HUM I ESSAY #1
Note on II. SECONDARY TEXTS: Class schedule shows how each item on the list can be contextualised.
"Story, History, Herstory and the Mystery of Tradition: [provide YOUR OWN SUBTITLE]"
Humanities essay assignments, dubbed "response" essays, are meant and designed to help (read: force) you to individuate and articulate lines of thoughts flashing through your own mind during lectures and class discussion. It is an excellent, golden opportunity for you to develop a sense of intellectual ownership of your brains. We think together, and write alone. If you need any assistance in understanding the task itself or choosing your topic, I urge you to come and discuss your case during the office hours; quick e-mail queries are discouraged on this occasion, for it is important for both of us to detect the pulse of thoughts. I will help you locate your own interests; that is why I am here.
COMMON THEME
By using and inventing a system (logos) of auditory or visual signs such as words, painting and music, human beings have been seeking to make sense of where they come from, why they are here and where they are heading. In other words, various modes and shades of human lives are being constantly remembered, created and projected through the archival production and preservation of arts, history, literature, music and philosophy, only to name a few. Human experiences of ethos and pathos, such as admiration, alienation, anger, anxiety, authority, beauty, boredom, charity, courage, despair, divinity, emptiness, fantasy, fatigue, fear, freedom, friendship, glory, good-evil, journey, joy, loss, love (eros), modesty, mortality, nature, pain-pleasure, pride, strangeness, survival, terror, vanity, etc., are both particular and universal: particular, for they, happening at a certain historical point in time and space, become material for individualised stories, histories or herstories; universal, for their impact and recurrence, transcending spatio-temporal and personal boundaries, become shared echoes of and resources for the mortal imagination. Now, against this background, think about:
(1) how an ancient story, any of the ones read in class as requirements, communicates its mythos, ethos and pathos, as well as logos to the 21st century readers (by either being similar to contemporary stories or being different to them, for instance), especially on its archetypal level that often turns into the cultural imagination or metaphors including clichés:
@ Analyse the chosen material in such a way that your reflective reading brings its characters and themes to life.
@ For example, if you are going to write about Gilgamesh, you might wish to focus on courage, friendship, jealousy, journey, love, pain of growth, rivalry, or any topic(s) of your choice that you deem central to the story and worth a reflection, and see how relevant, or even irrelevant, it is to contemporary human experiences or to your own context: whatever the case, you must establish your point. Or, if you are going to write about Odyssey, you can explore the question of how, for instance, the Epic, this Greek form of story-telling, compares to the logic or structure of Biblical narratives, modern drama or even postmodern narratives. The obvious starting point is class discussion where food for thought will be offered, amply; take what you like, and cook it up in whatever way you fancy. And make it edible and tasty.
AND
(2) in what sense "canonical tradition" is not some sort of stuffy old wo/man's bookshelf covered in forgettable dust or just some arbitrary institution legitimised by the cultural and political elite, but something human beings keep rediscovering and reforming, even reinventing both on individual and collective levels:
@ Analyse the chosen material in such a way that your critical reading points to moments and passages in the text that are very important but not too obvious to, or different from the passing impressions of, the unthinking readers.
@ For example, if you are going to write about Gilgamesh or Odyssey, you might have something critical and insightful to say, whether it concerns the narrative perspectives, or some details that catch your imagination, or established interpretations on these classics; "critical" does not necessarily mean finding fault or even being judgemental but rather, as the etymology indicates, "cutting" it open discerningly for a closer inspection and fresh re-evaluation. Dare to be original, in what you see and in clearly representing what you see.
REQUIRED READING I+II+III=At least 3 texts/books/articles for each paper you are to write.
Note: The list of secondary readings is drawn up in ways that reflect and cultivate a variety of interests and perspectives: locate your own.
Note: All the reading materials listed below are available electronically or else in hard copies in the library stack as indicated by [call #].
Note: All the references will be counter-checked for accuracy; any discrepancies cause a grade penalty or, if serious, a call for investigation.
Note: Please do not "check out" any of NetLibrary material, if you click on "check out," others will not be able to access the text for 4 hours.
I. PRIMARY TEXT: Choose at least one from the following list:
(1) Antigone by Sophocles ; translated by Gibbons and Segal [Login, NetLibrary]; Video recording [LC Lib, VC PN1997 .A571 1987]
(2) [R 21-4, Dispute of a Man with his Soul]
(5) [R 46-53, Odyssey]; [Odyssey - choose chapter(s)]; [cf. if interested in "Odysseus' scar" and/or female characters, start with Bk19.]
II. SECONDARY TEXT: Choose at least one from the following list; a bonus point for those who use no less than three and do well.
@Parker, "Melancholia," The American Journal of Psychiatry [Login, ProQuest]
@Russell, I Heart Huckabees (cf. Film: a postmodern epic) [LC Lib, DVD PN1997 .I116 2005]
III. SECONDARY TEXT You have discovered on your own: use at least one new material from on-line or the library stack.
@ If there is no independently discovered reference(s) in your paper, as stipulated in Dr. Lee's Hum Paper Guidelines: the highest possible grade on that submission starts from 8.6 (B+ level; "A" corresponding roughly to 8.7-9.9).
@ Use of more than two web pages/resources of your choice (i.e., any internet material that does not appear on the suggested reading list above), as Dr. Lee's Hum Paper Guidelines also says, is subject to significant grade reduction, depending on the level of laziness and the kind of passivity. In other words, you can use up to two electronic document resources. You are urged to browse the library stack, following your own interests, and to incorporate citations from at least one printed book; there is no upper limit to the number of print reference books you can use for this assignment. Although you will not be penalised for not using any printed books, if you do use any printed book(s) and do well, your leg work will be rewarded in the form of a bonus point. The obvious convenience notwithstanding, electronic document cannot give you a "hands-on" experience of walking through and along the labyrinth of texts, which is not only a priceless encounter with the whispers of the past but also a sure way to chance upon something surprisingly pertinent to and inspiring for your research. Unsurprisingly, hard copies you touch and carry around also help you retain what you have leared from them.
MECHANICS OF WRITING
OTHER DETAILS to note
@Co-authorship (collaborative writing as a team) is acceptable, up to 3 people working on 1 paper; minimum 10 page long, in that case.
@ Paper #1 will be graded slightly more leniently than #2 and #3; the students will have to note the feedback carefully for future reference.
BEFORE YOU SUBMIT PAPER #1, CHECK:
any element missed, points lost;
At least five to seven pages in length
Typed and double spaced
Citation of all sources where appropriate
Works Cited Page included in the File at the end of the text
No more two sources of my independent discovery are electronic.
