{"id":124,"date":"2008-03-22T20:00:42","date_gmt":"2008-03-22T20:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/?p=124"},"modified":"2010-05-08T20:01:23","modified_gmt":"2010-05-08T20:01:23","slug":"writing-assignments-for-modern-literature-class-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/writing-assignments-for-modern-literature-class-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing assignments for modern literature class"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tricia asked me to share the “interesting writing assignments” I mentioned in my earlier post about the literature class<\/a> I taught in conjunction with Gileskirk Modernity.<\/p>\n

Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n

* Poet Laureate Robert Southey wrote to Charlotte Bront\u00eb in 1837 that \u201cliterature cannot be the business of a woman\u2019s life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it.\u201d Read about Bront\u00eb\u2019s working habits on pp. 463-465 of the Norton Critical Edition of Jane Eyre<\/em>, then assess Southey\u2019s comment in light of that information. This is a great opportunity to express your opinion!<\/p>\n

* Read Elizabeth Rigby\u2019s scathing review of Jane Eyre<\/em> (Norton Critical Edition, pages 451-453). She asserts, \u201cAltogether the auto-biography of Jane Eyre is pre-eminently an anti-Christian composition.\u201d Do you agree or disagree with Rigby\u2019s criticisms, and why? Be specific, with examples from the text of the novel.<\/p>\n

* Write an alternate ending for Jane Eyre<\/em>.<\/p>\n

* Write an alternate ending for Great Expectations<\/em>.<\/p>\n

* Use the style of Ernest Hemingway to rewrite a scene from any other novel we\u2019ve read this year.<\/p>\n

* Read AND listen to William Faulkner\u2019s Nobel Prize acceptance speech:
\nhttp:\/\/nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/literature\/laureates\/1949\/faulkner-speech.html<\/a>
\nWriting assignment:\u00a0 Faulkner ends his speech with these words: \u201cThe poet\u2019s, the writer\u2019s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet\u2019s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.\u201d Do you agree or disagree with Faulkner\u2019s view of the role of the writer\/poet?\u00a0 Explain your position in a well-written essay.<\/p>\n

* Rewrite a scene from Ernest Hemingway\u2019s \u201cBig Two-Hearted River\u201d or The Old Man and the Sea<\/em> (or other Hemingway stories or novels you may have read on your own) in the style of William Faulkner. This will be more challenging than imitating Hemingway\u2019s style, but you can do it! Use your imagination and be creative.<\/p>\n

* Fitzgerald wanted The Great Gatsby<\/em> to be \u201cintricately patterned\u201d and a \u201cconsciously artistic achievement.\u201d As you read, pay close attention to the structure of the novel. Keep a chart documenting Jay Gatsby\u2019s life as you learn bits and pieces about him. Assess how the structure (the unfolding of plot and character) works.<\/p>\n

* Explain Eudora Welty\u2019s view of the role of place<\/strong> in fiction and use it to assess the role of place in one of the novels or stories we have read for literature class this year. (Major source for Welty\u2019s view is \u201cPlace in Fiction,\u201d but you may also refer to material from other Welty writings if you like.)<\/p>\n

* Explain Eudora Welty\u2019s view of the role of time<\/strong> in fiction and use it to assess the role of time in one of the novels or stories we have read for literature class this year. (Major source for Welty\u2019s view is \u201cSome Notes on Time in Fiction,\u201d but you may also refer to material from other Welty writings if you like.)<\/p>\n

The assignments to write alternate endings for novels we read and to rewrite one author’s work in the style of another author produced some fascinating results!<\/p>\n

Mary Jo Tate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tricia asked me to share the “interesting writing assignments” I mentioned in my earlier post about the literature class I taught in conjunction with Gileskirk Modernity. Here are a few examples: * Poet Laureate Robert Southey wrote to Charlotte Bront\u00eb in 1837 that \u201cliterature cannot be the business of a woman\u2019s life, and it ought … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eclectic-bibliophile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}