Edwardian Literature -- Spring06

Story of an African Farm II and III & *Special Assignment* -- Through "Waldo Goes out to taste"

Hi everyone,

I have to cancel class for Thursday, which means that papers will be due
on Tuesday instead. I'll still come to collect papers for those who wish
to turn them in today.

*But before you start cheering* I have an additional assignment for you
for Tuesday's class. For those of you who aren't on the class email list
(and therefore didn't get the paper by email), please go the the university
library site and take the following steps:

(1) (If you are not on a university computer) Sign in by clicking "Not Logged
In" to the upper left and typing in your webid info.

(2) Click on "Find Articles" to the left --> "Indexes and Databases"

(3) Click on "M" or scroll down to select "MLA International Bibiography."
Click on it. Welcome to the wide world of literary criticism.

(4) Search for "Schreiner, Olive" -- this will return all articles written on
her.

(5) Scroll down to #5 -- an article by Moore-Gilbert "Olive Schreiner's Story
of an African Farm." Click on "Pdf full text below." This will give you a file
you can save and print.

(6) Print it out.

Now, once you have the article, I want you to read it and think about the following
things:

--What are the different critical perspectives on Schreiner's work? How would
you characterize them?

--How does Moore-Gilbert try to engage this field of opinions -- where does he
fit himself in?

--What do you think?

Below, you can discuss the new reading or talk about the article -- what was hard,
or interesting, or strong about it? I'll see you Tuesday.

-devin

posted by Devo @ 10:02 AM 0 comments

The Story of an African Farm I (through Bonaparte Blenkins (pg. 81))

Coming from Tess, how do you find the depiction of the children in Story of an African Farm? What do you think of the fervor of Waldo? Of the contrast between Em and Lyndall?

Alternately, look at some of the descriptions of the land in Story of an African Farm. How do they relate or differ from nature in Tess? What does this do to the tenor of the book -- its style and sense of place?

Try to focus on a specific passage. Your board.

posted by Devo @ 4:55 PM 2 comments

Tess -- Final

Now that you've finished the book, what did you think? First, split up your reaction into two parts: (1) how did you relate to the conclusion emotionally and in terms of identification? Reflect on this affect -- what drives these feelings? What do you make of them? (2) Think about the conclusion to the novel in the context of what else has happened -- what changes? How does the Tess we experience relate to the Tess of the earlier sections of the book? Is she as passive? How do you feel about her? How about Angel and how he handles himself at the end?

Feel free to disagree with each other or applaud -- it's your board.

posted by Devo @ 5:04 PM 0 comments

Tess III -- Chaps. 34-48

Please share your ideas and impressions of the novel.

To track back a little bit -- what did you think about the sleepwalking scene? How does it compare to the rest of Tess's behavior in the novel? How do you feel about the choices that Tess makes and her experiences as the novel continues? And what do you think of Alex D'Uberville's return -- does he seem sincere/plausible? Does it change your perception of him? Your board.

posted by Devo @ 4:53 PM 0 comments