I am interested in the intersection between poetry and history. How does history make its path in a poetic work?
We rarely see history in a literary text since it is so hard to deal with. Perhaps poetry does not know how to say or utter history. …History simply smothers and squashes.
Yet some books show that one can remain poetic in the very midst of history. (110)

–Hélène Cixous, “Poetry, Passion, and History” (1985)

 
M 26-Oct     Jazz     (Chp. 6-10, pp.137-229)            (Tahara Franklin)

 
W 28-Oct      Silko: Ceremony      (Intro + through p.37)           (Laura Hampson)

 
F 30-Oct     Ceremony     (pp.38-85)            (Maria Tamayo)

 
                     Due: Response 4 (deadline: 11:59pm)

Resp 4: Imagining Experience through Jazz
500 words, 10 points; due F 30-Oct (deadline TBA)
Review assignment criteria here.
 

“To have only the value of knowledge is not to have the value of life, or love.” (64)

–Hélène Cixous, “Grace and Innocence” (1982)

 
Choose an historically specific experience from the novel
(for example, from general categories of “loss,” “desire,” “freedom,” “alienation/isolation,” parentage/progeny relation — but do not generalize, stereotype, re-situate in present day, etc.)

 
Option 1

 
First, briefly define (”explain”) the experience either in the mode of belief or of reason (rational mode/knowledge).
Present one textual illustration that aptly supports your definition.

 
Next, discuss the same experience, but in terms of what you intuit from your reading (from the novel’s expression); describe this in more detail than the first definition, showing an attempt at working with the aesthetic mode. As always, provide the key figures from the novel that enable your understanding, and discuss figures in form+content terms (considering both dimensions).

Major tip/reminder: remember to consider “affect” and “lived” or “embodied” experience…

 
To conclude, speculate about your new understanding — either in terms of the novel (function/effects? significance?); or of consequence (”what changes?” new perspective?). In any case, explicitly describe the qualities (”benefits”?) or implications of this mode for working with the novel, as you’ve experienced thus far.

 
 
Option 2

 
Having selected a specific experience, examine this in both Jazz and Ceremony together — focusing upon a respective character from each, with this perspective on experience.

 
Discuss an understanding of this experience through an intuitive reading of the novels’ expression. Not necessary to simply compare/contrast the characters; rather, describe the unique aspects of your respective examples toward an illustration of the aesthetic mode, providing specific figures (support).

 
To conclude, consider your new intuitive description of this experience against one (or both) of the modes of judgment (belief/morality, reason/knowledge)–with which you might contrast, if you’d like. Overall, address the key difference(s) and the implications/value of attempting this mode for working with literature and understanding experience.

 
 
Note: contact me (soon/Mon.) with questions; subsequently I will add/elaborate the prompts if necessary.
 

F 09-Oct                    Due: Response 3 — Prompt
 
                                  Extra Credit for Resp 3. (due 12-Oct)
 

extra credit — part of Resp. 3
200 words (separate entry/post); due M 12-Oct

Read and respond to a classmate’s entry.
Describe the affect expressed (that you intuit from the fragments).
Evaluate the effect of (or the extent to which) the entry’s expressing experience through “unconventional discourse.”
From this, (important) discuss “lessons” to take from Vonnegut, for understanding experience and expression—particularly for expressing experience.
(note: feel free to email me with questions or for further instructions about this reading-reply)

Response 3: Creative Writing Assignment (Responding to Slaughterhouse Five)
500-600 words; 10 points
Due: Fri 09-Oct (11:59pm)

Vonnegut provides the impetus for this imaginative assignment in several ways: the full title(s) of the novel; Billy Pilgrim’s profession (optometry); the Tralfamadorians’ perception (“four dimensional”); the formal (textual) breaks in the narrative, which compel us to “fill in the blanks.”

Tip: Review notes on writing of the disaster and “concealed” or “hidden” (secret) truth of experience: Wed 07-Oct.

 
 
Option 1

Task: Express a particular affect {subjective dimension of “experience”: feeling, mood, disposition, attitude, stance} that Vonnegut conveys through Slaughterhouse Five. Use the aesthetic logic of expression, rather than explicitly stating or describing this affect (in “rational” discourse).

So, first step: decide upon a specific affect that you have intuited from the novel. This can be about Dresden or Vietnam, but likely more general, involving a feeling/stance toward both — I have presented Dresden as Vonnegut’s vehicle for addressing Vietnam, after all.

 
 
Option 2

Similar task, but complementary perspective: use the novel’s elements—characters, settings, (respective) narratives, etc.—to express (an) experience of your choice/invention. This need not be inherently “related,” but probably “parallel” with Vonnegut’s topics. As we do not seek to “reveal” or “unveil” the “truth” of this experience (scientific / rational mode), your composition should not “tell the testimony” of the situation but present an expressive figure that conveys the affect of experience.