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wednesday, august 16 (1)

The Russian 19th century novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky deserves our attention for the austerity and pessimism of his vision - from which we can nevertheless gain enlightenment and hope.

"When I heard the learn'd astronomer"; Course introduction; Policies; Failing well

To do tonight:

1. Register on Turnitin. The Class ID is 15829140. The password is magis. Please use your full first name, last name, and mail.strakejesuit email.

2. Register on Peergrade. The course code is BEB4HH. Please use your full first name, last name, and mail.strakejesuit email.

3. Register on Vocabulary.com by clicking the link to your section and creating an account. Please use your full first name, last name, and mail.strakejesuit email.

Section 01       Section 04       Section 06       Section 07       Section 83

4. Make sure you have the Vocabulary.com app, Google Drive, Google Docs, and Socrative Student loaded on your iPad.

5. Review ALL of the policy page. Familiarize yourself with how the class works. Look through the website to see what's available.

6. Watch The School of Life's presentation on Fyodor Dostoevsky the right. Stop at 5:16 and resume at 8:56 to avoid spoilers about the plot of Crime and Punishment. We'll refer to it throughout this week and next.

7. Print, read, annotate, and bring to class tomorrow this article: "What Crime and Punishment can teach you that the Internet can't".

thursday, august 17 (2)

Review policies; "What Crime and Punishment can teach you that the Internet Can't"; Failing Well; Collect summer worksheets

Tonight I'd like you to read this brief article on the historical and philosophical context of the novel and this selection from Volkov's St. Petersburg: A Cultural History.

friday, august 18 (3)

Today we'll discuss the readings from last night and the begin our discussion of Crime and Punishment. We'll talk about it broadly first, then move to the details.

"Raskolnikov... and yet he..."

Make sure you bring both C&P and CEA on Monday. 

Just FYI: Take a quick look at this over the weekend. What would your name be?

Monday, AUGUST 21 (4)

Annotation recap and feedback; St. Petersburg; Raskolnikov as embodiment of conflict

Developing an analytical voice - Day 1: How do we use evidence when we look at still images, moving pictures?

Tonight I'd like you to read pages 18-22 of Crafting Expository Argument.

tuesday, AUGUST 22 (5)

Developing an analytical voice - Day 2: Translating skills from images to the written word

Tonight I'd like you to continue reading in the Degen text, pages 23-26.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23 (6)

Vocabulary Quiz 1 - Words from Crime and Punishment, Part 1

Developing an analytical voice - Day 3: Working with your quotes from Crime and Punishment

thursday, AUGUST 24 (1)

Set Crime and Punishment Body Paragraph 1; Using your analytical voice in one paragraph of writing - Day 1

when you've finally run out of work

Dostoevsky’s Leningrad, by Inge Morath, 1967 Black and white photograph

Dostoevsky’s Leningrad, by Inge Morath, 1967 Black and white photograph

Санкт-Петербу́рг

"The capital of the Russian Empire, founded by Peter the Great in the early eighteenth century, St. Petersburg was built by Italian and Western European architects on the Neva river and the Gulf of Finland, and intended to be Russia’s ‘window onto Europe.’ To the Russian eye, there was something terrifyingly artificial about this beautiful, watery, and haunted city. Besides the cramped poverty, disease, and crime resulting from rapid urbanization (which are arguably the same everywhere, and Dostoevsky borrows liberally in this vein from the London of Charles Dickens), Petersburg was literally built on swampland and by means of forced labor. Recurrent and devastating floods could easily seem like nature’s own revenge on the lofty architecture and aesthetic layout of the city’s canals and streets."

Sources: http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/node/1766Adapted from the Handbook of Russian Literature, edited by Victor Terras (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985); see also A History of Russian Literature, by Victor Terras (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991); and The Cambridge Companion to Dostoevsky, edited by W. J. Leatherbarrow (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).

What's Due?

Thursday, August 17 - Summer reading worksheets collected and annotated book check, each a quiz grade

Wednesday, August 23 - Vocabulary Quiz 1 - Words from Crime and Punishment, Part 1

Monday, August 28 - Crime and Punishment Body Paragraph 1 (DRAFT)

Tuesday, September 5 - Crime and Punishment Body Paragraph 1 (REVISION)

Tuesday, September 5 - Crime and Punishment, Part 2, pages 89-193

 current texts to bring daily

Word of the day

The difference between despair and hope often boils down to different ways of telling stories from the same set of facts. Some of the art of living means learning how to tell the story of our lives back to ourselves.

POETRY FOUNDATION ARTICLES

POEM OF THE DAY