For Monday: Writing Exam #1

 Remember that for Monday, we're going to have our first "Writing Exam," which is just a short in-class essay based on Candide. Be sure to bring your book since I'll expect you to quote from the text to support your answer. While I won't tell you exactly what the question will be, you might consider how Candide could be considered a subversive text, and how it relates to certain books that are commonly banned or challenged in today's society...

If you have to miss class on Monday for any reason, please let me know so we can reschedule your Writing Exam. I can't let you do this via e-mail, but you don't want to miss it, since each one is 5 pts (out of 100). 

See you then! 

For Friday: Finish Candide, Chapters 23-30/Conclusion (or get as close as possible!)

Read the last chapters of the book and answer the following...remember, we'll have our first Writing Exam on Monday over Candide (more about that in class on Friday!). So be sure to finish...(hint, hint!) 

Q1: One of the themes of the book, as expressed by more than one character, is that all of our pleasures are built on the pain of others...and that trying to save people often brings its own suffering (to yourself and others). Where do we see this theme repeated in the final chapters--and with whom? 

Q2: Count Pococurante is one of the strangest, and in some ways, most modern characters in the book (his name means "little caring"). Why is Candide so taken with him, and why might he be a true symbol of the worst excesses of the Enlightenment and the upper classes themselves? 

Q3: One of the most humorous elements of the book is that (almost) no one truly dies: Pangloss, Paquette, the Baron, and many others return by the end of the novel, resurrected, to enjoy a 'happy ending.' Why do you think Voltaire does this? How might it affect his overall message or the theme of the book itself?

Q4: The most controversial line of the book is Candide's newfound philosophy, which tries to make the best of his situtation with the others: "we must go and work in the garden." How do you interpret this philosophy? Is he saying that it's better to work rather than to question fate? (in which case, it sounds an awful like like Pangloss' original philosophy). Or is he saying that all people should be equal, working in the garden rather than simply employing others to do so? Is this an anti-authoritarian message? Or is there another way to interpret the phrase? 

For Wednesday's Class: Voltaire, Candide, Chapters 13-22

Goya, The Shooting of the Rebels on May 3rd, 1803

As before, answer TWO of the following questions for Wednesday's class. 

Q1: In many ways, Candide is a book about education: how do young people learn to be adults in the modern world (of the 18^th century, that is)? What lessons do Candide and Cunegonde receive in right and wrong, and are either of them forced to corrupt their “good” nature simply to prosper in the world? Does success require a moral sacrifice for Voltaire?

Q2: El Dorado is a fabled paradise in the New World, which many explorers, including Sir Walter Raleigh, spent their lives trying to find. Lucky for him, Candide stumbles right onto it. What does Candide see in El Dorado that goes against the very nature of European civilization? Why might this entire passage be an elaborate satire of the idea that “whatever is, is right”?

Q3: How do the two new characters, Cacambo and Martin, add to the satire of the novel? What new perspective does one, or both, offer, and how do they help us see aspects of the world that Candide is too young and ignorant to notice? 

Q4: In a letter to his friend, Frederick the Great, Voltaire once wrote, “It is said there are savages who eat men and think they do right.  I reply that these savages have the same idea of justice and injustice as we have.  They make war as we do from madness and passion; we see the same crimes committed everywhere, and eating one’s enemies is but an additional ceremony.  The wrong is not putting them on the spit but killing them.” How might Voltaire illustrate these sentiments through some of the action and events of Candide? In other words, why is evil not a how but a what/why question?

Wednesday's Class Overview: Intro to the Enlightenment

NOTE: The questions for Candide are in the post BELOW this one. 

In class today, I showed you three paintings that I felt gave a brief overview of some of the ideas of the Enlightenment, particularly regarding the role artists played in challenging the status quo (especially when the status quo was wealthy, entitled, and held the power of life and death over the populace). The three paintings we looked at are below (click on a picture to see a bigger version):

Sir Thomas Gainsborough's Portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews (1750). Note how he shoved the couple to one side and focused more on the landscape, as if to say they were less important than nature. While this might have been asked of him, to showcase their impressive holdings, it does diminish the couple and their importance in the painting. And note how much 'truth' he offers us about the couple: he doesn't smooth them over or make them pretty. They seem somewhat frumpy, awkward, irritable, and totally removed from one another. The only thing happy in the painting seems to be the dog! Gainsborough seems to be satirizing the couple and diminishing their importance to posterity, letting the artist have the last word. 

In the next painting, Francisco Goya's Charles IV of Spain and his Family (1801), we get much the same thing, but much more audaciously. Goya has thrust the king and his family in a dark room, and shown them in the moment between the 'real' picture, when they would be posing in style and grandeur. Note that most people are looking away, looking bored, looking confused. The king looks a bit drunk; his wife looks proud and dignified, but also looks old--he didn't try to lie about her age or looks. The kids seem scared and lost. And Goya even inserted himself into the picture--you can see him in the shadows before his easel, painting the royal couple (and having a good laugh at their expense). His point? That even the royal family are just people, and can also look old and foolish. 

Finally, we get William Hogarth's Portrait of Miss Mary Edwards (1742). This was a portrait of a woman who was ostracized from society. Though she was once a rich heiress, she made an unfortunate match and her husband began burning through their money to fuel his gambling addiction. Soon they would be destitute, and her young son would have no future. So she took an unprecedented step: she had the priest burn her marriage records, making their union null and void. This, however, made her a whore (she had sex out of wedlock) and her son a bastard, which effectively removed her from society. But so what? She had her money back, and she defied anyone to make her feel shame about protecting her son. Hogarth depicts her as exactly that--proud, defiant, and more than a little beautiful. Does he flatter her? Maybe a little, but he truly seems to respect her, and includes a letter on her desk which is a copy of Elizabeth I's famous speech to her soldiers as the Spanish Armada approached. His point seems to be--this is our modern Elizabeth, a woman who can stand up to tyranny and inspire us! 

Look for these ideas when we read Candide, since it, too, is a portrait of the aristocracy and the elites of Europe in all their glory (and degradation). When you read the book, picture these images in your mind, since they come from the exact same period (Candide was published in 1759). 

First Reading (for Friday's class): Voltaire, Candide, Chs. 1-12 (pp.19-57) approximately

 

REMEMBER: these questions are meant as a kind of guide to help you ease into the book and find ideas you might otherwise miss or ignore.  Ideally, by answering two of the questions, you will be forced to consider not only what you read but why Voltaire wrote it.  Don’t worry about being right or wrong; the important thing is simply to attempt an answer based on the ideas in the book.  Even a “wrong” answer can help our class discussion on Friday. Respond in a short paragraph--at least a few sentences for each question you answer. 

Answer TWO of the following--due in class on Friday or no later than 5pm: 

Q1: Describe Dr. Pangloss’s philosophy as it appears throughout these chapters, notably in the beginning of the book and during the earthquake in Lisbon. Is Pangloss the voice of “reason” in the work (Voltaire’s voice, in other words), or is he an object of satire?  Where do we see this?

Q2: The name “Candide” means “candid, honest, or open,” suggesting that Candide is an innocent soul who believes the best of people.  How does Voltaire test Candide’s faith throughout these opening chapters?  Do you feel he agrees with Candide that mankind is essentially good, despite a few “bad apples,” or does he think Candide is an idiot for holding such beliefs? 

Q3: How does Voltaire criticize the Church in the passages about the Lisbon earthquake (which was a real event)?  Do you think Voltaire is an atheist (as he was accused of being in his lifetime), or is he more critical of how religion is used by those in power? 

Q4: At the end of the Old Woman’s Tale, she explains, “A hundred times I was upon the point of killing myself; but still I loved life.  This ridiculous foible is perhaps one of our most fatal characteristics."  What, after all her trials and misfortunes, do you think she “loves” about life?  What can she still see that most people in her situation could not?  Also, do you think Voltaire agrees with this statement—or is he satirizing the Old Woman’s stupidity?  

Welcome to the Course!

Welcome to our class website for World Literature from 1700: you can find all the reading and daily assignments here, as well as paper assignments, handouts, and other links and information. Remember, we use this instead of Blackboard, though you don't have to post or submit anything to this site. It's merely to keep you plugged into the course when you're away from class. 

Be sure to get the books for class as soon as possible, especially Candide, since we'll be starting that very soon! You can find all of them at the ECU bookstore:

Required Books:

• Candide, Voltaire (Penguin, or any edition)
• Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time (Penguin, or any edition)
• Kafka, The Complete Stories
• Soseki, Kokoro (Dover, or any edition)
• Duras, The Lover (any edition)
• Lahiri, The Interpreter of Maladies (any edition)

Please let me know if you have any questions, and don't hesitate to e-mail me if you have to miss class or are in quarantine at jgrasso@ecok.edu. See you in class! 

Final Reminder: Paper #3!

 Don't forget that your last paper is due this Friday by 5pm! If your response is, "what paper??" then check out this link (or scroll down a few posts): https://ecuworldlit.blogspot.com/2021/04/final-paper-is-homer-still-piloting.html

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Additionally, I'll be in my office almost every day from around noon to 2, if you have any pressing issues. Otherwise, it's been a great pleasure having you all in class this semester, and I appreciate you sticking it out, despite the masks, the uncertainty, and the one-day-a-week classes, which couldn't do justice to what we might have done in a normal semester (though we still managed to cover quite a lot!). 

Good luck!