still alive - semester 2 begins

[magicicada]

ok, last semester i posted this huuge list of books to cover. well, the prof (who was wonderful in many ways) treated the syllabus as fiction and we didn't get to half of it. this semester, i've got a couple of organized cookies and much more progress will be made.


last semester's (actual) reading:
everyman
canterbury tales (prologue and the miller's tale)
the tragical history of the life and death of dr faustus (marlowe)
henry iv, part i
john donne, a handful of poems, some of which were 'taught' by a set of notes emailed the weekend before the exam.

my shakespeare course will segue nicely into this as one of the books we are reading is Richard II (which comes immediately before i henry iv in the series).

eng 486 (early shakespeare plays)
-titus andronicus
-richard iii
-richard ii
-julius caesar
-romeo & juliet
-a midsummer night's dream
-the merchant of venice
-much ado about nothing

i am terribly excited about all of this, partially because of two fears i had that have turned out to be groundless. first, i was afraid that _titus andronicus_ would be awful. it is, but in a really good way. i read a summary which clued me in to the sheer amount of death and dismemberment in this play and it's all starting to make much more sense to me. this is one of shakespeare's earliest plays and he generally stole his stories from another source. i think it's only natural that he would go for something to get the crowd worked up. i badly want to see this produced as an 'invisible wire' chinese martial art film. and no, i have not seen any language that sings yet, but i'm only up to act ii and even the worst shakespeare is better than canterbury tales. besides, there much better plays listed towards the end of the semester. (inlerah, if you are out there, now would be a good time to say, 'yo'. )

i was also nervous because the prof lists the emphasis of the course as 'gender and power'. i want to study the language in the play, not modern interpretations. however, from just the first class, i am assured that while this may be a focus of the professor's, it is not an agenda. i've never failed to get something of benefit from a different opinion, assuming it was reasonably well thought out. this prof is sharp. she teaches early shakespeare, later shakespeare and a graduate course which is also (wait for it) shakespeare. i feel i am in good hands. our other focus will be on shakespeare's development as a playright. i suspect that's a large part of why we are starting with such a known dud as titus.

i am still somewhat nervous about all of the papers to write, but this will be smooth, yes? let's try not to think about how long it's been since i wrote a research paper. ok, i'm thinking and it's been at least 8 yrs.

this will also be the semester of movies. the prof has arranged for 4 shakespeare movies to be shown, including one of titus (non martial arts version). most of the showings are at times i'm working, but i can wiggle that some and other times can be arranged. meanwhile, in my french class, we are going to see 'amelie' in french with subtittles. i am ridiculously happy about this, because i've been wanting to see this movie for some time. what a great opportunity to see it for credit :). one semester, five movies - w00t, hurray for college.

speaking of the french class, again i am much assured. the only french she asked us to speak the first day was, 'je m'appelle..'. it's not that it will be a terribly low level class, just that she was doing her best to set us at our ease. in another amusing turn, after resisting the language lab for so long, i find it has been supplanted by technology. yes, they do have a language lab, but i will not need to go there except to see amelie, the audio files will be available online.

also, like many language classes, the grades are full of 'gimmies' such as attendance, class participation and lots of little quizzes. i think i'll do ok in this. it's the english course that may be a challenge, but that makes sense comparing a 100 level to a 400 level course.


in non-school related news, ms sylvia is sick again and had a 103 degree fever this morning. i'm hoping it will be back down tomorrow, but her attendance at day care is still iffy. i stayed home from work today, although i did sneak in a few hrs after jeff came home. i'll be going to class tomorrow, but may end up on sick duty again when i get back. i really hope not as i have a poetry review that i have got to get done. we shall see. the poor woogie refused to take an organized nap and instead passed out on the living room rug. that's how you can tell when she's really sick. she generally will keep going regardless once she's busted a nap, but the evil germs took her down. she looked quite surprised when she woke up. she played for a bit and took another, shorter nap under her table. this one was semi-planned as she crawled under the table and settled herself down. and no, i did not care that she slept on the floor, nor did i try to move her. it scotched my plans for working while she napped, but i was exhausted by that point myself. when sylvia is sick, we give her a fairly heavy dose of tv. let me tell you, there are few things odder than trying to concentrate on shakespeare while listening to 'toot toot chugga chugga big red car'. meanwhile, throughout the whole episode, sylvia is saying she wants 'the yellow one'. no, not the yellow wiggle, but the yellow animated lump of clay that disney uses to introduce the show. sigh, it reminds me of when i was young and was confused over and over again by the fact that 'soul train' was not an animated show. the intro was so nice, the actual show was a bit of a letdown. ok, enough rambling, time to check out the french audio files and read more titus.

Comments

[bexfiles.livejournal.com]

Aww, I love the Canterbury Tales. And at least they've given you an easy one to study!

Still apart from that, sounds like it's all going very well.

[heathrow.livejournal.com]

You can totally do this. :)

[fizzgig-bites.livejournal.com]

I had a rather well respected Shakespeare professor. Unfortunately for me, she handed me my worst grade ever at FIU, and I was just thankful to pass. I have notes for four of the comedies. She also has a small online presence. Look into FIU.edu site and search for Mary Free. There is a listing for Shakespeare's Comedies. You might find some of her papers useful on the syllabus.

Oh! and...Oh g*d, not the Wiggles *sympathies*

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

i'll check her out, my current theory for a paper (having read only the first play) is to do something on the character of Tamora as an archetype of motherhood. if you've read the play, or even a summary, this is a terrifying vision, and yet, in a sense she is trying to revenge upon harm done to her children and to protect them. it might be a bit harsh, so i'm going to wait and see what other topics emerge as i read the other plays.

oh and on the wiggles, there are far worse things and she won't be seeing them again for a very long time hopefully. that was a special sick-woogie treat.

[fizzgig-bites.livejournal.com]

Like Doodlebops, Barney, and Lazy Town... Yeah, there are far worst. I just wish I didn't have to watch Wiggles myself.