Interview your
neighbors and be ready to report someone else’s:
name
major
favorite travels
Course Objectives:
Satisfies--1c (other literature); 3: genre (fiction); 4a
(multinational); 4e (women writers); GER 1983/2002: F1 (World
Literature)
- to appreciate the interconnectedness of
20th-century world literature (comparative literature)
- to deepen knowledge about global politics and
culture and their centrality to literature (global studies)
- to learn to analyze literary elements in short
stories, novels, and dramas (literary criticism)
- to consider any differences and similarities between the way men
and women represent experiences (gendered readings)
- to synthesize writers’ representation
of difference (ethnic studies)
We address the following questions: What
is
painful
about
growing
up,
and
in
what ways do narratives about growing up
mirror the pain of the world?Literary Terms
I. Coming
of Age: 1) reaching maturity, respectability, or
prominence; 2) losing one's virginity. When it is used as an adjective,
it is written with hyphens (coming-of-age).
Characters who come of age in literature do so through life-changing
events that challenge them to leave childhood behind, and to embrace
their status as adults. Examples of coming-of-age stories are often
found in young adult
literature, such as fairy tales, Catcher
in
the
Rye, Adventures of
Huckleberry
Finn, Their Eyes Were
Watching God.
II.
Allegory: An allegory is a story that teaches readers and
listeners about important values by means of visual cues. Many
dictionary definitions cite the example of "blind justice," or the
figure of Justice, who balances the scales while wearing a blindfold.
This visual allegory teaches audiences that justice weighs issues
blindly. Allegorical stories nearly always try to teach audiences about
some moral or lesson.
III. Symbol: Allegorical
stories often use symbols. In the example above, the blindfold
symbolizes impartiality, and the scales depict fairness.
Write for 10 – 15 min. (will be read, and collected):
The philosopher Theodor Adorno wrote: “To write poetry after Auschwitz
is barbaric” (Nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben ist barbarisch).
In your opinion, what is barbaric, if anything, about Paul Celan’s poem
about death in a concentration camp, “Death Fugue”?
Paul Celan’s “Death Fugue”
- Talked about fugue structure of poem, use of he/we and choral voices
and effect that has on your interpretation of it
- “black milk”
Literal meaning : milk = sustenance of life
Milk is black b/c ashes from crematoriums make milk black >>
symbol that something is terribly wrong, pervasiveness and repetition
of death, and example of oxymoron
- Celan’s dilemma: German = mother tongue but also language of the
oppressors
"What does 'Death Fugue' teach us about the Holocaust?" = Example of
essay question for midterm. My comments on your written response aim to
get you to connect more examples to specific, supportable
interpretations.
titles of poems should generally be capitalized (unless
otherwise indicated) and in quotes
Lingering questions (midterm?):
What is the significance of Margarethe
and Shulamith in Paul Celan’s poem, “Death Fugue”? How do they connect
to the oxymoronic symbol of “black milk,” and why does the author end
the poem with these two female figures?
Goal of today’s class: to learn more techniques of dissecting the text
using literary analysis
What
is the difference between male writing on the A-Bomb ("Crazy Iris,"
"Human Ashes") and female writing about the same event ("Colorless
Paintings," "Empty Can")?
NB: women's writing [écriture féminine]
(Clément and Cixous), gynocentric writing
"Crazy Iris," "Human Ashes"
- sensory descriptions about physical feelings
- describe events in the moment, and with ambulatory characters
- direct symbols
- clearly identified narrator
- narrator remains an isolated individual in terms of building opinions
- linearity
"Colorless
Paintings,"
"Empty
Can"
- describe emotions
- written from a longer temporal distance
- indirect symbols
- anonymous narrators
- narrator perceives events through a community of others
- circularity
- looking for closure
Answer these questions as a group, or as one half
of the group. Then read other groups' responses.
1. How are the main character’s experiences
growing up
radically different from your childhood experiences? What experiences
might you
share in common?
2. Go back
through the text
and find specific examples that point to the lessons the protagonist
and her
family learn growing up. What (moral) lessons about how to live in two
worlds;
with death and dying; as a woman in a male-dominated society; as a
minority in
a world that excludes the disadvantaged; and in a community with strong
traditions
do your protagonist and her family learn? Be specific, and start to
think about
the significance of these moral lessons, which are part of the
coming-of-age
experience.
Do we find Ousmane's behavior offensive because we
don't understand [his culture], or because his actions deserve
condemnation? Do we identify with Mireille because she deserves it, or
is it because that's how we act in America?
1:
In
what
ways
does
your author and narrator different than other girls of the
same age? How does this unconventional attitude toward gender identity
help her to survive?
2: How does adversity strengthen the narrator's sense of ethnic identity?
3: Is there any significance about who
teaches your author survival lessons?
4: What kinds
of questions do you think would help
evaluate your deep understanding of this book and its significance to
literature and culture?