Zines Due at the Start of Next Class, November 2

Please follow these directions: Each student will need to have 15 copies of their completed zine at the beginning of class on November 2. I will be in the library from 12:30 to 2:00 that afternoon to help anyone who has not finished. 

However, prepared students should have enough time to complete their zine production during class on October 31.

You will not be submitting this on Populi. This will be a physical submission. 

Critique will follow the guidelines of the rubric below. 

Basic Zine Rubric:

10/10 = Text and image work cohesively together; clear evidence of EA Poe's "The Oval Portrait" as inspiration; lively and error-free writing; design and craft are exquisite. 

9/10 = Text and image work together to convey meaning; clear evidence of EA Poe's "The Oval Portrait" as inspiration; writing has a few casual errors; design and craft are sharp.

8/10 = Text and image sometimes work together to convey meaning; unclear evidence about how it connects to the EA Poe story, "The Oval Portrait"; writing is ok but would benefit from closer attention; more than few correctable errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.; design and craft are ok, but closer attention would benefit the zine. 

7/10 = Text and image seem disconnected and don't work together to convey meaning; no clear and evident use of the EA Poe story; writing is somewhat sloppy and unedited, frequent errors in English usage; design and craft are substandard. 

If your zine has a score lower than 7, please see me at your earliest convenience.  Something has gone dreadfully wrong. 

Questions:  csmith@dcad.edu

Zines, Zines, and More Zines

 

The Zine community in 2023 is large and active. Making zines is no longer an "outsider" thing; it's fully mainstream. 

Read about the current zine exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. 

Try this Google search for "Zines" and you'll be amazed at the outpouring of information. 

Essay on Cather's "Flavia and Her Artists" and/or Perkins-Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper": Due this Thursday

 I think everyone is on board with this assignment. If you would like to talk about your draft before you upload it, please let me know. I'm happy to help. 

Creative Response: E.A. Poe's "The Oval Portrait"

This assignment is totally different from our first four essays. It's more like a creative writing assignment. 

[BTW, I hate the term "creative writing" because it assumes that other kinds of writing aren't creative.]

Students will create their own 8-page zine that engages with the ideas in Poe's story in a fresh, vibrant, 2023 way. Be funny. Be weird. Be outlandish. Be norm-core. The choice is yours. 

Here is a link to the Poe short story.

Click here for a spooky animation of the story. 

Images (drawing, photography, collage, etc) will combine with your writing to make a truly unique testament to your creativity and writing. 

The writing should be no shorter than 100 words. 

Use typography instead of hand-lettering unless there is a reason for hand-lettering (for instance, if the story is told through the eyes of a child).

OK. But wait. What is a zine?

Directions: At the end of class on Thursday, each student should have completed 8 mini-pages (3.5 inches by 4 inches). More details to follow. 

Third Short Essay: Cather and/or Perkins-Gilman, Engaging with Secondary Criticism

Please read and follow these directions carefully. Our assignments this semester have been getting progressively more complex and layered. Writing in college involves many different skills and assignments vary from instructor to instructor and course to course. 

For this single-spaced 1-2 page essay, choose one or both of the stories to write about. You are free to find your own angle. Maybe you want to write about gender and art? Maybe you want to address the issue of captivity and "bottling up" art activity? Maybe you have a fresh perspective? Whatever the case, make sure your essay has a clearly articulated main idea presented in the first or second paragraph. 

You will need to find at least one secondary scholarly source to incorporate into your essay. The best and easiest way to do this is to choose an essay on the Jstor platform. Maybe you agree with the findings of your outside source or maybe you disagree. Of course, maybe you're somewhere in the middle. That's OK. We will be learning next week about MLA formatting of a Works Cited page. It's not as hard as it seems. 

This essay on the textual history of "The Yellow Wallpaper" might work just fine for those of you writing about this story. This dissertation about Cather's use of art and artists in her fiction might also be useful:

You are free to open up space in your essay to discuss how your chosen issue impacts your life as a young emerging artist. However, don't neglect the central purpose of your essay: To give a fresh way of thinking about the story or stories. To do this effectively, you must use evidence from the stories themselves. Remember to avoid plot summary and over-long quotations. 

Your revised and lovingly copyedited essay is due no later than noon on Thursday, October 26. Upload to Populi. Questions: csmith@dcad.edu

Do you want to set up a one-on-one appointment? Let me know.

"The Yellow Wallpaper": A Closer Look at Textual History

 

This critical essay peels back the mythology surrounding "The Yellow Wallpaper" by taking a close look at the text's history and reception. 

Old-Fashioned Scholarship: Cather and Her Artists

 I found this PhD thesis from 1955 that explicitly addresses the role of art and artists in the writing of Willa Cather. In particular, see the opening chapter. On the third page you'll find the clearest articulation of his thesis. "Flavia and Her Artists" is discussed on pages 53-56.

Librivox Audiobook of "The Yellow Wallpaper"

 Remember to read along as you listen. 

Click Here

Film Adaptation of "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Here's the trailer to a 2021 film adaptation of "The Yellow Wallpaper." We'll talk tomorrow about whether the story should be considered horror. The movie version certainly plays up the horror angle. We need to remember that psychological horror is very real. 

The entire movie is available for free on Tubi. 

 

Is Flavia a Shadow Artist?

Stay Curious!

Check out this blog post, and don't forget to read the comments. 

Looking Ahead: The Next Few Weeks

Thursday, October 12: Willa Cather

Tuesday, October 17: Charlotte Perkins-Gilman

Thursday, October 19: Draft of one-pager on Cather & Perkins-Gilman

Tuesday, October 24: Final one-pager due, critique; Introduction to EA Poe Zine Project

Thursday, October 26: Zine discussion and workshop

Tuesday, October 31, Halloween!: Zine due.

Body Paragraphs from the First Longer Essay

1. 

2.

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4.

5.

The Last Line of "Flavia and Her Artists" Explained

 

As Imogen gets ready to board the train, Jimmy makes a reference to Caius Marius and the Ruins of Carthage. If you don't know the reference it's easy to find on the internet. 

Brief Video-Biography of Willa Cather

 

This brief video is a good introduction to Cather.

If you're interested in learning more, you can stream for free a great documentary in the PBS American Masters series. 

Librivox Audio Files of "Flavia and Her Artists"

 Click here for part one.

Click here for part two. 

Willa Cather, "The Art of Fiction"

This brief text by Willa Cather, just three paragraphs long, was published 103 years ago. I think she's writing about all kinds of art, not just literary art. What do you think? Let's look closely at her writing to see what precisely she means. 

When we read a story such as "Flavia and Her Artists" we might think that it's just old-fashioned and outdated. However, we're probably just not patient enough to stop and think. Everything is rushed these days, but rushed art is almost always miserable. Does Cather agree? Read these three paragraphs carefully. Be prepared to discuss. 

Homework for Thursday, October 5

 Remember to bring your laptop. Thursday is going to be a "check-in" day. Every student should have a complete draft of the introductory paragraph or paragraphs.

Required Reading: Cather, October 12; Perkins-Gilman, October 17

Willa Cather

Charlotte Perkins-Gilman

Our next unit will take a close look at two short stories about art written by women. We'll start with  Willa Cather's "Flavia and Her Artists" on Thursday, October 12. This is a long short story; please give yourself time to read. There will likely be a reading quiz this day. 

On October 17, we'll discuss Charlotte Perkins-Gilman's classic "The Yellow Wallpaper." 

Rhetoric? What is it? What is a "Rhetorical Situation" in terms of writing?

 

More Information about Writing and Rhetoric