Thank you for responding to the surveys carefully. Let me address a few of the comments:
1. The greatest concern was about the exam. We will discuss the format next week, but I want to remind you that you do not need to remember every writer and every concept for the exam. You will be given broad questions to answer and you can choose which specific writers and concepts to use. And I will give the questions for home study prior to the exam, so there will be no surprises. Maybe it helps to understand my philosophy of exams... I like to give students a "map" of the subject with many writers, concepts, historical background, philosophical dilemmas, etc. But I know it is impossible for you to know every area of the map in detail. So you can choose a couple of "areas of the map" that you find easier or more interesting, and concentrate your preparation in more detail there. Indeed if you were strongly familiar with 80% of the major concepts and 40% of the writers, I should think you'd do quite well on the exam. See the interior comment for further description, and feel free to reply, make suggestions, or ask further questions... it would help me fashion the exam.
2. I think the amount of reading and the class time will remain our areas of territorial conflict. I will always want more and you will always want less, and we will try to find a balance. But I do really like the suggestions to have fewer homework questions. I would like to have maybe 7 questions and 7 answers, and leave time for extra discussion or activity. This would also allow for more student participation in class. I'm just happy I have 22 or more weeks of the course remaining to find the right balance!
3. Another understandable area of resistance is the focus on political essays and speeches instead of fiction and poetry. I find this is necessary because it is too difficult to understand the 'pure' literature without proper contextual information (think of "Rip" or "Molineux" or "Big Bear" without it... they'd be total nonsense), and also because some of these 'non-fiction' documents are quite interesting from a literary standpoint (like Apess, Crevecouer, etc.). And, frankly, because they are shorter... we can't read too many novels or long poems in a class of this type. But I can say that the further we move forward in the chronology, the more we will read fiction and poetry. So you may find your satisfaction increasing in the coming months.
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I hope you don’t mind that I ask a further question about the exam here. I have seen the latest information about the exam (on the blog), as you say—“we can choose which specific writers and concepts to use.” Does it mean that if I am quite interested in the area of the map of “American Indians” like Red Jacket, Apess, and Black Hawk, then I can focus on their writings only for my preparation? Or to say can I just concentrate on reading, comparing and analyzing their writings and concepts, not to deal with other areas of map, for example, the alliance between “Winthrop, Bradford and Edwards,” “Crevecouer, Paine, Jefferson and Hamilton,” etc? Would you kindly inform me if the above direction is okay or not?
Thank you again for your energetic and brain-storming classes every week. I must admit that originally I am quite afraid and even dislike the so-called “literature of empire;” because comparing with British Literature, which is full of romantic poetries and verses and I enjoy them very much, the word “empire” always gives me a feeling of “hard studies” all the time. However, with the paces and guidance we have been through, so far I am not so resistant to the “empire materials” as I did before.
MY ANSWER:
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Thank you for your thoughtful question & comment.
1. I am going to change my blog entry to read "areas" of the map, because I don't think one area alone is sufficient. Let me also say that I envision "area" to be conceptual rather than restricted to writers from the same decade or the same ethnic group. I am going to now make some examples up 'from the top of my head,' so don't think these are official questions for the exam, OK? For instance, you could maybe answer one question about Columbus vs. Emerson vs. Black Hawk (like "concepts of nature"), and then answer another question about Bradford vs. Crevecouer vs. Thoreau (like "concepts of American political perfection"). That would be sufficient. Maybe another student would write about entirely different concepts and writers. For instance, Cooke vs. Franklin vs. Apess ("use of satire or sarcasm") for her first question and Winthrop vs. Edwards vs. Occam ("concepts of religion") for her second. Another student would write about Irving vs. Thorpe vs. Zitkala Sa ("use of narrative fiction") and Smith vs. Jefferson vs. Red Jacket ("concepts of liberty"). I won't decide for certain until next week, but you will answer either two 45 minute questions or three 30 minute questions, of this same "compare three authors" type. I will provide the concepts for comparison (perhaps 6-10 distinct questions you can choose from). You will choose the writers to compare, although I may restrict your choice somewhat. You will be required to choose different authors for each question, and as I said, each question will require a comparison across time periods or ethnic groups.
2. What do you suppose is actually going on in the British empire during the period that all that "romantic verse" is being written? Well the British are conquering the world, of course. So if you make a closer analysis of that poetry, you will find that it is usually: A) 屁 serving a conscious ideological function, B) 屁 serving an unconscious ideological function, of which "avoidance" or "erasure" of the imperial issue are principal types, or C) clever counter-ideological or anti-屁 writing that appears to take the form of standard writing about clouds and birds and so forth (Shelley!!!). Sorry to disillusion you.
I was thinking whether it was OK if the questions of the exam was in easier English, unlike the English in "The Declaration of Students' Opinions" haha!! It could probably save up more time for us to understand the questions and get going answering the questions. Thanks!! :D
ReplyDeleteTed, of course the exam will be in modern English. Ha ha. The Declaration was just 95% copied from Jefferson's 1776 original.
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