\u00a0 Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of theories, especially of\u00a0those that are past their prime.\u00a0 Would knowing about New Criticism and the rest have been beneficial years ago in my early\u00a0attempts in understanding a whole text? Perhaps, but now,\u00a0in trying to learn and understand teaching of literature\u00a0ideas\/concepts, these resurfacing theories are like\u00a0a thin layer of dust that I’d like to wipe away once and for all, but know\u00a0will always be present, even if not visible.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0I have mixed feelings about Scholes’ book.\u00a0\u00a0Possibly, because of\u00a0his writing style, I think.\u00a0 At times, the language is quite academic-sounding to me, such as on pg. 24″……in perceiving the potent aura of codification…….,”and yet\u00a0other times, his talk is straight forward, “teaching literature should be retitled studying texts.”\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0It doesn’t sound as intellectual but it does provide a clearer purpose.\u00a0\u00a0(On a side note, my B.A. is in Family Studies, but the following year, Univ. of\u00a0Maryland changed it to Family Science.\u00a0 Which sounds better to you)?<\/p>\n
In many of our readings and discussions, we’ve mentioned (if not outright) that the current system of teaching English seems “broken.” Gerald Graff discussed the problems within curriculum and\u00a0Peter Elbow would like greater emphasis on the writing process.\u00a0 Scholes too\u00a0speaks of rebuilding and discusses his middle of the road ideas. He dismisses the revolution or abrupt change approach as well as the tinkering or reform method. This got me thinking about the D.C. school system and how past superintendants attempted to reform the broken system, but never got too far in instituting change.\u00a0 Now\u00a0 there’s Chancellor Rhee using a revolutionary-like style to overhaul the system. Although, it’s still early in the remaking, she doesn’t\u00a0appear to be backing down from the opposition, which gives the impression that maybe this time reform will actually occur.\u00a0 My guess is\u00a0that a university setting would be much\u00a0more resistant to the overhaul process.\u00a0 So then\u00a0how textual power is taught still\u00a0lies with the\u00a0individual teacher.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Both Blau and Scholes list the three skills: reading, interpretation and criticism.\u00a0 Blau defines reading as what does the text say while Scholes views reading as processing text without confusion or delay.\u00a0 Reading for both refers to text within text, which I understand, but I’m uncomfortable with Scholes use of ‘without confusion or delay.’ So if I\u00a0\u00a0reread text to strenghten or cement my understanding at a particular\u00a0point in text during\u00a0the first read- through then I’ve delayed my reading process, and what? (Or am I putting too much stress on his choice of words)?<\/p>\n
\u00a0Also, on pg. 11 he discusses his diagram regarding the English apparatus.\u00a0 How does moving composition from the bottom to the othermost margin place a greater value on the subject of composition?\u00a0 Which brings us back to Elbow’s argument and why reading and writing can’t get along. And yet, Scholes’ other comments, specifically that cultural knowledge should either present itself or be told, overlap previous scholars’\u00a0ideas.<\/p>\n
As for Hemingway, perhaps he’s not a favorite among women because in the few stories that I’ve read, the women are often referred to as girls or hold an inferior position to the male character.\u00a0 Also, the bull fighting theme has masculine overtones and although bull fighting is so entrenched in that culture, I personally wouldn’t mind seeing that act, of inciting a bull and then shoving swords into it till death,\u00a0\u00a0banned.\u00a0 I don’t understand man’s need to dominate animals.\u00a0Anyway, as for the painting, I’m glad it was posted because\u00a0aside from Impressionist paintings, I’m at a loss.\u00a0But how does four holes and the gash in the side\u00a0be deemed\u00a0\u00a0“lots of holes” since that was the method Romans used.\u00a0 In reading an excerpt from “Portrait of Hemingway” by Lillian Ross,\u00a0 Hemingway\u00a0says, ” I learned to write by looking at paintings at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris.”\u00a0In this scene, he is looking at pictures by Italian painters Titian, Giorgione, Francia, plus Rubens’ “The Triumph of Christ Over Sin and Death.” I’m wondering if Hemingway’s attraction to these stems from his own fears of death and of his writing\u00a0being misinterpreted.\u00a0He refers to Mantega’s portrait\u00a0of Christ as bitter. Is that because Hemingway feels that any attempts at goodness and righteousness will be condemned in a tortuous\u00a0way like that\u00a0of Jesus?\u00a0 Or was Hemingway feeling embittered\u00a0already? Does this even have anything to do with the criticism question?\u00a0But I did use textual power….right?<\/p>\n
Susan\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of theories, especially of\u00a0those that are past their prime.\u00a0 Would knowing about New Criticism and the rest have been beneficial years ago in my early\u00a0attempts in understanding a whole text? Perhaps, but now,\u00a0in trying to learn and understand teaching of literature\u00a0ideas\/concepts, these resurfacing theories are like\u00a0a thin layer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}