Â
1. Compare
Hiroshima mon amour (1959) with"Kokura" by Mary-Kim Arnold and Matthew Derby. Hiroshima mon amour was directed by Alain Resnais and written by Marguerite Duras.
2. Write an analysis of a feature that interests you in one of the following movies. Your discussion should focus on a single motif, scene, character, or topic in the film and not attempt to cover the entire work. Be sure to discuss not only the content of the film but the relevant formal techniques raised by your subject. Bring in perspectives from the reading wherever possible.
Suture (1993), directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel
Being John Malcovitch (1999), directed by Spike Jonze
3. Discuss Don DeLillo's White Noise (1985) in relation to Fredric Jameson's Postmodernism or Jean Baudrillard.
4. Analyze the hypertext "Lasting Image" by Carolyn Guyer and Michael Joyce.
5. Compare Terri Ford and Erik Lover's "Story Problem"Â with Brian Kerr's "Part of the Old Brick Chimney."
5. Compare some aspect of Sandra Cisneros's Woman Hollering Creek (1991) with one of the following films:
Like Water for Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate) (1992), directed by Alfonso Arau and written by Laura Esquivel.
El Norte (1983), directed by Gregory Nava
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (Un Señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes) (1988), directed by Fernando Birri and written by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez
Eréndira (1983), directed by Ruy Guerra and written byGabriel GarcÃa Márquez
La Bamba (1987), directed by Luis Valdez
Corpus (1999), directed by Lourdes Portillo (this video recording is available at the media center in the library)
Â
1. Write a paper on any aspect of Plowing the Dark that interests you. Be sure to have a strong thesis about a clearly defined element of the novel. As in all essays, you should bring your own interests to the discussion and not simply revisit passages or ideas that we discussed in class.
2. Compare the treatment of Hagia Sophia in Plowing the Dark with the poem by George Bradley, "An Arrangement of Sunlight at Hagia Sophia" (a copy is available in the Digital Dropbox of our course page on Blackboard).
3. Compare the use of historical events as a background in Jazz and Damascus Gate.
4. Discuss the treatment of the journalist in Damascus Gate and one of the following movies: The Year of Living Danerously (1982) or Under Fire (1983).
5. Compare the short story structures employed in three stories drawn from Interpreter of Maladies and The Shawl. You must use at least one of the two stories from Ozick's The Shawl.
6. Discuss the theme of cultural dislocation in Interpreter of Maladies.
7. Compare the use of music in Jazz and Bel Canto
Â