READ THIS: PRESENTATIONS

PRESENTATIONS: please take these seriously: they are an important part of your participation in the class. Your job when you present is to lead the discussion on the reading for that day. You may bring in some research, but most of all, you should be very well-prepared with insights, interpretations, and questions about the reading at hand. You may want to begin by summarizing the progress of the plot represented by the excerpt assigned on that day. Then you should have passages picked out for the class to discuss. You may want to be ready, also, with the posts for the day (you can copy and paste them and print them out). The purpose of the presentation is to give more responsibility to the classmembers and de-center the discussion a little bit (although I will still chime in). Here are your assignments, mostly random. 1. Wed. 3/30 Small Things, 84-147, Eidia. 2. 4/4 Small Things, 148-225, Hannah. 3. 4/6 Small Things, ending, Anna. 4. 4/11 Ondaatje, Dan. 5. 4/13 Mukherjee, Michael. 6. 4/18 Poppies, 3-87, Karol. 7. 4/20 Poppies, 88-156, Jason. 8. 4/25 Poppies, 157-226, Joe. 9. 4/27, Poppies, 227-342, Will. 10. 5/2 Poppies, 343-446, Rachel. 11. 5/4 Poppies, finish, Jane.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Rachel, Rushdie - 9/7

Oh Rushdie.  Your voice is just as deep and narrative as I would expect from a British guy.

Anyway, I didn't like the book Midnight's Children - it dragged on too long, I wasn't satisfied with the hero's eventual marriage to Padma (I had kind of assumed they were married already?)  In my view, this dragged on too long.  The thematic undercurrents of it were violently pushing me around and I drowned....in the literary sense.

But just because I didn't like the work doesn't mean I can't love the man behind it.  Rushdie was stellar in this interview.  When he describes humans as "storytelling animals?"  Brilliant.  My favorite quote: "We define ourselves by stories...if someone tries to control that, we simply, in my view, cannot be ourselves."

Tell it like it is, brother!  Remember North Korea!!
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