Canon Building/Canon Busting: 20th Century American Fiction

What does it look like to quote yourself in your blog portfolio or reflective essay? Here’s one way to do it:

When I look for evidence of my media literacy skills in my comments, the first instance I see is in a comment on Alex’s blog (post #11). There, I wrote: “I thought the last line of your blog was good. I haven’t read the end of the book yet, but apparently Sula dies… I’ll have to find out how this weekend. The last line sort of makes sense, because you get the idea in the first half of the book that Sula is sort of that free spirited person and that she sort of has no worries…” In the first line, I can see that I was interested in connecting to one particular idea in Alex’s post. Even though I hadn’t finished the book, I could look at that line and begin to imagine how the ending fit in with my ideas about the character. Here, the comment functions of blogs allowed me to use someone else’s idea to push my own interpretation of the character forward.

Thanks to Rebecca and Alex for the use of their writing!

Looking for the assignment for the Critical Perspectives Paper?

Check under the “assignments” link in the sidebar on the right.

The purpose of our discussion on Wednesday is to understand the relationship between the canonical literature that we read together (The Great Gatsby, Hemingway stories, The Sound and the Fury) relates to the recently-included literature that we’ve worked on in groups (Passing, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Dorothy Parker stories, At the Mountains of Madness).

In order to prepare for this conversation, you’ll need to read the wiki pages from each group to get a sense of what the other texts were about, and how they compare to what we read previously. Here are a couple of steps to follow:

• Read back over your blog entries from the beginning of class and our class list of themes to remind yourself about the class texts. What were the ideas, representations of American life, and literary techniques that were important to Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner?
• Read the wiki pages for each of the group texts (Passing, Dorothy Parker, etc.). As you read, take notes. What ideas, representations of American life, and literary techniques are important to these authors? [Don't worry if it doesn't match the information about Fitgerald and friends. Just take it all down.]
• To prepare for class on Wednesday, formulate at least three questions or comments. What should these be about? What you’ve noticed comparing the canonical and the recently-included! What do you see that is interesting? Disturbing? Heartening?

We’ll use your questions and comments to assess what we can learn about American literature, and the representation of American life, by comparing these two types of texts.

***In addition: as a group, be prepared to give the class additional information, clarity, etc. about your text. If people have questions about your text, you are the resident experts!***

As we discussed in class, here are the deadlines for your wiki projects:

• Tuesday, March 13, 5 p.m. All content posted to wiki page, so class can read it.
• Friday, March 16, 5 p.m. Wiki page is finished and ready to be evaluated! All content is edited, links worked, sources are cited, etc.

Enjoy Saint Patrick’s Day!

DO!

• Use pictures
• Explain literary techniques and themes
• Explain the significance of the title
• Include chapter descriptions
• Include an overview of information about the book (in a Yahoo-like structure)
• Include 2-4 close readings
• Refer to our class list of themes in canonical novels
• Use external links (in the form of text)
• Give information about the author
• Describe awards won by the author or the book
• Reference other versions of the book (play, film, etc.), and information about these versions
• CITE YOUR SOURCES!!

DON’T

• Include unreliable information
• Use extraneous external links (e.g., “pancake”)
• Plagiarize
• Include overly-extensive information (give ideas, not the entire book)

Other Things to Consider

• Since many of you are delegating responsibility for each section (one person writes about the history of the novel, another researches the author, etc.), consider identifying a primary writer for each section AND an editor for each section.
• If you have delgated primary writing jobs to group members, set aside time to go back over the wiki and give it a unitary voice. Here, you might want to make sure that your page, once all the pieces are assembled, doesn’t have repeated ideas; doesn’t leave important ideas out; continues important ideas from section to section; doesn’t sound like it was written by 5 different people; etc.
• When you post external links to pages on the web, use Wikipedia links sparingly. Look for original web sources that your audience might not find on its own.
• Think about “information architecture’: how can you design your page so that it is easy to navigate and to find useful information. How can you make it as “user friendly” as possible?

By reading Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner, we’ve gotten a taste of what the traditional American canon looks like: the common themes, topics, ways of writing (aesthetics) and values they favor (ideologies).  With our reading groups, we’ll get a taste of what kinds of literature failed to be included in the canon, along with their own themes, topics, etc.  Your task as a group, then, is to read and discuss the novel/stories and prepare an in-depth wiki page that the rest of the class can read to get an idea about your group’s text.

As a class, we’ve been reading, and will continue to read, canonical American fiction from the first part of the twentieth century together—The Great Gatsby, Hemingway short stories, and The Sound and the Fury. In order to think about how to “bust” that traditional canon, we’ll soon turn to texts and writers who published during the same time as those above, but have only recently been included in reading lists.

Starting in February, we’ll break into groups of 4-5 people—a reading group—and we’ll read, discuss, and research non-canonical American texts and writers. Then, we’ll add our research (pages, critical perspectives, links, pictures, video, etc.) to the class wiki.

The first step in preparing for this reading group is to choose a text you’d like to work on. All of these pieces represent different values, ideas, and experiences in American life than those that are covered by the authors we’ve read together. The choices are as follows:

1. Passing by Nella Larsen (1929)
2. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)
3. Selected short stories by Dorothy Parker (1925-40)
4. At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft (1936)

How do you know which one to choose? Do a little online research about the texts and their authors. Find out what the texts are about, what the authors are famous for, etc. When you’ve decided which you’re most interested in, send me an email with your top three choices.

I’ll assign you to a reading group on a first-come, first serve basis, so make sure to email me by noon on Wednesday, 1/31.

What’s a wiki?  If you’ve ever used Wikipedia, you know what a wiki is: an online, editable encyclopedia with information, pictures, video, and links to relevant internet sites.

In our class, we’ll be working on building a wiki of our own—one that houses all of our knowledge about the canon of Twentieth Century American fiction, and what that canon should be revised to include.  We’ll begin for real sometime next week, but for now, I just want you to get comfortable adding to the wiki.  The weekend assignment, then, is to “play” with the wiki–see what you can add!

At any time, the class wiki is accessible from our class site—the link is in the right hand lower corner.  But in order to add something, you need to create an account for yourself and join.  I’ve sent you an email invitation to join the wiki.  In that email, there is a link that takes you to the account-creation page.  Give yourself a log-in name and password (you could even use the same one from your blog) and you’ll be ready to play.

Once you’re logged in, go to our class wiki (the login page should take you right to it.  If it doesn’t, click the link on our class site!).  You’ll see a link on the wiki that says “sandbox page”.  Click that link, and then click the “edit page” button in the upper right hand corner.  It will then take you to a screen where you can add text, links, pictures, etc.  Try any of those options and then type your name and hit save.  You’re done!

If you have trouble, do your best.  You can always email me if you need help, and we’ll talk about it Monday in class too.