I have returned from the cornfields and box stores of the middle west.
There are several points I need to address.
1. There are a few of you form whom I do not have a functional email address. If you did not receive an email from me on Friday, June 13 please reply to me at jcook@gloucester.k12.ma.us with your email address.
2. I have made two changes to the comments. First, I have deleted our personal introductions. This saddens me. Many of your posts were witty. Some of them were honest and revelatory. Most of you used the comment box for the intended, class-building purpose. Second, I have changed the settings on the blog so now I will have to approve all comments before they appear on the blog. This, too, saddens me.
3. Start reading Invisible Man now if you haven't done so already. It's a long novel and is the one we will deal with first. I plan to hold our first session on the first Monday of July (7/7) in the morning (starting time to be announced). This gives you about three weeks to do the following work before the first session: do pre-reading research (see: "Before Reading" on the blog), read the novel, mark important passages and take notes (see: "While Reading" on the blog). During the first session we will discuss the work and you will ask lots of questions. Then you will do some writing in the comments box of the blog (see: "After Reading" directions on the blog). This "After Reading" work will be due by midnight of the Friday after the first session (7/11).
4. Tentative Dates for Summer Seminars
(By the seminar date you are expected to have completed the "before reading" and "while reading" activities--and, of course, you are expected to have read the book. "After reading" assignments must be posted by the Friday following the seminar even if you do not attend the seminar.)
July 7 Invisible Man ("After Reading" due 7/11)
July 21 Wide Sargasso Sea ("After Reading" due 7/25)
August 4 Translations ("After Reading" due 8/8)
August 18 Song of Myself ("After Reading" due 8/22)
These dates are tentative. Did I mention that they are tentative, provisional and subject to change?
5. Email me (jcook@gloucester.k12.ma.us) with any questions about any of the above, including particular questions about the books (especially Invisible Man). You can also post questions and comments (especially about Invisible Man). I'd love to find out what you are thinking about the Ellison's novel. For many of last year's students it was one of their favorites. (It will be especially important for students who cannot attend the July 7 session to discuss the novel with me and peers through email and the comment box.
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Post Class Notes
1. Sybil/Sibyl [in response to Alex R]
"In antiquity, the oracular seeresses of the Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean were referred to by the Greek term "sibyls". In modern times, when "Sibyl" is adopted for a woman's name, the conventional spelling is "Sybil".
This might also be relevant:
"The Cumaean Sibyl prophesied by “singing the fates” and writing on oak leaves. These would be arranged inside the entrance of her cave but, if the wind blew and scattered them, she would not help to reassemble the leaves to form the original prophesy again.
The Sibyl was a guide to the underworld (Hades), its entry being at the nearby crater of Avernus. Aeneas employed her services before his descent to the lower world to visit his dead father Anchises, but she warned him that it was no light undertaking:
Trojan, Anchises' son, the descent of Avernus is easy./All night long, all day, the doors of Hades stand open./But to retrace the path, to come up to the sweet air of heaven,/That is labour indeed. (Aeneid 6.10.)"
2. "Black and Blue" as performed by Louis Armstrong
Argh. I forgot to play the song for you. (Got carried away with other things.)
Here are the lyrics for those of you interested in writing about it.
[Think about violence, color, alienation, double consciousness, etc.]
(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue
Lyrics by Andy Razaf
Music by Thomas "Fats" Waller and Harry Brooks
Cold, empty bed,
Springs hard as lead,
Pains in my head,
Feel like old Ned.
What did I do
To be so black and blue?
No joys for me,
No company,
Even the mouse
Ran from my house,
All my life through
I've been so
Black and blue.
I'm so forlorn,
Life's just a thorn,
My heart is torn,
Why was I born?
What did I do to be so
Black and blue?
I'm white inside,
But that don't help my case.
'Cause I can't hide
What is on my face,
Oh!
[Alternative lyrics
for the last verse]
I'm sad inside,
But it don't help my case
'Cause I can't hide
All the sorrow
That's on my face.
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