【英史】Virginia Woolf and her narrative modes for presenting consciousness in Mrs Dalloway (deadline: 5/7, 12 p.m.)

According to A Glossary of Literary Terms edited by M. H. Abrams, stream of consciousness "is the name for a special mode of narration that undertakes to reproduce, without a narrator's intervention, the full spectrum and the continuous flow of a character's mental process, in which sense perceptions mingle with conscious and half-consious thoughts, memories, expectations, feelings, and random associations" (202). Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway is a quintessential example of this mode of narration. Listen to this NPR story, in which Woolf's stream-of-consciousness technique was said to anticipate what neuroscientists' study of the human mind and memory. After listening to the story, write down things you feel impressed when you read Mrs. Dalloway, particularly with regard to her keen observation of human mind. Examine any character's interior monologue, observe the flow of their mind, and describe their conflicting feelings, emotions, desires, or fantasies.

《一閃一閃亮晶晶》4/30(五)早場開始於花蓮影城播放

曾獲得柏林影展銀熊獎最佳導演，也曾經擔任過英美系駐校藝術家的林正盛，目前即將上映的紀錄片《一閃一閃亮晶晶》將在花蓮影城從4/30開始持續播放一週。這部片是有關自閉症的小朋友，透過這部片，我們有機會了解這些小朋友的生命獨特性，他們替我們生命開了另一個窗口，讓我們學習尊重不同生命的差異，體會到世界因為差異而美麗。

《一閃一閃亮晶晶》部落格：http://blog.yam.com/twinklestars1313
官網：http://twinklestar.hanmine.com.tw/

The Poetry of Emily Dickinson (Deadline: 5/4, 12 p.m.)

Being one of the two mid-19th-century American geniuses (the other is Walt Whitman), Emily Dickinson knew her poetry was unacceptable by her society's standards of poetic convention, and of what was proper for a woman. Fewer than a dozen of her poems were published in her lifetime; more than a thousand were laid away in her bedroom trunk, do be discovered after her death. A genius who knew what she wanted and chose her seclusion in her self-claimed poetic house of "possibility," Dickinson declared that only the "fairest" visitors were admitted, indicating her aversion to publicity. Being a recluse, she nevertheless presented to us an amazing mind that is inquisitive and profoundly penetrating. The way she observed human vicissitudes was original and unorthodox. Her frequent ways of blending the holy and the profane, the eternal and the homely gave her poetry unexpected turns and startling twists.

We read quite a few poems by Dickinson in today's class. Have you found any poems that impress you as exceptional and unconventional? Which poem inspires you the most? What kind of profound understanding have you gained--in terms of human destinies, nature, a female artist's interior struggles, and so forth?

《台北星期天》東部隆重首映：04/30（星期五）晚上6:30

被多位媒體記者譽為本年度最佳國片之《台北星期天》東部隆重首映：04/30（星期五）晚上6:30東華演藝廳準時放映, 六點開放入場, 加導演映後座談。

校內免費索票地點：英美系、中文系、東華書坊。
校外索票地點；璞石咖啡。

備註：
1.放映前十分鐘開放自由入場
2.本活動可計入學生電子學習履歷，歡迎同學們攜帶學生證到場聆聽。

2010 台北金馬奇幻影展開幕片《台北星期天》Pinoy Sunday 東部首映暨導演映後座談

放映時間：99年4月30日(五) 18:00 憑票入場 18:30 開映

放映地點：東華大學壽豐校區演藝廳

【電影介紹】：

監製 胡至欣
導演 何蔚庭
編劇 AJAY BALAKRISHNAN / 何蔚庭
攝影 JAKE POLLOCK
音樂 蔡曜任
剪輯 許\惟堯

就像是勞台與哈台、王哥與柳哥的組合，喜劇裡的一個胖子搭配一個瘦子那種。身為近萬在台菲勞大軍的其中兩人，馬諾奧，年輕單身、自命風流，一心肖想能和雇主有一腿的美麗菲傭賽西麗拍拖。而在同一工廠上班的老鄉迪艾斯，篤實憨厚、內斂寡言，一方面時刻掛念遠在家鄉的妻小，卻又和同在台灣工作的安娜勾勾纏纏，搞七捻三。每到星期天，兩人總是懷抱不同的期待，用力把工廠、門禁拋諸九霄雲外，直奔台北市中心。

但這個星期天，馬諾奧和迪艾斯的美夢卻一個一個破碎。一張被遺棄在路邊的火紅沙發，勾起了兩人的目光。閉目想像這樣一張沙發放在宿舍的天台上，喝著冰涼的啤酒、看著天上的星星，這大概就是天堂了吧。就這樣，馬諾奧與迪艾斯這兩位天兵，一前一後，在這尋常的週日午後，扛起沙發，上山下海，一起穿過台北城市的大街小巷，展開一段爆笑連連，卻又萬般滋味的奇幻旅程。


導演‧何蔚庭‧馬來西亞籍，畢業於美國紐約大學電影製作系，多年在台灣拍攝廣告及電影、紀錄片。

《台北星期天》為何蔚庭第一部劇情長片，耗費四年時間籌畫與拍攝，自嘲自己在台灣也是外籍勞工的他，首次挑戰外勞議題，希望可以打破以往對於外勞較為悲情的刻板印象，透過幽默詼諧的基調，以菲律賓人的視角呈現台北生活。在風格上，也突破前兩部短片作品，希望可以帶給大家煥然一新的感覺。
(引用自電影官網：)

【英史】the rhetoric of "discovery" and its gendered ideology (deadline: 4/18, 12 p.m.)

In this famous picture drawn in 1575, Jan van der Straet depicts the "discovery" of America in an allegorical way--as a pornographic encounter between a man and a woman. Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer who "discovered" America, is portrayed in the drawing as a fully clothed man who stands masterfully before a naked and sexually inviting woman, who extends her hand in a gesture of seduction and submission. Vespucci, a god-like figure who represents civilization and technology, was about to conquer, to "penetrate" or to "pierce" the virgin land, which is allegorically portrayed as a naked woman. In other words, the rhetoric of "discovery" hinges on a gendered ideology, in which male is conventionally seen as active or aggressive while female viewed as passive and vulnerable.

However, this kind of male-centered imperial discourse cannot always be that triumphant and cocky. In the background of the drawing, we can see a cannibal scene in which human bodies are dismembered and roasted, suggesting threat and danger lurking in the wilderness. The "feminized" wilderness, in fact, is never that passive and vulnerable as imagined by male explorers; oftentimes, it provokes anxiety and fear.

In "Heart of Darkness," can you find similar portrayals of the wilderness that is being "feminized" or "eroticized"? Besides the imperial hubris and narcissism, with its delusional fantasy of male might and unstoppable pillaging and looting, can you also spot a contradictory fear of engulfment or castration? Identify passages and explain them. Make your answer into a 250-300-word essay. Cite texts to prove your points.

【英史】The ideology of "whiteness" in "Heart of Darkness" (deadline: 4/11, 12 p.m.)

In 1899, an advertisement for Pears' Soap in McClure's Magazine announced: "The first step towards lightening THE WHITE MAN"S BURDEN is through teaching the virtues of cleanliness. PEARS' SOAP is a potent factor in brightening the dark corners of the earth as civilization advances, while amongst the cultured of all nations it holds the highest place--it is the ideal toilet soap."

In this ad, we can see the admirable captain wearing white uniform, supposedly using Pears' Soap to wash his hands. Here commodity capitalism goes hand in hand with imperialism. Cleanniss and whiteness guarantee white power and justify the domination of aboriginal people (which is shown in the bottom right corner--a mini-picture of the genuflection of a naked African man). Ships, seaports, and buildings suggest not only trades but also imperial progress. White civilization needs to be brought into the wilderness; the lesson of hygiene needs to be taught to those "savage" people who don't know the "virtues" of clieaniness and whiteness.

It is an interesting coincidence that Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" was also published in 1899, the same year that the Pears' Soap ad came out. In Part I of the novel, Marlow encounters a wonderfully sleazy accountant whom he describes as a "hairdresser's dummy." Re-read these paragraphs (pp. 1902-3). Do you see any irony in these paragraphs? How does the accountant achieve his sartorial spruceness? Why is maintaning cleaniness so important for this accountant? How do you make of his obsesission with cleaning and grooming rituals?

Make your answer into a 250-300-word essay. Cite texts to prove your points.