The digitization of 19th-century materials has changed the way literary scholars can research. As a result, we’re both finding new works by established authors (like two new Walt Whitman texts, found by the same graduate student months apart) and works which need more attention. Sometimes looking through the pages of a particular journal can be a window on the changing ideas and fashions of a particular audience.

In this assignment, you group will be working to select a text for deeper investigation, eventually publishing an edited version with historical and literary notes.

The first step will be to browse through 19th-century periodicals and find texts that interest you because they spark interesting historical and literary questions.

Use the Making America Archive from Cornell University

This collection contains generally well-known American periodicals. The scans are usually high-quality.

Making America Journals from Cornell: http://collections.library.cornell.edu/moa_new/browse.html

Limit Your Browsing to issues from 1837-1870.

This is mostly an arbitrary limit. The earliest issues from the Cornell collection are from 1837. The American Civil War ended in 1865, so through 1870 you’ll see articles related to the war and Reconstruction.

Take Notes and Keep Links to Stories to Share with your Group

You can use a shared Google Doc or in your group’s Slack channel (created once your group is created). Share interesting articles with a link and maybe jot down initial reactions, questions, why it might be interesting to explore. Include links so you can find the articles.

If each group member finds 5-10 good stories or essays, you’ll have lots of options for the text you’ll collaborate on. You have to work on that text for a few weeks, so you want something that will keep everyone’s interest and attention.

Don’t do this all at Once

Reading pages of a 19th-century magazine online can get tedious. Spend a few minutes a day browsing or, if the digitized copy you have includes a table of contents, skip around to titles that seem the most interesting.

Definitely Post Questions to Slack

About history, context, more detailed instructions. This is the first time I’m trying something exactly like this and there’s bound to be some snags, but also you’ll be jumping into the wide, weird wold of 19th-century pop culture. You might have all kinds of questions and those are great to share.

“Under certain circumstances failing, losing, forgetting, unmaking, undoing, unbecoming, not knowing may in fact offer more creative, more cooperative, more surprising ways of being in the world. [. . .] What kinds of reward can failure offer us? Perhaps most obviously, failure allows us to escape the punishing norms that discipline behavior . . . Failure preserves some of the wondrous anarchy of childhood and disturbs the supposedly clean boundaries between adults and children, winners and losers. “

(Halberstam 2-3)

You may have taken an online class before and had a good experience. A well-designed online course is quite effective. Don’t expect that here. This won’t be as effective as a thoughtfully-devised online course and it won’t be as effective as our in-person classes. So let’s jettison the goals of “effectiveness” and “efficiency” for goals that were perhaps more worthy anyway, such as “sharing” and “curiosity.” As noted theorist Jack Halberstam suggests in the epigraph above, if a “successful” course is one that meets a very narrow set of standards, by acknowledging we’ll be a failure, we’re embracing all those other forms our community and learning can take. Let’s fail spectacularly! 

Let’s also try not to lose our minds. There will be glitches and miscommunications. Don’t sweat them. If you’re not sure about an assignment, or you miss a notification and realize a week later, don’t worry. Send me an email or visit my online office hours (details below). One benefit of being a failure is that we have flexibility. I’ll be doing all I can to help you get the grades you’re aiming for.  

I know that your situation at home is likely chaotic (or excruciatingly monotonous). We’ll be setting up a weekly routine with similar assignments so you know what to expect.

Tools

We’ll be using this course website, email, and Slack for the remainder of the course. If you’re seeing this, you’re already on the course website. You’ve also probably emailed me and received a response. I’ve sent a Slack invitation to you via the email address CUNYFirst has, usually it’s your QC email. If you don’t see my invitation, send me an email and I’ll reinvite you.

Schedule

The schedule page has been updated to reflect our move online. You’ll see that right now, only assignments through 3/26 are posted. That will change in the coming days. Generally, though, I’ll post assignment on the Thursday before they’re due.

Questions

Most of the question that will arise we’ll hash out on Slack, so head there first. If you can’t get on to Slack, though, email me.

I’ve placed a link to the movie version of the novel. It’s very similar to the novel since Esquivel wrote it herself and she originally conceived of the novel as a move. It may be helpful to explain some scenes, but it also makes some changes. Sometimes the changes are significant (we find out much earlier, for instance, that Mama Elena had another lover, meaning we spend more time possibly being sympathetic for her). Some are minor.

It’s on the Resrouce page under the director’s name “Arau, Alfonso” (so it’s right at the top).