Friends,
In the comments, leave me titles and authors of stories, essays, plays and poems that have to do with dying, and/or aging, and/or health care. I'll explain why soon (Diana, if you got the call from Jan, then you already know why).
-update-
The reason why I needed the stories and such is that I will be teaching an accelerated introduction to literature course through Viterbo University (located in La Crosse, Wisconsin) at one of their extension locations in Janesville, Wisconsin. The course is seven weeks long, and I teach Wednesday mornings 8am to 12pm, and is really an extension of their composition course, but exposing the students to literature instead of focusing on composition techniques. There are, naturally, several challenges. There will be a small number of students, who are all nurses. The location is an hour away. The class will be four hours long, which means varying the activities and doing many things, and of course condensing teaching an introduction of the entirety of English literature into seven class periods. But, the class also must have a theme for which the literary analysis papers should be based. That's where your suggestions came in.
Since I will be teaching nurses, I need to keep them interested in the material, so that's why I need stories and poems about "aging, death and grief" because that's my chosen theme for the class since nurses deal with that stuff all the time, I figured let's work with literature in their comfort zone that deals with those problems of life.
So far, your suggestions have been fantastic. I know I'm going to use "I Want to Live!" that Alice Munro story, if I can find a copy, and I'm looking for more stories... and a few I thought of is "Death of the Right Fielder" by Stuart Dybek, "Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff, and "In the Gloaming" by an author whose name I forget. Poets.org has some great poetry selections, and you've provided some great ideas, and I'm definitely using that Snograss poem about a funeral, a few William Matthews poems (maybe Men at My Father's Funeral...I love that poem, but it's more about failure of language than anything else, so doesn't really hit the theme of the course), as many Sharon Olds cancer poems as I can shove in there, and a few others. For non-fiction, I'll be using The Year of Magical Thinking. I was going to use Physical by James McManus (went out and bought that, too thinking I would be able to use it, but since I can't, it gets added to the books I haven't read number), but unfortunately that doesn't quite fit the theme, and it seems closer to a colloquial, personal textbook than what I was looking for, and would make their literary analysis a little too difficult I think. As for Drama, I'll be using Wit.
From what I can tell from the books I've located, teaching drama as literature is pretty much the same as stories. Am I way wrong here? Where should I look for more info on teaching drama as lit? The anthologies I have here don't illuminate much for me.
Anyway, that's the news. Keep the suggestions coming on all fronts as I could use all the help you can provide. Thanks everyone who has dropped a comment, I really, really appreciate it.
viva el mustache.
September 22, 2008
Your Help, Quickly! (Udpated!)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
17 comments:
"I Want to Live!" by Thom Jones in The Pugilist At Rest.
Kinda elementary, but "Flowers for Algernon"?
Broken Vessels, a collection of essays by Andre Dubus, several of which concern his life in a wheelchair--after the car accident that cost him his legs.
PS. I haven't forgotten about getting things mailed to you--I just haven't been able to get to the post office. I will this week, I promise!
I can't think of the title of that Alice Monroe story about the wife who has Alzheimer's and the husband who takes care of her, but DeWolf knows it.
The Alice Munro short story is "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" and its film adaptation is "Away From Her."
The story I lead in 343 last fall, "The Year of Getting to Know Us" by Ethan Canin, may match what you're looking for. So might "Space" by Kevin Brockmeier and while I haven't read "Big Fish" by Daniel Wallace I think John August's script is great.
Your inquiry made me think of this website. Have a box of tissues handy:
http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/
Thank you all. Keep'em coming. Poets? Where you at?
Here's another book of essays: Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy.
There's also the memoir The Burn Journals by Brent Runyan.
"to build a fire" by jack london.
"the dead" by james joyce
"do not go gentle into that good night" dylan thomas -- too obvious?
"the birds for christmas" by mark richard -- absolutely fantastic!!
Year of Magical Thinking- Joan Didion.
A few poems:
"Age" by Robert Creely
"Because I could not stop for death" by *shudder* Emily Dickinson (too obvious?)
"Winter Stars" by Larry Levis
I like the Levis one a lot. Not sure what you need it for, but I recommend it.
Congratulations on the class!
Teaching drama, you'll be able to bring in video examples because drama is meant to be a performed medium, as opposed to stories. I know there's a version of Wit (or rather, W;t) with Emma Thompson that's purty good. You might also try The Gin Game. I can't remember who's in it--Jessica Tandy and some old guy--or who wrote it, but it's about old people and it's pretty good.
Congrats on the class man! Sounds like some good choices for material. The Year of Magical Thinking is great and I think the students will like it. And that Munro story is great (You may want to show part of the movie if you have time).
As I Lay Dying (Faulkner)
In regard to Tom's post: My mother is a fish.
And 'grats on the job, dude.
Another story by Munro "Floating Bridge." It's in Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage.
Post a Comment