Novel Experience & Expression » Fitzgerald

Great Distortion

Gary Hink — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:26:38 +0000

M 07-Sep No classes— Labor Day

“The city seen from the Queensboro bridge…“

W 09-Sep Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby (through Chapter 4) (Caroline Geist)
Review Abbott Chp. 6 for Gatsby discussion.

Due: Second blog entry (Wed. night; resume normal blog schedule)

F 11-Sep Gatsby (Chp. 5-6) (Hillary Silvestri)

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M 14-Sep Gatsby (Chp. 7-9) plus Cambridge / Narrative Chp 7-8
(Audrey Bannon) & (Jeff Rudderman)

W 16-Sep Cambridge / Narrative Chapters 10 & 12 (plus Gatsby overview)

F 18-Sep Cambridge / Narrative Chapters 11 & 14

Due: Response 1 — Prompt

“The city seen from the Queensboro bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.” — Nick Carraway

Response 1: Gatsby and Narration

500 words (min.); 10 points.
Due: F 18-Sept. Post to your blog, by class time.

Describe a significant technique of Fitzgerald’s “narrative discourse,” using one aspect (or two related ones) from Abbott.

Give at least one specific example/instance from the novel, to illustrate the narrative topic. Additionally, discuss how this device/feature functions overall or affects your interpretation of the text.

Suggested topics:

Sequence (sjuzet), Time (non-linear), Frame(s)
Narrator; Reliability, Focalization (Chp 6)
Closure & Uncertainty/unknown (Chp 5); Gaps (Chp 7)
“Masterplots” (Chp 4+13) & Characters / “Types” (Chp 10)

Notes / Tips:

Review assignment criteria here.
Very important to minimize summary: only discuss the novel as explicit support for your points.
Review Abbott’s discussion of interpretation(s) (in chapters 7-8) and “narrative discourse” (Chp 2)

Reminders / Options

Submit on e-Learning (or by email), if you would prefer not to post this first response to your blog.

Respond to a classmate’s entry for extra credit — by Sunday 20-Sept.

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Discussion Intro. Schedule

Gary Hink — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:20:43 +0000

Required

By Friday 4-Sept, please post (in comment below) top 4 selections / requests of two days responsible for starting class discussion of readings —beginning Wed 9-Sept, as part of Attendance/Participation credit.

Review Schedule (updated 05-Sept)

Review Schedule (updated 05-Sept) —to choose feasible and preferable dates for yourself personally (i.e. avoiding any problematic/difficult days)

By now, hopefully you’ve looked into our novels, in order to make somewhat of an “informed choice” (or at least less blindly) — for example, by reading / inquiring about the author or novel, or perhaps briefly examining the style:

Google Books has previews for all,

except Jazz (NB: Morrison’s most experimental and least characteristic novel)

Note: City of Glass can be found here.

Curious as to how the “Common Terms and Phrases” will relate to your reading (experience)…consider differences between when we say “what this book is about” versus “what this book is” — we will explore both, but mostly the latter.

Additionally, and along these lines of database tags, try the Literature Map, for a superficial comparison / study…

As I’ve said, I do not encourage reading reviews in order to choose — we’re not reading these “for pleasure / leisure,” after all (ah, but what of the experience? to contemplate and discuss later). Rather, these are part of our experiment, our objects of study (much more on this, soon…)

Practical Notes:

please consult students’ requests before submitting, in order to avoid texts/days (already) in high demand.
There are certain dates that are conducive to two presenters: e.g. 14-18 Sept (1 Gatsby + 1 Cambridge); 28-Sept; 19-Oct, 16-Nov.
We will negotiate in order to resolve, particularly with the second date. I will confirm (and negotiate conflicts/preferences) selections/dates via email.
To that end, ideally everyone will choose dates in each half of the term (fairly closely divided, around homecoming) — but this is not imperative.

Exclusions:

12 & 14 Oct
13-Nov
23 & 25 Nov
07 & 09 Dec