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 Brontë in 1837 that “literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it.” Read about Brontë’s working habits on pp. 463-465 of the Norton Critical Edition of Jane Eyre, then assess Southey’s comment in light of that information. This is a great opportunity to express your opinion!
* Read Elizabeth Rigby’s scathing review of Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Edition, pages 451-453). She asserts, “Altogether the auto-biography of Jane Eyre is pre-eminently an anti-Christian composition.” Do you agree or disagree with Rigby’s criticisms, and why? Be specific, with examples from the text of the novel.
* Write an alternate ending for Jane Eyre.
* Write an alternate ending for Great Expectations.
* Use the style of Ernest Hemingway to rewrite a scene from any other novel we’ve read this year.
* Read AND listen to William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-speech.html
Writing assignment: Faulkner ends his speech with these words: “The poet’s, the writer’s, 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’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.” Do you agree or disagree with Faulkner’s view of the role of the writer/poet? Explain your position in a well-written essay.
* Rewrite a scene from Ernest Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River” or The Old Man and the Sea (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’s style, but you can do it! Use your imagination and be creative.
* Fitzgerald wanted The Great Gatsby to be “intricately patterned” and a “consciously artistic achievement.” As you read, pay close attention to the structure of the novel. Keep a chart documenting Jay Gatsby’s life as you learn bits and pieces about him. Assess how the structure (the unfolding of plot and character) works.
* Explain Eudora Welty’s view of the role of place 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’s view is “Place in Fiction,” but you may also refer to material from other Welty writings if you like.)
* Explain Eudora Welty’s view of the role of time 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’s view is “Some Notes on Time in Fiction,” but you may also refer to material from other Welty writings if you like.)
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!
Mary Jo Tate