Hi Class,

Sorry about today’s Zoom link mix-up. I should have seen this coming last week and sent out a new link for today’s odd Tuesday=Monday class.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will use our regular Zoom link (see Sept 2 post for that).

Today, we covered quiz 1 and discussed chapter 8. My plan is to finish discussing the final two chapters on Wednesday. Please review them as they are the key to the entire story. I hope to address redemption and allegory; write down any questions that you have about these concepts.

Also: please read the four-page hand out titled Sigmund Freud’s “The Uncanny” in the Readings menu tab. Write down any questions that you have.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

I almost forgot that the Monday/Wednesday Zoom link won’t work today–because it is a Tuesday!

Here is today’s link:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/94438253568?pwd=Z0hkZ2Z1YnJTTEJ4clFid2tQS1cydz09

Meeting ID: 944 3825 3568
Passcode: 152309

See everybody at 11:30.

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

Again, I was very impressed by your contributions today! I’m hoping for more of the same next week.

REMEMBER:  We have class on Tuesday and Wednesday of next. There is no school on Monday (Yom Kippur). Tuesday follows a Monday schedule. So I will see you at 11:30am on Tuesday, Sept. 29.

Homework:

Finish reading Jekyll and Hyde. The ending might be confusing, so be sure to reserve adequate time to read, reread, and take notes. Be sure the think about the concepts that we have been working with over the past few weeks, especially irony, paradox, allegory, frame, focal point, focalizer, and, of course, redemption.

Then write and post Gothic Coffeehouse Post #3. Please note the new menu category: Coffeehouse #3. For this post, consider which characters, if any, are redeemed. (what is the redemption about? and who does the redeeming?) 300 words total.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

Great discussion! Let ‘s keep up this energy and intellectual momentum.

For Wednesday:

Q-what do they find in Hyde’s apt? [chapter 4]

Q-what happens in chapter 5 concerning Jekyll, the letter, and the signature?

•• My goal is to ask each student to provide some information/discussion of these questions.

Define: Focal point, focalizer, sarcasm, paradox—Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Here’s the link (you may have to log in to your City Tech library account):

The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (4 ed.)

Read Chapter 6 and in your notebook try to hypothesize: what are the possible causes of Dr. Lanyon’s death.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

Here are the two questions I raised at the end of class:

1–At the end of ch. 2, why does Hyde say to Utterson: “you are lying to me”?

2–What does Hyde actually look like?

1—Please define these terms:

-Allegory

-Flashback

-Irony, Dramatic Irony

2—Read chapters 3 – 5 in Jekyll and Hyde

3—Write Gothic Coffeehouse #2. After reading these three chapters, then write a 300-word post in which you address this question: late in chapter 3, Dr. Jekyll says to Utterson: “’I don’t ask that,’” pleaded Jekyll, laying his hand upon the other’s arm; “’I only ask for justice; I only ask you to help him for my sake, when I am no longer here.’” Who is the “him” in bold, and why is this ironic? Make sure to post it to the Category: Gothic Coffeehouse #2.

 

Thursday’s Office Hours Zoom Link (11-12):

https://zoom.us/j/94945822283?pwd=OFNOZmtwRUpUR28vcEdSU21wMWM3dz09

Meeting ID: 949 4582 2283
Passcode: 182034

 

Best wishes,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

HOMEWORK for Wednesday:

1—Complete Quiz 1—by Tuesday at 5pm…see the sidebar

2—Define the following and be ready to discuss on Wednesday:

1—Propriety

2—Foreshadowing

3—Denouement

4—Redemption

5—Frame narrative

3—Read Chapter 2 of Jekyll and Hyde

Hi Class,

Thank you so much for helping to read those difficult passages today from Walpole, Radcliffe, and Shelley. I think that it is important to get a feel for the way that gothic stories were written in the 1700s and 1800s. As we read more current stories, the language will get easier.

Everybody is now a member of the class! Thanks.

For Monday: In preparation for Quiz 1, which I will post after Monday’s class with directions on how to submit:

1–Read Chapter 1 of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (in Readings)

2–Review “The Black Cat” and “The Lottery”

3–Review key concepts:

–5-part reading tool

–-Spirit of Perverseness

–-Gothic definitions: CG Irony

Cheers,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Students,

Please use the set Zoom link for Wednesday’s Class…This link is below in the Sept. 2 post.

Reminder: Homework for Wednesday is posted on the Gothic Coffeehouse page. Essentially, you are to write and post your first Coffeehouse post.

——————————-

Zoom information for Zoom drop-in Office Hours:

Zoom Office Hours:
https://zoom.us/j/94615027603?pwd=Wk03TStwbUNTZ2U1ZjdGZy83a2F6Zz09

Meeting ID: 946 1502 7603

Passcode: 607940

——————————

See you Wednesday morning at 11:30!

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Updated Tuesday, Sept. 1

Hi Students,

1—Thanks to everyone who volunteered to read or asked questions or answered questions. I wrote down the names of all those students—they get maximum participation points for the day. Your ability to talk is so important for the energy and pacing of our class. Thanks!

2—Please register on OpenLab, and then join my class. Make sure to bookmark the URL for our class website, if you have not done so already.

3—Homework: 3 Items:

First: read “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson. Find this story on the “Readings” menu tab—near the bottom.

Second, in your notes, answer at least two questions in each of the five categories in the 5-Part Reading Tool handout (also in the Readings menu tab). Pay special attention to plot and also this question: does this story have a lesson?

Third, in a sentence or two, describe one example of the gothic that you recently encountered. It can be anything: song, advertisement, clothing, art, photograph, film, etc.

4—ZOOM INFORMATION for Wednesday’s class:

I’VE TALKED TO MY COLLEAGUES, AND I ‘VE MADE A CHANGE TO MY POLICY: NOW WE WILL USE THE SAME ZOOM LINK AND PASSWORD FOR THE REST OF THE SEMESTER. THE LINK, ID, AND PASSWORD WORK FOR BOTH MONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS. THIS WILL BE EASIER FOR ALL OF US. (Sorry it took me so long to do this)

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89543948566?pwd=R0s4THNlTW00OEFKN04zWkVoZ3FWdz09

Meeting ID: 895 4394 8566

Passcode: GoodGothic

**Email any questions that you might have.

Best wishes,

Prof. Scanlan

Dear ENG3407 Students:

Greetings, and welcome to ENG3407: Gothic Literature and Visual Culture at City Tech. I am your professor, Sean Scanlan, and I look forward to working with you this semester.

As the Fall 2020 semester begins on Wednesday, August 26, I wanted to let you know some important information about our online course.

Our class is synchronous. This which means that we have set meeting days and times, and I am obligated to take attendance. We meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:30 to 12:15 on Zoom. The schedule says we meet from 11:30 – 12:45, but that time was for in-class meetings before the pandemic. The administration has said that online synchronous classes need to meet for at least half of the stated three hours per week, and we are meeting for more than that. Know that I am available to help support your work in this course, through weekly office hours, which will not be in person, but will be through Zoom, phone, or email appointments (see details on our site).

OUR FIRST CLASS WILL MEET ON ZOOM AT 11:30 ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020. PLEASE TRY TO BE PUNCTUAL. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TURN YOUR VIDEO OR AUDIO ON (BUT IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE YOUR FACES!). HERE ARE THE DETAILS:

Sean Scanlan is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Sean Scanlan’s Zoom Meeting
Time: Aug 26, 2020 11:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 851 7562 6521
Passcode: 756421

If you have trouble getting onto Zoom, please email me: sscanlan@citytech.cuny.edu. If things are really frustrating, you can text/call me: 718-308-7132 (please use my number sparingly).

HOMEWORK: These two tasks are due before class on Monday, August 31:

1–Please fill out the First Week Questionnaire that is on the right sidebar on this page. This form will help me to see where everybody is in terms of tech, access, and feelings.

2–Read Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat” which can be found in the “Readings” menu tab…it is at the bottom of this page. And in your notes (either a physical notebook or on your digital device) write down: Author’s name, story title, date of publication, setting, narration style (first, second, or third person), basic plot (what happens in the beginning, middle, and end of the story), and…did you like the story?–Why or why not? We will discuss this story, and I will ask questions in order to get the conversation started.

Best wishes,

Sean Scanlan

Getting started: What does gothic mean? How can we define it? What does Wikipedia say?

If time allows, let’s ask discuss the concept of the story. What is a story? Can we define it?

A short story is an invented prose narrative shorter than a novel usually dealing with a few characters and aiming at unity of effect and often concentrating on the creation of mood rather than plot (Merriam-Webster online dictionary)

Let’s read this short story by Jose Luis Borges:

The Captive

by Jose Luis Borges, published 1960

The story is told in Junín or in Tapalquén. A boy disappeared after an Indian attack. People said the Indians had kidnapped him. His parents searched for him in vain. Then, long years later, a soldier who came from the interior told them about an Indian with blue eyes who might well be their son. At length they found him (the chronicle has lost the circumstances and I will not invent what I do not know) and thought they recognized him. The man, buffeted by the wilderness and by barbaric life, no longer knew how to understand the words of his mother tongue, but indifferent and docile, he let himself be led home. There he stopped, perhaps because the others stopped. He looked at the door as if he did not know what it was for. Then suddenly he lowered his head, let out a shout, ran across the entrance way and the two long patios, and plunged into the kitchen. Without hesitating, he sank his arm into the blackened chimney and pulled out the little horn-handled knife he had hidden there as a boy. His eyes shone with joy and his parents wept because they had found their son.

Perhaps this recollection was followed by others, but the Indian could not live within walls, and one day he went in search of his wilderness. I wonder what he felt in that dizzying moment when past and present became one. I wonder whether the lost son was reborn and died in that instant of ecstasy; and whether he ever managed to recognize, if only as an infant or a dog does, his parents and his home.

                               Source: Borges, Jorge Luis. Collected Fictions. Translated by Andrew Hurley. Penguin, 1998, p 300.

How should we read this? What is the mood? Let’s explore our five-part short story reading tool (Readings menu tab)