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[whoreinyourhead]

i'm having issues with my lit class. i am sucking at journal responses for this class & i don't know why. is it because i read everything the day before & the day of class? do i actually not get it? do i get it, but because i don't write these thoughts down i forget them? my ego is starting to suffer

Comments

[rubincomp]

You're speaking my language, Jaqui.

I'm not sure what the assignment is, so if you want to provide any info on that, it'd be good. BUT, here's what often would help me with "journal" entries:

I like to ask questions, and then try my best to find the answers. This will often take the form of unstructured kinds of narratives, but if they're journal entries, that ought to be kind of okay. If what you're supposed to do is expound on what things mean, you're fighting a losing battle, because the teacher likely has a better idea as to what the "right" answer is than you do. As such, try to ask questions that take a look at anything that's ambiguous, ie, something that's just not as clear as it could be. So, for Slaughterhouse Five, for instance, you say that Billy's crazy. And yes, it would certainly seem that way, but that's thinking within the confines of the world of the story. Pull back: what does his time traveling and alien-meeting really mean? What's the significance of its inclusion? What narrative/character opportunities

[whoreinyourhead]

http://www.dmacc.edu/instructors/sdmiller/spring%202008/185/journal.htm

those are the journal entries. we use this postmodern american fiction textbook & read excerpts from that. i think i'm doing several things wrong - i am so preoccupied with simply finishing the reading because i wait til the last minute that i am not REALLY READING it. i don't make notes as i read, & half the time i forget to read the journal questions before reading.

so, i'm going to make sure i've read everything by sunday [class is on monday night at 7], pick the journal entry, reread the story in question, take more notes, then write my journal. on monday, look over my journal entry & revise. i definitely need to pull away from the story every now & again to ask questions, sometimes i just get wrapped in it & forget that it's an assignment. other times, my mind is wandering off as i read. awesome.

anyway, thanks for your advice, it is definitely helpful!

[rubincomp]

Okay: I'm about to get all lit-majory on you. It sounds like the first question about Yellow Back Radio kind of invokes an idea from the critic Frederic Jameson (I think that's who it was) where he discusses an important distinction in post-modernism, which is the difference between pastiche and parody. Parody invokes traditional tropes and ideas as a way of making fun, whereas the pastiche does the exact same thing as a way of honoring or building on those tropes. It seems as though this work is doing something in the pastiche category--much like George Lucas's Star Wars movies invoke the old-style science-fiction movie serials to make something new and different