Final paper for regular students

Having finished classes and exams, you are now ready to write your final paper(s). Below you'll find a list of suggested topics.
Support your views making reference to the texts. If you consult and quote secondary sources, that shouldn't be more than 20% of the paper, and in all cases, whether the quotations are literal or not, you MUST acknowledge the sources. Otherwise, the paper will not be accepted, and there won't be a chance for a make-up.

John Osborne and the Angry Young Men

Plays are literary texts, but they are also acting styles, props, lights, and a whole world of impressions that extend over the realm of words. That is why you can enrich your reading experience of Look Back in Anger by watching the film. There are two suggested versions you may watch: a 1959, older one; and another from the 1980s: You may find both in YOUTUBE.

James Joyce and his fellow Dubliners

James Joyce is counted among the most renowned Irish writers. His fiction includes Stephen Hero, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Dubliners, Ulysses, and Finnegan's Wake. Throughout these books, he explores the city of Dublin and its inhabitants, especially their inner side. This concentration on his characters' minds, thoughts, feelings, etc, eventually led Joyce to be one of the best exponents of the so-called stream-of-consciousness technique.

J. M. Coetzee. The Empire and Beyond

J. M. Coetzee is South African. Strictly speaking, what he writes is not British, or English, literature. Yet, it is literature written in English. This leads us to consider the most recent trend that speaks of "English Literatures", that is, those which use the English language as a means of expression, beyond national boundaries or ethnic origins.

In 2003, Coetzee was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. His writing deals with the topic of man's dominion over man. In portraying this, Coetzee is able to transcend specific refrences and achieve a deep understanding of human nature, in its most basic, luminous, and obscure sides alike.

This paradoxical, complex quality of human nature is clearly depiected in Waiting for the Barbarians, a novel which takes its title form a very well-known poem by Greek poet Konstantin Kavafi (1864-1933). Read the poem below and try to think of possible connections with the issue discussed in the chapter we have read from the novel by Coetzee.


Waiting for the Barbarians
By Constantine Cavafy (1864-1933), translated by Edmund Keeley


What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?

The barbarians are due here today.

Why isn't anything happening in the senate?
Why do the senators sit there without legislating?

Because the barbarians are coming today.
What laws can the senators make now?
Once the barbarians are here, they'll do the legislating.

Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting at the city's main gate
on his throne, in state, wearing the crown?

Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor is waiting to receive their leader.
He has even prepared a scroll to give him,
replete with titles, with imposing names.

Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
and rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?

Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?

Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.

Why don't our distinguished orators come forward as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?

Because the barbarians are coming today
and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking.

Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?
(How serious people's faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home so lost in thought?

Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.
And some who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.

And now, what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
They were, those people, a kind of solution.
(http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/texts/cavafy.html)


Coetzee's novel can be analyzed using the tools provided by the Post-Colonial theory; and it can also be read as an example of border narratives. This theoretical approach has been clearly explained by Professor Gustavo Fares, whose views are expressed in the article “Border Studies' Positionality”. In: Nueva Revista de Lenguas Extranjeras; Facultad de Filosofía y Letras UNCuyo; n 13, 2010: 19-35
* What is a border? “A line that indicates a boundary.”
* Borders can be physical, or imagined (in the sense of being ideas manifested in physical facts as barriers, police patrols, walls, etc.)
* Borders are a nation's territorial limits, while borders are “paradoxically different in location and similar in complexity and diversity, always signaling encounters and interactions between and among the areas they mark.” (21)
* “Border thinking and formations are not in any way the result of 'natural' processes, but of social and political ones and, as such, have histories which are always subject to a variety of interpretations.
* In some of the interpretations, the role of borders is dual and, oftentimes, contradictory: boundaries are there to exclude as well as to allow passing, to segregate, but also to place people beside another.
* Proximity breeds interaction, which in turn produces an hybrid or 'enriched' culture... (21)

In analyzing Waiting for the Barbarians, we will bear in mind some of the concepts below:
* Border
* Difference
* The Other
* Identity
* Language

* Voice – voiceless –
silence – language –
power
* Interaction
* Colonialism
* Imposed borders

Kavafy, Coetzee, the Barbarians: past and present

Waiting for the Barbarians is a title that has resonances from the past: the Barbarians were "the outsiders", those who dod not speak the "civilized" language (Greek at first, Latin later on). To the "civilized" ear, their "foreign" language sounded like "bar bar bar", thus the name Barbarians. Barbarians, who are different from "us", may provoke feelings of fear for the unknown. Of course, this fear of what is different is not "civilized". Writers have tried to express the way "we" feel when confronted with the "Other" (as we saw in Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant"). Two authors who dealt speacifically with the "Barbarians" are Konstantin Kavafy, a Greek poet of the 19th-20th centuries; and J.M.Coetzee, a South African contemporary novelits, who took the title from Kavafy's poem to write a novel.

Please click on the link below to read the poem by Kavafy

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181780

The post-colonial theory we introduced last week will be very helpful, as well as Border Theory, which we'll talk about in class.

Also, please think deeply about the questions below, and be ready to do assignment 5 in class, in pairs.

ASSIGNMENT 4 (Module 2)

In "Shooting an Elephant", Orwell states, "I did not even know that the British Empire is dying, still less did I know that it is a great deal better than the younger empires that are going to supplant it." (paragraph 2). We are reading this text 80 years later; so we are witnesses of what the "younger empires" have done or are doing nowadays. 

The British Empire: Criticism from Within

Ever since the first expansionist attempts in the 16th century, Britain enlarged its territory so that by the Victorian era, in the 19th century, it was called "the Empire where the sun never sets." By 1919, right after the end of the First World War, the British Empire reached its highest extent.

Then, the collapse of the Empire began. In the "white colonies", this was a peaceful, easy process. In the "non-white colonies", though, it took decades of both violence and peaceful protest to achieve independence.

One of the colonies where there was a strong anti-colonialist feeling was Burma, in Asia. George Orwell, who had been born in India, where his father was in the civil service, joined the Imperial Police in Burma from 1922 to 1927.

His own experience taught him to be an anticolonialist. One of those experiences, together with his view on colonialims and inhabitants of the colonies is clearly depicted in the narrative essay "Shooting an Elephant".

Victorian England

William Wordsworth and the "Preface" to the Lyrical Ballads

S.T.Coleridge. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

ASSIGNMENT # 3: Innocence and experience, Blake's view of Childhood

Susan Snyder. "Macbeth, a Modern Perspective"

Clicking on the link below, you may access the essay that accompanies the Folger Library Edition of Macbeth
http://blogs.ausd.net/users/theriver2011/uploads/theriver2011/SusanSnyder-AModernPerspective.pdf

The Renaissance: context, changes, and drama

The Sixteenth century marked a great change in Europe: the Reformation, the growth of nation-states aimed at expanding their colonies in previously unexplored territories, the rise of capitalism, the revival of classical learnign and the new value of literature in the different national languages, all showed that the world had left the Middle Ages behind. Modern times were ahead of Europeans at the time. it is in this context when William Shakespeare wrote his brilliant plays. he sets his tragedy of  Macbeth in medieval Scotland, but definitely, his protagonist is a Renaissance man,  moved by his incommensurate desire for wealth and power, his selfish individualism, and his concern for earthly success.
You may explore the issues presented in the play in Susan Snyder's essay "Macbeth, a modern perspective". On Monday, April 13th, the class assignment will be based on this essay by Snyder. Please bring it with you.
By clicking on the link below, you may access the PPT we used in class
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-lzyKVaKRF9voIdQtsRG8oQa05Tb5wwnH9i_seo1mtQ/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

Medieval Drama

ASSIGNMENT Nº 1

Choose one of the following topics and write a 2-page essay (1.5 space; Times New Roman 12 or Arial 11). Make sure to include quotations from the literary texts. Absolutely no plagiarism will be accepted (if detected, this will result in 0% and the impossibility of writing a second version). Please turn in the hand-written or printed version in class. DUE APRIL 6TH

 Topic 1: 

Read the ballad “The Unquiet Grave” and analyze the topics of  love, death and the supernatural. Comment on the similarities and differences between “The Unquiet Grave" and "Bonnie Barbara Allen". After the introductory paragraph, you may devote one paragraph to the treatment of love, death and the supernatural in "The Unquiet Grave"; another paragraph to the same themes in "Bonnie Barbara Allen", and then, a concluding paragraph.

Beowulf

Please click onb the link to access the PPThttps://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1z6StRwnkdXyMStezNdixScCBkGx31g8Z_utlSot-lW4/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

BEOWULF: one of the foundational texts of British Literature

This epic poems refers back to a remote past, and narrates the heroic deeds of Beowulf and the Scandinavian tribes of the Geats, the Danes and the Swedes. Though not British in theme, the poem’s perspective is that of a Christian Englishman looking back and criticizing his ancestors. “Beowulf”, as Seamus Heaney affirms, is an inheritance to the English language and to the British History, Literature and Culture.     

In class, we approach the external data of the poem, to then analyze and study it as a work of art. It is the poem’s integrity, unity of effect and balanced order what interests the literary class. 

In the links below, you my access critical material about the text:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XlNOZToc0IcchUttW9p1XrQwHe29h0A7uebpy_u4rh8/pub

FURTHER READING: A CROSSBREED, BY FRANZ KAFKA

Clicking on the link below, you may read the full text of Kafka's "A Crossbreed". As you read, try to interpret the text thinking of the qualities of the language of poetry. Hope you enjoy it!

"Barbara Allen" and "Conde niño": Love beyond Death

There are several versions of the same ballad. Such is the case of "Barbara Allen", performed by ArtGarfunkel (you may listen to this version clicking on the linkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxQdl9cP3e0); and by Joan Baez in her 1972 album "Ballad Book": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqHJ4V893e0. Below you will find the lyrics, and a link to youtube.com so that you can listen to this beautiful song.

As you read this version, consider the differences with the shorter one: How does the theme, the tone and the general outlook of the ballad change in this version? (Make notes that will help you write assignment n. 1 in a few days)

BARBARA ALLEN

Twas in the merry month of May
When green buds all were swelling,
Sweet William on his death bed lay
For love of Barbara Allen.

He sent his servant to the town
To the place where she was dwelling,
Saying you must come, to my master dear
If your name be Barbara Allen.

So slowly, slowly she got up
And slowly she drew nigh him,
And the only words to him did say
Young man I think you're dying.

He turned his face unto the wall
And death was in him welling,
Good-bye, good-bye, to my friends all
Be good to Barbara Allen.

When he was dead and laid in grave
She heard the death bells knelling
And every stroke to her did say
Hard hearted Barbara Allen.

Oh mother, oh mother go dig my grave
Make it both long and narrow,
Sweet William died of love for me
And I will die of sorrow.

And father, oh father, go dig my grave
Make it both long and narrow,
Sweet William died on yesterday
And I will die tomorrow.

Barbara Allen was buried in the old churchyard
Sweet William was buried beside her,
Out of sweet William's heart, there grew a rose
Out of Barbara Allen's a briar.

They grew and grew in the old churchyard
Till they could grow no higher
At the end they formed, a true lover's knot
And the rose grew round the briar.

Some of the stories contained in ballads appear in several other types of contemporary poetry in other parts of Europe. What follows is a Spanish romance, written in the traditional eight-syllable stanza, which tells of a love that is not unrequited, as that of Sir John Grame or Sir William and Barbara Allen. Conde Niño and Albaniña are in love, but circumstances and people intervene...

As you read, think about the answer to these questions: Where do the common elements lie between our ballad and this romance?

Pay special attention to symbols. You may want to look up the meaning of the symbols you find in a dictionary of symbols (there are several in the college library, and also in www.googlescholar.com). 

Romance del Conde Niño

Conde Niño por amores
es niño y pasó a la mar
va a dar agua a su caballo
la mañana de San Juan.
Mientras su caballo bebe,
él canta dulce cantar :
todas las aves del cielo
se paraban a escuchar.
La reina estaba labrando,
la hija durmiendo está :
- levantáos Albaniña,
de vuestro dulce folgar,
sentiréis cantar hermoso
la sirenita del mar,
- No es la sirenita, madre,
la de tan bello cantar,
sino es el Conde Niño
que por mi quiere finar.
- Si por tus amores pena,
¡oh, mal haya su cantar!
y porque nunca los goce,
yo le mandaré matar.
- Si le manda matar madre,
juntos nos han de enterrar.
El murió a la medianoche,
ella a los gallos cantar ;
a ella, como hija de reyes,
la entierran en el altar ;
a él, como hijo de conde
unos pasos más atrás.
De ella nació una rosal blanco,
de él nació un espino albar ;
crece el uno, crece el otro,
los dos se van a juntar.
La reina llena de envidia
ambos los mandó cortar ;
el galán que los cortaba
no cesaba de llorar.
De ella naciera una garza
de él un fuerte gavilán,
juntos vuelan por el cielo,
juntos vuelan par a par.

Ballads

The Middle Ages

We will begin our class survey with medieval literature. All texts are produced within a context to which they, explicitly or otherwise, make reference. While in continental Europe the Middle Ages are said to begin with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, at that time England was being invaded by the Anglo-Saxons. That's why, from the 5th century until 1066 we speak of "Anglo-Saxon England". It was only in 1066, withe the Norman invasion, that England would come into mainstream medieval culture.

Thus, we may distinguish between different types of texts. During our classes, we will read medieval ballads, qand lyrics, an excerpt from the epic poem Beowulf, the dream-poem The Dream of the Rood, and the mystery play The Annunciatrion. This variety of genres and texts may give us an idea of the complexity of the Middle Ages: a rich, poignant, lively period, quite different from what used to be called "the Dark Ages".    Useful modules: British History!!!

Here you will find some brief references to medieval life:

Social organization: feudal system (King - nobility - landlords or tenats - peasants)

This medieval illumination shows the three estates: those who pray (the clergy), those who fight (the nobility) and those who work (the laborers).

Central institution: the Church

 Chartes Cathedral

Language of the Church and learning:  Latin  

 Medieval university

Vernacular language: In England, changes were accelerated by the Norman Conquest of 1066. Words from French began entering the English language (though we will have to wait until a few centuries later to recognize "modern English"      Useful module:  History of the English Language!!!

USEFUL LINK

www.luminarium.org

The Middle Ages. Presentation