END NOTES (End of term)
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, from "Self-Reliance": "Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self. There is something which you can do better than another.   Listen to the inward voice and bravely obey that. Do the things at which you are great, not what you were never made for.  . . . To be great is to be misunderstood.   For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure. . . .  It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude after one's own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."

-- On Kurosawa's Rashomon (1952):
Rashomon opens at a dilapidated temple at Rashomon Gate.   A priest, played by Minoru Chiaki, and a woodcutter, played by Takashi Shimura, lament the dismal state of the world as personified in some unnamed incident. A commoner runs from the rain pouring down outside and into the temple to see the two staring off into space.  As he begins to start a fire, he asks the pair what has put them in such a state. They begin describing their experiences in the case of murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife.

The woodcutter begins to describe how he was traveling through the woods and began seeing signs of a struggle. He continued on and found the body of the samurai in the woods. Following him, the priest describes seeing a samurai leading his wife on a horse. The two sit by as several more characters describe their relation to events. An officer describes catching the notorious bandit Tajomaru, who had a horse and a bow and arrow similar to those of the samurai’s. Tajomaru sits and listens, until he recounts his own version of how he killed the samurai and raped his wife.  His account differs greatly from that of both the wife and the dead samurai (who speaks through a medium).  Each of their stories serves to make the teller seem to be in the best possible light.

Kurosawa on Rashomon:  "Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing. This script portrays such human beings–the kind who cannot survive without lies to make them feel they are better people than they really are. It even shows this sinful need for flattering falsehood going beyond the grave—even the character who dies cannot give up his lies when he speaks to the living through a medium. Egoism is a sin the human being carries with him from birth; it is the most difficult to redeem. This film is like a strange picture scroll that is unrolled and displayed by the ego. You say that you can’t understand this script at all, but that is because the human heart itself is impossible to understand. If you focus on the impossibility of truly understanding human psychology and read the script one more time, I think you will grasp the point of it." (Excerpted from Something Like an Autobiography, Vintage Books, 1982.)

-- Purely optional: two more by E. B. White ("The Door" and "Christmas") and one by Truman Capote, "A Christmas Memory."

PREVIEW: 3 and 5 December 2002 (Tuesday & Thursday)
--A few notes in preparation for our discussion of the tales and fables assigned for the final week of class:
-  Alice Walker's "Kindred Spirits" appears in the recently published autobiographical collection, The Way Forward Is with a Simple Heart (2000), which has been reviewed both favorably and unfavorably.   Walker writes in her Introduction: "These are the stories that came to me to be told after the close of a magical marriage to an extraordinary man that ended in a less-than-magical divorce. I found myself unmoored, unmated, ungrounded in a way that challenged everything I'd ever thought about human relationships. Situated squarely in that terrifying paradise called freedom, precipitously out on so many emotional limbs, it was as if I had been born; and in fact I was being reborn as the woman I was to become."
- To guide your reading of "The Cannon of Punta Grande," by the Bolivian writer Néstor Taboada Teràn, you might want to check out these background readings.
- The Cinderella story  "When the Clock Strikes" is by the prolific British author of science fiction, fantasy, and horror tales, Tanith Lee.  If you're interested, you might want to check out this 1994 interview with Tanith Lee.
- It has been observed of Brock Clarke, author of "For Those Who Need Such Things," that his "characters are motivated by the belief that, if they continue living in the world they have created for themselves, they will end up being lonely, bitter people. 'You'll do almost anything not to be a lonely, bitter person,' he says"  (from Interview by Rebecca Lomax, Citybeat).
- Note that "Hans My Hedgehog" by Janosch (born Horst Eckert, in Germany) is a parody of one of the Grimm Brothers' tales.
- Jane Yolen, author of "The Lady and the Merman," is not only a writer of fairy tales for children and adults (Tales of Wonder, 1983) but also a critic (Touch Magic, 1983) and a collector (Favorite Folktales from around the World, 1986) of such tales.   You'll find Lisa Horak's interview with Yolen at BookPage..
- E. B. White, author of "The Second Tree from the Corner," is probably best known as the author of children's books (Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little) and such frequently reprinted essays as "The Ring of Time" and  "Once More to the Lake."

POSTSCRIPT: 21 November 2002 (Thursday)
-- NOTES ON COETZEE'S DISGRACE have been expanded and moved to a separate page.

POSTSCRIPT: 19 November 2002 (Tuesday)
-- Some background reading on postcolonialism, the recent history of South Africa, and English Romanticism (Wordsworth, Keats, Byron) should aid your reading of Disgrace.
-- NOTES ON COETZEE'S DISGRACE have been expanded and moved to a separate page.

PREVIEW: 19 November 2002 (Tuesday)
--Some readers (generally, novice readers--as well as some novice writers) tend to approach fiction with what is sometimes called the biographical fallacy--i.e., the presumption that an author is always writing squarely about him- or herself.  At its most simplistic, this approach promotes a kind of National Enquirer reading of texts--as if fiction exists for the sake of "inquiring minds" to reveal the "secret lives" of authors.    (E. A. Poe's writings, for instance, have long inspired some remarkably lame examples of this approach.)  On the other hand, some forms of biographical/psychoanalytical criticism can be insightful.  In reading such contemporary novels as White Noise and Disgrace, be alert to the ironic gap that almost certainly exists between the voice of a protagonist (the narrator Jack Gladney, the third-person-limited perceptions of David Lurie) and the authorial perspective that may be mocking or even scorning the views expressed by the protagonist.   So try not to confuse fiction with autobiography.  And, in our media-saturated age, give some credit to writers such as DeLillo and Coetzee, both of whom strive to avoid the spotlight and focus on their craft.
--To prepare for our discussion this week of Coetzee's Disgrace, check out the newly posted RESOURCES.  


POSTSCRIPT: 14 November 2002 (Thursday)
--Thanks to Rena for background and variations on the myth of Narcissus.
--Life Imitates Art Department:
        In Search of Elvis: Music, Race, Art, Religion,
ed. by Vernon Chadwick (from the International Conference on Elvis Presley, 1995)

-- Notes from Steve:
Today's class was a continuation of our discussion of the novel White Noise, by Don DeLillo.

We began by noting the similarities between the protagonist of  White Noise and Disgrace.
Both are somewhat unlikable academics, though for their own separate reasons. Both leave something to
be desired, as far as being people one may want to become associated with.

The discussion moved to the nature of relationships in White Noise.  This led to an examination
of the author himself and to the style of post modernist literature in general, the self examining,
'meta' nature of the genre itself. It was pretty much agreed upon that the narcissistic
personality precluded any type of meaningful relationship to ever develop. Bearing this in mind,
several opinions of the characters of the children in the novel were expressed. Many
considered them to be unrealistic, to be in a role reversal situation with the parental figures.
This led to further castigation of the adults as parents. Both adults in the home seem to be quite
selfish and self attuned, offering neither supervision, wisdom or genuine security to the children,
who in turn seem to not only compensate, but to also project this onto the parents, often taking
care of them. Several thought the female children were 'pushy.' All agreed Jack & Babette
would not be nominated for "parent of the year" anytime soon.

The role of Murray as foil was discussed. Murray was said to be Jack's alter ego in some
respects, providing knowledge, confidence, and comfort with the culture where Jack was
lacking. The assimilation of accents was an interesting side line. Several of us have relatives
from widely dispersed geographical locations and mentioned how our, and their, accents would
change depending on the location and circumstance of the encounter. This assimilation was
then tied into the endless stream of marketing messages we all receive daily. To what level are
these assimilated as well?

We also contrasted the beginning-of-the-term reading assignments (folk tales) as being bottom
up, human originated, and voluntarily disseminated types of information compared to the
information depicted in White Noise, with its top down, pop culture (oxymoron?) emphasis. This
tied into modern day branding, merchandizing and cross marketing, other elements we're
exposed to daily. These modern trends are one side of our info and material overload (the more
you have, the less you may know) of which consumerism as a measure of well being, is an
element. Can money buy happiness? Love? Health? Are you a citizen or a consumer?
Which moniker comes to mind first? What the hell's a moniker??

Waves & Particles, the title of the first section - Steve commented that all of perception was by
interpretation of waves and particles (the dualistic nature of light from a physics point of view,
the pervasive radiation comprising the electromagnetic spectrum that is made visible when
fashioned into electricity, radio and television signals, heat, etc.). James didn't buy it. Steve has
smoked a lot more dope than James, apparently.

We then went around the class and gave an abbreviated version of our interpretation of the
critiques we were assigned:
Sophia reflected on some interviews with DeLillo, his detachment from his characters and
subject matter. He states that he writes about death because it is a central theme in our lives,
obviously. Bretlan pointed out some common themes examined in other DeLillo works, such as
Players, about television culture, as DeLillo's comment on society's (not DeLillo's!) obsession
with destruction and death.  DeLillo's prophetic accuracy was noted as well.   James also spoke
of the influence of the media in all aspects of art and society.
Juan related the self-reinforcing feedback loop that life and death and fear create. He also
commented on DeLillo's staccato, declarative and pointed use of dialogue. He also noted the
metaphor of the compacted trash as a representation of the characters in the novel being picked
through and examined by Jack in desperate search of fear-numbing Dylar.
Emily talked about the recurring use of Deja vu in the novel, as both a plot and style device.  Her
reading touched upon the field of Semiotics, the interpretation of reality as a system of signs.
Signs, by the way, refers to any kind of inference of reality, meaning if it can be alluded to by
some sign, then there is a 'place' awaiting its realization. This is a sign that we don't want to go
there, so let's move on . . .

Sara said that white noise itself is invasive and can actually become comforting at some point. If
this seems odd, then just take a look at a Sharper Image catalogue and note the white noise
generators for sale as absurdly high prices.  (See also http://www.purewhitenoise.com/ and http://www.naturestapestry.com/marsona350.html.)   Yes, people actually buy this stuff! The
prevalence of television in American culture was also noted by Sarah.

SaraBeth said she was caught by the observation that the sequence of 'First life, then art' was
reversed in this novel. The whole, 'does life imitate art?' or vice versa issue is especially
relevant. There were several instances of appearance -v-reality observations made as well.

To be continued.....

NOTES ARCHIVES
archive 6 (Oct. 24 - Nov. 14)
archive 5 (Oct. 15 - Oct. 24)
archive 4 (Oct. 3 - Oct. 8)
archive 3 (Sep. 24 - Oct. 1)
archive 2 (Sep. 5 - 19)
archive 1 (Aug. 20 - Sep. 3)

English 2100H is taught by Dr. Richard Nordquist.
Armstrong Atlantic State University
University Hall 297D
11935 Abercorn Street
Savannah, Georgia 31419
912-921-5991
e-mail: nordqudi@mail.armstrong.edu           

 
08 December 2002

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