In addition to writing and compiling articles for this blog and others, I also edit two professional newsletters for ESLemployment. Please click HERE for more information.
Dr. B.Lee Hobbs, a professor of English who has worked in various sectors of education since 1993, invites you to participate in this online space for all Literature/Language/Writing scholars & students willing to meet, discuss, engage, learn & resolve issues in an academic discourse--ongoing since 2005.
This is the entry we'll be using for our Late 19th Century and Ibsen discussions and homework assignments (do not post items due here elsewhere or you may not receive credit!). To complete course assignments, please follow the instructions you were given in class.
1. Your entry tickets should FIRST be submitted to turnitin.com and THEN here in the comment box below. Your entry tickets should have the question and the answer (I asked that you submit a version of the questions without answers as a hardcopy in class).
2. Your reading response--directed/based on a topic you selected from a list distributed in class--should also be submitted to turnitin.com and THEN here in the comment box below.
I have to "approve" all comments so you won't see it immediately after posting. After hitting submit, you should see a screen that confirms this . . .
This is the entry we'll be using for our Early 19th Century and Gogol discussions and homework assignments (do not post items due here elsewhere or you may not receive credit!). To complete course assignments, please follow the instructions you were given in class.
1. Your entry tickets should FIRST be submitted to turnitin.com and THEN here in the comment box below. Your entry tickets should have the question and the answer (I asked that you submit a version of the questions without answers as a hardcopy in class).
2. Your reading response--directed/based on a topic you selected from a list distributed in class--should also be submitted to turnitin.com and THEN here in the comment box below.
3. Your "Response-Response," or, feedback on your peer's reading responses. These can be short (see the instructions I gave you in class) and do not have to be submitted to turnitin.com
I have to "approve" all comments so you won't see it immediately after posting. After hitting submit, you should see a screen that confirms this . . .
This is the entry we'll be using for our 18th Century and Goethe discussions and homework assignments (do not post items due here elsewhere or you may not receive credit!). To complete course assignments, please follow the instructions you were given in class.
1. Your entry tickets should FIRST be submitted to turnitin.com and THEN here in the comment box below. Your entry tickets should have the question and the answer (I asked that you submit a version of the questions without answers as a hardcopy in class).
2. Your reading response--directed/based on a topic you selected from a list distributed in class--should also be submitted to turnitin.com and THEN here in the comment box below.
3. Your "Response-Response," or, feedback on your peer's reading responses. These can be short (see the instructions I gave you in class) and do not have to be submitted to turnitin.com
I have to "approve" all comments so you won't see it immediately after posting. After hitting submit, you should see a screen that confirms this . . .
This is the entry we'll be using for our 17th Century and Moliere discussions and homework assignments (do not post items due here elsewhere or you may not receive credit!). To complete course assignments, please follow the instructions you were given in class.
1. Your entry tickets should FIRST be submitted to turnitin.com and THEN here in the comment box below. Your entry tickets should have the question and the answer (I asked that you submit a version of the questions without answers as a hardcopy in class).
2. Your reading response--directed/based on a topic you selected from a list distributed in class--should also be submitted to turnitin.com and THEN here in the comment box below.
3. Your "Response-Response," or, feedback on your peer's reading responses. These can be short (see the instructions I gave you in class) and do not have to be submitted to turnitin.com
I have to "approve" all comments so you won't see it immediately after posting. After hitting submit, you should see a screen that confirms this.
I’m Dr. Hobbs. If you have been asked to read this, it is because you have enrolled in ENG 226 "Survey of World Literature II," section CAH1 for Spring 2010.
Welcome to the course. Please be VERY SURE that you understand that this section is an HONORS section (see the section number; that's what the "H" represents).
The Honors version of ENG 226 is open to anyone who is either in the Honors Program or is an English Major at Saint Leo. The Honors-designated versions of courses at Saint Leo are notably different than the non-honors sections. The textbooks requirements are . . .
Joseph Campbell created a chart that roughly outlines a single structure in which most stories follow. He charted the map of the “hero’s journey,” and it encompasses a series of stages that can be applied to almost any narrative. The “monomyth” follows the progression of the protagonist throughout the three stages of the cycle. Although every story is . . .
According to Joseph Campbell, every story has its structure and root in the cyclic journey of myths which he termed the “hero’s journey.” The hero’s journey, a step of concrete stages, shows the significant metamorphosis a character undergoes throughout the course of the given story. The hero’s journey is also found within the realm of science fiction; while not admirable in intent, the character known as Coeurl in A.E. van Vogt’s story “Black Destroyer” shows a clear progression through Campbell’s cycle.
The public is invited to a reading featuring well-known Tampa Bay writers Peter Meinke, Rita Ciresi and Gianna Russo, along with emerging poets and writers from the Saint Leo University and local area, at a celebration of the 2009 publication of Saint Leo's Sandhill Review literary magazine.
The event is at 7 p.m. on July 11 at Barnes and Noble Booksellers at the Shops at Wiregrass, 28152 Pasco Drive, Wesley Chapel. Admission is free. Sandhill Review will be distributed at no charge.
The Sandhill Review also has photos and artwork. Cover art for the 2009 edition was created by B. Lee Hobbs, head of the Department of English, Fine Arts and
Humanities.
This entry posted by lhobbs at 02:53 PM and is filed under Industry Issues.
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Recently, because I teach a Science-fiction literature course, I was asked by the public relations department of Saint Leo University to provide some commentary for Ted Anthony, a noted Associated Press journalist writing a news story on the upcoming Star Trek film and why Star Trek, as a pop-culture phenomenon, seems to resonate on an almost folkloric level with certain elements of American society. I was happy to oblige but I had to admit that it was a solid question and one that would warrant some reflection first. Since its debut, Gene Roddenberry’s famous series from the 1960s has certainly proven influential in many ways. For example, concepts from this speculative fiction about Earth’s distant future have found their way into the English vernacular and in technological innovations.
Even those who have never watched a single episode may be familiar with . . .
Re: the class activity we did (in groups) at our last meeting, please summarize your points about the elements of structure (in about a paragraph), according to Edgar V. Roberts, in the non-fiction text of The Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak below. . .
This entry is for the purpose of housing science fiction writer Harlan Ellison's story "Soldier," filmed as episode 1 (Season 2) of the "original" 1964 television series The Outer Limits. The 51 minute B/W video is made available thanks to user "mekrain" 's YouTube channel in six parts (embeded below). Please watch them in the correct sequence.
The death of a loved one is one of the most painful experiences people go through in their life. What makes it the most difficult to cope with is the fact we can no longer speak with them face to face. In Christina Rossetti’s poem, Echo, she explains through her dream that she has lost her lover many years ago and her only way of seeing him is through her dreams. In this poem, the author uses her dreams as the contextual symbolism of communication.
Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2006. ISBN: 0415974100.
[This is your textbook about critical theory as applied to literature].
Rivkin, Julie and Michael Ryan, eds. Literary Theory: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2004. ISBN: 1405106964.
[This is your collection of primary sources about literary theory as written by the pioneers and theorists who helped develop them. Use these as your primary sources for your papers].
Lynn, Steven. Texts and Contexts: Writing about Literature with Critical Theory. 5th ed. New York: Pearson, 2008. ISBN: 032144907X.
[Recommended but not required--Very easy to read! Please order this from Interlibrary Loan in our Library if the price is too hefty].
ENG 435 Students,
See advice on improving this assignment at the entry on your last assignment HERE and/or in the e-mail I recently sent you as a mass-message.
Nomberg-Przytyk, Sara. Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land. Chapel Hill, NC: U of NC Press, 1986. ISBN: 0807841609 or 9780807841600. [Topic: Memory of Concentration Camps; Genre: Memoir]
Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2006. ISBN: 0415974100.
[This is your textbook about critical theory as applied to literature].
Rivkin, Julie and Michael Ryan, eds. Literary Theory: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2004. ISBN: 1405106964.
[This is your collection of primary sources about literary theory as written by the pioneers and theorists who helped develop them. Use these as your primary sources for your papers].
Lynn, Steven. Texts and Contexts: Writing about Literature with Critical Theory. 5th ed. New York: Pearson, 2008. ISBN: 032144907X.
[Recommended but not required--Very easy to read! Please order this from Interlibrary Loan in our Library if the price is too hefty].
Joyce, James A. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. 1916. Ed. R. B. Kershner. 2nd ed. New York: Bedford, 2005. ISBN: 0312408110
Borowski, Tadeusz. This Way for the Gas, Ladies & Gentlemen. New York: Penguin, 1992. ISBN: 0140186247. [Topic: Daily Life in Concentration Camps; Genre: Short Historical Fiction / Veiled Autobiography]
ENG 340 Students,
Just FYI, if you have not purchased this book, it is on reserve in our library. The call number is: PG7158.B613 A28 1976.
Per the instructions you received in class and . . .
Part one of your homework assignment tonight (due next meeting) is to follow the instructions for the questions below:
In-Class, Individual
Discussion Questions (Take-Home Quiz) on Othello, The Moor of Venice
INSTRUCTIONS: Before our next
class meeting, enter the answer to the question you registered for on the
attendance sheet (first, re-type the question) and submit digitally to BOTH
turnitin.com and the English-blog (this is a quiz). You should show
evidence/verification in your answer by using our text and incorporating page
numbers and line numbers into your answer. To get credit for your answer, use
specific examples and quotations.As
usual, please acknowledge the course syllabus on the course policy for
assignments submitted after the deadline (not accepted). Technical issues will
not be accepted as an excuse. SLU has a student technology center paid for by
your student fees.
1.Do
Othello and Desdemona ever consummate their marriage? If you think so, find the page
and line number of these events to prove your answer.How do we know or not? Is this an important question? In
other words, would either scenario change the way we understand the story?Why or why not?
2.Why
does Othello believe Iago? There are many doorways into this question; Find the
page and line number of these events for your answer.One of them is at the end, when Iago says, "I told him
what I thought, and told no more / Than what he found himself was apt and
true" (5.2.183).
3.In
Act Four, Scene Three, Desdemona and Emilia have a conversation about men and
women, marriage, and fidelity. Find the page and line number of these events
for your answer.What does this scene
indicate about the character of Desdemona? How can you relate this scene to
central issues in the play?
4.Various
critics have noticed that Desdemona apparently lies more than once in the play:
e.g., when Othello asks her about the handkerchief, or when she briefly comes
to life at the end to absolve Othello of her murder. Find the page and line
number of these events for your answer.Do you consider these moments to be lies, and if so, how do you
understand them?
5.Othello's
death scene is superbly staged. Shakespeare gives the character a powerful
final speech. Reading it (or hearing it), do you think this tragic hero has
learned anything from his experience, or is he continuing to sustain his
illusions? Find the page and line number of these events for your answer
6.Othello’s
heroic qualities and military proficiency allow him partial acceptance into
Venetian society. How is this acceptance provisional, and what can it
reveal about the sexual and emotional construction of Othello’s undoing? Find
the page and line number of these events for your answer.
7.The
Duke of Venice tells Brabantio, “Your son in law is far more fair than black”
(Act 1, Scene 3). Find the page and line number of these events.How does this further one’s
understanding of Venetian society’s ambivalent attitude toward
Othello?
8.The
events of the play last about three days, and Othello kills Desdemona the day
after he arrives in Cyprus. How does the incompatible and compressed time frame
both make Desdemona’s adultery impossible and enhance the psychological impact
Iago’s lies have on Othello? Find the page and line number of these events for
your answer.
9.Brabantio’s
comments to Othello regarding Desdemona in Act 1, Scene 3 are a cautionary
warning that she may betray her husband, having already betrayed her father.
Find the page and line number of these events for your answer. (A.) What does
this reveal about Venetian society’s attitude toward women and (B.) how does it
connect to the tragedy at the end of the play?
10.In
Othello,
Venice is often seen as established home of order and stability, while Cyprus
can represent the chaos and inversion of a place outside of a “system.” What role
then, according to this understanding, does Cyprus play in furthering the
action of the play?In other words,
if we accept this symbolism, how does it affect the plot?
11.Iago’s
famous lines “I am not what I am” (Act I, Scene 1) force an examination of
identity and duplicity in this play. Find the page and line number of these
events for your answer.Is Iago the only character who could make this statement?If not, who else? Explain.
12.Helpful
or hurtful?Go back and review the
language used Does the play Othello reinforce or challenge racial stereotypes?
Does this play reinforce or challenge sexist stereotypes
13.What
motivates Iago to carry out his schemes?Do you find him a devil incarnate, a madman, or a rational human being?
14.Whom
besides Othello does Iago deceive?What is Desdemona’s opinion of him?Emilia’s?Cassio’s (before Iago is found out)?To what do you attribute Iago’s success as a deceiver?
15.How
essential to the play is the fact that Othello is a black man, a Moor, and not
a native of Venice?
16.In
the introduction to his edition of the play in The Complete Signet Classic
Shakespeare,
Alan Kernan remarks: “Othello is probably the most neatly, the most formally
constructed of Shakespeare’s plays.Every character is, for example, balanced by another similar or
contrasting character.Desdemona
is balanced by her opposite, Iago; love and concern for others at one end of
the scale, hatred and concern for self at the other.”Besides Desdemona and Iago, what other pairs of characters
strike balances?
17.Consider
any passage of the play in which there is a shift from verse to prose, or from
prose to verse.What is the effect
of this shift?
18.Indicate
a passage that you consider memorable for its poetry.Does the passage seem introduced for its own sake?Does it in any way advance the action
of the play, express theme, or demonstrate character?
19.Does
the play contain any tragic recognition—in other words, a moment of
terrible enlightenment, or a “realization of the unthinkable”?(NOTE: usually enlightenment is
“good,” right?—as in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.”What happens when it’s bad?—Think
of the protagonist Neo in The Matrix as discussed in an earlier class
meeting).
20.Does
the downfall of Othello proceed from any flaw in his nature, or is his downfall
entirely the work of Iago?
For the questions from earlier class meetings . . .
If you missed today's meeting, I hope it was because you were voting!
If you attended class, you know we screened (and discussed) Paul and Sandra Fierlinger's film A Room Nearby in light of the upcoming definition essay. Per the instructions given to you in class today . . .
Dr. Hobbs’s ENG 225 Course (12:30pm to 1:20pm) Will, Regrettably, Not Meet Friday, October 24th.
You are instructed to use this time:
*To complete your peer-reviews for the first draft of paper #2. If you cannot find a class-partner, use the services of the LRC.
*Your final draft for paper #2 is due Monday. To receive credit, it is ALSO due on turnitin.com by the same deadline (do not forget).
*Continue to do the readings on the course itinerary for Module 3 and the end of Module 2 as previously scheduled (see previous e-mails for copies of the new, updated itinerary, group lists, etc.)
*Each of the four group presentation “leaders” should e-mail Dr. Hobbs ASAP to let him know exactly who will be the “spokesperson” for their presentation group (the contact person) and when and where your first group planning meeting is scheduled to take place. It will be the group leader’s responsibility to keep Dr. Hobbs posted on the progress of the group as it moves towards its class presentation date (see the instruction for the group project in the handout emailed to you previously).
Class will resume as normal on Monday.
See you then,
Dr. Hobbs
----------------------------------
*FROM* 21 October 2008
ENG 225 Students:
See the e-mail I sent you today for other details and reminders. See the group work details and itinerary for the rest of the course below . . .
In our previous class meeting, we finished part two of our two-part screening of Liev Schreiber's Everything is Illuminated, the cinematic adaptation of the novel of the same name by American writer, Jonathan Safran Foer. Today, . . .
That's right, free literature courses. According to a report from education-portal.com, MIT, U of Utah, Utah State U, U of California, Berkeley, U of Sheffield, and others are offering the course material for several literature courses to the public without cost via the Internet. They don't all offer credit but they do offer the same information you'd otherwise pay for from many online degree programs. According to the site . . .
Enjoyed the literature class and now considering/thinking of becoming a "Literature Major" in your current postsecondary program of study? The following two 10-minute videos from the University of Wales in Bangor follows "Rich," a representative literature undergraduate student through a typical day of school to show you *(partly) what this field of study entails at the higher education level.
'A Day in the Life of an English Literature Student I' Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8UOMGQfuLk
FILM SOURCE:Closed Mondays. 1975. Creators. Will Vinton and Bob Gardiner. Voices. Todd Oleson and Holly Johnson. Music. Bill Scream. Fantastic Animation Festival. 9 April 2008 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGZgsgQSXGA>.
Hi everyone,
Ok, nothing to do here, just for fun--an old animation I remember from my teenage years. But, just for purposes of conversation...what journey does this old protagonist have? How is he transformed?
See you next week,
Lee
This entry posted by lhobbs at 12:06 PM and is filed under Literature.
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Even after my long-winded explanations of phonology and etymology in our class lectures, some of you still have questions on how to pronounce some of the names from Oedipus Rex (or, Oedipus, The King).
Below, I have reprinted a few worthy explanations from voices younger than mine. Perhaps their explications are simpler to understand . . .
[NOTE: The instructions for this extra-credit assignment applies to (and, is only open to) students who had previously signed the student-teacher contract indicating that they would be participating. If you did not sign-up for the "auto-A" option, you do not need to do this. Also, those who did sign-up but managed to get to the writing center before I withdrew that condition of the assignment, are also excused from republishing on the English-Blog].
If this applies to you, per the terms of your optional, extra-credit assignment (modifications of which were discussed today in class) please share your research from Essay #2 below.
Note that my comments on your paper will be candid, format-focused, and public, so please present your very best effort. Visitors, please feel free to comment on the content of any of these essay contributions.
Click HERE to read the rest of the assignment details . . .
Monday, I will distribute the sign-up sheet for formal reading-response #1. If you are one of the “A” students, or otherwise ambitious, then please read ahead in the Coursepack pages 57-59 to see what this assignment will look like. You might want to go ahead and begin choosing some of the characters you’d like to write about. Remember, I will only allow two students per character, so have some “backups”!
If you can find a character that you’d like to write about that isn’t on the list . . .
Sorry we didn't have time to watch more of this clip in class but at least we got to see the first section of the introduction. A paragraph or two please: What is different about . . .
Today I screened the first part of a documentary film called Pokołenie '89 by director Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz. This comprehensive exposé provided a series of concise vignettes about the Independent Student Union [in Polish, "NZS"] participants who, in the late '80s, actively opposed the Communist government in Warszawa, Poland. Says the Visegrad Documentary Library:
The portrait of the first generation of Poles who reached adulthood after 1989, the turning point for the political transformation in Poland. The protagonists are middle-class people from Warsaw.
I will show the conclusion in the following class meeting. Granted, this material is hardcore and radically different from anything I've shown thus far. For example, the production is subtitled. So, for several at least, this is the first opportunity some of the students have had to literally "read" a film as a text. My decision to immerse them . . .
When hurtful stereotypes and ignorant prejudices collide, a major accident is bound to ensue. Mao once said, "without destruction there can be no construction." I interpret this to mean that in order to construct (or re-construct), a positive deconstruction is sometimes necessary first . Crash is layered enough to do that and much more. If you have a class of top-level English students that seem open to receiving pop-cultural topics for writing and discussion subject-matter, you might have some success with this piece.
The film itself is a full two hours long and it took two complete class periods to show this film in its entirety to my class. Should you decide to screen this film, your students should be forewarned: It's certainly violent, graphic and has something to offend almost everyone. But, at the same time, some really important social issues are first toyed with and then brought to the surface. The narrative results in an amazing chain-reaction of hatred, prejudice and bigotry. Does hate fuel the uninformed and misguided opinions or do uninformed and misguided opinions inform the hate? In the third class period, I conducted a . . .
As several of you might know, I lived as an expatriate for many years overseas, primarily in post-Communist Europe, teaching, doing research and operating new businesses after the Berlin Wall came down in East Germany.
I made many good friends there including Mr. Bernard Offen - a survivor of the Holocaust - who has dedicated much of his life to giving, sharing, educating and promoting peace. I had the opportunity to learn a lot from Bernard and . . .
We’ve discussed previously the concepts of metaphor and simile. Both compare different ideas and draw connections, thus offering a new perspective or interpretive definition. But, what’s the difference between them?
Here's some help:
Simile - A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as, as in “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get" - Forrest Gump (or) "My love is like a red, red rose" — Robert Burns Metaphor – The metaphor is similar to the simile, but doesn't say that one thing is like another thing. A metaphor says one thing IS another thing! For example, “Life is a process of becoming . . ." - Anaïs Nin (or) "No man is an island" —John Donne
I like to use poetry in my English language writing courses as both writing-prompts, discussion topics and lead-ins to other assignments. In my experience with Western students, it seems that today the majority of them enjoy and have full access to all forms of popular music, much of which - hip-hop for example - is lyric intensive . . .
What are your experiences using poetry in the writing classroom? Do you prefer the easier-to-comprehend-type model for poems so that more time can be spent on the actual craft of response-writing, for instance, or do you like the headier examples that will probably take an entire class period of discussion before students "get it" enough to even have an academic reaction?
Recently, I asked the students in my English language class . . .
"Every burned book enlightens the world." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Bonfires,” according to Ruth McClain of OCTELA, “were a very efficient form of censorship in an age when books were handwritten and existed in few copies . . .
"There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm." ~ Willa Silbert Cather
Caption: After the mighty winds of Hurricane Ivan, the once happy resort at Gulf State Park sits gutted and utterly defeated on the coastal shores of southern Alabama (2004) . . .
"There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it." ~ Dale Carnegie
"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names" ~ John F. Kennedy
Ever wonder what to do on the first day of class? Nervous about remembering new students' names? Well, the first day of class is the perfect opportunity to satisfy both of these apprehensions.
"This inescapable duty to observe oneself: if someone else is observing me, naturally I have to observe myself too; if none observe me, I have to observe myself all the closer." ~ Franz Kafka
Lee Hobbs, a North American native-speaker (and partial descendant of Native-Americans and wily Welshmen), renowned global citizen (and infamous universal denizen) spends much of his existence "searching for sanity beyond the self-dynamic" After earning his bachelor of arts (in fine art) in 1993, he spent six of his thinner years trekking across the planet, experimenting with entrepreneurial endeavors, and working in the emerging ESL field of Post-Communist Europe. During that time . . .
