Bright Lights, Big City

This link below does a pretty good job of laying out the novel and even has some pictures to go along with the story. It would be helpful for your understanding of the text to take a few minutes to check it out:

http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/brightpage.htm

This is a link to  New York magazine article that covers the NYC we see the character running through:

http://books.google.com/books?id=JrwBAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Prof. O'Connell

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

Here is a rather dull and barebones analysis of what our story is about for Tuesday:

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is a story about a lonely, but dignified older gentleman who, basically ,has insomnia and can't sleep. He is not like other men who go to bodegas and bars. He does not go to party or to meet women. He goes to escape the darkness and to have a drink. It is also mentioned in the story that he tried to kill himself, but was saved by his niece.

We will spend the class working together to fill in the what this above analysis left out...

Prof. O'Connell

Does The Misfit Have Grace?

What does it mean to have grace?
Are we born with it or can we acquire it?
Can a "villian" have grace?
These are some of the issues we will discuss on Thursday.

Here a few links on the story:

http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/lewiss/Oconnor.htm

http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/flannery-oconnors-good-man-hard-find-whos-real-misfit

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Concept-of-Grace-in-A-Goodman-is-Hard-to-Find

http://www.cord.edu/faculty/steinwan/nv13_pence.htm

Prof. O'Connell

Who is Holden Caufield?

Here is a link to a closer look at Holden Caufield as a character:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1621225/the_catcher_in_the_rye_holden_caulfield.html?cat=38

Here is a link to a case where an author tried to write an unauthorized sequel to the story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/books/17salinger.html

A blog about who Holden Caufield is:

http://tingram.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/the-catcher-in-the-rye-who-is-holden-caulfield/

An Article on Holden

Here is an article about Holden from the author Gish Jen. I think it will help us out as we look at the first 15 chapters of the novel.

http://www.newliteraryhistory.com/catcherintherye.html

Have a good weekend.

Paper due March 8th.

Prof. O'Connell

Background Information on Langston Hughes

This first link is a pretty good bio of Hughes and has some links to a few of the poems we will cover on Tuesday:

http://www.kansasheritage.org/crossingboundaries/page6e1.html

This next link deals more with Hughes as a poet:

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83

Another background link:

http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/hughes_l.htm

Here is a Hughes Literary History link:


http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Hughes.htm

A Very Easy to Use Database of Literary Criticism

This link should make finding reliable outside sources a much easier task. Simply clink the link below and enter the author's last name that you need information about. There will be a long list of links about the author. You will need to find the articles/journals/critical response that ties in with your thesis but just spend some time looking through it.


http://www.literaryhistory.com/index.htm

Critical Response to "Roman Fever"

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/wharton/romanfever.htm

This one is just someone's blog but they discuss the moon as a metaphor:

http://1100literature.blogspot.com/2008/01/critical-response-to-roman-fever.html

Here is a link to the Edith Wharton Society:

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/wharton/squeries00.htm#Roman

Prof. O'Connell

An Alternate Idea for the N-Word in Huck Finn (A Comedy Skit...)

Video: Robot Huck Finn - Gothamist


Clearly this is done to mock the idea of using the word slave as a replacement.

Prof. O'Connell

Some More Huck Finn Stuff

Here is a link talking about the complexity of Jim. We discussed in class how he clashes with many other characters in the story. This article goes into that topic even deeper:

http://itech.fgcu.edu/&/issues/vol1/issue1/huckfinn.htm

We also talked a bit about how the river is a symbol of freedom for Huck and Jim throughout the novel. The link below has another take on what the river may symbolize:

http://www.suite101.com/content/the-river-as-god-in-huck-finn-a75246

I'll see you tomorrow.

Prof. O'Connell