Friday, December 3, 2010
Dec. 3rd, 2010 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bearshortyI had insomnia again. This usually happens when I have to get up at 6:30 the next morning but my brain just wouldn’t shut down. At one point, I even used the old trick of changing direction in bed – I put my pillow where my legs usually are. This sometimes helps, actually, and it did a bit. I need to stop overthinking.
But despite four hours of sleep (or maybe less, I try not to look at the clock), I had a really nice productive day. I started reading “El Cid” before breakfast. It is a very short book (140 pages) about a Spanish knight of the eleventh century (I use the word “Spanish” very loosely since there was no united Spain yet) who was banished by his king and is pillaging and conquering in order to amass money to bribe his king into letting him come back. This poem (of which I have a prose translation) is based on the real person, Ruy Diaz of Bivar, but, of course, it is also a heroic epic so it does rather exaggerate his exploits. It was written about a century after the guy died. Since there are three sections, I’m reading a section per day and today it is “Exile.” I like it so far, it is fairly detailed in its descriptions and a different style than French medieval romances or other vernacular literature of the time. I do roll my eyes at the incredible and amazing fights against the Moors where there is very detailed and gruesome slaughter. So far I actually liked the most El Cid’s wife’s recitation of faith as part of the prayer since I can use that in teaching to show what people were expected to know. I think this book will be really fun to teach.
In the morning, since I brought my computer with me, I also did some online library/articles/book review research and I think I figured out the book that I will need to write my lecture on El Cid. Richard Fletcher’s “The Quest for El Cid” (London, 1989), according to reviews, gives a nice history of Spain in the period and explores the real Ruy Diaz to compare him to the poetic version. I love the ability to find books and academic book reviews online. Before the internet it would have taken much longer than one hour.
In class today, my students were discussing Naipaul’s essay “East Indian” in preparation to their final exam next week. The first class was really confused about the main point and the article in general. I’m really not supposed to help in this discussion – the final exam does test their reading comprehension too. But I couldn’t help it – I did direct the discussion a big as we went over about the meaning of each section. I asked them to summarize one section where he talks about how Indians (from India) immigrated to Trinidad (in West Indies) and what it meant for the culture and they were over thinking. I’m just glad that the second class seemed to understand the reading much better – so it really just depends on reading level.
As I took a break from doing my own work in the afternoon I saw an ad in one of my emails that was looking for an adjunct for a summer course at one the Universities in my area. The topic is “The Middle Ages in the Movies.” While the chances of me getting hired are not that great, I couldn’t resist a topic like that and spent some time figuring out how I would teach it. I wrote the course description and I emailed it to the people who are hiring for this. Here what I would do if I taught this:
Most people learn about the history of Middle Ages from the modern media, in particular, from the swashbuckling movies full of knights, clashing swords, violence and flaming arrows. The movies, which need to fit today’s popular storytelling narratives, do not often concern themselves with strict historical accuracy. Occasionally, some movies do try to be accurate to the time period but they often focus on themes more important to today’s audiences. This course will explore the myth, fantasy and reality of the medieval world that we learn about through movies. We will watch selected parts of these movies, learn about their historical background and discuss the themes common in the portrayal of the medieval world. Each of the six weeks of the course will focus on the selected theme. We will start by examining the fantasy of the middle ages that often includes swords and dragons (“Dragonheart,” “A Knight’s Tale”, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”). Then we will explore the myths that medieval movies perpetuate and compare it to the reality of medieval life. (“King Arthur,” “Robin Hood” “Braveheart”.) In the third week, we will explore the social structure of the medieval society including dashing knights, Crusaders, and monks (“Alexander Nevsky,” “El Cid,” “Arn: The Knight Templar,” “St Francis of Assisi”). We will then also examine the roles of women in medieval society and our modern view of medieval women. (“The Sorceress” “Anchoress” “Lion in Winter”). In addition, much of our idea about the medieval world and its rulers comes from the sixteenth century and interpretations by Renaissance playwrights like Marlow and Shakespeare and we will see how they influenced our view of medieval rulers and ideas on proper kingship and sexuality (“Edward II,” “Henry V”). And finally, we will look at the darker notion of the Middle Ages as the time of death, plague and horror and see the historical reality of those events. (“The Seventh Seal,” “13th Warrior,” “The Reckoning”) Most of the medieval movies that the students generally remember focus on either Medieval England or the Crusades – throughout the course we will also trace how that narrow perspective influences our ideas about the Middle Ages.
I ordered Mama her birthday present today. I wanted to get her hand cream and I got L’Occitane en Provence hand cream for Bear’s Mom last year that I thought Mama would like. My friends also like it. She likes Ahava, but my friend is going to Israel this winter and can probably get that for me there). Anyway, L’occitane’s website had a free shipping promotion, so it worked out well. I wasn’t sure if I could make it to the store in the city this December.
But despite four hours of sleep (or maybe less, I try not to look at the clock), I had a really nice productive day. I started reading “El Cid” before breakfast. It is a very short book (140 pages) about a Spanish knight of the eleventh century (I use the word “Spanish” very loosely since there was no united Spain yet) who was banished by his king and is pillaging and conquering in order to amass money to bribe his king into letting him come back. This poem (of which I have a prose translation) is based on the real person, Ruy Diaz of Bivar, but, of course, it is also a heroic epic so it does rather exaggerate his exploits. It was written about a century after the guy died. Since there are three sections, I’m reading a section per day and today it is “Exile.” I like it so far, it is fairly detailed in its descriptions and a different style than French medieval romances or other vernacular literature of the time. I do roll my eyes at the incredible and amazing fights against the Moors where there is very detailed and gruesome slaughter. So far I actually liked the most El Cid’s wife’s recitation of faith as part of the prayer since I can use that in teaching to show what people were expected to know. I think this book will be really fun to teach.
In the morning, since I brought my computer with me, I also did some online library/articles/book review research and I think I figured out the book that I will need to write my lecture on El Cid. Richard Fletcher’s “The Quest for El Cid” (London, 1989), according to reviews, gives a nice history of Spain in the period and explores the real Ruy Diaz to compare him to the poetic version. I love the ability to find books and academic book reviews online. Before the internet it would have taken much longer than one hour.
In class today, my students were discussing Naipaul’s essay “East Indian” in preparation to their final exam next week. The first class was really confused about the main point and the article in general. I’m really not supposed to help in this discussion – the final exam does test their reading comprehension too. But I couldn’t help it – I did direct the discussion a big as we went over about the meaning of each section. I asked them to summarize one section where he talks about how Indians (from India) immigrated to Trinidad (in West Indies) and what it meant for the culture and they were over thinking. I’m just glad that the second class seemed to understand the reading much better – so it really just depends on reading level.
As I took a break from doing my own work in the afternoon I saw an ad in one of my emails that was looking for an adjunct for a summer course at one the Universities in my area. The topic is “The Middle Ages in the Movies.” While the chances of me getting hired are not that great, I couldn’t resist a topic like that and spent some time figuring out how I would teach it. I wrote the course description and I emailed it to the people who are hiring for this. Here what I would do if I taught this:
Most people learn about the history of Middle Ages from the modern media, in particular, from the swashbuckling movies full of knights, clashing swords, violence and flaming arrows. The movies, which need to fit today’s popular storytelling narratives, do not often concern themselves with strict historical accuracy. Occasionally, some movies do try to be accurate to the time period but they often focus on themes more important to today’s audiences. This course will explore the myth, fantasy and reality of the medieval world that we learn about through movies. We will watch selected parts of these movies, learn about their historical background and discuss the themes common in the portrayal of the medieval world. Each of the six weeks of the course will focus on the selected theme. We will start by examining the fantasy of the middle ages that often includes swords and dragons (“Dragonheart,” “A Knight’s Tale”, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”). Then we will explore the myths that medieval movies perpetuate and compare it to the reality of medieval life. (“King Arthur,” “Robin Hood” “Braveheart”.) In the third week, we will explore the social structure of the medieval society including dashing knights, Crusaders, and monks (“Alexander Nevsky,” “El Cid,” “Arn: The Knight Templar,” “St Francis of Assisi”). We will then also examine the roles of women in medieval society and our modern view of medieval women. (“The Sorceress” “Anchoress” “Lion in Winter”). In addition, much of our idea about the medieval world and its rulers comes from the sixteenth century and interpretations by Renaissance playwrights like Marlow and Shakespeare and we will see how they influenced our view of medieval rulers and ideas on proper kingship and sexuality (“Edward II,” “Henry V”). And finally, we will look at the darker notion of the Middle Ages as the time of death, plague and horror and see the historical reality of those events. (“The Seventh Seal,” “13th Warrior,” “The Reckoning”) Most of the medieval movies that the students generally remember focus on either Medieval England or the Crusades – throughout the course we will also trace how that narrow perspective influences our ideas about the Middle Ages.
I ordered Mama her birthday present today. I wanted to get her hand cream and I got L’Occitane en Provence hand cream for Bear’s Mom last year that I thought Mama would like. My friends also like it. She likes Ahava, but my friend is going to Israel this winter and can probably get that for me there). Anyway, L’occitane’s website had a free shipping promotion, so it worked out well. I wasn’t sure if I could make it to the store in the city this December.