In this final, optional, extra credit blog, please compare "Sissy" to one of our other primary text this semester. We discussed on Thursday how "Sissy" complicates our prescriptive thinking, so you may consider exploring this in your blog posting. But you are welcome to use any kind of compare/contrast construction you'd like.
Remember to always use the text(s) in your posting, and if you do choose to write this blog, please email to alert me. If you do not email, I won't know to check your blog and you will not receive credit.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Luck of Roaring Camp and Sissy
Welcome to your final official blog prompt! It's hard to believe, I know, but it's true! In honor of this joyous occasion, please select your own topic. You may write about "The Luck of Roaring Camp" or "Sissy" or both, but please make sure you adhere to the criteria of the assignment. Always use the text in your posting!
Congrats! Excellent work, folks!
Congrats! Excellent work, folks!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Gilman and Chopin
We've spent a lot of time this semester discussing authorship-- what it means to be an author vs. a writer, how gender constructs our idea of an author, and how some authors become "major" while others remain "minor"-- which has been both fruitful and engaging. But now I'd like to turn our discussion to an element of literature that doesn't receive a whole lot of attention: the reader.
Our readings this week are both short stories, a genre we haven't seen much of in recent weeks, mainly because nineteenth-century readers liked their novels long. As we approach the 20th century, however, the short story gains popularity.
In this week's blog posting, I'd like you to discuss how your reading habits change when you encounter a short story vs. an except of a long, drawn-out novel. Do you read more carefully? Look for more details? Or are your reading habits exactly the same?
You should, as always, use the text in your posting. I imagine it will be even more challenging this week because your post is not interpretive, but you should still use the text as evidence of your changing (or not) reading habits.
Happy blogging.
Our readings this week are both short stories, a genre we haven't seen much of in recent weeks, mainly because nineteenth-century readers liked their novels long. As we approach the 20th century, however, the short story gains popularity.
In this week's blog posting, I'd like you to discuss how your reading habits change when you encounter a short story vs. an except of a long, drawn-out novel. Do you read more carefully? Look for more details? Or are your reading habits exactly the same?
You should, as always, use the text in your posting. I imagine it will be even more challenging this week because your post is not interpretive, but you should still use the text as evidence of your changing (or not) reading habits.
Happy blogging.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
One More Announcement: Sample Digital Archive Essay Now Available
I mentioned yesterday that I would provide a sample Digital Archive assignment essay, and I wanted to let you know that I uploaded it to eCollege document sharing this morning. Please keep in mind that this is not a "perfect" essay, and I am not providing it as an example of one; rather, this is a good example of the kind of work you'll want to do locating a text, contextualizing the piece, and connecting it to our course.
As you continue this project, feel free to schedule an appointment with me to discuss the research process. Primary and secondary research skills are of the utmost importance these days, and I'm happy to work with you on both.
As you continue this project, feel free to schedule an appointment with me to discuss the research process. Primary and secondary research skills are of the utmost importance these days, and I'm happy to work with you on both.
Nineteenth-Century Children's Periodicals
I mentioned in class that in addition to novels, there was a wealth of children's periodicals (think Highlights for the nineteenth century) you could use for your Digital Archive (D.A.) assignment. You'll find information about some of these in the "Nineteenth-Century American Children and What They Read" link to the left. But if you're poking around the databases listed on your D.A. assignment sheet, you might look for these popular periodicals: Our Young Folks, Juvenile Miscellany, and The Youth's Companion.
These publications were wildly successful, and you'll find short stories from many of the authors we've encountered this semester. We'll do some work to find these next week when we meet with the Humanities librarian, but if you'd like to do some work now, these titles should aid your search.
These publications were wildly successful, and you'll find short stories from many of the authors we've encountered this semester. We'll do some work to find these next week when we meet with the Humanities librarian, but if you'd like to do some work now, these titles should aid your search.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Little Lord Fauntleroy
We had a great beginning discussion of Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy in class today, and I'd like to continue it here on our blogs. I did a little definitive research, and it turns out that Frances Hodgson Burnett is, indeed, a female author. I'm reading this text for the first time along with you, and as you know I had been under the impression she was a man!
If we didn't know better, this mistake would seem embarrassing, but I'm not embarrassed in the least. (And no one else guilty of this should be either!) The nineteenth-century literary marketplace was full of authorial cross-dressing, so mistaking the gender of an author is more common than you may think. But my mistake raised an interesting question about authorship in class: what difference does the author's gender make anyway? How does a text change when we find out that an author is male or female? And what if we can't tell? Many male and female authors cross-dressed in their pen names, making these questions even more important and complex.
In your blog posting, please answer these questions concerning authorship. You should use Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy as your primary example, but you're welcome to draw on other texts we've read this semester as well.
Happy Blogging!
If we didn't know better, this mistake would seem embarrassing, but I'm not embarrassed in the least. (And no one else guilty of this should be either!) The nineteenth-century literary marketplace was full of authorial cross-dressing, so mistaking the gender of an author is more common than you may think. But my mistake raised an interesting question about authorship in class: what difference does the author's gender make anyway? How does a text change when we find out that an author is male or female? And what if we can't tell? Many male and female authors cross-dressed in their pen names, making these questions even more important and complex.
In your blog posting, please answer these questions concerning authorship. You should use Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy as your primary example, but you're welcome to draw on other texts we've read this semester as well.
Happy Blogging!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Tom Sawyer
We had an excellent discussion today, and in light of that productive conversation, I'd like to invite you to continue it here. We addressed issues of boyhood, and city vs. country, and North vs. South. We also talked about national parenting, which can transcend just Twain's text to include others from this semester.
Please select a passage from Tom Sawyer and make some meaning in this week's blog posting. You may address one of the above ideas or another, if you wish. But you should always use the text as support for your thoughts.
Happy Blogging!
Please select a passage from Tom Sawyer and make some meaning in this week's blog posting. You may address one of the above ideas or another, if you wish. But you should always use the text as support for your thoughts.
Happy Blogging!
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