In the early class our guest speaker P. Lewis got lost and arrived in class with only about 10 minutes to share his American Book Award-winning novel, Nate.
P. Lewis will be at Book Passage tomorrow night, Friday, May 4 at 7 p.m. I think. The book store is on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, which is walking distance from that BART station. He'll be reading with Reginald Lockett, Karla Brundage and Floyd Salas. I can vouch for the other three readers, they're good. Salas is funny and Reggie and Karla are fabulous poets. The event is free.
We read far into Hamlet, which was nice (8-9 class). The second class, had him for the entire hour. I'm not certain if that was a mixed blessing or not.
I found the author's discussion of existentialism interesting as it related to Hamlet and his protagonist Nate.
Where the discussion fell down for me was his long explanation of another work, Journey to the End of Night (?), which inspired his. The more Lewis told us about the other work and its characters, the more it sounded like the American Book Award should have gone to Louis-Ferdinand "Celine."
Though clearly enraptured with Celine, I wondered at the originality of Lewis' work as did Tahirah in a discussion after class with me. If one changes the names, locations and perhaps period of a work, can a person call that original work if the structure is otherwise similar, or is the new work an adaptation?
The French author, Louis-Ferdinand whose pen name "Celine," was a physician by training then novelist. The writer served in the war as a doctor and because of the tragedies he witnessed grew to hate mankind. He was what Lewis called a misanthopist.
Lewis said in answer to a question about his writing life that his dad was a litery critic and after reading Richard Wright's Native Son, he fell in love with literature and decided to be a writer. Nate took about 4 or 5 years to write and almost as long to publish. The author spoke of revisions numbering 1000s of pages.
Lewis has a degree in Fine Arts from Howard University.
Ferdinand reminded me a lot of Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Only the latter is a character in Mary Shelley's novel. Not a real person.
Lewis spoke also of the doubleness or "doppelganger" aspect at work in his novel, and in Ferdinand's work cited earlier. I don't recall the characters names who in both books kill themselves in grotesque ways.
Lewis has the Nate's friend, the doppelganger in the story kill himself also.
I mentioned that this doubleness is also at work in Frankenstein.
Lewis agreed and said ultimately, the doppelganger is the aspect men despise within themselves or hate and try to kill. If we look at Victor Frankenstein, the monster is that part of himself he wants to destroy.
In Hamlet's case, we'll have to see. I don't see this doubleness yet, unless his dead father plays this role. I see Hamlet as a youth who has much to bear and instead of not owning other's pain and responsibilities, he takes them on to his detriment.
Note:
I was mistaken, we actually have two more weeks of classes, so we can finish Hamlet as a read-a-loud. You have until May 14 to get your 10 hours logged in for the semester in the Writing Center (L-234).
Announcement:
Spike Lee will be signing copies of When the Levees Broke at Borders Union Square Friday, May 4, at 6 p.m. He was great at the San Francisco International Film Festival event last night.
Homework: Catch up on your reading and prepare for your Frankenstein essay. On your cyber-essay due next week, you can use my topic on Hand Gun Violence or choose one of your own. The only stipulation is that it has to be a current event topic, like the Warrior's basketball playoffs.
P. Lewis will be at Book Passage tomorrow night, Friday, May 4 at 7 p.m. I think. The book store is on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, which is walking distance from that BART station. He'll be reading with Reginald Lockett, Karla Brundage and Floyd Salas. I can vouch for the other three readers, they're good. Salas is funny and Reggie and Karla are fabulous poets. The event is free.
We read far into Hamlet, which was nice (8-9 class). The second class, had him for the entire hour. I'm not certain if that was a mixed blessing or not.
I found the author's discussion of existentialism interesting as it related to Hamlet and his protagonist Nate.
Where the discussion fell down for me was his long explanation of another work, Journey to the End of Night (?), which inspired his. The more Lewis told us about the other work and its characters, the more it sounded like the American Book Award should have gone to Louis-Ferdinand "Celine."
Though clearly enraptured with Celine, I wondered at the originality of Lewis' work as did Tahirah in a discussion after class with me. If one changes the names, locations and perhaps period of a work, can a person call that original work if the structure is otherwise similar, or is the new work an adaptation?
The French author, Louis-Ferdinand whose pen name "Celine," was a physician by training then novelist. The writer served in the war as a doctor and because of the tragedies he witnessed grew to hate mankind. He was what Lewis called a misanthopist.
Lewis said in answer to a question about his writing life that his dad was a litery critic and after reading Richard Wright's Native Son, he fell in love with literature and decided to be a writer. Nate took about 4 or 5 years to write and almost as long to publish. The author spoke of revisions numbering 1000s of pages.
Lewis has a degree in Fine Arts from Howard University.
Ferdinand reminded me a lot of Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Only the latter is a character in Mary Shelley's novel. Not a real person.
Lewis spoke also of the doubleness or "doppelganger" aspect at work in his novel, and in Ferdinand's work cited earlier. I don't recall the characters names who in both books kill themselves in grotesque ways.
Lewis has the Nate's friend, the doppelganger in the story kill himself also.
I mentioned that this doubleness is also at work in Frankenstein.
Lewis agreed and said ultimately, the doppelganger is the aspect men despise within themselves or hate and try to kill. If we look at Victor Frankenstein, the monster is that part of himself he wants to destroy.
In Hamlet's case, we'll have to see. I don't see this doubleness yet, unless his dead father plays this role. I see Hamlet as a youth who has much to bear and instead of not owning other's pain and responsibilities, he takes them on to his detriment.
Note:
I was mistaken, we actually have two more weeks of classes, so we can finish Hamlet as a read-a-loud. You have until May 14 to get your 10 hours logged in for the semester in the Writing Center (L-234).
Announcement:
Spike Lee will be signing copies of When the Levees Broke at Borders Union Square Friday, May 4, at 6 p.m. He was great at the San Francisco International Film Festival event last night.
Homework: Catch up on your reading and prepare for your Frankenstein essay. On your cyber-essay due next week, you can use my topic on Hand Gun Violence or choose one of your own. The only stipulation is that it has to be a current event topic, like the Warrior's basketball playoffs.
posted by Professor Wanda's Posse at 11:38 AM
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