English L111: Living Literature / Documenting Reality

ENG L111
TR 9:30-10:45
BH 235

Tarez Samra Graban
Ballantine Hall 474
855-4888
Office: M 12-2, R 11-12
and by appt.
tgraban@indiana.edu

 

 

Image Credits
1.
2. "Lochaber No More," painting by John Watson Nicol (1883)
3. "Women's Peace Parade in New York City on August 29, The Emblem of Peace," NY Public Library Digital Gallery
4. "Children Playing at Hull-House" (1895 unknown photographer), Jane Addams Memorial Collection, The University of Illinois at Chicago
5. "Migrants Arriving in Sydney" (1966 David Moore), Contemporary Australian Photographs Collection, National Library of Australia (http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an14066835-10)




Last Updated: 11/19/09

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Enculturation
Literature and/of Documentary

Discussion question for Thursday: How would Killingsworth say that his theory of "rhetorical situation" can equip us to: 1) understand documentary literature; 2) approach/analyze documentary literature; or 3) evaluate its importance?

Rhetorical Situation of Documentary
for today's class: read Schilb and Clifford "What Is Literature" (CP) and
Killingsworth "Rhetorical Situations" (handout)

Narrating Migration
for today's class: read Asch "In Search of America" (CP) and
Booth "Types of Narration" (CP)

Discussion question for Thursday: Select one of Satrapi’s “chapters” between pages 3-70 and be prepared to (1) diagram, model, or somehow visually depict the rhetorical situation of that chapter (Killingsworth pp. 26-28) or (2) discuss at least 3 aspects of Booth’s narration theory that are represented in the way Satrapi narrates the chapter.

Narrating Cultural Revolution
for today's class: read Persepolis (introduction, pp. 3-70)

Discussion question for Tuesday: Throughout Persepolis, what characteristics of the cartooning stand in for--or represent--vital aspects of the narration? How does Satrapi "draw" liberation, perplexity, religious tension, coming-of-age, etc.? Try to note particular instances as well as general patterns and consider their place on McCloud's continuum.

Iconic Representations of Conflict
for today's class: read Persepolis (pp. 71-153) and
McCloud "Vocabulary of Comics" (CP)

Iconic Representations of Change
Discussion of "Discovery Statements" for Critical Analysis #1
for today's class: Persepolis and McCloud (continued)

Discussion questions for next week: In the narration of the film, what is meant to be symbolic, and what is merely representative (or iconic)? What elements may help to create McCloud's "vacuum" or indicate Schirato and Webb's "intertext"? When do you find yourself becoming more or less aware of the message or of the messengers?

Ethics of Narration in Up the Yangtze
for today's class: read Schirato and Webb "Visual Narratives" (CP)

Ethics of Narration in Up the Yangtze

Uplift
Polemical Agency
Critical Analysis #1 due

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Check out the October 2009 "Documenting the Depression" Exhibit Calendar!

Discussion question for Thursday: Which of Killingsworth's appeals might be at work in the way we interpret Adams' "Absolute Power Over Wives" or "Man Is a Dangerous Creature": rhetoric of crisis; rhetoric of forward motion; or resisting progress? What difference does this make for Adams and for us?

Timeliness
for today's class: read Killingsworth "Appeals to Time" (CP) and
Adams "Letters to John Adams" (CP). Browse online archive of
Abigal Adams' Letters.

Scott McCloud: "All About Comics"!
Monday, October 5 - Free Lecture sponsored by Indiana Union Board

Journalistic Agency
for today's class: read Wells-Barnett "Lynch Law in America" (CP) and
Freeman "Revolt of 'Mother'" (CP). Browse for Freeman's original version in September 1890 edition of Harper's Bazaar Weekly.

Discussion on Class Blog
for today's class: read Our Nig (pp. 1-34, vii-xvii)

Discussion questions for next week: How do "Revolt of 'Mother'" and Our Nig help us to define racial uplift or gender uplift? How could we understand Freeman and/or Wilson as "protofeminists"?

Autobiography as Agency
for today's class: read Our Nig (pp. 35-56) and
Pascal "What Is an Autobiography?" (CP)

Autobiography as Agency
for today's class: read Our Nig (pp. 57-80, xxiii-xxxiv)

Critique
Tropes of Critique
for today's class: read Killingsworth "Appeal through Tropes" (CP)

Discussion questions for Thursday: Can race be a trope? Can class be a trope? Can gender be a trope? Consider whether these are the case in Swift's and Gilman's essays. How do the writers construct us (or construct audience)?

Apologia and Irony
for today's class: read Swift "A Modest Proposal" (CP) and
Gilman "If I Were a Man" (CP). Browse the online archives of
covers for Physical Culture magazine, where Gilman's essay first appeared.

Coming of Age in Children of Invention
Critical Analysis #2 due

Discussion questions for Thursday: Questions 1-4, 6, 8, 9, 12-13 from "Thirteen Questions," applied to Tze Chun's Children of Invention.

Coming of Age in Children of Invention
for today's class: read Phelan "Constructing Voice" (CP)

Discussion questions for next week: Browse Kay Davis' brief archive of the photography of social reformer Jacob Riis and take some time to view the slideshows and displays. How might some of these images support Gullason's theory that Riis influenced Crane's construction of psychological conflict in Maggie? How might some of these images support Pizer's theory that Crane's novel complicates the category of naturalistic fiction?

Pragmatics of Realism
for today's class: read Maggie (pp. 3-58)

Pragmatics of Realism
for today's class: read any 3 of the following essays - Brace (pp. 65-67),
Riis (pp. 85-87), Solomon (pp. 116-119), Chelifer (p. 147), Wells (pp. 158-
159), Parker and Higgins (pp. 234-237), all in the Norton edition of Maggie.

Discussion questions for Tuesday: Consider how Toth uses space, location, and/or profile to "show" certain aspects of the tunnel subcultures she studies and to demonstrate her motivations for writig the book. Consider how the arrangement of chapters helps her to tell a specific story.

Observing Place
for today's class: read The Mole People (pp. ix-10, 35-58, 237-253) plus
1 selection from this list -- ch. 2, 7, 9/10, 11, 14, 15/16, 20/21, 22/23

Change
Class and Yearning
for today's class: read The Jungle (chapters 2-5, 7, 9-10, 12)

Class and Yearning
for today's class: read The Jungle (chapters 13-15, 17-22) and
Fern "Working Girls" (CP) or Addams "Social Settlements" (CP)

Catharsis and Change
for today's class: read The Jungle (chapters 25-27, 29-34, 36-conclusion)

The Jungle
Introducing The 11th Hour and The 11th Hour Action Site
Critical Analysis #3 due

No class: Thanksgiving Recess

Discussion questions for this week: How can an understanding of stasis and arrangement help us consider invention in The 11th Hour?

Stasis, Arrangement, and Invention in The 11th Hour
for today's class: read Ramage "The Stases" (CP)

Ethics of Defining "The Good Life"
for today's class: read Ishmael (parts 1-4, part 8)

Discussion questions for this week: Consider similarities and differences between The 11th Hour Project and Quinn's Ishmael. Beyond just topics or themes (although it is important for us to note how these converge and diverge in both texts), what is ultimately at stake in each text, and how can the development of stasis, arrangement, or audience construction help us note these stakes?

Ethics of Defining "The Good Life"
for today's class: read Ishmael (parts 9-13), browse Cultural Survival

Exam Preparation / Course Review

final exam
12:30-2:30 p.m. in BH 235