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.