Class #3 Wrap Up and The Next Response

Please read this post in its entirety.

For Monday, read the Fish (found under 'Important Links') and Terry Eagleton's short essay in Literary Theory. The essay is an excerpt from his book Literary Theory: An Introduction (pp.10-16), if you want to try to find the reading at the library or via some other means. When you've done these readings, post a response which attempts to connect these readings to our discussion of genre thus far, and try to be specific. How is what Fish is talking about like what Chandler (and our class) has been talking about? Also try to find one example drawn from life where the social expectations and conventions are critical to interpreting interaction (as in Fish's classroom) and spend a few paragraphs describing that interaction. Lastly, comment again on one other post, excepting whomever posts first.

I must insist again on a quote from each author in your response.

We'll get back to the O'brien briefly on Monday, and keep considering the questions posed. Particularly: Why admit the lie, especially when what you've written is a 'novel,' not an autobiography (and here, you should note, is a critical issue of genre)?

And I didn't get back to a critical aspect of the Western, one which both Adam and Lesley touched on: I think it (along with war genres) can most easily be made to focus on male affection, traditionally not homosexual though often homoerotic affection. This because it often (for historical and genre-traditional and simply misogynist reasons) lacks or minimizes the role of women. Perhaps this is Abbott's main reason for turning to the genre: he's interested in exploring male bonding and male affection (even love), and is using the conventions of the genre to do so, whether working within those conventions (the Duke and Doc have a strong traditional father/son relationship) or working against them (as between Duke and the Verdigris Kid). In this genre, one might argue, the emphasis on male affection is less taboo or transgressive than it might otherwise have been, which might also contribute to Jessica's comment on Brokeback. Could we argue that Brokeback reaches such a huge audience largely because the main characters are, apart from their sexuality, otherwise such paragons of traditional masculine imagery?

Lastly, be sure to look at Mike Nektalov's last post on O'Brien for a quite fine example, though a number of them were strong.