We're now beginning our unit on The Canterbury Tales. We'll be reading the "General Prologue" and five of the tales -- as listed on the "Reading List" section of the website.

For Monday, your assignment is to read my introduction and  The General Prologue and to complete the pilgrim data sheet, which must be drop-boxxed before the beginning of class on Monday.

You will have a quiz over the material in my introduction download and the General Prologue. Be sure to know the various medieval genres as defined in the introduction. Each tale belongs to a specific medieval genre, and we'll be talking much about this during this unit.

Download: Introduction to the Caterbury Tales
Download: Pilgrim data sheet

As a part of our introduction to The Canterbury Tales, we'll be watching Becket. Your LRJ assignment for Becket (see download below) includes reading an article entitled "How to Watch a Movie" and a written movie review. See the assignment for detailed specifics. 

    Download: Becket LRJ assignment

For next Wednesday: In addition to writing the LRJ entry, you will each have three minutes (no more!) to persuade the class that the movie you wrote about is 1) an excellent movie, 2) they'd enjoy watching it, and 3) the movie they will want to vote for to see sometime later in the year. Again, see the assignment sheet for full details. Cheers!

Building on what you learned from Nabokov's article on what makes a good reader, you're going to put your close reading skills to practice on a single short story. You will find your assigned short story below.

For Thursday, you are required to read your assigned story and annotate it. Your annotations are to be submitted to the dropbox before the beginning of class on Thursday. It must be in the dropbox before class begins, or you will receive no credit for the annotations assignment.

This assignment begins our yearlong study of literary analysis. The first step in literary analysis is understanding the elements of plot (conflict, climax, resolution, etc.), figurative language (metaphor, symbolism, personification, etc.) , and other literary terms (tone, mood, theme, etc.). In order to do this you should know ALL of the terms in the following handout.

Download: Overview of  Basic Literary Terms  

I reserve the right to assess you on any and all of these "basic" literary terms -- their definitions as well as how to apply them, how to recognize them, etc. In fact, you will be using these literary terms to complete the series of assignments you will have relating to your assigned short story.

The Short Stories
The following short stories were chosen for this project because of their richness in literary value. For example, they can all be read on differerent "levels"; they allow ample room for interpretation; they rely on the use of figurative language and ambiguity; they raise important questions for the reader; and they are all of a similar length. Note: Although we are focusing primarily on British literature this year, I have also included some American authors.

"The Blue Lenses" by Daphne du Maurier 
A2: Myers, Nabor, Orkwis, Josephson 
A3: Bugada, Greve, Himes

"The Body Snatcher" by Robert Louis Stevenson 
A2: Abeln, Asgian, Bruggeman, Bruns
A3: Kincaid, Reed, Kunkel, Mills

"William Wilson" by Edgar Allan Poe 
A2: Griffiths, Hanna, Hoderlein, Pappalardo
A3: McCreary, Morton, Nymberg

"The Destructors" by Graham Greene
A2: Williams, Verrilli, Zimmerman
A3: King, Shaffer, Shade

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor 
A2: Paz, Rieger, Schlueter, Schumacher
A3: Rumsey, Strottman, Wheat

"The Birthmark" by Nathanael Hawthorne
A2: Smallwood, Worobetz, Voss, Wick

In case you forgot what you're suppose to do for Thursday, see the second paragraph above. It is important that you read the story WELL before you come to class.

After completing a peer evaluation form and making comments on the peer essay, you should be receiving your essay back from a classmate -- with his comments and peer evaluation sheet.

Once you have the essay in hand, you should begin the process of revising and developing the essay.

Revision due date: Thursday, October 11
Length: 3-4 pages double-spaced and printed out (attach to first draft and peer evaluation sheet)
Format: Use MLA format

Use this link for MLA formatting: MLA Formatting and Style Guide
(Purdue University OWL)

Sir Gawain Unit Exam (Tuesday)
See: Sir Gawain Unit Exam Study Guide
Conventional Symbols in Literature
"Good Readers and Good Writers" by Vladimir Nabokov 

Literary Response Journals (Tuesday)
I will be collecting and grading prompts #1-3 for Sir Gawain plus the prompt on the Nabokov article. These are worth 25 points apiece.

When you are finished with your Sir Gawain in-class essay, you are to read the following article:

    Download now: "Good Readers and Good Writers" by Vladimir Nabokov

Read it first to get an overall impression of its argument; then take a look at the “questions to consider” at the end of the essay. 

IN-CLASS WORK: You should answer these questions by annotating – underlining, highlighting, and making notes on the text or in the annotation margin. When you are finished with your annotations and notes, save this document and dropbox it at the end of
class. You will be graded on the quality of your annotations. 
 
HOMEWORK: When you are finished with your annotations, write a 2-3 page LRJ entry reflecting on Nabokov’s “Good Readers and Good Writers.” Your LRJ entry should include the answers to the “questions to consider” found at the end of the essay. Due next class.