I am retiring after 45 years at ACU. While it certainly sounds a long time, I remember vividly my first days on Castle Hill Campus in 1977 and then the flow of new literature students, through Castle Hill, then Mount Saint Mary and occasionally MacKillop. Every year a wonderful crop of new faces, new enthusiasms!…
Category: New York
Top of the Class ePortfolios in American Literature
Here are the top 12 ePortfolios presented for marking in American Literature ENGL204- and indeed it was very hard to pick between them. All are outstanding examples of the art of blogging and of creating an effective ePortfolio in WordPress. More importantly they all demonstate a passionate interest in the way that literature can shape…
American Literature 2019 Session 1
Today we romped through an historical and cultural survey of American Literature, beginning with the early 17th Century and ending up with Tupak today! We also had a wonderful tutorial exploring Thoreau’s decision to live “deliberately” and not to die feeling that he hadn’t really lived. This paragraph provoked some powerful deep self-questioning by…
Wonderful New York Blogs from the Class of 2019: The Literature and Drama of New York.
The Best of the Bunch – those who earned a High Distinction in this assessment item are the top in the list: Emily Eicke Abbey Zito Mathilda Meader Carina Field Lauren Tribe Melody Carroll Jessica Smith Helen Citroni AND The rest were not far behind: NAOMI ZAKI: Kristen Nicola Adam Jones Darcy Lucid K’DOR: …
Culmination of New York Trip!
Click on this link to read this article on Indigenous Literature in Harlem: https://mailchi.mp/7317af3a7fc7/clemente-crosses-decades-and-distance?e=290dd1908b
Day 9: Wrap up of the course/ discussion on Book of Mormon/ Harlem/ Central Park/Group Meal out/ Carnegie Hall: Sounds of the American Century
Wow! What an amazing day! And we are still standing- because of inclement weather we had to squeeze a number of items into this, our last day in New York: First here is our wrap up discussion and our reflections o the Book Of Mormon -Go James! Then we had a number of tour stops…
Tutorial Day 8: True West, Whitman, Crane and Brooklyn….
Hello all, please find the recording here for our lively discussion on True West and our reflections on the way our walk around Brooklyn and over Brooklyn Bridge enhanced our understanding of these two amazing poets- so different and yet so switched on to the underlying meaning in their experiences of place. Click on each…
Class given to African American Clemente Students In the Centre of Harlem
What a gift this was to be to share my insights on and understanding of Australian Indigenous literature with this passionate, switched-on group of Harlem Clemente students. They were so keen to hear and know about their less well -off brothers and sisters down-under. I shared with them the way that our university supports Indigenous…
Wonderful James Baldwin Exhibition in Down-Town Manhattan
Don’t miss this one if you are staying on in NY. At 533 West 19th is this commemoration of America’s greatest contemporary African American writer. Photographs, art works, videos, stories and letters give a rare, more private insight into how this man transformed his life and helped profoundly to shift fixed attitudes toward African Americans.
Moma -NY 2019
A goodly handful of us had a wonderful treat today: not only did we see and discuss some of the more controversial Post WW2 American artists, but we had hour long wanderings among the most well known 20th Century modernists: Such a happy team 🤣👍🎶 Inside we started with iconic Rothko and Picasso: It is…
Central Park Cameo: dogs and runners and snow…..
Early morning snaps on my run…. Altitudinal squirrels in the high branches bracing themselves against the cold wind…
Day 7- Brooklyn & Brooklyn Bridge: Walt Whitman and Hart Crane
Hi All, here is the wonderful discussion we had this morning – about “Pies” then about Walt Whitman’s “epiphanic” (thank you Naomi!) depiction of New York in “Mannahatta”, followed by Hart Crane’s ecstatic description of Brooklyn Bridge. We also briefly compared Joseph Stella’s 1939 painting The Brooklyn Bridge (at The Whitney) with Hart Crane. So enjoy…
Tutorial Day 6: Waitress, The MET and Harlem’s Gospel Service
James began our session today with a lively discussion on Waitress with a particular interest in whether you saw this Broadway stage version to be a reduction of the force found in the film. In the discussion there was a real sense that many of you thought that the play version was sentimentalizing a brutal and…
Day 5 Gospel Service in Harlem
Today Sunday we had the extraordinary good fortune to be part (again- last time in 2017) of the Gospel Service at the Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem: Personally I found this service incredibly powerful and moving, but I can also understand why some people might find it confronting and challenging. To this end I have…
New York Day 4: Day Off! Central Park & The Whitney (including Andy Warhol)!!
Day 4 – Day Off- with an early morning run round Central Park followed by a visit to The Whitney Gallery on the Hudson River with a special retrospective exhibition of Andy Warhol. Central Park in the early morning creates a great sense of the deeper context of New York. Here you become aware of…
The MET in New York
This post includes the morning tutorial on To Kill a MockingBird and on the insights gained from the literary tours. Go to the end of the blog for these…. We had a great tour through the Modern and Contemporary Gallery today looking at early 20th Century Regional Art – in the form of Thomas Hart…
Introduction to the Literature of New York with Nick Birns from NYA – Washington Square and Greenwich Village
A day to be remembered! Nick so generously took us through his life-long experience of New York and his passionate lover of the literature that it has produced, and his deep sense of the social and ethical insights that reading and understanding this literature can give. Thank you Nick! With Nick’s permission here is the…
Made it to New York for the start of our amazing tour through the literary and dramatic haunts of this awesome city! Join us for our adventure
Take- off Stop-over in LA (LAX) The highs and the lows of digital creativity in the LAX Terminal. Here is American digital artistry on show: And here is art as handmaiden of consumerism- in your face!!!! Arrival in New York…. a blissful 2 degree C (after the nearly 40 in all three cities from…
New York 2019 Tutorial 2
Hi All, thank you for your wonderful contributions to today’s classes. We felt that you learnt a lot and -if you read the texts and ready and listen to the study guides you should not have a problem with our quizzes. The drama quiz will remain on January 9th (NSW & VIC 11-12; QLD 10-11.…
First Tutorial for New York 2019 cohort: The Literature and Drama of New York
Thank you all for your attendance and keen participation today. We have two recordings of our presentation and discussion. The first is the recording from the Sydney cohort, the second from the Melbourne and Brisbane cohort combined. Attached also please find the slides from today’s tutorial. Enjoy revisiting this content as needed for your quiz…
African American Writing: Harlem, New York: James Baldwin
Please find here the first audio talk on James Baldwin’s Go Tell It On The Mountain. Also find underneath, notes and links to the content mentioned in the talk: Page of Links and Clips on James Baldwin (1924-1987) https://www.biography.com/people/james-baldwin-9196635- Please watch the short 3 minute clip on James Baldwin’s life at the start of this article. It…
Getting Ready for New York: Literature and Drama!
It was great for James and I to meet you all today and to shake out some of your questions and concerns. This is the place where you are going to be able to find all the audio recordings both before and during our New York adventure. I will of course be putting this link…
Introduction to the Literature and Art of New York: Tour January 2019
Hello All fellow travellers: Listen to the short lecture here as you look at the three slides that are immediately below this link. The slides are also placed within this space (if that is easier for you to use!) Click here for images to accompany this short talk: Intro:Overview Here also is a beautiful very short…
New York: Literature & Drama 2019 – Information Session.
Hi All, prospective New York (Literature and Drama) Students 2019. Please find below both the slides that were used during the information session (with James Marland and Michael Griffith) AND a recording of what we presented – and some of your questions- please be in touch with either James (James.marland@acu.edu.au) or myself (Michael.griffith@acu.edu.au) if there…
Best New York Blogs 2018!!
Here is our fabulous group of 2018 in the heart of Harlem, New York, indeed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. This was one of our most exciting and informative days in which the beating heart of American culture was opened to us through the oratorical powers of Cedric our African American…
The MOMA: Contemporary American Art as a context for Contemporary American Literature.
Wiliam Carlos Williams, Charles Demuth, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Frank O’Hara, Jackson Pollock…. these are some of the interlocking names that bring literature and the visual arts together. Today we had a wonderfully rich tour, conducted by MOMA lecturer Sylvia into some of these interconnections. Here is the full audio lecture/ floor talk and attached…
Day 5: Brooklyn with Walt Whitman and Hart Crane and The Book of Mormon
Today was a momentous day for honouring Walt Whitman’s wonderfully Quaker imagination and Hart Crane’s spiritualisation of one of the icons that preceded modernism. Whitman was of course passionate about the Brooklyn Ferry which he travelled on regularly from his home in Brooklyn to Manhatten. But it was not just the ferry, but it was…
Central Park & The Plaza: Fitzgerald (1922) and Salinger (1951)
Today we had the privilege of being conducted around key sections of Central Park and the Plaza Hotel by our two incredibly well prepared literary tour leaders Eric and Robb. The brief was to take us to the Central Park Duck Pond which is such an obsession for young Holden Caulfield and then on to…
Carnegie Hall: The Annie Moses “Blue Grass” Band Live in Concert
I just happened to run into Carnegie Hall on a walk the day before yesterday and wondered how good it would be if a concert were on there. I do know that Carnegie Hall is one of the most famous music venues in the world and that it has the best acoustics of any hall…
New York Library- a MUST visit for ACU students
The New York Library is an amazing building with incredible literary, dramatic and artistic resources. You MUST visit here before you leave. In particular you should check out the extraordinary exhibition on the BEAT GENERATION that is directly in front of you as you enter the library. Here is the library and here is what…
Harlem- Day 4: James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes
We had a very full, awesome day in Harlem yesterday (Sunday). It began with a gospel church service and then a very detailed street tour covering the important locations of our three key authors. These were embedded in the wider cultural history of Harlem. Eric (our team leader began with a talk on why this…
New York Literature and Drama Day 3: Washington Square, Greenwich Village:
Washington Square was the start of our literary tours around New York. This brought Henry James into focus and his wonderful early novel Washington Square which powerfully challenged the ethos of his day and found ways of celebrating those who don’t necessarily shine in the public arena. Catherine Sloper, who lived out her life in…
Thursday Day 2: The Met: American Art and its relation to Literature
Today we had a wonderful guide Lauren Ebin (one-time Archeologist) who took us on a personalized tour of some of the best of American art that interfaced with the poetry, fiction and autobiography that we are studying. She began in the 18thC with those wondrous, massive paintings of Washington which depicted him as a democrat,…
New York- Wednesday 17th January 2018
Today provided an amazing introduction to the life, culture and history of New York. Our students had 2 guest speakers for their early morning tutorial: Eric Chase (from New York Literary Pub Crawls) (CLICK) and Nick Birns from New York University (CLICK). Eric gave a wonderful thumbnail sketch of what literary tours he is going to…
Arrival in New York- ACU Literature and Drama Team!! Made It!!
All 23 of us have made it after a marathon journey from Sydney via LA to JFK. Here we are in Sydney, fresh and ready for our LONG trip. This is minus our Brisbane cohort who will be meeting up with us in LA: After a short stop in LA we were winging our way…
New York, New York: here we come- get ready for the ACU Aussie Literature&Drama Team
Hi All, we have 20 highly eager students some of whom have never seen snow, some never been to the USA, some never been out of OZ! They are all incredibly excited (as are the accompanying staff!) to get to this city that never sleeps to take in and absorb the culture, the history, the…
Blogging in New York- on Literature and Drama! Yay!
Hi All- we may be lucky enough to see the streets of New York just like it is presented below! At all events blogging your way through New York is one sure way of making your trip significant and memorable. Yes you have three specific questions in both literature and drama that you must answer…
Best American Literature Blogs 2017
American Literature was a new unit for me to teach this semester at Australian Catholic University, but it dovetails beautifully into the short intensive unit I teach in January The Literature and Drama of New York which is being taught in January in the snow and ice of that amazing city. So this semester-long unit American Literature…
Nineteenth Century Literature 2017
Hello All, We have had a wonderful start to our Autumn semester in Sydney: temperatures are still hovering around the mid twenties but we have had lashings of rain which has kept our burgeoning bush alive and free from the ravages of late summer bush fires! And for me it is just wonderful to be…
Best Blogs from New York
Hello All, We have now finished marking the blogs from our amazing trip to New York, studying the literature and drama of that extraordinary city. All our students had to do daily blogs (on literature and drama… and some chose to blog also on other key events). For nearly all students the most memorable event…
Updated URLS for New York Team
We are all finally leaving NY and we got a beautiful send off: strong snow falls. Thank you all and goodbye to a great city! URLS for NEW YORK- Anita: https://akeigaldie.wordpress.com/ Anne-Marie: https://annemariedimarco.wordpress.com/ Audrey Bowles: https://barefootfairy42.wordpress.com/ Caitlin: https://caitlyntuckerman.wordpress.com Carly: https://carlysliteratureblog.wordpress.com/category/new-york/ Christina: https://christinarujicica.wordpress.com/ Claire: https://aclairetale.wordpress.com/ Darby: https://darbyelisee.wordpress.com Helen: https://hparminterblog.wordpress.com/ Jade Chambers: https://jadechambers.wordpress.com Jessica: https://therunaboutblog.wordpress.com Kirsten: https://kfed94.wordpress.com Maddison: https://unitedstatesofmaddison.wordpress.com Madeleine: https://maddydoesbroadway.wordpress.com/…
The Met Breuer: Exhibition of African American artist Kerry James Marshall
After Central Park I strolled across to this wonderful exhibition of one of the most celebrated African American artists who was born in 1955. You can read all about his connections with the Harlem Renaissance here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_James_Marshall Deeply educated in classical European art, he has imposed black figures onto traditional painting subjects. This gave a powerful…
Central Park: location for Fitzgerald and Salinger
Our tour guide Eric waxing lyrical over all the many literary connections contained within Central Park. Carousel in motion: Holden’s duck pond: where do the ducks go in winter? Lee (tour guide) is here describing the Angel Fountain: Two Profs very happy with the outcome of this whole tour: 1= AssProf; 2=2BProff
Day 4: Part 1- The MET
The MET began with an introduction to American Art through the iconic work of the early 20th Century Artist Thomas Benton whose amazing panoramic America Today fills a whole room. The painting captures America at the start of the Great Depression, shortly after F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. America was in the throes of questioning/celebrating…
A Bronx Tale: Lonacre Theatre, Broadway New York, Manhattan
We were all nearly jumping out of our seats with this rocking performance of a film that we had studied. All were asking the question: how can you turn a graphic, violent story into a musical? Would anything be lost in the process? Outside the theatre the advertising banners were promoting it as a blend…
Jittney: Broadway- August Wilson
We went to see this amazing play by August Wilson at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Here is the stage set that greeted us on entry into the theatre; a set that takes you straight into the cityscape of Harlem, very reminiscent of the paintings of Romare Beardon– who was an almost exact contemporary of August…
Walk to Brooklyn Bridge and Times Square: Literary & Dramatic Connections
Another great day of walking with so much valuable input from our New York literary guides. Today we headed first to Brooklyn and then on to Midtown’s Times Square. Our guide filled us in with some interesting historical background to this area of New York: And here is the fabulous Bridge about which Hart Crane…
First Night with our group on Broadway: The Waitress!
Students were incredibly excited to be going to Broadway tonight- and through Times Square at night. It was indeed an exciting albeit confronting journey through nitetime NY to the centre of the entertainment industry. First up here is yours truly and James in the queue waiting for the opening of Waitress- with 32 queued behind…
Literary Tours through Greenwich and East Village New York: what an amazing day!
Introduction by our friendly, highly experienced tour guide! Washington Square was our first port of call. This is the place where Henry James was born, where he lived and from which he composed an early masterpiece which we are studying Washington Square. It is a wonderful novel that champions women’s intelligence and shows the poverty of…
New York: here we are! ACU students from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne
Up up and away! Students from 3 ACU campuses (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) met in Los Angeles to head together to New York to study “The Literature and Drama of New York” which James Marland and myself are teaching this year and in subsequent years if all goes to plan: We arrived after a 24…
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