Critical responses for this week will involve your answers to any of the following questions. As usual, please decide amongst yourselves who will write which prompts, and try to select a different prompt from one you’ve done already.
Questions for your annotated “investigation”:
Who is John Austin?
CLUE.
Pick one answer to one of the above questions. How might it provide a clue as to the metaphorical significance of the titular cathedral? Think about the different churches and abbeys that have popped up in our readings and the sorts of meanings attached to them. Try to unpack how the plot detail you’ve chosen casts the cathedral in a new light.
CONNECT
Pick one answer to one of the above questions. Connect it to a claim that Andrew Smith makes in his essay on M.R. James and Gothic revival. How might this plot detail exemplify, parallel, or contrast with Smith’s observations about James’ other stories?
CREATE
Imagine you are a modern tourist taking a trip to Barchester cathedral, still standing in 2019. You enter and are granted access to the archdeacon’s stall. Describe your experience. What do you see? Are you tempted to touch what you see, and why? How do you feel in that space?
In 1-2 sentences after, explain the basis for your paragraph.
