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20th Century American Fiction, fall 2006 The conversations we will have this semester are only a piece of the larger ongoing conversations about the novels. One major way to enter that larger discussion is through critical articles and books published about these works. These presentations are intended to help you do just that. Additionally, they should facilitate both class discussion (in the short term) and your term paper (in the long term), and offer you an opportunity to develop and communicate expertise on a text. In short, think of yourself as the teacher for awhile. The presentation will focus on one critical article or book chapter (or entire book if you’re feeling ambitious) on the novel being discussed that day. At minimum, you should summarize the article’s argument and situate it contextually (year of publication, critical orientation, and so on). You might illuminate its most helpful aspects, critique its weaknesses, tie it in to other discussions we’ve had in class (either how it fits in or how it opens new and productive avenues of thought), and, in short, explain why it strikes you as significant. If you’re familiar with the genre of the review, it might help to think of the presentation as a kind of oral review. The actual form of the presentation can be as straightforward or as creative as you like. Feel free to write on the board, use visual aids, lead class discussion, or even do a skit if it will help you to communicate the material. However, I will prefer it if you speak extemporaneously rather than spend 10 minutes reading from a prepared text. Plan to talk for about 10 minutes. I’ll be somewhat lenient about the time frame, but five minutes is probably not enough, and more than 15 minutes is more than enough. Do practice at least once so that you have the timing down. Plan to field questions from your audience for 5-10 minutes afterward. Along with the presentation, please prepare and photocopy a handout for the class (there are about 30 of us). The handout should include bibliographic information for the article and the most important points you would like to leave your audience with. When you choose an article, let me know what it is. I’ll post the presentation schedule online, and as these titles come in I’ll add them to the list. This way, those of you working on the same novel will know who has dibs on what. Working well in advance is therefore to your advantage! (Planning ahead also makes it easier to get materials from outside the Hunter library.) At the presentation, please bring me a copy of the article. I’ll give written feedback on your presentation in about a week, and will also return your copy of the article. |