Annie Ernaux's "Simple Passion"

I cannot find the other Annie Ernaux text I wanted you to read - if I find it Monday I will send it as a pdf file. I know this is last minute but it is short and you will not have to write about it.

For “Simple Passion,” consider the possible topics (please use quotes from the texts to support your argument):

1. The beginning of the novel with the X-rated movie. What is so shocking here? The graphic description of sex? Something else? Why does Ernaux say at the end of this: "It occurred to me that writing should also aim for that - the impression conveyed by sexual intercourse, a feeling of anxiety and stupefaction, a suspension of moral judgment?" How does this statement relate to what you think Ernaux attempts to do in this autofiction?

2. Describe the narrator's association with temporality. What does time signify for her? Does she live "in the present"? How does she treat the present, past and future? Why is this significant? How does this relate to her relationship with A? (Or, how does her relationship with time relate both to the theme of presence/absence found here and ideas of love/desire we have discussed this semester?)

3. This is in large part a text about writing. Notice the times in the novel where the narrator mentions the act of writing. Why write this autofiction? What does the narrator hope to accomplish? How might this relate to the notion of autobiography (we can assume that the narrator is Ernaux herself)? Or in other words - why have the DESIRE to write this?

4. The text's take on gender. What images of the main characters (the narrator and A) do we have here? Is this problematic? Is this a realistic portrayal of relationships? Too over-the-top, frustrating? Why? (Or, why would a supposedly "modern, enlightened and forward-thinking female writer" write such a text that seems to portray women in a seemingly negative light?)

5. What does the title "Simple Passion" imply? What about "simple" ant "passion" when taken separately? How might these meanings relate to the text?

6. What insights does the book chapter bring to our discussion of love and desire?

Philosopher Judith Butler on DOUBTING LOVE

Here are some words by the contemporary philosopher Judith Butler on Love

“Love is not a state, a feeling, a disposition, but an exchange, uneven, fraught with history, with ghosts, with longings that are more or less legible to those who try to see one another with their own faulty vision.”

You can read the entire thing here:

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/11/12/philosopher-judith-butler-on-doubting-love/

My Choices for Love Songs

I can't limit myself to one - after going through my music library (about 15,000 songs!) I have to hit upon two by PJ Harvey, both of which come from her album "To Bring You My Love." The first, "Send His Love To Me" relates the desperation of love, pleading for love, love as both a torture and a remedy. The second, "The Dancer," apart from being a deeply moving song on a musical level, transmits images of both a present and absent lover who has come and possibly gone and the impossible longing for fulfillment that accompanies all this.

Here are youtube clips and links to the lyrics:



http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pjharvey/sendhislovetome.html




http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pjharvey/thedancer.html

LOVE SONGS

For next week (just before Thanksgiving) - I'd like you to post your favorite love song and write something about it. It would be great if your could share the lyrics on your blog and post a youtube clip or sound file. What is it about this song that "gets" you? How does the song speak to love and desire - the way we've defined it in class? A new definition perhaps that we have yet to explore?

Vargas Llosa's "The Bad Girl" - Week Two

Possible topics of conversation:

- The continued evolution of the relationship between Ricardo and the Bad Girl

- The continual trickery of the Bad Girl

- The relationship between Salomon and Mitsuku as a foil for that of Ricardo and the Bad Girl

- The love the Bad Girl claims to have for Fukuda

- The Bad Girl's pursuit of Ricardo (by telephone)

- The Bad Girl's traumatic past and Ricardo's dealings with this

- Arquimedes as the Bad Girl's father

- The final reunification in Madrid and the Bad Girl's death

"When You're Visited by a Copy of Yourself, Stay Calm"

This reminded me of "Solaris"

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/11/07/164607292/when-you-re-visited-by-a-copy-of-yourself-stay-calm

From today's New York Times: "I Heart Unpredictable Love"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/opinion/sunday/i-heart-unpredictable-love.html

Vargas Llosa's "The Bad Girl" - Week One

Read the first half of the novel (to the end of chapter four) and write a blog posting about how the issues raised by the novel speak to the ongoing dialog we have had all semester about love and desire. If you want, speak about two or three specific quotes from the novel and do a "close reading" or detailed analysis of them.

Interview with Tilda Swinton

An excellent interview by Charlie Rose with Tilda Swinton in which she discusses her role in the film "I Am Love"

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11080

Soderbergh's "Solaris" and Guadagnino's "I Am Love"

During next week’s class we will finish up our discussion of “Madame Bovary” and discuss the two films you’ve been assigned to watch: Soderbergh’s “Solaris” and Guadagnino’s “I Am Love.”

For your blog posting, please discuss both films in relation to the wider themes of the course (love, desire, and their “issues”) and how they fit into the ongoing conversation we have been having all semester.

Henceforth, your blog postings will be graded as such:

A = Exceptional. The journal entry is focused and coherently integrates examples with explanations or analysis. The entry demonstrates awareness of its own limitations or implications, and it considers multiple perspectives when appropriate. The entry reflects in-depth engagement with the topic.

B = Satisfactory. The journal entry is reasonably focused, and explanations or analysis are mostly based on examples or other evidence. Fewer connections are made between ideas, and though new insights are offered, they are not fully developed. The entry reflects moderate engagement with the topic.

C = Underdeveloped. The journal entry is mostly description or summary, without consideration of alternative perspectives, and few connections are made between ideas. The entry reflects passing engagement with the topic.

D = Limited. The journal entry is unfocused, or simply rehashes previous comments, and displays no evidence of student engagement with the topic.

F = No Credit. The journal entry is missing or consists of one or two disconnected sentences.

"Madame Bovary" - the movie!

If interested, you can see Claude Chabrol's version of "Madame Bovary" here - with the amazing Isabelle Huppert in the role of Emma. The film is broken up into 10 segments on Youtube.

Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" - Week Two

Subjects of discussion:

1. The love that starts again between Emma and Rodolphe

2. The letter Rodolphe sends to Emma (and the box where he puts all his memories - is this really a "box of memories"?)

3. Emma's reaction after having received the letter

4. Emma's illness and Charles's reaction

5. The importance of the opera

6. The love between Emma and Léon and Emma's "satisfaction" (or lack thereof)

7. The beggar

8. Emma's frenetic efforts to get money

9. The return to Rodolphe and - why does Emma decide to commit suicide? Because of money? Is there another reason?

10. Why does she decide to commit suicide by poisoning?

11. Why is Emma's death so prolonged?

12. Emma's reaction to the crucifix.

13. The black liquid that comes from her mouth after her death

Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" - Week One

Consider the following questions in your reading and analysis of Madame Bovary – as always – think about how the novel deals with the issues below in relation to themes of the course (love and desire)

 1. At the beginning of the novel, we meet Charles. How would you describe him? And his hat? How does
the narrator describe this hat? What type of hat is this? What do you think it symbolizes?

 2. How would you describe Emma? What does the novel reveal about her personality (especially the chapters on her childhood and upbringing)? How do other characters in the film view her? She does not really speak until the sixth chapter – why? What are these first words and what do they signify?

 3. Why does Emma find the ball at La Vaubyésssard so important? Notice the way others treat her – does she belong to this society? Why or why not?

 4. How does Emma view time? Consider the way the novel depicts her after the ball.

 5. Discuss Emma’s pregnancy. Who in truth “carries” the pregnancy? Emma? Why or why not? What does the novel say about maternity?

 6. Speak about the relationship between Emma and Léon. What happens between them? How do you explain what happens to Emma after Léon’s departure?

 7. The chapter on the agricultural fair is extremely important – what is the relationship between humans and animals?

 8. Analyze Emma and Rodolphe’s actions at the fair. Why do you think they are separated from the others? What is the irony of Rodolphe’s speech (especially if you pay attention to what is going on at the fair)? How does the fair comment upon Rodolphe’s speech?

Green Porno with Isabella Rossellini (as mentioned in class)

There are about 20 videos in all

Fernando de Rojas's "Celestina" (Week Two)

Use these questions as a guide (if you want) in your second blog posting for "Celestina"

1. The chain Calisto gives Celestina in Act 11 has important symbolic meaning. What does this chain represent for Celestina (and in turn Parmeno and Sempronio)? Think also in broader terms - what might a chain represent in the text? How might it be connected to the themes of desire and death?

2. Calisto has a long soliloquy in Act 14. What are the main themes of this speech? He has just achieved what he wanted (sex with Melibea). Does this speech reflect the happiness he expected to have? Why or why not? What might his speech have to tell us about the nature of desire?

3. There is a dichotomy in the text between Pleberio's power (a male hierarchy) and Celestina's world (centered around desire and women). How do these two systems play of one another? What does Act 14 reveals about Pleberio's pwer? Do an analysis of his speech here - what does he attempt to do? And the reality of the situation?

4. Melibea and Calisto must first meet in the dead of night, in the darkness. What does this reveal about the nature of their desire for one another, especially when you consider the references to images of light (the stars, moon, bright beams radiating from Melibea, etc.).

5. What is symbolic about Calisto's death? And Melibea's? Consider where and how the two lovers died. How do these deaths reflect that of Celestina, what she represented, and the lovers' roles in her 'game'? You may want to bring up the salient themes in Melibea's speech before she commits suicide (or even the double standard against which Melibea must fight throughout the story).

6. What or whom does Pleberio truly mourn in his final speech? What exactly is going on in this last act of "Celestina" - why give Pleberio (the patriarchy) the final word?

Fernando de Rojas's "Celestina" (Week One)

These questions serve as a guide to the reading – you may answer some or none, but I would like you to have a short, coherent argument about “Celestina” that speaks to the themes of love and desire about which we have been discussing in class. Also try to bring in the supplemental reading into your discussion.

1. Analyze the opening scene in Melibea’s garden. Why a garden? What might a garden signify? How do you interpret the words of Calisto and Melibea? Why does Melibea react in this manner? Can we read these words as genuine?

2. Discuss Calisto and Sempronio’s conversation in Act I. How do you interpret Calisto’s illness? His discussion about Melibea? The discussion about women? What occurs here? Use quotes and specific examples for the text to support your answer.

3. What are our initial impressions of Celestina? What type of character is this? What does she say which influences your analysis? What about her later exchanges with Parmeno? (And this back history with Parmeno’s mother – what do you think happens here?)

4. Analyze Parmeno’s long speeches concerning Celestina. What is her history, profession, etc.? What do you think she represents within the text? How does the entire community view this woman? Why? Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.

5. Analyze the speech of these characters (you can point to specific examples to formulate your answer). What type of speech is this? Why?

6. We will talk more in class about Areusa and her illness in Act VII, but how do you interpret Celestina's actions with Areusa (maybe even apart from her illness)? What might these actions have to say about Celestina? What insight do we gain about her character here?

7. How do you explain Areusa and Elicia's comments about Melibea in Act IX? Is this mere jealousy or is something more going on here? (Or, you can comment about this entire scene within Celestina's house -- what does this scene reveal about this house and what occurs here?)

8. Analyze the scene between Melibea and Celestina in Act X. What do you think Melibea experiences here? Why? Try to focus on the language she uses and the imagery to which she makes reference. How, for example, do you interpret Melibea's comment that her "breast is full of serpents"?

Slavoj Žižek: "Why be happy when you could be interesting?"

Bernard de Ventadour: "When I See the Lark"

NYT Article on Mirrors

An excellent article in the New York Times from a few years ago on what we see when we look into a mirror. It deals with many of the same issues we discussed in class last week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/science/22angi.html?pagewanted=all

Troubadour Poetry, Slavoj Žižek, and Buñuel’s “That Obscure Object of Desire”

For the poetry by Bernard de Ventadorn and the Žižek essay:

What are the ways in which the poetry and essay bring up themes we spoke about last week (problems of desire, imagery, alienation, etc.). What new ideas do you see here that further complicate or elucidate issues involving love and/or desire? Use specific quotes from the poetry and the essay to support your comments.

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Here are some things to contemplate as you watch the film (you do not need to answer any of these questions directly, but part of your blog posting for next week should involve a discussion of some aspect of the film).

1. Why do you think the film is titled “That Obscure Object of Desire”? What is this “obscure object”? How does the film present it as such (imagery, characters, dialog, etc.)? How might this “obscure object” relate back to our discussion of Narcissus and Lacan?

2. Why is terrorism an ever-pervasive background to the events of the film?

3. Why do you think there are two actresses to play the part of Conchita? Refer to specific scenes in the film if you discuss this.

4. What do you make of the animal imagery in the film (the mouse and fly)?

5. Why do you think Mattheiu is the narrator of the film? Why is most of the film a flashback? (Think about who is sitting next to Mattieu on the train).

6. Do you have an interpretation of the final moments of the film? (The sewing, the music – which “Liebestod” or “Love-Death” is from Wagner’s opera “Tristan and Isolde,” the explosion)

Song of Songs, Narcissus, and Lacan's "Mirror Stage"

These three readings, though seemingly disparate, all have something to say about the relationship of the "self" and the "other" (or lover and beloved). Please answer at least one question for each reading.

For the "Song of Songs":

1. How does this poem present the relationship between lover and beloved? What specific vocabulary does it employ? What images are created through the use of this language?

2. This relationship is specifically an erotic one - why do you think  we have such a fundamentally erotic text within a broader theological context (the "Song of Songs" forms part of the Old Testament)?

For Narcissus:

3. Do a close reading of the conversation between Narcissus and Echo. Do you find anything strange here? Is Echo simply an "echo"? What does and echo do and what should an echo not do? How does Narcissus reply to her "request for love"? Why?

4. Deceptively simple question: With what or whom does Narcissus fall in love? (Hint - Narcissus does NOT fall in love with himself - this is a common misreading of the myth.) What is the problem with this? Many writers see in this myth the foundation of love found in all relationships - what does this myth have to tell us about love and the nature of human desire? Point to specifics in the text in your answer.

For Lacan (and yes, as I said in class, this text will seem to be an impossible read, but try at least):

5. Do you take anything from this reading? What? Many scholars see this as a psychoanalytic rewriting of the Narcissus myth - might you see any parallel between the two? What?