Imagined Place in _Wide Sargasso Sea_

(Image from http://estlin.wordpress.com/)

Last week in class and on this blog we discussed how Jane Eyre's ideas (and Charlotte Bronte's as well) on the West Indies and Jamaica were speculative, informed by the available travel accounts, visitors from the colonies, and news reports rather than firsthand knowledge.  Neither Jane nor her creator ever had the chance to visit the islands to decide for herself what the places were like.  This allowed Bronte to make Jamaica (at the time a subject of the British Empire) into a kind of "blank canvas" onto which she projected her fictional Mason family, and as some critics argue, her prejudices as a relatively privileged member of the British Empire.  Is something similar happening in Wide Sargasso Sea?  Consider the following exchange between Antoinette and Edward:

 Next time she spoke she said, 'The earth is red here, do you notice?'

'It's red in parts of England too.'

'Oh England, England,' she called back mockingly, and the sound went on and on like a warning I did not choose to hear. (Rhys 64-65).

Antoinette and Edward (as they do throughout the novel) are miscommunicating here on several levels.  As they ride out to begin their honeymoon Antoinette tries to share her knowledge and observations of the island she loves more than any other place.  Edward is also trying to share his memories of another island thousands of miles away that he loves and considers home.  Why does she mock him here?  What "warning" does Edward ignore?

What do you make of the other passages where England is discussed?  How does the idea/ideal of England hold meaning for different characters?  How do these passages in which the characters attempt to define/describe/discuss England matter to the novel?  How does England function as an imagined place for Antoinette?  For Christophine?  For Edward?

"You're not English, you are a horrid colonial"

(Image from whenwegetthere.com)

In the autobiographical short story "The Day They Burned the Books" (1968) Jean Rhys' protagonist recalls hearing this phrase in school from English children.  It is indicative of the tenuous position "colonials" or "creoles" face when they are not considered truly English and also considered unwanted outsiders in the land of their birth.  

Creole, as we have defined the term in class, means 1) a language that originated from contact between two or more languages; 2) a person of European ancestry born in the West Indies or Latin America; 3) a person of French ancestry in the Southern US (usually in Louisiana).  We talked today about how New Orleans is a location in the US where this mixture of European, Caribbean, Native American, and African cultures is still visible and viable.  Creole, whether it be the language, the people, or even a style of cooking, always means a mixing of cultures and traditions from several places.  This combination creates a new, unique culture--one inseparable from the often violent and oppressive history that caused these cultures to connect in the first place.

As we begin reading Wide Sargasso Sea, let's take a moment to consider how the West Indies (specifically Jamaica) is represented in Jane Eyre.  How do the characters in Jane Eyre describe the West Indies and the people who live there?  How do people from there act?  How are they like, or unlike, the English?  As a class we have already noted the reoccurring concern in Jane Eyre with finances and inheritances.  What other moments in Jane Eyre demonstrate a concern with economics?  With defining other cultures and countries?   With slavery?  Be sure to use textual evidence to back up your position.  Do you agree with Rhys assessment that "Charlotte Bronte had something against the West Indies"?

Metafictional moments in Jane Eyre

(Jane Eyre 2006 by the BBC.  Image from http://danitorres.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/jane_rochester_2.jpg)

I chose this image (from the 2006 BBC film version of Jane Eyre) for the blog today because Rochester and Jane are both looking right at the camera, and not at each other.  This direct gaze challenges a viewer and can serve to remind us that we are watching a movie.  Earlier in the semester we discussed metafictional moments, times when the text is calling attention to itself as a text.  These moments of textual self-consciousness break through and remind readers that they are engaging a fictional work.

Jane Eyre contains many such moments, the most famous one being in Chapter 38 when Jane writes, "Reader, I married him" (Bronte 498).  What other metafictional moments seem important to you in Jane Eyre?  Why?  What response as a reader do you have to these moments?  What do you think are the reasons Charlotte Bronte included them?  

Ideal Landscapes

Thomas Cole Romantic Landscape with Ruined Tower (1836)
(Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cole_Thomas_Romantic_Landscape_with_Ruined_Tower_1832-36.jpg)

In class today we discussed ideal landscapes, and what the landscape paintings of the Romantic and Neoclassical periods tell us about the differing views on beauty and nature people held.  What is your ideal landscape?  What about this place and the emotions it inspires make it so special?  Based on what you know about Neoclassical ideal beauty and the Romantic sublime, what aspect of this landscape "fill your mind with agreeable kind of horror" (to borrow Joseph Addison's phrasing) or has "the capacity to instill feelings of intense emotion" (to paraphrase Edmund Burke)?  Pictures please! (If it is not a picture you took yourself, please be sure to responsibly attribute the image.)

What is Romanticism?

Our recent class definition of "Gothic" was quite productive, and I would like to enact something similar here.   In class today I said that Jane Eyre is often viewed as both a Gothic and Romantic text.  But what does "Romantic" mean as a literary term?  What elements/emotions/themes does a work take up to be defined as "Romantic"?  What was going on historically and culturally at the time?  Feel free to draw on outside knowledge and online resources to construct your definition (if you go this route, please include the url for everyone's benefit).  As always, respond to prior posts when you contribute to our working definition.

Caspar David Friedrich "Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog" (1818).  
Image from http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/rom_fri_wand.html

What does Jane Eyre tell us about Jane Eyre?

Jane Eyre is the first book we have read this semester with first person narration.  Jane is telling us her own story.  How does Jane describe herself?  What are the main influences on young life?  What experiences do you think we most formative to her character?  Frame your response in terms of the effectiveness of Bronte's narrative choices:  As a reader, what do you think of Jane thus far?  What moment(s) in the text have shaped this response?  As always, be sure to respond to relevant prior posts and use textual evidence to make your case.

(Image from http://www.fanpop.com/spots/jane-eyre-club/images/6239677/title/jane-eyre-illustrations)

Who is the most important character in _Dracula_?

Now that the full cast of characters is assembled, who do you think is the most important character in Dracula, not counting the title character himself?  Each character contributes something unique and necessary to the narrative, but some stand out more than others.  What specific textual evidence lead you to this conclusion?  Be sure to respond to your classmate's posts when making your case.

Group 6: The Lost Boys

This is a space for the group to share ideas and discuss their group project and presentation.  Members of Group 6 should post here between 3/8 and 3/23 to share links, ideas, and information about The Lost Boys. 

(Image from vampsonfilm.com)

Group 5: Van Helsing

This is a space for the group to share ideas and discuss their group project and presentation.  Members of Group 5 should post here between 3/8 and 3/23 to share links, ideas, and information about Van Helsing.  

(Image from vulcanstev.wordpress.com)

Group 4: Blade: Trinity

This is a space for the group to share ideas and discuss their group project and presentation.  Members of Group 4 should post here between 3/8 and 3/23 to share links, ideas, and information about Blade: Trinity.  


(Image from traileraddict.com)

Group 3: The Little Vampire

This is a space for the group to share ideas and discuss their group project and presentation.  Members of Group 3 should post here between 3/8 and 3/23 to share links, ideas, and information about The Little Vampire.  

(image from impawards.com)

Group 2: Interview with a Vampire

This is a space for the group to share ideas and discuss their group project and presentation.  Members of Group 2 should post here between 3/8 and 3/23 to share links, ideas, and information about Interview with a Vampire. (image from starblogs.net)

Group 1: Interview with a Vampire

This is a space for the group to share ideas and discuss their group project and presentation.  Members of Group 1 should post here between 3/8 and 3/23 to share links, ideas, and information about Interview with a Vampire.  

(Image from empireonline.com)

And the results are in...

Below I have tabulated the class votes for the "Greatest Vampire Film of All Time."  The number next to the title is how many top 10 lists the film was on, and I did not include films with a single vote.  Those in red made number one.

Interview With a Vampire 22

Twilight  21

Blade (with III being the stand out favorite) 19

Van Helsing 18

Lost Boys 17

Let the Right One In 16

30 Days of Night 15

Daybreakers 13

Once Bitten 13

Underworld 12

Horror of Dracula 11

Queen of the Damned 10

Buffy 10

From Dusk to Dawn 10

Dracula: Dead and Loving it 7

True Blood 7

30 days of night 6

Dracula: Dead and Loving it 6

Queen of the Damned 5

Salem's Lot 4

Dracula (1931) 3

Bram Stoker's Dracula 2

"We do things on stage..."

"...that are supposed to happen off. Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit being an entrance somewhere else." 

So says the "Player King" in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.  In class today we discussed some of the ways reading the text of this play, or any other, is much different than the experience of seeing it performed.  As you finish reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, what one or two scene(s) would you most like to see performed?  Why?  

Image from a production staged at Montgomery College:   www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/spdnth/theatre /thstart.htm

And the award for best supporting character goes to...

Hamlet is the title character, our protagonist, and the tragic hero.  Most of the play is focalized through his perspective, and the audience gets information almost at the same time as Hamlet himself.  This orientation and narrative technique often causes the audience to identify and sympathize with Hamlet.  But every other character is also essential to the play, and one of the reasons Shakespeare's work endures is due to the richness of all his characters, even secondary and minor ones.

Choose one character other than Hamlet and argue for his or her importance.  What elements of the plot turn on this character?  What narrative elements does this character bring to the table?  What do we gain from his or her unique perspective?  How does this character help us understand what we otherwise would not?  As always, remember to use specific textual evidence to support your argument.  If a prior comment touches on your character, be sure to engage your classmates' ideas and build upon them.

Hamlet, The Movie

  

Several film versions of Hamlet exist, and they vary greatly.  Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 version stars Mel Gibson as Hamlet, Alan Bates as Claudius, Glenn Close as Gertrude, and Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia.  In 1996 Kenneth Branagh directed and starred in a full length version, alongside Kate Winslet as Ophelia, Julie Christie as Gertrude, and Billie Crystal as the first gravedigger.  Have you seen a film version of Hamlet?  How well do you think this play would translate to the big screen?  


Imagine you are a director and given unlimited time and money to make your own version of Hamlet.  Who would you cast in the main roles, and why?  Discuss at least four characters, and why you would select these actors and actresses. 


What challenges do you foresee as a director?  What opportunities does a film provide that a play does not have?  What, if anything, do you anticipate being "lost in translation"?  How would you compensate and innovate as a director?  


In class discussions we continually return to the ambiguity of Hamlet.  (For example: Does Hamlet love Ophelia?  Is he mad?  Is there really a ghost?  Were Gertrude and Polonius in on the murder plot all along?, etc.) As a director, how would you deal with these ambiguities?  What is your unique spin on this great narrative work?  


Remember a successful post will acknowledge earlier comments.  Does your ideal cast share any members with a classmate?  Do you disagree with someone's casting choices, or agree for different reasons?

"This is my son, my own Telemachus"

Today in class we ended our unit on The Odyssey with a wonderful discussion on Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses."  One aspect of the poem we didn't address is the portrayal of Telemachus.  What strikes you as important or significant about the second stanza of the poem? 

This is my son, my own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the scepter and the isle---
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill
This labor, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and through soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone.  He works his work, I mine.

How does this stanza fit in with the poem as a whole?  What do we learn about how Ulysses views Telemachus?  What kind of father is Ulysses?  What kind of king?  What sort of ruler or son is Telemachus?  What sorts of ruler or leader does the poem privilege?  In what way does Tennyson's poem comment on the father/son dynamic at play in The Odyssey?  Does knowing the story of The Odyssey influence your interpretation?  How or how not?

(As always, don't feel like you need to address all these questions in your post.  They are meant to provoke a discussion.  A successful blog post will quote from the poem(s) as evidence, and refer back to and comment on the posts of others making similar points.)

"Books are the most patient of teachers" -Charles W. Eliot

Due to its enduring popularity, generations of ancient Greeks listened to parts of The Odyssey many times over the course of their lives.  One common reason to retell stories cross-generationally is didactic (teaching or providing moral instruction).  Now that you have finished reading the entire work, to what extent do you think The Odyssey is didactic?  What practical lessons or insights does The Odyssey provide into how to lead, follow, build, sail, cook, farm, raise livestock, worship, hunt, etc.?  Alternately, what can one learn about cultural expectations and ideals regarding gender, leader/follower relationships, parent/child or wife/husband relationships, religion, sailing, hosting, being a guest, courting a spouse, or any other interpersonal relationship? 

Choose one small textual moment that you think may serve a didactic purpose.  What do you think it is teaching ancient and contemporary audiences?

Fate

In classical mythology the three Fates (Moerae) were goddesses believed to determine a person's fate when he or she is born.  They worked together to set the course of a person's life and determine his or her final end.  Clotho spins the thread of life, Lakhesis measures out each person's days, and Atropos cuts the thread and chooses how and when a person is fated to die. 

Agency is a philosophical term that refers to how free a person is to act independently in the world and have their choices influence the world.  Free will is related to agency, but isn't exactly the same thing.  Free will is how much control people have over their thoughts, choices, and actions from among a variety of options.  This distinction is important, because someone could believe she has a strong degree of agency in her life (control over her choice of a spouse for example), but also still believe she was "destined" to meet that spouse, and also believe that meeting that special person was determined by things mostly outside her control (career/education/geography/time period & life span/etc.)

Using textual evidence, explain how you see fate, agency, and free will functioning in other parts of The Odyssey thus far.  How do these representations of fate, agency, and free will resonate and/or clash with your understanding of 21^st century life and beliefs?  Do you think most people now believe in destiny or champion free will?  Or is this too simple a question?  Do contemporary beliefs fall somewhere in between?  

Is Odysseus Complicated or Consistent? Or ...Consistently Complicated?

One of The Odyssey's enduring strengths is the depth and complexity of the characters. One could read the text repeatedly and come away with fresh insights each time based on the multi-faceted nature of even the minor characters.  We discussed the characters Telemachus and Penelope in Friday's class, and noted how our understanding of each character becomes more complex and varied as the story progresses.  Depending on an individual's perspective, one can read Telemachus and Penelope as having positive and negative character traits.  As we discovered Friday, textual supports exist for both positions. 

Thus far in your reading, what do we know of Odysseus's character?  What kind of man/king/husband/warrior/father/hero/guest/leader is he?  If you had to sum him up in a sentence, how would you describe him?  What character(s) in the book see him the same way?  What specific passage(s) lead you to this description of Odysseus?  Alternately, is such a summary even possible, or are the descriptions of Odysseus too complex for one sentence?  (Remember to back up your position with textual evidence, and let us know which page and line numbers you are referencing.)

Sing, O Muse....

Ancient Athens had nine Muses for the arts, beautiful goddesses who inspired creation and even spoke through the artists and poets who invoked them. Sometimes a Muse simply gave the spark of inspiration an artist asked for, but they also can indirectly create the art and use the poet as a kind of ancient "spokesperson."

The Muse of epic poetry is Calliope, and she is who Homer invokes when he writes:

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed halls of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,
many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.
But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove--
the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all,
the blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the Sun
and the Sungod wiped from sight the day of their return.
Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus,
start from where you will--sing for our time too.

Where exactly does the Muse start?  What are some possible reasons to begin the narrative there?  What effect(s) do the choices the Muse/Homer made have on you as a reader?  How does having a Muse as a necessary part of the creation process change our understanding of an artist's relationship to his or her art?  (Don't feel like you have to respond to each question above.  Just use them as a jumping off point for your own idea on the subject.)

Welcome! First Day Post

This is the first post of the semester, and a good way for us all to get to know each other a bit better.  First take a moment to look over the syllabus and schedule in Blackboard.  Then in the comments section off this post, please answer these questions by Tuesday at 5 pm.

Name:

Hometown:

Major:

Aspect of class I'm most looking forward to:

Least looking forward to:

Goals for the class:

Goals for 2010:

One surprising thing about me: