Appreciating Atwood...

Hi folks...

Here is a link that explains basic biographical information about Atwood, as well as some of the major concepts related to her work (novels and poems) you will need to know. I promise this is a very accessible article, and one that will (hopefully!) help you understand some of Atwood's themes a bit better. Happy reading!

http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03C18N390512635243

Intertextuality & Meta-Narrative

As you read this week, in the excerpts from David Lodge's book, The Art of Fiction, intertextuality and meta-narrative are two intriguing techniques that authors of fiction will sometimes use. The first - intertextuality - refers to when an author references (or mimics or gives a tip of the hat to) another book within their own work. Meta-narrative refers to when an author acknowledges the reader of the text (they refer to the reader as "you" and perhaps have a side conversation with the reader, like an aside in drama). Based on the novels and movies you know, please list two examples of works you are familiar with that use each technique (one example per technique). If you would like to comment on the effect of the technique in each work, please do so. That will be very valuable in discussions we have about intertextuality and meta-narrative in the future.

Sylvia Plath...

Please visit the following site to read some biographical information about Sylvia Plath.

http://www.sylviaplath.info/biography.html

Following up on our feminism discussion...

Ms. Huffman just forwarded a link to me that follows up some of our discussion yesterday in class about feminism, and the questions that feminism asks us to ask of our world. Here is an example of a country (Yemen) where young girls are frequently married at 8 and 10 years of age. Take a look at the CNN story and ponder what types of questions arise when you put on your feminist lenses.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/09/26/heroes.shada.nasser/index.html

Food for thought...

"It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to saved 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases."

- Bono, rock star and anti-poverty activist. (Source: The American Prospect blog)

First Thoughts on Poetry...

I thought you guys would like this quotation from Brian McLaren's book The Story We Find Ourselves In.

McLaren writes: "Language is the best tool we have, but it keeps getting in the way. So in science, we revert to mathematics. And in theology, we revert to poetry. Mathematics and imagination are two ways of talking about things beyond normal language."

Based on your experiences with poetry in previous years, and in the beginning of our new unit, comment on this excerpt. Here are some questions to get you thinking: Can mathematics and poetry be linked in this way? Why does language get in the way? If it gets in the way, why is the language of poetry more apt to tap into truth than other forms of language (prose, etc.)? Is it possible to "part the veil", to "see beyond" our experience through the medium of words - the words of poems in particular? Is McLaren suggesting the languages of poetry and mathematics are holy in some way?

(By the way, does anyone recognize the interior of the church in this photograph?)

Pondering Postmodernism...

After Chuseok we will begin exploring the poetry of Margaret Atwood, Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson. Get ready for some fantastic discussions! In preparation for Atwood and Plath's poetry, in particular, I'd like you to read the following article about postmoderism. It's a bit academic and heavy, but there are some very good explanations in this article of the philosophies of moderism and postmoderism. The author also begins to explore why feminist theorists have been drawn to postmodern thinking (the type of thinking that is predominant in our culture, in so many ways). Please read through this and post a brief comment that summarizes what postmodern thinking is. A few sentences will be sufficient. Hit the highlights of what you think defines this paradigm of thinking.

http://www.colorado.edu/English/courses/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html

(By the way, this art is a piece by M.C. Escher. If you've never checked out his artwork, do a google images search and see what you can find. It's fascinating!)

(Another aside: there are two links posted on the Web links list on the right-hand side of the blog that provide some interesting information about poverty and modern-day slavery. It's interesting to read these sites while digesting the conversations we've been having in the HL class about In the Skin of a Lion and in the SL class about Death of a Salesman. Have fun exploring!)