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.

Comments on Ragtime

As you continue to read Ragtime, keep thinking about the following topics that we discussed in class on Thursday:

*the role of coincidence versus fate or destiny
*the multiple, insistent connections and links between characters
*the rise of industrial, mechanized capitalism
*metafictional commentary (stories about stories)
*simulacra (images/copies of "the real"); increasing confusion about the real versus the fake; the original versus copies

We'll continue discussing what Doctorow's novel might be stating about how we tell the story of history on Tuesday. Please read up to page 207.

Comments on Ragtime

As you read Doctorow's Ragtime, think about how the novel reflects on (and perhaps rewrites) the history of modernism with postmodern flair. How does Doctorow address the role of technology in modernism? The role of immigration? Why is the narrative voice so ambiguous? What questions and concerns does Doctorow raise about the nature of historical truth? What do you think of the characters you are meeting so far in the novel?

(And folks--so sorry I was late in posting this space for commentary!)