everything.study
21W.734

Writing About Literature

Undergraduate · Historical course

Fall 2010

Students, scholars, bloggers, reviewers, fans, and book-group members write about literature, but so do authors themselves. Through the ways they engage with their own texts and those of other artists, sampling, remixing, and rethinking texts and genres, writers reflect on and inspire questions about the creative process. We will examine Mary Shelley's reshaping of Milton's _Paradise Lost_, German fairy tales, tales of scientific discovery, and her husband's poems to make _Frankenstein_ (1818, 1831); Melville's redesign of a travel narrative into a Gothic novella in _Benito Cereno_ (1856); and Alison Bechdel's rewriting of Oscar Wilde's _The Importance of Being Earnest_ (1895) in her graphic novel _Fun Home_ (2006). Showings of film versions of some of these works will allow us to project forward in the remixing process as well.

Readings

  • Shelley, M. S. Frankenstein . New York, NY: Norton, 1995. ISBN: 9780393964585.
    Listed reading
  • Melville, H. Benito Cereno . Boston, MA: Bedford/Saint Martin’s, 2006. ISBN: 9780312452421.
    Listed reading
  • Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic . Boston, MA: Mariner’s Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780618871711.
    Listed reading
  • Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest, and Other Plays . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780199535972.
    Listed reading
  • 2 · Shelley, M. S. Frankenstein . Preface, and preface to 1831 edition. Vol. I. New York, NY: Norton, 1995. ISBN: 9780393964585.
    Listed reading
  • 3 · Shelley, M. S. Frankenstein . Vol. II. New York, NY: Norton, 1995. ISBN: 9780393964585.
    Listed reading
  • 4 · Shelley, M. S. Frankenstein . Vol. III. New York, NY: Norton, 1995. ISBN: 9780393964585.
    Listed reading
  • Sources and Contexts for Frankenstein : Reports (5 minutes) on Prometheus Myth (Hesiod’s Theogony, Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound), Scientists (Erasmus Darwin, Luigi Galvani, Humphrey Davy), and Explorers (James Cook).
    Listed reading
  • Sources and Contexts for Frankenstein : Reports on Creature’s reading list (Plutarch’s Lives, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther).
    Listed reading
  • Sources and Contexts for Frankenstein : Reports on Romantic Poets (Shelley, Byron, Coleridge) and the Sublime (Burke).
    Listed reading
  • Sources and Contexts for Frankenstein : Philosophy (John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft).
    Listed reading
  • Frankenstein Adaptations: Early Silent Film
    Listed reading
  • Branagh, Kenneth. Frankenstein . 1994 ↗
    Listed reading
  • Frankenstein Adaptations: Early Silent Film (cont.)
    Listed reading
  • 16 · Melville, H. Benito Cereno . Boston, MA: Bedford/Saint Martin’s, 2006. ISBN: 9780312452421.
    Listed reading
  • 17 · Melville, H. Benito Cereno . Boston, MA: Bedford/Saint Martin’s, 2006. ISBN:9780312452421. (cont.)
    Listed reading
  • 18 · Melville, H. Benito Cereno . Boston, MA: Bedford/Saint Martin’s, 2006. ISBN: 9780312452421. (cont.)
    Listed reading
  • 21 · Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest, and Other Plays . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780199535972.
    Listed reading
  • Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest, and Other Plays . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780199535972. (cont.)
    Listed reading
  • Parker, Oliver. The Importance of Being Earnest . 2002 ↗
    Listed reading
  • 23 · Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home . Boston, MA: Mariner’s Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780618871711.
    Listed reading
  • 24 · Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home . Boston, MA: Mariner’s Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780618871711. (cont.)
    Listed reading
  • Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home . Boston, MA: Mariner’s Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780618871711.
    Listed reading
Fall 2010 · Writing with Shakespeare

Topics

  • Introducing ourselves, our subject, and our voices.
  • Sharing of speeches and written assessments; introductory peer mentoring.
  • Discussion and scene work based on Much Ado , acts 1 and 2.
  • Branagh, Kenneth. Much Ado About Nothing . (1993).
  • Group analysis of visual clips.
  • Discussion of Othello, focusing on scenes from acts 1-3.
  • Discussion of Othello across cultures, based on online resources and your responses.
  • Our Othello mini-conference.
  • Continued discussion of Henry IV, Part I, including debate; Return Othello essay to partner with your own critique.
  • Discussion of the live performance of Henry IV.
  • Presentations based on the historical material.
  • Begin reading your assigned play together, develop a group plan.
  • Come to class ready to discuss your play and initiate research.
  • Work on annotated bibliography and your scene work.
  • Final group work and rehearsal day.
  • Henry V.
  • Coriolanus.
  • The Winter’s Tale.
  • Post-performance post mortem; Presentation of insights based on your long essays.
  • Thinking back, thinking ahead.

Readings

  • Lunsford, Andrea A. Easy Writer with 2009 MLA Update: A Pocket Reference . Boston, MA: Bedford/Saint Martin’s, 2009. ISBN: 9780312594596.
    Listed reading
  • Shakespeare, William. Much Ado about Nothing . New York, NY: Arden Shakespeare, 2005. ISBN: 9781903436837.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Othello (Pelican Shakespeare) . New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2001. ISBN: 9780140714630.
    Listed reading
  • ———. The First Part of King Henry the Fourth: Texts and Contexts . Boston, MA: Bedford/Saint Martin’s, 1997. ISBN: 9780312134020.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Henry V . New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1998. ISBN: 9780451526908.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Coriolanus . New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1998. ISBN: 9780451528438.
    Listed reading
  • ———. The Winter’s Tale . New York, NY: Modern Library, 2009. ISBN: 9780812969191.
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 1 · READINGS: Monologues by Hamlet, Shylock, Portia, Viola, Rosalind, King Lear, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra. Selected sonnets.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 2 · READINGS: Monologues by Hamlet, Shylock, Portia, Viola, Rosalind, King Lear, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra. Selected sonnets. (cont.)
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 3 · READINGS: Continuation of work on texts assigned in Ses #1 and 2, adding surrounding dialogue. More selected sonnets.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 4 · READINGS: Shakespeare, William. Much Ado about Nothing . New York, NY: Arden Shakespeare, 2005. ISBN: 9781903436837.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 9 · READINGS: Shakespeare, William. Othello (Pelican Shakespeare) . New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2001. ISBN: 9780140714630.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 10 · READINGS: Shakespeare, William. Othello (Pelican Shakespeare) . New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2001. ISBN: 9780140714630. (cont.)
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 11 · READINGS: Critical essays on Othello
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 12 · READINGS: Critical essays on Othello (cont.)
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 13 · READINGS: Shakespeare, William. The First Part of King Henry the Fourth: Texts and Contexts . Boston, MA: Bedford/Saint Martin’s, 1997. ISBN: 9780312134020.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 15 · READINGS: Historical documents pertinent to Henry IV
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 16 · READINGS: Historical documents pertinent to Henry IV (cont.)
    Reading assignment
  • Shakespeare, William. Henry V . New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1998. ISBN: 9780451526908.
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 18 · READINGS: Criticism and context on your assigned plays. Your selected scenes for performance.
    Reading assignment
Sources