Literature Portfolio

1、literature portfoliomelissa fischelsfebruary 25, 2004board members:dr. bauerlydr. stonetable of contentspreface3reflections5annotated bibliography13opening doors17works cited28reflective essay29prefacechoosing two essays representing my work as an english literature student at loras college seemed a

2、 daunting task at first. after reviewing the papers i saved over the past three years i decided to include “reflections” a voiced essay on the life and work of william faulkner, and “calls for change” an essay discussing the issues raised by three american renaissance writers. i felt both assignment

3、s showed my experience interpreting others writing as well as representing my own writing skills. “reflections” was assigned during dr. bauerlys course, american literature: modern and contemporary prose, 1900-1945. the purpose was to become knowledgeable about william faulkner while creatively expl

4、oring his work and life in a voiced research paper. overall, i believe the essay fulfills two goals of the english literature major, specifically number five: “knowledge of the social, political, philosophical, and religious forces that influence authors and the people they write about” (oral portfo

5、lio handout) because through my research i discovered how faulkners history, motivation, and sources influenced his writing. the voiced essay also encompasses goal number six: “strong writing skills that include the ability to synthesize ideas and concepts, to convey these ideas with clarity and cre

6、ativity, to master techniques and conventions of literary research” (oral portfolio handout). while improving the essay during the portfolio process, i concentrated on incorporating the meaning of his work into the dialogue of my paper. my revision of “calls for change” required more work because i

7、chose to concentrate on one american renaissance writer, catharine maria sedgwick. i made this choice because i am very interested in the “cult of domesticity” and the way women were portrayed in the nineteenth century. the revised essay is called “opening doors” and this essay displays my “understa

8、nding of the central theoretical issues concerning the creation and criticism of literature, i.e., the nature of narrative, dramatic, and poetic literary forms; the works representation of reality, and its claim to truth; the role of genre, gender, ethnicity, class, and culture in the works producti

9、on and reception” (oral portfolio handout). through my observations of sedgwicks characters, plot, and her use of the sentimental novels formula, i demonstrated my understanding of the function of white women in nineteenth century literature.“reflections” and “opening doors” are works of mine that i

10、 feel represent my research, interpretation, and writing ability related to the english literature major. the changes in the work between the time both essays were originally written and the completion of the portfolio process prove my progress both as a student and as a person.reflectionswilliam fa

11、ulkner saunters into a tavern in the french quarter of new orleans. he takes a seat at the bar and appears to be under the influence of alcohol. the bar is nearly empty with only one man seated two stools away. the juke box is playing johnny hortons “the battle of new orleans” at a low volume.faulkn

12、er: (removing his hat and placing it on the bar) ill take a scotch, please.bartender: you mean bourbon? faulkner: nah, i aint that particular. between scotch and nothin, ill take scotch. this line came from an interview faulkner gave to jean stein in the spring of 1956. faulkner would drink whatever

13、 was available, including homemade corn alcohol (faulkner, qtd. in cox 7).bartender: coming right up.(the bartender hands faulkner a glass half full of scotch.)(faulkner takes a sip and then exhales a deep breath.)bartender: maybe im wrong, but it seems like i should know your name. have we met befo

14、re?faulkner: no, i doubt that weve met, but you may have seen my picture before. my name is bill faulkner. . . im a writer.(faulkner takes another drink.)bartender: bill faulkner. . .you mean william faulkner?. . .the sound and the fury, light in august, william faulkner?faulkner: (sigh) yes, thats

15、me. im visiting new orleans just thinking about my younger days. im 59 years old and some days i feel like an old man. just six months ago i fell off my horse in virginia and that damn fall is still plaguing me. faulkner joined the farmington hunt club while living in charlottesville, va. he was ver

16、y proud of this achievement, but in march of 1959 he broke his collarbone after falling off his horse (padgett). (faulkner rubs his shoulder, close to his neck.) being back in new orleans is making me nostalgic about my friendship with sherwood anderson, reminding me how much he helped me when i fir

17、st started writing, and how our friendship ended.bartender: uh oh, it doesnt sound like a fairy tale ending. what happened?faulkner: the two of us used to walk around the french quarter a lot, but then i said something i shouldnt have about his writing and he took it too personally. i never meant to

18、 ruin our friendship though. at the beginning of their friendship faulkner and anderson used to drink and talk together telling each other stories. their relationship began to fall apart and faulkner criticized andersons work in 1926 saying he had a lack of humor, he was tentative, and he had not ma

19、tured artistically (wittenberg 41). faulkner actually said he never understood why the two lost their friendship, although acknowledging he was not an easy friend to have because of his own mood swings. the same thing happened with hemingway, but that was the medias fault for giving such an incomple

20、te version of what i really said. during a question and answer session at the university of mississippi faulkner said this about hemingway, “he has no courage, has never climbed out on a limb. . .has never used a word where the reader might check his usage by a dictionary” (faulkner, qtd in padgett)

21、. (looking towards the man sitting nearby) i might get myself into more trouble if i keep talking like this. (extending his hand across the bar) so, my name is bill faulkner, nice to meet you. bartender: (also extending his hand) my name is dean. . .bill.faulkner: dean! (a large smile appears on wil

22、liams face.) i had a younger brother named dean. we were pretty close until he died in a plane crash. november of 1934 dean died when the waco, a plane given to him by william, crashed (padgett). he was a good kid. william was the oldest of four boys. he was very sensitive, and suspected of making h

23、imself sick in order to receive attention when the second son was born. his father always favored his brothers over him because they were more athletic than william. he never had a good relationship with his father. he would purposely fail just to upset him. his mother also failed william because sh

24、e was not openly affectionate. she may have closed herself off after her husband proved he was a bad businessman and father, and not only did she shut herself off from her husband but also her sons. william was able to have a good relationship with her, however (wittenberg 20-26). (smile fades sligh

25、tly as faulkner empties the remains of his drink into his mouth.) dean: another scotch?faulkner: thank you, dean. so tell me, how do you like living in new orleans? been working here long? dean: well, im actually taking a break from college right now. i went for three semesters, but i need to make s

26、ome more money before i can go back. faulkner: really, you sound a bit like me when i was your age. faulkner quit school in the tenth grade. after joining the royal flying corps in canada faulkner was eligible to attend the university of mississippi. he studied french, spanish, and english for one y

27、ear. after trying school he worked many odd jobs such as painting, carpentry, and even being the postmaster of a university (oconnor 55). i can tell you one thing, though; if you dont enjoy what you are doing its not worth it. dont ever stay in a job that you hate. faulkner did not stay with the pos

28、t master job very long. in his resignation he said, “i will be damned if i propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp” (faulkner, qtd. in oconnor 55). and, dont ever let anyone tell you what you should be doing. sometimes the job yo

29、u enjoy the most may be the least respectable in the opinion of others; just do whatever makes you happy. in faulkners interview with stein he was asked what the best environment was for a writer and he responded with, “ the best job that was ever offered to me was to become a landlord in a brothel.

30、 . . . the place is quiet during the morning hours, which is the best time of the day to work. theres enough social life in the evening, if he wished to participate, to keep him from being bored” (faulkner, qtd. in cox 7). dean: what is it that makes you happy, bill?faulkner: what makes me happy, hu

31、h? well, thats a tough question and im not sure i can really answer it completely. . .hmm, i cant say what makes me happy, but i can tell you all i need is paper, tobacco, food, and a little whisky.dean: doesnt sound like a bad way to live. faulkner: (leaning in) dean, what were you studying during

32、your three semesters? lord, i hope it was something worth studying. dean: (laughing to himself) well, i was taking some lit and writing classes. im trying to prepare myself to be the next great american writer! i read a lot of your work one semester, and even though im sure plenty of the meaning wen

33、t over my head, you left me thinking for days.faulkner: that is a massive undertaking, dean, very ambitious of you! does that mean you liked my work? what a lot of people dont understand about what i write is im not writing for the public. i dont even agree with everything i write, but the words cho

34、se me. faulkner refers to demons or voices that tell him what to write. he saw his talent as a gift from god, which made him a “vessel.” he explained to malcolm cowley, “i listen to the voices and when i put down what the voices say, its right, sometimes i dont like what they say, but i dont change

35、it” (faulkner, qtd. in wittenberg 3). dean: is that why your work can be so confusing? wouldnt the reader get more out of your writing if they understood what was happening?faulkner: sometimes thats the point, dean. if you are reading about a character that is confused what sense does it make to hav

36、e them be rational and explainable. did you notice in light in august that lena grove was a simple character and was the easiest to understand, while hightower spent most of the novel in extreme bewilderment? the more complicated the personality the more complex the reading. dean: all i know is some

37、times i had to read parts three times and i still had no idea what you were getting at.faulkner: no offense, dean, but then read it four times. in his interview with stein, faulkner was asked what he suggested for readers who couldnt understand his writing even after reading it three times. faulkner

38、 simply suggested, “read it four times” (faulkner, qtd. in cox 17). dean: alright, youve made your point about the style of your work, but i always wondered, dont you ever mind what critics say about you or what you write? isnt it hard not to take them too personally if theyre harsh?faulkner: i have

39、 a simple answer for that question. i dont read the critics. when i am writing i am too busy to worry about what they have to say. besides, if youre going to be a writer you should understand critics dont write for the writers. they write for the readers. faulkners belief was writers are too busy wr

40、iting to worry about the reviews. only people who wanted to be writers concerned themselves with critics (cox 21).dean: did you talk about your work with sherwood anderson? is that why you two became friends?faulkner: no, actually i dont like to talk about my writing. because i only write for myself

41、, it does no good to talk to other people. it has got to please me and if it does i dont need to talk about it, because the only thing to improve it is to work on it some more. i am not a literary man but a writer. this quote was also found in faulkners interview with stein (faulkner, qtd. in cox 21

42、). sherwood and i traded stories. we didnt talk about work. when he found out i was writing a novel he didnt even want to read it. andersons wife told faulkner that as long as sherwood didnt have to read the manuscript he would tell his publisher to publish it, and he did (cox 18). most of the time

43、he talked and i listened.dean: hmm, so i should consider myself pretty lucky to be having this conversation with you?faulkner: (with a smile on his face.) if youd like to consider yourself lucky, dean, go right ahead; i wont try to change your mind. i think i found you on the right day with the righ

44、t amount of whisky in my belly. surprisingly, im enjoying this chat were having, so go ahead and continue picking my brain. dean: (leaning his elbows on the top of the bar.) well, i was just wondering if you have a favorite novel that youve written. i know from what ive read of your work the sound a

45、nd the fury is my favorite.faulkner: (looking at dean as though they share a secret.) well, well, it seems as though we have the same good taste when it comes to my writing. the sound and the fury is the one novel i love the most. i re-wrote it five times because i couldnt get it to fit the way i wa

46、nted. even after i finished the book i felt it wasnt complete. fifteen years after the book was published he wrote an appendix to another book to complete the story for the sound and the fury. after all those years he could not leave it alone. faulkner always felt that no writer ever perfected his w

47、ork. if they felt it was flawless then they were done as writers because the goal was to always top yourself. he thought he could improve on every single one of his pieces but he could never perfect them (cox 14). dean: after i read the sound and the fury i felt a deep sense of accomplishment. just

48、staying focused on what was going on in benjys mind and having so much attention placed on caddy, but never getting to hear the thoughts in her head, made it hard to follow. what gave you the idea of writing a novel with four different perspectives like that?faulkner: it all started with the image o

49、f caddy climbing up a tree in her muddy drawers trying to catch a glimpse of her grandmothers funeral. her brothers didnt have the courage to climb the tree, only their sister. from there it turned into caddys relationship with each of her brothers. faulkner explained during an interview at the univ

50、ersity of virginia how the idea for the sound and the fury originated (faulkner, qtd. in fargnoli and golay 219). first i told the story through benjy, the idiot. then i told the same story through quentin and jason. you see, dean, the compson family was struggling because their world was changing.

51、the south wasnt the same place it used to be and it was affecting their family. the father is a cynic who chooses to drink in an attempt to deal with his daughter becoming pregnant before marriage, and his sons suicide. quentin kills himself after learning his sister does not live up to his expectat

52、ions of how a woman should behave, and jason is too selfish to care for anyone other than himself. jason always was a selfish character.dean: what made you include the fourth section with dilsey?faulkner: ah, dilsey. dilsey is more than the compsons servant, dean. dilsey is a complete human being. (

53、vickery 47). she shows compassion for benjy, which is a rare occurrence in the compson household. she also defends caddy and caddys daughter quentin when they cannot defend themselves. dilsey is a reminder to act out of ones humanity. dean: which story came first, the sound and the fury, or “that ev

54、ening sun”? faulkner: i wrote “that evening sun” a few years before the sound and the fury but they were published in the reverse order. the sound and the fury was published in 1929 and “that evening sun” was published in 1931.dean: you must have felt really attached to the compson family to continu

55、e writing about them so much. faulkner: well, i started writing about my own memories of childhood through the compsons. “that evening sun” was a story about children who are faced with a sinister situation and whether or not they are given the proper guidance to deal with it. (bloom 172). i include

56、d nancy and jesus into the story because blacks in the south may have been liberated by the emancipation proclamation, but they werent really free. dean: how could you give the character jesus that name? i did not understand how it fit him at all.faulkner: this may surprise you, dean, but it was not

57、 so much to shock, but to emphasize the point i was making, which was that this negro woman who had given devotion to the white family knew that when the crisis of her need came, the white family wouldnt be there. faulkner gave this answer at a conference at the university of virginia in 1957 (faulkner, qtd. in johnston 96).dean: (nodding his head slightly) mr. compson did leave her alone in the end. that surprised me.faulkner: i have always thought the emancipation did more for the white man than the black man. jason compson is a generation after the emancipation so he no longer feels the