Introduction to Literature
Paper #1: Personal Response
Paper #2: Close Reading
Paper #3: Research Paper
Paper #4: Creative Writing
I have chosen to make this paper password-protected, as it includes mature themes that I do not feel comfortable putting out publicly for anyone to see.
Weekly Written Responses
Week 2 Written Response: Hanif Abdurraqib
In Hanif Abdurraqib’s poem, “September, Just East of the Johnson Park Courts,” a boy/teenager (likely Abdurraqib) grapples with the realities of “what it is to grow up poor” (19). This poem paints a bleak picture of adolescence, as the narrator describes a being robbed of his shoes; the narrator anticipating the subsequent reality being a proud father that will want to teach a lesson in fighting, about “what it is to suffocate / someone with their own gold” (Abdurraqib 31, 32). Images that stuck most with me are Abdurraqib’s description of people “stained with the stink / of desolation” (12, 13), “the husk of your boyhood” (24), and the analogical juxtaposition of “another bloody bar mitzvah” (30). I was affected most by the image of “another’s fist beating the cries for a buried decaying / mother from your tongue” (25, 26). For me, it encapsulates the vulnerability of loss. As someone who grew up a sensitive ballet dancer, I resonate with feelings of parents or societal structures influencing me to “leave a man” (23). My experiences are more around not fitting into the traditional German mould of what a teenager should like, and yet the feeling that Abdurraqib so eloquently elaborates is familiar to me.
Week 3 Written Response: Sachiko Murakami Workshop
It was an honour to be in such an intimate setting (a Zoom meeting) with such a talented and recognized poet as Sachiko Murakami. The process of workshopping my own poetry, in such an intimate meeting, was a daunting suggestion. Initially, I was wanting to turn my camera off, or even leave the meeting, before I or anyone got put on the spot. The first round of writing went as well as I would expect; I chose a dramatic dream that I remembered being intense and did my best to write the most eloquent, dramatic, and symbolic poem I could. At the end of the first round of writing I read what I had and instantly hated it; I was worried sick that everyone would have to share. The second round of writing could not have gone more differently. Sachiko’s second strategy for writing poems was so accessible to me; I was instantly inspired to write more poetry. So inspired, in fact, that I considered for a split second changing my degree altogether. While the intense inspiration is not nearly as overwhelming as I sit here now, I still reflect on how inspired I was, and am, to write more.
Week 4 Written Response: Aimee Bender Workshop
It feels challenging for me to access writing from a creative, expressive, and personal space (as opposed to an academic one). Most often, I find myself looking to any sort of formula, and searching for inspiration from other writers. Aimee Bender did so much in terms of changing my perception around writing, suggesting that “the point” is not always where material is found (or where material finds a writer). I very much enjoyed the beautiful simplicity and the grounding authenticity of Aimee’s exercises; it is so inspirational to be in the presence of a master of her craft. I felt Aimee tapping into the artistry of writing, and not the theory or academic practice of it. In terms of my own writing, I am inspired to express my experience, wherever that takes me, regardless of what my intention and desire is going in to writing. I can see how this idea could apply (in different ways) to my academic writing (this term and moving forward), my creative writing (not that I do much; I am setting the intention to do more), and the casual writing that I encounter on a daily basis (text messages, reminders, emails, and searches).
Week 6 Written Response: Alexander Chee
In Alexander Chee’s essay, “Mr. & Mrs B”, I was intrigued by the various opinions that Chee brings to the table through his perceptions, his experience, and his relationship with “Mr. and Mrs. B”. There is a broader lens that William F. Buckley is often viewed through, specifically that of the queer community, which sometimes comes into conflict with what Chee experiences in being close to him. Chee grapples with how his judgements of William affect his interactions with and opinions towards “Bill” and his wife Pat. I was drawn to the nuances of Chee’s essay; his identifying as a queer man, his identifying as an aspiring writer, and his identifying as a struggling New Yorker (a cater-waiter pandering to an upper-class New York elite as “human furniture”) overlap with and inform his other self-identities. I also appreciated the evolution of his judgements of Mr. and Mrs. B; both individuals begin in Chee’s perception as polar opposites (Bill Buckley being considered “an enemy”, and Pat being so admired that Chee “loved her”). However, as Chee’s essay and experience with the Buckleys progress, he finds both to be more varied and nuanced in their lives and his judgement of their quality.
Week 12 Written Response: Severance by Ling Ma
I have a few predictions for how Severance will end. Bob’s character has made me uneasy from his introduction, and my guess would be that the cult-of-personality-like dynamic between Bob and the others will sour more than it already has. There have already been themes of abandonment, separation, and “severance” throughout the novel; I do not believe that the group Candace is currently with will “live happily ever after.” Having read a few dystopian, post-apocalyptic novels that are laden with symbolism and metaphor surrounding society and the human experience, I find myself expecting that there will be a significant plot twist at the end of this novel. With Severance already bursting with themes surrounding connection and relationship, I find it hard to believe that the novel will end without more substance than the at-face-value situation of Shen Fever. That being said, I would be pleasantly surprised if there is no grand revelation about the nature of the fever. I am most curious about how the intersecting plotlines of pre- and post-Shen Fever Candace will connect. The two stories are being read simultaneously, with each reflecting and informing the other, and there is an inevitable sense that the end of the post-fever plot will coincide significantly with the pre-fever plot catching up to where the novel begins (post-fever).