Only someone who prevents us from satisfying a desire which he himself has inspired in us is truly an object of hatred. The person who hates first hates himself for the secret admiration concealed by his hatred.
Rene Girard, Deceit, Desire, and the Novel, pp. 10-11
You might think about this in connection with "evil." Evil might just finally boil down to hatred.....
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
notes
M's human/soft/sentimental side
gen'l S, Silver Wig, his room, Harry Jones
Ending w/what kind of worldview?
--life goes on the same way, Silver Wig gone forever, Eddie Mars not gone forever
--corruption is not gone
How many mysteries are there in the story?
#Rusty Regan
#Sternwood blackmail
Ending of the novel
*corruption still exists
*really bad guys still exist (ex for Canino)
*Carmen isn't dead
*Rusty Regan is (bad)
*Silver Wig is gone forever
*Captain Gregory is still (only) "reasonably honest"
*Maybe Gen'l S doesn't have to know (about Rusty, about Carmen)
*M still has his license
*Geiger dead (good)
gen'l S, Silver Wig, his room, Harry Jones
Ending w/what kind of worldview?
--life goes on the same way, Silver Wig gone forever, Eddie Mars not gone forever
--corruption is not gone
How many mysteries are there in the story?
#Rusty Regan
#Sternwood blackmail
Ending of the novel
*corruption still exists
*really bad guys still exist (ex for Canino)
*Carmen isn't dead
*Rusty Regan is (bad)
*Silver Wig is gone forever
*Captain Gregory is still (only) "reasonably honest"
*Maybe Gen'l S doesn't have to know (about Rusty, about Carmen)
*M still has his license
*Geiger dead (good)
Friday, April 1, 2011
Prefinal test format and sample questions
NB you will need to know (and spell) titles, authors, directors, and you will need to be able to provide DATES of the texts.
Texts [3 points each]: Below write FOR each ofthe TEN texts [this is a sample from an old test--our number will be different) we've covered: title, author/director, date of publication/release.
Identify [3 points each]: Say concisely who or what each of the following is and identify the author OR the text or context in which it appeared.
1. Toussaint L'Ouverture
2. Nenny
3. Jody Starks
Define [4 points each]: Give a definition of each of the following words. Be sure your definition is the one most relevant to the way we used the term in class.
2. American Realism
4. miscegenation
5. James’s balloon
6. infer/imply [nb: there are TWO words here]
7. the 18th Amendment
8. anomaly
9. tableau vivant
10. suspension of disbelief
Brief answer [5 points each]: Answer the following questions briefly ( 1-2 sentences), making sure that you choose the most relevant of the possible ways to answer.
1. What is "playing the (dirty) dozens" and what is its significance in Hurston's novel?
3. All cultures seem to have a taboo on incest: what is one anthropological explanation for why all cultures have this in common? (hint: what does this taboo enable or enforce?)
9. Describe two strong female figures in The House on Mango Street , from two different stories or chapters. (It's o.k. if you don't remember their names; just be specific about why they are "strong").
12. To what film genre(s) does Mildred Pierce belong? (describe each and explain how/when they appear and how they work together in the film)
13. What is one way to read the way Tea Cake dies so that it "fits in" with an overall reading of the novel?
Short answer [7 points each]: These answers will be slightly longer (3-5 sentences) than the previous ones. These are not original essay questions; just report and/or summarize the class discussion/lecture material. Discuss the following quotations; be specific and give examples where appropriate.
2. "O.K., Bert. To hell with her!"
"Goddam it, that's what I want to hear! Come on, we got each other, haven't we? Let's get stinko."
"Yes--let's get stinko."
4. "Tom" was a bad baby, from the very beginning of his usurpation.
5. . . . for the first time he seemed to see before him the real Lily Bart, divested of the trivialities of her little world, and catching for a moment a note of that eternal harmony of which her beauty was a part.
6. We continued silent while the maid was with us--as silent, it whimsically occurred to me, as some young couple who, on their wedding journey, at the inn, feel shy in the presence of the waiter. He turned round only when the waiter had left us. "Well--so we're alone!"
8. Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.
Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.
C. The questions below are intended to inspire short (8-10 sentences) answers that will display the depth and breadth of your grasp of the course material. Use the backs of the pages to continue answers (number them clearly).
1. "Nor did he fail again to observe, or imagine, an analogy between the beautiful girl and the gorgeous shrub that hung its gemlike flowers over the fountain--a resemblance which Beatrice seemed to have indulged a fantastic humor in heightening, both by the arrangement of her dress and the selection of its hues." Discuss.
2. Discuss the relationship between Jerry and Stephanie in The Stepfather.
3. Who is the Beast in Double Indemnity? Explain.
4. Give a brief summary of the basic points in Freud's essay "A Special Type of Object Choice Made by Men."
5. Discuss the connections between Ripley and the Big Bug in the film Aliens.
6. Marlowe gets furious when he finds Carmen in his bed. Discuss.
7. Harvey Roy Greenberg ends his essay by asserting that Denham is the real beast of King Kong. Explain this remark and then agree or disagree with it.
8. Why does Spade hand Brigid over to the police?
9. What is John Marcher waiting for and does it arrive?
10. What is a Venn diagram and what makes it useful for the kinds of things we explored in this class?
11. Clips: Choose one. Write your choice down, and describe briefly what is happening in the scene. Discuss.
sample questions from exams past
Note, especially, types of questions and directions given. Also: you will be expected to give titles, authors/directors, dates of publication/release for each of our texts.
Sample questions from 400 level courses on 20th century American texts.Texts [3 points each]: Below write FOR each of
Identify [3 points each]: Say concisely who or what each of the following is and identify the author OR the text or context in which it appeared.
1. Toussaint L'Ouverture
2. Nenny
3. Jody Starks
Define [4 points each]: Give a definition of each of the following words. Be sure your definition is the one most relevant to the way we used the term in class.
2. American Realism
4. miscegenation
5. James’s balloon
6. infer/imply [nb: there are TWO words here]
7. the 18th Amendment
8. anomaly
9. tableau vivant
10. suspension of disbelief
Brief answer [5 points each]: Answer the following questions briefly ( 1-2 sentences), making sure that you choose the most relevant of the possible ways to answer.
1. What is "playing the (dirty) dozens" and what is its significance in Hurston's novel?
3. All cultures seem to have a taboo on incest: what is one anthropological explanation for why all cultures have this in common? (hint: what does this taboo enable or enforce?)
9. Describe two strong female figures in The House on Mango Street , from two different stories or chapters. (It's o.k. if you don't remember their names; just be specific about why they are "strong").
12. To what film genre(s) does Mildred Pierce belong? (describe each and explain how/when they appear and how they work together in the film)
13. What is one way to read the way Tea Cake dies so that it "fits in" with an overall reading of the novel?
Short answer [7 points each]: These answers will be slightly longer (3-5 sentences) than the previous ones. These are not original essay questions; just report and/or summarize the class discussion/lecture material. Discuss the following quotations; be specific and give examples where appropriate.
2. "O.K., Bert. To hell with her!"
"Goddam it, that's what I want to hear! Come on, we got each other, haven't we? Let's get stinko."
"Yes--let's get stinko."
4. "Tom" was a bad baby, from the very beginning of his usurpation.
5. . . . for the first time he seemed to see before him the real Lily Bart, divested of the trivialities of her little world, and catching for a moment a note of that eternal harmony of which her beauty was a part.
6. We continued silent while the maid was with us--as silent, it whimsically occurred to me, as some young couple who, on their wedding journey, at the inn, feel shy in the presence of the waiter. He turned round only when the waiter had left us. "Well--so we're alone!"
8. Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.
Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.
C. The questions below are intended to inspire short (8-10 sentences) answers that will display the depth and breadth of your grasp of the course material. Use the backs of the pages to continue answers (number them clearly).
1. "Nor did he fail again to observe, or imagine, an analogy between the beautiful girl and the gorgeous shrub that hung its gemlike flowers over the fountain--a resemblance which Beatrice seemed to have indulged a fantastic humor in heightening, both by the arrangement of her dress and the selection of its hues." Discuss.
2. Discuss the relationship between Jerry and Stephanie in The Stepfather.
3. Who is the Beast in Double Indemnity? Explain.
4. Give a brief summary of the basic points in Freud's essay "A Special Type of Object Choice Made by Men."
5. Discuss the connections between Ripley and the Big Bug in the film Aliens.
6. Marlowe gets furious when he finds Carmen in his bed. Discuss.
7. Harvey Roy Greenberg ends his essay by asserting that Denham is the real beast of King Kong. Explain this remark and then agree or disagree with it.
8. Why does Spade hand Brigid over to the police?
9. What is John Marcher waiting for and does it arrive?
10. What is a Venn diagram and what makes it useful for the kinds of things we explored in this class?
11. Clips: Choose one. Write your choice down, and describe briefly what is happening in the scene. Discuss.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
paper prompts (voluntary)!
* "the detective story [deals with] a hidden guilt that threatens to destroy the self-contained community, or, more contemporaneously, the social fabric of a city . . . " Leslie Fiedler
*Levi-Strauss asserts that myths of the Oedipal type always assimilate discovery of incest to the solution of a living puzzle personified by the hero--in his words "The audacious union of masked words or of consanquines unknown to themselves engenders decay and fermentation, the unchaining of natural forces--one thinks of the Theban plague-- . . ."
*It is a common observation--and like so many other commonplaces, an important one--that our system of thought, perception, and logic depends on our insistence that the world can be perceived in terms of categories which include some elements and exclude others. The starkest and most fundamental kind of category is that which designates a paired opposite: ie, "p" and "not-p." They are interdependently defined: "The category 'p' includes all that which is not not-p, and vice versa."
Part of the persistent horror of Oedipus's fate is that in his case, "p" and "not-p" have collapsed (and so therefore have most other important distinctions in Thebes--the place is a mess): The King is the Regicide; The Son is the Father; the Mother, the Wife; the Criminal is the Detective/Judge/Executioner; the Daughter, the Sister; etc. Implicit here as well is the horrific threat behind the prohibition of such transgression: if you violate these taboos, all distinction, which is to say, all culture and civilization (that which, we say, separates us from the animals) will precariously tumble into chaos.
*Levi-Strauss asserts that myths of the Oedipal type always assimilate discovery of incest to the solution of a living puzzle personified by the hero--in his words "The audacious union of masked words or of consanquines unknown to themselves engenders decay and fermentation, the unchaining of natural forces--one thinks of the Theban plague-- . . ."
*It is a common observation--and like so many other commonplaces, an important one--that our system of thought, perception, and logic depends on our insistence that the world can be perceived in terms of categories which include some elements and exclude others. The starkest and most fundamental kind of category is that which designates a paired opposite: ie, "p" and "not-p." They are interdependently defined: "The category 'p' includes all that which is not not-p, and vice versa."
Part of the persistent horror of Oedipus's fate is that in his case, "p" and "not-p" have collapsed (and so therefore have most other important distinctions in Thebes--the place is a mess): The King is the Regicide; The Son is the Father; the Mother, the Wife; the Criminal is the Detective/Judge/Executioner; the Daughter, the Sister; etc. Implicit here as well is the horrific threat behind the prohibition of such transgression: if you violate these taboos, all distinction, which is to say, all culture and civilization (that which, we say, separates us from the animals) will precariously tumble into chaos.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Arizona Quarterly Symposium schedule
Go here to choose the paper you are going to attend (and take a paragraph of notes on):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195507153817503
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195507153817503
Friday, March 18, 2011
Schedule through May (nb: change in Paper #3 due date!
Mar. 22, 24, 29 The Omen (1976), Chinatown (1974) screen and discuss
3/31 No class
March 31-April 2 Arizona Quarterly Symposium (no class, but attendance at a paper of your choice will be required)
4/5 Paper #2 Reading Day
4/7 Prefinal. This is an exam which will cover all material to date. The format and extent of the exam will be discussed in class. The Final Exam will consist of questions already covered on this exam and new questions on material covered after 4/7.
4/12, 4/14 The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler (1939). You can purchase a hard copy from any number of brick and mortar sources, or you can get it here: http://ae-lib.org.ua/texts-c/chandler__the_big_sleep__en.htm
4/19, 4/21, 4/26, 4/28 ScreenChinatown (Polanski, 1974) The Omen (1976). Discussion of this and past texts; somewhere in here we will also have a review discussion of the Prefinal)
4/12, 4/14 The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler (1939). You can purchase a hard copy from any number of brick and mortar sources, or you can get it here: http://ae-lib.org.ua/texts-c/chandler__the_big_sleep__en.htm
4/19, 4/21, 4/26, 4/28 Screen
May 3 Paper #3
May 5 Last Day of Classes
May 10 Final 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m., Chavez 304
*Paper #4 will be optional: following the same rules as the previous three papers. Any paper handed in as Paper #4 will not lower your grade. You can turn it in when we meet for the final exam.
Friday, March 11, 2011
paper #2 and Prefinal
4/5 Paper #2 Reading Day
4/7 Prefinal. This is an exam which will cover all material to date. The format and extent of the exam will be discussed in class. The Final Exam will consist of questions already covered on this exam and new questions on material covered after 4/7.
4/7 Prefinal. This is an exam which will cover all material to date. The format and extent of the exam will be discussed in class. The Final Exam will consist of questions already covered on this exam and new questions on material covered after 4/7.
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