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.

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

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  Screen Chinatown (Polanski, 1974) The Omen (1976). Discussion of this and past texts; somewhere in here we will also have a review discussion of the Prefinal)

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.

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.

Paper #3 due date

Paper #3 will be due on 4/28 5/3  (paper readings may extend to part of class on 5/5).

Paper #4 will be optional:  if you want to try to raise your grade.  Any paper handed in as Paper #4 will not lower your grade.  You can turn it in when we meet for the final exam.

General info for topics for next paper

For those who like to get started early:  You will focus on one of our texts, with a brief reference to a second as part of your argument (the reference to the second text can be either support or counter-example); make sure you address the questions below in the context of your essay.  Please note:  none of these questions are your specific thesis.  Your thesis should be something about the child/childhood or the parent/parental in your chosen text.

1.  What is evil in this story--what does it do?
2.  Where, according to the text, does evil come from--what is its point of origin in the story?
3.  How does the story get you to participate in it (the story, the evil, the argument, etc.)?

Some pithy quotations:

 

Evil is unspectacular and always human

And shares our bed and eats at our own table.   

--W.H. AUDEN, Herman Melville

The whole gamut of good and evil is in every human being, certain notes, from stronger original quality or most frequent use, appearing to form the whole character; but they are only the tones most often heard. The whole scale is in every soul, and the notes most seldom heard will on rare occasions make themselves audible.
--FANNY KEMBLE, Further Records, Feb. 12, 1875

Evil is a point of view.
--ANNE RICE, Interview with the Vampire




 The rules are the same as for the first paper. 

links

YGB
http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=HawYoun.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all

tos
 http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=JamTurn.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all

gmhf
http://notearama.blogspot.com/2010/01/good-man-is-hard-to-find.html

gcp
  http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:0Vu8Sc4jNfQJ:faculty.weber.edu/jyoung/English%25206710/Good%2520Country%2520People.pdf+%22good+country+people%22&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgGYu61KSffr4qRrGjALru-vpnil33KFOPchvu0sizlymkIUEF-j0N0GVVR7EsjGDjViOhqh06W7HNfQwB3Laqzt9ayDoAyuBT9SwYA4uzFgSVorTjbceYsftq9H1p-jc_2WBXf&sig=AHIEtbT8CRz08FNhWxAOIgNuhfGUdBGtcg

tl
http://www.americanliterature.com/Jackson/SS/TheLottery.html

rfe
  http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/Rose/el-text-E-Rose.htm