Blog on Jason Compson, due Oct 24

As I mentioned before, a successful contemporary writer and friend told me over the summer that he considers Jason Compson the ultimate villain of American literature. What do you think of Jason as arch-villain, and what do you think his chapter contributes to its Benjy and Quentin predecessors? 300-400 words, posted by 11:15am, Wednesday, October 24th.

Benjy & color

Here's the link to the new 14-color edition.

Lego Mark Twain's house

Here's a recent pic from my rock-star friend of the Lego Mark Twain house replica in the Hartford, CT airport.

Yelping with Cormac McCarthy

Follow this link to a site that is not only clever in concept but in execution as well. Perhaps an inspiration for projects.?.

Today your life is measured out in birthday candles.

Robot Frost

I like to think of a RoboCop inspired narrative with a cyborg resurrected Robert Frost: Robot Frost. And this cartoon approaches the idea...

Blog writing due Weds Sept 19

250-350 words. Robert Frost's poetry: Simply deceptive or deceptively simple?

another Tough Button

maté standing empty Black smudges the color of warm finger tips touching and passing the beautiful grime of time together with friends Your lips the lips and the pulled liquid breaths of green wet inside silver. Kisses once drunk but now dry but I have a kettle on the stove to steam again again

Tough Buttons

Purple Marker Low odor chisel, wedged into the young girl's lungs, through the nose the eyes the nose. Smells good and good and good. It smells good like the heart, regal good in the pupil. Like a chisel feels. Good in the hand cold and cold and cold. Ridges on the mass-produced cap that hide the inky soft chisel sharp in its line. Its sharp sharp smelling line and the lines.

Best Bday wishes, Hamlin!

Happy birthday, Hamlin Garland!! =] Just because we're not reading you in our AmLit survey doesn't mean we forgot your birthday.

Blog for Sept 10

For this blog, again 300-400 words. The topic is Huck's decision to endanger himself to rescue Jim. We've been discussing all along how Huck seems reactive instead of proactive and of a mixed mind when it comes to his participation in Jim's "escape." What do you see in Huck's decision to go to the Phelps'? What does it do for you as a reader in relation to the earlier representations of Huck?

Sanitizing Twain?

Here's a link to a story that ran on National Public Radio about the "Sanitized" novel. It gives you the major players in the debate, etc. If you're interested, there's a thought-provoking essay by Toni Morrison in the back of our book that presents a number of difficulties in assessing the impacts of Twain's novel and in thinking through the issue of sanitization and/or of requiring it as course reading.

Hart Crane blog: due 5 Sept

For your first blog assignment, please write a 250-300 word piece and post it to your blog by 11:15am Wednesday, September 5th. Please take one of the three "bridges" I suggested or one of your own devising and write about one poem by reading it through that approach. This can be about the poem you presented upon (or will present upon for the last 2 of you) or about one that caught your attention in discussion. Again, I hope you enjoyed The Bridge. I truly find this a book of poetry worth having around for years to pick up every now and again, either to engage with intellectually or just to bathe in some of the brilliant lines... The window goes blond slowly or ...and love A burnt match skating in a urinal--

thinking of the future of literary materials

You can follow this link to a short story that feels longer than it is because of its mode of delivery. This might be an inspiration for the Group Project later this term.

Owl Creek Bridge, the film

Point of view is a key concept in cinema style as well as literary style, and this film does fine work of following Bierce's progression from objective to subjective.

There will be blogs...

This is the course blog, where I'll regularly post assignments for blogs and other projects and writings as well as miscellaneous links, like this VERY IMPORTANT LITERARY STUDIES SITE, relevant to our class. For Monday, please go to blogger.com. Start your own blog. Please write a short entry explaining why you gave it the title you did--remember that your title doesn't need t match your url, so if you think of a cool title but the url is taken, you can still use the title. Email me the url so I can post a class blog roll on this blog--that way we've got all our blogs in one place. We'll have the first blog writing assignment on a text next week on Mark Twain.