Additional Assignment Sequences

ADDITIONAL SEQUENCE ONE

Deliberate Acts of Discovery

Jonathan Lethem

Kathleen Jamie

John Berger

Joshua Foer

ALTERNATIVE READINGS

Kathryn Schulz

Judith Halberstam

In our introduction to Ways of Reading, we write:

Sometimes, with particularly difficult readings, we ask students to mark words, names, or phrases that they think would be useful hyperlinks — moments in the text where you wish you could click on the word or phrase in order to find out more. If you try this on your first read-through, you might learn something important; you might learn what you don’t yet know about the text. Often times, being an engaged reader means paying attention both to what is familiar and what is unfamiliar about what you are reading. (p. 8 of the print book)

In this sequence, you will spend time as a reader who researches more deeply, a reader who creates “hyperlinks” as you read and after you read, a reader who follows the paths of what she does not know as opposed to a reader who latches on to what is familiar. In this process, it is our hope you might discover some surprising connections and some more layered ways of reading texts — especially texts that make references to words, ideas, places, and names that are not immediately recognizable to you or that you know very little about. Sometimes you may even find that you recognize a reference but that you are unsure how the reference is significant in a given essay. This sequence invites you to explore the range of materials writers use, to examine these materials with more deliberate acts of discovery — using both online and library resources to do the work of becoming fluent in the language and references of the essays you read.

ASSIGNMENT 1

Creating Hyperlinks

JONATHAN LETHEM

One of the pleasures of Lethem’s essay “The Ecstasy of Influence” is its broad range of reference. This is also one of the essay’s strategies — to range quickly and widely among examples of influence in literature, music, the visual arts, and popular culture. Lethem refers, for example, to the Disney Studios, the Oulipo group, Bob Dylan, Vladimir Nabokov, Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, South Park, Muddy Waters, Andy Warhol, and Led Zeppelin — to name just a few. As you read through Lethem’s essay the first time, keep a list of his range of materials. Mark those materials you don’t know much about. Then, once you’ve read Lethem’s essay, go in search of the history and meanings of each of the items on your list. Read widely online or in the library itself as much as you can about these references — taking notes on what you might tell readers if you were asked to write a hyperlink for each of these references. This may take you some time; you might even gather with a small group in your class to help one another find the information you need.

Once you’ve gathered your list and recorded your notes, reread Lethem’s essay again, noting how your reading of the essay has changed or is enriched by your new understandings after your research.

ASSIGNMENT 2

Zoning In

KATHLEEN JAMIE

Kathleen Jamie’s essay “Shia Girls” is quite different from the first essay you examined in this sequence. For this reason, this assignment asks you to do similar work in informing yourself about the essay’s landscape, the terms and names that are its lexicon. “Shia Girls” takes us into writing that resembles both a travelogue and a personal essay. As such, it invites readers unfamiliar with its geographies, traditions, and terms to research them — to learn, for example, what the town of Gilgit in Pakistan looks like, the meaning of “Inshallah” and “purdah-observing,” the description and role of a “black dupatta” and “shalwar-kameez,” the beliefs of Shia people, and the position and policies of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

As you reread “Shia Girls,” make a running list of unfamiliar places, names, and terms. From this list, choose several items you want to learn more about. Use the Internet and other resources to find out as much as you can about these items.

ASSIGNMENT 3

Field Research

JOHN BERGER

“Images may be like words,” Berger says, rather than holy relics. As words, they communicate meaning to us. For this assignment, examine Michelangelo da Caravaggio’s painting "Supper at Emmaus". This is the painting that Berger shows to the children to spark their discussion. And, like Berger in the video with the children looking at a reproduction of this Caravaggio painting, you’ll need a small group of people to look at it and to talk about what it means to them. Before you do that, write a two- to three-paragraph explanation of what you think the painting is about. You’ll return to this after the discussion when you write an essay about this experiment.

ASSIGNMENT 4

Becoming an Expert Reader

JOSHUA FOER

In this lecture, Joshua Foer discusses the existence of an “OK Plateau,” a kind of state of mind in which humans consider themselves “good enough.” Foer advocates for moving beyond this state of mind and becoming an expert. He says, “Experts step outside their comfort zone and study themselves failing… They crave and thrive on immediate and constant feedback.”

ASSIGNMENT 5

Building Your Own Frame of References

JONATHAN LETHEM, KATHLEEN JAMIE, JOHN BERGER, JOSHUA FOER

Look back at a few of the essays you read in this sequence. Pay particular attention to the ways each writer makes use of the materials they examine and draw from. Then compose an essay that similarly draws from a range of materials. This essay can be about anything you like, but you want to draw from a wide range of sources that help you compose the essay. The essay might make an argument, tell a story, or raise an important question. The only requirement is that you use a variety of materials — names, places, terms, references — to help you layer and complicate your writing. If you want to get more playful with the assignment, you might even try to reuse some of the references you learned about in earlier assignments. In what essay would you, for example, use a reference to Andy Warhol or South Park? This is a difficult assignment because it requires that you come up with the content of your essay. We offer only the structural constraint of using five different references or materials in the essay.

ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENT

Frame of Reference

JUDITH HALBERSTAM

Although Halberstam makes references to films, words, and ideas that are likely familiar to you, other words or names may seem strikingly unfamiliar, even strange. In the spirit of failure, choose a term, a reference, or a name from “Animating Revolt and Revolting Animation” (p. 269 of the print book) that you did not understand or were unfamiliar with. Then find out, in a digital search, as much as you possibly can about that term or reference.

ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENT

Key Figures

KATHRYN SCHULZ

One of the pleasures of Schulz’s book is its broad range of reference and the easy passage from anecdote and journalistic account to her reading in various fields of academic research — from philosophy to cognitive science to the history of ideas to current events. There are several key figures in “Evidence,” (p. 360 of the print book) and among them are Rene Descartes, St. Augustine, Willard Van Orman Quine, Karl Popper, and Thomas Kuh.

As you read through Schultz’s essay the first time, keep a list of her key figures. Mark those you don’t know much about. Then, once you’ve read Schultz’s essay, go in search of the history and significance of these names. Read widely online or in the library itself as much as you can about these references — taking notes on what you might tell readers if you were asked to write a “hyperlink” for each of these references. This may take some time; you might even gather with a small group in your class to help one another find the information you need.

Once you’ve gathered your list and recorded your notes, reread Schultz’s essay, noting how your reading of the essay has changed or is enriched by your new understandings after your research.