English 2201 American Literature 2 Spring 2014

A Slate article helps dispel the idea of human “cock fighting” —

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/12/24/django_unchained_mandingo_fighting_were_any_slaves_really_forced_to_fight.html

Also, see David Blight’s books on the history of American Slavery.

Hi Class,

I hope that you are having a wonderful break. As a reminder, please have Journal 5 ready upon our return on April 24th. Read Ellison (pages 1157-1169) and write 300 words on Ellison’s use of experimental language. Consider, especially, what is odd and what you think is normal for a story of this type.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

From The Atlantic:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#list

Hi Class,

For Tuesday, bring two pages (typed, using proper format) of Essay 1 to class for a peer review. Make sure to include the following:

1. Thesis

2. Occasion, Author’s Conclusion, Style (this is the summary of the life writing)

3. How you plan to make use of Margo Culley or George Gusdorf.

Email me if you have any questions.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

1. Here is a collection of terms that may help us to write about life writing and autobiography:

Occasion: passage, transition, loss, realization, rationalization, condition, motivation, evolution, failure, triumph

Style: artful, sly, warm-inviting, angry, sincere, insinuating, vengeful, bold, saucy, sophisticated, simple, opaque

2. Look at the website Post Secret:

 http://postsecret.com/

How is this site autobiographical?

3. Homework: Journal 4: Visit an online autobiography site (visual diary, online scrapbook, online memoir, talk show) for one week and keep a summary/record of its changes. Write a 400 word report (typed) on your findings. Due: April 1, 2014. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hi Class,

Today, we will examine another theory of reading life writing.

Margo Culley is Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is the editor of American Women’s Autobiography: Fea(s)ts of Memory and the author of A Day at a Time: The Diary Literature of American Women 1704 — Present.  Several of her points form a nice balance to Gusdorf’s ideas.

Three Main Points from Culley’s A Day at a Time :

1. Virtually every aspect of Colonial and Industrial life was written about in Diaries, so we have an excellent set of records about daily life, if only we spend the time to read closely.

2. Diaries and journals explore, especially, the constraints of American life on certain individuals, especially women and men who were not in power.

3. The transition from a Colonial outpost to an industrial nation altered the function and form of life writing:

Pre-Civil War:                                                     Post Civil War:

Self Examination                                               Self Invention

Spiritual Journey                                             Journey of the Ego

Social history is central                                 Individual Analysis is central

Small Audiences read/heard                       Larger audiences read–rise of publishing industry

Homework: Read Adams and Antin for Tuesday, March 4th.

The literary critic George Gusdorf helps us to understand how “life writing” works.

Diary: Daily record, usually private, and usually about the writer’s own experiences, observations, feelings, and attitudes.

Memoir: A record of events written by a person having intimate knowledge of them and based on personal observation.

Journal: A record or reflection of someone’s experiences or observations.

Autobiography: A history of a person’s life that is written or told by that person.

Confession: Acknowledgement, avowal, admission, disclosure. This form of writing is based on a formal profession of belief and acceptance of doctrine. The first popular confession was The Confessions of St. Augustine (354-430).

8 Key Questions:

Does the life writing:

1. Reveal inner/outer change?

2. Reveal growth?’

3. Reveal weakness (especially guilt or crime)?

4. Reveal outward or inward observation?

5. Reveal a class/gender/ethnic position?

6. Reveal audience?

7. Reveal emotional drama (inner/outer)

8. Reveal intellectual calm?

Major Points:

1. How does life writing lead to self-invention?

2. How can we describe the world and our own path through it in a way that is understandable?

3. How does the life writing reveal the difficult drive to reconcile and explain and justify internal with external identifications?

Hi Class,

Here are some questions for Tuesday’s class (Feb 18), especially as we read and discuss Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”:

What does loneliness/depression/anxiety feel like?

Do people today have similar or different perceptions of these issues and feelings?

How do laws change our understanding of human relations?

How does technology change our understanding and appreciation of feelings?

Consider these two short films:

Cheers,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

I fixed some typos and posted the first page of our weekly schedule on the menu bar under “Weekly Schedule.” Have a great weekend.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan