Gone To Look For America

Maybe I will look here first?

Oh, and nobody wants to waste the summer reading Norton Anthologies, but may I recommend the following?

-Toni Morrison, Beloved (novel)
-David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest (novel)
-Nassim Taleb, The Black Swan (finance/philosophy)
-The Wire (television drama)
-Arrested Development (television comedy)

因為這裡我的招聘者會看, 所以我必須寫這個郵件使用秘密代碼. 我稱之為"中文." 妳們都太火辣和太聰明.（你們也是.）我給妳們我所有的愛和最良好的祝愿美好的生活！

Exam lowlights/highlights

Note for Late Finishers: Intense deadline pressure is the biggest risk factor for plagiarism. I mention this because I have already read three answers on this exam that relied on unattributed direct quotation of internet sources. Seriously, I taught American students for six years... I'm like Sherlock Holmes for this. Don't spoil all of the goodwill from last week. If you think a source is interesting, cite it and make a comment about it.

A Happier Note: I've read about half of the exams now, and here are the two best answers so far...

Question 15: American’s cultural imperialism sells their value, perspective and attitude successfully to most countries. And it is clear that Taiwan has been severely affected by American pop culture, especially movie. Some ideas and words in Taiwanese have exactly the same meaning in America. For example, “a civilized country” should have a democratic government which cares about people’s human rights, well-developed technology and free market economy. In addition, Taiwanese tend to see the world through American’s eyes. We accept the way how American interprets the world include many kind of stereotype toward other countries. So we want to jump out from the framework that America gives us; people start to believe United States is an evil empire who wants to take all sources of petroleum under control. However, I jumped into the framework and study it in American Literature class; it’s quite interesting for me to observe Taiwanese culture through American’s viewpoint.

In this course, I found out the condition of Taiwanese aboriginal and Native American is quiet similar. However, it seems Native American is an important issue in American literature; however, aboriginal literature hasn’t been mentioned a lot in our literature class in Taiwan. It makes me start to perceive the relationship between Han groups and aboriginal who either had been forced to live in mountains or assimilated with Han groups. Taiwanese aboriginals group are very inferior because their tribes are usually small and distant after the oppression of new comer. A single tribe is hard to arouse attention, but it’s hard for them to connect together. In Taiwan’s media, the reports related to Native Taiwanese are usually about their Harvest Festival, accident caused by drunk or aboriginal athletic star. These images of aboriginal enhance our stereotype of them; and they might also fit themselves into the frame and miss other kinds of possibilities. Their distinct culture is losing; nevertheless, government assigns ministry of tourism instead of ministry of culture to provide them aid and help them promote their festival and dancing which is just the surface not the core of their culture. In the end, everyone can join their celebration ceremony and pretend that we understand aboriginal culture profoundly.

There are some aboriginal writers publish their works after Taiwanese aboriginal literature start to prevail around 1980 with the native movement. They express their feeling of double-consciousness and contradiction in their work like Native American writers. But I want to discuss how authors in Han group present aboriginal characters. Despite few authors who can point out struggle and difficulties that aboriginal face throughout the history, we can divide aboriginal characters into three types in most stories. First of all, the descriptions of Taiwanese aboriginals recorded by Han people during the Ching dynasty are usually savage and brutal as the image of American Indian in prior literature work about American frontier. Second one is similar to the concept of Emerson’s noble savage. The story, which might appear in children’s or teenager’s book, is usually related to aboriginal legend, love or friendship between Han people and aboriginals. And they live happily after in the tribe. The other one appears in novels of late 20^th century and the very beginning of 21 ^th century. These stories usually talk about the success of aboriginals in Han society; and the characters are usually Han-lization. They try to integrate with Han groups and totally accept and appreciate the value in Han society. I think these writers simplify the process of integration as government and create an ideal condition despite those complicated problems of aboriginals. In other words, the real life of aboriginal is not in their concerned, because they try to understand aboriginal through the aspect of Han. The difference between ethnic has been deliberately ignored in those novels, and the author just depict an imaginary perfect society of Taiwan.

In the course, I learned one event could have multiple features when you stand on different aspect. After reading essays of American minority groups, I figured out that most people in Taiwan seldom mind the problems or dilemma of aboriginals. We judge them by the impression given by the mass media and feel reluctant to face their misery which might cause by our ancestors. Fortunately, people pay more attention on the issue of preserving aboriginal culture in recent years. Aboriginals also start to speak out for themselves through writing, music or politics. Some of them or scholars try to rebuild aboriginal language system and traditional custom. Taiwanese of majority Han groups should care more about our land and other ethnic groups; or they will mournfully looking at their culture swallowing by the mainstream culture before we notice.

Question 4:

A BAND

A band is a band but not a band. No rubber, no drum, no noisy rectangle stuck in the broken palm. No color was seen. What does it want if the pride no longer necessary. A band is everything.

A MOUTHFUL OF MUSIC

White words against dark black color.

Speakers upon dusty table. A man, a woman, and a group of people.

The tenderness along the pages frightens the motion of fingers, and in the corner hides the wall that shakes the late night air in the sleepless city. How about a drink. Loneliness in plural form makes cheerful singularity, and what if imagination is a crime, what if nothing breaks the regularity. Will the jazz still be humble and will the blues still be red. Red is not a color but a jumping wide.

A piece of metal strikes. There, there is nothing neglected, not a blissful wedding more triumphant than a growing melody. Step forward step forward toward the edge where everything falls.

This is not for you, but please and please not talk to when.

This is so not this.

A SEDUCING PILLOW

A bowl is larger than a pounding fist, and it is necessary to hold onto the petals that dance like the girls in front of the pond that rains.

A mountain is shoveled with a pair of pants. To be a glass of ocean even to smell beautiful is no simple task. A quiet sleeper suffers immensely from the insomnia, a flock of sheep was kept for the volcano and the thick island is all that one can see.

GREEN TEA

Green tea means does it my dream it means temporality. A sucker and a lamp and a pair of scissors mean no more than the less it means morality, morality is sometimes that does false.

Green tea is not only green but even strong in its tenderness. A few changes have been conducted, lie to anything that is relevant and anything not meaning but changing.

OLD BOY

Violence has been beautified. If the window was not broken, if the secret was not told, if the river was dry. The scene would be less bloody and more delighted, if the climax comes lower is good, scarcely any difference. Save one bite for dinner.

A green sweater and a narrow escape from the pineapple.

Awake, as how it should be ended should be ended. Press the button, no need to be hard, but slightly touch and let out the fancy light. What lies beneath, what lies beneath is the ugly truth that stands between the CD covers that is all white, all white and blind.

Brownie is not made of cats. The boots and the scarves and the lollipops are close and close enough. Tissue is another kind of extravagance, and the color of the tongue is round and round as the most obvious icon on the table. No need to be careful.

MOBILE PHONES

Two makes none. A singing joy tumbles in front of a bed. What is called language is dear to me. The tiger speaks finer English, finer and finer English.

A TOILET

A channel, an ivory white, a dirt, a wondering mind.

EYE SHADOW

It was in the drawer, eye shadow in the drawer. Humid smell expresses a sense of responsibility. Spoil it, spoil it, and no regret until the cockroaches meet next to next to the practical money. The second best thing is to cut the decision without a piece of tragic hesitation.

No comedy provided, and a little little little good is no less less fun than a rainy dog or cat.

No nonsense is being handed that a smirk is a dandy. If a clock walks high, if a coin drops dead, if a pill book wine, then no friend will be browsing. A mustache upon sings, making a plastic machine, making a dreadful sound of it.

謝謝你們!（或謝謝妳們?)

I had a wonderful time at your graduation ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday, and at the Pynchon seminar on Tuesday. I don't know how you're able to maintain your focus for exams during this (post-)celebration week, but I definitely look forward to reading them.

Also, OMG, the most interesting thing happened in my home state of South Carolina. Pynchonites will love the various conspiracy theories here; the others may consider the race-relations angle... My take on this Wikipedia rundown of possible explanations... why is it somehow the least plausible explanation of this electoral result, that black voters in a party primary for a state election their party cannot possibly win, would choose to send a message to their party's establishment candidate (who is an unpopular jerk) by going to the polls and choosing, in effect, "none of the above"? But no, I suppose it would take fictional Portuguese people to think of something like that.

Homework for Class #29 (Tuesday, 6月8日）

Note: I didn't realize how many of those "urban/industrial" homework answers were written late last night or early this morning. I will make a new post to comment on them (and the pastoral homework) on Thursday. Whoomp, it shall be here!

I imagine this exam to be much like last semester's final exam. I will provide a range of possible questions with the expectation that most students will choose to answer three of them at a length of roughly 500 words each (250 minimum, 750 maximum). So the total for the exam would then be roughly 1500 words (1000 minimum, 2000 maximum).

You can begin to personalize the exam by offering possible questions to add to this list; others may want to answer them as well. Some of you also expressed interest in writing a 1500 word essay to replace the entire exam. And I have already offered to replace 1/3 of the exam (i.e. one question) for taking part in the Pynchon seminar and helping to prepare some materials for the other participants.

For all questions, please remember to reference and analyze specific authors or texts. I don't always note this below, but it's a general recommendation.

GENRES

1) Make a detailed comparison between three texts that you consider to be 'pastoral' in their genre or theme. At least two should be from the American Literature course. A large part of the question is obviously to define what you mean by 'pastoral.' And of course it would be best to choose texts that present intriguing contrasts. (Note: don't answer both #1 and #2 as they're too similar.)

2) Make a detailed comparison between three texts that you consider to be 'industrial' or 'urban' in their genre or theme. A large part of the question is obviously to define what you mean by 'industrial' or 'urban.' And of course it would be best to choose texts that present intriguing contrasts. (Note: don't answer both #1 and #2 as they're too similar.)

3) Make a "lesson plan" for the missing session on American 'gothic.' Explain what themes you would emphasize, what questions you would ask, how you would connect to previous course concepts, what exercises might be helpful, etc. (My suggested texts would be Poe's "Ligeia" and "Imp of the Perverse," Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," and David Foster Wallace's "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men"... but you could substitute others. Incidentally, please e-mail me and I can help you find the Wallace stories.)

4) Write a parody, imitation, or homage in the style of one of this semester's authors. (Applied to a new topic, probably.)

CROSS-HISTORICAL COMPARISONS

5) Pick a member of a certain group we studied in the first semester, then explain what he/she would think of two later (i.e. second semester) texts written by members of that same school or group. You can write in essay form or dialogue form. The most obvious examples are African-Americans and American Indians. But you could also consider using, say, Jose Marti along with Alvarez and Anzaldua. Or you could define a geographical grouping (New York city, Boston, the southeast, the west, etc.) Or a particular social class or profession. Or writers who all respond to a similar theme, or use a similar genre. Or some other type of group. (I suppose we studied most of the women in the second semester, so in that case just pick one 19th-century woman and two 20th-century women.) The one rule here is that you probably shouldn't write about Kingston, considering we gave her so much attention already.

6) Suppose you are teaching a class similar to this one. But the scope of the class is smaller (say, one semester). And the level is a bit lower (say final year of high school, or first or second year of university). How would you organize the syllabus? What texts would you choose, and why? What theme(s) would the course have? Why?

UNEXPLORED THEMES

7) An answer about literary representations of homosexuality would work; in particular I have been wondering how such representations relate to theories of American authorship, though one could ask the same for gender in general. (Note that it would be inadequate simply point out that certain authors are homosexual, and that this somehow influenced their writing.)

8) An answer about the central role that World War II plays in American literature/culture/ideology in the post-1945 era, and the different meanings it carries for different writers. It would also be possible to pose some kind of comparison to the earlier role of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Or I suppose this could be a more general answer about representations of war or military themes.

9) The influence of film on 20th/21st century American literary technique... Another version of this answer would be to explore the thematic relationship between American literature and American pop culture by citing particular texts we've analyzed.

10) Develop one of the class presentations further. The easiest way to do this would be to somehow challenge or complicate the interpretations that were presented.

11) Give a close analysis reading of one of the 'forgotten authors' or forgotten texts that were assigned for homework but never found great emphasis in our class discussion.

BROAD QUESTIONS

These are all somewhat similar, so perhaps choose just one.

12) Make a defense of American style liberalism, in response to the many questions and challenges to it raised by me as well as many of the authors we've read. It would help to cite particular authors and concepts, lest your essay fall victim to over-generalization.

13) Challenge my idea of American 'empire' somehow. Perhaps you see the pre-20th century U.S. as too decentralized to be an empire. Perhaps you see the 20th/21st century U.S. as too pluralistic or diverse to be an empire.

14) Explain the challenges of creating a national identity that is both inclusive/pluralistic and somehow unified. What about the challenge of memorializing histories of conflict between resident groups? Is such a project impossible? Is it even desirable?

15) Explain to another Taiwanese citizen what new insight your study of American literature has given you about literature/culture/politics in Taiwan. In other words, teach them how to apply what you learned. (This isn't the same as last semester's "why study it?" question. Now we assume that it's worth studying, and you need to explain more specifically how you would apply it.)

MORE TO COME!

Homework for Class #28 (Tuesday, 6月1日）

Read: "Howl" (2592-2600) and Ginsberg biography (2590-92)
Read: "For the Union Dead" (2535-2537) and Lowell biography (2526-2529)
Read: "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids" (HTML copy here, PDF scan from the original magazine article here, and there are already several photocopies in the blue basket but the TA will make more) and Melville biography (1089-92)

And the final presentations by Lucille, Tady, and Caleigh/Letitia/Esther!

185 (Crystal). What would Walt Whitman say about "Howl"? Try to note some things he might like and some he might not like, or maybe some things that might surprise him.
186 (Joy, Teresa). Compare the poetic technique of "Howl" to the poetic technique of "For the Union Dead." Be as specific as possible.
187 (Viola, Caleigh). Compare the symbolic meaning of male homosexual love in "Song of Myself," "Howl," and "Paradise/Tartarus." (In other words, it functions as some kind of symbol in each, but its meaning differs greatly.) Given our earlier discussions about gender roles, you may consider that it relates somehow to the idea of authorship or authorial identity.
188 (Zoe, Ken). As you can see, Melville's story was first published in Harper's magazine in 1855. This magazine is still published in the U.S., so imagine you are the current editor. You need to choose one of the living authors we've read and explain how you want him/her to write an updated version; it should retain the same core themes but also reflect our lives in 2010.

Grades for the essay have now been e-mailed. I do apologize for the delay... I believe this is the longest I've ever held an essay in my 7 years of teaching! I should also confess that I find it rather strange to give essay grades as percentages. The American system uses letter grades (A, A-, B+, B, B- and so on)... the percentages perhaps give a false sense of accuracy. I believe my grades are not subjective in the sense of "arbitrary"; each essay is properly ranked within the set on a number of central criteria. I focus mainly on the ability to articulate, develop, and organize a specific thesis. (I hardly commented on English usage... if you have a specific question for how to use a certain construction, please feel free to ask.) But it is still a difficult judgment, so I think it would be more honest to admit an error range of something like 2 or 3 percent. Would that even be a "grade," so to speak? Anyhow perhaps this does not concern you, because I am told that my scale is quite high for NTHU! For this assignment the average score was about 83%. I think it was well deserved; I have been impressed all along with both your talent and your effort, and this was no exception.

Oh, and the presentations have been graded too. Except the ones going on Tuesday. The average for that has been something like 86% or 87%.

Homework for Class #27 (Tuesday, 5月25日）

Read: Thoreau, Walden (the chapter I want is not in the anthology, so you can read here online... my assistant put paper copies for all of you in the basket in front of my office door)... and review his biography (825-29)
Read: Whitman, "Song of Myself" (read the following stanzas from pages pages 1011-55: 1-26, 31, 33-34, 37-39, 41-44, 48-52) and biography (991-95)

Reminder: Please make your post reviewing pastoral strategies in one previous author, as indicated in class last week.

[More Arizona turmoil]

No homework questions, but please be prepared to discuss.

Class will meet on the grassy area in front of the main auditorium... we could also sit on the steps. It depends something on the level of "pastoralism" you desire. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Homework for Class #26 (Tuesday, 5月18日）

Read: Chesnutt, "The Goophered Grapevine" (here for printable PDF, or here for web version)... and review the author's biography on Norton 1638-39
Read: Jewett, biography and "A White Heron" (1590-98)
Read: Cheever, biography and "The Swimmer" (2408-17). I am moving Faulkner to 6月8日 and deleting O'Connor again.
Read: Bishop, biography and "The Fish" (2398-2401)

178 (Carol). Briefly summarize what you have learned from previous classes about pastoral genres of writing, or summarize what you learned about a particular pastoral text. (I am using the term quite generally to include any kind of contemplation of natural or artificial landscapes, in poetry or prose. Or even just writing that has a rural or village setting.)
179 (Viola). Choose one of the authors from this list, and explain how and why they use a pastoral setting: Columbus, Champlain, Smith, Cooke, Crevecouer, Jefferson, Freneau, Irving, Detroit, Tecumseh, Thorpe, Emerson, Black Hawk, Zitkala Sa, Roosevelt, Stevens, Wright, Momaday, Silko, Harjo, Lee
180 (Zoe). Choose a different author from the list in #179 and answer.
181 (Joy). Like Dunbar's "Ante-Bellum Sermon," there is a kind of triple layering of irony in "The Goophered Grapevine." In the first layer, there are ignorant slaves living on a nostalgic, pre-1865 Southern plantation. In the second layer, it begins to appear that the slaves have a clever way of outwitting their master... but we could find that idea even in the racist Joel Chandler Harris "Uncle Remus" stories that formed the basis of the Disney "Song of the South" cartoon I showed you. So analyze the all-important third layer, which is the "1887" layer... how does Chesnutt depict Julius the storyteller and his transplanted Northern capitalist employer? How might this relate to Chesnutt's relationship to the (white) reading audience?
182 (Lucille). If there is a symmetry between the 'interior' and 'exterior' situation of Chesnutt's text, there is perhaps an asymmetry between the 'interior' and 'exterior' situation of Jewett's text. To give you a sense of what I mean, answer this... who do you imagine Jewett's original reading audience to be, and what do you suppose are their motivations for being interested in stories like "The White Heron"?
183 (Winnie). Based on "The Swimmer," do you agree with Norton that Cheever isn't a great writer, and that his work is "firmly resistant to ideas"? I'm of two minds - I think the metaphor of "The Swimmer" is one of the most striking and memorable in all of American Literature, but I'm not quite sure what it's a metaphor for. I always mistake "county" for "country" in the story... is this elision warranted?
184. (Meg). Bishop's poetry does not lend itself very easily to the type of analysis we've used in this class, which is mainly ideological or sociological. (I suppose the "wise" fish could suggest something about the mind's capability to incorporate experiences, even disruptive or traumatic ones, into an organic whole of memory or history? I'm not sure.) So in this question I invite you to make any observation/analysis about "The Fish" that you like, or to compare Bishop to another of our authors.

Random Ethno-Cultural Note: Someone just pointed out to me that of the 9 officers in the U.S. "supreme court," 3 are now from Jewish families and the other 6 from Catholic families. (I don't know their actual religious practices, ha ha.) This says a lot about the expansion of "white" that occurred in the past 100 years. The question is, will this category expand further? To whom? Will it cease to be meaningful? Or will it contract?