Latin American Literature MSU: Recent Episodes
Rajan Barrett
The love plot and the political plot situational ethics, the revolutionary and the individual. The notion of the individual and the nation. Etc
The refugee, the migrants, the prisoners, the mind the romantic theories about the mind and imagination coupled with the mechanical in the victorian. The half natural and half artificial.
Reflection of prison on the body, mind and language. The gestalt therapy and the chair technique which is much later but Lorry uses it for Manett.
The movement in the novel to show the political and the social in city life and governance and the male aspirations of the "normal" middle class desires of "common sense". The discomfort of aristocratics with the system knowing that they have been responsible for the appaling conditions of the peasants.
Introduction, the philosophical import, the human being in a matrix of the world, equanimity. Job's wife and job's comforters.
London and Paris, justice, images of death, the anti-imagative, anti-romamtic. Etc. Putting contemporary London and its mores into the past. The psychologiczl, physical etc.
Dealing with the romantic and other ideas in the letter which also talks about language and style.
Emma, Jane Fairfax, Frank Churchill, Mrs. Churchill 's death, the funeral/wedding. Authenticity and Sincerity
The location of the gypsies the notion of the romantic, the notion of chivalry, the other.
What is studying the Bible as a literature, as history, as myth, as a faith experience. Etc. The context as literature.
The politics of education, the scope of the letter, the reach of the letter, the cultural politics and linguistic politics. The letter for all teachers and students.
The notion of prose, the ballad, the writing of Chaucer, Gower and Langland the noton of Scots writing and the early prose even if a translation.
Reserve, maupulation, the question of merit, the framework of money, property, lineage and looks.
The matrix of questioning a social and cultural history from a contemporary position. How do we locate the social history.
The notion of the correspondence between the ruler the name of the period and the economic and social life of people. The irrelevant death of the person who the age is named after.
What goes on in the mind, the question of transparency and sophisticated handling of a situation. Emma vs Harriet vs Jane vs Augusta Hawkins.
How do Emma and Harriet put up with proposals and rejection of them. How do culture and class play a role on this?
Martin's engagement, Fairfax and Emma, the undercurrents seen in language and politeness.
Cultural capital, capital, reading, the jealousy, the reality, the narrative technique etc
Examing the match between Mr Martin and Harriet and comparing it with what happens with Harriet and Elton and Emma and Elton. Also looking at Emma and Knightly's analysis of the match between Harriet and Martin and of the positions of Emma and GK about Frank Churchill.
Different kinds of argument structures, the position of the author. Rhetoric and prose.
Child marriage, marriage for love and for security, the nunnery as a safe space. The cance meeting and love marriages. The ballad as promoting an idea of love marriages etc.
The impact of the Bishops, donations to the church and convents, the landed gentry fund schools, the rise of the middle class due to schools.
The notions of equality in economy, culture, intellectualism, etc. Scripying a person's life - ethics and morality of it. The ideational and the real as narrative scripting.
Marriage, merit, economics, illegitimacy, the notion of the woman and the lady, letterwriting, expression, etc.
An introduction to the debate, argument, group discussion. But without people who participate this makes no sense.
What is a university? What do we come to a university for? What do we learn as Arts students?
How technology from the hunter gatherer changes people and societies. The printing press and print capitalism.
The third verse, structire of the poem, development of the poem, the language of Modernity. The patriarchy, the child, the girl child, the hurt and recollection and reflection.
The images of children lafter, sound, the sun, the colour of the sun changing colour. Time, space and gendered being.
Indiginity in moving to a new social order from Feudalism to Capitalism. We find a new order of society that begins with the guild. The protectionist measures taken by kings. The water power that changes technology and buisness. The sea and pirates. The 100 year war.
Formation of capitalism. The market structure, the vocabulary of business, and the staple.
Issues of identity, freedom cultural and existential. The notion of a gendered identy and the notion of sexuality. The neoclassical golden mean.
The narrative technique and the disruptions. Probable interpretations and the symbolism which cannot be read in absolute terms.
What is a threat? Real /imagined, rivalry/threats, individual rivalry, an incursion at the work spot.
The cultural changes from the public to the private. Trevelyan's use of the Hegelian Dialectic and perhaps predictions of Keynes' economics happening in the primative capitalism of medieval England. Dress food custom, and expenses. The rise of the merchant class.
What are strengths, what are weaknesses, the organisation, the opportunity with the organisation and the threats linked to strengths. Self awareness. Growth of the self and the organisation 2nd September 2020.
The animals, birds, the peasants, the royalty, women and the fear and protection of women.
The pheasants, encountering the sea, any old geography, the psycho sexual nature of the discription.
The king of England and the lords of North England, Archetecture the wars. And the gentry.
The literary, the puppet, the midget, fairiy tales and myth, epics and the weaving of the narrative with realism, report writing, the law and poltics of the people, the alkegory and metaphor of the political.
How is time management intrinsically linked to attitude reality and an honest assessment of the self.
Satire, narrative, introductions, rejection, escape or war agsinst the people of lilliput.
How does the hundred years war, the new rich and economic development and freedom change society. The virtue of having a weak leader and the benifit to society.
The text is being examined from the notion of the golden mean. The excess of marterial and recources being used on Gulliver which is what becomes an issue for him to leave or be poisoned. 24th August 2020
The notion of linguistic división, social division, elitism the common people governance, monarchy and negotiations. 24 August 2020
Education, platonism, and the balance between affection and education. Trying to achieve the golden mean.
Gulliver in lilliput is talking of thier employment and who and how the employment policy works.
The notion of Feudalism giving way to a cash economy. The relations between Lord and serf changing till the last serf and a new relation between the landed and landless farmer. The petty revivalism of the old traditions and why they don't suceed.
The different situations of employablity and the issues involved and how to deal with them
How the plague and war changes the relationship between the feudal lord and serf. The plague, the hiring out of land and the early use of money transactions for manual labour.
Confronting society in Chaucer-History. The notion of the feudal surfdom and the justices of the peace.
The anglo saxon, Norman French, and the Latin - language and culture along with the feudal and modernising.
A commentry on the workings of the play taking into consideration music, cinema, theatre, drama, history, feminism and the individual lives if the actresses.
The FAN gets abusive and his purpose is disclosed. Maria is unmasked and shows what her regrets are. The Fan proposed to Dolores. It is quite some emotional tragedy.
After the debut into the movies Dolores acts in and after the physical scuffle with the FAN there comes a point when they are almost having a philosophical and artistic moment reading the obituary of Orsen Welles. Doloros shows her mind not working to perfection. The Fan is looking for coverage on reel as he adjusts the projector on the toilet.
From the screen scene of Maria's when the FAN knocks to the attack of the Fan by Maria to the singing of Dolores of the nursery rhyme Ring - a-ring-a roses. Driving at death and all of us are to die.
From the screen scene repeated to the arrival of the third character - the FAN. The behavior of a fan.
From the part where the two super stars get personal with each other right up to the part where there is knocking on the door and the screen scene in the play. The Cleopatra image comes up.
From the scene where Maria puts the cigar in Dolores' tea pot to the talking about death and about being orchids in the moonlight.
Wells' death, the problem of age and youth, the has-beenness of these two Mexican superstars. The talk of capital and the marxists in Mexico and making money in the Mexican Cinema, the guilt and pushing away the guilt.
Exploring the reflection on the real life and reel life of Maria Felix and Dolores Del Rio.
The stage instructions by Fuentes the roles of the actresses and the positions they take. Notions of the private and public, the postcolonial and neocolonial.
Introduction to the type of play the use of the tango, the importance of the theme, the historical significance, etc.
Reading out a few quotations from the interview between Sebastian Doggart and Jose Triana.
After Lalo's impassioned speech in Court, the Mother makes an appearance and it looks like an expressionist scene. The getting out of script and coming on track is part of the play.
The part of Act 2 where Lalo makes the rhetorical speech about what was going on in his head.
This deals with Lalo as the accused, Beba as Judge and Cuca as public prosecutor. In continuation with the judgement and the theatrical opening speech by Cuca we move to the speech that Lalo is going to make.
Discussion of the police station scene and the court scene, where in Cuca is the public prosecutor and is placing the case before the Judge and jury. Beba is the Judge or rather acting as the judge.
The part of the act almost like the second scene where in Beba and Cuca act as Policeman 2 and policeman 1. Respectively. It goes om till Beba gets out of her role of policeman 2 and as Beba tries to convince Lalo to speak. The next bit is supposedly at the police station. This bit deals with police intimidation, emotional blackmail, and tricks to make a criminal admit to the crime. The bullying is stark.
This is the initial part if the act where in roles and scripts are being defined. The family drama and the script that is constantly written and replaced promptly probably provides the metadramatic dimension and also the metaphorical reading of the play.
Introduction to act 2 of the play with an analysis of psychodrama, political context of regeme change and the modalities of modern drama with metadramatic effects.
The last part of the first act of the play. Character of the mother acted out by Cuca and Lalo. Different aspects of the character with different emphasis. The Brechtian Notions of Verfremdungseffekt and also expressionistic, surreal and modern drama considered.
Getting into the role play of Cuca, Beba, and Lalo. This bit of the play looks at the script within the script and how all the characters either come out of their roles in the script they have in their memories or the one Lalo gives them as play. It raises the question who and/or what is assassinated. Is it the script, the parents or is it in the mind.
The notions of rebellion, reality, the family drama. The notion of survellience. The almost councelling session between Cuca and Lalo but it seems like resolution is not possible. Though Cuca listens to Lalo but also challenges him
We go on looking at the play as psychodrama and also the political implications of what is being said and how it could be interpreted from the exestiential, political and psychological points of view. The individual against the existing framework as a univeralist utterance of a narrative of growth vs the political speech staged in the Batista regime but interpreted as counter revolutionary by Castro's goverment.
We deal with the play and the question of the absurd exestential and nihilism. Go back to the basics of these concepts for literature purposes and for purposes of the play.
The introduction to the play. The notions of Modern Drama, the psychodrama, role play and the political in Theatre.
Discussion on the notions of feminism, power, the barber's shop, hair, guilt, the undercurrent of the unknown, Grotesque and theatre of gesture facial expression and long silences, overcommunucation which is non communication.
We deal with post 90's drama. The political climate in a multipolar, neoliberal world sets the scene and dictates to the play writes. The concerns though with the drama of Grotowski and other European new theater models.
This an end to the earlier section and deals with the boom and the repercussions on theatre as theorized by Doggart.
From Gresilda Gambaro to the theatre of Augusto Boal with the notions of Paulo Freire and Bertolt Brecht.
This episode takes us through the theatre of Pinera, Dragun, Bondy, Paz, Asturias, and goes into the social and political climate which see the end of revolution with the assasination of Che. The advent of Freire, Gutterez and a right wing Pope John Paul II. We look at Jose Triana and how because of his Critique of the government he has to unfortunately leave to Paris.
The piece by Gardel is to set the tone. The lecture is from the latter part of Sebastian Doggart's introduction to Latin American Plays. This is for the students who do the course.