Hi all,
Please post a question or area of interest for discussion on 5/27 here by Wednesday @ 6 pm. Texts we'll potentially cover for section include: excerpts from Gilman's Herland, Twain's No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger (up to Chapter 8), and Poe's "Mellonta Tauta." We can also discuss any remaining questions about Wharton's House of Mirth and/or the film version. Feel free to pose questions/areas of inquiry around one or several of the texts, in relation to larger class themes, or in response to each others' posts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm wondering why all the characters in No.44 The Mysterious Stranger act so cruelly to the boy when they believe the magician to be behind his excellency. Are they too afraid of the magician? If they are, why are they not afraid of his subject? They saw him protect himself against Ernest before. Why not now?
ReplyDeleteA topic concerning House of Mirth that we briefly went over both in class and discussion last week but never really came to a conclusion on is the question of the novel's genre- whether it is a tragedy or satire. I'd like to talk about this a little more in Discussion, just to wrap things up. While I saw it as more of a satire, I think that there are arguments on both sides and I would like to come to a more firm conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI may have missed something here... But didnt the first chapter of No. 44 say that the priests looked down upon learning, and even reprimanded those responsible for educating others? That being the case, why is it that all of the characters beginning in the second chapter (the printers and what not) are all educated?
ReplyDeleteHi everyone,
ReplyDeleteIn regards to The Mysterious Stranger I was wondering if anyone else noticed the repeated theme(idea)of childhood or just the role of children in the books we've read (Our Nig, March, etc)? Also, this idea of nature and the role it brings to the context. What does writing about nature do to the reader? What influence does it have on the reader (if any)?
Hey,
ReplyDeleteSo I was thinking the same thing as Brooke while I was reading The Mysterious Stranger, why was everyone so mean to No. 44? Was it because they were jealous or feared his abilities? Also, why does all of the power in the book rest in the hands of those who are evil?
-Holland
I would like it if we discussed the central themes to No. 44--What are they? Dreams, Imagination, Magic? What does it say about the world around us? Should we approach life as a invention of our minds, in the sense that nothing exists for real (for what it is in itself) but instead it's existence depends on our recognition of it? It would be interesting to hear some philosophies inspired from the book about this during section.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Herland (and House of Mirth), are the themes of woman's roles and gender dynamics related to the criticisms of economics, societal structure and science? Can these be seen as connected in terms of rejecting or just discussing changes in accepted cultural and societal convention?
ReplyDelete-Alexis Robles
I would also like to look at some of the themes in No. 44, specifically the role of knowledge. Whenever something is claimed as a truth, they say it is based on tangible evidence (ie: the bridge, or the stain from Adolf's bottle), which is little more than someone saying "I told you so." How might this figure into the bigger picture?
ReplyDeleteStephen
I would love to talk about the various readings of number 44. How can he be perceived as an early "Terminator"? I kept reading him as a super-robot, so I was interested in applying the reading as that as an angel today in class. Does anyone else have a preliminary comparative understanding of him?
ReplyDeleteHi, I was wondering if the mysterious theme in twain's number 44 had any resemblance to the mysterious stranger in Melville's Bartleby. Is there any major comparisons between these 2 novels?
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI know that Professor Gruesz ended the class asking us to think about the importance of the printing press in Twain's novel. I would like to further discuss the importance of this setting in The Mysterious Stranger. How does it further the story and augment it? Is this setting and all of the printing press lingo just included because it pertains to the time the novel is set in and because Twain himself worked as a printer's apprentice? Or was it a commentary on something?
I was also curious about the resemblance No.44 shared with Bartleby and how Twain's novel compares or contrasts stylistically with the literature that came out of the Civil War Era.
ReplyDeleteHey Melissa,
ReplyDeleteSorry my question is late. I totally forgot until I saw your email. I was wondering why Herland would suggest that a Utopia could only exist in the separation of the sexes?
-Laura Weiss
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI was curious about the condemning of certain faculties of the "poor" by many of these texts. In the House of Mirth there is a sort of implicit tone about the tenacious and detrimental pursuit and existence of aristocracy (if you choose to read it a so). In the Stranger there is an obvious satire Twain employs in his text about the priests relationship with the poor. What could these texts invite us to look at: as a topic they wish to discuss about their epoch's economics and/or a social criticism of that epoch?
-daniel talamantes
sorry mine is late. I was wondering whether any more of Twain's books other than No. 44 can be considered Gothic? I have become very interested in the gothic since we started reading the Poe stories.
ReplyDelete