I took the course which started on the 3rd June 2013. It runs through 11 weeks. When the course started we were in Thailand. We moved to Malaysia during that course.
After all I learned on Coursera, I wanted to give back to the community. So, I decided to start a new translation on Amara. I chose a video presenting a course on Literature and Fantasy, with the University of Michigan. I found the video to translate really engaging. I was not planning to enroll in a new course, but I could not resist it.
"Fantasy and Science Fiction" offered by professor Professor Eric Rabkin is an 11 weeks course.
After reading the assigned books, we are asked to write a paper on it (270 to 320 words). We are pretty much free to choose the subject we want to cover.
Here is the syllabus:
On this page, you will find essays along with peer's reviews, several tips and the translation of one of the video in French.
After all I learned on Coursera, I wanted to give back to the community. So, I decided to start a new translation on Amara. I chose a video presenting a course on Literature and Fantasy, with the University of Michigan. I found the video to translate really engaging. I was not planning to enroll in a new course, but I could not resist it.
"Fantasy and Science Fiction" offered by professor Professor Eric Rabkin is an 11 weeks course.
After reading the assigned books, we are asked to write a paper on it (270 to 320 words). We are pretty much free to choose the subject we want to cover.
Here is the syllabus:
- Grimm — Children's and Household Tales (Lucy Crane translation with Walter Crane illustrations)
- Carroll — Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
- Stoker — Dracula (This reading is somewhat longer than most of the others. You may want to begin it in advance.)
- Shelley — Frankenstein
- Hawthorne & Poe — Stories and Poems (Hawthorne's Mosses from an Old Manse includes "The Birthmark," "Rappaccini's Daughter," and "The Artist of the Beautiful" and his Twice-Told Tales includes "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"; The Portable Poe includes all the suggested Poe stories and poems
- Wells — The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, "The Country of the Blind," "The Star"
- Burroughs & Gilman — A Princess of Mars & Herland
- Bradbury — The Martian Chronicles (not available for legal, free download)
- LeGuin — The Left Hand of Darkness (not available for legal, free download)
- Doctorow — Little Brother (This reading is somewhat longer than most of the others. You may want to begin it in advance.)
On this page, you will find essays along with peer's reviews, several tips and the translation of one of the video in French.
I. Grimm
A. The power of tales
Tales do not only reflect the society and the time during which they were written, but they also had a huge impact on people's life.
Stories are very powerful vectors of ideas. They can highly influence a whole generation. They can be used in many different ways. I tend to comment the stories I read to my kids and ask them questions to help them think critically about the story. I prefer stories which will empower my children.
Traditional tales including princesses and dragons are highly interesting and part of our culture... But... "How to train a dragon" reflects today's ideals.
I read so so so many times all my fairy books when I was a kid, and I had plenty of very traditional ones in original versions... They had a huge influence on me. Maybe not always a good one, because I did not live in the same world anymore... And, being able to think about them critically came later I believe.
But I have to say that they did nourish my imagination from a very young age.
Little Red Cap from the Grimm was inspired from Little Red Ridding Hood first written by Charles Perrault. But, Charles Perrault did not invent that story which used to be told in families the evening near the fire. It evolved sort of in a darwinian way... slowly from old myths...
Most stories tell us how to survive in the world... (Don't follow strangers...) Stories can save. Stories can cure, Stories can do so many things, really...
When you tell a story... Be aware of its power... Make good use of it...
B. Assignment on Grimm's Tales:
Our first assignment was to write something about the Brother Grimm Tales. I chose to work on The Queen Bee...
Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm Illustrator: Walter Crane Translator: Lucy Crane (Project Gutenberg)
The Queen Bee (1) contains recurring themes: inter-connectivity in societies on one side and comfort, abundance, maternity and sexuality on the other side. “Ants” and “bees” live in complex organized colonies representing different societies. “Eggs” and “pearls” are a reference to female fertility, when “honey” and “tears” are the equivalent in males. “Moss”, “door” and “mouth” are symbols of female genitals when “stones” and “key” are for male’s genitals.
The number three in this tale is used in a very powerful in order to link those two themes. The boys and the girls are three in this story. The structure of the tales is also build around this number: the boys meet the ants, the bees and the ducklings introducing the idea of a pattern. "Leave those creatures alone" is repeated three times introducing rhythm. The story has three parts arranged in order: the boys are lost, they have a challenge and the spell is broken. The number three is recurrent in fairy tales: The 3 Little Pigs, Goldie Locks and the Three Bears, The Three Brothers, The Three Sisters, Cinderella, The Three Wishes and the list could go on. A group starts with three members, before that it is a solo or a duo. A group introduces anonymity. Concepts such as the spirit, mind and body/ birth, life and death/ past, present and future/ woman, man, child are based on this basic triangle figure.
The main lesson of this story is based on the commandments that “Thou Shalt not Kill”(1) preventing us from unlawful killing. This idea is present in all religions of the book. However, the tale goes further than this basic concept. The text is structured by interweaving all themes in a way that we will at least unconsciously read or hear the message that peace and good relationship with others is a powerful tool for survival, reproduction and comfort of life.
References:
(1)
The Queen Bee, The Brother Grimm, translation
by Lucy Crane.
(2)
The Ten
Commandments in the Torah, specifically Exodus
20:13 and Deuteronomy
5:17
The Ten Commandments by Rembrandt
I got a 4 out of 6 for this paper. A 4 is considered a good grade in this class. 6 would be considered outstanding and would concern only 10% of all the assignments of all the students.
Here are the comments I got from my peers:
a. About form:
The Ten Commandments by Rembrandt
I got a 4 out of 6 for this paper. A 4 is considered a good grade in this class. 6 would be considered outstanding and would concern only 10% of all the assignments of all the students.
Here are the comments I got from my peers:
a. About form:
peer 1 → Your first paragraph was constructed well, but from the second sentence onward the structure isn't quite there. Watch for repetitive use of "The" as a sentence starter, and try to move away from to-be verbs (is/was/are) in favor of stronger, more specific verbs, like "contains", "represents", "interweaves", etc. Some sentences are worded in a way that the meaning is unclear, such as "A group introduces anonymity." and "This idea is present in all religions of the book." I think I understand what you mean, but I'm not certain.
peer 2 → Good sentence structure. Watch your typos...see sentences 1 and 3 in second paragraph.
peer 3 → A well written and structured essay. I like the fact that you have a closing paragraph and would have liked to see more of an opening one, perhaps the sentences regarding the symbolism with the ants and the bees could have been moved to a new paragraph and that first sentence could have been followed with another introductory sentence, because it's currently a somewhat cold open, we jump right in to a list of symbolic elements without much explanation. This is also apparent in the third paragraph in which you've simply mentioned the main lesson of the story but there isn't much explanation regarding it, everything is presented in a very sudden manner. The grammar is great, though it could do with a slight edit as I feel some words were left out while you were typing. All in all, a very well written essay.
peer 4 → Fairly good, I mean it wasn't bad or anything. Pretty dull prose and nothing funny stood out. I have to read this same kind of prose five times! Good job, person
b. About content:
peer 1 → This essays feels very unfocused to me. You mention symbols of fertility, the importance of the number three, group dynamics, and the Commandment against killing. I see that you tried to tie them all together in your closing statement, but with so many themes it is difficult to explore each one deeply enough for the last sentence to resonate with the reader. I would suggest picking one theme and dedicating a full essay to it rather than try to cover everything that stood out to you.
peer 2 → The themes...why more than one?...are clearly stated, but the essay has too much filler that does not add to the argument. Delete the "The main lesson of this story..."
peer 3 → I'll be honest with you, reviewing this particular essay has been very hard for me. On the one hand, I love the observations that you've made, it's obvious you've deeply analyzed the story, and yet on the other hand I feel like I am being bombarded with on the surface observations and not a lot of explanation and analysis. I have a feeling this is due to the word limit the essay has, but even so, you could have picked one of the issues you've raised and delved deeper into it or you could have removed the last two lines of the second paragraph (the part about the number 3 and groups) and used that space to elaborate on your closing paragraph a bit more. The way it currently stands, you have decided to analyze everything in the story and because of the word limit, you've only been able to mostly list those things, and while the issues you've listed are extremely fascinating and enriching, they would have been even more enriching had you picked a specific aspect and analyzed that deeply. However, you have a great analytical mind, very good job.
peer 4 → Nothing really original but your insights were interesting. Intriguing parallels, didn't notice some of the stuff that you did. Overall, good job, not very original though.
c. My comment:
Peer 1 and peer 3 have done a great effort to help me out on this one! Thanks a lot to them! I will definitely use their feedback to write my next assignments.
II. Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland, Illustrations by John Tenniel
Through the Looking Glass, Illustrations by John Tenniel
I was lucky enough to have my mum coming over to visit us in Thailand during the last school holiday. My mother brought with her my Alice in Wonderland and Through the Glass Mirror Lewis Carroll book from childhood for me to read to my children. I did not even know about the Fantasy and Science Fiction course yet!
Here are pictures by Lewis Carroll:
Alice Liddell by Lewis Carroll, 1858. And Charles Ludwig Dodgson alias Lewis Carroll.
The edition I have was translated in French by Andre Bay and illustrated by Dusan Kallay.
How challenging translating this work must have been!
III. Dracula
Here is my assignment on colors in Dracula by Bram Stoker...
"Right from the first chapter, colors associated with Christian and Antichristian symbolism are used to render atmospheres in Dracula. Colors depend the time of the day and the season (colorful “summertime” and “winter snows”).
The early morning is described as “grey”. Later, breakfast time is soft and colorful with “paprika”, “maize” and “egg-plant” being served. In the day, (blue) water, symbol of life runs in the landscape. Colors in the day consist of juxtaposition of plain colors: “orange trees”, “green tubs”, “fruit blossom — apple, plum, pear, cherry” reminding us of the Garden of Eden. People in the day do wear white and black, colors of death, but they are said to be “very harmless”.
When the golden sun goes down at the Golden Krone (crown) Hotel (clear references to God and Jesus), colors start mixing together: “glorious colors (…) deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown”. Soon, colors of death take over colors of life: “white stems shining like silver through the delicate green of the leaves”.
At night, Jonathan first eats white “chicken”, with “red pepper”, a spicy meal leaving Jonathan thirsty despite all the water he could drink. The second diner is composed of “bits of bacon” (red and white), “onion” (white), “beef” (red), “red pepper”. Thanks to wine, the color of blood, this time, Jonathan does not feel thirsty. The meals refer to Antichrist's versions of the Scene. “After nightfall”, all is red (“eyes”, tongues” and lips), dirty white, silver and black (“dark” or darkness are repeated fifteen times throughout that chapter and darkness is the last word). Only a frail blue light (both words symbolizing life) appears shivering and disappears.
In Dracula, colors vary with time so do tastes, graphics (crosses/ picks), smells (sweet/spicy) and sounds (human voices/wolves). Stoker plays with our sensory system right from the start. We feel death is around and could win. "
References:
Dracula, Bran Stoker, 1897
Une histoire symbolique des couleurs du Moyen Age Occidental, 2004, Michel Pastoureau
Now, here are the comments I got from my peers:
a. On form:
peer 1 → Clear argument structure, though some shortcomings in vocabulary and grammar.
peer 2 → Perfect grammar and structure
peer 3 → This essay has a great structure and clear form. The paragraphs are shaped well to bring about each example made. Within the text I did find all the quote marks (or "") around the example descriptive words a little crowded, I think the writer could easily remove these and the essay would be just as clear... and less crowded.
peer 4 → Decent organization, but the over-abundance of parentheses break up the writing and make reading it less smooth. Plenty of examples, but not all are sufficiently linked back to the thesis. The thesis itself is interesting but unclear.
b. On Content:
peer 1 → I am not so convinced about the color argument. Not all aspects of color usage presented seem to fit the argument of Christian/anti Christian color symbolism. The argument would be stronger if it interpreted color as one aspect of a more general symbolism of life vs. death (daylight vs. darkness, etc.).
peer 2 → This is the first time that I see an essay like yours. Neither I nor other people have written about colors in Stoker's book. It's been an interesting night because of your paper and I've got to thank you for it. Meanwhile I was reading the lines I was remembering everything about those parts that you describe and now I can see in other way Dracula. I think I must read again the book. I've just noticed that there are many little pieces that could make both the reading and the analyzing processes much more enjoyable. I am sorry if I made some grammar mistakes. I am not an english speaker. You made me my day!
peer 3 → I liked the approach of the writer, who has decided to analyse the whole story around just the theme of colour. By distilling this theme from the rest of the book the writer has found an interesting subject for their essay. I loved the ending, where the writer describes Stoker as using a sensory system to describe the underlying tones of death (and life). I am reminded also of the change in the landscape Jonathan Harker travels through on his way to Dracula's castle - from abundant fruits and falling blossoms to cold barren and sublime landscapes.
peer 4 → I feel that your points were not ameliorated very well. You make many observations about the usage of color but do not fully explain the significance of those colors or their involvement in creating atmosphere.
IV. Frankenstein
You will find here my assignment on Frankenstein and my peers comments.
So, here is what I tried to do in this paper: using what I had seen in my "The Modern and the Postmodern" class to write on Frankenstein.
It is just amazing to see how peers judged my paper differently...
My paper:
“It was a dreary night of November” (…) “I might infuse a spark of being” thought Victor. Strong contrasts between light/darkness, fire/ice are recurrent themes in Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus (1).
Traditionally, (at least occidental regions if not universally) light is seen as a symbol of life, knowledge, enlightenment while fire represents powerful knowledge and changes in life. Darkness and ice on the other side are spectrum of death.
When the stitched up inanimate cold body is heated up by the “spark” of life, he turns out to be a monster. “His teeth (were) of a pearly whiteness” implying good health and beauty (even thus after thought it could be seen as a funeral sign like in Stoker's novel written later, Dracula (2)). His yellowish eyes and his black lips symbolize death. In fact, right after giving life to the monster, Victor feels ill and colors of life are leaving his body: “compose yourself” said Clerval who observed my changed of color”.
Later in the book, the monster understands that fire creates light in the dark, but also harms when being touched. Fire can paradoxically either protect or kill. In other words, knowledge can be a gift or can destroy us. Fire reminds us that Victor is "The modern Prometheus" and he will get punished for possessing knowledge.
At the end, Victor is weakened in the North because of the cold and Walton gets surrounded by ice, representing the absence of life. Later, the monster walks towards the North Pole to die and disappears in darkness.
Science is fascinating letting humans compare themselves to divine creators. But, like Rousseau (3), Mary Shelley felt what could be some of the downsides of knowledge. She used powerful traditional symbols to warn us about this threat. And in fact, according to Adorno and Horkheimer, the horrors of the 20th century can be seen as a consequence of the Enlightenment (4).
References:
References:
(1) Frankenstein or The modern Prometheus, Mary Shelley, 1818
(2) Dracula, Bram Stoker, 1897
(3) Discourse on the Arts and Sciences. Jean-Jaques Rousseau, 1750
(4) Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno and Horkeimer, 1947
a. Form:
peer 1 → Overall, the structure you used is excellent! The only suggestion is to make your sentences a bit shorter. Sometimes it is hard to follow very long sentences. But great job anyways!
peer 2 → This essay has an unusual beginning, with a quote from the novel. But it does capture one’s attention at once. The ice/fire, light/darkness contrasts are presented almost like an equation. I find the grammatical structure to be free of standard conventions . I find this quite refreshing.Pay attention to the use of verbs in a sentence, you use singular and plural tenses, there should be concordance.
peer 3 → The conclusion seems a bit disjointed, which is a pity - you were on a really interesting track with the light/darkness imagery. I would have liked to read more about what you thought this meant about the story.
peer 4 → It is not perfectly clear to me what your thesis actually is. Otherwise I don't have any objections to the language in the thesis.
b. Content:
peer 1 → You've gone very deep in your content, you found something that nobody else probably thought of and you've made the effort of writing an excellent essay. So I'm giving you a 3 for content.
peer 2 → "Strong contrasts are recurrent themes". I think this is a good point. Victor mentions a doble existence. These contrasts you mention, are essential elements to understand the underlying meaning, which you have very clearly expressed in your last paragraph.
peer 3 → Really enjoyed the discussion of imagery and the comparison with Dracula.
peer 4 → Interesting that you use a subject from the course. But, in my opinion, the text lacks a thread (probably much because of the unclear thesis).
c. Bonus:
peer 1 → Thank you for the excellent essay! I enjoyed reading it.
V. Poe and Hawthorne
Oops!!! I could have completely failed on this one... I mean really badly. In fact, I wrote on The Masque of the Red, a story which was not part of the syllabus! Now how bad is that! I have tons of excuses to justify myself, like the fact I have moved countries the same week! But hey! No justification needed... I was in a hurry... I chose to learn the hard way!
I did pass thus! And I feel quite proud of this paper because this story has been analysed very often (just search the web to get an idea), but I don't think anyone thought about linking it to ocular instruments. So, I no regrets!
Illustration for "The Masque of the Red Death" by Harry Clarke, 1919.
Here it goes:
In his work, Edgar Allan Poe uses sounds and colors simulating synesthesia. His Gothic and romantic style is highly influenced by Christian symbolism. One can wonder if or guess that Poe was inspired by ocular instruments like Castel's poetic invention while writing The Masque of the Red Death.
Lucas Cranach, Adam and Eve, 1526, oil on panel, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, Samuel Courtauld Trust
Responses from my peers:
a. Form:
c. Bonus:
V. Poe and Hawthorne
Oops!!! I could have completely failed on this one... I mean really badly. In fact, I wrote on The Masque of the Red, a story which was not part of the syllabus! Now how bad is that! I have tons of excuses to justify myself, like the fact I have moved countries the same week! But hey! No justification needed... I was in a hurry... I chose to learn the hard way!
I did pass thus! And I feel quite proud of this paper because this story has been analysed very often (just search the web to get an idea), but I don't think anyone thought about linking it to ocular instruments. So, I no regrets!
Illustration for "The Masque of the Red Death" by Harry Clarke, 1919.
Here it goes:
In his work, Edgar Allan Poe uses sounds and colors simulating synesthesia. His Gothic and romantic style is highly influenced by Christian symbolism. One can wonder if or guess that Poe was inspired by ocular instruments like Castel's poetic invention while writing The Masque of the Red Death.
In his novel, Poe describes seven rooms in detail. Six are decorated with different “primary” colors: blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and one last room is a combination of back materials illuminated by red light. According to medieval tradition which romantics and Gothic like to refer to, blue can be seen as life, purple as power and spirituality, green as joy, white as purity, red as dual (representing life and death) black as death. Each room is if illuminated by fire passing through stained glass. Seven types of sounds are “heard” throughout the novel, matching the color palette: the music of the orchestra is followed by the strokes of the clock, whisperings, echoes, silence, gasps of horror and the “sharp cry”.
A parallel can be made with Reverend Father Castel’s concept of an ocular harpsichord (1725). Castel, who was also a mathematician, conceived an amazing music instrument composed of seven basic notes matching seven primary colors (seven being a mystical Christian number, Earth being created in seven days). When notes were played, the light of a candle would shone through a superposition of corresponding stained pieces of glass. Castel thought of the combination of color and sound as a way of depicting paradise.
“…Apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart of life”, but unlike Castel, Poe reminds us that no matter how powerful and rich one can be, no matter how much some places on Earth resemble Eden, since Adam and Eve committed the first sin, we are mortals. No human being escapes death.
References:
The Masque of the red Death, Edgar Allan Poe, 1842
The Ocular Harpsichord http://imaginaryinstruments.org/ocular-harpsichord/
(Please note that English Wikipedia refers to 6 notes on Castel's instrument, which is not accurate. The instrument had 7 basic notes and 7 colors)
Ocular Harpsichord
Adam and Eve, Book of Genesis
Lucas Cranach, Adam and Eve, 1526, oil on panel, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, Samuel Courtauld Trust
Responses from my peers:
a. Form:
peer 1 → Form looks ok, only one term which is not accurate: "The Masque of Red Death" is a short story, not a novel. Poe wrote short stories, not novels, and even theorized on the short story: http://www.darkmediaonline.com/happybirthdayedgarallanpoe/ "The Masque of Red Death" fulfills all the short stories' requirements.
peer 2 → Well structured essay with few errors. The phrase “According to medieval tradition” should be followed by a comma. “would shone” in the third paragraph should be corrected “would shine.”
peer 4 → Sentence-structure is good. Good grammar use, paragraphs are coherent and readable.
peer 5 → good structure, easy to follow.
b. Content:
peer 1 → It´s such a shame that you didn´t cover any of the unit stories. The analysis is original, it´s just not about the unit in the course, so I'm afraid it's a fail. If you had compared this short story to any of the selected Poe's or Hawthorne's ones, things would have been very different.
peer 2 → You make a persuasive argument for your thesis but The Masque of the Red Death was not our reading assignment.
peer 3 → Great job! No matter how powerful and rich one can be, no matter how much some places on Earth resemble Eden, since Adam and Eve committed the first sin, we are mortals. Maybe Poe is influenced by Jesus, too.
peer 4 → I agree with your point of view, I wrote something similar, though I focused on the two ends of the color spectrum - white and black, or rather darkness and light.Your arguments are sound, and you provide ample evidence to support them. Great job !
peer 5 → brilliant thesis, the use of reference to the colors was especially intriguing.
c. Bonus:
peer 1 → Please check the unit readings next time. I'm sure you could have done a killing essay!
peer 5 → good read.
VI. H.G. Wells
A. An example of comment I gave to one of my peers who wrote on The Invisible Man:
We are given 5 essays to grade. One of them was about The Invisible Man and the Eden Complex, a notion we studied in the previous course. I found his essay to be great (unfortunately, I cannot share it with you). However he only recorded 3 elements (dichotomies, natural limits and a scientist striving to be a god) , when I believe he could have found 3 more, in other words, all 6 constituents of the Eden Complex.
Here is my comment on the content of his essay:
2 points: Your argument is well supported. I enjoyed reading your essay. You give good examples. However, I wonder if finding only 3 constituents of the Eden complex is enough to label it so. I think you could have added all 6 constituents of the Eden Complex to support your argument even better:
4. Arbitrary rules are used in this story. (invisibility)
5. Garden of Eden imagery: Kemp goes against Griffin's will by recording his knowledge and then betraying him. Griffin then chases Kemp.
6. Oedipal structure: power/knowledge is transferred to Kemp
Please try and search other works to refer to for next time and you should end up with a killer essay!
All the best for your next essay.
It is only after grading this student that I had time to watch the professor's video on The Invisible Man. Bad, bad, bad... Yes, I know. But, I was really challenged by time. We have only 2 days to assess our peers and if we want to do so properly, we need to watch hours of videos prior reading our peer's essays. However, while grading the student, I googled more information about The Eden Complex and I immediately found our Professor's page! Here is a the Eric S. Rabkin's (our professor) page on The Eden Complex...
It is only after grading this student that I had time to watch the professor's video on The Invisible Man. Bad, bad, bad... Yes, I know. But, I was really challenged by time. We have only 2 days to assess our peers and if we want to do so properly, we need to watch hours of videos prior reading our peer's essays. However, while grading the student, I googled more information about The Eden Complex and I immediately found our Professor's page! Here is a the Eric S. Rabkin's (our professor) page on The Eden Complex...
B. My essay on The Star by H.G. Wells
“The great white star shining broad and bright through the frost-flowers of his window.” Two years after the first projection of the Frères Lumières first movies (1), H.G. Wells wrote The Star (2), a visual text resembling a synopsis for a highly abstract movie picturing changes in tones, hues, saturations and transparencies, experiences first attempted in Absolute Films (3).
Most descriptions are based on scientific images. The author, also a scientist, refers in this text to “photographic apparatus and spectroscope, and this appliance and that, to record this novel astonishing sight” (2). What is our purpose in the Universe. Why are we here? What if Earth was to disappear tomorrow? What is our place in the Universe? Wells uses the power of colors in motion to illustrate his metaphysical ideas.
Human beings observe a growing glowing dot when looking at the dark universe “vacant immensity that almost defeats the imagination” (2). The visual scene described throughout the story is in motion and highly abstract. The text is full of strong contrasts between light and darkness, interchangeable symbols of life and death, along with explosions of colors one can find on Earth in normal or in catastrophic conditions. From our point of view, consequences of the arrival of the star near our planet seem to be announcing the end of the world, of life, of the universe. But, suddenly a surprising and aesthetically shift in perspective takes place. The scene is viewed from Mars by one of its inhabitant observing: “indeed the only difference seems to be a shrinkage of the white discoloration (...) round either pole.”(2)
The cinematograph was still as its beginning, but Wells has written as if he foresighted what this kind of new technology would bring on the visual art scene in the future. Color in The Star is not romanticized; it is conceptualized. The Star is therefore clearly avant-garde.
Work Cited:
1. First projection of movies of Louis and Auguste Lumieres, Paris, 1895: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LubYjGDNun8
2. The Star, H.G. Wells, 1897
3. A selection of Absolute Films (movement which began in 1920):
Liechspiel Opus I, Walter Ruttman, 1921
Here are my peers responses to my paper:
a. About the form:
peer 1 → very good
peer 2 → You use language vividly to describe the story and your ideas. You have few errors in grammar, although I think you meant "foresaw" instead of "foresighted" in the last paragraph.
peer 3 → The sentences are gramatically correct, the words are properly used. The essay is structured, however the link between the paragraphs is not strong enough, so the line of the essay is not easy to follow
peer 4 → With reference to content, the essay shows a deep understanding of the topic and the author’s knowledge of the subject. The argument makes sense, feels persuasive, and reveals the significance of the insight.
b. About the content:
peer 1 → liked the movie aspect
peer 2 → The idea of cinematic descriptions in The Star is interesting. I liked that you used historical context to come to your conclusions. I also liked how you used descriptions to better prove your point. However, I feel like the point of the questions in the second paragraph was not clearly explained and felt a little out of place.
peer 3 → There's too much about movie, cinema, and not enough about Wells and his writings. It's god idea to compare the cinema and the writings of Wells, but the balance is not equal.
peer 4 → With reference to matters of insight, argument, and example, the essay shows a deep understanding the language and the character. As we read on, there are more concrete details that are shown and this makes the essay interesting.
c. My reaction:
Peer #3: I clearly disagree with his view about the amount of movie and cinema I brought up in that paper compared to how much I analysed the text.
c. My reaction:
Peer #3: I clearly disagree with his view about the amount of movie and cinema I brought up in that paper compared to how much I analysed the text.
VII. Gilman and Burroughs
On week 7, we had to write a paper on either Herland by Gilman or A Princess of Mars by Burroughs.
I have been writing about colors the past weeks and decided to keep this approach for this assignment too.
So here it goes:
World War I was killing millions when A princess of Mars (1) and Herland (2) were being written. A Princess of Mars despite its title uncovers a masculine world while Her-Land on the contrary is ruled only by women. A simple analysis of both books shows how different colors palettes symbolically help creating antagonist atmospheres.
In Burroughs' story, Moon (silver) is associated with females and sun (gold) with males. Feminine symbols like moons, colorful jewelries and silk are only present to strongly reflect sunlight. On Mars, landscapes and inhabitants are mainly green and red: complementary colors highly contrasting. In fact, red stands out in the novel taking place on Mars, the red planet named after the Greek God of War (3). And even in Carter's life on Earth, apart from feminine colorful elements refracting light, the trio gold/red/shadow is basically the only other combination mentioned, clearly representing males versus death.
In Herland, a feminine universe, colors are used in more subtle ways, often symbolizing life, peace and harmony. The blue and red river first encountered in a green landscape represents a beating heart. The men then find themselves in a colorful land full of different kind of birds, fruits, and vegetable. Later, the first ladies encountered are dressed in: “blue”, “rose”, and “gold-green”. They take the men in colorful indoors and “blossoming gardens” where they show them “colored studies of plants and trees and flowers and birds.”
In fact Burroughs uses basic primary fairy tales colors. The restricted palette helps convey his message: courageous men do not fear death. On the other hand, Gilman, a feminist, defies genders through her writing and inspires to a more feminine world capable of maintaining peace (even thus her eugenic views are ethically highly questionable). She uses a broad harmonious color palette to create her Utopian universe. Both authors appropriately juggle with colors to serve their respective purpose.
References:
(1) A princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1917
(2) Herland, Charlotte Perkins, 1915
(3) Mars in his chariot of fire, Albrecht Wallenstein, painting, 1622: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_Wallenstein_as_Mars.JPG
A few book covers: please note that I did not write about the following illustrations and only refered to the original text:
A Princess of Mars:
Herland:
Peers responses:
a. On form
peer 2 → Your essay is well-structured and includes many transitional phrases to see how ideas connect with each other.
peer 3 → A few odd verb conjugations, probably honest mistakes.
peer 4 → There are some grammar errors.
b. On content:
peer 2 → You are obviously an artist. You've selected a great topic to explore and have done it justice with detailed examples and adequate analysis. This is the best essay I've reviewed in weeks!
peer 3 → Totally didn't think of the color pallets when reading these books, kudos for giving me something new to think about.
peer 4 → The color idea was all right, but the second paragraph about gender was a little off course.
VIII. Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles, 1950
Colors! Again! Ray Bradbury's work is full of colorful description serving his purpose... Here is my essay:
Bradbury uses the power of colors to stitch stories weaved like a patchwork of hues, tones and saturation. His choreography of colors and illusions illustrates his perspective on science and art.
In The Martian Chronicles (1), earthy tones refer to our world or to natural elements of our world brought onto Mars. Manmade travelling ships are always described as metallic surfaces. The Martian world contains ethereal hues such as “purple rivers”, “bronze flowers”, “gold coined eyes” and materials like crystal. Bradbury repeatedly plays with those three palettes by mixing or contrasting them on the same rhythm as the stories unfold. At the end, a group of humans finally understands how to look at themselves and how to see life: “The Martians were there – in the canal – reflected in the water.”
In the substory And the moon be still as bright (1), the explanation Spender gives to the Captain about how sometimes being naïve can turn out to be the smartest and safest behavior in the face of evolution, represents a beautiful ode to life and poetry. In this passage, colors are used as a remarkable example. According to Spender, Martians perceive the universe with the eyes of artists: “A Martian, far cleverer, would say: ‘this is a fine picture. It came from the land and the mind of a mind inspired. Its idea and its color are from life. This thing is good.”(1)
It is scientifically true that rainbows only exist in the eyes of an observer placed at a certain point from where light travels through water drops at a specific angle (2). However, like Spencer reminds us in (1), reducing all to scientific explanations made us commit crimes against humanity and might one day lead us to auto-destruction. Colors are not real but what is? Savor the illusion, become the illusion.
Work Cited:
The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury, (first edtited in 1950): http://old.fantasy.ir/files/public/bradbury_ray__the_martian_chronicles.pdf
About rainbows: http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/refrn/u14l4b.cfm
Peers reviews:
a. On form:
peer 1 → I saw no format errors.
peer 3 → The writing is clear and even poetic at times. I love the word choices of "choreography" and "patchwork." I found the thesis statement strong, if not as strong as it could have been, and your structure in support of it is solid. I'm not sure how your final sentence relates to your thesis, however. That declarative seemed to come out of no where. But overall, good work on form!
peer 4 → Very well written. Couldn't find any spelling mistakes.
b. On Content:
peer 1 → The content was spectacular. I noticed a lot of color usage and imagery referenced, but you tied it all together nicely. The examples are well placed, and the final paragraph brings the whole thing back to reality. Well done!
peer 3 → I, too, noticed Bradbury's extensive use of colors, particularly in the early chapters. Your thesis statement has potential strength, but I think it's undermined by your first sentence, which highlights Bradbury's use of color while the second sentence mentions both "color and illusion," and I think that confuses the theme. I think the essay would have been stronger if you had included only one of the two sentences. The second sentence is really well written, though. I'm not sure what the point at the end of the second paragraph about seeing their reflection in the canal has to do with Bradbury's use of colors. At first I thought bringing the rainbow in at the end felt like a stretch, but on subsequent readings it grew on me and I liked it. Good work!
peer 4 → What an interesting artistic view, explained very thoroughly! Great use of examples to make points stronger, and more clear.
c. Bonus:
peer 1 → 6. Pleasure reading your work. Keep it up.
d. My view on the reviews:
Obviously my peers liked my work, but I failed to show how reflections and illusions were linked to colors. On the other side, did my peers carefully read the part of the text I was referring too? Here it is (Spender talking to the Captain in "And the moon be still as bright."
"“Only when it paid to be naïve. They blended religion and
art and science because, at base, science is no more than an investigation of a
miracle we can never explain, and art is an interpretation of that miracle.
They never let science crash the aesthetic and the beautiful. It’s all simply a
matter of degree. An Earth Man thinks: “In that picture, color does not exist
really. A scientist can prove that color is the only way the cells are placed
in a certain material to reflect light. Therefore, color is not really an
actual part of things I happen to see. ‘A Martian, far cleverer, would say: “this
is a fine picture. It came from the land and the mind of a mind inspired. Its
idea and its color are from life. This thing is good."
IX. Tips on how to grade other's assignments
How helpful it is to get the chance to grade others! This is always such a learning experience !
I would like to suggest you try and be fair about the grading and not necessarily blindly stick to the percentages we have been given in that course. I believe I will give more 3's towards the end of this course when less students will be still sending papers.
Here is how I like to proceed:
1. I first read at least 5 essays I have been given. I give them a grade and comment them.
2. I have a chance to compare the works and modify my comments and grades accordingly.
3. I watch all the lectures for the week.
4. I come back on some of the papers I graded to adjust grades according to what I learned in the lectures.
Here is what I try to keep in mind:
1. I try to point out defaults so that the person can improve his essay, but I also point out where I think he did great.
2. I want my comments to be fair and at the same time encouraging. I do not upgrade peers. However, I do my best to counter balance my reactions. Some people seem to have spend a few minutes on their work without even checking the spelling. Fine. I don't know what their life is. I try to comment without judging.
3. I remind people about the minimum they should provide not to influence the person grading in a bad way: for example, how many times did I correct assignments misspelling the names of the authors!
4. Let your peer know what grade you gave them in each section, it is always highly appreciated.
The extra:
1. I research on the web the points my peers have develop to understand their point of view better, to be able to add something more useful to my reviews, and for self knowledge.
2. I tend to check for plagiarism. I came across one in my class of The Modern and the Postmodern...
For tips about how to write better essays, you can check more tips on my Modern and Postmodern pages.
X. My translation of the course presentation in French:
« Bonjour. Bienvenus au cours Fantastique et Science Fiction, la pensée humaine, notre monde moderne.
Je m’appelle Eric Rabkin, professeur d’anglais ainsi que d’Art et Design à l’université du Michigan. Voici le cours numéro zéro! Cette vidéo et celles qui suivent ont pour but d’aider à présenter le cours que j’espère vous suivrez bientôt. Qu’est-ce que le fantastique? Et bien, dans ce cours, nous allons lire et discuter des œuvres de littérature fantastiques. Mais le fantastique est bien plus large que cela. Le fantastique existe avec le support d’autres medias, cela va de soi. Par exemple, dans les films, lorsque nous imaginons a quoi le futur ressemblerait : comme par exemple dans le film de Fritz Lang de 1927: Métropolis. Il n’a pas fallu longtemps avant que nous commencions à construire ces villes que nous avions d’abord imaginées. Le fantastique existe dans multiples de domaines. Disneyland est un lieu fantastique. Mais le centre Epcot dans World Disney, Epcot, la communauté-prototype de demain n’a pas été crée pour être un simple parc à thème. L’intention était de pointer vers le futur. En réalité, la conception de ville a toujours repose sur des utopies fantastiques. Comment puis-je créer un monde meilleur? Comment faire afin que les hommes puissent faire l’expérience de leur propre humanité. Parfois, nous utilisons nos idées sur comment le monde devrait être de la manière la plus bête. Ce moteur de bateau longiligne atteint une puissance de 4 chevaux. Pourquoi est-ce longiligne ? Quelle résistance de l’air tente de s’échapper lorsque le bateau avance? La forme longiligne est un signe visuel du futur. Cela ramène le fantastique dans l’expérience. Le mot « fantasy » en anglais, vient de la racine grecque « Phantasia » qui signifie littéralement « rendre visible », qui vient lui même de « Phantazein » qui veut dire « rendre visible » et de « Phanein » qui signifie « montrer ». Le mot « Phanein » nous a aussi donne le mot « epiphanie » qui est célèbre annuellement le 6 janvier pour fêter l’arrivée des rois mages à la rencontre de Jésus. Le terme plus général de « theophanie » a aussi quelque chose a voir avec le Dieu (ou la Déesse) se montrant aux mortels. Si nous remontant avant les grecs et que nous jetons un œil aux racines des langues Indo-Européennes à la base du Grec, nous arrivons au mot Ba. Il existe deux sortes de Ba. Le premier signifie « parler » et c’est de la que nous tirons des mots modernes comme « aphasie » or « empathie » Le second Ba signifie briller, lumière, éclatant. Ainsi, des mots comme diaphane, briller a travers et fantastique (« fantasy ») y puisent leurs origines. Il y a quelque chose de brillant dans fantastique. Fantastique peut-être plutôt très personnel. Dans l’histoire tragique de Marlowe Le Docteur Faust à la fin du 16eme siècle fantasme de pouvoir faire l’amour avec Helene de Troie, la plus belle femme ayant jamais existe. Cependant, ayant Méphistophélès, le de mon à son service, ce fantasme est réalisable pour Méphistophélès. Mais si Helene de Troie avait été un vague fantasme personnel, ni nous, ni Marlowe n’aurions jamais entendu parle de cet ancien mythe. Les fantasmes même lorsqu’ils sont personnels, tentent en quelque sorte d’attirer un pouvoir mythique. Le fantastique est aussi utilise afin d’essayer de nouvelles idées. Les enfants jouent avec des poupées afin de s’essayer à des rôles sociaux qu’ils devront un jour remplir. Il y a des années de cela, ma famille et moi-même avons habites en Espagne pendant un an. Mes enfants, ma fille alors âgée de 9 ans, mon fils alors âgé de 14 ans allaient tous les deux dans une école de langue. A la maison, nous parlions Anglais, mais, ma femme, mon fils et moi-même apprenions l’espagnol rapidement. Ma fille d’un autre cote ne voulait pas parler un mot. Un jour, ma femme m’a demande de jeter un œil dans la chambre de Rachel. Elle était assise et il y avait parterre deux poupées qui se disputaient férocement en Espagnol. Evidemment, elle avait besoin de créer un monde fantastique dans lequel elle pouvait se prouver qu’elle possédait les capacités nécessaires pour utiliser cette nouvelle langue dans notre monde. Le monde fantastique nous aide psychologiquement aussi. Le fantastique donne corps a nos espoirs et a nos peur. Cendrillon est un mythe sur la vertu d’obéir quelques soient les circonstances. Si vous tenez à ce que vous êtes supposé faire, vous devriez être récompensé. Cette histoire de Cendrillon existe virtuellement dans toutes les cultures du monde, même dans celles qui n’ont jamais W.H. Auden a écrit sur « les histoires de grands détectives ». Des histoires comme celles, disons, de Sherlock Holmes. Un détective génial qui, quel que soit le crime commis, est capable de comprendre ce qui s’est passe en amont et d’identifier le coupable. Auden raconte que le fantasme du grand détective est que la culpabilité sera systématiquement mise à découvert. Nous savons que cela ne se passe pas ainsi dans le monde réel. Nous savons que certains coupables s’en tirent lorsque nous espérons qu’ils soient découverts. Un des points qui nous attire dans l’histoire des grands détectives est qu’elle nous permet de vivre dans un monde fantastique ou la justice prévaut. Tout comme ma fille a pu vivre dans un monde fantastique débarrassé des tensions liées à l’usage de l’espagnol. Un des espoirs et une des peurs que les hommes ont en tant qu’êtres mortels, depuis des temps immémoriaux est l’espoir de parvenir à l’immortalité. Lazar, le frère de Marie et Martha si l’on se réfère à l’ancien testament ressuscite sur la tombe de Jésus. Un miracle, ou certains dirons, une fable, en tous cas un événement qui donne de l’espoir. La célèbre nouvelle de W.W. Jacobs appelée “The monkey’s paw” (“La patte du Singe”) et qui date du 20eme siècle raconte l’histoire de la famille White, de Mr et Mrs White et de leur fils adulte. On leur donne un talisman, une patte de singe, a laquelle ils peuvent demander 3 vœux qui se réaliseront. Le père espère obtenir assez d’argent afin de rembourser l’hypothèque sur leur petite maison. Le fils a un accident et meurt. L’assurance verse aux parents l’exacte somme nécessaire au remboursement de la maison. Quelques semaines après la mort tragique du fils, la mère fait le vœu de revoir son fils une dernière fois. Bientôt, on frappe à la porte. Le père réalise que ce qui se trouve derrière la porte est le corps corrode, effrayant de leur fils. Il utilise alors le dernier vœu et lorsque la porte s’ouvre, personne n’est la. Le point développe dans l’histoire de Jacob est que quelque soit la manière dont nous tentons de changer la destinée, si nous nous y essayons, nous ne la rendrons que pire. Le fantastique ne nous raconte pas toujours que le monde peut être meilleur. Parfois l’espoir comme avec Lazar devient la peur comme dans l’histoire de la patte du singe. Peut-être que l’histoire la plus célèbre de la mort revenant a la vie à l’époque moderne est celle de Frankenstein depuis le début du 19eme siècle, Victor Frankenstein ne crée pas la vie. Il collecte des parties de personnes décédées, les assemble, puis les réanime. Cela constitue un espoir. Ce fantasme existe depuis des temps recules. Victor voudrait contribuer au bien être de l’humanité, mais il réalise ensuite que s’il crée une femme pour ce monstre et qu’ils procréent, une race d’individus plus forts, plus intelligents et plus résistants effacerons l’humanité comme nous la connaissons. Alors, il décide de détruire la femme et le monstre se sent désespéré. L’animosité grandissante entre les personnages principaux conduit tout droit aux meurtres qui nous font penser que la créature est un monstre. En réalité, cette histoire raconte ce qu’il se passe vraiment lorsque le pouvoir, le pouvoir que peuvent procurer la science et la technologie peuvent effacer les limites de notre morale commune. La science fiction est un des nombreux genres du fantastique, les histoires de grands détectives constituent un genre du fantastique, les contes de fées sont un genre fantastique aussi. En 1942, Lester Del Rey publie une nouvelle appelée Nerves, et cela 3 années avant que la première bombe atomique n’explose et donc de nombreuses années avant la première exploitation d’énergie nucléaire. Dans cette nouvelle, Del Rey imagine une puissance nucléaire civile et imagine les conséquences, les conséquences sociales d’une fuite dans la centrale. De même qu’un enfant peut utiliser des poupées comme alternative marginale à un problème, la science fiction peut nous amener a regarder, observer la science et la technologie et a explorer ce que cela signifie pour nous. En réalité, nous sommes tous comme Alvin Toffer disait immigrants vers le futur. La science et la technologie changent notre monde que cela nous plaise ou non. Le genre fantastique qui se demande ce que cela implique et signifie pour nous, quel est notre place dans le monde, est la science fiction. C’est pourquoi, dans ce cours, nous traiterons du fantastique à travers une grande variété d’histoires, et celles sur lesquelles nous nous pencherons en particulier sont des histoires de science fiction. En effet, l’étude de la science fiction est ce qui nous servira le plus dans le monde d’aujourd’hui. C’est ce qui nous aiderait le plus à comprendre ce que nous devons faire afin de connaitre un futur auquel nous aspirons. »
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Learning from the Jungle! Cardiac Arrest Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society The Modern and the Postmodern Critical Thinking in Global Challenges Synapses, Neurons and Brains Fantasy and Science Fiction Know Thy Self The Language of Hollywood Moocs
Did you find this page useful? Did you take this course? Would you like to share your experience on this page? Please feel free to leave a comment. Thank you.
Learning from the Jungle! Cardiac Arrest Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society The Modern and the Postmodern Critical Thinking in Global Challenges Synapses, Neurons and Brains Fantasy and Science Fiction Know Thy Self The Language of Hollywood Moocs
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