I updated the Course Calendar with correct, up-to-date info for the rest of the semester, so be sure to check that out.
For class next week (April 1st, no foolin’), read Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others chapter 5. It’s on electronic reserve at the library. Print out a copy (or bring your laptop with the pdf on it) and bring it with you to class.
We’ll also be discussing the last two “chapters” (well, what do you call them? Books? Stories?) of I Live Here, “Ciudad Juarez” and “Malawi.”
For class, be prepared to discuss your answer to this question:
Does I Live Here support or contradict Sontag’s argument in Regarding the Pain of Others? Why?
Finally, and most importantly, your proposal for your final project is due. Your proposal should explain what you plan to do, how you plan to do it, and any particular challenges you foresee it raising for you.
Your final project is the capstone project for your English major. This is where you get to show off what you’ve learned, what you can do, and how very interesting your ideas are. I’m open to practically anything, but I have one condition: your project must address in some way the issue of multimodal storytelling. That is, the combination of words and images is as old as written language itself (human-made images predate written language), but we’re still not quite sure what to do with it as a serious art form (or forms). Most people today think of illustrated books as being for children. As we’ve seen in this course, that’s not (exactly) true. Illustrated novels for adults raise interesting questions about literacy, literariness, interpretation, art, and media, to name just a few. Your final project must address (in some way) a question about illustrated novels that you feel is important and significant. That particular question, how you address it, and what conclusions you reach are up to you.
For those of you who think better with lists, here’s the summary of what should be in your proposal:
- Your topic/argument/message
- The medium/media format of your project
- Problems you see with completing your project
Your proposal doesn’t have to be long. 1 page is probably too long, in fact. Just try to be as complete as you can in explaining your idea(s) and decisions. Bring your proposal with you to class.
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