Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Your New Year's Literary Resolution


In anticipation of the New Year, I'd like to hear your resolution for a work of literature that you're planning to read sometime in 2009, along with an explanation of why you feel you need to read it.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Napoleon or a Louse?

What are your thoughts concerning Raskolnikov's theory propounded in Part III, Ch. 5 of the novel? Does the theory have any validity? Is Raskolnikov himself extraordinary or ordinary? Should anyone be granted "extraordinary" status in terms of having the right to transgress accepted moral boundaries?

Trust Thyself



Trust thyself: Every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine Providence has found for you; the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson (“Self-Reliance”)

Would Dostoevsky agree or disagree with Emerson? Explain ...

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Books That Changed the World


It is almost a cliche to talk about how "books can change the world." However, this morning at the Beinecke Rare Book Library we had the opportunity to view original editions of books and manuscripts that truly did change the world, including the First Folio of Shakespeare, the Gutenberg Bible, Darwin's The Origin of Species, the Luther (German) Bible, Hitler's Mein Kampf, Thomas More's annotated prayer book, and the jottings of Galileo, Newton, and George Washington. Which work impressed you the most, and why? Or, if you prefer, what book would you have liked to see, but didn't, and why?
(Note that even those who did not attend the field trip can respond to the second question.)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

"Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television.”

(Woody Allen)
The other day in class you received a printed copy of a list of responses to a question posed by the Yale Art Gallery: "What is art and why does it matter?" (The link is below if you misplaced the list.) Now's your chance to respond. So what is art? And why does it matter?
(You may choose to respond without reading the list - or previous bloggers' responses - in order to ensure that your answer is yours, and is not affected by someone else's response.)

An Offer You Can't Refuse ...


Today in class we watched a scene from The Godfather and briefly discussed some of the techniques the director, Francis Ford Coppola, used to heighten the tension and suspense in the scene. Review a suspenseful scene from a movie you've previously seen. Then, comment on some of the film techniques used by the director to help achieve the desired effect in the scene. (Please include the title and director of the film you choose to address.)

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

2006 AP Free-Response Question #3



In many works of literature, a physical journey -the literal movement from one place to another - plays a central role. Choose a novel, play, or epic poem in which a physical journey is an important element and discuss how the journey adds to the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

(Briefly sketch out an argument for addressing the prompt above by referring to a specific work of literary merit.)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Something is rotten in the state of Petersburg.



Literary critic Michael Salerni has asserted that Raskolnikov and Hamlet "should get a room." Surely it is ridiculous to suggest that these two disparate characters are cut from the same cloth, just as it is ludicrous to suggest that there are correlations between Shakespeare's tragedy and Dostoevsky's novel.
Please, prove me wrong. (For the sake of involving as many people as possible, please limit your response to ONE specific point of connection and please refer specifically to Crime and Punishment, preferably citing a passage from the novel.)