FINALLY

I promised you a worthy blog post tonight.  This is the Wednesday that just keeps on giving, though, and it just didn't happen earlier.    But if you're sitting around waiting, I'll at least offer you a few things. But not to panic--nothing here is "due" tomorrow.

Kafka's "Letter to My Father"
Make sure you've read yesterday's post, and given some good attention to the link to Kafka's "Letter to My Father."  That's all that's essential for tonight, as well--but there is a short assignment for Friday or over the week-end (your choice).

1) "Letter to My Father" assignment

After skimming the long "Letter to My Father," find a 3-4 page chunk to focus on.  Your goal is to make connections between elements in the letter and Kafka's story, and explain how those connections deepen our understanding of issues in "The Metamorphosis."

What to Write

Your write-up should analyze some specific correlations to Kafka's fictional "Metamorphosis" based on elements he writes about in his letter.  Do NOT try to be "comprehensive"--this assignment is meant to have much smaller scope.  Choose no more than a few pages of the letter (but choose carefully based on the light reading--not strictly at random) and then show how THOSE pages enrich our understanding of some element in  Metamorphosis.  Your own analysis should be about 250 words (300 max).  But make your words count:  pack in as much insight as you can.

Use the regular single-spaced heading (name, period , date, "Letter to My Father" Parallels). Don't worry about formatting citations; we will tacitly assume that all quoted material comes from the link given in the earlier post.

Specific Instructions for Turning It In

This assignment is online only.  I see it as "due" Friday, in part to make room for other upcoming things. But I'd intended for you to have two evenings (Wednesday/Thursday) to fit it in to your schedule.  So as long as it's in by the end of the week-end (11:59 p.m. Sunday night, Nov. 9), it's fine with me.  And I repeat:  you do not need to submit a hard copy for this assignment.

2) How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Read Chapters 2 and 3 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Ch. 2--"Nice to Eat with You:  Acts of Communion"
Ch. 3--"Nice to Eat You":  Acts of Vampires"
You'll get an out-of-class prep work assignment on Monday, and there will be an in-class analysis in the near future.

3) Heart of Darkness (and Frankenstein and The Awakening)
Remember the hand-out that told you to have Conrad's book by about Nov. 1 and advised you to get all three of these titles at once because they'd be stacked pretty closely during the second quarter? Well.  It's here.

You're going to need Heart of Darkness by Wednesday (the 12th).  And you'll be starting to read Frankenstein before we're fully "done" with HoD.  Amazon, or a local brick and mortar bookseller (new or used), or perhaps a bookshelf in your very own home is calling your name.  ASAP.

4) Short Fiction Cumulative Assessments upcoming--they will overlap as out-of-class work with our (slow) early mostly in-class  progress with Heart of Darkness. More information forthcoming soon.