
- litotes
- periphrasis
- antithesis
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Hearts, Books, and Their Ways of Never Parting
What did I think of the movie?
Hmm... honestly, I thought the movie, overall, was quite wonderful.
I don't really know if I can say it was as great of a movie as I can say it was a wonderful visual essay, however.
When I think of the terms that dictate what a good movie should be these days, I think of all those things like a swiftly moving, highly elaborated plot, deep character development, and a story that can blow your mind.
When it comes to the Sexsons, "My Book and Heart Shall Never Part," I wasn't expecting all those things to begin with, but am happy to say I was surprised by what I did get.
First of all, the images were wonderful. I read how the Cinematographer, Colin McWilliams, wanted the aesthetics of the film to come across before the movie started. "We wanted the film to pull you in, in surprising ways, like a good book does." They accomplished this wonderfully by "flowing" across the pages with the camera, as if it were through the readers eyes, showing us the places we were to look, ensuring we all discovered the same thing at the same time. I can only guess to the difficulty involved in finding all those old primers and reading through each.
Secondly, the narration was superb. Both of the Sexsons did a fantastic job, along with their grand daughter, of narrating the story. I could have listened to all three of them talking to me all night long, reading me stories of long ago children and their amazing adventures as I drifted into a deep sleep.
And there in lies the shortcoming of the visual essay. For me it felt like many of the humorous and attention grabbing moments were in the beginning and it began to slightly drag on at the end. Now, maybe this is because I was looking at it more through the eyes of my date who was much less interested in the movie than I, but even so, I thought the pacing was a little off in that it was quite whimsical in the beginning and became slightly convoluted in the end (if one wasn't paying close attention, you could have very well missed how The Indian Education by The Pioneers fit in with - What a child is? What nature is? and What a book is?).
Shortcomings aside, I enjoyed the evening very much and greatly appreciated the young actors for how well they did in the movie. There were many provocative ideas and visuals throughout the movie, and I would be telling a complete lie if I were to say I didn't come out of the show without learning many a great things about primers, their roots, the ideas of literature in centuries past and many other things.
Congratulations to the Sexsons for all their hard work coming forth in such an educational and interesting look into something that is at the brink of extinction in our minds!
(PS - Loved the Carrot Cake!)
Friday, September 26, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
I am Gilbert and I am Gubar
Who are we and who am I? Our most amous work, The Madwoman in The Attic, is now an award-winning and classic study of patterns of influence and indebtedness among women novelists and poets including Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and Emily Dickinson. It begins with an extensive 3-chapter critique of the phallocentricism and misogyny of neo-classical and Romantic theories of poetic creation, especially as embodied in the critical perspective of Harold Bloom (who coined the term "Anxiety of Influence). We say that it goes much farther than the Oedipal Struggle of having to fight with our fathers (great writers before us like Shakespeare, Homer, or Twain). Men deal with that more than women because women are in the Anxiety of Authorship faze. We are not struggling with our forefathers as much as we are to gain any type of recognition for having the ability to write, and that is what we have wrote about. Gilbert is primarily responsible for chapters on poetry; Gubar on prose. Gilbert's solo chapters include 6, about Milton's inhibiting influence on subsequent female poets, 7 on Frankenstein, 8 on Wuthering Heights, 9 on Jane Eyre, and 15 and 16 on Emily Dickinson.
What do we look like? In further posts we will continue on our path of exploring more of our ideas, in depth, as well as go into a complex explanation of why we look the way we do. Hope to see you again. -Gilbert & Gubar a.k.a Christopher & Clark
The Reading of Idea of Order at Key West... and a few others
Wallace Stevens reads his own poetry. Stevens was born in 1879, and these recordings were made shortly before his death in 1955. Although he published poetry as early as 1914, Stevens did not receive widespread recognition until the publication of his collected poems in 1954, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Stevens' poems focus on the sound of language, on obscure vocabulary, and on imaginative images.
- Part 1 .au format (3 Mb), .gsm format (0.8 Mb), .ra format (0.4 Mb).
This selection includes "The Idea of Order at Key West," "The Poem that Took the Place of a Mountain," and "Vacancy in the Park." The poems are not individually announced.
Part 2 .au format (4 Mb), .gsm format (1 Mb), .ra format (0.6 Mb).
In this section, Stevens reads "To an Old Philosopher in Rome," which combines religious and secular images.
Monday, September 22, 2008
This Week Is Banned Books Week!
Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, the annual event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.
Banned Books Week (BBW) celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met. As the Intellectual Freedom Manual (ALA, 7th edition) states:
“Intellectual freedom can exist only where two essential conditions are met: first, that all individuals have the right to hold any belief on any subject and to convey their ideas in any form they deem appropriate; and second, that society makes an equal commitment to the right of unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the communication medium used, the content of the work, and the viewpoints of both the author and receiver of information. Freedom to express oneself through a chosen mode of communication, including the Internet, becomes virtually meaningless if access to that information is not protected. Intellectual freedom implies a circle, and that circle is broken if either freedom of expression or access to ideas is stifled.”
Each year, the American Library Association (ALA) is asked why the week is called “Banned Books Week” instead of “Challenged Books Week,” since the majority of the books featured during the week are not banned, but “merely” challenged. There are two reasons. One, ALA does not “own” the name Banned Books Week, but is just one of several cosponsors of BBW; therefore, ALA cannot change the name without all the cosponsors agreeing to a change. Two, none want to do so, primarily because a challenge is an attempt to ban or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A successful challenge would result in materials being banned or restricted.
Although they were the targets of attempted bannings, most of the books featured during BBW were not banned, thanks to the efforts of librarians to maintain them in their collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.
To assist in planning the weeklong celebration, each year a BBW kit is developed. This kit includes three posters, 100 bookmarks, a button and a Resource Guide, which contains suggested activities and ideas for a BBW celebration. Moreover, the Resource Guide contains an annotated list of challenged or banned books and is an excellent reference for conducting research on censorship. (Since 2001, the Resource Guide is published every three years. Between new editions, kits include one List of Books Challenged or Banned since the last BBW.)
Often challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. Although this is a commendable motivation, Free Access to Libraries for Minors, an interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights (ALA's basic policy concerning access to information) states that, “Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents—and only parents—have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children—and only their children—to library resources.” Censorship by librarians of constitutionally protected speech, whether for protection or for any other reason, violates the First Amendment.
As Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., in Texas v. Johnson, said most eloquently:
“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”
If we are to continue to protect our First Amendment, we would do well to keep in mind these words of Noam Chomsky:
“If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.”
Or these words of "Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (The One Un-American Act." Nieman Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 1953, p. 20):
“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”
For more information on Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, please contact the American Library Association/Office for Intellectual Freedom at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4220, or bbw@ala.org.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Modes
Tragic~Comic ~Thematic
Mythic deaths of our foundations/forefathers~ gods having fun !the bible/ true depth
Romantic Romeo and Juliet~ My Best Friends Wedding~ Gone with the Wind
High Mimetic Oedipus Rex ~Lysistrata ~Hercules
Low Mimetic my mother died~ the clown tripped ~my life's purpose
Ironic nothing we do matters ~it all comes back to me in the end ~ all we do matters
So when it came time for me to do this diagram of Modes of Fiction and Themes, I thought to myself, " Why don't I just put down the first thing that comes to mind when I think of each one of these and see what happens." I thought the results were outstanding, actually, because I just can't think of any better way to describe some of these. Some of the works I mentioned were Classical Literature, some of the works I mentioned were modern Movies, and some of the things I mentioned never happened, but if they did happen would fit perfectly into the category of choice. I think that Frye would probably have some choice words to say about my word selection for each choice, but since he probably never will, I think it's turned out quite well. Please leave me a comment if I totally screwed something up or didn't get my thought in correctly. Enjoy!
Mythic deaths of our foundations/forefathers~ gods having fun !the bible/ true depth
Romantic Romeo and Juliet~ My Best Friends Wedding~ Gone with the Wind
High Mimetic Oedipus Rex ~Lysistrata ~Hercules
Low Mimetic my mother died~ the clown tripped ~my life's purpose
Ironic nothing we do matters ~it all comes back to me in the end ~ all we do matters
So when it came time for me to do this diagram of Modes of Fiction and Themes, I thought to myself, " Why don't I just put down the first thing that comes to mind when I think of each one of these and see what happens." I thought the results were outstanding, actually, because I just can't think of any better way to describe some of these. Some of the works I mentioned were Classical Literature, some of the works I mentioned were modern Movies, and some of the things I mentioned never happened, but if they did happen would fit perfectly into the category of choice. I think that Frye would probably have some choice words to say about my word selection for each choice, but since he probably never will, I think it's turned out quite well. Please leave me a comment if I totally screwed something up or didn't get my thought in correctly. Enjoy!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
English 300
I suppose this will now turn into a site of literary importance... nay, IT ALREADY WAS! But.... who knows what will happen now. I just plan on having some fun this semester. Best of luck to all this year and remember to HEED THE WARNING! -Christopher (Oper)
Monday, April 7, 2008
Is it man?.....Is it machine?......Nay, tis Kelly of the Pink Gators of Zimbabwe soaring off into the air!
For those of you who may have never seen this contraption......Kelly had only used it a few times before, if that......soooo, his little "trip up" in the beginning of his take off is only him learning the ins and out of his wonderful device. He truely does look buggy here with that large rear end, no? Well then, enjoy this hangliding wonder of the world and feel free to let me know what you think! OPE OUT!
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