2) Look at the sources Oates cites at the end of Wild Nights! Look closely at these and write a report that compares Oates’ quasi-fictional accounts of these writers to the sources. In the case of Hemingway, be sure to consult the Lynn biography. Due 2/1. Kristen
3) Read Blonde by Oates (her novelization of the life of Marilyn Monroe) and write a report on it. The report should be written with the intention of informing us about the book – people who know Oates but likely haven’t read this book. If apt, draw parallels to any or all of the books we are reading together in the seminar. Note: The person who does this project is exempt from being required to read Dear Husband,. Due 2/8. Molly
4) Read three of Oates’ “young adult fiction” books – Big Mouth & Ugly Girl; Freaky Green Eyes; and Sexy – and write a report on them, taken together as indicative of one of Oates’ preferred subgenres. The report should be written with the intention of informing us about the books – people who know Oates but likely haven’t read these books. If apt, draw parallels to any or all of the books we are reading together in the seminar. Due 2/8. Kelly
5) Research Oates’ presence at Princeton University and write a report about her teaching there, her overall presence and impact. Be sure to hit upon the apparent problem the Princeton environment presents for her: a privileged, ivied, suburban locale for the writer whose imaginative basis and ethic is poor, post-agricultural and post-industrial upstate New York. How involved/engaged is she in the life and community of the Creative Writing program and/or the MFA program. What connection if any does she have with other Princeton-based writers: John McPhee, Paul Muldoon, Toni Morrison, et alia. And what about her former writing students? Have some of them, or many, gone on to make an impact as writers? Do whatever it takes to research and report this. Due 2/8. Jared
6) Read about Hope Atherton and tell us about her. Then find (in the library; on the web) commentaries about Howe’s use of Hope Atherton for instance in “Articulation of Sound Forms in Time” and write a report that will help the rest of us understand Howe’s use of Atherton in that poem. Due 3/1. Cecilia
7) Read books on television (books, essays, whatever) and write a report that summarizes critical assessments of the place of Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue in the history of TV programming. What were—-in each case-—their innovations? What changes did they cause, what trends did they influence? Due 3/29. Nicky8) As fully as you can, explore David Milch’s life and work before he moved to L.A. to write for Hill Street Blues in the early 1980s. Be sure to focus on his time at Yale. Did his work with Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks at Yale shape him in some way? What possible influence/effect might they have had on him? (Look into the work and theories of Warren and Brooks, to be sure you know what critical – and social – positions they held.) What was Milch like at Yale? What kind of work did he do? Did his work there anticipate his success as a writer for television in any way? Due 3/29. Callie
9) Research and write as fully as you can about the life and work (as playwright and otherwise) of Mary Manning (Mary Manning Howe, Susan Howe’s mother). Due 3/15. Henry
10) Susan Howe and an experimental composer made two CDs in which Howe’s “Melville’s Marginalia” and “Thorow” are set to music. Acquire these CDs and listen and do the research necessary for the writing of a report that will teach us about this musical-poetic collaboration. Does this music enhance your understanding of these two Howe poems? Due 3/1. Rivka
11) Interview (at length) both Milch’s agent (Alan Berger at CAA) and his assistant (Scott Wilson) and write a report, as best you can, about how Milch works. What is his method? How does he write (and where)? How does he relate to the director, the producer, the actors? How did Deadwood develop? When and why did he become disconnected or disaffected from NYPD Blue? Is it true that even when he is not listed as primary writer of an episode, he is really finally the writer? Be sure, also, to find out as much as you can about Milch's new HBO project, Luck (link). Due 4/12. Colette
12) Watch all the videos and listen to all the audio recordings of Milch’s talks, seminars, and speeches. Make a detailed bibliography of these (with links, of course) and annotate it fully, so that the rest of us can keep track of these. Summarize what Milch says at each such event. (Al has a DVD of one of these, so be sure to borrow that. Others might need to be purchased from audible.com or Amazon Video.) Due 4/19. Emily
13) Read all the major critics who write about Emily Dickinson’s “My Life Had Stood – A Loaded Gun,” and summarize each of these analyses. Be sure to consult Gilbert & Gubar and the general feminist “madwoman in the attic” thesis. On Susan Howe's PennSound author page you'll find a brief discussion of feminism in a recorded session with Rachel Blau DuPlessis' class; listen to that. In an introduction Howe gave at the Writers House, she mentions her first negative response to Gilbert & Gubar in passing; listen to that. In general: characterize the 1970s-era feminist interpretation of Dickinson, and compare it with what you take to be Howe’s view of Dickinson as presented in My Emily Dickinson. What are the differences? Due 2/22. Lily
14) Interview the following people about their connection to (and opinions on) the life (and personage) and work of Susan Howe: Charles Bernstein, Jena Osman, Kristen Gallagher, Marjorie Perloff. Write summaries of what these people tell you about Howe. (Find out from Bernstein, Osman and Gallagher about Howe’s role in the “poetics program” at Buffalo during her years there. What did she teach? What kind of teacher was she? Etc.) Note: This project is for two students. Due 3/1. Jess Yu & Sarah
15) Read Oates’ The Gravedigger’s Daughter and write a narrative and critical summary of the book – with the main intention of teaching those of us who haven’t read the book about it. If apt, draw parallels to any or all of the books we are reading together in the seminar. Due 2/8. Alex
16) Read Oates’ Little Bird of Heaven and write a narrative and critical summary of the book – with the main intention of teaching those of us who haven’t read the book about it. If apt, draw parallels to any or all of the books we are reading together in the seminar. Due 2/1. Nikki
17) Read Oates’ I’ll Take You There, and write a narrative and critical summary of the book – with the main intention of teaching those of us who haven’t read the book about it. If apt, draw parallels to any or all of the books we are reading together in the seminar. Due 2/8. Vicky
18) Read Howe’s book of historical criticism, The Birth-mark (subtitled “Unsettling the Wilderness in American Literary History”) and write a summary of the book – with the main intention of teaching those of us who haven’t read the book about it. If apt, draw parallels to any or all of Howe’s other works we are reading together in the seminar. Due 3/8. Liza
19) Buy the Critical Edition of the famous Oates story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” and read it entirely. This includes critical essay and guides for teachers teaching the story. Then look around the web at all the references to this story, especially as it pertains to teaching it. Summarize the critical assumptions and conventions about this story. Compare these to our approach to the story but also to our approach, as it is emerging, to Oates’ work generally. Ascertain and summarize how high-school and intro-level college teachers teach this story. Why do you think they teach it the way they do? Due 2/8. Jessica R.
20) Read Pete Dexter's Deadwood and Watson Parker's Deadwood--the Golden Years and write a report on how these two historical accounts help us understand Milch's partly imagined Deadwood in Deadwood. What do you learn from these two books that will help us understand the series? Due 4/12. Alan
21) This is a two-part project. First, read John Ames' The Real Deadwood and write a report on how this historical account helps us understand Milch's partly imagined Deadwood in Deadwood. What do you learn from this book that will help us understand the series? Second, read Reading Deadwood: A Western to Swear By, edited by David Lavery, a collection of critical/interpretive essays about Milch's series. Write a report/summary of these essays. What are their main concerns, themes and approaches? What are some of the remarkable points made in these essays that we need to know in order to understand Deadwood fully? Due 4/12. Sanae
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23) Read Oates' A Fair Maiden and write a summary of the book. If apt, draw parallels to any or all of the books we are reading together in the seminar. Due 2/8. Jenna
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