For Friday: The Haunting of Hill House

Reading schedule for this week:

Wednesday: Chs.1-3 (pp.3-92)
Friday: Chs.4-5 (pp.93-163)

NOTE: This book reads quite quickly, so don't be intimidated by the seemingly long reading assignments.  A lot of dialogue as well.  So try to keep up! 

Answer ONE of the following for Friday...

1. How does the opening sentence relate to the rest of the work: "No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream."  How could this statement be a 'theory' to read the entire work--or itself a commentary on Jackson's use of Gothic elements to frame her novel? 

2. Though Eleanor is not the narrator of the work, the naration is a limited third person, meaning that we get most of it through Eleanor's thoughts and perspective.  Based on this premise, is Eleanor a "reliable narrator"?  What does she reveal of herself in the opening chapters, and do we trust or understand why she is coming to Hill House in the first place?

3. Discuss Jackson's use of dialogue in the book, particularly when all four characters are together.  When they first meet, they engage in a manic dialogue of back and forth witticisms which may seem out of place in this context.  What does each characters' dialogue reveal of them and why does Jackson focus so much on their attempts to be witty to one another? 

4. On page 139, Dr. Montague claims that "No ghost in all the long histories of ghosts has ever hurt anyone physically.  The only damage is done by the victim to himself..." and Eleanor responds, "I could say...All three of you are in my imagination; none of this is real."  Is this book more like Dracula or The Turn of the Screw?  Are the events real occurences or internal hauntings?  Can we be sure that anything experiened truly occurs--or is the narrator playing with the conventions of the genre?

For Friday and Short Paper #3 assignment

Readings for this week:

M 9: Stoker, Dracula, Chs.24-27 (pp.311-369)

W 11: Scenes from the Coppola film, Bram Stoker's Dracula

F 13: Sol Elitis' essay (pp.450-465)

Answer ONE of the following

1. Examine the power dynamic between Mina and the Vampire Hunters throughout the final chapters of the novel. Though Van Helsing has reluctantly agreed to let Mina back into the fold after her attack, he continues to keep her in the dark about several matters. Ultimately, he has cause to regret this, as he admits on page 347, "Our dear Madam Mina is once more our teacher. Her eyes have seen where we were blinded." Is Stoker claiming that Mina is the hero of the work...or is she merely a tool that needs male guidance to work?

2. Throughout the final chapters of the work, Van Helsing insists that Dracula has a "child brain," or at least not a fully "human brain." What does he mean by this, and how does it tie into the then-modern science of criminology? Consider page 335, when Van Helsing says, "The criminal has not full man-brain. He is clever and cunning and resourceful; but he be not of man-stature as to brain."

3. According to Sos Eltis' essay, how does Dracula (the vampire) represent aspects of contemporary English society? Though he can also represent the exotic, decadent 'East,' how might his true personalities be linked to anxieties closer to home? Consider her discussion of the New Woman and modern novelists such as Mary Corelli.

4. How does Eltis examine the role of masculinity in the novel, and how the Vampire Hunters attempt to reassert the "proper order of things"? Does she feel Stoker is reactionary in his depictions of gender...or does he admit that being a man, itself, is open to interpretation in late Victorian England?

Short Paper #3: Staging Dracula

For this assignment, I want you to choose a specific scene from Dracula: it can be a longer one (a few pages), but no more than a chapter. Then I want you to write a short paper on how you would adapt this scene for a modern production of Dracula. Consider that no film can show the book exactly as it is, since we automatically "see" the book differently than its ideal audience of 1897. You want to keep the spirit of the original intact, while projecting your personal interpretation of the passage. So your paper should be (a) an explanation of what 'theory' or interpretation you would want us to see in the adaptation, and (b) a close reading of key passages that explain how you would "read" them in your film.

As you do this, consider the following ideas:

* What theory would shape your interpretation of the scene? Are you approaching this from a Freudian/Psychoanalytic perspective (the uncanny, taboo, etc.)? Or are you more interested in aspects of Gender? Make sure we understand your approach and what you want people to "see" when they watch this scene.

* What aspects of the scene would be hard to film or show in a different medium (outside the text)? How would you capture the narration in this passage (a diary, letter, etc.)? What might you have alter or tweak to get the right effect?

* How might you instruct your actors to interpret their roles? What kind of Mina would you want the actress to project? Or Van Helsing, Dracula, Harker, etc.?

* Where do you stand on Dracula as a metaphor for 19th century English society, or Dracula as a 'modern' horror for the 21st century? Do you want to emphasize the work as a piece of history ("this is what it felt like to be in 1890's England") or as a piece of living literature ("this is why Dracula is still relevant today")? You might also consider updating the passage/story to the modern era as is often done with Shakespeare.

REQUIREMENS

* 3-4 pages, double spaced

* No outside sources, but you MUST quote from Dracula and engage in a close reading of your passage--do not summarize what happens (the plot); show us why and how it unfolds

* Due next Monday, April 16th IN CLASS. We will discuss these adaptations in class, so if you miss your paper is LATE (unless for an excused reason).

Scissortail Extra Credit (see post below for Friday Response)

REMEMBER: No class on Friday--go to the Festival during our class instead! (I read at 11, hint, hint!)  I also strongly encourage you to attend the Thursday 6:30 reading with Natasha Trethewey! 

BEFORE YOU GO...
Remember to go to the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival this Thursday-Saturday!  You can see the full schedule, author biographies and more here: http://www.ecuscissortail.blogspot.com/.  On Thursday the sessions follow a TR class format: sessions at 9:30, 11, 2 and 3:30, along with our featured reader, Natasha Trethewey at 6:30--come to this one if you can!  On Friday they follow a MWF class format, with readings at 9, 10, 11, and 2, with an additional one at 3:30 and another featured reader at 6:30, Norbert Krapf.  There are two sessions on Saturday, at 9 and 10:45.  Note that on both days, there are concurrent sessions going on in the Estep Auditorium (in the Bill S. Cole University Center) and at the North Lounge (just down the hall from the Campus Bookstore). 

AFTER YOU GO...
Be sure to attend a full session--and please don't leave in the middle of a reading (it's rude and might disturb the reader and the audience).  Afterwards, answer ONE of the following questions in a short paragraph based on your experience as a COMMENT to this post. 

1. Explain the experience of hearing authors read their own works.  This doesn't usually happen, and especailly not at ECU.  What were you able to see, hear, or experience that you might not if you had simply read the work yourself?  On the same note, would you be more likely to read one of the stories or poems in your session after hearing them in the session? 

2. Which work/author impressed you the most and why?  Was it his/her manner of presentation, the story he/she told, or simply the ideas expressed in the story/poem?  Be specific so I can understand why you identified or enjoyed this writer. 

3. Which work or works opened themselves up to a theoretical reading?  Did you see a poem that seemed to cry out for a psychoanalytic reading?  A 'Marxist' short story?  Any work that might be wildly subjective if given a 'reader response' analysis?  Or, where there anyworks that connected with any of our Gothic ideas in class, such as unreliable narrators, the "uncanny," taboos in society, etc.?  Be as specific as possible so I can "see" your connection.

ENJOY THE FESTIVAL! 

For Friday: Dracula, Chs.14-23

Reading Schedule for This Week: 

M 2: Stoker, Dracula, Chs. 14-20 (pp.189-263)

W 4: Stoker, Dracula, Chs. 20-23 (pp.263-311)

F 6: Canceled for Scissortail Creative Writing Festival

M 9: Stoker, Dracula, Chs.24-27 (pp.311-369)

NOTE: This week, as we race to the conclusion of the book (though we'll technically finish on Monday, the 9th) I want to consider several theoretical perspectives we've already discussed in class. Answer ONE of the following as usual for Friday, even though we don't have class that day. Please see the post on the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival (above) for an extra credit opportunity.

1. PSYCHOANALYSIS: Examine the role of 'taboo' in the book particularly in regard to women's sexuality, rites of death, and the conception of madness. Where do we see characters forced to confront cultural taboos in order to face Dracula and/or see the "truth"? You might consider Dr. Seward's account of seeing Vampire Lucy for the first time in the graveyard: "Lucy's eyes [were] unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of the pure, gentle orbs we knew. At that moment the remnant of my love passed into hate and loathing; had she then to be killed, I could have done it with savage delight" (XIV, 219).

2. MARXISM: Though this is a Gothic work of the "uncanny," it is also a work written at the height of the British empire and is full of mercantile artifacts and imagery (bills, receipts, lawyers, etc.). How might we read some part of the work in a Marxist light--as something that reflects the class struggle or exposes the 'monstrous' nature of the Bourgeoise? You might consider the passage when the vampire hunters corner Dracula in Chapter XXIII: "Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had ready his great Kukri knife, and made a fierce and sudden cut at him. The blow was a powerful one...the point just cut the cloth of his coat, making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank-notes and a stream of gold fell out" (304).

3. READER RESPONSE: Why does Dracula, despite all its characters and shifting narration, ultimately give the story to three main narrators: Harker, Mina, and Dr. Seward? Why not Van Helsing? Quincy? Or even Dracula himself? How do these three narrators affect what we read and how the story is told? And more importantly, why this trio--a scientist, a solicitor, and his 'new woman' wife? You might consider what one or more of these narrators reveals to us in their narration, such as this passage from Mina in Chapter XVIII: "Manlike, they have told me to go to bed and sleep; as if a woman can sleep when those she loves are in danger! I shall lie down and pretend to sleep, lest Johnathan have added anxiety about me when he returns" (247)/

For This Week: Stoker's Dracula, Chs.I-XIII

Whistler's Symphony in White, No. 1 (1876):

Below is the rough reading schedule for next week. The readings are suggested goals to keep you on track with the reading. However, there is no immediate penalty for being a dozen or so pages behind! Pages below correspond to the Bedford/St.Martin's edition.

Monday: Chs.I-V (pp.26-83)

Wednesday: Chs.VI-X (pp.83-147)

Friday: Chs. XI-XIII (pp.147-189)

Answer ONE of the following for Friday

1. Last week we discussed theories of identity and constructions of the 'subject.' How do the characters of either Johnathan Harker or Dracula address some of these issues in their 'performance' of identity? Consider the following quotes as you respond:

* Harker: "I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth" (Ch.III/61).

* Dracula: "Here I am noble; I am boyar; the common people know me, and I am master. But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one; men know him not--and to know not is to care not for" (Ch.II/45).

2. Dracula has no single narrator binding the entire novel together from either an omniscient or an unreliable point of view. Rather, the book is cobbled together from several different narrators, some consciously narrating (Harker's diary, Mina and Lucy's letters, etc.), while others are forced into the role unknowingly (newspaper reports, phonograph recordings, shipping receipts). How does this affect how we read the work and understand even the simplest ideas of plot, characterization, and narration? Is the entire work 'unreliable'? Or does the factual nature of the sources (private diaries, public newspaper clippings) make it more reliable than our previous works?

3. When Harker first beholds the three 'brides' of Dracula, he remarks, "I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the moment how or where" (Ch.III/61). How might we use Freud's theory of "the Uncanny" to read this passage and others in the opening chapters, even though the monsters are clearly real? Is the Uncanny still valid when actual horrors are unloosed upon the fictional world?

4. How does Stoker's characterization of Dracula differ from modern versions of Dracula and of vampires in general? Though Dracula is not the first literary vampire in England (he is preceded by Polidori's Lord Ruthven by several decades), he created the prototypical mythology that all subsequent vampires follow. Nevertheless, Stoker's 'Dracula' shows some remarkable differences that often surprise or even disappoint readers. What might these be...and what might Stoker's intentions have been in writing him this way?

For Friday: Culler, Chapter 8 (no class on Friday!)

Batman: The Theoretical Poster Child of Identity

Answer ONE of the following questions based on Chapter 8 of Culler's Literary Theory, "Identity, Identification, and the Subject" by Friday (though no class that day):

1. On page 113, Culler writes that "Literature has long been blamed for encouraging the young to see themselves as characters in novels and to seek fulfilment in analogous ways : running away from home to experience the life of the metropolis, espousing the values of heroes and heroines in revolting against their elders," etc. What modern work do you feel works in this way today and why? How do people identify with the characters/situations in the book (or film) and why might this be perceived as dangerous?

2. From the perspective of Psychoanalysis, identity is not something that can ever be original or achieved; on the contrary, "identity is a failure...we do not happily become men or women...the internalization of social norms...always encounters resistance and ultimate does not work" (Culler, 114). Briefly discuss a work (book, film show) where this seems to be the case: how does the work explore some of the characters' difficulty in finding their identity as men/women, children/adults, professionals, parents, etc.

3. One of the great theoretical debates about group identity concerns essentialism, which states that there is something essential, or innate, to members of that group. This would suggest that to be born American is to be American; to be born black is to be black; to be born Italian is to eat Italian food. However, many writers and theorists, notably Richard Rodriguez (author of The Hunger of Memory, Brown, etc.) claims that race/ethnicity is a cultural choice and that he, though born to Mexican parents, is more Chinese because he lives and identifies with the Asian culture prevalent in San Francisco. What do you think about the idea that you can 'choose' your identity in a cultural sense? Can a 'white' kid become 'black'? Can an American become Iranian? Can an Italian prefer Indian food to his 'own'? (and is there a such thing as your food?)

Next Week: The Others (film) and Critical Paper #1

We'll be watching The Others next Monday-Wednesday (and possibly a bit on Friday), with a general discussion on Friday.  Instead of questions for this week, since you have a paper due, we'll do some in-class writing based on the film and its 'reading' of The Turn of the Screw.

Critical Paper #1 is below (for some reason it didn't post when I submitted it on Monday--my apologies!)

Critical Paper #1: Theories of the Gothic

For your first longer, critical paper, I want you to use Short Paper #2 as a bridge into a theoretical, analytical discussion of both Poe and James.  Paper #2 should be absorbed into the paper--with my comments, if you wish--and expanded or contracted as you see fit.  However, you must discuss both authors in your paper, focusing on at least one of Poe's stories and James' The Turn of the Screw. 

THE ASSIGNMENT

The assignment is simple: find a theoretical perspective that allows you to analyze and connect each author’s work in a useful and interesting way.  You don't have to say anything shocking or new, but I want you to find ideas that are new to you and change the way you initially read the stories.  Consider the approaches of poetics (author, intended reader, immediate culture) and hermeneutics (the text, reader response, outside culture and theoretical ideas) as you begin to formulate your ideas.  Above all be consistent: if you wrote about ‘poetics’ in your Paper #2, continue the same approach for the entire paper (don't switch mid-stream).  Also, be sure to ground your discussion in close readings of specific passages in the text.  Don't rely on plot summary or vague generalizations.  Be specific and point your reader to ideas in the text that you want them to see/read/interpret. 

SOURCES

For your sources, I want you to exploit the treasure-trove of theoretical ideas you have at your fingertips: Culler's Literary Theory and the Bedford/St. Martin's edition of The Turn of the Screw.  You do not have to find sources outside of these two works (and the articles printed within them), but you are certainly allowed to hunt for more articles on Poe, James, or your own theoretical suspicions.  However, you must use the following in your paper:

·         At least one chapter Culler's Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (stick to the chapters we've read and discussed: 1, 2, 4 and 6).  Culler offers numerous jumping-off points for a meaningful analysis of any work, and I've tried to make connections between his text and our books throughout class.   

·         At least two sources in our edition of The Turn of the Screw: these can be contextual documents (such as "The Victorian Governess in Fact and Fiction") or James' Revisions to the two editions, or the theoretical approaches in the back (such as Bruce Robbins' essay or others). 

·         Also consider Freud's essay, "The Uncanny" which I passed out in class, or other articles on Poe, James, individual works, Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Reader Response Theory, Feminism, Gender/Queer Theory, etc. 

REQUIREMENTS

·         At least 5-6 pages double spaced

·         The sources listed above, cited according to MLA format

·         DUE BY FRIDAY, MARCH 9th BY MIDNIGHT (in true Gothic fashion)