MODERN LANGUAGES 5304

testing demo movie here.

Thursday

Coffee Haus

210 S Mesquite St, Arlington, TX

Meeting with me is not required. It’s just something to do if you think I can help you with your final paper.

Available times:

3:00

3:20

3:40

4:00

4:20

4:40

Sign up in comments section please.

Before the meeting, I recommend you email me a thesis or a draft or a few pages. (That is, if you have something like that.)

April 30: Postmodernism. Professor Alicia Rueda. Secondary Readings: “Beginning to Theorize Postmodernism” by Linda Hutcheon.

We are having trouble making PDFs right now, so until the photocopier gets resolved (and it may, by thursday or friday) we can give you these instructions:

Go to UTA Libraries Online Catalog: http://pulse.uta.edu/
Look for A Postmodern reader edited by Joseph Natoli and Linda Hutcheon.
If you look for Hutcheon, Linda under author it should be entry [ 8 ]
In netLibrary Collection
click: View this ebook

click: contents,

click: page 243 “Beginning to Theorize Postmodernism” by Linda Hutcheon

 Once again, if you come back on Friday we may have a pdf for you to download, but I can’t guarantee it.

April 23:Social Realism, Marxism and Bertolt Brecht. Professor Lana Rings. Selected Readings by Bertolt Brecht: “The Ballad of the Dead Soldier” (1917), “The Love Market” (1920′s), “Abortion is Illegal” (1931), “Mack the Knife” (1928 from the Threepenny Opera), “Solidarity Song” (1931).; “Marxism” by Sidney Hook, from The Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, Ed. Phillip P. Weiner.

Dear Students:

We’ll attempt to deal in two hours with that which scholars have taken decades to study. Here is my intended breakdown of the time we’ll be spending together.

5 minutes: my introduction
½ hour: theory – discussion of Brecht and Marxism through dialoguing with Douglas Kellner’s article in parts and ferreting out the core issues on the blackboard
½ hour: Five songs we’ll read, then play (Here will also occur the demonstration of how music and words interact to produce irony, among other things.)
½ hour: Five groups who will apply theory to songs
½ hour: Five groups who will present 5-minute responses to their application assignments

I am going to have Dr. Conway create five groups and provide you with a pdf file from which you can prepare yourselves for the in-class interaction that will follow.  Each group will be assigned a part of an article by Douglas Kellner (“Brecht’s Marxist Aesthetic”) which I have broken down into five parts (Part I for Group I, etc.). I wholeheartedly recommend reading the complete article. However, each group will be responsible for being “experts” on your section, and when you come to class you will discuss how best to condense/distill the essence out of your part and put it on the blackboard for all to see and learn from. These ideas will provide the basis from which you will analyze, judge, interpret the songs that you will hear/read.

I have attempted to help you dialog with the article by highlighting some important ideas and by adding the phrase KEYKEYKEYKEY wherever/whenever I’ve read a passage that I find particularly important. This does not mean that you will not find other passages equally important. What I’ve done is meant as a guide.

Above all, be sure to read the conclusion to the article as well. It helps contextualize some of the ideas.

There are five songs with which we’ll be dealing. Again, each group will be assigned one song (which you will not have seen before the class begins), and, although everyone will have read and heard all the songs, it will be up to each group to interpet your song for the others.

Finally, I’ve listed some contextualizing words and years for your to considering and begin asking questions about.

I am looking forward to working with you. Dr. Conway will “fill in the gaps,” as he is the expert in theory.

This session, while sobering because of the implications regarding even today’s events, should be a lot of fun intellectually speaking. Brecht was “hard hitting,” and it is interesting to think about the fact that he said what he did in those songs during my grandparents’ and your great- or great-great-grandparents’ time!

Lana Rings
From Dr. C, to all students:

OK, here’s the handout.

Here are the groups:

Group 1–Assigned Section 1 of Kellner article

Katy Carnahan

Zach Wingerd

John LoGalbo

G. Walker

Group 2–Section 2

C. Circelli

V. Kribs

C. Paez

V. Kobou

Group 3–Section 3

E. Eckhardt

Don Fougere

G. Gonzalez

Group 4–Section 4

C. Ortiz

J.D. Stutler

H. Pereira

S. Rushing

Group 5–Section 5

C. Moya

B. Smith

A. Hidalgo

S. Garcia

Do not forget:

“Marxism” by Sidney Hook, from The Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, Ed. Phillip P. Weiner.

I am adding a link below, try again. If still no dice, email me.

 I can see 4 people Saturday morning at the Coffee Haus at

210 S Mesquite St
Arlington, TX 76010
(817) 795-5790

9:30-9:45

9:45-10:00

10:00-10:15

10:15-10:30

On Monday, after class I can see two people:

7:30-7:45

7:45-8:00

More office hours will be scheduled  next week.

Sign up in comments section. See previous comments to make sure your time has not been taken. You are REQUIRED to check your UTA email on Saturday before coming to the appointment, just in case there’s a problem or cancellation.

April 16: The New Novel in Latin America. Professor Georgia Seminet. Readings: The Cubs by Mario Vargas Llosa. Secondary reading: “Which was the First Novel of the Boom?” by Donald Shaw. Additional primary reading: A Very Old Man with Wings by Gabriel García Márquez. (Shaw and García Márquez in Vargas Llosa folder). Try this new link for both readings: here.
April 23: Social Realism, Marxism and Bertolt Brecht. Professor Lana Rings. “Marxism” by Sidney Hook, from The Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, Ed. Phillip P. Weiner. Readings and instructions: here.
April 30: Postmodernism. Professor Alicia Rueda. Film: TBA. Secondary Readings: will be posted here.

Now that you’ve got an extra week and less weekly homework because Cesaire has been postponed until the following session, I recommend you be proactive about your final papers and make some progress there. Next week I’d like to hear about what you’re all up to. And that may give you something to blog about if you want to talk about that in that medium.

Response paper 2 update: There is no assigned question or theme. Your response paper is a critical reaction that demonstrates original, analytical thinking. It is written clearly and coherently and is only one page single-spaced. You may write either on Cesaire or Vargas Llosa. Cesaire responses due on April 9. Vargas Llosa on April 16.

April 9: Postcolonialism. Professor Toni Sol. Reading: Notebook of a Return to the Native Land by Aime Cesaire. Secondary Readings:“What is Postcolonialism?”

April 16: The New Novel in Latin America. Professor Georgia Seminet. Readings: The Cubs by Mario Vargas Llosa. Secondary Readings: TBA.

April 23:Social Realism, Marxism and Bertolt Brecht. Professor Lana Rings. Selected Readings by Bertolt Brecht: “The Ballad of the Dead Soldier” (1917), “The Love Market” (1920’s), “Abortion is Illegal” (1931), “Mack the Knife” (1928 from the Threepenny Opera), “Solidarity Song” (1931).; “Marxism” by Sidney Hook, from The Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, Ed. Phillip P. Weiner.

April 30: Postmodernism. Professor Alicia Rueda. Film: TBA. Secondary Readings: TBA.

ASSIGNMENT DUE: Monday May 7th: deadline for final paper.

Martí question

Metaphors must be clearly delineated. Best answers truly explored the specifics of each metaphor and related them to overall project of Martí. This differentiated analytical papers from more descriptive, close to the surface papers which did not really dig into the specifics of each metaphor.

Voltaire question:

The highest scoring answers defined and identified more than one kind of utopia, instead of focussing entirely on El Dorado. The other utopias in the novel include what one student called “mental utopia” in describing the optimism of the character of Pangloss; the garden of the Baron at the outset of the novel (which V. treats ironically); the garden at the end of the novel. Also, as stated in the question, I was looking for an accounting of the ways in which Voltaire establishes a contrast between utopia and the horrors lived by Candide. Often, otherwise strong answers did not develop this connection as much as I would have liked.

Flaubert question

Highest scoring answers embraced the diversity of views and meanings of art in the novel, discussing Frederick, Hussonet, Seneca, Arnoux and Pellerin in an informed and convincing manner.  The best answers acknowledged the different positionalities and implications of at least two to three characters in relation to art. The strongest answers were historical and brought class issues into their answers. There was no single answer sought with regards to the “endorsement” of art in the novel; I was looking for command of the material and analytical content.