Outside Reading: Book Review #5

Book Review: "A Mythic Novel of the Balkan Wars"
By Liesl Schillinger
Published March 11, 2011

     Liesl Schillinger’s book review analyzes “The Tiger’s Wife” by Tea Obreht, using formalism and historicism critical perspectives along with an excessive amount of detail and some imagery.

       

     Schillinger focuses on the historical and allegorical parts of the novel. She points out “events borrowed from the headlines” and the way the author “illustrates the complexities of Balkan history,” which add to the quality and understanding of the piece (1). Later in the review she looks into Obreht’s background including where and when she was born, and where she lived during the war. Even though the author didn’t experience those awful war impacted years, the novel was “filled with astonishing immediacy and presence, fleshed out with detail that seemed firsthand” (4).

         

     The writer uses imagery to describe parts of the novel and describe Obreht great writing techniques. She explains the way the author retells past generation experiences, how “old and new memories collide in a vibrant collage that has not date” (5). By providing this colorful, exciting imagery, it gives the reader the idea that the novel truly is that intriguing without Schillinger actually having to say that.

       

     This book review also contains a formalistic critical approach to uncover the literary techniques the author uses, which contribute to the brilliance of the novel. The reviewer notices that the narrator is a key aspect, adding to the quality of all her novels. In an almost over-excessive amount of detail, Schillinger describes the narrator and her journey throughout the novel. This defends her claim, however, it is also so much detail the reader might get bored, discouraging them to read the book. While also using a formalistic approach, Schillneger compliments the way Obreht juxtaposes Natalia’s matter-of-fact narration with contemporary folk tales that are simple, enthralling and sometimes brutal as fables” (3).

      

    There don’t exactly seem to be many connections between this piece and other class material. There is no extreme focus on any specific critical perspective and not too many references to literary techniques. Plus there is too much novel summary.  Obreht’s “The Tiger’s Wife,” reviewed by Schillinger, is analyzed with formalism and historicism critical perspectives, communicating the reader the fantastic quality of this novel. 

Outside Reading: Editorial #5

Editorial: “Pay Teachers More"
Nicholas D. Kristof
Published March 12, 2011

  
     Kristof's editorial, "Pay Teachers More" uses elevated diction, details, and syntax, to create a strong voice, supporting his clear point of view on the benefits of increasing teachers' salaries.

     

     Throughout the piece, the writer displays elevated, professional level diction, which gives the reader more confidence in the reliability of the writer. This also causes the voice to sound strong and certain, like they are well educated in the topic they are supporting.  With all of the diction against salary cuts containing a negative connotation, elevated diction emphasizes Kristof's point. Rather than saying we're losing money from teachers being overpaid is a bad false statement, Kristof says it is "a pernicious fallacy" (1). 

      

      He also uses some syntax to draw attention to ideas and statements. One example of this is the first very short sentence of the second paragraph, “That’s a pernicious fallacy.” By using such a short sentence it puts all the focus on the idea he is trying to communicate to the reader without an overabundance of insignificant words.

     

      However, the most used rhetoric element is the use of details in provided research. This piece is filled with evidence from different studies. By offering teachers a higher salary, the writer believes better educated people will apply, and supports his claim by providing data from a study that found that “47 percent of America’s… teachers come from the bottom one-third of their college classes” because the more “brilliant” ones are going to higher paying jobs like lawyers and doctors (1). He also reasons that based on studies from Los Angelos and Stanford’s Hanushek, quality teachers are essential to “eliminate the black-white achievement gap” and cause an “increase [in] their students’ [future] earnings” as much as twenty thousand dollars, therefore improving the economy (1).

      Kristof makes many very convincing arguments supported by a significant amount of evidence, defending his reasons to increase teacher salary. He uses a strong, AP essay-appropriate voice that perfectly persuades the reader to his side. The writer also organizes the editorial in the English class-taught way of including the other argument and then stating its faults before discussing his position in depth. Overall this is a practically perfect editorial. 

Notes March 7-18

Modernism
"Make it New," disillusionment, psycological focus, WWI, one universal truth

• "make it new"- they didn't want anything like WWI to happen again so they wanted to change the way they were doing things. 
• WWII- end to modernist era
• believed artists were responsible for disaster of world- manipulative
• Techniques of era:
• unreliable narrators
• multiple narrators
• minor characters as 1st person narrators (Great Gatsby)
• nonlinear narrative
• stream of consciousness
• Modernist interested in multiple points of view
• Picasso- painting has different angles on face layered together 
• don't want to force one point of view on people

Post Modernism

• Old generation grows up and WWII creates new angry young generation.
• TV- can see different people in different places with different points of view
• PoMo= Modernism - Universal Truth + Irony
• All truth is local- no universal truth
• blending of high and low culture
• self-reference- like characters are real, can move from media to media
• medium referring to itself
• only understand references if you're familiar with it. 
• The Simulacrum
• eventually we can mimic something until mimicking seems more real and replaces original. 

Surrealism

• Arts movement between WWI and II
• Uses unexpected juxtapositions in ways intended to activate subconscious associations- highlight hidden truths
• dream-like, playful, sometimes eerie or bizarre
• influenced by Freud and Jung
• psychological world

Notes Feb 21- March 4

Comedy
Theories of Humor and Comedy

• Comedy= tragedy with different outcomes
• Six Elements for Humor:
1. must appeal to intellect not emotions
• don't want people to feel insulted and get angry
2. must be mechanical 
3. must be inherently human 
• reminds audience of humanity- people laugh at antics of animal but only when they are doing something human-like.
4. set of established society norms that reader is familiar with
• internal norms- those that the author has provided in text
• external norms- those which exist in society for which the text was written
• greatest incongruity- violating social taboos
5. situation and component parts must be inconsistent or unsuitable to the surroundings
6. must be perceived by the observer as harmless to participants
• 4 main types of humor: 
• Intellectually theories
• All humor is derives from the feeling of superiority over those we laugh at. 
• always involves degrading something
• Three aspects of incongruity:
1. Literalization- taking a figure of speech and then performing it literally.
2. Reversal- reversing the normal, doing or saying opposite of normal.
3. Exaggeration- taking what is normal and blowing it out of proportion.
• "Relief Theory": affords us reliefs from the restraint of conforming to those requirements humor calls into question.

Types of Comedy

• Low Comedy: 
• lacks seriousness of purpose or subtlety of manner
• little intellectual appeal.
• High Comedy: 
• pure or serious comedy
• appeals to the intellect
• arouses thoughtful laughter by inconsistences and by showing follies of social manners
• Burlesque: ridiculous exaggeration and distortion
• Farce: 
• light dramatic work
• highly improbably plot, exaggerated character, slapstick elements
• Lampoon: satirical piece using ridicule to attack a person or group
• Parody: 
• serious piece of work
• ridicule in nonsensical fashion an original piece of work.
• Satire: ridicule the follies and vices of a people or time
• Slapstick: 
• boisterous form of comedy 
• chases, collisions, and crude practical jokes
• Travesty: 
• presents serious (often religious) subject frivolously 
• reduces everything to lowest level

The Comedy Ladder

• Comedy of Ideas:
• characters argue about ideas like politics, religion, sex, marriage
• use wit and clever language to mock their opponent
• satirize people and institutions
• Comedy of Manners:
• Love affairs among upper class
• witty language, clever speech, insults and 'putdowns' 
• cliques
• Farce
• coincidences, mistimings, mistaken identities
• puppets of fate
• loss of identity because of birth, fate or accident
• Low Comedy
• Dirty jokes, dirty gestures, sex and elimination are subjects
• Exaggeration or understatement; focus on physical deformities
• Slapstick, pratfalls, loud noises, physical mishaps, collisions; encountering an unproductive universe

Techniques of Comedy: vocab page on comedy packet

Pride and Prejudice

• High Comedy and Comedy of Manners
• Comedy Techniques- hyperbole, irony, paradox, wit, stereotyping, satire
• Comic Characters:
• Mrs Bennet- over exaggerations, blind to misperceptions
• Mr. Collins- fool, oxymorons
• Lydia- scandalous marriage, blind to misperceptions
• Starts at low point- ends happy and family rises to top
• Follows MacLachian- but does not endorse values of society- satirizes it

Outside Reading: Reflective Essay #4

Reflective Essay: "Bookmarked"
By Susan Orlean
Published February 18, 2011

       Susan Orlean’s reflective essay, “Bookmarked,” discusses her change of view on independent bookstores versus large bookstore chains. The essay combines the use of details, imagery, and diction to create a guilty, apologetic, and respecting tone.
       

       Beginning with a clearly guilty tone, Orlean tells of her feelings of responsibility for closing of the large book chain, Borders. To show the impact she had on the bankruptcy, the writer gives details of the time she spent reading books for free, causing Borders to most likely have “made less than a penny an hour off of” her, and calling herself “living proof of a doomed business model” (1). She goes on with harsh diction and imagery to defend her previous negative opinion of large book chains like Borders as being “malevolent and anti-book,” visualizing them “plunging us into a scene from ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ their selling floors illuminated by the piles of smoldering paperbacks” (1). In the defense of Borders and other big bookstores, despite their negative effects on independents, Orlean gives them credit for providing the public with what they want and basically not doing anything wrong. With the bookstore war over and negative feelings aside, Orlean feels partly to blame for contributing to Borders’ “demise.”
      

      Although it is hard to tell what the author’s purpose of this piece was, whether to persuade the readers to not hate large bookstores or to not read the books for free, Orlean definitely accomplished her goal. By taking the readers along the pathway to her realizations and by using an inviting tone that doesn’t cause the audience to feel intimidated by a loud opinion, her persuasion is a success. While the tone changes throughout the piece, the audience is left with a clear understanding of the writer’s stance on the position at the end of the essay. This tone would definitely work for an AP essay because it’s persuasive and appropriate. The only weakness I can see in this piece is that it doesn’t seem to have much of a purpose. Not too many people probably have a strong opinion on independent and chain bookstores or care if she caused the Borders bankruptcy, so this does not appeal to a very large audience.

Outside Reading: Editorial #4

Editorial: “True Grit and Title IX"
Author unknown
Published February 16, 2011

       This editorial discusses the gender-discrimination taking place in college sports. A great deal of evidence is given to prove this point. However, I believe the editorial would be more effective if the writer had given ways to improve this situation. The author uses details, syntax, and language to convey his exceptionally clear stance on the unequal opportunities for women in college sports participation.
       The author of this editorial uses an example of gender discrimination in sports at the University of California at Berkeley, where a few sports were taken away, including “women’s gymnastics and lacrosse and men’s rugby” (1). Many details were given to support his/ her argument that women have an unfair number of chances to play sports at college. While women make up “half of American undergraduates,” they only have “43 percent of the chances to play” (1).
      The editorial also tells the reader of the slightly positive effects of Title IX which helps gain equality for women in sports. There are three ways a university can comply with this, but only one of the three requirements needs to be met, which is the only downside. Although Berkeley does not have complete equality they still pass one of the three requirements because “they are trying to meet women’s interests and abilities” (1).
     It is obvious from the author’s editorial that they are in support of closing the “sports gender gap” in colleges, but they don’t seem to have a very strong voice to support their opinion. He/ she fills the reader’s head with so much information, like statistics and the benefits for women that come from playing sports, but never seems to take a strong stance against anyone. The diction the writer uses is neither really negative or positive. It’s as if they don’t have strong emotions toward the issue. In some places of the writing syntax is used to give emphasis to an idea, like in the closing sentence, “Thanks to Title IX, if something has to give, equality doesn’t go first” (2). By having “equality doesn’t go first” as the last part of the sentence, it leaves that idea in the readers mind and highlighted.
     While the writer of this editorial used a great amount of details, and a little syntax, without a very strong voice and diction that hardly added to his/her argument, the overall persuasion of the piece is low.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/opinion/17thu3.html?_r=1&ref=editorials

Outside Reading: Book Review #4

Book Review: "Homage to Catalonia"

By Tara McKelvey

Published February 11, 2011

McKelvey’s book review of Jonathon Rabb’s, “The Second Son”, uses Formalism and Archetypal critical perspectives accompanied by the use of diction, detail, and imagery to communicate to the reader the quality of this novel.

After a brief introduction of plot McKelvey uses an Archetypal approach, noticing the combination of the typical “hard-boiled detective novel and love story” (2).  By recognizing this she gives the reader an idea of what to expect since they have most likely read some type of detective novel or love story. The critical perspective used in the writing even more is Formalism. Since “The Second Son” is the third book of a trilogy, the writer notices a motif that throughout the series the main character’s lovers are being killed. This gives the reader some insight on the protagonist and an example of how the two archetypal stories are combined. McKelvey also notices symbols in the novel, adding to the main character’s personality and overall meaning of the piece. Hoffner “feels most keenly the pain of his own family” during the times of war, showing “an intimate illustration of the human cost of state- sanctioned madness” (2). The writer analyzes many formalistic and archetypal aspects of this piece giving the reader a clear idea of its quality and depth.

Other contributing factors that help McKelvey obtain his goal of convincing readers “The Second Son” is a great book, is his use of diction, detail, and imagery. Many details are provided for the reader about plot and characters. Without these the readers would not understand how the book combines “Fascism and anarchy in 1930’s Spain” with a “romantic entanglement” and action (2). Imagery also gives the reader an idea of the feeling in the novel, including the appearance of characters and scenes. The diction, although straying from the overall purpose of the writing by noticing the lack of “concentrated on energy” and “allure” as in the previous books, for the most part presents the fast moving “thriller” with a “seedy appeal” nicely (2). The “sharp scenes and snappy dialogue” add to the positive aspects of the novel (2).

Some connections between this book review and other course material would be the extensive amount of Formalism. It seems like before AP English the main focuses in literature classes were formalistic things like symbols and motifs. McKelvey also discusses Nazism quite a bit because it is a central component of the book and in eighth grade we had a whole World War II and Holocaust unit with books we read about that subject. 

         Using diction, imagery, and detail, with Formalistic and Archetypal critical perspectives, McKelvey achieves his purpose of the review to send a positive critique of the novel to the readers.