Ragtime

NYTimes review of Ragtime:

http://www.nytimes.com/1975/07/08/books/doctorow-ragtime.html?_r=0

More Articles:
http://observer.com/1998/03/hey-grandpa-was-rightdoctorow-stole-ragtime/


Bio of author:
http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2007-Co-Lh/Doctorow-E-L.html

Interview with author;
http://weberstudies.weber.edu/archive/archive%20B%20Vol.%2011-16.1/Vol.%2011.1/11.1Wutz.htm

This is a program from a version of the musical that offers a good amount of background info:
http://www.pcs.org/assets/uploads/resource-guides/ResourceGuide-Ragtime.pdf

Class Cancelled Thursday Sept 19

Class Cancelled Thursday Sept 19

We'll start Ragtime next Tuesday so read the first 8 chapters. 

Have a good weekend. 

Prof. O'Connell

More Gatsby Links and Comic Strip

This link discusses some random facts about the novel and the writer:

http://gothamist.com/2013/05/07/gatsby_facts.php

The Wire breaks down The Great Gatsby (There is some strong language here):

http://www.openculture.com/2012/08/ithe_wirei_breaks_down_ithe_great_gatsbyi_f_scott_fitzgeralds_classic_criticism_of_america_nsfw.html

Footage of Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda:

http://www.openculture.com/2012/11/rare_footage_of_scott_and_zelda_fitzgerald_from_the_1920s.html

The Great Gatsby

Taking a few mintues to read some background information on the author will enhance your understanding of the text.

Here are a few quotes to also think about from the text:
 “ Whenever you feel like criticizing any one…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (1).

“”a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock” (22).

”He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself” (48).

“Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (60).


Below is the link to a number of outside sources for the second essay:
http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Fitzgerald.htm

The game looks like the whole Nintendo video games. Kind of like Super Mario Bros.
Here are some links about the game:
http://theweek.com/article/index/212144/the-great-gatsby-video-game

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/07/the_great_gatsby_now_a_video_g.html

http://boingboing.net/2011/02/16/great-gatsby-nes-gam.html

This link provides a link to where you can play the game:
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/02/15/play-the-great-gatsby-video-game/

Here is a youtube video of the game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjWKrz7yogM

Here is a list of sites about Fitzgerald:

A Brief Life of Fitzgerald

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html

The quote “The dominant influences on F. Scott Fitzgerald were aspiration, literature, Princeton, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, and alcohol” begins this biographical sketch of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Contains:Commentary, Sketch

Keywords:F. Scott Fitzgerald, life, history, biography

A Fitzgerald Capsule History

http://access.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/9609_fitzgerald/fitztime.htm

This site, made by Minnesota Public Radio, commemorating Fitzgerald’s 100th birthday, provides a chronology of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life.

Contains:Timeline

Keywords:F. Scott Fitzgerald, life, history, biography

A Fitzgerald Chronology

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/chronology.html

This site provides a chronology of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life.

Contains:Timeline

Keywords:F. Scott Fitzgerald, life, history, biography

Fitzgerald’s Obituaries

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/obituaries.html

Fitzgerald’s obituaries were mixed. There was a general tendency to associate him with the excesses of the Twenties. The respectful obituaries expressed a sense of regret for Fitzgerald’s failure to fulfill his promise. None of the assessments predicted that Fitzgerald would be accorded a safe place among the greatest American authors.”

Contains:Obituary

Keywords:

The Fitzgeralds

http://www.zeldafitzgerald.com/fitzgeralds/index.asp

This site primarily contains biographical information about F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Contains:Extensive Bio, Timeline, Webliography, Works List

Author:Professor Ruth Prigozy

Keywords:

 Other sites about F. Scott Fitzgerald

Authors on Fitzgerald: How others past and present view the man and his works

http://access.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/9609_fitzgerald/fitzauthors.htm

This site contains quotes from other famous authors about F. Scott Fitzgerald. Some of these authors include Ernest Hemmingway, T. S. Eilot, and Dorothy Parker.

Contains:Commentary

Keywords:

F. Scott Fitzgerald Bibliographies

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/bibindex.html

This site contains links to “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Publications,” “Principal Works About F. Scott Fitzgerald,” and “Works by Zelda Fitzgerald.”

Contains:Bibliography, Works List

Keywords:

The F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/index.html

Sponsored by the Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina this comprehensive site includes links to works by F. Scott and Zelda Fitgerald, voice and film clips, quotations, and scrapbook, articles and critisim and more.

Contains:Criticism, Commentary, Pictures, Timeline, Full Bio, Works List, Bibliography, Webliography

Author:J. Baughman

Keywords:

Fitzgerald: Voice and Film Clips

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/voice.html

This site contains sound files of F. Scott Fitzgerald speaking and a film clip of him as well.

Contains:Interview

Keywords:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/opinion/sunday/dowd-in-a-gaudy-theme-park-jay-z-meets-j-gatz.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=OP_IAG_20130506

 

Babylon Revisited

Criticism:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00144940.1990.9934031

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-007-0773-3_8?LI=true

Themes found in the story:

• Facing the consequences of one’s actions
• The struggle to change

Symbols found in the story:

• Honoria’s doll
• Snow

This link has some background information and criticism of the story (there is a lot of info here that could be used if you choose to write your first essay about this story):

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tdlarson/fsf/babylon/chap_3.htm

In the next two weeks we will discuss The Great Gatsby which “Babylon Revisited” shares many themes and issues with. Here is a short description of how they are similar:

“Babylon Revisited”: Similarity to The Great Gatsby
In both works, the main character is trying to create a new identity. In the case of Jay Gatsby, he has reinvented himself by a name change and by becoming rich through criminal acts to win Daisy. In Charlie’s instance, he has made a serious effort to reform to gain custody of Honoria.

Both The Great Gatsby and “Babylon Revisited” are also statements about the twenties, the pursuit of wealth and careless living of that generation. Gatsby’s pursuit of wealth, hoping it will bring him happiness and fulfillment, is the embodiment of the American Dream gone wrong. “Babylon Revisited” makes a statement not only about Charlie’s his personal dilemma but the irresponsible seeking of pleasure that was characteristic of the post-war Roaring Twenties generation.

From: http://vickie-britton.suite101.com/babylon-revisited-summary-and-analysis-a204727

NYTimes article:

http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/24/specials/fitzgerald-taps.html