Here are the due dates when I will collect your Author Project journals. Remember that these journals are not intended to be the formal writing that will constitute your paper in the spring; rather they are opportunities to ask yourself questions, to maintain a lively interaction with the books you read, to begin to see the threads in an author's work.
September 29: first journal due. Which author? Why? What do you anticipate? What questions are milling about for you?
October 25: second journal due. You should be well into your first book. So what do you think? What questions are coming up? What is the best passage you’ve read so far and why is it so good? What characters are you drawn to or repulsed by? What do you think of the author’s style?
November 21: third journal due. If you haven’t finished your first book by now, you should be close. Any conclusions to some questions? Any initial thoughts for a thread you’d be interested in looking at in other books?
December 18: fourth journal due. You should be into your second book. While you want to do some comparison, don’t forget to also look at this text for its own merits. This is where you might be able to follow some threads in an author’s work, or see the writer diverging.
January 12: fifth journal due. Is that second book finished? Wow – way to go!!! If that first book isn’t finished, you better get on your horse before senioritis sets in.
February 26: sixth journal due. Have you consulted any literary criticism? Any biographical information? How do these pieces of information jive with your own thoughts? Is there anyone you can argue with? If you’re mid-way through your third book, you’re in great shape.
March 21: seventh journal due. Wow, you’ve read all three books. You feel good. You’re starting to solidify your ideas for a thesis.
April 6: no journal requirement. If you want to show me a rough draft, you must hand it in by this date.
May 18: Final paper due. 15-20 pages. Blood, sweat, and tears. After I look at it, you can have it bronzed and put on your mantle.
2 comments:
This post is to help you remember what you might write in your journals.
Think about:
Style – How does the author seem to organize himself or herself? I heard an interesting interview yesterday in which Charles Frazier (Cold Mountain) said it took him five years to write his new novel, and the breakthrough was changing the book to first person. Is there anything to the narrator, the format – stream of consciousness, or detached, formal prose creates very different stories.
Tone – How does the author seem to respond to characters, time period, setting, issues, etc. Do you think the author takes his/her characters seriously? Does s/he mock them at times? Are there some that are respected and some not?
Message – Don’t worry about what the author intended necessarily. Worry about what comes across. For example, in Nectar In A Sieve, a novel about colonialism's effect on India, the narrator bemoans the installation of a tannery. The message there might be said to imply that industrialization will lead to societal downfall. Maybe not.
Connections – think about other things you’ve read. Poems, articles, novels, films – these are relevant. Family stories might be, but usually aren’t.
AMAZING passages. Copy ‘em down – memorize ‘em. Try a close reading in your journal. Some of you write three-page close readings, but have trouble with a reflective journal. Make it a close reading journal. Easy, huh?
Biographical information. Look in the library. Look on-line. Write down your sources so it makes it easier down the road. Think about possible connections to your author.
Talk to other people. My friend Nick told me his friend told him that Blood Meridian says more about America than any other novel. THAT made me want to read it. I’m not sure I agree – but I’d have enough to write a journal about.
Re-Read. I cannot stress this enough. When you finish a novel, go back through it. Pause at important spots. Check out what you didn’t notice the first time around. Dog-ear pages. Put post-it notes in the book. Underline. Get active with your reading so when you go back to write, you’ve got someplace to go back to…
Ask questions. Ask, ask, ask. Why aren’t there any black people in this book? Why are all the women unbelievably thoughtful and all the men monosyllabic idiots? Why did she set this book in the country? Why did he start this book in the middle and then flashback? Is this character believable? Is this narrator reliable? Why describe the process of glove-making? What is the effect of the dialogue (or dialect, or the lack of dialect) in the book? How is the time period of the story related to the themes? There are lots of questions!!! Ask them!!!
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