Class Notes- 4/20/2010

mkarol pointed out that these stories have attached to them pictures.

-       For Thursday’s class we are watching episode 14 of the current/6th season of House, M.D., which is about a blogger that gets sick. Her medical decisions are effected by the fact that she is a blogger.

-       Anne: Start thinking about the relevance of ‘form’…”How well might 1001 Nights work as ancestor to the t.v. serial? Given the cultural context, what do you notice about the GENRE?”

-       Anne: For next Thursday you need to have a final presentation.
*We discuss what the performance is supposed to be about. It is a free assignment, a chance to share with everyone else what you have found most important in the class. You should self-organize yourself into groups. Next Tuesday a sign-up sheet is going around for groups.

-       Anne: One of the things that was very striking to me in your reports of what you read was how little attention almost all of you paid to what edition and what editor you read. I think one of the things we have to be more careful about when accessing our texts online is knowing where these texts are coming from.

-       Anne: How do we talk about world literature? Is it more or less important to identify the author, translator, time etc.? Does this matter in your reception of what’s going on in the tale; should it matter?

-       rachelr: “I started with the Harvard Classic site, but I did not really like the translation…I switched over to ELF, which I found much easier to follow…it would be interesting to look at more editions and translations…”

-       Anne: Many of you commented on the teaching function of the tales (and your frank disinterest in such instruction!)
BUT!
-ShaynaS: “Are there actually morals in here? Is it just because we want morals and is it written in such a way to look like fables?

-       Anne: “what happens to analystical work when it encounters texts that challenge/mock the consistency/transparency LOOK UP IN CLASS NOTES FOR THE REST!

-       Anne: “Another possibility is that it is a dream w/ a moral???”

-       SMALL GROUPS BASED ON SOURCES

·      Morals?

-       jrf: There are specifics like “you should read this in order to…” I didn’t see morals jumping out…

-       Anne: Burton says “that folk may view with admonishing chances befell other folk and may therefrom take warning…and be thereby ruled and restrained”

-       Does the Sultan learn anything? Where does the moral take place?

-       spleenfiend: I think there are stories in our culture that exemplify the morals that are universally known.

-       Anne: What’s the difference between instructing, teaching, dreaming?

-       teal: I guess it’s different from dreaming as dreaming is one sided unlike instructing and teaching.

-       Anne: What would turn a dream into a teaching or learning experience?

-       teal: You have to place a lot of trust into yourself

-       Anne: What’s the role of dreaming in the classroom?

-       rachelr: It’s an escape

-       Anne: From the structure of instruction?

-       spleenfiend: it’s very likely to still be influenced by that

-       We talk about the role of the translators and ourselves…we are Alice.

-       teal: I think the online format was interesting because you could choose how many lines you wanted on each page. Where as if you’re with a book you don’t have to keep on clicking clicking clicking to get through.

- In this context, let’s re-think Scheherazade as Satrapi’s literary foremother…

* There’s a story within a story aspect in both works -rachelr

* The chronological order is reversed (so you kind of go backwards) - teal

* Is there something about telling stories in order to save lives? –ShaynaS