Comps are this weekend, and I've been busy working away at a question for the last two hours. Since I'm a little over halfway done with it, I figured I'd take a mini break. So I got up, stretched, got a new drink, lit a scented candle (black cherry, yum) and wandered into my corner of the blogosphere. I figured I'd show you, Gentle Readers, what kind of questions I'm up against.
Question 1:
One of the preoccupying questions during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was the function of literature, specifically of poetry, and of the literary artist (esp. the Poet). In exploring this question, all of the major Romantic poets—Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Keats—wrote works of fantasy. Keats wrote of the cruel and elfin "La Belle Dame sans Merci," as well as of the gorgon like "Lamia." Coleridge wrote works of what he called "Faery," and his "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "Kubla Kahn," and "Christabel" are prime examples of his work as a Gothic fantasist. Romantic prose writers were also attracted to the possibilities of fantasy, especially of Gothic fantasy. Mary Shelley¸ Charles Maturin's, Poe and Hawthorne, Goethe, and Pushkin represent just a handful of the European and American prose writers writing experimenting during the Romantic period with fantasy fiction. (One might also add Jane Austen to the list as she deconstructs or challenges the Romantic fascination with the Gothic in Northanger Abbey).
In a concise and specific essay, explain the connection between the Romantics (their concerns, approaches, philosophies, etc.) and the rise of fantasy fiction. What did the Romantics see in Gothic fantasy? What questions did it allow them to explore (consider the socio-cultural and political as well as the literary)? You might specifically address the connection to folk traditions, importance of the imagination in Romantic philosophy and/or aesthetics, the role of pantheism, the image of the wise child, the notion of the visionary, and/or notions of the sublime. Make sure that you demonstrate an intimate knowledge of the ideas and works of at least one Romantic poet discussed in class and a passing knowledge of at least two other writers (for example, you might focus on what Coleridge has to say about the imagination, and how he plays with that in his poems, and then use Wordsworth and Blake as contrasting points).
Have fun with this! I look forward to reading your piece!
"Fun" she says. Ha! This is the one I dread the most and hence the one I've set aside the most time for.
Question 2:
Certain stories are told anew generation after generation, adapted to suit the needs of an audience often many times removed from the original listeners or readers. Beowulf is one such narrative. The consensus among scholars is that the poem was redacted by a Christian author (or authors) out of pagan narratives composed orally long before the poem was written down in the manuscript that has come down to us. Since then, elements of the poem have been recast in prose (e.g., John Gardner’s Grendel), film (Beowulf and Grendel [2005] and Beowulf [2007], poetry (Neil Gaiman’s “Bay Wolf” in Smoke and Mirrors [2002]), as well as in television; music, opera and theater; comics and graphic novels; and computer games.* The poem has also been picked over, as J.R.R. Tolkien has demonstrated in “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” as a historical source, but it was Tolkien’s intent in that essay to remind readers of the poem’s enduring literary worth.
Focusing on the notion of enduring literary worth, demonstrate how the Christian author of the Old English poem adapted his source material so that the poem transcended the particulars of its pagan origin and ‘spoke to’ its Christian audience. Then select one modern adaptation of the narrative, either one of those mentioned above or any one of your choice (see below), and demonstrate how the author of that adaptation likewise transcended the particulars of his/her source material in order to speak to a contemporary audience. Address the following in your answer: (1) specific changes made by the author (such as additions, deletions, re-orderings of events, re-attributions of dialogue or action); (2) any resulting shifts in emphasis or toward themes more appropriate for a given audience; and (3) the preservation of others themes in spite of, or perhaps even because of, specific changes. For the latter, consider that the changes addressed under (1) may have the effect of preserving enduring thematic elements at the expense of sacrificing details that are no longer meaningful to a contemporary audience.
This one shouldn't be too bad. I'm actually kind of looking forward to working on it.
Question 3 (the one I'm doing now):
This question has three parts.
1) Please read the following quotation from Madison Smartt Bell’s discussion of narrative structure (Narrative Design 28-29) and discuss whether you agree or disagree with the points he makes. If you don’t have a copy of Bell’s book, let me explain that the “triangle” he refers to is Freytag’s Triangle which attempts to trace the presence of tension or stress in narrative literature.
Bell’s comment about narrative structure asserts:
It is a familiar truism that all stories must always present some problem to be solved, some conflict in need of resolution—be it ever so humble, so apparently trivial. Conflict, the question which requires the story to answer it, is what generates the energy to ascend the rising slope of the triangle, toward the peak where the conflict will be, for better or worse, resolved; on the descending slope, the byproducts of the climactic fission or fusion settle back toward a (temporarily) steady state. This, by some standards, is the very definition of what a story is; all narratives must share these qualities. There are probably just enough exceptions to this rule around to prove it.
Still, it would be difficult to think of (or write) a story in which no problem or conflict whatsoever arose at any point. At this moment, I can think of no example. The point is that all stories do bear some relationship to the structure of rising and falling action that the triangle is intended to graph. Suffice it to say that we do still expect some pattern of conflict and resolution from our narratives. To write a story with no vestige of these would be virtually impossible. (28-29)
2) After you have come to terms with what Bell has said about the importance of conflict, I would like for you to construct your own theory of narrative design. If you’ll remember, Bell maintains that fiction has two basic structures: linear design—which is primarily Aristotelian—and modular design, which can be almost anything not Aristotelian. (Keep in mind that Freytag’s Triangle applies primarily to Aristotelian structure.) Please feel free to stick with Bell’s categories and offer your unique insights on what he’s saying or you can create a whole new set of categories if you wish. As you respond to this part of the question, keep in mind that your discussion at this point will be applied to your answer in part 3.
3) When you’ve formulated your own theory of narrative design, I’d like to see you apply it to your own writing, by using two or three stories of your own as examples of your narrative design. To save time, you can merge your answer to part 3 with your discussion in part 2.
This one isn't too bad, either. Like I said, I'm almost halfway done and I'm only two hours (two and a half, now, since I had to wrestle with the font things to paste these questions into here and I still can't get them to look exactly like I want) into the process.
Whee!
Back to work.
More later.
I learned a couple of things today. One is that final decisions for School No. 2's MFA program must be made by April 15 (that's 2 weeks from now). Another is that they've already done one round of rejections--during which I did not get rejected. According to their website, no news is good news, meaning I'm still in the running and have made it past the first major cut. Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed.