REQUIREMENTS
Attendance
Participation
(e.g., discussion in class and on message board)
Midterm exam
Paper
(satire anthology)
Final exam |
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OFFICE: 144 KH
OFFICE HOURS:
Wednesday 11:00-noon. Later if you are waiting or if I know you're coming.
Thursday 2:00-3:00. Later if you are waiting or if I know you're coming.
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MESSSAGE BOARD POSTS
Please post by 5:00 p.m. on the day BEFORE they are due.
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Lysistrata
1. "Make love, not war": Why are love and war so completely opposed? Can you think of examples in which love and war are aligned?
2. Withholding sex is a form of power. What does this form of power imply?
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The Colbert Report SQ
Did you at any time routinely watch The Colbert Report?
Do you think it's funny? |
Candide
What is Candide about?
Why is it considered philosophical?
Why do you think it might be considered Voltaire's "magnum opus"?
Is the "novel" applicable today? How might you rewrite it to make it a modern satire?
Voltaire's names
Lisbon earthquake
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Swift, A Modest Proposal (1729)
- ridiculous yet real
- not modest at all
- formal yet absurd
- aggressively driving the point home
- landlords who figuratively devoured the parents of these children
- other beneficial uses such as childrens' skin for clothing.
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What does "trivial" mean AS PART OF THE SUBTITLE FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST? What does "serioius" mean? How do they go together?
One editor says Earnest "takes up large issues of class, gender, sexuality, [and] identity." How might you find evidence of these issues?
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Paper page12:30 pm – 1:50 pm in
SE2 1306
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Course description
In this course, which satisfies the Gen Ed Requirement for Arts and Humanities, we will read/view satires very old (e.g., Lysistrata, a Greek play about war and sex, 411 BCE) and very new (Ros Chast's Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? A Memoir, 2014). We will also read Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People From Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public, Just from this list, it's easy to see that satirists take on some serious topics. We will ask what satire is and whether anything is too important, too precious, or too horrific to be an object of satire.
NB (Note well): Satire is aggressive. Sometimes a genre, sometimes an attitude, sometimes a mode, SATIRE IS INHERENTLY OFFENSIVE. Some of the works we read may offend you. If so, let's talk about why.
The course materials are not in chronological order. We move back and forth in time. |
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DATE |
In class today
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Tuesday, March 29
Week 1
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Introduction to course
The iPhone 7 (Parody) Ad
What is parody?
Check it out. |
Thursday, March 31
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Aristophanes, Lysistrata (411 BC or BCE)
Analysis of Lysistrata || Historical Context for Lysistrata
"Lysistrata" is a bawdy anti-war comedy by the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, first staged in 411 BCE. It is the comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War, as Lysistrata convinces the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands as a means of forcing the men to negotiate a peace. Some consider it his greatest work, and it is probably the most anthologized.
Summary from Open University (Youtube)
Lysistrata musical adaptation
Full play by Baruch College (Youtube)
Other Youtube clips
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Tuesday, April 5
Week 2
Dionysus fromEncyclopedia Mythica
Dionysus is the Greek god of wine and is often called by his Roman name, Bacchus.
Dionysus fromEncyclopedia Britannica
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Lysistrata
If your last name begins with “A,” “B,” or “C,” please post an entry on the Lysistrata forum on the message board: If Lysistrata were your only example of satire, how would you define “satire”?
Continue Lysistrata musical adaptation
1. What is Dionysus's connection with the theater?
2. What is Dionysus the "god" of besides wine?
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Thursday, April 7
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Lysistrata
3. Is Lysistrata a feminist play? Why or why not?
Messsage board post for students whose last names begin with “D” – “G”: Explain why Lysistrata is or is not a feminist play. 0R explain why the play is satiric. |
Tuesday, April 12
Week 3
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The Colbert Report (2005-2014)
The Colbert Report: 1) “Obama’s Executive Amnesty”;http://www.cc.com/video-clips/01iemp/the-colbert-report-obama-s-executive-amnesty. 2) “Threatdown”; Declining standards of sexiness; chocolate, and invaders of the new world: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/fie7ef/the-colbert-report-threatdown---declining-standards-of-sexiness--people-who-eat-chocolate---invaders-of-the-new-world 3) “Jon Stewart Pt. 1”; “Pt. 2”http://www.cc.com/video-clips/e55wo4/the-colbert-report-jon-stewart-pt--1http://www.cc.com/video-clips/vbi9v5/the-colbert-report-jon-stewart-pt--2, “On Topic – Stephen’s Epic sign Off” http://www.cc.com/video-clips/p0x4yp/the-colbert-report-on-topic---stephen-s-epic-sign-off.
Message board post: If your last name begins with “H” – “M,” please post an entry on what Colbert is criticizing in one or more of these episodes. |
Thursday, April 14
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Voltaire, Candide
If your last name begins with "O" to "S," post something on the message board about Candide. |
Tuesday, April 19
Week 4
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Candide |
Thursday, April 21
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Candide
Early cancellation of class |
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Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal (1729)
If your last name begins with "T" to "Z," post something on A Modest Proposal.
AMP, youtube
Is Eating Babies Really So Terrible? The Dark Genius of Jonathan Swift |
Thursday, April 28
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A Modest Proposal
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
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May 3
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Jonathan Swift, "The Lady's Dressing Room" (1730).
The Lady's Dressing Room - interpretation || Youtube
Another interpretation || Another interpretation |
Thursday, May 5
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Midterm exam
The form of the midterm will be a set of four quotations for analysis. You will select 2 (two),
Please use a bluebook
PLEASE PUT YOUR NAME ON THE BACK of the bluebook.
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Tuesday, May 10
Week 7
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Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
A Trivial Comedy for Serious People (1895)
Please read as much of the play as you can but at least the first act.
Further Discussion of Paper Assignment: an anthology of satires (with description of each item included, an introduction, and a conclusion
Revision - examples
William
Helen
Viviena
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Thursday, May 12
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The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People (1895)
Draft of paper assignment DUE
Recommended but not required: work with a peer reader. |
Tuesday, May 17
Week 8
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The Importance of Being EarnestA Trivial Comedy for Serious People (1895)
If you have not yet written an entry on the message board, do so now. If you have written only one, you might also add an entry.
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Thursday, May 19
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Finish discussion of The Importance of Being EarnestA Trivial Comedy for Serious People (1895)
Start discussion of Ros Chast, Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? A Memoir( 2014)
Is this work funny? Is it satire? |
Tuesday, May 24
Week 9
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Ros Chast, Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? A Memoir ( 2014)
PAPER DUE |
Thursday, May 26
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DAY OFF!
I WILL COME TO CLASS.
IF YOU WANT TO COME to discuss your midterm results, please do that. If you made a grade in the " C" range, I will raise the gradeby 1/3 (e.g., C to C+) just on the basis of your coming. If, on further discussion, you can give me a reason for having interpreted the passage as you did, I will consider going up one more notch. OK
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Tuesday, May 31
Week 10
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Real Time with Bill Maher
Wikipedia: entry on Bill Maher
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| Thursday, June 2 |
Review discussion
In preparation for the FINAL please read this article from Encyclopædia Britannica by Robert C. Elliott
There will also be a question on Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? |
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FINAL EXAM
Final exam: Mon, Jun 6 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. (in our classrooom)
UCI EXAM SCHEDULE FOR ALL COURSES.
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