HUM LIT Blog Central

Please begin reading ahead in the next novel, The House of the Spirits. It is an easy read but not a short one. We’ll be finishing up Cortez and take a “poetry break” this week, but you will need to read ahead. You may find this INTRODUCTION useful.

Prompt: You may post freely on Cortez, or you may respond to this prompt: What does the circulation of a corrido through its many singers and versions tell you about one of the uses of literature? Can you think of most literature as having this kind of social use? Why or why not? Does this tell you something about literature or its audiences?

Don’t forget to post comments to the blogs of two group-mates.

     
1. What accounts for the varied descriptions of GC? (111)  How does Román acquire his characterization? (116)? 
2. Discuss contrasts and significance of the collected variants. What is the lowest common denominator? What do alterations suggest about the values of singers or audiences? the uses of a song?  
3. What do you think of  Paredes’ conclusion about the relation of the historical man and the border hero? (”Gregorio Cortez epitomized the ideal type of hero of the Rio Grande people, the man who definds his right whith his pistol in his hand, and who either escapes at the end or goes down before superior odds–in a sense a victor even in defeat. . . . It was as if the Border had dreamed Gregorio Cortez before producing him, and sung his life and deeds before he was born” 124-5)
4. What makes the “cultural space” and time from which the corrido comes distinctive? Discuss how this background would influence audience response.
5. How is are the historical events used in its telling (by the teller and its implied audience)? Are the moments where the stong seems to be embellished or shaped to a specific purpose (that has little to do with actual events or a credible report)?
6. Discuss omissions: place names (omitted or changed)
   scene setting (omitted)
   narration of encounter, omitted
   event sequence     

   Key passages: defiant statement (”I am Gregorio Cortez”)
   contrast of courage and fear, the driven man and mercenary
   group affiliation (Mexicans / Americanos, Rinches)

7. How does the film participate in the “retelling” and versioning of which we have been talking? Does the exploration of multiple perspectives allow it not to “take sides”? With respect to the cultural issues (of values, freedom/constraint, social structures), does the film aspire to a “literal” representation or does it revise the story to make it useful for the 1980s?
   

8. See Greenblatt’s definition of Culture.  Freewrite (5 minutes) on one of the six cultural questions.

 

 

 

Reading Questions

1. Who are the rinches?
2. Where do the important conflicts in corrido’s take place (according to Paredes)?
3. How would the typical corrido hero be described?
4. What is one obvious difference between the versions of the corrido?
5. What is one obvious similarity amongst the versions?

In Ceremony, we learned to appreciate the importance of stories within an oral tradition. They can help constitute the values of a culture and given its members a sense of belonging. The corrido plays a similar function in the American southwest, particuarly along the Rio Grande border with Mexico.

Corrido’s are always narratives — that is, they tell a story.  But they are sung more often than written, and in the years before recording, would have been transmitted from one singer to another.  A typical corrido deals with factual incidents that one might today see in the newspaper, but obviously the events and perspectives are shaped specially by the singer/teller for a specific audience.

The corrido’s are a local form folk culture. We’ll look at one especially famous one later this week — dealing with events and a figure who rose to become a hero in the eyes of many.  But first we’ll look into the background and context of typical corridos, which by the way … were and are still sung en espan~ol.

Corridos Sin Fronteras

Reread the story passages and post two paragraphs to your blog — discussing the importance of “story” for this novel, the character of Tayo, or Laguna culture. This should be your third blog post — unless you’re an over-achiever!

(pp. 1, 2, 13, 37, 46, 53, 71, 81, 105, 113, 128, 132, 139, 142, 151, 153, 170, 180, 182, 206, 247, 255, 257, 258, 260, 262)

Here are a few interesting responses: Casey N, Dan P, Maureen S, Joe V, and David Z.

1. How do the form and structure of the novel seem to fit the plot?
2. What are some of the sources of Tayo’s alientation? How does he see himself, particularly in terms of ethnicity?
3. The novel emphasizes sickness and cures. What can you say about the type of sickness? What is complicated about the possible cures?
4. Violence and “witchery” are at play all around Tayo. How is this part of his sickness? And what does the novel suggest about responses to this?
5. If you feel that the novel achieves some form of solution, resolution or peace, explain. How does Tayo achieve a sense of cultural belonging? What changes? How?

Click here for further notes.

This novel charts the psychological and cultural journey of a young Laguna man returning home following WWII.  His conflicts include those of a returning soldier, those of Native Americans of the 20th century, and specifically the issues brought on by his bi-cultural heritage (his unknown father was Anglo, making him marginal within his own home and community).  In broader terms, Tayo must find a place for himself and a way to live, survive in a world of violence and conflict — that is, to understand his own place in the cosmic story.

Characters are named infrequently.  You may want to mark them with post-its.  A quick summary: Uncle Josiah and Auntie - T’s caretakers.  Rocky - their son, Tayo’s cousin; killed in the war. Robert, trustworthy uncle. Grandma.  Friends and acquaintances include returning veterans: Emo, Pinkie, and Harlie.  Helen Jean is a brief romantic interest and also recalls T’s mother. Night Swan, is a dancer, an uninhibited figure who also is bi-cultural. Ku’oosh, Betonie (Shush), and Descheeny are healers and elders who assist T. in some way.  T’seh is a love interest and spiritual force.

Plot.  The novel is not divided in to chapters, though careful attention will show you spaces where the action or location shifts.  Broadly, it will help to remember that the novel takes place over the course of a year or less following WWII.  But because it deals with Tayo’s efforts to make sense of his world, past and present, it includes many flashbacks. It seems too simple to speak of post-traumatic stress or hallucination …. but it will be helpful if you have these ideas in mind. Specifically, when Rocky speaks — this is a dream or memory, since the actual Rocky has died.

The structure of the novel may confuse you at first. Remember that it is comes from the perspective of Tayo, an young man who is experiencing torment and confusion.  His task is to chart a course, identify his place, decide whether he can pick up the story (cf. oral tradition) and find a place in it.  So one way of understanding the need for the weaving and shifting — is that it gives the reader an experience like Tayo’s.

Key Terms: We, I; community, sickness, stars, cosmic or collective problems; drought; tradition, story, vision; witchery; cattle. 

Since the advent of the worldwide web in 1993, creative writers have been wanted to learn how to adapt their writing to this new medium. Once upon a time, drama was new; the novel and film script each had their infancy. Some commentators suggest that digital literature (e-poetry, new media writing, net art, kinetic writing, hypertext, hypermedia…) is also a new genre of writing worth study and enjoyment.

We’ll look at two pieces today that should spark some interesting conversation. We might consider whether they make familiar literary moves, how we are to “read” them, and whether their makers have made an interesting use of these new communications tools.

Brian Kim Stefans - The Dreamlife of Letters : a dynamic and visual poem, we set it moving and then watch letters migrate and dissolve, composing words, phrases, and inviting fairly open associations for the viewer/reader. It can be seen as a cousin to “concrete poetry,” an avant-garde genre in which writers emphasis the visual dimension of words over all else.

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries - The Last Day of Betty Nkomo: is another visual piece, but one which uses minimal special effects to perform a stark and boldly set narrative. Is it a short story? A poem? How do huge block letters and the accompanying soundtrack shape our experience? Do you notice the film references? (Of potential interest, a commentary and transcription of Betty Nkomo)

Your blog writing is intended to be semi-informal; use it as a chance to spell-out your thinking, raise questions or offer observations. Remember that you will collect it into a portfolio for holisticgrading — but don’t stress about the quality of each individual entry.

Here are some thoughts to start you thinking on your second post:

1. How do you think of popular forms (fairy tales, blues lyrics…) in relation to literature? Do they serve the same purposes? Do we read them in a similar way? Are they teachable or worth teaching? Why
2. How do the choices of language (ordinary, elevated, specific sociolect) effect your reading experience? Are texts written in a specialized style readable? Does the effort you have to put into reading them tell you something about the text or about what’s normal language for us, at IUP, in 2006? What will history say about the way you speak?

We’ll continue discussing folk literature and the example of “Uncle Remus” Wednesday, and relate it to a more familiar kind of vernacular literature — the blues. Friday we’ll have an inclass encounter with Digital Poetry.

Finish Ceremony for a quiz and the beginning of discussion MOnday.

Thoughts on the Blues
I’d like us to think about how we respond to the blues in a literature class. As a form of oral art, they emerge from the thrilling and disappointing years after the civil war — charting hope, loneliness, despair, perserverance, and spirit. The classic, country blues were often composed and performed by a single person singing and playing acoustic guitar. Were their composers classic Greeks, we might be talking about the blues in the same way we do troubadors or wandering bards.
Do their language, style, themes, audience, and sometime lack of authors make for a good fit? Does the popular appeal make them more or less important? Do they bear “interpretation” or are the meanings completely evident?