Author Archives: johannah rodgers

Dear Students, First of all, I wanted to thank you for all of the work that you put into your essays.  They were, for the most part, incredibly creative and insightful.  I learned a lot from them, and for that … Continue reading →

Dear Students, For those of you interested in continuing your reading of postmodern fiction, I thought I’d post a couple of suggestions for your summer reading.  Here are a few: “Literary Devices” by Richard Powers Calvino, Italo.  If On a … Continue reading →

Dear Professor Rodgers: Describe your experience writing this essay. Explain what you learned, or explain what you re-learned, or what you wish you had learned. Explain any questions or concerns that you have about the essay.

What is your essay about?  What do you hope to argue or prove in your essay?  How do you plan to go about doing this?  What evidence will you use?

Writing About Literature   Topic Specific Questions Does my story have to be finished? (yes) Do I have to analyze my own story?  Yes!  After writing your story, I would like you to write a two page analysis of your … Continue reading →

Madame Bovary (Excerpt from Lydia Davis translation)

Describe: Setting: How many different settings in this chapter? multiple settings Characters:  Charles (the father (lazy, free spirit) and son (controlled, has no character, does what is expected of him, like a robot, needs very specific directions, always used to … Continue reading →

What is metafiction? (one to two sentences)  Thad: A piece of fiction in which the author makes the reader think about the elements of fiction used in the short story.  (partial answer). What are the formal elements of a short … Continue reading →

In class today, we wrote a bit about writing about literature:  what we learned from the readings, as well as what questions that were still outstanding.  Professor Rodgers introduced this exercise by talking about her frustration regarding the fact that … Continue reading →

For our next class, please do the following three things (I have added one thing to this list, which I forgot to mention in class): 1/ Take a look at the following Writing Resources that I have put together for … Continue reading →