PAPER #1 DUE THURSDAY MARCH 19th.
1. A topic of your choice that you have had approved IN ADVANCE of the due date, by me. For approval you must present a written thesis statement.
2. What is memory's role in “The Waste Land” and Waiting for Godot? How does each artist use references to it, lack of it, mistakes from it, etc. to help him make a point? Discuss: Similarities, differences, EXAMPLES.
3. Explain how “The Waste Land” and Waiting for Godot both could be considered to be “hopeful” texts.
4. Explain how “The Waste Land” and Waiting for Godot each approach the issue of deconstruction of their texts differently. One seems to require it, the other seems immune to it. Why? What larger point is each artist trying to say about the world, knowledge in general, the specific work of art?
Important Info:
I will suggest stylistic and subject matter changes, improvements, etc. for your rewrites but I WILL NOT CHECK PAPERS FOR GRAMMAR AND SPELLING ERRORS. As a member of an advanced, college prep literature class it is simply your responsibility to have yourself or someone else edit those problems. If you hand in a paper with too many of these errors, I will hand it back without comment except to say to find and fix those errors before handing it in again.
From the Syllabus:
All papers must be typed, using standard margins and fonts and meet MLA formatting and style guidelines.... Always print up two copies: one for me and one for you to have just in case. Always make sure to save a copy of your paper to a disc, back up hard drive or even something like Google Docs. All papers turned in after the due date will be penalized with 10% off the final grade for each school day they are late. All papers are due at the START of the class on the day they are due. The instructor reserves the right to suggest or REQUIRE A RE-WRITE. If a re-write is assigned the student and instructor will agree upon a new due date with the same late penalties as before. Suggested or required re-writes will earn new (usually better!) grades if the work improves.
PLAGIARIZED PAPERS WILL RESULT IN A ZERO WITH NO CHANCE FOR A RE-WRITE.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Kurt's Guide to “Waiting For Godot”
As you read the play remember to view it completely from the lens of Post Modernism as we have discussed it in class.
1. The play IS NOT ABOUT NOTHING! Nor is it about how everything has meaning so therefore nothing has special meaning. Don't even go there. This might or might not keep you sane.
2. In relation to the first point, this play is definitely also not about the loss/death of God. That would imply that at one time we “had” God (something absolutely true that we could express through signs) in our lives in the first place.
3. The constant repetition in the play is to draw attention to the performance like aspects of what we call reality and how we rely on those to make and sustain meaning. Think of all the “constructed” things you do because of cultural/social/family/etc. Norms. If nothing were ever trepeated to us there would be no verbal or written language possible...or texts...or meta-narratives...or belief systems. So, that repetition is necessary for our survival, but it traps us and keeps us lost in the world of signs.
4. There is no resolution, no definition, but there IS something.
5. Always remember that Beckett said his favorite word was “perhaps.”
1. The play IS NOT ABOUT NOTHING! Nor is it about how everything has meaning so therefore nothing has special meaning. Don't even go there. This might or might not keep you sane.
2. In relation to the first point, this play is definitely also not about the loss/death of God. That would imply that at one time we “had” God (something absolutely true that we could express through signs) in our lives in the first place.
3. The constant repetition in the play is to draw attention to the performance like aspects of what we call reality and how we rely on those to make and sustain meaning. Think of all the “constructed” things you do because of cultural/social/family/etc. Norms. If nothing were ever trepeated to us there would be no verbal or written language possible...or texts...or meta-narratives...or belief systems. So, that repetition is necessary for our survival, but it traps us and keeps us lost in the world of signs.
4. There is no resolution, no definition, but there IS something.
5. Always remember that Beckett said his favorite word was “perhaps.”
Waiting for Godot Questions
1. If it were true that nothing or less than nothing happens in Waiting for Godot, how is it that we manage to be entertained as the audience/reader?
2. Do you think the play would function differently if the characters were all female instead of male? How?
3. If Waiting for Godot is moralistic in nature, what is the moral? How does the play instruct us to lead our lives? Are these lessons subjective and personal for each viewer, or objective and universal?
4. Take a position and explain your reasoning for EACH of the following statements:
Lucky’s position is the most enviable in Waiting for Godot since he has the security of being told what to do.
Vladimir and Estragon are slaves to their concept of Godot just as Lucky is a slave to Pozzo.
The barren setting of Waiting for Godot is proof that Vladimir and Estragon will never be able to break their cycle of inactive waiting; it negates the possibility of life or creation.
Estragon and Vladimir put the label of "waiting for Godot" on what is really just a systematic waiting for death.
2. Do you think the play would function differently if the characters were all female instead of male? How?
3. If Waiting for Godot is moralistic in nature, what is the moral? How does the play instruct us to lead our lives? Are these lessons subjective and personal for each viewer, or objective and universal?
4. Take a position and explain your reasoning for EACH of the following statements:
Lucky’s position is the most enviable in Waiting for Godot since he has the security of being told what to do.
Vladimir and Estragon are slaves to their concept of Godot just as Lucky is a slave to Pozzo.
The barren setting of Waiting for Godot is proof that Vladimir and Estragon will never be able to break their cycle of inactive waiting; it negates the possibility of life or creation.
Estragon and Vladimir put the label of "waiting for Godot" on what is really just a systematic waiting for death.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
One Way to Deconstruct a Text
When you deconstruct a text, you take it apart to discover the underlying prejudices, the cultural assumptions, etc. Things outside the view of the author. So if you deconstruct a political text, you would try not to show the view of the politician, but almost the opposite- what they were trying to hide, the assumptions that lead to their ideas, etc.
Step 1
Choose a text to deconstruct. Focus on a text you know well as you practice textual deconstruction. To avoid bias, though, it's best to focus on a text that isn't personally important to you.
Step 2
Understand the intended meaning of the text, or the accepted meaning of the text. For example, if you have access to the author's opinions of the text's meanings, focus on this as you read; if a classic text is generally interpreted or taught in a particular way, use this information as you read.
Step 3
Locate ways in which the text doesn't conform to its stated or accepted meaning. A classic example of this is Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," which has generally been accepted as an anti-slavery book. However, Huck and Tom continue to pretend Jim is a slave after he attains freedom. They treat him cruelly, as if he is their slave. This section of the book doesn't conform to the accepted meaning.
Step 4
Find tensions and contradictions within the text, looking for ideas that don't readily match other ideas present in the text. Those who deconstruct texts say that they don't actually deconstruct texts; instead, the texts deconstruct themselves through their own instability.
Step 5
Seek out the text's assumptions. Look for what it presents as normal, natural, apparent or primary. Likewise, seek out where the text sets up a distinct binary opposition between two categories. For example, it might insist that there is a firm distinction between gay sexuality and straight sexuality, or it may indicate that heterosexuality is natural, while homosexuality is a perversion.
Step 6
Demonstrate how binaries and hierarchies break down under scrutiny by showing how the text's idea of "normal, natural, apparent or primary" is actually none of those things, or by showing how one thing (such as heterosexuality) needs another (homosexuality) to define itself against. Without both categories, neither one makes much sense.
Tips & Warnings
Step 1
Choose a text to deconstruct. Focus on a text you know well as you practice textual deconstruction. To avoid bias, though, it's best to focus on a text that isn't personally important to you.
Step 2
Understand the intended meaning of the text, or the accepted meaning of the text. For example, if you have access to the author's opinions of the text's meanings, focus on this as you read; if a classic text is generally interpreted or taught in a particular way, use this information as you read.
Step 3
Locate ways in which the text doesn't conform to its stated or accepted meaning. A classic example of this is Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," which has generally been accepted as an anti-slavery book. However, Huck and Tom continue to pretend Jim is a slave after he attains freedom. They treat him cruelly, as if he is their slave. This section of the book doesn't conform to the accepted meaning.
Step 4
Find tensions and contradictions within the text, looking for ideas that don't readily match other ideas present in the text. Those who deconstruct texts say that they don't actually deconstruct texts; instead, the texts deconstruct themselves through their own instability.
Step 5
Seek out the text's assumptions. Look for what it presents as normal, natural, apparent or primary. Likewise, seek out where the text sets up a distinct binary opposition between two categories. For example, it might insist that there is a firm distinction between gay sexuality and straight sexuality, or it may indicate that heterosexuality is natural, while homosexuality is a perversion.
Step 6
Demonstrate how binaries and hierarchies break down under scrutiny by showing how the text's idea of "normal, natural, apparent or primary" is actually none of those things, or by showing how one thing (such as heterosexuality) needs another (homosexuality) to define itself against. Without both categories, neither one makes much sense.
Tips & Warnings
- Play around with different methods of deconstruction. There are many ways to deconstruct a text, and scholars don't always agree which ones are right.
-
You can deconstruct any sort of text—including cultural and social "texts." In deconstruction, a text isn't necessarily a written document.
-
Deconstruction is more than just presenting the opposite of common knowledge or assumption. Instead, it's locating and highlighting the hierarchy.
Postmodern Texts
The Postmodern world is OUR world. It has shaped the way you and I think, see and know everything. Including what we think about “thinking.” The very way we approach texts (novels, movies, works of art, poems, graffiti, music, advertisements, websites, historical documents, etc.) is a Postmodern approach. Be aware that most of the authors and other text creators that we will read are also aware of this fact.
"Texts are marked by a surplus of meaning; the result of this is that differing readings are inevitable, indeed a condition of meaning at all. This surplus is located in the polysemous nature of both language and of rhetoric. It must be kept in mind that language is what is (for us as cognizant beings), that our sense of reality is linguistically constructed. Consequently the 'meaning of it all' is continually differing, overflowing, in flux.
All texts are constituted by difference from other texts (therefore similarity to them). Any text includes that which it excludes, and exists in its differences from/likenesses with other texts.
A 'text' exists as read. This 'reading' (creation of meaning) is formed, conducted, through certain mediating factors:
"Texts are marked by a surplus of meaning; the result of this is that differing readings are inevitable, indeed a condition of meaning at all. This surplus is located in the polysemous nature of both language and of rhetoric. It must be kept in mind that language is what is (for us as cognizant beings), that our sense of reality is linguistically constructed. Consequently the 'meaning of it all' is continually differing, overflowing, in flux.
All texts are constituted by difference from other texts (therefore similarity to them). Any text includes that which it excludes, and exists in its differences from/likenesses with other texts.
A 'text' exists as read. This 'reading' (creation of meaning) is formed, conducted, through certain mediating factors:
- the present structures of discourse, hence understanding, including the present conceptions of the discourse structures of the time of the 'writing' of the text.
- the traditions of reading, and the oppositions which those traditions have made possible, of that particular text,
- the expectations dictated by the genre of the text and the tradition of genre of the reading,
- the relations of meaning which are 'in' the text by virtue of its having been written at all, modified by the fact that these relations have a certain historical existence, a local, situated, and corporeal existence whose reality may or may not be imaginatively recoverable;
- the understanding that these 'historical' relations of meaning will to some extent be mystifying and ideologizing relations,
- the understanding that insofar as texts have a surplus of meaning they tend to reveal the flaws which the reigning discourse is attempting to mystify,
- the conceptual distances between the historical discourse / ideology / cultural codes / genre-traditions of the past and the historical discourse / ideology / cultural codes / genre-traditions of the present, which distance opens up 'new' meanings which the work could not have, in a sense, had before. Post-structuralism is deeply aware of such hermeneutic reading and also suspicious of it, certain that meaning is historical, uncertain that it is recoverable as what it may have meant."
Post-Modern Literature Course Syllabus
Second Semester 2008/2009
Daily 2 10:35-11:30
Overview:
NOTE: This is a foundation course for upper division high school students intending to go to college. It is classified as a WIC (Writing Intensive Course) for the purposes of tracking on a transcript as AP or college preparatory.
The theme of this class deals with philosophical paradigm of Postmodern literature, thought, and artistic and expression. In fact, this is still considered the predominate artistic paradigm of your lives! We will focus most of our time and energy on literature produced during this period, but we will also examine how painters, film makers and musicians express it. Class members will be expected to interpret the texts we study through the lens of Postmodernism generally, as well as through specific movements of Postmodern thought.
Texts:
Wallace Stevens, “The Snowman” and “Man Carrying Things”
Thomas Pynchon, excerpts from Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow
T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Jorge Luis Borges, selected short stories
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Toni Morrison, Jazz
Being John Malkovich
Run, Lola, Run
selected Postmodern Poets, various
TBA Novel
Attendance: You are expected to attend every single class, be on time and be prepared (having done the readings, homework, have the necessary materials). Obviously, Life Happens and everyone will end up missing a day or two. If you miss a day, it is up to YOU to talk to your classmates and get notes, assignments, etc. You can also check Kurtattrillium.blogspot.com for major assignments and syllabus updates.
You are considered to be absent if you are more than Ten (10) minutes late.
Absence issues will be dealt with on a case by case basis and may involve different consequences for different students.
Consequences for tardies (from 1 sec - 9:59 min late) will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
Five skipped classes and you will be dropped from class with no grade given.
Skipped Class = You leave class for more than five minutes without instructor acknowledgement or permission OR you have been in the school for the previous period or are in the school during Daily 2 and do not attend this class.
Grading Policy:
The grading is based on a point system with a possible 100 points being the maximum. Completion of the course awards .5 Language Arts credit.
Participation = discussion and attendance 15 points
Paper 1 10
Paper 2 10
Paper 3 10
Postmodern Art Project 20
“Emergent” assignments/homework 15
Final Exam 20
Breakdown:
100 A+
99 - 92 A
91 - 90 A-
89 - 88 B+
87 - 82 B
81 – 80 B-
79 – 78 C+
77 – 72 C
71 – 70 C-
69 – 60 D
59 – 0 F
NOTE: While it is officially “passing”, Oregon colleges (as well as some others) do not accept credit for classes that receive a D grade or lower.
Final Exam:
A multiple choice/essay test at the end of the term will be administered to cover plot, character, author’s purpose, sub-text, symbolism and metaphor, and how each selection reflects specific and general ideas of Postmodernism
Papers:
Three papers will be assigned. All are required. All papers must be typed, using standard margins and fonts and meet MLA formatting and style guidelines. Students will be able to select from a set of provided essay topics or present their own (based on instructor pre-approval!). Always print up two copies: one for me and one for you to have just in case. Always make sure to save a copy of your paper to a disc, back up hard drive or even something like Google Docs. All papers turned in after the due date will be penalized with 10% off the final grade for each school day they are late. All papers are due at the START of the class on the day they are due. The instructor reserves the right to suggest or REQUIRE A RE-WRITE. If a re-write is assigned the student and instructor will agree upon a new due date with the same late penalties as before. Suggested or required re-writes will earn new (usually better!) grades if the work improves. Details TBA.
Art Project:
One major art project will be assigned. The student must create a piece of visual art (painting, collage, interpretive dance, etc.) that exemplifies or questions the artistic paradigm in question. All Art Projects must include a short essay that interprets and explains how the work of art fulfills the given criteria. Details TBA.
COURSE CALENDAR
Please note that due to class interest and our school's emergent curriculum philosophy, unforeseen events, etc. the assignments and due dates are subject to change. As you can clearly see the Syllabus becomes less specific towards the end of the semester. Those of you who know Trillium will understand that these unplanned weeks will allow for more time to follow avenues of study as they arise as well as to catch up and complete what was already assigned. Specific reading assignments (by chapter and/or page) will be given on a daily and weekly basis once the semester begins.
Also note that possible essay topics will most usually be developed as the material is presented and discussed as a class. This allows class interest and discussion to truly guide our study and curriculum as much as possible.
Week 1 2/2
Introduction: From Romanticism to Modernism to Postmodernism
“Postmodern” defined...or not
What is a “text” and how do I “deconstruct” one?
Excerpts from Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow
Week 2 2/9
“The Snowman” and “Man Carrying Things”
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
1st paper assigned
Week 3 2/16 (No school on Monday)
“The Wasteland”
Begin Borges stories
Week 4 2/23
More Borges
Waiting for Godot
1st Paper Due
Week 5 3/2
Finish Waiting for Godot
Ism-Fest '09! (Postmodern Theories)
Week 6 3/9
Being John Malkovich
Week 7 3/16
Begin Jazz
2nd Paper assigned
POMO Art Project Assigned
Week 8 3/23 SPRING BREAK: NO SCHOOL
read Jazz
Week 9 3/30 SPRING BREAK: NO SCHOOL
read Jazz
Week 10 4/6
Finish Jazz
Week 11 4/13
2nd Paper due
Week 12 4/20
Begin our last TBA Novel
Week 13 4/27
TBA Novel
3rd Paper Assigned
Week 14 5/4
TBA Novel
POMO ART PROJECT DUE
Week 15 5/11 (Camping Trips?)
Finish TBA Novel
Week 16 5/18
Run Lola Run
POMO poetry
Week 17 5/25
3rd paper Due
more POMO poetry
Week 18 6/1 INTENSIVES WEEK: NO CLASS
Week 19 6/8
Probable Exhibitions this week
TBA
FINAL EXAM
Week 20 6/15 There might be two or three days of class this week.
TBA
Daily 2 10:35-11:30
Overview:
NOTE: This is a foundation course for upper division high school students intending to go to college. It is classified as a WIC (Writing Intensive Course) for the purposes of tracking on a transcript as AP or college preparatory.
The theme of this class deals with philosophical paradigm of Postmodern literature, thought, and artistic and expression. In fact, this is still considered the predominate artistic paradigm of your lives! We will focus most of our time and energy on literature produced during this period, but we will also examine how painters, film makers and musicians express it. Class members will be expected to interpret the texts we study through the lens of Postmodernism generally, as well as through specific movements of Postmodern thought.
Texts:
Wallace Stevens, “The Snowman” and “Man Carrying Things”
Thomas Pynchon, excerpts from Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow
T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Jorge Luis Borges, selected short stories
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Toni Morrison, Jazz
Being John Malkovich
Run, Lola, Run
selected Postmodern Poets, various
TBA Novel
Attendance: You are expected to attend every single class, be on time and be prepared (having done the readings, homework, have the necessary materials). Obviously, Life Happens and everyone will end up missing a day or two. If you miss a day, it is up to YOU to talk to your classmates and get notes, assignments, etc. You can also check Kurtattrillium.blogspot.com for major assignments and syllabus updates.
You are considered to be absent if you are more than Ten (10) minutes late.
Absence issues will be dealt with on a case by case basis and may involve different consequences for different students.
Consequences for tardies (from 1 sec - 9:59 min late) will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
Five skipped classes and you will be dropped from class with no grade given.
Skipped Class = You leave class for more than five minutes without instructor acknowledgement or permission OR you have been in the school for the previous period or are in the school during Daily 2 and do not attend this class.
Grading Policy:
The grading is based on a point system with a possible 100 points being the maximum. Completion of the course awards .5 Language Arts credit.
Participation = discussion and attendance 15 points
Paper 1 10
Paper 2 10
Paper 3 10
Postmodern Art Project 20
“Emergent” assignments/homework 15
Final Exam 20
Breakdown:
100 A+
99 - 92 A
91 - 90 A-
89 - 88 B+
87 - 82 B
81 – 80 B-
79 – 78 C+
77 – 72 C
71 – 70 C-
69 – 60 D
59 – 0 F
NOTE: While it is officially “passing”, Oregon colleges (as well as some others) do not accept credit for classes that receive a D grade or lower.
Final Exam:
A multiple choice/essay test at the end of the term will be administered to cover plot, character, author’s purpose, sub-text, symbolism and metaphor, and how each selection reflects specific and general ideas of Postmodernism
Papers:
Three papers will be assigned. All are required. All papers must be typed, using standard margins and fonts and meet MLA formatting and style guidelines. Students will be able to select from a set of provided essay topics or present their own (based on instructor pre-approval!). Always print up two copies: one for me and one for you to have just in case. Always make sure to save a copy of your paper to a disc, back up hard drive or even something like Google Docs. All papers turned in after the due date will be penalized with 10% off the final grade for each school day they are late. All papers are due at the START of the class on the day they are due. The instructor reserves the right to suggest or REQUIRE A RE-WRITE. If a re-write is assigned the student and instructor will agree upon a new due date with the same late penalties as before. Suggested or required re-writes will earn new (usually better!) grades if the work improves. Details TBA.
Art Project:
One major art project will be assigned. The student must create a piece of visual art (painting, collage, interpretive dance, etc.) that exemplifies or questions the artistic paradigm in question. All Art Projects must include a short essay that interprets and explains how the work of art fulfills the given criteria. Details TBA.
COURSE CALENDAR
Please note that due to class interest and our school's emergent curriculum philosophy, unforeseen events, etc. the assignments and due dates are subject to change. As you can clearly see the Syllabus becomes less specific towards the end of the semester. Those of you who know Trillium will understand that these unplanned weeks will allow for more time to follow avenues of study as they arise as well as to catch up and complete what was already assigned. Specific reading assignments (by chapter and/or page) will be given on a daily and weekly basis once the semester begins.
Also note that possible essay topics will most usually be developed as the material is presented and discussed as a class. This allows class interest and discussion to truly guide our study and curriculum as much as possible.
Week 1 2/2
Introduction: From Romanticism to Modernism to Postmodernism
“Postmodern” defined...or not
What is a “text” and how do I “deconstruct” one?
Excerpts from Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow
Week 2 2/9
“The Snowman” and “Man Carrying Things”
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
1st paper assigned
Week 3 2/16 (No school on Monday)
“The Wasteland”
Begin Borges stories
Week 4 2/23
More Borges
Waiting for Godot
1st Paper Due
Week 5 3/2
Finish Waiting for Godot
Ism-Fest '09! (Postmodern Theories)
Week 6 3/9
Being John Malkovich
Week 7 3/16
Begin Jazz
2nd Paper assigned
POMO Art Project Assigned
Week 8 3/23 SPRING BREAK: NO SCHOOL
read Jazz
Week 9 3/30 SPRING BREAK: NO SCHOOL
read Jazz
Week 10 4/6
Finish Jazz
Week 11 4/13
2nd Paper due
Week 12 4/20
Begin our last TBA Novel
Week 13 4/27
TBA Novel
3rd Paper Assigned
Week 14 5/4
TBA Novel
POMO ART PROJECT DUE
Week 15 5/11 (Camping Trips?)
Finish TBA Novel
Week 16 5/18
Run Lola Run
POMO poetry
Week 17 5/25
3rd paper Due
more POMO poetry
Week 18 6/1 INTENSIVES WEEK: NO CLASS
Week 19 6/8
Probable Exhibitions this week
TBA
FINAL EXAM
Week 20 6/15 There might be two or three days of class this week.
TBA
Monday, December 8, 2008
Art Project
Romanticism to Modernism Art Project
REMEMBER THAT THIS IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE WORTH 20 PTS AND REPLACES THE TWO SEPARATE ART PROJECTS THAT HAD BEEN LISTED ON THE SYLLABUS.
Due Wednesday Jan 14th, 2009
1. Create a work of “art” that must present/deal/question/struggle with the concept of Romanticism or Modernism or the transition between the two.
2. Use the medium of your choice. (Poems must be min. 150 words long)
3. Must clearly make use of either Romantic or Modern ideals/concepts as presented and discussed in class. (see below)
4. Must be accompanied with a short essay of 1-2 pages (typed, MLA formatting, etc.) in which you accurately describe how Romanticism and/or Modernism is dealt with and presented in your art AND which also clearly points out and explains which of the Romantic or Modern ideals/concepts are used and how they are conveyed. In addition the essay must explain the subject matter, symbolism, and a self-critique of how well or not the subject was conveyed.
5. Must be presented/explained by you to the entire class
Romanticism late 1700’s-1900
Artistic/Literary paradigm valuing:
feeling > reason
art > science
extremism > moderation
nature > man made world
“Christian” themes as allegory
The language is often color centered, poetic, and emotional
Originally a reaction to the Enlightenment’s/Age of Reason’s emphasis on the rationalization of nature, in art and literature. It legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority rather than State, Church, or Scientist.
Modernism: Early to mid 20th Cent.
Precise and concise
Topical references
Belief in science and technology
Breaking with traditions
Minimalist prose
Truth/Meaning comes from the thing itself and not through human interpretation/metaphor.
…For the purposes of this class Modernism = Anti-Romanticism
REMEMBER THAT THIS IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE WORTH 20 PTS AND REPLACES THE TWO SEPARATE ART PROJECTS THAT HAD BEEN LISTED ON THE SYLLABUS.
Due Wednesday Jan 14th, 2009
1. Create a work of “art” that must present/deal/question/struggle with the concept of Romanticism or Modernism or the transition between the two.
2. Use the medium of your choice. (Poems must be min. 150 words long)
3. Must clearly make use of either Romantic or Modern ideals/concepts as presented and discussed in class. (see below)
4. Must be accompanied with a short essay of 1-2 pages (typed, MLA formatting, etc.) in which you accurately describe how Romanticism and/or Modernism is dealt with and presented in your art AND which also clearly points out and explains which of the Romantic or Modern ideals/concepts are used and how they are conveyed. In addition the essay must explain the subject matter, symbolism, and a self-critique of how well or not the subject was conveyed.
5. Must be presented/explained by you to the entire class
Romanticism late 1700’s-1900
Artistic/Literary paradigm valuing:
feeling > reason
art > science
extremism > moderation
nature > man made world
“Christian” themes as allegory
The language is often color centered, poetic, and emotional
Originally a reaction to the Enlightenment’s/Age of Reason’s emphasis on the rationalization of nature, in art and literature. It legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority rather than State, Church, or Scientist.
Modernism: Early to mid 20th Cent.
Precise and concise
Topical references
Belief in science and technology
Breaking with traditions
Minimalist prose
Truth/Meaning comes from the thing itself and not through human interpretation/metaphor.
…For the purposes of this class Modernism = Anti-Romanticism
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