Conrad, Chopin, and Gogol

The three authors we read over the Christmas break are distinctively different from one another.  Conrad, with Polish roots, has provided a journey into the depth of the human soul in his Heart of Darkness.  Chopin, a female author from the south, grew up in St. Louis and was of Irish and French dissent. Gogol, born in the Ukraine, was a great satirist.  All of these authors were born in the early to mid 19th centuries, wrote with specific styles, and had works that have become classics in the 21st century.  In this blog, take a journey with these authors as though you have become personal friends of each.  What is it specifically that you like or dislike about each?  What is it you have learned from them?  

John Donne

Ok everyone!  This blog is a focus on the magnificent work of John Donne.  Please choose one poem by John Donne that we have not studied.  Copy the poem on the blog so we can all refer to it as you discuss your response to it.  I am not asking for a formal analysis but you have the freedom to respond as you wish, knowing that you are now more familiar with Donne and his work.  Englighten us.  No research, please.

John Donne article by Linda Gregerson

Read the article by Linda Gregerson titled "On John Donne."  Is she genuine in her love of Donne's poetry?  Evaluate her choice of language in using phrases such as "delicious adventure....[his] syntax was a high wire act.....his metaphors were intricate and wild and stretched to outrageousness.....his misogyny....sexy."  What is your response to Gregerson's break down of Donne's "musicality" and "rhetoric" in the examples given?  Finally, how do Donne's religious poems capture the author the most?

The Nihilism of Dostoevsky

Read the handout given that is titled "The Nihilism of Dostoevsky".  Read the first section and the sections titled "Political Nihilism" and "Philosophical Nihilism" - the last two excerpts are optional readings.  Please make a response to both the "Political" and the "Philosophical" Nihilism sections.  Be sure to separate each section with a space and title each section so readers can clearly distinguish each of the responses.  Your responses should be thoughtful insights that also recollect specific points from the novel, Crime and Punishment.

Psychological Look at Crime and Punishment

Read Kevin Thompson's short article titled "Review: A Psychological Look at Crime and Punishment."  You can find it at 

http://www.psychalive.org/review-a-psychological-look-at-crime-and-punishment/

Write your response to Thompson's article.  Agree. Disagree. Argue any points made in the article.  Add your own perceptive comments to engage your audience into the conversation.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Please respond to the following quotation for your blog due November 23rd:

"To study the meaning of man and of life — I am making significant progress here. I have faith in myself. Man is a mystery: if you spend your entire life trying to puzzle it out, then do not say that you have wasted your time. I occupy myself with this mystery, because I want to be a man."

-- Fyodor Dostoevsky from personal correspondence (1839)

Satire in The Misanthrope

Focus on the use of satire in Moliere's The Misanthrope.  How do the characters contribute to the definition that says "satire" is "the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule" that "expose[s] and criticize[s] people's stupidity or vices."