Fiction Portfolio Due!

Today, please prepare and complete your fiction portfolio. If you finish early, please read the following stories in Without Feathers:

• Fabulous Tales and Mythical Beasts: Bestiaries were an old fashion (Medieval) form of the nature guide. They were all the rage in the 1500’s.
• But Soft, Real Soft: There is a scholarly debate over who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Many critics say that Marlowe (another Elizabethan playwright) wrote Shakespeare’s work. Others say Queen Elizabeth or Francis Bacon wrote the plays. Probably, odd as it may seem, Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare’s plays. The title alludes to a line from Romeo and Juliet.
• If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists: The Impressionist painter Van Gogh kept close correspondence with his brother Theo. Later a song and a movie were made from Van Gogh’s private letters. The title tells the rest of the joke.
• No Kaddish for Weinstein: Kaddish is a Hebrew prayer of mourning usually recited at a person’s grave. Woody Allen often jokes about Freudian Psychoanalysis or therapy. He is using a comic technique of the non-sequitur (or surprising a reader by saying something unrelated to its subject or something that makes no sense or is nonsensical.)
• Fine Times: An Oral Memoir: Another parody of a book review and autobiography of a fictional character. This one is about Flo Guinness, a speakeasy owner in the 1920’s. Alcohol was prohibited (illegal) in the early 1920’s and later repealed. Guinness is the name of a popular beer. Allen references many famous 1920’s musicians and people.
• Slang Origins: The English language has so many weird expressions and sayings. Allen pokes fun at them in this “essay.”

 If you had trouble understanding the jokes in your homework, here's an explanation:

• A Brief, yet Helpful, Guide to Civil Disobedience: People were protesting the Vietnam War when Woody Allen wrote this book. Even this serious topic is humor-fodder for writers. The allusion to The Trojan Women is referring to a Greek Tragedy (see: Allen's play God) about the women of Troy banding together to protest the Trojan War.
• Match Wits with Inspector Ford: In the 70’s books such as 5-Minute Mysteries were very popular. The idea was that the author gave you a very short mystery or crime. The answer to the “riddle” was in the back of the book. A fan of whodunits will enjoy this parody.
• The Irish Genius: This is a parody (similar to Lovborg) but dealing with the poet William Butler Yeats. Yeats was an Irish culture fanatic and wrote “Irish” lyrics celebrating Gaelic and Irish legends. His poems drip with allusion and Allen plays around with this idea by providing fake “footnotes.”

Will there be a quiz, Mr. Craddock, on the book Without Feathers? Yes. When will it occur, Mr. Craddock? Next class (Monday, May 6). Will it count for this marking period? No. Why should I study for the test? I wouldn't need to quiz the class on class or homework reading if we could talk or discuss the material as a group. Sadly, your class is not yet ready for this (we'll try again next year). Writers need to read stuff so that they get better at writing. Reading the short stories in this collection cannot hurt you--they can only help. Generally, the reading we do helps us: come up with ideas of our own, know what we like or what is effective when writing a story, allow us to avoid things we don't like when we're reading a story, gives us information, gives us perspective, reminds us that reading and writing are linked as an art form, makes you a more interesting person to talk to. What should I study to prepare for the quiz? You should note various comedic techniques we discussed in class (see post below) in examples from the book. Likely you will be asked to examine the book through this lens. You should also know basic info on Woody Allen.

Today, after the quiz, please prepare your portfolio. Information about what you need to include in your portfolio is listed in the posts below.

HOMEWORK: Read the stories from pages: 191-221 for next class. Be prepared for a quiz. Bring your books with you next class.