Category: Announcements

Dear class,

Thank you for completing the revision of Essay 1!

As you continue to put together your Gothic Spaces presentations this weekend, I’ve created a video to help you through the process. You can watch it here. Please bring all material you have related to the presentation (including printouts of any relevant sources!) to Tuesday’s class.

Best,

Professor Kwong

Hi class,

Just a reminder that tomorrow we will be working on our revisions of Essay 1. Please bring all the work you’ve completed on this revision to date, as well as the relevant texts you’re using. If you haven’t already, you should also begin taking notes on your group’s Gothic space.

Also, as a guide for your writing process, I created a video that recaps last week’s discussion of how to structure literary analysis. Feel free to rewatch as necessary. (There are some particularly useful tips at the very end of the video!)

best,

Professor Kwong

Dear class,

Thank you for putting in the work of reading today.  I am sorry to those of you who came expecting a conversation; however, it just was not feasible to conduct our usual discussion in light of the reading situation today.

Your priority should be finishing reading “At The Mountains Of Madness.” Use the reading questions to guide your reading. There will be a quiz.

Blog group 3: use your answers to the reading questions as the basis for your posts. Focus on a passage that seems clearest or most easily understood. Critical responses due at 11 am on Thursday.

Please look over my feedback, both on the paper and in your midsemester performance review generally! As I said, I hope you can see this as an opportunity to improve.  If you weren’t present, please make sure you get comments on your paper + your midsemester performance review from me on Thursday.

Please bring your Paper 1, the two texts you wrote about, + any notes to Thursday’s class as well. I will try to budget time for us to begin working on the revision, which will be due on Thursday, November 7.

Read and annotate “At The Mountains Of Madness,” sections VI-IX. This time please annotate once per section in the Google doc. Use the handout on analysis tips to guide your analysis if you feel stuck; you can use the audiobook as well.

Dear class,

Some reminders for this week:

–Bring Parts I and II of “At The Mountains of Madness” to class on Thursday. This reading is available in the “Readings” folder. You do not need to read beforehand, but you should have the paper in hand.

-Bring your filled-out peer review sheet for your partner, as well as your partner’s draft. Your partner will attach your comments to their final draft, and you’ll do the same for them. Your peer review response is a factor in determining your final grade for this unit. I estimate this should take about 30 minutes.

-Work on your own paper. Refer to the assignment description and the Essay 1 proposal you filled out 2 weeks ago. I estimate you should be spending about 1.5-2 hrs on this task before Thursday.

-Below are the groups for your Gothic Spaces presentations:

Video Game group: Kerri, Brian, Jeremy, Freddie

Dear class –

For homework, please complete a 2 page partial draft of your first paper. Consult the assignment description (handed out in class + available in handouts folder). You can also consult the proposal that you were asked to begin filling out last week.

Bring the partial draft, as well as a printed copy of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” to Tuesday’s class. We will be reading the story together in class as well as exchanging drafts for peer review. Missing 2-page drafts will incur grade penalties. As usual, printed copies of the story are required (as opposed to pulling it up on your phone).

Finally, comments on the M.R. James posts are due by 5 pm today.

best,

Professor Kwong

Dear class,

Hope you enjoy your break! I notice that no one has replied to Group 2’s posts – as usual, comments are due by 5 pm today. Please note that missing once or twice is not a huge deal, but that these comments do factor into the grade.

For next Thursday’s class, please read M.R. James’ “The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral” and the associated essay on James’s “Gothic Revival” (focusing on the highlighted portions). “The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral” is structured as a scholar’s investigation into a mysterious death. Like good detectives, then, our annotations will involve assembling clues.

Who is John Austin?

Dear class,

Thank you for being game (no pun intended) for our flashcard analysis yesterday. Thank you also for engaging on the subject of reading. I know that the class requires a lot of reading, but I also know that your powers of organization, time management, and literacy are greater than some of you may realize. Please use all the strategies we discussed in class as you embark on the final leg of Dracula.

For homework:

-Blog group 2, please post comments on the critical response prompts (minimum 2 comments) by 5 pm today. (15 mins estimate)

-Please finish Ch. 22-27 by next Thursday’s class. Use the critical response prompts to guide your reading, even if you’re not up to write the posts. (1.5 hrs estimate)

-As usual, annotations are due from everyone for the assigned reading (min. 1 per chapter). Remember, these annotations can be as simple as definitions that illuminate the meaning of a particular sentence, or links to historical context. They don’t have to be longer than 10 words! The point is to ensure that you’re following along. (15 mins estimate)

-I’ve noticed that a lot of people are doing annotations on previous readings. I want to encourage you to focus on annotating the upcoming readings – the purpose of the annotations is to prepare you for the upcoming class.

–Blog group 2, please coordinate and post responses by 11 am on Thursday. (20 mins estimate)

-Look over the Assignment description for Essay 1. Think about which characters you’d like to compare, and what prompt you’d like to pursue. Come prepared to write a few words about your focus in class.

See you next Thursday! Hope you can enjoy your break.

Professor Kwong

Hi class,

Great recap of Gothic concepts, and discussion of abjection, yesterday. Hope you weren’t too grossed out!

For Thursday, a few reminders:

-There will be another quiz (same format) on ch. 10-21 of Dracula.

-As usual, annotations are due from everyone. See the guidelines for details. Remember, there’s a wide range of content you can use in an annotation!

–Group 1 is up to write the critical response prompts. Please see the previous post for details. Please try to do a different type of response (Clue/Create/Connect) than the one you did before. You can reuse your response material from the annotations.

See you Thursday!

Professor Kwong