First Year: Introduction to Literature

Hi first years… I think we had a great start to the subject. We managed to deal with the administrative stuff painlessly and were able to get down to the business of responding deeply to literature very quickly. So good to see so many of you eager to talk about and share your ideas. And that was my own and Leo’s experience. And what a fabulous, teasing story Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” is! “The joy that kills”: are we to see this as a moment of triumph or defeat? Is this a tragic story, or a story about a woman’s victory? or is it both at the same time. At all events, these two and a bit pages are hugely rich in the way they explore the layers of feeling and insight that lie behind Mrs Mallard’s day-to-day mask….
And at the lecture… sorry it took sooooo long to get round to the nitty gritty (Why Study Literature/ Dead Poet’s Society)…. but I was glad that I was able to walk you all through the WebCT and LiveJournal stuff and answer most of your questions…. you will hopefully be less confused now than you were a day or so ago!

So- my suggestions for possible entries for your very first LiveJournal entry:

You could try to answer any of the following questions:
1.Tell us what you are thinking about Mrs Mallard’s experience in “Story of an Hour”?
2.Write a short paragraph that describes Mr Mallard’s response.
And following on from Dead Poet’s Society:
3.What has been your experience of literature? Does it compare with what Mr Keating was trying to express?
4.Does literature have a place in your life now?
5.Are you a poet? or a short story writer? Do you want to share something you have written with the group as a whole?
So there are just a few ideas… feel free to use or reject them……
Cheers
MG
The class was packed with standing room only, but during the mid-lecture break I was able to get a snapshot of parts of the class: can you spot yourself?