18/12/2012

Sessão com James Ragan


A pedido da professora, posto aqui o meu esquema da sessão com James Ragan, para futura referência.
(Carregar com botão direito do rato e escolher "abrir imagem num novo separador" para melhor visualização)

Filipa Vieira, nº46566

11/12/2012

Stream of consciousness

Here is a simple definition of this technique 


"STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS: Writing in which a character's perceptions, thoughts, and memories are presented in an apparently random form, without regard for logical sequence, chronology, or syntax. Often such writing makes no distinction between various levels of reality—such as dreams, memories, imaginative thoughts or real sensory perception. William James coined the phrase "stream of consciousness" in his Principles of Psychology (1890). The technique has been used by several authors and poets: Katherine Anne Porter, Dorothy Richardson, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Richardson, T. S. Eliot, and William Faulkner. Some critics treat the interior monologue as a subset of the more general category, stream of consciousness. Although interior monologues by earlier writers share some similarities with stream of consciousness, the first clear appearance is in Edouard Dujardin's Les lauriers sont coupés (The Laurels Have Been Cut, 1888). Perhaps the most famous example is the stream of consciousness section in James Joyce's Ulysses, which climaxes in a forty-odd page interior monologue of Molly Bloom, an extended passage with only one punctuation mark."

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_S.html


08/12/2012

Eudora Welty, "The Whole World Knows"

   

          Born in Jackson, Mississippi, she attended the Mississippi College for Women, graduated from the University of Wisconsin (1929) and studied advertising at Columbia University for a year. Her first short story appeared in 1936, and gradually she began to be published in small, then regional and general circulation magazines. She published collections of her short stories and began publishing novels, as well.

Soon after her first novel was published, she stopped writing to care full-time for her family for fifteen years: for two brothers with severe arthritis and her mother who had had a stroke. After her mother died in 1966, she returned to writing.

She was a 6-time winner of the O. Henry Award for Short Stories, and her many awards include the National Medal for Literature, the American Book Award, and, in 1969, a Pulitzer Prize.

She was also an accomplished and published photographer. But it is for her fiction, usually set in the rural South, that she's known as the First Lady of Southern Literature.


The Golden Apples (1949) includes seven interlocking stories that trace life in the fictional Morgana, Mississippi, from the turn of the century until the late 1940s. When Welty began writing the stories, however, she had no idea that they would be connected. Midway through the composition process, she finally realized that she was writing about a common cast of characters, that the characters of one story seemed to be younger or older versions of the characters in other stories, and she decided to create a book that was neither novel nor story collection. It is perhaps the greatest triumph of her distinguished career, an unmatched example of the story cycle.

We are going to make a presentation about the story" The Whole World Knows"
The story is told by Randall McLain and through his callings to his father we imagine a suffering ,regretful man.But is he so?
These quatations are from the very end of the story.

      ''And I showed I had the pistol.I said, 'I want the whole bed'  I told her she hadn't needed to be here. I got down in the bed and pointed the pistol at her, without much hope, the way I used to lie cherishing a dream in the morning, and she the way Jinny would come pull me out of it.''
....................

      ''In a minute she put her hand out again, differently, and laid it cold on my shoulder. And I had her so quick. I could have been asleep then. I was lying there.''
....................
      "So i slept"
Can a regretful man sleep easily after raping 18 years old girl?

                                                                                                            Elif KALYONCU
                                                                                                            Gizem GÜNÇİÇEK
    

01/12/2012

William Faulkner - "That Evening Sun"


William (Cuthbert) Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was one of the most important and prolific writers in Southern literature, in the United States. He was born in the state of Mississippi and therefore profoundly influenced by the southern culture and history, but also by the education in arts and literature provided by his mother and maternal grandmother. His Nanny, Caroline (Callie) Barr provided a huge background on the African-American tradition and history, from which, we could assume, derives his great dismay on the huge social, political and economic misfortunes (for lack of a stronger word) of that community.
William Faulkner won the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature for “his powerful and artistically unique contribute to the Modern American Novel”. He also won two Pulitzer Awards, one in 1955 for A Fable and the other in 1963 (posthumous) for The Reivers. In 1951 he received a US National Book Award for Collected Stories and another in 1955 for A Fable.

In 1927 Faulkner created the setting for most of his novels and short stories – a small region in Northern Mississippi named Yoknapatawpha County, with the town Jefferson in its core. “That Evening Sun” was published in 1931, and the main characters are the Compson children, being Quentin, the older son, the narrator. Like the town Jefferson is the setting of choice of the author, also The Compson family plays a main role in many of Faulkner’s novels.
This short story depicts the racial, social and moral contrasts in the southern society, and is marked by the stern criticism of Faulkner towards  the white community's relation with the African-Americans. It’s narrated by Quentin, when he is 24 years old and starts remembering something that happened during his childhood, 15 years earlier. As the story enfolds, the tone becomes more and more childish, showing the children's incomprehension and empathy to Nancy’s despair and the lack of understanding of the adults in their family.
A brief note to the title — it comes from a black spiritual, whose first line states: “Lord, how I hate to see that evening sun go down”, meaning that after the setting of the sun, death would follow, giving an early indication of Nancy’s fate.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and I hope to read your thoughts and impressions while reading it.

Madalena Athayde - 44440

30/11/2012

Working schedule

As you all know, I have diligently been marking your essays in the past few days :) My overall appraisal is that most students have major changes to do in their works. Taking into consideration the  importance of this work in the overall percentage of your final mark (35%) and also the fact that we are approaching the end of the semester, with all it implicates in the work load you are facing, I believe we could postpone the deadline of the second version to January 7 (the official beginning of the evaluation period for this 1st semester). This way you would have more time to improve your work and to deal with the myriad of critical suggestions that I provide, truly learning from this experience.

I would like to have your feedback on this hypothesis, please.

29/11/2012

Scholarship

Erasmus Mundus Master's Programme with Erasmus Mundus scholarship. Application for the 2013/2014 academic year.

The 2-year-long (120 ECTS) European Master Course TEMA – European Territories (Civilisation, Nation, Region, City): Identity and Development proposes the analysis of political use and scientific representation of territorial units (civilization, nation, region, city) in an interdisciplinary, research-based curriculum.
The Erasmus Mundus programme offers two categories of scholarships to students selected by the consortium. The number of available scholarships is defined on a yearly basis.

More info at www.mastertema.eu

18/11/2012

Civil Rights Movement

Timeline 1
Timeline 2
Timeline 3 

Since we all had some doubts about the Civil Rights Movement, here are a few Timelines for you to check.



March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963), where Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

William Carlos Williams and Painting


Landscape with The Fall of Icarus, ca. 1590-95
Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)
Oil on wood (63x90 cm), Museum van Buuren, Brussels



I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, 1928
Charles Demuth (1883–1935)
Oil on cardboard (90.2 x 76.2 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
More on this painting here.

Here are the poems. The first establishes an ekphrastic relation with Bruegel's painting, the later inspired Demuth to make this abstract portrait of his friend Williams.

"Landscape with the Fall of Icarus"

According to Brueghel
when Icarus fell
it was spring

a farmer was ploughing
his field
the whole pageantry

of the year was
awake tingling
near

the edge of the sea
concerned 
with itself

sweating in the sun
that melted
the wings' wax

unsignificantly
off the coast
there was

a splash quite unnoticed
this was
Icarus drowning



"The Great Figure"

Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
firetruck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city.

16/11/2012

Calendário 3

-->
Novembro
14
Greve geral


19 David e Marta (William Carlos Williams)
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)
“How It Feels to Be Colored Me”


21 Áurea, Carla e Tânia
Zora Neale Hurston
Their Eyes Were Watching God


26 Samanta e Raquel
Their Eyes Were Watching God


28
Eudora Welty (1909-2001)
“Place in Fiction”


Dezembro
3 Madalena
William Faulkner (1897-1962)
“That Evening Sun”
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/white/anthology/faulkner.html


5 Elif e Guizem
Eudora Welty
The Golden Apples


10
The Golden Apples


12
Revisões e esclarecimento de dúvidas

17 Trazer impressos comentários feitos no blogue
Teste escrito

19
Reflexões finais

Avant-Garde Cinema in the US

Richard Peña, Professor of Film Studies in Columbia University, New York, and Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, responsible for the New York Film Festival in the last 25 years, will be in FLUL next Friday,  
November 16, to speak about "Discovering the American Avant-Garde Cinema."
10:30 - 12:30 // Room D. Pedro V
More about Richard Peña

12/11/2012

Their eyes were watching God - by Zora Neale Hurston


Hi guys, on Monday the 26th we will be doing a presentation on Zora Neale Hurston´s Their Eyes Were Watching God

We recommend those of you who have not read the novel yet to watch the movie which you can find on YouTube, because we feel it is very faithful to the novel even though it´s not like reading the actual words. 

We will be focusing our presentation on the storytelling aspects and style of writing that Zora Neale Hurston uses in this very unique novel. 

For those of you who have had the privilege of reading the novel, you will have noticed the unique dialect that Hurston uses throughout the novel to represent the African American culture.
  • We would like you to comment on this aspect, whether you enjoyed it, whether you found it difficult etc and why?
  • We would also like you to comment on the following excerpt found in chapter 6 and how you think it shows (or not) the storytelling aspect and dialect present throughout the novel.
“Dat mule uh yourn, Matt. You better go and see ´bout him. He´s bad off”
“where ´bout? Did he wade in de lake and uh alligator ketch him?”
“Worser´n dat. De womenfolks got yo´mule. When ah come round de lake ´bout noontime mah wife and some others had ´im flat on de ground usin´ his sides fuh uh wash board.”
The great clap of laughter that they have been holding in, bursts out. Sam never craks a smile. “Yeah, Matt, dat mule so skinny till de women is usin´his rib bones fuh uh rub-board, and hangin´ things out on his hock-bones tuh dry.
We hope you enjoyed the novel as much as we did and we look forward to your input,
Célia Raquel Pestana Martins
Samanta Teixeira de Mello




10/11/2012

Their Eyes Were Watching God – by Zora Hurston (1937)


Hello everyone!
On November 21st we will be presenting on Zora Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)

“Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches” – chapter II, page 8


In our presentation we will be talking about Janie’s development as a character and the influence the following characters have on her growing.

  •         Janie’s Grandmother
  •        Logan Killicks (1st husdand)
  •        Joe Stark (2nd husband)
  •        Tea Cake (3rd husband)
“(…) Years ago, she had told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass. It had been a long time since she had remembered. Perhaps she’d better look. She went over to the dresser and looked hard at her skin and features. The young girl was, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there. She took careful stock of herself, then combed her hair and tied it back again” (page 87)

  • -       What does this passage represent on Janie’s life?
  • -       What is the symbolism of her hair during the story?
  • -       What kind of feelings/reactions the three husbands raise on Janie?
    We are looking forward for your comments and ideas!!!
     
    Aurea Teixeira
    Carla Neves
    Tânia Fortunato









08/11/2012

William Carlos Williams

Hey everybody!
Next Wednesday we are going to do a presentation on William Carlos Williams. We will be talking about his life, style and will also be discussing two poems, one of which was also discussed during the session with Jeffrey Childs. Feel free to comment and discuss the poems, any suggestions and ideas will be welcomed and helpful!!

A Love Song
(one of the poems discussed in the session with Jeffrey Childs)

What have I to say to you
When we shall meet?
Yet—
I lie here thinking of you.
The stain of love
Is upon the world.
Yellow, yellow, yellow,
It eats into the leaves,
Smears with saffron
The horned branches that lean
Heavily
Against a smooth purple sky. There is no light—
Only a honey-thick stain
That drips from leaf to leaf
And limb to limb
Spoiling the colours
Of the whole world. I am alone.
The weight of love
Has buoyed me up
Till my head
Knocks against the sky. See me!
My hair is dripping with nectar—
Starlings carry it
On their black wings.
See, at last
My arms and my hands
Are lying idle. How can I tell
If I shall ever love you again
As I do now?



- what do you think of the title?
- starts and ends with a question
- self-reflexive
- imagery, synesthesia and synecdoche - physical but mainly emotional and psychological impact and effect that an encounter has had on the poetic subject
- automnal atmosphere
- parallelism with a tree - crossing of/between the organic world and the human reality
- "there is no light" - autumn anticipates winter; just like the poetic subject is in the clouds and can already anticipate his own fall
- doubt
- feeling of being lost



The Young Housewife


At ten AM the young housewife
moves about in negligee behind
the wooden walls of her husband's house.
I pass solitary in my car. Then again she comes to the curb
to call the ice-man, fish-man, and stands
shy, uncorseted, tucking in
stray ends of hair, and I compare her
to a fallen leaf. The noiseless wheels of my car
rush with a crackling sound over
dried leaves as I bow and pass smiling.
In regards to „The Young Housewife“ we would like to give you a few hints on how to understand the poem, just to give you a direction for the discussion, without telling too much about our own ways of interpreting it:

- poem as a comment on social inequality
- division into 2 spheres (male sphere, female sphere)
- voyeurism and female objectification
- carpe diem/ memento mori
- potential of change (?)

David Klein Martins and Marta Horta e Costa

05/11/2012

Langston Hughes (12th November)


James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an African-American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue" which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue".

Poem of our choice: Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too?
Over There,
            World War II.
                                             
Dear Fellow Americans,
I write this letter
Hoping times will be better
When this war
Is through.
I'm a Tan-skinned Yank
Driving a tank.
I ask, WILL V-DAY
BE ME-DAY, TOO?

I wear a U. S. uniform.
I've done the enemy much harm,
I've driven back
The Germans and the Japs,
From Burma to the Rhine.
On every battle line,
I've dropped defeat
Into the Fascists' laps.

I am a Negro American
Out to defend my land
Army, Navy, Air Corps—
I am there.
I take munitions through,
I fight—or stevedore, too.
I face death the same as you do
Everywhere.

I've seen my buddy lying
Where he fell.
I've watched him dying
I promised him that I would try
To make our land a land
Where his son could be a man—
And there'd be no Jim Crow birds
Left in our sky.

So this is what I want to know:
When we see Victory's glow,
Will you still let old Jim Crow
Hold me back?
When all those foreign folks who've waited—
Italians, Chinese, Danes—are liberated.
Will I still be ill-fated
Because I'm black?

Here in my own, my native land,
Will the Jim Crow laws still stand?
Will Dixie lynch me still
When I return?
Or will you comrades in arms
From the factories and the farms,
Have learned what this war
Was fought for us to learn?

When I take off my uniform,
Will I be safe from harm—
Or will you do me
As the Germans did the Jews?
When I've helped this world to save,
Shall I still be color's slave?
Or will Victory change
Your antiquated views?

You can't say I didn't fight
To smash the Fascists' might.
You can't say I wasn't with you
in each battle.
As a soldier, and a friend.
When this war comes to an end,
Will you herd me in a Jim Crow car
Like cattle?

Or will you stand up like a man
At home and take your stand
For Democracy?
That's all I ask of you.
When we lay the guns away
To celebrate
Our Victory Day
WILL V-DAY BE ME-DAY, TOO?
That's what I want to know.

            Sincerely,
                GI Joe.


We shall talk about:
-          * The way the poem is written, being as it is in the form of a letter directed to the “White Americans”;
-                    *  Where it is placed in time, which is World War II;
-                  * The poetic subject’s wish to be free from the “Jim Crows birds” (during our presentation we will explain the meaning of this and how it affects this poem in particular);
-                  * How this poem may influenced the appearance of the American Civil Rights Movement;

We think it is a simple poem that reaches to all of us. It is the struggle of an African-American that wishes him and his “brothers” to have the right to be as much of citizens of America as the “White Americans”.  To have the right to truly call themselves “free”.

Enjoy!


Neuza Machado 
Sara Costa

03/11/2012

The HARLEM RENAISSANCE

Take a look at this site about the  
HARLEM RENAISSANCE.
It provides information about several areas, namely education, performers, French connection, literature, political issues, religion, and philosophy.

31/10/2012

poema para comentar


Contemplai as catedrais!
As altas e magníficas catedrais, grandiosas e iluminadas.
Pequenos acessos estreitos culminam na grande abóbada sagrada.
Soam cantos que te embalam e acariciam a tua alma.
Cantos sagrados que te possuem.

Subtilmente entrado no transe estático da simplesmente existência,
desfilas no tapete cinzento e prestas culto.
Nas galerias do metro, dobramo-nos perante um deus desconhecido.
Num ritual hipnótico cultivamos uma seita,
a existência cardio-ataque, veloz mas previsível.

Todos no mesmo caminho dentro de uma carruagem bem assente nos trilhos de sempre.
No metro nada importa.
Se estiveres atento à saída, obterás a salvação.
Entretanto veneramos o deus desconhecido.
Se não venerarmos não interessa, deus autoritário.
A procissão zombie começa. Espectáculo único.

       Seguir passos de zombie,    
       Ser zombie também.

Adormecer o leão e repousar a alma num sono de sonhos doentes.
Subir as escadas e enjaular a fera gentilmente para que não acorde.
Respirar sem sentir o ar.
Sentir o bater cardíaco do tempo na viagem mas esquecer que existe vida.
Exclui-te da dança dos apressados e contempla.                                                                                                                               

    Deslumbra-te,    
       vai para casa,     
          dorme.

Gostava que lessem este poema e, se estivessem dispostos, fizessem uma pequena crítica. 

Luís Campos