ENG
543: Topics for Paper I
Due
Wednesday,
October 13, your first essay should be 900-1,100 words long and adhere
to the
formatting guidelines that can be linked to here:
http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/herman145/papertemplate.html
Option A: Use
ideas discussed in any of the secondary sources that we have read thus
far--Roberts, Ryan, Linda Williams, Toolan, Duncan,
Raymond Williams, or Palmer--to develop an interesting
interpretation of one or two scenes in a story from Joyce Dubliners or Woolf's Mrs Dalloway. For this option,
you should focus on just ONE of the secondary sources in the above list. Then use a scene or two from Joyce or Woolf to
"test out" the validity or productiveness of the critic's ideas. What features
of the scene or scenes do the critic's ideas help you understand?
By contrast, are there aspects of the scenes that the critic's
ideas do not help illuminate? If you are examining two
different scenes, do the critic's ideas seem to shed more light on one
of the scenes than the other? If so, why?
Option B:
Compare and contrast Joyce's treatment of Gabriel Conroy in
"The Dead" with Woolf's treatment of Clarissa Dalloway in "Mrs
Dalloway." Some brainstorming questions: To what extent do
Joyce and Woolf use similar techniques in representing these two
characters, and to what extent do their techniques differ? Or, to
put the same question another way, what narrative strategies do Joyce
and Woolf use to reveal or imply the existence of these characters'
traits, dispositions, and attitudes? How do Joyce and Woolf relate
the characters to their
surroundings? Is there ever a disparity between what the
characters think or feel and what they say or do? If so, what
does this disparity suggest? How does the issue of gender pertain
to Joyce's and Woolf's representations of the two characters?