Remember to make an appointment to see me at least once every two weeks (sign up sheet is always on my door). Bring your journal, papers, and any creative assignments you have done. Be working on the art and writing assignments that are posted on-line (Try to do at least 10 by the end of the semester). Don’t forget to journal at least 2X weekly. Suggestions for journaling include the creative work and also the tips for journaling posted earlier on the web site. Your journal should contain summaries and/or responses /reflections on readings you do on your own from the non-literary coursepack. Your journal is a good place to put the 3 questions you make up for discussion of each text (which some of you email me, too.)

Once you have received the contact information for your interview, please contact the person and arrange to meet him/her and begin formulating some of the questions you will ask. You can run these by me first. If you do your interview, be careful to jot down specific quotes and to document the interview while it is fresh in your mind. Most of the interviews will take place in early or mid-November. Try to write an account of what you learned from your interviewee's story within one week of the interview.

Please write on one of the following. If you have an alternative topic you would prefer to write on, feel free to propose it. No matter what topic you choose, you must support your arguments this time with concrete examples and/or quotes from the text (properly cited, please).

1) Brecht (The Jewish Wife) The personal is political. What evidence is there that Judith Keith understands her situation intimately and that she takes some responsibility for being in the position she is in? How does her speech show the audience that she understands broader implications and ramifications of one's actions? (e.g., She talks about how she went along with it when she learned from her husband that some diabetics get insulin and others don't.) How might this be demonstrated on stage? What effect does the tri-partite construction of the scene have? What is the impact of the husband's return, as Judith is in the middle of packing?

2) Gogol's story, The Nose, could be approached from a number of points of view. Choose one and do an analysis of the story from that point of view. What does Gogol say about the nature of humankind? How does he mock or satirize officialdom? Please refer to stylistic choices Gogol made in his writing. If you choose this topic, please generate a list of descriptions of Kovalev from the text before you begin.

3) Write an analysis of Gogol's The Nose. How does Gogol underscore the fantastic nature of alienation? Consider some of the (typical Gogolian) literary devices used in the text (hyperbole, non-sequitors, dirty details, irrelevancies, ludicrous comparisons, innuendoes, funny names.) How are these used to create the story? Consider the surrealistic nature of the story. What appears as "real" and/or "accepted as reality" and what does not? How and why does Gogol combine elements of fantasy and realism to show Kovalev's relationship to and image of himself and others?

4) Kafka (The Metamorphosis) According to German scholar, Frank Trommler, John Updike has described Kafka, for all his debilities, as "a man of the world.". . . He attended German schools in Prague, earned his law degree, was experienced in merchandising in his father's business, worked for 13 years in Workers' Accident Insurance on factory safety, where his reports were admired and trusted. Out of his personal experience of paternal tyranny and inhuman bureaucracy, Kafka articulated astounding insights . . . . Kafka knows something about how individuals are transformed in this world of business heriarchies, tight schedules, and distrustful families." Write about the topic of transformation in Kafka's story; who and what transforms? Describe Gregor Samsa's transformation. In what ways was it gradual? In what ways not? (Consider what was physical and what was not.) Does he lose or gain freedom in his new form? Carefully consider Samsa's relationship to his work, his family, and himself. Use these as starting points for an essay that is an analysis of the story from the standpoint of the general theme of transformation and seeing the self as other.

5) Though the three texts (Brecht, Gogol, and Kafka) are stylistically very different, they all three have some things in common. They deal with the fundamental question of: What is normal? What is critical to one’s identity? They all posit ways to witness how the main character sees him/her self in relationship with others. Recognition and familiarity play a role in the main character’s understanding of his/her situation in all three texts. Finally, each of the texts demonstrates, albeit in vary different ways, what might be called internalized alienation. Write an essay that compares how these topics are treated in one or two of the texts. Consider, in particular, the literary devices the author chose to use, e.g., use of quotation, dialogue, repetition, exaggeration, interior monologue, etc. If you are writing about Kafka or Gogol, please comment on the use of humor, as well.