The Love Suicides of Amijima

In order to fully experience Chikamatsu Monzaemon's play, THE LOVE SUICIDES OF AMIJIMA, you must understand a bit about Japanese theater. Both in form and pattern, Japanese theater dealt with realistic themes in an exaggerated and highly theatrical way. The period in which Monzaemon wrote is called the Genroku period, a kind of renaissance where the chonin class, or merchant class, inspired new stories in art.

THE LOVE SUICIDES OF AMIJIMA were originally performed as a bunraku (or joruri) play, which is done using large, realistic puppets. Please explore this Bunraku site from the Japanese art council, as well as this site which includes photographs of the play. Click on the final "points of interest" link for the pictures.

Mrs. Rowlandson, Metacom and Weetamoo

Once again we return to the travel narrative as a form with the captivity story of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan woman taken prisoner during King Phillip's War.

King Phillip was the son of Massasoit, the Wampanoag chief who famously helped the pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving. King Phillip's real name was Metacom, and he and his sister-in-law, Weetamoo, engaged the English colonists in the bloodiest war of our history in an effort to take back their land.

Mrs. Mary Rowlandson and her children were captured during a raid on Lancaster. This site offers some background information on Rowlandson's capture, as well as some pictures of the locations Rowlandson details, and here is an etext version of the book.
As you begin reading, consider the ways that Rowlandson's text is in conflict with itself. While she clearly considers her captors to be "devils", she also reveals admiration for them.

The picture above is a sculpture of Metacom, or King Phillip.

Essay #1

The due date for Essay #1 is Friday, February 8

Your first essay for World Literature II asks you to compare and contrast two of the works we've read so far. Choose ONE of the options below:

1) Compare/contrast OROONOKO's travels with those of MARY ROWLANDSON. In comparing and contrasting (you don't have to do both, necessarily), consider how the texts reflect the culture(s) the author encounters. What is revealed? What is purposely left out? Also, consider how the text reveals information about the author's own culture. The online essay "Travel Narratives" by Jerry Bentley from the University of Hawai'i has some interesting information about travel narratives that might help you develop your ideas.

2) Compare/contrast OROONOKO or CANDIDE with THE LOVE SUICIDES OF AMIJIMA. How do both texts balance conflicts of the heart with a sense of duty? How is love represented in the texts? Is it genuine?

3) Compare/contrast CANDIDE with the MARY ROWLANDSON narrative. In what ways does Voltaire mock the kind of story that Rowlandson tells?

As you can see, I'm not "giving" you a thesis. You have to develop one on your own. The questions above are prompts to get you thinking about the two works you've selected.

YOU SHOULD NOT do any other outside research for this paper. The ideas in the essay must be original and your own.

When you quote from the text, make sure to use MLA format. The OWL at Purdue has an online guide for you to use if you no longer own your old composition textbook.

Your paper should be 4-6 pages long, typed in Times New Roman, double-spaced with 1 inch margins all around, and creatively titled. No cover pages, please. Staple or paper clip your essays.

I'll be available for conferencing during office hours or by appointment. Please come by! Or, visit the English Center on the 3rd floor of the Haley Center for assistance with your paper.

Candide and the Lisbon Earthquake

The earthquake in CANDIDE which we read about for today's class has historical origins. It destroyed a major cultural center in Europe, and is believed to have been well above 8.5 on the Richter scale.

Voltaire was so moved by this event (as was all of Europe), that he composed a poem on the disaster. Here are a few lines:


UNHAPPY mortals! Dark and mourning earth!
Affrighted gathering of human kind!
Eternal lingering of useless pain!
Come, ye philosophers, who cry, "All’s well,"
And contemplate this ruin of a world.
Behold these shreds and cinders of your race,
This child and mother heaped in common wreck,
These scattered limbs beneath the marble shafts—
A hundred thousand whom the earth devours,
Who, torn and bloody, palpitating yet,
Entombed beneath their hospitable roofs,
In racking torment end their stricken lives.
To those expiring murmurs of distress,
To that appalling spectacle of woe,
Will ye reply: "You do but illustrate
The Iron laws that chain the will of God"?
Say ye, o’er that yet quivering mass of flesh:
"God is avenged: the wage of sin is death"?
What crime, what sin, had those young hearts conceived
That lie, bleeding and torn, on mother’s breast?
Did fallen Lisbon deeper drink of vice
Than London, Paris, or sunlit Madrid?
In these men dance; at Lisbon yawns the abyss.
Tranquil spectators of your brothers’ wreck,
Unmoved by this repellent dance of death,
Who calmly seek the reason of such storms,
Let them but lash your own security;
Your tears will mingle freely with the flood.

Here, we see Voltaire's philosophy of anti-optimism revealed.

Quiz #1
Read the excerpt from "Poem on the Lisbon Disaster" again. What argument does Voltaire use to attack Leibniz's (and Pangloss') philosophy of "all is for the best"? Answer the question in a typed, double-spaced, reasoned paragraph for Friday.

I Want Can-dide!

We're going to be leaping into the Age of Reason, or the Enlightenment, in World Lit II. If you thought OROONOKO was gruesome, wait until you get a load of CANDIDE (e-text here).

But, there's a twist. Whereas Aphra Behn was being totally serious about the grim reality of slavery in OROONOKO, Voltaire is toying with us, exaggerating injuries for effect, hoping to make us both think and laugh. In short, CANDIDE is a satire, a la "The Simpsons" or "Saturday Night Live" (on a good night).

We'll discuss the Enlightenment at length, as well as your reading, in class tomorrow. But for now, consider these things as you read:

1. What attitudes towards established governments and religions does Voltaire reveal here?
2. What kind of person is Candide? Pangloss?
3. What do you think about all of the "convenient" reunions? What effect does having to suspend belief so often have on your reading of the text?

OROONOKO Links and Quiz #1:UPDATE

So, now you've read half of Aphra Behn's OROONOKO. Behn, as we discussed in class, was quite the scandal in 1600's England. She was a spy, spent time in debtors prison, may have invented a husband, and may or may not have spent time in Surinam. Though scandalous for her time, Behn blasted open the doors for women writers.

OROONOKO details the life of a royal slave in Surinam (just south of Venezuela). It is a romantic story, and also, for modern readers, troubling in its eurocentricity. Here's a full e-text of OROONOKO, in case you don't want to lug your book around, or haven't bought one yet.

For our first reading quiz on Friday, I'd like for you to visit the Smithsonian's African Voices website.. It's a very comprehensive and cool site about Africa, from humanity's origins, through the slave trade, to the present. Spend some time there, click around, learn some new things, and then, tackle this question in a TYPED and FULLY DEVELOPED PARAGRAPH:

What are your feelings about this particular narrator, a white woman, telling Oroonoko's story? After reading both OROONOKO and perusing the Smithsonian website, do you think she shares any of Oroonoko's experiences? What's troubling about the perspective used in the story? Use specific examples from the text to defend your answers.

p.s. For fun, check out the two images below. What might those tell us about the perception of race in the 1600's and 1700's? That second image carries the date of 1776. Cool, huh?

Aphra Behn


A flyer for a stage production of OROONOKO

p.p.s. Here's the link to Wikipedia's entry on Noble Savage. Note the portrait to the right--a visual representation of the idea that indigenous people were "noble" and yet "savage."

This is just to say

Welcome to Plums in the Icebox. This is the place for my World Literature students at Auburn University to come, find some good links and pick up some neat-o writing assignments.

I titled this blog Plums in Icebox after William Carlos Williams' poem, "This is Just to Say". I'm a big fan of Williams and feel that he understood what it means to be human, what it means to own up to a mistake, and to savor the sweet plums in life. Behold:

This is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

And with that, I'll sign off and remind my Spring 2008 World Lit II students that we'll be meeting in Haley 3318, Wednesday, at 9:00 a.m.

Below is a copy of the class syllabus.

Cheers.

Course Information: ENGL 2210 009, MWF 9:00-9:50 am
Instructor: Chantel Acevedo
Office: 9078 Haley Center
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9-12
Email: chantel.acevedo@auburn.edu


English 2210: World Literature II

Welcome to World Literature II. This course is a study of representative works of world literature from the seventeenth century to the present. The course emphasizes the study and consideration of the literary, cultural, and human significance of selected great works of the Western and non-Western literary traditions, including women's, minority, and ethnic literature from around the world. An important goal of the class is to promote an understanding of the works in their cultural/historical contexts and of the enduring human values that unite the different literary traditions. The course's pedagogy gives special attention to critical thinking and writing within a framework of cultural diversity as well as comparative and interdisciplinary analysis.

Students will demonstrate their understanding of this material by completing various in-class and out-of-class assignments responding to lecture, discussion, collaborative work, and other activities. The preferred method of instruction will be a question and answer format based on the Socratic Method. The goal of this method is to engage you in critical thinking, making you responsible for the thinking you do.

While you will be doing a great deal of reading in this course, you will also develop your ability to write well-supported interpretations of literary texts.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS and POLICIES

Required Text: The Bedford Anthology of World Literature (Books 4, 5, & 6)

Essays: Two major essays will be written for this course. The essays will ask you to interpret and analyze some of the texts we will be reading. These are not research essays! The thinking and analysis of each essay should be uniquely yours. In terms of format, your essays must be typed and double-spaced, with one-inch margins all around. They should be 4-6 pages in length. Please center your titles on the first page, just above your text. Number all subsequent pages. Your paper should be formatted in MLA style. Essays are worth 25% each.

Quizzes: There will be daily reading quizzes, of five questions each, given at the beginning of each class. Oftentimes, the first question will be given to you beforehand to be answered in depth (50-100) words. Quizzes will be worth 10% of your overall grade. Quizzes missed due to an excused absence will not be counted toward your average. Quizzes missed due to an unexcused absence cannot be made up and will count as a zero.

Socratic Seminars: We will hold several Socratic seminars in which student sit round-table fashion and discuss the texts. Students will be asked to develop thoughtful questions regarding the text and turn them in at the end of class. These should be typed at home. Seminar grades will depend on the quality of the questions and the level of participation. Socratic seminars are worth 10% of your final grade.

Midterm and Final Exam: A midterm and final exam will be administered in this course. The midterm is worth 10% and the final is worth 20%. The final exam is on: Wednesday, May 7th, 9:00-11:30 a.m.

Attendance: Because this course relies heavily on your participation, your attendance is crucial. I am aware that, from time to time, you might have to miss class. Please refer to your Student Guidelines for the University’s description of an excused absence. You are responsible for finding out about missed work and making it up in a timely fashion. I may ask for documentation to verify your excused absence. In terms of unexcused absences, any more than three may lead to you earning a grade of FA (failure due to absence) in this course. Work missed due to an unexcused absence may not be made up.

Tardiness: Students arriving five or more minutes after class has begun are considered late. Three or more instances of tardiness will constitute one unexcused absence.

Classroom etiquette: The classroom atmosphere should be one in which students feel both relaxed and safe. Be polite and respectful to your fellow students and to your instructor. Drinks and snacks are fine (except in the computer labs) as long as they don’t distract you or your classmates. All cellular phones should be silenced and kept out of sight. If you are expecting an emergency call, please let me know before class begins, and sit near an exit so you can handle the situation out of sight and with the least amount of distraction.

Plagiarism and/or cheating: Cheating and plagiarism are serious violations of the Student Academic Honesty Code (Title XII) and will be treated according to the procedures outlined in the Tiger Cub. Of particular importance for English students is the following section of the code, which prohibits:

The submission of themes, essays, term papers, tests, design projects, similar requirements or parts thereof that are not the work of the student submitting them. When direct quotations are used, they should be indicated, and when the ideas of another are incorporated into a paper, they must be appropriately acknowledged. Almost every student has heard the term "plagiarism." Nevertheless, there is a danger of failing to recognize either its full meaning or its seriousness. In starkest terms, plagiarism is stealing--using the words or ideas of another as if they were one's own. If, for example, another person's complete sentence, syntax, key words, or the specific or unique ideas and information are used, one must give that person credit through proper documentation or recognition, as through the use of footnotes.

It is also a violation of academic honesty to have others (roommates, family members, paid consultants) materially assist you in the actual writing of essays. It is acceptable practice to have a peer review your work and make suggestions for improvement; in such cases, you should always include a footnote or endnote acknowledging those contributions. However, if someone else composes or rewrites part of your essay and you do not formally indicate that this has occurred, it is cheating and a violation of academic honesty. It is also cheating yourself of the opportunity to learn by doing.

You are responsible for asking your instructor any questions you may have about honest use of sources or proper documentation.

Grading/grades: To pass this course, you must satisfactorily meet all requirements. Grades on your written work are meant to reflect the quality of your work. When figuring your overall grade, I will use the following breakdown:

Essays are worth 25% each. There will be two major essays in this course.
Quizzes are worth 10%
Socratic Seminars are worth 10%
Midterm is worth 10%
Final is worth 20%

The following scale will be used to evaluate your work:

A+ 100C+ 78F 59 and below
A 95C 75
A- 92C- 72

B+ 88D+ 68
B 85D 65
B- 82D- 62

Final grades will be calculated on the following scale:

A 90-100, B, 80-89, C 70-79, D 60-69, F 59 and below.


Late papers: All assignments must be handed in on time. Papers will be penalized one full letter grade per class day. Students with excused absences should see me concerning makeup work.

Re-envisions: You may revise (or re-envision) either essay if you’ve earned a B- or lower. I call in re-envisioning because you must do more than just fix typos or mechanical errors in your revision. When re-envisioning, you are reconsidering the shape of the essay, the argument you posed, and, in effect, overhauling the piece. To qualify for a re-envisioned grade, you must 1) conference with me in my office concerning your paper, and 2) attach a 500 word reflection to your essay, in which you describe your process of re-envisioning. What did you change? How did you approach composing differently? What makes your paper stronger now? There are firm due dates for re-envisions. Please note these on the syllabus.

Extra-credit essays: There will be two opportunities for extra-credit in this course. You may earn up to 10 points on each, which can be added to any one category of assessment in this class (essays, exams, etc.). It is a generous offer because the work is significant.

The first extra-credit essay asks you to read the short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville (pp 851 in Book 5 of your text), view the film Office Space, and compare both works to Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground (in your text).

The second extra-credit essay asks you to read The Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and compare to Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (in your text). Adichie’s novel is NOT in our textbook. If you think you’d like to do this extra-credit essay, make EARLY arrangements to get a hold of the novel.

There are firm due dates for the extra-credit assignments, so please consult the syllabus.

Accomodations for students with disabilities: Students who need accommodations are asked to arrange a meeting with me during office hours the first week of class or as soon as possible if accommodations are needed immediately. If you have a conflict with my office hours, an alternate time can be arranged. Bring a copy of your Accomodations Memo and an Instructor Verification Form to the meeting. If you do not have an Accomodation Memo but need accommodations, make an appointment with The Program for Students with Disabilities, 1244 Haley Center, 844-2096.

Email: You are expected to check your Auburn email account daily for updates and are responsible for any information relayed via email. I will answer email as soon as possible, but keep in mind that I may not check my account late at night.

Blog: I’ll post assignments, cool links, and other information for this course at http://www.plumsintheicebox.blogspot.com

Nondiscrimination policy: AU has a policy of nondiscrimination and a grievance procedure for those who feel that they have been victims of discrimination. Complaints should be addressed to the Office of Affirmative Action, Suite 13 in the Quad Center, 844-4794.



READINGS, ESSAYS AND EXAM SCHEDULE
(work due on the day listed)


TRAVEL NARRATIVES & THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES IN THE 1700’s

W-January 9 Course Introduction

F-January 11 Oroonoko pp 94-117

M-January 14 Oroonoko pp 118-140

W-January 16 Candide pp 275-290

F-January 18 Candide pp 291-312

M-January 21 Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday—No class

W-January 23 Candide pp 313-338

F-January 25 No class

M-January 28 “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” pp 483-498

W- January 30 24 “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” pp 498-516

F-February 1 The Love Suicides at Amijima pp 691-718

M-February 4 Socratic Seminar: What is LOVE (or Baby, don’t hurt me…)


THE 18th & 19th CENTURY: FIGHTING THE INNER DEMONS

W-February 6 Faust pp 29-58

F-February 8 Essay #1 due, Faust pp 58-78

M-February 11 Faust pp 79-107

W-February 13 Faust pp 107-137

F-February 15 Faust pp 138-162

M-February 18 Faust pp 162-178

W-February 20 The poetry of William Blake pp 208-235

F-February 22 Notes from Underground pp 468-490

M-February 25 Notes from Underground pp 490-540

W-February 27 The Death of Ivan Ilyich pp 623-639

F-February 29 The Death of Ivan Ilyich pp 639-662

M-March 3 The poetry of Emily Dickinson pp 911-918

W-March 5 First extra-credit essay due. Socratic Seminar: In what ways do these texts attempt to analyze the condition of the human psyche?

F-March 7 MIDTERM REVIEW

M-March 10 MIDTERM EXAM


OPPRESSION AND RESISTANCE IN THE 19th & 20th CENTURY

W-March 12 Re-envision of essay #1 due. The Fate of the Cockroach, pp 590-630

F-March 14 The Fate of the Cockroach, pp 630-647

March 17-21 Spring Break—No class (but be classy while on break )

M-March 24 The poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, pp 573-586

W-March 26 Things Fall Apart pp 1023-1042

F-March 28 Things Fall Apart pp 1042-1065

M-March 31 Things Fall Apart pp 1065-1085

W-April 2 Things Fall Apart pp 1085-1099

F-April 4 Things Fall Apart pp 1099-1112

M-April 7 “Lullaby” pp. 1333-1339 , “A Wife’s Story” pp. 1316-1326, “Children of the Sea” pp. 1398-1409

W-April 9 Essay #2 due. Socratic Seminar: What role does art play in promoting equity and justice?


ART AND MAGIC: 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY LATIN AMERICAN VOICES

F-April 11 Film: TBA

M-April 14 Film: TBA

W-April 16 “The Garden of Forking Paths” pp 652-659 (wrap up last ten minutes of film)

F-April 18 “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” pp 928-932

M-April 21 “The Prisoner of Las Lomas” pp 938-949

W-April 23 Re-envision of Essay #2 due. “The Prisoner of Las Lomas” pp 950-966

M-April 28 LAST DAY OF CLASSES. Second extra credit essay due. Socratic Seminar: What is the future of World Literature?

Wednesday, May 7th, FINAL EXAM, 9:00-11:30