Three-Book Term Paper Project

I mentioned at the beginning of the course that during the third quarter you will be writing a term paper. Next quarter, I will give you more exact details of what that term paper will entail. For now, I want you to be aware that you will be choosing three significant novels from American literature as your primary sources for the literary term paper. The three novels should be somehow inter-related either by theme, by author, by setting, by literary movement, etc. For example:

-- Three novel by William Faulkner
-- Novels by three different authors dealing with the theme of the "American dream"
-- Three dystopian novels by three different authors
-- Three novels by three different Romantic authors
-- Three novels exploring frontier life

The three books you choose may NOT be any of the novels we are reading together in class this year. That means that you should start familiarizing yourself with other American novels, authors, and themes. To that end, I will be featuring snapshots of American novels that may interest you. I've done the first one below: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. If you have a request for a novel you'd like to see included in a snapshot, let me know!

Snapshot: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

There aren't many titles of novels that actually become "catch phrases" or popular idioms, but Joesph Heller's Catch-22 is one of them. Americans use the phrase Catch-22 to indicate a situation in which a desired outcome or solution is impossible to attain because of a set of inherently illogical rules or conditions. It is a no-win dilemma or paradox. Here's the most famous Catch-22:

You can't get a job without experience, but you can't get experience unless you have a job--it's Catch-22.

In the 1961 war novel, John Yossarian is a U.S. Army Air Forces bombardier, who wishes to be grounded from combat flight duty. To be grounded, he must be officially evaluated by the squadron's flight surgeon and then found "unfit to fly." Unfit would be any pilot who is actually willing to fly such dangerous missions: as one would have to be mad to want to take on such missions. But the "catch" is that to be declared unfit, he must first "ask for evaluation," which is considered a sufficient proof for being declared sane. These conditions make impossible being declared unfit. The "Catch-22" is that "anyone who wants to get out of combat duty, isn't really crazy." Hence, pilots who request a fitness evaluation are sane, and therefore must fly in combat. And at the same time, if an evaluation is not requested by the pilot, he will never receive one, i.e., he can never be found insane, meaning, he must also fly in combat. Catch-22, then, ensures that no pilot can ever be grounded for being insane - even if he were.

Here's the definitive review of Heller's Catch-22, written by Robert Brustein in 1961, in which he calls the novel a "superlative work of comedy" and "one of the most bitterly funny works in the language." Read on...

Usage Tip O' the Week: i.e. versus e.g

The abbreviations i.e. and e.g. are commonly misused -- but that does not make it acceptable. Each has a distinct and limited usage. They are both abbreviations for Latin terms. I.e. stands for id est and means roughly "that is." E.g. stands for exempli gratia, which means “for example.” Both are used to introduce parenthetical statements.

An easy way to remember which is which: think of i.e., as meaning “in other words,” and e.g., which starts with e, means “for example.” I = in other words. E= example.

e.g. means “for example,” so you use it to introduce an example or examples: I like card games, e.g., bridge and crazy eights. Because e.g. is used, you know a list of examples of card games is provided.

i.e. means “in other words,” so you use it to introduce a parenthetical clarification: I'm going to the place where I work, i.e., the university. The place where I work is the university.

In American English, it is standard to use a comma after i.e. and e.g.

Word of the Day: hoi polloi

hoi polloi [ HOY puh-LOY] -- n. pl -- commoners, great unwashed, minions, multitude, mob, plebeians, proletariat, rabble, rank and file, riffraff, the common people, the herd, the many, the masses, the plebs, the peons, the working class

The expression is most often used as a term of contempt describing the common people, the rabble. Example: "The rich ate caviar and drank champagne, but it was bread and water for us hoi polloi."

Caricature: Ichabod Crane vs. Brom Bones

Disney actually does a decent job of effectively portraying Brom Bones and Ichabod Crane in due caricature. Recall how Irving caricatures both protagonist and antagonist:

Ichabod Crane: "The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weather-cock perched upon his spindle neck to tell which way the wind blew. To see him striding along the profile of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon the earth, or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield."

Brom Bones: "The most formidable was a burly, roaring, roystering blade, of the name of Abraham, or, according to the Dutch abbreviation, Brom Van Brunt, the hero of the country round, which rang with his feats of strength and hardihood. He was broad-shouldered and double-jointed, with short curly black hair, and a bluff but not unpleasant countenance, having a mingled air of fun and arrogance. From his Herculean frame and great powers of limb he had received the nickname of BROM BONES, by which he was universally known. He was famed for great knowledge and skill in horsemanship, being as dexterous on horseback as a Tartar. He was foremost at all races and cock fights; and, with the ascendancy which bodily strength always acquires in rustic life, was the umpire in all disputes, setting his hat on one side, and giving his decisions with an air and tone that admitted of no gainsay or appeal. He was always ready for either a fight or a frolic; but had more mischief than ill-will in his composition; and with all his overbearing roughness, there was a strong dash of waggish good humor at bottom."

Watch the animated clip of Brom Bones telling the story of the legendary headless horseman at the Van Tassel estate. Does Ichabod seem like an eligible bachelor?

Word of the Day: Facetious

facetious: (adj.) not meant to be taken seriously or literally; lacking serious intent; concerned with something nonessential, amusing, or frivolous; tongue-in-cheek, blithe, capering, droll, flippant, frivolous, indecorous, ironic, irreverent, jesting, jocose, jocular, pulling one's leg, punning, putting one on, salty, sarcastic, satirical, smart, sportive, sprightly, waggish, whimsical, wisecracking, witty, wry

Origin: 1592, from the French facétieux, from facétie "a joke," from Latin facetia, from "witty, elegant," of unknown origin, perhaps related to facetusfacis "torch." It implies a desire to be amusing, often intrusive or ill-timed.

Jacky was being facetious when she said, "Yes, let's all go to Iraq for my birthday party!"

Tidbit: Along with abstemious, facetious is one of two words in the English language containing all five vowels in alphabetical order.

The Real Sleepy Hollow

John Quidor oil painting
from Smithsonian American Art Museum

Explore the real town of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County, New York. You can see that Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" still lives on in the imaginations of the residents there.

Rip Van Winkle as Cautionary Tale

We decided that it is difficult to make the case for "Rip Van Winkle" functioning as a "morality tale," but it can be viewed as a cautionary tale. We had a few examples of those when we read The Canterbury Tales last year.

In simple terms, a cautionary tale is a traditional story told in folklore with the purpose of warning its hearer of a particular danger (e.g., playing with matches). The cautionary tale consists of three essential parts.

1. A taboo or prohibition is stated: some act, location, or thing is said to be dangerous.

2. The narrative itself is told: someone disregarded the warning and performed the forbidden act or acted in a prohibitive way.

3. Finally, the violator comes to an unpleasant fate, which is frequently related in large and grisly detail.

So, what is the taboo or danger that Irving warns his readers about in "Rip Van Winkle"? No, he doesn't warn against a life of idleness. He doesn't counsel us not to drink liquor with little people who have large beards and small piggish eyes. His warning is directed to wives: Wives, do not henpeck your husbands. Dame Van Winkle is the termagant transgressor who has henpecked her husband to a point that he wants to escape his intolerable domestic life. We might even consider that she's the cause of Rip's laziness around his house and farm, especially since the other village wives put him to work quite easily around their own homesteads, doing work they can't get their own husband's to do.

And, in the end, who comes to a "bad" end? Not Rip, but the no-name Dame Van Winkle. Her homestead goes to wrack and ruin; she loses her husband, and dies an early death.

Irving based some of his folklore stories on the German folklore tradition, which has a long lineup of short cautionary tales written in verse. You may enjoy some of these from Heinrich Hoffmann such as Cruel Frederick, The Dreadful Story of Pauline and the Matches, The Story of the Inky Boys, The Wild Huntsman, and Slovenly Peter:

See Slovenly Peter! Here he stands,
With his dirty hair and hands.
See! his nails are never cut;
They are grim'd as black as soot;
No water for many weeks,
Has been near his cheeks;
And the sloven, I declare,
Not once this year has combed his hair!
Anything to me is sweeter
Than to see shock-headed Peter.

Word of the Day: Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist [ ZYTE-gaist] -- (n) the popular outlook -- intellectually, morally, and culturally - in a particular period or generation. Scholars maintain that each era has a unique spirit distinguishing it from other periods. The pervasive cultural climate is described as the Zeitgeist. It is most often reflected in the music, movies, literature, and philosophy of the time.

First introduced in the English language in the late 19th century, Zeitgeist is another loaner from German. Literally translated Zeitgeist means "spirit of the times" since zeit is time and geist is spirit.

Rip Van Winkle from 1896

Here is, without a doubt, the earliest film adaptation of Irving's "Rip Van Winkle." Very primitive indeed, replete with dramatic hand gestures, but worth watching because of the eerie resemblance of the Catskill gnome (not the one pictured above) to our resident Larry.

View the 4 minute silent film...

Word of the Day: Schadenfreude

schadenfreude [ SHAW-den-froy-duh] -- (n.) taking malicious satisfaction in another person's troubles or suffering; epikhairekakia

The Book of Proverbs mentions an emotion similar to that now described by the word schadenfreude: "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him" (Proverbs 24:17-18).

Sometimes capitalized, schadenfreude is a compound of two German words: schaden (damage) and freude (joy). Although this word was in use in the German language early in the 19th century, its first appearance in English is thought to be 1895.

As I noted today, German words can get to be very long, since many of them are compound nouns. We see this, for example, in "The Spectre Bride" with Starkenfaust (strong fist) and Katzenellenbogen (cat elbow). Ah, but these are just puny words, compared to some German compound nouns, such as:

Parkzeitüberschreitung:
expired parking meter

Berufungsgerichtsverfahren:
court of appeal procedure

Lehrgangsteilnahmebestaetigung:
training course participation confirmation

Supermarkteinkaufstütenbeschriftung:
Supermarket purchase bag inscription

Death By Books (and Other Stuff)

Speaking of urban legends, American literary light E.L. Doctorow (author of Ragtime) has published a new novel based on the urban legend of the Collyer brothers, Homer and Langley, who were literally crushed to death by the books (and other paraphernalia) they collected in their Manhattan brownstone. From the review this week in The New York Times:

The subject of E. L. Doctorow’s gentle, enveloping new novel, Homer & Langley, is one that might easily come to any deskbound writer who spends his days amid mounting piles of books, newspapers and magazines. It’s the Collyer brothers, Homer and Langley — wealthy, reclusive Manhattan pack rats who lived for decades in squalor in a Fifth Avenue brownstone and died within a labyrinth of trash: towers of news­papers, battlements of books, mountains of boxes and heaps of chandeliers and debris (human organs in brine, pianos, a Model T Ford). After their deaths, in 1947, investigators had to break an upstairs window to gain entrance. Burrowing through walls of clutter, they soon found Homer’s body, but it took weeks to locate Langley’s, which lay within 10 feet of his brother’s, crushed beneath a booby trap he’d set for prowlers. After both Collyers were extracted, more than 100 tons of refuse was removed from the building.

Though their story is entirely true, the Collyers have become the stuff of urban legend; as such, they’ve inspired many commemorations before this one. A few years ago, Franz Lidz wrote a riveting, fact-filled nonfiction account of the brothers, Ghosty Men, interwoven with reminiscences of his uncle (also a compulsive hoarder). In 1954, the impetuous writer and critic Marcia Davenport (she titled her autobiography Too Strong for Fantasy) mined their biography for melodrama in her novel My Brother’s Keeper, in which a passionate opera singer drives two brothers to disposophobic lunacy. The peculiar pair have also popped up, by name or reputation, in plays, television shows and films, as well as in the horror and crime genre — from Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, in 1975, to Linda Fairstein’s “Lethal Legacy,” published last February.

Read on...

Usage Tip: Who vs. That vs. Which

Which of the following sentences is correct?

a. He's the man that sold me that clunker.
b. He's the man who sold me that clunker.

A simple grammar rule-of-thumb applies here: you use who when you are talking about a person and that when you are talking about an object. Stick with that rule and you'll be safe.

That being said, the rule-of-thumb isn't hard-and-fast. The American Heritage Dictionary says,

It is entirely acceptable to write either the man that wanted to talk to you, or the man who wanted to talk to you. [emphasis added]

Even Chaucer did it, for example.

Now, that vs. which is a bit more complicated -- a more hard-and-fast a grammatical rule. That introduces essential clauses while which introduces nonessential clauses. Some examples:

Essential: I do not trust products that claim "all natural ingredients" because this phrase can mean almost anything. (We would not know which products were being discussed without the that clause.)

Non-Essential: The product claiming "all natural ingredients," which appeared in the Sunday newspaper, is on sale. (The product is already identified. Therefore, which begins a nonessential clause.)

Word of the Day: Salmagundi

You'll note on the background information you were given about Washington Irving that he and his brother wrote an anthology of stories called Salmagundi. So, I imagine everyone is wondering about this word. Doubtless, many of you have already looked up the word on your own, but for those who have not:

Salmagundi: (n) -- A mixture or miscellany; potpourri, smorgasbord, witch's brew, farrago, gallimaufry, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, melange, mingle-mangle, mishmash, oddments, odds and ends, omnium-gatherum, ragbag

According to World Wide Word's Michael Quinion: Though this is now used mainly in a figurative sense, it was first attached in English to a dish of chopped meat, anchovies and eggs, garnished with onions, lemon juice, oil and other condiments. A right dog’s breakfast, in fact.

N.B. Consider the reasons that Washington Irving may have written under the pseudonyms "Jonathan Oldstyle" and "Geoffrey Crayon."