Short Talk and Film Schedule for Fall 2008: Advanced Composition (Humanities)

Mon/Wed, Aug 31st/Sept 2nd

• The class watches O'Connor, Carr, and Gray's film adaptation, A Month in the Country

Wed/Mon, Sept 16th/21st

• Wed, 9/16: Short talk 1: The story of the medieval painter and how it is reflected in the content of the painting in A Month in the Country, book and film: ____________________/Rosemary Thoburn
• Wed, 9/16: Short Talk 2: : The characters, Tom Birkin and Charles (James in the film) Moon, the Reverend and Alice Keach in A Month in the Country, book and film: James Weiss/Andry Ackley
• Mon, 9/21: Short Talk 3: How religion functions to form modern communities and exclude people in the present in A Month in the Country, book and film: Mike Coppinger/John Wojcik

Wed/Mon, Sept 30th/Oct 5th

• Wed, 9/30: Short talk 4: Turning a Newstory into a Novel in Bel Canto: Madalyn Jamison/Maggie Cadeaux
• Mon, 10/5: Short Talk 5: How does Patchett make us identify with the "terrorists" as strongly as we do with the hostages in Bel Canto: Melody Boyleston/Harrison Russell
• Mon, 10/5: Short Talk 6: How does music function to bring people together in Bel Canto?: Michael Hum/Lauren Kennedy

Wed/Tues, Oct 7th/Oct 13th

• The class watches all of Mira Nair''s film adaptation, The Namesake.

Wed/Mon, Oct 14th/19th

• Wed, 10/14: Short talk 6a: How does Jhumpa Lahiri's Namesake treat romantic love as a viable ideal basis for a marriage in its comparison of the marriage of Ashoke and Ashimi and Gogol and Moushumi (take into consideration class and gender as well as ethnicity)? Afshenn Eeshat/Crystal Couser
• Wed, 10/14: Short talk 7: In Lahiri's The Namesake, compare the problems of assimilation or living in the US in the cases of the two central characters of Namesake: Ashimi and Gogol (who for example, wants to be called Nikhil): Christian Cura/Barton Gates
• Mon, 10/19: Short Talk 8: The function of the different places the characters live and holiday in: apartment v private house in Boston, the family homes in India, Gogol v Maxine's apartments in New York City, Ashoke's apartment in Cleveland, Maxine's parents' lake house in New Hampshire: ______________________/Michael Haft

Wed/Mon, Oct 28th/Nov 2nd

• Mon, 10/28: In class midterm
• Wed, 11/2: Talk 8a: Compare Mira Nair's film, The Namesake, with Jhumpa Lahiri's novel, The Namesake: how does the increased emphasis on Ashima instead of Gogol and the emphasis on India change the themes of the story and our feelings for the characters?: Jamie Florida/Brett Rushia
• Wed, 11/2: Talk 9: Racism and Male and Female Stereotypes in Children's Books (Chapters 1-3 in The Girl Sleuth): Sari Deslauriers/Aislinn Lacorazza

Wed/Mon, Nov 4th/Nov 9th

• Wed, 11/4: Short Talk 10: Pseudo-power, classism, and glamor in Nancy Drew (as described and analyzed by Mason, Chapter 4): Jocelyn Saunders/Delesia Watson
• Thurs, 11/4: Short Talk 11: Alternate Sleuths and dream careers in The Girl Sleuth: country and rich girls, nurse, flight attendants, advertising agents (as described and analyzed by Mason, Chapters 5-6): Susan Artz/Sarah Fening
• Mon, 11/9: Short talk 12: The group of young women and Nafisi who form the secret class, Chs 1-11 in Part One in Reading Lolita in Teheran: Monica Williams/Christine Miller

Wed/Mon, Nov 11th/16th

• Wed, 11/11: Short Talk 13: Nafisi's personal experience of returning to Iran after the first revolution, Chapters 1-11 of Part Two of Reading Lolita: Nik Hamedi/______________________
• Wed, 11/11 Short Talk 14: Lolita as a book about male tyranny and fantasy and Great Gatsby as a book about aspiration or power as money: which is it? do you agree or disagree? Chs 12-15, Part One, and 17-19, Part Two of Reading Lolita: Matthew Halse/__________________________
• Thurs, 11/16: We watch as much as we can of Peter Bogdanovich and Frederick Raphael's film adaptation, Daisy Miller in class.

Wed/Mon, Nov 18th/23rd

• Wed, 11/18: Short talk 15: The hostile attitude towards young women's independence and sexuality in Daisy Miller, book and film: Elizabeth Palmieri/Candice Vannay
• Wed, 11/18: We'll finish watching Daisy Miller.
• Mon, 11/23: Short Talk 16: Nafisi's experience of the 1980 revolution, Chapters 1-11 of Part Three of Reading Lolita: John Falkey/_______________________
• Mon, 11/23: Short talk 17: The nobility and danger of ignoring or defying social mores in the fiction of Henry James, Nafisi's classroom, and in the lives of her young women students, Chapters 12-35, Part Three of Reading Lolila: Mark McDonald/Barbara Vargas

Mon/Wed, Nov 30th/Dec 2nd

• Mon, 11/30: Short talk 18: What do the terms "sense" and "sensibility" stand for and how does the depiction of the sisters amount to a debate on the values of each stance towards experience?: Rebekah Lewis/Mary Davis
• Mon, 11/30: Short talk 19: The relationship of money and/or property and how others treat you in the past and present stories of Sense and Sensibility: Lauren Gannon/Aaron Baker
• Wed, 12/2: Short talk 20: Connections between secresy and tact, and lying and manipulation, sickness and self-control in Sense and Sensibility: Callie Hoyt/Ashton Fleming
• Wed, 11/30 and 12/2: We will watch as much as we can of the Ang Lee/Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility and snippets from the 2008 BBC mini-series Sense and Sensibility by Andrew Davies, produced by Anne Pivcevic.

Mon/Wed, Dec 7th/9th

• Mon, 12/7: Short Talk 21: Parallels between the themes of Austen's novels, including Pride and Prejudice and Nafisi's girls, based on Part Four (Reading Lolita): Kiara Jewette/Brenda Weber
• Mon, 12/7: Short Talk 22: Family barbarity, state terrorism and books in people's lives, based on Part Four (Reading Lolita): Scott Underritter/Josh McGuin
• Wed, 12/9: Short Talk 23: The use of music and landscape in the Ang Lee/Emma Thompson film, Sense and Sensibility: how does it convey the themes and help characterize the novel's characters: Madalyn Jamison/Lillie McVey