Bookclub presentations!  On deck for Monday:

• Bird Box
• The Fault in Our Stars
• The Hate U Give

Remember to check out the rubric for presentations.  Arrive in HSS 152 – – yes, we’re back in our usual location – – on time and prepared!

For Wed., let’s read a couple more stories in In Our Time – –  “Soldier’s Home” and “Cat in the Rain.”

Remember: Instead of meeting in HSS 152, we will be meeting in HSS 380.

Curious about your bookclub presentations?  Check out the rubric and schedule for our last two days of class here.

Friends, due to unforeseen circumstances, we will have to switch rooms for class on Mon (5/6) and Wed (5/8). Instead of meeting in HSS 152, we will be meeting in HSS 380. Please note. And, see you in class on Monday!

Let’s read some Hemingway!  For Monday, read “On the Quai at Smyrna” and “Indian Camp” from In Our Time.  (Also, be sure to check out the mini “chapters” between the stories.)

Let’s hold off on Hemingway for a bit and turn our attention to W.E.B. Du Bois.  Read the first chapter – – “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” – –  from The Souls of Black Folks (1903).

Let’s finish talking about the first section, “Burial of the Dead,” of Eliot’s “The Waste Land.”

Recall that in our discussion last Monday, one thing we focused on in the first few lines was the poem’s fascination with mixing – – death and life, memory and desire, winter and spring, etc.  I called this a “zombie” motif, i.e. the poem is full of things, people, voices that transgress borders and distinctions, that seem to confuse what properly belongs where.  Your task for this Monday is to re-read “The Burial of the Dead” to find as many of these “zombie” moments as you can.  Highlight or underline them and bring your annotated text (and/or list) to class.

We’ll spend Wed. doing in-class writing.  Take a look at your choice of topics.  I encourage you to outline or draft your answers to the questions before class.  However, once you enter class, you’ll have to leave these outlines/drafts behind.  Be sure to bring  a couple of pens and a sheaf of standard 8 1/2″ by 11″ notebook paper to write on.  Avanti!

Read the first section – – “Burial of the Dead” – – of Eliot’s “The Waste Land.”

Important: No class on Monday.

For Wed., read Ezra Pound’s very short poem, “In a Station of the Metro” and the first book (“Burial of the Dead”) from Eliot’s “The Waste Land.”