The Winsome Scholar

(at least in high school.)

We’ve all done it before—sometimes an elusive word is on the tip of the tongue, but we can’t seem to come up with it. So, we type in a similar word, right-click, and hope the synonym list jogs our memory. The right correct appropriate word pops up, the writer’s-block crisis is averted, and we’re on our way. Good times. Sometimes, though, the synonym doesn’t quite fit, or is the wrong word altogether.

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During the last three weeks of this session we will be pulling from everything we’ve done before: critical analysis of texts, cultural analysis of works, integration and synthesis of works from different eras and cultures, and explication of literary devices.  "How will we do this?" you ask?  By answering an apparently simple question:

What do Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Wilfred Owen’s "Dulce Et Decorum Est," H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine (and The Days of the Comet, and The Island of Dr. Moreau, and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness), the Danse Macabre, 1984, punk music (The Clash!), Twitter, Wikipedia, The Wisdom of Crowds, The Starfish and the Spider, DIY, Internet piracy, and podcasting have in common?

Our answer can be as simple and complex as we want, but it will take our understanding of all these cultural phenomena and works and the skills we’ve acquired this year to pull off a solid answer.

Now that’s a cumulative test.

The projected due date: December 12, 2008.

The task: To take a theme (see image below) from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and create a new work explore it with an original work.  This work can be visual (painting, drawing, CGI), tactile (dance, sculpture, diorama), auditory (song), or written (poetry, short story, essay, screenplay, comic book).  If I haven’t mentioned a medium you’d like to work within, just post a comment.

The goal:  We’ve discussed the role of fiction in society (to take an aspect of life and magnify it), we’ve discussed what Shelley might be trying to tell us, so now it’s your turn.  Create a work that explains an idea, thought, action, problem, or other aspect of life in a new and interesting way for your audience.

The rules:

• You must include some written accompaniment to your piece (a short artist’s statement or explanation) if you choose a project not under the written category above.
• Your story should not be just a creation story—that’s too broad a topic.  (Also, the scientist-creates-some-technology-that-gets-out-of-control plot has become a bit formulaic by now.  See the Action and Horror sections of Blockbuster for proof.)  Your audience should see some aspect of life in a new light, or gain some insight into life in general.
• You should (if you haven’t already) turn in a page before Saturday outlining:
  

  1) Your idea, briefly

  2) A schedule of when you will finish each part of your project, up to the due date on Friday

  3) All supplies/resources you will need in order to complete your assignment.

Themes:

• Prometheus myth
• Power over nature/God
• Physical differences/reactions
• Relationships (Parents & children, Men & Women)
• Doubles & Alter-egos
• Scientific exploration
• Paradise Lost
• Class differences/racial differences
• Psychological monstrosities
• Isolation
• Nature vs. Nurture

"Monstrous" parakeet:

I found this site [Warning: The site contains images of dissected frogs that have been implanted with computer parts] while I was researching galvanism yesterday, and forgot to post the link.

Check out the "Project Exhibition Essay" in the middle of the page for the Frankenstein connection.

Remember, I’ll be looking over your reading journals tomorrow.