For Monday: Short Lecture on Colonialism and Mansfield

As a way to introduce you to some of the themes we'll be exploring with our last two books, I've recorded a short lecture (about 18 min.) that I would have discussed with you in class if we were still meeting. I know 18 minutes is a lot to watch in a single stretch, so feel free to start and stop, or simply leave it playing in the background. However, I think it will help you see and understand some of the larger ideas going on behind the scenes in Mansfield's stories. 

AFTER you watch the video, answer the following question as a COMMENT below: "Since many women in the early 19th century tried to hide their identity as a woman by adopting a male name, or writing more 'male' stories, how do you think colonial writers did the same? That is, how did they hide their colonial identity in writing to sound more 'English'? What might they have had to hide, or ignore, or not reveal as a writer? (This will count toward your participation grade, since I can no longer take roll or have you discuss the works in class).

BE SURE to read the first three Mansfield stories and answer the questions in the post below no later than Friday! E-mail me with any questions or concerns. Look forward to hearing from you! 

For Monday: Mansfield, "At the Bay," "The Garden Party," and "Daughters of the Late Colonel"

For Monday, I want you to slowly start reading some of Mansfield's short stories. The post above will give you some context about Mansfield's life and Colonialism, which is an important element of many of her stories. You can e-mail me these questions (at jgrasso@ecok.edu) at any time between now and Friday, but no later than Friday (since I'll give you a new set then).  

I know it's hard to come back after such a long break, especially since we're not really coming back; however, I'll do everything I can to make this last third of class engaging, even if it's somewhat lackluster not meeting face to face. Please e-mail me with any questions and concerns you have, and I'll be more than happy to respond. 

Answer two of the following:

Q1: As mentioned in my lecture (in the post above), the feeling of isolation is central to Mansfield's stories, even though none of the characters are truly alone. What seems to make these characters feel so isolated in society? Why can't they connect with the people around them, whether their own parents, or husbands, or even fellow human beings?

Q2: "The Daughters of the Late Colonel" is a particularly Wuthering Heights-esque story, particularly in its obsession with how the past haunts the present. How does the sisters' father seem to echo some of the personality and presence of Heathcliff? Why are they so in awe of him? What are they really afraid of?

Q3: In Claire Tomalin's biography of Mansfield (which I discuss in the lecture), she writes that "Katherine was quick to identify with servants in her writing, and to offer them special imaginative sympathy, although she grew up in a society in which the social division between maids and masters seemed absolute." Where do we see this sympathy in some of the stories, particularly "At the Bay"? 

Q4: The ending of the story, "The Garden Party," has mystified many people, as the author breaks off Laura's statement, "Isn't life..." What do you think she was going to say, or what do you think she was trying to express? Does her brother seem to understand her? Do we?  

Announcements for Starting Up Again

Welcome Back (Almost)! I know the class won't be the same as it was, but I do intend to keep reading along with you guys, and giving you questions, a few videos (see below), and one more paper assignment late in the semester. However, here are the changes I propose for the class going forward:

1. No more MWF classes. Instead, I'll give you two sets of readings/questions, one at the beginning of the week, and one at the end. So your Monday questions will be due on Friday, and your Friday the following Monday. The readings will follow roughly the same schedule as on the syllabus, except I'll cut the movie and the supplementary readings I had planned prior to Spring Break.

2. Once a week, I'll also post a short lecture (10-15 minutes, approx) along with a Powerpoint to either introduce historical context or highlight aspects of the reading. These are versions of what I would have otherwise done in class, just minus the great discussion.  I think it would be difficult to get everyone in class together to do a live chat, but at least this way, you can still hear me ramble about each work and say the word "interesting" a dozen times.

3. Each lecture will have its own post, and on the post, I'll ask you a short question based on the lecture. Respond to this question as a "comment" on the blog post (you shouldn't need to create an account to do this). Just click on "comments" on the bottom of the post and write your own. This will replace your Participation grade since you obviously won't be able to come to class and talk in any other way. 

4. PAPER #2 will be due no later than Friday, April 3rd. Please feel free to turn it in earlier. E-mail me a copy of the paper at jgrasso@ecok.edu. I'll e-mail it back to you with comments. 

PLEASE write me with any questions or concerns, and I'll be happy to help. The recorded lectures will be in Zoom, so if you want to chat, I can also open up a Zoom chat at any time, in lieu of coming to my office. I'll post the lecture on Colonialism and Katherine Mansfield in a day or two, so be sure to watch it and respond with your comment (okay, it's 17 minutes long, but that's better than 50 minutes, right?) 

Hope everyone is doing okay and I look forward to reading your work again! I miss our class and hope that we can all have a face-to-face class together again soon, if only in the Fall semester.

--Joshua Grasso

Class is Scheduled for this Friday, but after that... (see below)

Note that we DO have class tomorrow, March 13th, which is our last face-to-face class for some time.

Spring Break is next week, and then the President decided to extend Spring Break for an additional week. Classes will resume on the 30th but only on an on-line basis, meaning I can only conduct class via our blog. We'll talk more about what this means tomorrow, and of course I'll keep you updated on the blog itself. If you have any questions, just e-mail me any time.

So we'll keep going, keep reading and doing questions, and I'll try to give you my insights on the works we read, but without our wonderful class discussions (and this class has been truly spectacular in this regard--the best British Lit class I've had in years, or maybe ever). I'll miss talking to you guys more than you know, but at least I can still read your responses and eventually, your paper assignments.

The Paper #2 assignment will be moved back until the double Spring Break is over, obviously. More about that tomorrow. 

See you then, hopefully! If you can't make it on Friday, check the blog soon for more information. 

For Monday: Bronte, Wuthering Heights (last questions!), Chs.8-14

Did you know that Voldemort (Ralph Finnes) once played Heathcliff?? 

NOTE: We'll spent two more days on the novel, but these will be the last questions I'll give you. Be sure to finish the novel, or get pretty close, by Wednesday. We'll have another in-class response to round it off then. 

Answer two of the following: 

Q1: How does Linton’s character emerge in these chapters?  Is he another poor victim of Heathcliff’s tyranny?  Or a tyrannous, selfish character himself?  How do Nelly and Cathy respond to him?

Q2: Does Nelly become more ‘reliable’ in these chapters as a narrator?  Does she have more flashes of self awareness—or at least a sense of her own role in the story (rather as the mute observer she would often claim to be)?  Do you find yourself agreeing with her more?  Being less suspicious of her? 

Q3: Heathcliff emerges more as a Gothic villain than ever in these chapters.  How do we read his transformation?  Has he been this way all along, or is Nelly playing to her audience (Lockwood)?  Do these passages of Heathcliff ring true to you?

Q4: Consider the elaborate ‘doublings’ or echoes that occur in the book, with the new generation emulating the old.  Why is Heathcliff so intent on creating a new Heathcliff (Hareton) and a new Catherine/Edgar (Cathy/Linton) marriage?  On a larger level, why might Bronte have created this mirror-like world?  How can we read the characters through their previous (or subsequent) “others”? 

For Friday: Bronte, Wuthering Heights, Chs.4-7 (or 18-21)

Answer TWO of the following…

Q1: How does Nelly’s relationship with the second Catherine develop?  Also, how does she characterize her throughout these chapters?  Is she ‘better’ than the previous Catherine?  Worse?  What traits or similarities does Nelly try to impress upon the reader?  

Q2: Where do you see any narrative ‘slips’ by Nelly in these passages?  Playing on the idea that she is less narrating history than writing it, where do you see her ‘writing’ rather than narrating the story?  In other words, where do you see what she says at odds with what might actually be happening—or what others directly say is happening? 

Q3: Discuss Heathcliff’s motives in these chapters: why does he insist on taking Linton back, and why does he instigate a romance between Linton and Catherine?  We know why Nelly thinks he is…but is she right?  Is the only motive for this a nefarious one? 

Q4: The first Catherine once called Nelly “my hidden enemy—you witch!” (1.12.117). How does the second Catherine come to see and ‘read’ Nelly?  Does she trust her as implicitly as her mother did?  Does she discern any ‘cracks’ in her guardianship? 

Paper #2: Exiles of Experience

“But supposing at twelve years old, I had been wrenched from the Heights, and every early association, and my all in all, as Heathcliff was at that time, and had been converted at a stroke into Mrs. Linton, the lady of Thrushcross Grange, and the wife of a stranger; an exile, and outcast, thenceforth, from what had been my world—You may fancy a glimpse of the abyss where I groveled!...Why am I so changed?” (Vol.1, Chapter XII).

INTRO: In both Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights, the idea of innocence vs. experience is at play, where characters are thrown into an awareness of the horrors of adulthood (death, sexuality, brutality, marriage, sin, class, etc.) without a proper parental figure guiding them through the ritual. As a result, characters are constantly “exiled” from their youth and their childish selves, becoming split in two, until they scarcely even recognize themselves. Why do you think both Shelley and Brontë are so obsessed by this theme? Why are so many of the characters, from Victor, Elizabeth, the Creature, Cathy (both of them!), Heathcliff, and Isabella constantly at war with who they were—and where they belong?

Q: For your second paper, I want you to discuss characters in both books who seem to be struggling with the same sense of division. What makes them split apart? What aspect of experience makes them lose their ‘innocent’ self, and why can’t they reclaim it? How is the transition like Blake’s “The Garden of Love,” where children are forbidden to return to a garden which is now “bound with briars” by priests wearing dark robes? Also, what role do the parental figures—or lack thereof—play in their transformation? Why does something like love become evil to them, or the people they love become monsters? Or why do they become monsters to themselves? Consider, too, that women are writing both of these works, so there must be an element of autobiography here; perhaps both works are metaphors for their own isolation and exile?

REQUIREMENTS

* Discuss at least 1-2 characters from each book that are united by a common theme of innocence vs. experience (your choice)

* Quote from each book and discuss the connections between the characters

* Use MLA format throughout: when introducing a book/passage, be sure to introduce the quote, cite it, and respond to the quotation  (why you used it or why it’s relevant to your discussion).

* At least 4-5 pages double spaced

DUE Wednesday, March 25^th by 5pm [we have class that day!]

For Wednesday: Bronte, Wuthering Heights, Chs.12-Book Two, Chapter 3 (or 16)

NOTE: No questions this time, though we'll have an in-class response question when you arrive. Read as much as you can, and as you read, consider whether Nelly is the true ‘villain’ behind the plot of Wuthering Heights. This is not to say that either Heathcliff or Catherine are ‘good,’ since they might be quite amoral or villainous in their own right. However, can we argue that Nelly creates the tragedy for many of the characters in Chapters 12-17?  Even if you don’t completely agree with this, where might you see Nelly acting behind the scenes, or willfully misleading the characters and/or the reader? 

Happy reading! :)