Letter assignment: required elements
The assignment is to write two letters, each one very close to 500
words long. They can be related to each other or completely
separate.
I've learned from how I formulated the first opportunity to do
this assignment. I think you can do even more and will enjoy it
more if you do. So I want to revise this assignment a bit.
1) 500 words per letter (NOT 250 as in the first opportunity)
2) the 'point' of the letter needs to be complex and deep. I want
to see you go beyond
something like "a love letter from Aigisthus to Clytaemnestra" or
"Machaon the Greek doctor talks to a modern surgeon": add to that
analysis, deeper thoughts, wrinkles, real thought about the
characters, the situation, the motivations, the possibilities to
change it up, research on other literature, parallels to other
situations in the epic, art or other visual elements, etc.
Basically, use your creativity and imagination more to add
complexity and then do more work to back that up from the primary
sources. Dig in, do some real work, and show it off.
For instance, someone wrote as their first letter a situation
where Odysseus was the one who put Thersites up to complaining in
the assembly, and then betrayed Thersites when Thersites actually
did complain: that was a really good thing to come up with. I
liked that a lot. I want more: go beyond it. Maybe add research
about Thersites outside of Iliad. Maybe draw parallels with how
Agamemnon did that crazy move where he said he had a dream and
wanted to leave Troy to 'test' the army, maybe make it part of a
larger picture of Odysseus' rivalry with Ajax. Maybe develop the
character of Thersites more: give him a plausible background, a
family, an ideology, etc.
When a movie adapts a book, people always complain about
decisions the adapters make, because they wanted the movie to stay
'true' to how they see the book: I want you to take that attitude,
that of the person who really has opinions about the book and
wants to see those developed, then develop them yourself: keep it
true to the book AS YOU SEE IT, and be opinionated with evidence
to back up your opinions.
Maybe have Penelope recognize Odysseus right off the bat, but be
playing her own game: is he still the man she married? Does she
maybe not want the man she married any more, but wants to see if
he's developed? Or maybe she knows right away that he is NOT
Odysseus, but doesn't want any of the suitors and wants to set
this stranger up to become Odysseus (even thought he really is
Odysseus). There are many 'games' you can play, wrinkles you can
add that could be true to what is in HOmer but change it up behind
the scenes, make it interesting.
I.e. I'm hoping to unleash your creative geniuses and see some
real depth here, because I saw promise the first time, and I want
it more developed this time.
- Must be to or from or both to and from an ancient: this is
required: maybe 10%
- obviously characters are great options: Briseis writes to
Patroclus, you write to Thersites, Andromache writes to a
character in a Netflix show, for example
- you may be as imaginative/creative as you like: hexameter
writes to Homer, or Iliad writes to Odyssey, or Modern
Psychology (personified) writes to Priam, or Zeus of the
current day writes to Zeus of the Iliad, or General Patton
writes to Agamemnon.
- you may write as yourself to an ancient or adopt a persona
- Must include evidence for details: this is a big part of what
will count for a grade: maybe 40%
- Do this by footnotes or simply parentheses: for example, if
you are writing as a battlefield bird, the parenthesis might
be (Iliad 1, line 4).
- These letters should be peppered with such references:
details make them more interesting, and the details need
evidence
- There is no specific number, but more is better (until
it's not)
- Must have points, arguments, themes, pleas, developments:
something that makes the reader think or piques their interest:
another big part of what counts for a grade: maybe 40%
- Identify this VERY clearly: write a nice separate
paragraph discussing what you are doing and why,
justifying how it is complex and deep.
- The reason for this requirement is that I don't want you to
write a casual letter with no point, that just kind of goes on
and on without any real reason for being: it can't be a
summary of what's happening, or a recipe for how to barbecue a
cow, or your own rambling reactions, etc.
- Some ideas: you want Agamemnon to stop being a bully (show
him that he is and say why it's bad, perhaps), you think Homer
needs to consider a major change to his epic, you want
Andromache to defend her choices to a modern woman (unlikely,
but it could be good), or ... . The point is that you,
not just your characters, need an agenda, some good reason
to write.
- Think of what you love or hate or can't understand about the
character or the work: that could be a good place to start.
- Be specific!
- High production quality: counts for less, but still worth your
while: maybe 10%
- It doesn't matter if you want to write in everyday English
or high formal style or some dialect.
- What matters is that it be polished, that the spelling be
careful, the punctuation consistent, the formatting
consistent, etc.
- In other words take the time to make it look right and sound
right, to be a quality product.
- If you 'go the extra mile' on any of the above or in some
other way, it will count: what is meant by that is that you
might really put a lot of work and thought into one particular
element, and if it shows, I reserve the right to reward that.
- Maybe you create a calligraphic and illustrated manuscript
page out of your letter!
- Maybe you write it in hexameter!
- Maybe you come up with a really really cool idea I would
never think of
- Maybe you really go to town with evidence to back up your
details.
- Maybe you have an idea that really needs to be a novel to
work, but you give me the basics in the letters and it's
amazing!
- But in the end, each letter should be very close to 500 words:
keep to that length, please (not counting footnotes)