Author Archives: Jeff Allred

Signup sheet for conferences in pairs on 12/4 and 12/7

Posted on by
Reply

For the next-to-last week of class, you will pair up and meet with me for ten minutes to talk through your progress towards the final project. Here is a signup sheet. Every student should sign up for one ten-minute slot, and that’s all the time you have to spend in class the week of 12/4! Use the extra time to get your project into shape.

While we’re on the subject, here’s the template you’ll use for the final project. We will review it this week.

Creeley poem “The Door” (referenced on p. 169)

Posted on by
Reply

Just for fun, here’s the poem the narrator references listening to, in audio format, in Part IV:

 

The Door by Robert Creeley | Poetry Magazine

It is hard going to the door

You can read and/or listen.

And here’s the wax cylinder recording of Whitman–one of the earliest audio recordings of a poem in history–referenced there as well:

For good measure, you can read the text here:

America by Walt Whitman | Poetry Foundation

Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,

And here’s the site of the Chinati Foundation, established by the artist and sculptor, Donald Judd. This page shows some of the aluminum boxes the narrator reflects on in IV, and you can also see the “totaled” art of John Chamberlain:

Collection – The Chinati Foundation

No Description

Event for ENGL majors interested in learning about Spr 24 courses

Posted on by
Reply

Please come to department’s event tomorrow afternoon, where students will hear from faculty about their courses and have an opportunity for informal chat.

I won’t be there due to a schedule conflict, but would love to see some of you in one of these courses next term:

ENGL 306, “Introduction to Theory”

ENGL 389, “William Faulkner”

 

“puzzle” activity Thursday 10/26

Posted on by
Reply

Just an in-class exercise: no need to respond here…

  • Each pair will be assigned one of the five questions: make sure you’re clear on which question is yours!
  • 10 minutes to talk with a partner about it: just grab the person next to you!
  • then we’ll share your pair’s thoughts with the big group
  1. The role of religion grows toward the end of the novel in ways that have some echoes with Earthseed: in both cases, myths or faith traditions are sites of cultural hybridity and fluidity that present an alternative to rational liberal traditions. How are the myths of Bon Bibi and Dokkhin Rai represented in the part we read for today?
  2. The theme of the boundary between the animal and the human, which is an important part of the Bon Bibi myths of course, emerges many times as we approach the end of the novel. How does the notion of a firm separation between humans and animal others come up? What does the novel seem to be saying to us here?
  3. As many of you have noted, Kanai remains a remarkably unsympathetic character through much of the novel. How does his portrayal change in the section we read for today? What are some signs, both “inner” and “outer,” that he has undergone a transformation of sorts? What do you think Ghosh intends by staging such a dramatic transformation in this character?
  4. The love triangle uniting (or separating) Piya, Kanai, and Fokir is one of the central sources of dramatic tension in the novel. As of the part that you read, where do things stand? How do you read this resolution, if you can call it that, of the novel’s romance plot? What predictions do you have of where this aspect of the novel is headed as we approach the end?
  5. How do you read the novel’s ending? Is it tragic, comic, ironic, or some mixture of these? Where does the novel leave each of the principal characters, and what does that positioning say about the novel’s overarching message?

TPS exercise for Monday 10/23

Posted on by
Reply

If we have time, we’ll tackle this question…

 

The role of religion grows toward the end of the novel in ways that have some echoes with Earthseed: in both cases, myths or faith traditions are sites of cultural hybridity and fluidity that present an alternative to rational liberal traditions. How are the myths of Bon Bibi and Dokkhin Rai represented in the part we read for today?