Pound to Joyce...

The letter that changed Modern literature.

Conference Times

Sean - Wednesday, 4:30
Evan - Thursday, 11:30
Kevin - Thursday, 2:00
Savannah - Thursday, 3:00
Erida - Thursday, 3:30
Joe - Thursday, 4:00
Rachel - Thursday, 4:30
Karli - Thursday, 5:00

Ian

Pablo Picasso

Given the number of Pablo Picasso papers being analyzed, I thought you might enjoy this song by the Modern Lovers.  That's not a pun, Joe, it's actually the name of the band.

A few (additional) films

For your viewing pleasure, a few short films made during this time period.  I see a lot of overlap between many of your projects and the pieces below.  

Conferences

For our conferences this week, be sure to bring a fully-formed project description for your silent film, along with a fully-formed storyboard.  We can talk through those ideas and you are welcome to adjust them afterward, but you should be ready to begin filming on Friday.  Also, bring your Mid-semester Assessment sheet, with comments at the bottom.

We will meet in the cafe

Wed
4:30 Evan
4:50 Karli
5:10 Sean

Thurs
3:10 Rachael
3:40 Savannah
4:00 Kevin
4:20 Erida

Fri
10:00 Rachel
10:30 Joe
12:15 Ian

A Mark on the Wall

Sitting on my couch, reading Virginia Woolf's Mark on the Wall, which I assigned, it occurs to me - "good grief, this reading is strange.  Imperceptibly odd.  One sentence paragraphs.  Others are as long as a page."  I would harshly judge any student paper that crossed my desk like this.  It certainly isn't a 5 paragraph essay in the canonical form.  No, it's not.  Then why is it so imperceptibly brilliant?  What has Woolf accomplished that Shakespeare did not?  Or is she successful at all?  In departing so thoroughly from all that we know, her writing falls flat on its (her) face.  It's difficult to say, exactly, at this late hour.  Perhaps it's the craft of her writing.  The detail of her prose.  Maybe it's in her willingness to break the mold and create anew.  I wonder if.  Wait.  The content of her writing may be clear, but the meaning.  It's elusive.  And it does not accord to our usual style of language and speech.  Maybe that's the brilliance.  It just tumbles out.

http://www.scholarlyediting.org/2014/editions/intro.markonthewall.html

A few questions

1. Think about other fiction you have read?  How does Woolf's writing style compare?  What is different here?
2.
2. Let's assume that Woolf for a moment is a smart, clever writer.  What is she trying to accomplish by writing in this manner?

3.

4. Are there any clues in "Mark" that might help us understand her larger point?

I would suggest glancing over this before class tomorrow.  http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/dial/T&Vseminar/markplot.htm

It's not a magical key that will unlock Virginia Woolf's cabinet of mysteries.  But it might help.  

I know how you're feeling, I read Chekhov!

In case you're searching for a reason why you should read Chekhov's the Cherry Orchard for our class sessions next week, Read This.  It will make you more empathetic, perceptive, and emotionally intelligent.

John Cage

John Cage is an interesting character.  For me, his work often evokes that knee-jerk reaction, "anyone can do that."  And there is a good deal of his work that is really quite annoying and grating to the senses.  However, there are very few people that manage to repeatedly pushed the bounds of their discipline in so many directions.  For our purposes in this class, he's a difficult figure.  Cage seems to have one foot in the modern, but clearly much of his work charts the territory of the postmodern.  That's a subject for a later date.  

In the meantime, I give you John Cage's "Water Walk."

You might also check out this short film made by John Cage and Roland Kirk, "Sound":

The final "On College" discussion...

Let's talk dollars and cents.  You might find this article interesting

And check the schedule for Monday's class. 

A Potential School...

Questions will be asked without questions.  There may be times of boredom.  Bars will be on campus.  There will be no routine or repetition of anything.  Repetition of anything.  Screens will fade away.  There will "too" cold and "too" warm people.  There will be no student life centers, only student lives.  Lack of energy will not exist; sleep will not be necessary. Masks will be removed and souls will be exposed.  Art students will become the norm.  Life as we know will be burnt to the ground, but we learn how to rebuild ourselves.  Plants will bloom as we walk down the streets.  Statues will proliferate, monuments to long-dead founders.  There will be ropes for climbing.  A fourth dimension will liberate us from the constraints of time and space.  Students will not talk about things they thought about, but rather talk as they think.  Things need to be random.  Loud noises will exist together, never alone.  Translators to understand dogs will exist.  All rooms will actually be room temperature.  Structure and continuous scheduling is exhausting.  Students can name things whatever they want and change the name whenever they want.  Everyone will understand their place and feel free to transgress it.  There will be very cool shoes.  Food will all be flash frozen in the manner of the future.  A grade will not be given  Wibbly wobbly timey whimeyness will be an ever flux-show-waiting process that goes faster than we sometimes think.  The Cafe will have a quiet hour.  Art will be only be an extension of yourself, it will be you.  Everyone will be an existentialist and question the unknown.  There will be flowers.  The coffee will be the universal topic of complaint  We will declare interludes.  There will be no silence.  Everyone should have pet unicorns.  Projects will only imitate the past with appropriate intention.  We will no longer have TV & trash.  All teachers will be students too.