Before we get wrapped up in Blankets (so to speak), I wanted to put down a few thoughts about Fun Home, which is a book I love. I taught it last year in Gay and Lesbian Literature, but we focused mostly on the narrative, the pure story. In this class, of course, we're focusing on the relationship of text and image, and I got a lot more out of reading it this time around. I was really happy about some of the things that came up in our discussion, like how Henry said the father is drawn with strict, taut lines, while Bechdel draws herself much softer, like the child she is. That helped me point out the spot yesterday where the father's eyes seem larger and softer than in any other part of the text, signaling his shift in perspective at that moment. I also think Lauren is up to something when she pointed out the womb-like images of Bechdel lying on the floor with the telephone as a kind of umbilical cord. Kim's points about the father being drawn in drakness during one of his kinder moments earlier in the book is also spot on.
Now, the question will be how Blankets is similar and different. I'm already finding some interesting connections in my reading tonight.
Showing posts with label Reading Responses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading Responses. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Strayed/Sedaris
Bad professor! I said I'd post some thoughts about the readings after class, and I've taken this long to do it. Part of it is that we had a good discussion, and I don't have a lot to add. I find both of these essays to be very provocative, especially since they offer two extreme views of dealing with a mother's death. Perhaps these essays represent the two extremes of dealing with grief? Or perhaps they are more similar than we think? What I mean by "similar" is that both authors are kind of in denial, and they distance themselves from their grief, though sex or humor. More for me to think about....
As you read the other essays or re-read these, look for the different levels of writing, how authors move from high exposition/abstraction to intense description (and all the places in between). I'll return to this point in class.
Some favorite quotations:
"I lied not to protect myself, but because it would have been rude not to. To express loss on that level is to cross a boundary, to violate personal space, to impose emotion in a nonemotional place" (Strayed 299).
"'Now that's different,' she'd say. 'A living baby. All my grandchildren have been ground up for fertilizer or whatever it is they do with the aborted fetuses. It puts them under my feet but keeps them out of my hair, which is just the way I like it'" (Sedaris 111)
As you read the other essays or re-read these, look for the different levels of writing, how authors move from high exposition/abstraction to intense description (and all the places in between). I'll return to this point in class.
Some favorite quotations:
"I lied not to protect myself, but because it would have been rude not to. To express loss on that level is to cross a boundary, to violate personal space, to impose emotion in a nonemotional place" (Strayed 299).
"'Now that's different,' she'd say. 'A living baby. All my grandchildren have been ground up for fertilizer or whatever it is they do with the aborted fetuses. It puts them under my feet but keeps them out of my hair, which is just the way I like it'" (Sedaris 111)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Beard/Cooper
I want to post some responses to the readings, too, but I think it makes the most sense for me to do it after. I mean, I don't want to give away answers to quizzes and let people who didn't do the reading get credit! And I think it makes sense, when necessary, to extend or comment on our discussion. I did love out discussion yesterday. We covered the range of issues I wanted to cove as well as ideas and points I didn't plan on, and I was glad to see some disagreement about which essay was stronger and such.
I'm a fan of both essays, but they are very different. Reading "The Fourth State of Matter" by JoAnn Beard again, I wonder if she takes too long to get to plot, to the "meat" of the narrative. I mean, I love the stuff about the dog and think it's important. It says a lot about her passivity and about her compassion. If she cut the part about the squirrels, would we be losing something? We would lose the great description I pointed out in class of the former beauty queen now able to herd goats and express the anal glands of a dog. It's a good question to consider, though. You don't want to lose readers before getting to the deeper substance of your piece.
Bernard Cooper's "101 Ways to Cook Hamburger" is different. It's not as linear or plot-driven, true. After class, I was thinking about the essay, and I think Cooper, who is just as passive as Beard, is an observor, a thinker, who spends his time watching people. Because of his fear, he hangs back. There's not much of a plot since he doesn't do much of anything. I do like his portrait of Theresa. She sounds fascinating, and he provides just enough that I feel like I can see her (even if he doesn't give a lot of details about her looks).
Both of these writers describe poeple well. Perhaps that's because of their passivity, the fact that they sit back and watch others do things. Pay attention to those descriptions; they'll help with the first essay.
I'm a fan of both essays, but they are very different. Reading "The Fourth State of Matter" by JoAnn Beard again, I wonder if she takes too long to get to plot, to the "meat" of the narrative. I mean, I love the stuff about the dog and think it's important. It says a lot about her passivity and about her compassion. If she cut the part about the squirrels, would we be losing something? We would lose the great description I pointed out in class of the former beauty queen now able to herd goats and express the anal glands of a dog. It's a good question to consider, though. You don't want to lose readers before getting to the deeper substance of your piece.
Bernard Cooper's "101 Ways to Cook Hamburger" is different. It's not as linear or plot-driven, true. After class, I was thinking about the essay, and I think Cooper, who is just as passive as Beard, is an observor, a thinker, who spends his time watching people. Because of his fear, he hangs back. There's not much of a plot since he doesn't do much of anything. I do like his portrait of Theresa. She sounds fascinating, and he provides just enough that I feel like I can see her (even if he doesn't give a lot of details about her looks).
Both of these writers describe poeple well. Perhaps that's because of their passivity, the fact that they sit back and watch others do things. Pay attention to those descriptions; they'll help with the first essay.
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