Gianakis+11.16.09

TODAY: -Wrap up on Oedipus. -Reflect on the recursive nature of text. -Lead up to the final project.

WEDNESDAY: -We will move to Marie De France. She is a writer that has been neglected by history she's anonymous so we only know her as Marie.

4 WEEKS LEFT! -We will have two surveys 1. O.I.T. 2. Dr. Nicosia's -No in class exam on final day, just bring in papers and projects.
 * iPods must be in on the last day of class. MUST BE IN BEFORE FINALS.

-Trajectory of narrative: (ie. from Gilgamesh to the Canterbury Tales)

TO RECAP WHAT WE DID WEDNESDAY: -Five minute explanations of the choral oaths. We saw a synopsis of their importance.

DID WE SEE A TRAJECTORY? -Behind God -Behind God and Oedipus -At the end the end the chorus becomes more aware of their surroundings as Oedipus loses awareness (inverse pattern) -Declination of what Oedipus understands

IF THE CHORUS REPRESENTS THE COMMUNITY, WHAT IS SOPHOCLES SAYING? -Chorus is "gossipy". We're lowly people but we know. -Chorus is the common man/woman. -Common people (in contrast to Oedipus who is proud/hubris filled) -Its more or less the community that prevails.

WHERE DOES RELIGION COME IN, FAITH AND BELIEF IN THE GODS? -It's a story of fate and predestination thus the gods must have power. -Chorus is aware of the deity, Oedipus assumes to know everything. He's on the plinth of the gods in his mind whereas the Chorus thinks the gods hold the power. -Relates to Hector, Achilles, and Gilgamesh =tragic heros

-Very Jerry Springerish in the drama.

MESSAGE: The gods need to be reaffirmed in their soviergnty.

(LINE 778): Jocasta telling husband only the gods know the future so prophecy is flawed and she rejects it. "No human has insight to the future".

Sophocles and people of his time were wrangling with the idea of why the gods are silent. 1. The gods were not talking to them (anger?) 2. The gods didn't care enough to talk 3. If there were gods

3 fates make fate, like in Disney's Hercules

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SAY AGENCY? -Whether or not individuals have power (ie. to decide something for yourself)

-Gilgamesh: prophecies (ie. Enkidu) -Hebrew Bible: fate/predestination (though free will and agency available, ie. flood) -The Iliad: prophecies
 * EVERY piece we've read so far has FATE in it

-Contradiction between Pagan and Christian god structure.

-Society benefits from having a core of people with the same core of literary knowledge.

-We should connect the material we read to modern day.

Marie De France: -Think she was a French woman who lived in England. -Believe she was a nun, sister, or an academic. -Of noble standing. -Took the stories of Arthur and made them adventures. -Gives us different interpretations of Arthurian knights. -Romances in the sense of adventure. -Lays/lais: Story she wrote -Wrote 12 lais that survived and they are octosyllabic lines. -Sources from lais are stories she read.


 * HOW TO WRITE A PAPER*

DO NOT: -Work with all the critical materials in front of you first.

DO: -Find your argument and then find critical material to support it. -Look at your notes and free write about what you think for each page in the piece. -As reading secondary sources, save a file of "cool quotes"

-Mechanics of writing and creating a works cited page.

WEDNESDAY: -Read 5-6 pages of Marie De France -We will look at MLA in class (she'll give us a worksheet/upload something to the wiki)

NEXT MONDAY: -NO CLASS, BUT WIKI POSTING!

-After Thanksgiving we will be working on Chaucer/the final project which we will be assigned Wednesday.

-Use wiki notes to study and as a source for our projects. Note taking is a service to one another.