Comment on this quotation from 1984; in what way does it underpin significant themes in Orwell’s novel?

A very Ibsen-esque project. I wonder if we could do this in Norway:

Back in June 2007, Saskatchewan artist Heather Benning transformed an abandoned farmhouse in southwestern Manitoba into a giant dollhouse. She replaced the north-facing wall with Plexiglas, showcasing its interior and then fully restored the house with candy-colored walls and furniture from the 1960s, when the home was abandoned.

If you want to investigate some film connections, check out this post that explores current films that parallel or complement this style.

As we’ve begun to experience some of Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry as a class–both from her collection titled The World’s Wife and from her other books–I am curious about the connections that we can make between the poems that we looked at in groups last week: “Medusa,” “Salome,” and “Demeter.“

In a review of The World’s Wife for The Independent, Duffy was quoted as saying:

I wanted to use history and myth and popular culture and elements from cinema and literature, but also to anchor it in a deeply personal soil and make an entertainment. It was fun to juggle around with and there were times when I sat laughing as I was writing.

This leads me to some questions that my class can select to respond to below: What is Duffy doing with these different perspectives of women? How does the title of her collection fit in? What is stylistically unique about Duffy’s work? How does her poetry relate to Whitman’s? And why is she laughing? If you want to incorporate the review, you could also comment on whether or not you agree with The Independent’s review of her collection, based on the poems you’ve read so far?

As always, please try to offer a new idea, and respond to or expand upon another classmate’s comment.

As we begin to study Tim O’Briens’ In the Lake of the Woods, we might want to consider this brief editorial for The New York Times in order to have another piece to the puzzle that we have been referring to as “the fog of war.”

The nation has finally heard a note of personal regret from William Calley 38 years after he became the sole American soldier convicted in the My Lai massacre of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians.

“There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in My Lai,” Mr. Calley, a former lieutenant who now is a 66-year-old graybeard, told the Kiwanis Club of Greater Columbus, Ga. His appearance this month came after decades of no comment. “I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families,” said Mr. Calley, who was defended as a dutiful soldier by many when the slaughter was disclosed.

Read Full Editorial

We are also looking forward to Mr. Williams sharing his expertise on the Vietnam War, and specifically the My Lai Massacre, on Monday. Mr. Quale’s class and mine will meet in my room.

We might also investigate  the artwork of Long Nguyen, a Vietnamese painter who fled with his family from Vietnam in 1975, and who now resides in California. To the left I have included one of his most powerful pieces, titled “Homage to a Troubled Land,” but be sure to also click on the link to investigate more of his artwork via the San Jose Museum of Art website.

Check out the only site I could find that has reproduced Life Magazine’s article “A Gamble on Novices Almost Works too Well,” which reports on the recruiting and filming of the 1963 version of the movie Lord of the Flies, directed by Peter Brook. In the article, Brook discusses some of the tricks that they tried in order to convince parents to let their children be in the movie based on a book that was still relatively unknown and unpopular:

The English parents were furnished with copies of Golding’s novel and most of them read it. They were predisposed in its favor because it was, after all, an English book about an adventure in the tropics–something like The Coral Island, no doubt. None of them noticed, or at any rate remarked about the fact, that several pages at the end of the book had been artfully razored out. These pages contain a commentary which makes Golding’s meaning crystalline, and some explanations of the symbolism . . .

Janet Maslin also writes an insightful review of the newer film version from 1990, which she criticizes as a “fashionable looking film” that is, unfortunately, “thoroughly Americanized.”

NPR ran a story a few years ago titled “Looking Anew at Lord of Flies.” You may listen to it by clicking on this link.

And finally, below is a scene from The Simpson’s episode titled “Das Bus,” which we will watch as a class to learn about parody and satire. You can also click on the picture to watch the episode online.