For the night owls
I know it's getting late--past 10:30 now--but I wanted to put something new on for you all. Tomorrow will be our last day of discussion on Lear; we'll start looking at Beowulf on Monday. For those who enjoyed class with me last year, remember how I said I like ending my junior class with the same thing I use to start senior class? That's right--we'll be looking at archetypal criticism! Only this time, we'll be discussing the mythic heroic components of Beowulf as we go along. So dig out your old notes if you've still got 'em. . .
And Elisa (and others who feel the same way): literary critical theory isn't anything more than a tool to use when & where we need it. The various theories are all ways of perceiving--which means that none of them own "rightness." The only right answers in this academic field are the ones you are capable of proving with solid textual evidence. Lots of answers will make sense, but that doesn't mean you should feel required to agree or disagree. Perhaps you will find a critical model that makes absolute and perfect sense to you in every imaginable case--or, like most of us, you'll develop a sense of the varied critical responses, and feel comfortable enough to make use of any of them wherever they might be appropriate. Our purpose in AP is much more about familiarization than it is about shepherding you towards your own critical identity. If you intend to pursue this academic field, that will come in its own time.
LAZ
And Elisa (and others who feel the same way): literary critical theory isn't anything more than a tool to use when & where we need it. The various theories are all ways of perceiving--which means that none of them own "rightness." The only right answers in this academic field are the ones you are capable of proving with solid textual evidence. Lots of answers will make sense, but that doesn't mean you should feel required to agree or disagree. Perhaps you will find a critical model that makes absolute and perfect sense to you in every imaginable case--or, like most of us, you'll develop a sense of the varied critical responses, and feel comfortable enough to make use of any of them wherever they might be appropriate. Our purpose in AP is much more about familiarization than it is about shepherding you towards your own critical identity. If you intend to pursue this academic field, that will come in its own time.
LAZ
posted by L Lazarow | 7:43 PM
2 Comments:
Question regarding Beowulf (even though I realize we haven't yet started discussing it): In line 2032, Beowulf has been telling the Geat king Hygelac about his adventure with Grendel and his mother, etc. He then randomly starts talking about the future marriage of Hrothgar's daughter, Freawaru, and her fiancee (a Heathobard man?), Ingeld, saying that he thinks it will end badly because their respective nations (or whatever) don't get along. My question is, was there any mention of this marriage earlier in the poem, aka did I miss something? Is it relevant to another part earlier in the book, and if not, then why is the marriage just now being brought up? While there have been other detours in the poem, they have mostly been stories that are revelant to what's happening in the present (Beowulf's time), but I just don't really see a connection this time. Insight, anyone?
Lindsay
Regarding Beowulf as a mythic hero text, I found certain inconsistencies in the story when compared to the archetypal model.
1. As we were introduced to Beowulf and his predecessors in the beginning of the poem, his background was anything but mysterious. I guess it could be said that Beowulf is a stranger to the land he is in, but at least the story's audience knows about his past.
2. I didn't see much development on Beowulf's part in the first half of the story--through the encounters with Grendel and his mother (although I guess you could say his ability to defeat them showed his maturing, but that doesn't really mean a lot).
3. While the danger in Beowulf's journey is obvious, the entire first half of his story seems lacking in the "loneliness and temptation" department.
Lindsay, I think by telling that story, Beowulf was just giving extra updates on what's going on in Denmark. I don't think it's a vital element of the story as a whole, just one of the many extra stories incorporated into the poem. ...Just my view.
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