And then I got sick. On December fourth a nasty cold forced me to
stay in bed. I coughed like I had been smoking three packs a day for
at least ten years. Needless to say, it was not my idea of having a
good time. The constant battle to stop my vocal cords from leaving my
throat kept me busy for the next six days. So, no work was done on my
part.
Feeling slightly better, I started to think about the wiki. The
navigation bar had to be revised because there was simply too much
content on it. Also, the links to the different sites needed an
overhaul. And I had to start adding the templates for our authors,
books and literary periods.
Sadly I have to report that I was not yet capable of achieving
these new goals. Having a severe cold for over a week really threw me
of. I'm still getting back on my working schedule. I hope after the
holidays I will be finished with my plans concerning the wiki.
Dec 18, 2012
The Wikispaces hick up
After putting a lot of work into our wiki, we of course wanted to
make it public. But there was a little hick up. Wikispaces wants you
to pay one dollar to make it possible for the world to see -and
judge- your work. The obstacle is not paying the one dollar. Rather
the fact that the only payment option is connecting one's credit card
to Google Wallet. Google Wallet aims to rival electronic payment
services like Paypal and it is understandable that a person might feel
uncomfortable giving the credit card information to a service that
could be a high priority target for hackers due to the young age of
the service. So, if you do not trust Google Wallet or do not have a
credit card you are not able to publish your wiki. In order to go
around that problem I will look into finding a similar webtool like
Wikispaces, that does not use the same method.
Dec 16, 2012
J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye
Information on the author
Name J.D. Salinger
Date of birth/place of birth January 1, 1919, in New York City
Family background married to
Claire Douglas, daughter of a British art critic, until 1966; they had two
girls
Education Salinger graduated from Valle
Forge Military Academy, and after a five-month trip to Vienna, took night
classes at Columbia University
Famous works The Catcher in the Rye
Additional information Salinger served in the army from 1942 to 1944. After he came back, he was hospitalized after a
nervous breakdown
His work The Catcher in the Rye is, up until
today, has sold more than 120 million times and has become a fixed part of the
curriculum in school
Information on the epoch
Postmodernism
Date: 1945- today
Background information:
Postmodernism is located right after WWII, when soldiers came back from war and
were disillusioned and in a crisis. Another questions raised during that time
was the boundary between reality and fiction.
Main stylistic devices: During
that time intertexuality and metafiction are the most influential stylistic devices.
Intertexuality means that the text refers to other texts and metafiction means
that the text is self- referential and plays with the fact that the text knows
that it is a text, which keeps the reader aware that the text is fiction.
Famous authors and books: J.D.
Salinger Catcher in the Rye; Woody Allen;
Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire; Allen Ginsberg Howl; John Irving
Information on The Catcher in the
Rye
Title: The Catcher in the Rye
Publishing date/ place: 1951 in New York
Reactions: The actual target audience was adults, but since the book has themes like
growing up and all the problems that come along with it, it became even more
popular among young teenagers and because of that the main character has become
a symbol for teenage rebellion. The book was not that popular when it first
appeared, it was even banned from the classroom in 1961 until 1982. After that
it became a fixed part of the school curriculum.
Summary: The book
talks about the events that led to the nervous breakdown of main character Holden
Caulfield. The story is directly narrated by him. The story begins at his
school; he is about to leave for Christmas break. He will not come back to this
school, because he was expelled, since he failed four of his five subjects in
school. Since he cannot bear to stay at the school any longer, he secretly
takes a midnight train to his hometown New York. There he stays in a hotel, because he does not want his parents to know yet that he was expelled. He then meets
several different types of people and secretly visits his little sister.
During his stay he is drunk most of the time. After taking his little sister to
the Central Park Zoo Holden ends the story with not wanting to talk about his
current situation.
Salinger, J.D.: The Catcher in the Rye. Harmondsworth:
Penguin Books Ltd, 1986
http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc9.htm
Dec 12, 2012
The Playboy of the Western World – John Millington Synge
The drama focuses on Christy Mahon who is looking for accommodation and
arrives at a hostelry which is located in a village in Mayo, a county in
Western Ireland. Here, amongst others, he meets Pegeen Mike who is supposed to
marry her relative Shawn Keogh. Christy’s story about having killed his father
is of high interest to all the people he meets in the hostelry. Thus, he is
seen as a hero. However, Pegeen Mike now admires Christy. This endangers the
planned marriage between her and Shawn. When Christy’s father, who is supposed to be
dead, appears Christy is no longer seen as a hero. He tries to re-establish his
status by again trying to murder his father. However, the old man does not die
and father and son leave the village. Now that Christy is gone Pegeen Mike has
to marry her relative Shawn Keogh.
Information on John Millington Synge
Name: John Millington Synge
Date of birth: 1871
Education: Synge attended
Trinity College Dublin to study Irish language and history
Famous works: Riders
to the Sea (1904), The Playboy of the Western World (1907)
Additional information: Synge was raised
by his very religious mother together with four
siblings. Influenced by Darwinism Synge abandoned the ideology of his
mother and also religion itself.
On behalf of the writer Yeats, Synge spend several summers on the Aran
Islands in Western Ireland. His stays very much influenced his later works
which got very famous.
Information on The
Playboy of the Western World
Title: The Playboy of the Western World,
drama
Publishing date: first
premiered in 1907
Place: Abbey
Theatre, Dublin
Reactions: The opening night resulted in massive criticism and riots due to the
fact that many of the audience thought that Synge’s piece delivers a very
unpleasant and inappropriate picture of the Irish peasantry. However, Synge
obviously knew that his drama would not be loved by everyone. Whereas he
thought that the virtuous side of the Irish was well known, he was of the
opinion that there is a side of the Irish temperament that is too wild to be
dealt with within pieces that are intended for Irish readers. The reason for
all the criticism was that the audience was convinced that Synge presented the
Irish as a nation of murderous savages. Spectators criticised this even though
the Irish peasants were seen as very noble and honest people during that time.
Synge failed in trying to fight all the critique claiming that the drama is
based on a true story and the language he used within his piece is typical of the country people.
Modernism/the early 20th century
Dates: late
19th and early 20th century
Background information: The era was very much influenced by the ideas of Charles
Darwin. Also, that period is characterized by a break with traditional styles
in poetry.
Main stylistic devices: comparison; irony; satire
Main themes: breaking
down of social norms; rejection of standard social ideas, traditional thoughts
and expectations; rejection of religion
Famous
and most influential authors and books:
John Millington Synge (The Playboy of the
Western World)
James Joyce (Ulysses)
Virginia Woolf (Mrs. Dalloway, To the
Lighthouse)
Bibliography:
Lengeler,
Rainer (Hrsg.). John Millington Synge. The Playboy of the Western World.
Stuttgart: Reclam, 2000.
http://www.online-literature.com/periods/modernism.php
Dec 5, 2012
Templates
We are now at a point in our project where we will start to write the articles about our chosen books, authors, etc. Therefore we started to discuss what information should be included or left out, since we only want to give a general overview. This is the template we came up with:
Authors – Template
Name
Authors – Template
Name
Date of
birth/place of birth
Family
background (children, wife/husband)
Education
Profession
(if other than writer)
Famous
works
Additional information
(e.g. Synge’s religious mother, heavy drinker)
Information on work – Template
Summary
– full text (150 words)
Publishing
date
Place
Reactions
Era - Template
Dates
Background
information
Main stylistic
devices
Famous and
most influential authors and books
In addition we will post links or book titles that we come across in our research as further reading recommendations, which can be used to get more details on the respective topic. We also decided to limit the actual summary of the plot to a 150 words, in order to keep it brief and not too extensive. These templates and guidelines might also be helpful when we decide to invite other students to contribute to our side, so that all articles can follow roughly the same pattern.
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