(no subject)
Taking a break from reading Chaucer's "Legend of Good Women" (which btw is hilarious. For instance, I just read about how Jason married Hypsipyle (what a name! I keep visualizing a popsicle with big hips) and had two kids with her and then ran off, and she writes him a letter complaining to him, and tells him that her two sons are just exactly like him--except that they can't lie as well.). Now: quoteboard!
Apparently, James Franco applied to the Eng program here at OH U at the same time he applied to Yale! And he got in, but chose not to come here.
Kim: CAN YOU IMAGINE HIM TEACHING 151 [freshman comp, which all the Eng grad students teach]?? Not even a comment on his teaching ability, just the rush to get in his class, and the anger among the students who couldn’t get in!
Dr. D: We’d probably have to give him a pseudonym for class sign-ups!
Dr. D: In the 14th century there was a motif of debates in popular literature. People would argue one side or the other. Which is better, the owl or the nightingale? The rock or the river? Etc. Apparently there were groups that would get together and debate things like the flower vs the leaf.
Students: O_O
Dr. D: ...Remember, this is before television.
Dr. D: I taught an undergraduate Chaucer class once, and we acted out all of Chaucer’s works, and when we did the Canterbury Tales, we had to set up tables in the corner as a bed, b/c it turns out that when you do the Canterbury tales, you need a permanent bed as a setpiece.
Discussing the ridiculousness that is The Legend of Good Women, including the way Chaucer has Cleopatra commit suicide by stripping naked and jumping into a pit FULL of snakes:
Liz: And they [the good women] all die with cheer! I mean, who does that??
Dr. D: Naked, in a pit of snakes. ...It was a good day.
Also in class:
Dr. D: Here, Priya [Indian international student], I’ll give you a little bit of American culture. *recites "Lizzie Borden Took an Axe"* Just so you know we have culture here, too.
Priya: O_o
How we got onto the subj of lizzie borden: Dr. D is very interested in the LIzzie Borden case, and says that they did not find any blood-stained dress in the house after the murder. So one of the theories was that she did the murders naked.
Dr. D: When I hear about Cleopatra jumping naked into a pit of snakes, I think of other women who got naked at strange times.
Apparently, James Franco applied to the Eng program here at OH U at the same time he applied to Yale! And he got in, but chose not to come here.
Kim: CAN YOU IMAGINE HIM TEACHING 151 [freshman comp, which all the Eng grad students teach]?? Not even a comment on his teaching ability, just the rush to get in his class, and the anger among the students who couldn’t get in!
Dr. D: We’d probably have to give him a pseudonym for class sign-ups!
Dr. D: In the 14th century there was a motif of debates in popular literature. People would argue one side or the other. Which is better, the owl or the nightingale? The rock or the river? Etc. Apparently there were groups that would get together and debate things like the flower vs the leaf.
Students: O_O
Dr. D: ...Remember, this is before television.
Dr. D: I taught an undergraduate Chaucer class once, and we acted out all of Chaucer’s works, and when we did the Canterbury Tales, we had to set up tables in the corner as a bed, b/c it turns out that when you do the Canterbury tales, you need a permanent bed as a setpiece.
Discussing the ridiculousness that is The Legend of Good Women, including the way Chaucer has Cleopatra commit suicide by stripping naked and jumping into a pit FULL of snakes:
Liz: And they [the good women] all die with cheer! I mean, who does that??
Dr. D: Naked, in a pit of snakes. ...It was a good day.
Also in class:
Dr. D: Here, Priya [Indian international student], I’ll give you a little bit of American culture. *recites "Lizzie Borden Took an Axe"* Just so you know we have culture here, too.
Priya: O_o
How we got onto the subj of lizzie borden: Dr. D is very interested in the LIzzie Borden case, and says that they did not find any blood-stained dress in the house after the murder. So one of the theories was that she did the murders naked.
Dr. D: When I hear about Cleopatra jumping naked into a pit of snakes, I think of other women who got naked at strange times.