The most interesting thing that's happened to us in the past few weeks has been our first reading of Albee's The American Dream. It has served as our introduction to an edgier side of literature, one that I haven't seen much of in my previous literature classes. It is quite sexual, graphic, and incestuous, but we've been told that it's great literature, so we're reading it. We practiced open prompt responses using The American Dream, and I surprised myself when I could actually come up with relevant responses to the prompts using the play. This reassures me that what we are reading is, in fact, a legitimate piece of literature that has enough depth to get real meaning out of it. We also learned about different types of comedy, which I found intriguing, because I never thought of comedy as a rich genre to analyze, but I've since realized that I was very wrong.
We also worked on syntax, a concept that, before we talked about it, I was quite fuzzy on. I feel like it was much less emphasized in my previous literature classes than all the other parts of DIDLS. By reading the packet we were given in class, I'm much better at recognizing when authors use syntax to create effects.
I like your "we've been told it's great literature" you make it pretty clear that you disagree, and I don't consider it that great of literature either. However, you counter this later in you response, saying that it is a legitimate piece.
ReplyDeleteI also found the Syntax packet to be extremely helpful. It showed how short and long sentences change how we receive a work.
Your response never really reviews what Syntax does, or what the different types of comedy are. doing this might help you to remember them in the future, though I don't know what works best for you.
Depending on who you had for Brit Lit, you may have read "An Inspector Calls" which i think showed a similarly edgy and controversial side of literature.