Hi class,

I just want to encourage you, in your blog posts/comments/essays, to keep practicing the art of interpreting literary elements.  There’s three weeks left, and it would be easy to do the easy thing and write responses that mainly restate information about characters, events, customs, etc.  Remember, though, that if you write a whole blog/comment/paper without mentioning any literary analysis terms/ideas (first person narration?  Dynamic character?  Setting as reflection of inner psychology?), you’re missing a pretty important piece.

Godspeed,

Professor Kwong

Hello class,

Hope you’re well.  For reasons that are unbeknownst to me, there has (yet again!) been miscommunication between myself and the bookstore.  I ordered the 50th anniversary edition of Things Fall Apart, but the bookstore has stocked the plain old regular 1994 Anchor edition, with the red-yellow-purple color scheme.  If you bought that one, fine; if you bought the 50th anniversary edition version, fine. My main hope is that we don’t end up with 5 different editions again!

For Monday, please read chapters 1-4 of Things Fall Apart. As usual, group 6 is welcome to post in any of the categories – Clue, Connect, Create – by 5 pm Sunday.  Group 6, as it’s the last round of blogs, please make sure you’ve done one in each category, for variety’s sake!

Happy Thanksgiving –

Professor Kwong

Hi all,

A  belated reminder that blog group 5 is slated to post by 5 pm today.  Post using any of the Connect/Clue/Create categories.  Looking forward to finishing At the Mountains of Madness tomorrow.  Please bring your copy of Dr. Moreau as well.

Professor Kwong

Hi all,

Excellent work yesterday on the topic of ruined cities.  As you keep reading “At the Mountains of Madness” (parts VI-IX, 117-131) pay attention to the (rather complicated) history that Dyer learns about the beings who populated this ancient city.  Keep your notes from last class (as well as your alien diagrams!) on hand.  What sort of parallels is Lovecraft drawing between human society and that of the aliens?  As usual, keep an eye out for other elements that we’ve singled out: point of view, style, setting.

For homework, blog group 4 is expected to post by 5 pm Sunday.  As usual, you can post a create, connect or clue post that looks at/deals with a particular snapshot from our readings for Monday.  Use our notes from class to discuss the broader themes present in your snapshot, and keep practicing incorporating direct quotes and literary elements into your interpretation.

Best,

Professor Kwong