By the end of the day on Friday (12/17) give me a letter or write me an email telling me (1) what option you have picked (the options are explained below), (2) what you plan to read to get some background on your option (if it's a website give me the URL; make sure it's a reliable source), (3) what novel or play you plan to read first, (4) who else will be reading the same things. Make sure you interest at least one* other person in either section of AP English in your choice. Revision: it's okay if you agree on the novel/play but not the "option". (I'll call this the Louisa B revision.) Post ideas about what option you plan to choose and what texts you would like to read. Revision: I have posted the ideas I've heard. It's become obvious to me that I need to make it more explicit that some preliminary research on your part is necessary. Wikipedia is a useful tool for preliminary research (though you should not rely on Wikipedia research in scholarly writing). Solicit support for your idea. Make a pitch. On Thursday (12/16) I'll give you a chance to talk to each other about your ideas.
*Note: any more than four people will make the project unwieldy.
Option 1: Bildungsroman. You might continue your study of the Bildungsroman genre (1) by consulting several sources -- starting with this one -- to learn more about Bildungsromans and (2) by reading a couple bildungsromans in addition to the one's you've already studied.
Option 2: Ur*-Narratives (Sacred Texts, Myths, Fairy Tales). You might continue your study of how writers, poets, and other artists use older, archetypal stories -- Bible stories, Greek myths, German fairy tales, etc. -- to create new stories, films, poems, paintings, etc. (We've already studied how Joyce, several painters, and several poets have made use of the Daedalus-Icarus myth.) You will (1) investigate an ur-narrative (a myth, a fairy tale, etc.) and (2) explore how several writers (and perhaps filmmakers, poets, and visual artists) have made use of the original story. (You might modify the assignment to look at how a couple different myths/tales are used.)
*"Ur" is Germanic in origin. In English it is sometimes used as a prefix meaning "original" or "prototypical".
Here are a few books that are based on myths, sacred texts, or folk tales:
* Here's a link to a list of books based on Greek mythology.
* William Butler Yeats wrote several plays based on Celtic mythology and tales.
* Anne Sexton wrote Transformations, a book of narrative poems based on German fairy tales.
* John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden include many Biblical allusions. Grapes of Wrath allusions include The Book of Job, the story of Noah and the flood in Genesis, and the story of the Hebrews and the Promised Land (Numbers, etc.) East of Eden is built around the Cain and Abel story in Genesis.
Option 3: Author Study. You might continue your investigation of one of the authors we have studied so far this year: Calvino, Ellison, Rhys, Bronte, Joyce. Or you might want to study another major author. Your study will include an investigation of (1) the author's life and cultural context and (2) her/his literary output beyond what you have already read.
Option 4: Literary Movement. You might continue your investigation of a literary movement that we have touched upon this year: Romanticism, Gothicism, Victorianism, Modernism. Or you might want to study another literary movement. Your study will include an investigation of (1) the -ism and (2) representative literary works from the movement.
Option 5: Literature of a Culture. You might continue your investigation of the literature produced by a particular culture. The works we have read so far this year have come out of several cultural contexts: Italian, African-American, Anglo-Caribbean, English, Irish. Or you might to want to study the literature of another culture. You will (1) investigate the literature produced by the particular culture and (2) read representative literary works from the culture.
Option 6: Critical Lens. You might study literature using a particular critical lens: gender studies, critical race theory, queer theory, Marxist literary criticism, psychoanalytic (Freudian) literary criticism, archetypal literary criticism, ecocriticism, deconstruction, etc. (Click here for Wikipedia's "literary theory" page for more ideas.) You will (1) investigate the critical theory and (2) read literary works "through the lens" of the critical theory.
Option 7: Something else that you concoct and propose. This something else should have a research component and a literary component.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTHE (to be named later) TEAM:
ReplyDeleteMac, Edan, & Josiah
This team of well defined artists have decided to use Option 2. More specifically we will take part in exploring Greek myths. We have not yet decided on a specific Greek myth(s) or artist(s) but have many ideas on the direction we are going. We definitely know and strongly hold the desire to make a FILM as our final Independent Reading Project. This team has anticipated this project the entire year and are anxious to start the creative process immediately. There is one spot open for those of you that want to join our team, but I must warn you that there is already strong opinions on the direction of this project and the cohesiveness and brotherly love has been in place for much time now. This team strongly welcomes those though that think they have the determination, creativity, skills, and time to be part of the (to be named later) TEAM.
To Mr. Cook: Edan and Mac have in the past made multiple videos for school projects. In fact in Middle School they made a version of “Odysseus and The Cyclops” for Ms. Love’s english class. (film critics were in admiration) This has inspired them to further study Myths and make an epic film and with the company of Josiah they confidently feel it is at the very least possible. We want to show you the film, we will try to find it!
Kelly Benson
ReplyDeleteI want to try and work with psychoanalytic (Freudian) literary criticism because i think looking deeper into the mind of people is pretty awesome. it's like snoopy around a creepy house whose contents behind its doors are unexpected, horrifying, but also beautiful. I was thinking something along the lines of nurse ratchet, but that's to be determined later.
Grant Weaver
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what I want to do...I am up for almost anything. I think doing something from the critical lens would be cool. (Isn't is fun to use someone elses ideas...not in a plagerism(ey) way...but a creative, seeing things through a different perspective). I am taking sociology and psychology so I can (in theory) provide some insite into a human mind.
So yea...
Jacklyn Linsky
ReplyDeleteChelsea Murphy
Paige Stockman
Elizabeth MacDougal
We would like to do option number five, studying Irish literature. It would be interesting to see to which works Joyce was responding/ how it changed afterward, and it would be nice to see Irish literature speak in such a way that was independent of Joyce as well.
Dubliners is on our list, but we have yet to compile a full one. (Possibly Yeats' plays, as mentioned in class).
Other ideas from students:
ReplyDelete* study "literary" (as opposed to "pop") fantasy novels
* study Jane Austen and her work
* study Queer Theory and apply it (perhaps) to William Burroughs (Naked Lunch)
* study John Steinbeck and his novels
* study satire and/or absurdism
*** thought from Louisa B: it might be interesting for two or more people to read the same book but as part of different options. In other words StudentA might read Book-X through a critical lens while StudentB reads the same book as part of a study of a literary culture.
New Ideas from F-block:
ReplyDelete* study _The Glass Castle_ (not sure of the "option")
* study _Ulysses_ by James Joyce (studying this one work would be enough)
* study _Grimm's Fairy Tales_ and how one or more is used in literature (not sure what book)
* alternate idea: study _Grimm's Fairy Tales_ through a Freudian lens
New idea from an A & F team:
ReplyDelete* Study a Shakespearean comedy for elements of absurdism. (I even found this: "The mode of most "absurdist" plays is tragicomedy... [Martin] Esslin cites William Shakespeare as an influence on this aspect of the "Absurd drama." Shakespeare's influence is acknowledged directly in the titles of Ionesco's Macbett and Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead."
New idea:
ReplyDelete* Study the use of the Bible in _Chronicles of Narnia_
Paige Stockman
ReplyDeleteJacklyn Linsky
We will be reading Twelfth Night By William Shakespeare. I will be studying the use of Shakespeare’s play in modern books. While Paige studies the Absurdism found within the play. As the project continues I will follow more closely with Shakespearian plays and modern novel versions of the plays while Paige focuses more on novels and plays that involve Absurdism.
My group and I have shown intrigue in Calvino's Invisible Cities and what little we know about his life.
ReplyDeleteThough we are not completely sold on the idea just yet, we would like to further study Calvino's life and his work.
Adrian had mentioned doing something with Harry Potter, but it his motives remain unclear. But it is not completely off the table just yet. I kind of like the idea of literary versus pop fantasy.
Ellie, Tori, and Adrian, over and out.