Great Interview with McCarthy in the WSJ

This interview with Cormac McCarthy appeared a few weeks ago in the Wall Street Journal. Please read it.

Slam Poetry Links

Saul Williams on HBO's Def Poetry Jam (YouTube Link)

Saul Williams performing "Amethyst Rock" in the movie Slam

Lamont Carey performing "I Can't Read" on HBO Def Jam Poetry (You Tube Link)

Taylor Mali performing "Like, You Know" on Def Jam.

Sonia Sanchez performing "Our Vision is Our Voice" (You Tube Link)

Amiri Baraka performing "Why is We Americans?"

Literature of 9/11 and The Road

As you read the excerpts in the Norton Anthology's new "Writing in a Time of Terror: September 11, 2001," think about the questions I posed in class on Tuesday: How did 9/11 change literature? How do writers help us process trauma and work through historical crises? What is the relationship, broadly speaking, between literature and history? Can historical events change literary styles and sensibilities? How does literature create historical memory?

Please bring your copies of The Road to class, too. As you read both the 9/11 readings in the Norton Anthology and The Road for Tuesday, comment below on both the aesthetics and the politics of the readings. What do the texts say about our times? What assessment do they give of the future?

I'll also remind you that if you have music or spoken word poetry for me to consider for our final class sessions, give it to me asap for extra credit.

Revised Syllabus for End of Semester

December 1 Selections from Writing in a Time of Terror (E; 3210-3219); Continued discussion of The Road (please bring both textbooks to class)

December 3 Slam Poetry; Hip-hop (selections TBA--see Blackboard)

December 8 Last Day of Classes

Concluding Thoughts and Observations; Final Exam

Preparation; Slam Poetry; Hip-hop continued (selections TBA--see Blackboard)

December 9 Dead Day.

Link to McCarthy Interview

The Road was chosen for Oprah's Book Club in 2008, and Oprah lured the famously reticient McCarthy out of his writerly seclusion for a very rare interview. Watch a clip of the interview here. You might also want to take a look at how her book club presents The Road here.

What are your opinions about the interview and about the book club's take on The Road?

Cormac McCarthy, The Road (p. 1-69)

As you read The Road for Tuesday's class, think about the stylistic texture of this novel. How would you describe McCarthy's prose? What do you make of the opening images that McCarthy delivers of the world post-apocalypse? Do we get a moral voice here? A neutrally descriptive voice? Why does McCarthy center his novel on the relationship between father and son? Would you consider this to be a novel influenced by 9/11? Why or why not?

Please use the space below to write on any aspect of the novel. You might also want to check out The Road movie trailer and website here. (It opens November 25th!)

Article in NY Times

Dear class,

Please read this article on the current revival of the 1998 musical based on E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime. It was in the NY Times this past Sunday.

As you finish Ragtime today and read the quotations on the handout I distributed on Tuesday, think about what the book's final statement on history might be. At its conclusion, the novel explicitly connects ragtime music with history. Why? We'll also be talking more about Coalhouse Walker, Jr. and why he comes to be the central figure in the narrative.

I'm looking forward to hearing your final responses to the novel.