Today we’re going to start off with a discussion about the following statement:

Fiction reveals the truth that reality obscures.

Then you will learn a new form of literary criticism (although it’s not really new for you): Formalism.

Formalist Literary Criticism by Danika Barker

Next I’m going to have you read  short story, On the Rainy River. On Friday you will be doing this:

Why does the narrator refer to himself as a coward? Do you agree with him? Why or why not? You will need to have a clear definition in your mind of cowardice. Support your position with evidence from the text as well as examples from other things you’ve watched/read/experienced.

Important: Make you incorporate at least one quotation to help support your ideas.

Approximately 2 pages (double-spaced).

If not done at the end of class, it’s homework.

Word period for readers journals today.

We’ll wrap up our look at Postcolonialism today by finishing Pocahontas, discussing the actual Pocahontas and applying Postcolonial analysis questions to the film. If we have time we’ll watch part of the following documentary:
(skip to 21:30 for Pocahontas discussion) http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/episodes/reel-injun

Brief discussion of Postcolonial literary criticism and then we will be watching a film.

Please hand in your questions for Transients in Arcadia if you haven’t already done so.

We’ll start today by reviewing everything you know about archetypal criticism and reader response criticism.

Then you’ll begin working on your analysis of Transients in Arcadia. Analyzing a Short Story Using Literary Theory This is due Tuesday.

On Monday we will begin looking at Post-Colonial literary criticism. We will have a guest speaker for this topic so please wow him with your prior knowledge by reading the handout you got in class (if you were away today I will post it later today. I’m having computer issues at the moment)

Today we’re in 211 to blog. Log on to the Literature Circle Ning and you’ll see your topics posted. Blog posts must be posted by the end of the period.

Today is our first literature circle meeting day!

If you need more time with the Transients in Arcadia questions I will hand them back to you and let you finish them but I did want them submitted at the end of the period so I could see how well you understood the short story.

What you’re going to be doing next with this short story is writing an analysis of no more that 500 words from either an archetypal perspective or a reader response perspective. Your analysis needs to include a thesis. To help you with this I would suggest using this statement as your template: When analyzing “Transients in Arcadia from a _____________ (archetypal or reader response) perspective, it becomes clear that the author is depicting the struggle between/ questioning the legitimacy of/ suggesting that human beings/  ____________________________________________.

We’ll work on this on Friday but it’s a good idea to start thinking about now.

For today though, I want you to focus on getting ready for your first literature circle meeting. In order to participate in tomorrow’s meeting you will need to have the first third of your book read, your reader’s journals completed with technical insights that you plan on sharing underlined or highlighted, and your 5 discussion questions done.

Today, we’re going to be working on the short story, Transients in Arcadia. I have questions for you to work on and I’m giving you time in class to do them but I’d like them by the end of the period please. That way your only homework is your literature circle blog/reading your novel.

You can get a digital copy of the questions here: Transients in Arcadia

We’ll begin today by taking up the questions on Things That Fly and then continue with readers journals conferences again.