Quiz on Existentialism on TUESDAY!!

I just got an email requesting some clarification on what I mentioned in class last week regarding a quiz. Thanks for the heads up Daniel and to the rest of you, never hesitate to email me if you have any questions about the class. I try and respond to everything you send me.

Anyway, just so you know, the quiz will be on Tuesday. Monday we will review. The quiz will cover all of the existential concepts and themes. It will include Nietzsche and Kierkegaard as well so make sure you get the notes. It will be a fill-in-the-blank format.

So don't disappoint "Baby Nietzsche"

Schedule for September 27 to October 1 AND Blog Response for Friday at midnight

Monday: We will be talking about Kierkegaard and also introduce the research paper assignment that will dominate our consciousness for the rest of the semester.

Tuesday: Marx and Freud, Art and Aesthetics, Looking at the "Painting Imitation Project" Due next week

Wednesday: Today is a structured study hall. I have to take the morning to go to a few doctor's appointments so I won't be on campus until noon. You will need to bring work to do during class. This is not the time to catch up with your pals in class. This is a "pressure valve" intended to help you.

Thursday: More discussion about the "Painting Imitation Project" develop a timeline for the research paper and a look at some different ways yo interpret art.

Friday: Wrap up of "Free Will and Determinism"

OK, so here's the blog posting assignment for this week.

In many Buddhist, Taoist and Shinto traditions, importance is placed on living life as if you were creating art. That is, one should conduct themselves with a consciousness targeted towards aesthetics, ethics, and beauty. Now we are moving into a short unit on art interpretation, and to tie the "ethics heavy" discussions we've had these last weeks, I thought it would be useful to ask, "What does it mean to live your life as a work of art?"

Blog response assignment for the week of September 13th to the 17th, and a little note on Grading

This week we have a simpler, but deeper, question for your examination.
How have the choices you have made created the person you are now? And... What choices do you think you'll be faced with in the future that will affect your identity?

On Grading: I have had a raging headache all weekend and so I have not finished the essays you wrote on Friday, therefore they will not be reflected on the progress reports. I will have them done by this coming Friday. I am reasonably confident of that.

Preliminary Schedule for the Week of September 13th to the 17th

Monday:   Greek notion of Fate, how that's different than Karma, and how it's embodied in the film Protagonist


Tuesday: "Existentialism is a Humanism," Introduction to Existentialism (Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche)

Wednesday: "Existentialism is a Humanism" Continuing Existentialism (Sartre, Camus, Maslow, Rodgers, Solomon, Paul Newman??)

Thursday: What does the "Existentialist" life look like? Reading "The Myth of Sisyphus" and talking about Cool Hand Luke


Friday: Cool Hand Luke

ONLY 15 MINUTES LEFT TO RESPOND FOR FULL CREDIT!!!!!

Interesting Zizek speech on "Toleance

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2530392910118230001&ei=fbCJSZKLCZPiqQK6y-3GCw&q=slaoj+zizek&emb=1&dur=3#

Preview: In-Class Essay Topics

Bakkhai Essay Prompt

In a two to three page essay, answer one of the following prompts thoroughly.  Your essay should be well organized and written in sophisticated language.  It should work towards demonstrating one specific thesis.  Your thesis should be reasonably complex (“Pentheus is wrong for not worshipping Dionysos” won’t cut it).  Quote and analyze evidence from the text to prove your point. Write in the present tense. Your essay should be typed and double-spaced, in 12-point font.  Give your paper an original title (not “Bakkhai Essay”).  

1. Who is the tragic hero of The Bakkhai? Recall the qualities that make up a tragic hero in Greek drama, specifically. What character traits and actions make this character the hero?

2. Many scholars claim that the classical (Greek and Roman) world values reason more highly than emotion.  Do we find evidence of the interplay of these values in The Bakkhai? What point does the play make about the interaction between reason, or the rational values of society, and emotion?

3. In ancient Greece, women were seen as far inferior to men in intellect, physical attributes, and even spirit. Do the Theban maenads reinforce this viewpoint, or not? More specifically, what does Euripedes’ portrayal of the maenads indicate about women, as opposed to men? Consider why Dionysos may have chosen women to worship him, what worship of Dionysos indicates about a person, and why their rituals are secret.

4. Are the actions of Dionysos just?

Change in schedule, no quiz on Thursday

Owing to how long the performances are taking, the quiz is going to be on Friday.
It will cover the following:
The content of the Bacchae
Themes in the Bacchae (we'll discuss these in class on Thursday)
Greek Religion
Greek Stagecraft/ Theater
Also, that day we'll have an in-class essay, co come prepared to do some work

Tentative schedule for the coming week

Monday: No school
Tuesday: Bacchae performances, discuss blog post assignment for this week, Discuss in-clas writing later this week and quiz
Wednesday: Bacchae performances, paragraphs on mask symbolism, Lecture on Bacchae themes, Greek theater, Apollonian/ Dionysian, Apollo
Thursday: Finish lecture from Wednesday, Quiz over Bacchae content, themes, Greek theater
Friday: In-Class Essay

Blog response for the week of September 7th to the 10th (due by midnight on the 10th)

On June 20, 2001, Andrea Yates, a Houston woman with a history of mental illness, drowned her three children while her husband was at work. During her trial Ms. Yates successfully pleaded insanity and is currently housed in a treatment facility near Kerrville.

Knowing what we know of Mrs. Yates' psychological history, it is easy for us in contemporary American society to accept that her mental state led to this heinous event. However, looking through the lens of history, we find many examples of murderous mothers.

One of the most famous is of course Agave in The Bacchae. In fact, it is a theme we find popping up in other Greek tragedies of the period. In Medea (also by Euripides) a mother murders her children as revenge against her husband's infidelity.

Legend offers even more examples. "La Llorona" (The Weeping Woman), a Mexican folktale (with many variations according to location) La Llorona is a beautiful woman who kills her children in order to be with the man she loves, who subsequently rejects her. After which she commits suicide and is damned to wander, searching for her lost children and calling their names.

The question of the week is...how can we account for such similar stories emerging from such disparate times and places?