Just in case anybody checks this I thought I’d share that Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close has been made into a movie!

steph-clay:

amberen22:

Well This is it folks! The end of a great semester, in a great class, with a great teacher, and great fellow students! I have really enjoyed this class, definatly my favorite class this semester! I love Ms. Ckark as a teacher, she is gret and I loved (most) of the assignments. I really enjoyed the books we were assigned, I do not usually like to read, and would not have read those books if they were not assigned. I really loved Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the most. I am sure everyone else loved this class as much as I did. I have really enjoyed getting to know you all through this Tumblr project. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

 Lol, reading your posting kind of made me sad. I loved this class, it was a relaxing class with a lot of material still learned. I had Ms. Clark in ENG1102, so as i soon as i saw that she taught a Humanties III literature class I was all over it, and i heard from other students the class was extremely enjoyable! I enjoyed every book, as i did not dread reading any of them. I agree with you, my favorite was with Oskar, which by the way NEVER EMAILED ME BACK! I’m waiting for that day! (: Class participation made the class a lot more fun and enticing, because everyones attitude was great! Happy Holidays everyone, be safe! Enjoy! (:

EL&IC was my favorite too! I felt it was the most fun to read, even though it had some pretty sad themes at times. I’m glad I was forced to read these books because I would probably never pick them up otherwise. The class structure also made it feel like a book club instead of a class, for the most part. Writing papers really starts to make it feel like a class. :) I’m coming away from this class with a better understanding and higher appreciation for literature, and now I can get back to reading for pleasure. A Song of Ice and Fire series, here I come.

This has been one of the most tumultuous semesters in my college career, but I’m finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel! I enrolled in this class based solely on the fact that Prof. Clark was the teacher because she somehow made this left-brained math geek interested in the literary arts. I’ve always enjoyed reading, but a lot of the symbolism and “between the lines” stuff was lost on me. Defining (or trying to define) postmodernism was interesting, because I didn’t realize there was a name for those concepts; it was natural for me to question everything and think “outside the box”. I realize that’s contrary to my left-brain label, but what can I say… That’s just how my mind works. :) I’ll definitely recommend this course to anyone looking for a humanities 3 class.

blunt-honesty:

I saw this a while back and have seen quite a few tumblr postings from other people with it. To me it makes complete sense. Unless we can ask the author what they truly meant we are left with speculation and guesses. Sometimes I like to think the author laughs because they know classes like ours are trying to decipher something when he just meant “THEY ARE BLUE!” hahaha.

I have always thought this also. Not to discredit any interpretations, but sometimes I think the author means literally what they say. In literature there are accepted recurring subjects that are meant to be symbols, like windows which will give the character a limited view and limited access to what is outside, in a figurative and literal sense. But sometimes (and maybe this is a sign of a new writer) I think the window is there for the sake of being a window. However, that’s the beauty of literature; it can be interpreted many different ways, even if it wasn’t intentional.

I would be worried about spoiling something here if we hadn’t just read the novel, but one thing I found interesting was the ending of the novel gave me a better sense of the fate of the boy than the movie. When I saw the ending of the movie my boyfriend and I had a discussion of whether or not the people he joined after his father died were actually trustworthy. It was clearer to me in the book that the people meant well, but after seeing the movie there was the possibility in my mind that they were some of the “bad guys” and they were tricking the boy and basically “having him for dinner.”

steph-clay:

msliberty1990:

kelleyscoast:

sherryhaz:

 I am really enjoying reading The Road. I think that this is my favorite book out of the books that we read in class. This book is very suspenseful. The way the book is written the things that the boy and his father are doing are really drawn out. Just like what Ms. Clark was talking about in…

I have really enjoyed reading The Road as well, which I was kind of shocked that I like it.  It is a dark book and pretty heavy at times that does make it really suspenseful. I must say it was an pretty easy read compared to the others definitely more linear that helped a lot and I kind of like not having chapters for some odd reason I’m not really sure why. Plus, I’m glad it didn’t really jump around like the other novels which made it more simple and easy to follow and not too many characters to interrupt so bad it was pretty straight forward for the most part. I really liked having to step outside the box and read a novel like this.

 I agree with you both,the book is deffinately different from the others.It’s a good different though.In a way it can almost make you appreciate what you have and thank god you have a roof over your head with food to eat.It makes you think about the sense of bravery the little boy has and makes you stand in place and makes your heart stop knowing their are little kids struggling liek that everyday.In the book America might have burned down but you have to think about poor countries that are out there and they have nothing and fear of people too.The decisions they make and how fast they have to renact is something astonishing.But he always is to remind the little boy their still the good guys,because when your a parent you are to protect them from thinking anything bad.The book deffinatley makes you think..what if you were in that situation?

I agree with everyone this book is definitely and eye opener! The scary thing about it, is that it can acually happen. Who’s to say a devastating event like that could not happen. You have 9-11, the Japan earthquake, etc that could have been far worse; which could of had many of us in the same situation as the two main characters. This book definitely has a lot of details which makes you feel as If you’re watching this clip on the edge of your seat. I like McCarthy has written this novel, he made it to where there weren’t that many characters, it was linear, and way more of an easier read than the rest of the books we’ve read! Im excited to view the movie next week! (;

I get the feeling that a good majority of this class is uneducated on nuclear weapons and their effects. The scenario in this book is a very real possibility if our governments decide to wipe each other out using force. While I was reading The Road my mind kept going to Hiroshima and the devastation the Japanese endured after we attacked in 1945. The video shows footage from WWII and the aftermath of “Little Boy”. There’s also a very good animated movie called “Grave of the Fireflies” that follows a brother and sister after the explosion, giving you the perspective of the Japanese innocents who were victims of the attack.

Although I haven’t finished it yet, I’m really enjoying The Road. I saw the movie earlier this year, and I think it definitely helps with the imagery. Like Prof. Clark was saying in class, the syntax is very bland and I find my mind wandering while reading sometimes. I’m glad I got the opportunity to read the book because I feel my understanding of the story is enriched by McCarthy’s colorful vocabulary. It is a very depressing novel, but it kind of gives you perspective on what’s really important in life. I enjoy post-apocalyptic and dystopian books and movies because it gets to the heart of what it means to be human.

borussell13:

seekvicariously:

jdlit:

I got through the first few chapters of A visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and wow, this book really grabs you! i notice that the chapters are kinda like stories, and I like the way they intersect by giving us different POVs from past and present. This gives a very post modern feel to the novel, along with the informality of it. The dialogue and change of time is also reminiscent of EL&IC. I enjoy the use of Sasha’s “problem” and how it emerges to give those moments of irony and tension. For instance, Benny notices Sasha has been “finding” his gold flakes more and more, which he is thankful for, but we learn at that point that she has been lifting fom Benny. I predict this will be an issue later in the book! I am eager to see how these characters will intersect , and overall I think Professor Clark has chosen another enjoyable book that goes right along with the post-modern theme!

Jennifer Egan’s “The visit from the Goon Squads” has a unique style of writing intertwining each of the chapter’s stories with the others.  Each of the chapters embrace the dynamics of the two main characters Sasha and her boss Beanie relationship in an unconventional way. These reasons and the story’s nonlinear structure help in characterizing this book in the postmodern category.  After reading the first five chapters I predict Egan wrote this novel in a way that combines all the chapters (or stories) to tell one main story.  I have to agree with you there are many stylistic similarities to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and not just its nonlinear structure.

 After reading quite a few of the chapters you can start to see that the main characters are sasha and bennie. each chapter might not always have the main focus point on them but somehow in each chapter it relates to them in some way. there are only a few characteristics that are similar to the last book we read and that is how it uses flashbacks and how every chapter is from a new character, or to me it seems that way. with all the chapters somehow focusing back on sasha or bennie, by the end of the book somehow the idea of the book will be more clearly visible to see.

I was thinking earlier today as I was finishing the reading for tomorrow how the main character in the book seems to be Sasha. We get to see various points in her life, more so than Bennie, at least so far. It’s interesting to me how much she changes, but at the same time remains the same Sasha who is just a little bit crazy. We know from the first chapter that she ends up struggling to make ends meet and struggling with her identity, but at some point she lives a fairly comfortable life. In chapter 11 we see that the beginning of her adult life was even more tumultuous than when we were introduced to her.

blr1059:

Happy Mischief Night(on Sunday) everyone!! I know that the house lights shows are nothing all that new, but the fact that they did come up in the past few years still places them in the Post Modern era. This house in particular was featured on Good Morning America last week for its light show to the song Party Rock by LMFAO but what I found on YouTube is that they actually made a few different shows this year. I didn’t want to put up the Party Rock one because it’s already overloading Facebook so I chose the song This Is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas instead. Enjoy!

I love this!! This post will probably be way off class topic but it’s too epic not to share. I discovered this guy’s work about a week ago and as a former technical theatre major (specializing in lighting), I am completely blown away. I read somewhere he uses something like 1140 channels to control the lights and the talking faces are handmade by him. As for it being postmodern, I can see it as an integration of entertainment/pop culture with “everyday” life. Personally, I would classify this more as technoculture because of the impressive display of technology (along with the integration of pop culture). Either way, it’s amazing. :)  Happy Halloween!

Once I understood the link between the stories we read and classic fairy tales, I actually liked them. Generation X had a few connotations, with the astronaut representing the “frog” prince and the three Monroe sisters were reminiscent of the Cinderella story. I haven’t had a chance yet, but I’d like to go back and read them again to see what other kinds of symbolism I can pick up on, now that I know what to look for. I also thought the Hansel and Gretel link in Housekeeping was interesting, although we never know if there are children actually there or not. When you look at the story through that lens, it almost turns sinister.