Dungeons and Dragons in AP Lit – Part 3 – Day to Day Lessons

The Adventure - ~3 weeks of class time (5 85-minute blocks) This post and the next will be more nuts and bolts - I’ve previously written about the why, now I’ll share about the how. This one will be about the bulk of the unit, where kids plays D&D and read Beowulf (some of them … Continue reading Dungeons and Dragons in AP Lit – Part 3 – Day to Day Lessons →

Dungeons and Dragons in AP Lit – Addendum to Part 1 – White Supremacy – What Counts as “Literature”

“What do D&D, the Odyssey and Hip-Hop Have in Common?” This question may feel strange because your vision of D&D may conjure up some very specific images of a very specific type of white male. Wanting to press at this a little, when I first posed this question to my class, I then I asked … Continue reading Dungeons and Dragons in AP Lit – Addendum to Part 1 – White Supremacy – What Counts as “Literature” →

Gravity’s Rainbow

I told myself I'd read one more "real" book before school started. By real I mean, one book that, once classes begin, and my mind turned a bit towards jello in the evenings, I would not be able to read in any reasonable amount of time, and would therefore forget so much about between sessions … Continue reading Gravity’s Rainbow →

Lost and Found

Lost and Found Here's an interesting story on the use of new technology to recover new text from the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum. The Villa appears to have been the home of a philosopher in the Southern Italian city on the Bay of Naples. On August 24, 79 AD, the dormant Mt. Vesuvius … Continue reading Lost and Found →

Ezra Pound Defends James Joyce Against an Early Critic

I'm a fan of polemical writing, whatever the subject-matter. In fact, my reading of Joyce's letters and biographies has tipped me off to a future project: reading more Ezra Pound, those excerpts which have been included having been so creatively acerbic. Pound's is a name I've heard here and there but I don't really know that … Continue reading Ezra Pound Defends James Joyce Against an Early Critic →

Dubliners (and Joyce’s early career struggles)

My rereading of Dubliners was as enjoyable as always. That book reminds me of a great band's first album. Not the sort of band whose first album is their only good one, but the sort of band that, even though they go on to produce other great (even great-er) work, you always retain a soft … Continue reading Dubliners (and Joyce’s early career struggles) →

Joyce’s Earliest Writings

I'm making my way through Richard Ellmann's biography, along with the three volumes of Joyce's letters, and then also stopping to read everything else he wrote along the way. I've read most of these texts (except the letters and the biographies) many times, but re-reading brings new perspectives. The main reason for this re-reading is … Continue reading Joyce’s Earliest Writings →

Joyce, Vico, Oral Poetry and the Homeric Question – A Joyce Writing Project

[This is part of a longer series – previous post ("Deeper into the Night") - next post ("Vico on the Origins of Language")] My Master's program culminates in writing a thesis. I'm writing this post to describe what I'm planning on working on, as much to share as to work out for myself what I'm actually going to … Continue reading Joyce, Vico, Oral Poetry and the Homeric Question – A Joyce Writing Project →

The Kraus Project – Jonathan Franzen on “What’s Wrong with the Modern World”

- alternate subtitle - all you out there not talking nonstop about your phones/tv/etc., otherwise complying with my proposed rules for CTA conversations, the ones who are just staring into the phones "minding your own business"? You annoy me as well. - second alternate subtitle - I review what Jonathan Franzen, Paul Reitter, and Daniel … Continue reading The Kraus Project – Jonathan Franzen on “What’s Wrong with the Modern World” →

Finnegans Wake – Book IV

[This is part of a longer series – previous post (III.4) - next post ("Deeper into the Night")] Book IV - Finnegans Wake's final book - contains only one chapter. It stands for the last of the four stages in Vico's theory of history - the "ricorso." The chapter read like the finale to a symphony, and also like … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book IV →