fiction files redux discussion
Group Creation Stuff
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reviving the discussion - an idea
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I guess I should try to come up with an example of the sort of thing I'm talking about. This is a very rough example of a theme I'd be interested in. (I know almost nothing on the subject of Scotland, so please excuse my example. If I were really going to draft up a syllabus on this subject, I'd enlist the help of someone more knowledgeable.)
Example syllabus: The invention of Scotland
Week 1 -
Selected Robert Burns poems
Selected episode of A History of Scotland (BBC series available on Youtube)
Week 2 -
Pages 1-100 of Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake
Selected chapter from Hugh-Trevor Roper's book, The Invention of Scotland
Week 3 -
Pages 101-end of the Lady of the Lake
Week 4-
Selected novel from M.C. Beaton's Hamish McBeth series
Selected readings on the natural history of Scotland
Week 5 - etc
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I just told you in a private message, Patty, that I don't have the confidence to participate in these threads, however, I love everything about the FF and its people and I'm willing to bite the bullet for a good cause.
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I think the next step would be for those who are interested to suggest possible syllabi. :)
Well, I will pop up, cause confusion, side track, but really cannot promisse to follow the homework or every topic.
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I've just bought some books by Shirley Jackson and J.D. Salinger as I have read only one by the former (We Have Always Lived In The Castle) and none by the latter's (nope, not even Catcher In The Rye). So, I'll be reading them over the next few weeks anyway if anyone's interested in them and any related themes.
And, of course, we have Scotland. And a syllabus right there for us, thanks to Patty. If we do make it to Scotland in 2016 for our 10 anniversary, maybe we should do our homework on it!
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Actually, I'm thinking I might try to come up with a reading list around a totally different thing: garbage. I'm not sure I can come up with 6 weeks of material, but maybe.
Perhaps if the independence vote is yes we should bone up on Scots lit?
Perhaps if the independence vote is yes we should bone up on Scots lit?
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Also, do you want me to move this thread up to the general section to get more eyes on it?
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Instead of moving this thread, do you think we should start a new one where people could post proposals for discussion themes? Or do you think it would make more sense to move this one?
I've been reading for and developing my syllabus on garbage.
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I think I have turned against the idea of many distinct buckets for organization. I think we should just have two General and Group Reads related.
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Suggest-a-syllabus, topics for thematic group reads
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Given Gaddis' encyclopedic style I can think of plenty of topics from Law (and the legal profession) to Capitalism (perhaps to narrow that down Art vs. Commerce (in the U.S.?))... I don't know if his prose style would fit as a subject of inquiry. (One of the running jokes in The Recognitions is that "the author" is working on a novel that is like Faulkner's in style but "not as good"... And certainly JR's use of all dialog (save for a few gorgeous detours into more narrative prose) definitely recalls some of Faulkner's best.
More of a ramble than I intended but yeah, still interested.
It seems like our most successful group reads have been longer novels and groups of short stories. This suggests to me that a longer discussion period allows more people, and people who read at various paces, into the conversation.
One thing about group reads that has always been problematic for me, in the FF and elsewhere, is that single-book discussions tend to confine themselves to the book itself, it's historical context, or discussion of the author. While that's great, up to a point, the novel may have something important to tell us about something, something extra-textual, and discussing that topic sometimes gets short-shrift. It's that topical discussion, a larger conversation that the author is contributing to, that I often feel is missing from single-book group reads.
So here was my thought. What if we were to create small/short, maybe 6-week syllabi. Each session could include fiction, poetry, essays, films that were selected in relation to a particular theme. Group members could develop syllabi in teams or by themselves, and we'd set up a thread where people could post their proposed syllabi, and then the group could decide which themes/syllabi were of greatest interest.
My thinking is that by having a selection of readings around a particular theme, group members who don't have the time to read all of the material might still be able to participate in the discussion, might still have time to read SOME of the proposed materials, etc. And that by pacing the readings over 6 weeks the discussion would be more likely to attract additional participants, who could just start in with the next selection, and not feel that they can't start because they are already hundreds of pages behind the rest of the group.
Does this seem like something that would work? Does it appeal to anyone but me?