We decided to have the final drafts of your research papers finished by last Friday to allow the final three weeks for work on our adaptations. While Boreas has meddled with our class schedule, your research papers should be nearly completed. I will look through the documents tomorrow (Tuesday). If you have finished, please send me an email with the document attached. ((To do this from Docs: open your document, go to File, then Download As… and choose “Word.” Open the document, make sure the formatting is correct, and attach it to an email to me.))

If you find yourself stuck or want me to review your work, send me an email and be sure your work is shared with me through a Google Document.

…and Adaptations

Your next step is to tell an original story using either the “Verbubble” or the moral of a myth. ((While you do not need to adapt the myth you wrote over, your familiarity might help you.)) You have spent the last several weeks discovering and analyzing examples of this for your paper, but to be clear: your final story should not be a simple re-telling of the myth, but a new work that carries the message or structure further, thereby extending the line of influence you have traced in your research.

Past stories have been told through musical compositions, poetry (both epic and limerick), comics and longer graphic works, prose, and (once) an interpretive dance. The medium is up to you. Again, email me with any questions that arise.

We set up Google Documents in class on Monday for the writing process. Keeping the information online rather than on our individual computers will make collaboration and communication more efficient (I think; this is the first time I’ve had an entire class do it this way), and if nothing else, will prevent the mishaps that occur with incompatible files and missing email. If you have not set up a document yet, click through the link above, hit “create an account” if you don’t have a GMail account, and get writing. Please share the document with me at my school email. If you have questions, send me a message or ask in class.

We will keep to the same schedule as the midterm this time around. The days are moved a bit, but you will have the same amount of time. (With that in mind, it would be good to think back to snags you encountered with the midterm and plan this time accordingly.)

Just a quick reminder:

You should spend most of your time working out the organization and collection of evidence, ensuring that each of your points have proper support. Email a copy of your outline to me this weekend; I’ll give you feedback if necessary. Once you have that squared away, make a copy of the outline file, rename it “rough draft,” and turn your major points into paragraphs, add an introduction and conclusion, transitions between the paragraphs, and you’re all set.

These rough drafts are due Monday. We’ll do a peer review then.

If you have questions at any point in this process, send me an email or post a comment below.

Quick reminder that you’ll be presenting your proposals in class on Monday. I want to emphasize that this is not a stand-in-front-of-the-class-and-read-from-notecards sort of thing; you’ll remain sitting, explain your potential thesis and the support you have, the research you still need to do, and the class will provide suggestions for further connections/evidence and questions about your argument.

How are they coming? Send me an email or post a comment below if you have a question.

Here’s a quick question to ask of your proposed (hypo)thesis ((I’m using The Stranger by Albert Camus and Hamlet so I don’t step on any connections you may be considering, but the format should be the same.)):

Is it something I need to prove (that’s good), or something that just happens in the texts (that’s bad)?

Bad (hypo)thesis ((go sit in the corner.)): Hamlet and Meursault both isolate themselves from the rest of society, commit murder, and accept a death by the hand of another.

While this is a neat connection, it provides little insight into the texts—merely provides comparison. For a better comparison, I looked into how each views his death and why he accepts it as he does:

Better (hypo)thesis: On the night of Meursault’s execution, he realizes the “gentle indifference of the universe,” while Hamlet notes that there’s “special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” Though their paths are quite different, both Hamlet and Meursault find a kind of solace in the inevitability their deaths; Hamlet is resigned to divine providence while Meursault finally welcomes the absurdity of life and death.

This connection provides better insight into the characters’ motivations and will elicit questions for further explanation (is Hamlet really religious? what does “absurd” mean in this context? how are their paths different?), which will be addressed in the body of the essay. Remember that your theses are tentative at this point; they need not be perfect (this one certainly isn’t), but only to provide a starting point for further study and elucidation.

After your (hypo)thesis you should include as much support as you have discovered, any resources (or parts of the works) you still need to mull over, as well as any problems you foresee in the process.

So that was epic. We wrapped up Hamlet in class today. Give yourself a pat on the back; you’ve just annotated one of the greatest works of Western literature. Now comes the fun part: telling others what you’ve learned. Read the rest of this entry »