HUM LIT Blog Central

Please read the Sherman Alexie stories: Amusements, This is What it Means, and The Fun House. For Wednesday, please post to the blog on how you see a “trickster” sensibility at work in one or more of these stories.

See Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner

Please write thoughtful post discussing a single issue of importance in your reading of this novel. Try to avoid simple summary or making a laundry list. Take up a key issue from our classroom discussions, or:

Discuss how the conflict between McMurphy and the Big Nurse, or between human agency and the crushing power of the combine suggest a view of the world outside that of the mental hospital. Can you extend elements of Kesey’s vision to say what broader political, psychological, or philosophical issues the book takes on? 

Choose one of aspect of subjectivity as discussed this week; blog your reflections on how ideas about home, gender, violence, etc. are taken up or represented by the characters. Incorporate at least two specific reference to dialogue you’ve marked as relevant.  Try to develop your response by looking at the ideas within the play, which may or may not correspond with your own. 

Also: comment on two group mates’ posts. This means if you’re the first one to post, you will need to check back later! (Vote early and often….)

In chapter four, related tensions are explored in the encounter between Blanca and Pedro (104), Ferula’s ideas about civilization and the “country” (107, 108) , the Patron system vs. the whore’s cooperative (118), and the tension between “Darwinian” capitalism and communist “social justice” (137, 141).

Choose one of these passages and ask yourself hwo the novel is talking you through it. Whose position is being articulated (see circle of authors/ readers above) and are you ready to submit to it as a reader?

Prompt: Post some reflections on your ideas about the author and how it relates to the digital literature we considered in class. Here are a few opening questions:

What do you make of these? Are they fun? Are they frustrating? What do they mean? Does it make sense to even ask the questions? What approaches to reading do they invite or discourage? Do you think there’s intention or a lack of it behind them? Does the built-in interactivity make them seem richer or poorer to you?

While blogging: don’t forget to visit your group-mates and leave some comments.

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.

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.

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?

Here’s a first prompt to help you with your first post of substance:

Think about how the “Why Theory” article encourages skeptical questioning. Seemingly natural facts (like Fairy tales are for children, their purpose is to entertain, chidlren ought not be scared, children cannot understand the dangers of the world) can be unravelled with the aid of theory; “the upsetting of the ‘natural fact’ is the beginning of being able to see things clearly.”

In a response of 2-3 paragraphs, discuss what has or might be called into question about our ideas of Fairy Tales. If we read them anew, without our prior preconceptions, what might we perceive or learn?