Monday, September 28, 2009

Milton Mania!

In his Preface to Paradise Lost, David Scott Kastan reminds us that Milton's epic was "the first English poem to receive full scholarly annotation" only 28 years after it was first published in 1667 (viii). With such early and extensive attention in print, it is not at all suprising that Milton has received due attention online as well. You can read a digital version of the poem, complete with reader-friendly interactive annotations in Dartmouth's Milton Reading Room. Original images of nearly every page of the second edition of Paradise Lost (1674) are available on John Geraghty's impressive facsimile collection. More dynamic yet, Paradise Lost Audiotexts provides four distinct ways of interacting with Milton's text: 1. text-only (modernized) 2. Annotation (displaying notes parallel to the text) 3. Comparison mode (displays the 1674 page next to the modern page) and 4. Your notes (allowing you to take notes next to the page as you read). Perhaps the most exciting bit about this site, though, is the ability to listen to Books 1, 2, and 9 with the audiotext feature. Finally, even The New York Times and the New York Public Library can't resist a little Milton mania: check out this exhibit of related art and artifacts.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Anne Bradstreet Reading Guide


READING QUESTIONS
  • What do you know about the biographer, Charlotte Gordon, and how does this affect your reading of the book? In other words, what of Gordon's own experiences/points of view do you think she brings to her telling of Bradstreet's life?
  • Who does Gordon identify as influences in Bradstreet's development?
  • In her preface, Gordon suggests that Bradstreet would have imagined herself "the most modern of moderns" (xiii). What does she mean by that?
  • In what ways do Bradstreet's spirituality and intellectual life intersect?
  • What vision of England do you get through the perspective of Anne Bradstreet's life? How is it distinct from other points of view we have explored so far?
  • How does Bradstreet's role as a mother figure in important ways to her experience in New England?
  • What connections can you draw between this book and other texts we've read so far? Cabeza de Vaca, "Of Cannibals," "Of Plantations," to name a few....
MORE FUN WITH EARLY AMERICA...
Gordon includes an image of a seventeenth-century map as a way of orienting you to the Massachusettes Bay in the 1630s (a later edition is included above). The map was originally printed in 1634 as a part of William Wood's travel narrative, New England's Prospect. Wood traveled to the New World between 1629-1633 and offered one of the earliest accounts of colonial America.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Early Modern Art blog

One of the blogs I follow regularly, Renaissance Lit, recently posted a link to this blog, Notes on Early Modern Art. It's a great resource, and worth checking out.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Your discussion questions & themes

Mary Ellen: Does the play confirm or deny assumptions about racial and religious difference in the early modern period?

Meghan: Given his status as a "foreigner," where does Othello belong?

Brigette: How do ideas about women's roles (where the household/family is the primary social unit dictating rules of behavior) affect your point of view of Othello's concerns over the loss of his reputation/honor?

Sarah: What anxieties about order and masculinity/mutability do we see at work in the play?

Megan: How do the passions influence the outcome of the play? What imbalances lead to extreme behaviors?

Hannahbeth: How legitimate and/or true do we consider appropriations, adaptations, or translations of the play?


Emerging Themes:
  • control/containment
  • projecting anxieties (on the "other")
  • the problem of the binary
  • rank & rule
  • boundaries
  • inner/outer and spiritual/physical

Also...the wiki is primed and ready for your handout posting.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Othello (1965): Laurence Olivier & Maggie Smith

We'll be discussing film adaptations and performances of Othello in class on Tuesday. Please take a look at this 10-minute clip of the play's final scene (Act 5, scene 2) from a 1965 performance with Laurence Olivier as Othello in blackface and Maggie Smith as Desdemona (a.k.a. Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter). How does it compare to the 1995 version with Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh that you saw in class (& will hopefully watch at one of your HUST club events soon)?