“I ask you for the last time: will you name your three cards or won’t you?”
<-- Weeks 1-8 Back to this week's assignments -->
Friday, February 27 (1) - Hamlet, Act 5; On to The Queen of Spades!; Set EC Essay on Hamlet.
Monday, March 2 (2) - Set Research Assignment, Part 3; Synthesizing your research; For Thursday, read Pushkin, The Queen of Spades, intro and chapter 1 (Norton 800-804). It's in the second volume of the anthology! Notice how many times numbers are referred to.
Tuesday, March 3 (3) - 'Spot the MLA error' Quiz; Outlining; Sample #1, Sample #2, Sample #3
Wednesday, March 4 (4) - Sample theses
Thursday, March 5 (5) - Pushkin, The Queen of Spades; Set Psychological Profiles of Hermann, Lisaveta, and the Countess Extra Credit Assignment; Faro; By tomorrow, read The Queen of Spades, chapter 2 (Norton 804-808).
Friday, March 6 (6) - The Queen of Spades; Over the weekend, read The Queen of Spades, chapters 3-5 (Norton 809-817).
Tuesday, March 10 (2) - The Queen of Spades; Finish The Queen of Spades by tomorrow (Norton 817-820). (1) Walk us through the chapter systematically, noting the moments that give us insight into Hermann's psychological state. I expect that your references are the smallest of textual details. (2) What is the setting? Has it changed since the end of the last chapter? Does it change in the course of this chapter? (3) Pushkin, in his pre-note to this tale, writes that the queen of spades card denotes “secret ill-will,” as well as being traditionally a symbol of death. Find any mention or depiction of this theme in your chapter, and explain it. (4) One reader has noted: “This story is in large part a meditation on the nature of stories, and storytelling itself.” Identify the aspects of this issue in the chapter I assigned you. Elaborate on this metastory or metafiction. Be prepared to discuss all of these tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 11 (3) - The Queen of Spades
Thursday, March 12 (4) - The Queen of Spades
Priorities for the impending, perennial, protracted pause: Over the break, complete the thesis/outline of your research paper. It is due in class on Monday, March 23 and to turnitin.com by 8am. In anticipation of the next phase of the project, have a look at this document for pointers on how to integrate secondary material. Harvard also has this new website for students such as yourselves. Very handy. Take advantage. Additionally, be sure to read the introduction to Leo Tolstoy as well as the first chapter of The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Norton 1327-1336). Watch this very short lecture. Have a good break. Write well, read well... and live.
SPRING BREAK
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Due Dates
Monday, March 2 -- Annotated Bibliography #1
Friday, March 6 -- EC Hamlet Essay
Tuesday, March 10 -- Annotated Bibliography #2
Monday, March 23 -- Thesis/Outline
Monday, March 23 -- The Queen of Spades EC Assignment
Sample Research Essays of Mr. Volding's Students of Yesteryears:
“In reading exam papers written by misled students, of both sexes, about this or that author, I have often come across such phrases — probably recollections from more tender years of schooling — as ‘his style is simple’ or ‘his style is clear and simple’ or ‘his style is beautiful and simple’ or ‘his style is quite beautiful and simple.’ But remember that ‘simplicity’ is buncombe. No major writer is simple. The Saturday Evening Post is simple. Journalese is simple. Upton Lewis is simple. Mom is simple. Digests are simple. Damnation is simple. But Tolstoys and Melvilles are not simple... This story is Tolstoy’s most artistic, most perfect, and most sophisticated achievement... Tolstoy’s style is a marvelously complicated, ponderous achievement.”
Helpful Research Links
Research and Documentation Online
Registering on JSTOR
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Genealogy of the English Alphabet
The Death of Ivan Ilyich Links
Reader's Guide from The Big Read