Talking with ghosts

Love this quote from an interview with editors M. H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt in the New York Times about the Norton Anthology's anniversary:

Has the Norton Anthology then lost its relevance?

Greenblatt: Not at all. The Norton Anthology was based on the idea that it actually matters to plunge into a comic masterpiece written in the 1300s or to weep at a tragedy performed in the 1700s. What would it mean for a culture to give up on its past? It is vitally important to remind people that the humanities carry the experience, the life-forms of those who came before us, into the present and into the future. Through reading literature we can make ghosts speak to us, and we can speak back to them. Besides — as many studies have shown — cultural knowledge turns out to be good for your career.

And so I continue to stumble through Sophocles and Shakespeare with my students at the community college, even though I'm sure they wonder whether they are getting their money's worth from this class.

Actually, I have been very happy with the way the literature class has been going. It's a smaller group than last semester, and about half of the students are older than I am, so they are happy to sit around and talk about the relationships in these plays.  Last week we had a great discussion about whether it would have been better for Oedipus to live in ignorance than to find out his sins.  The class was pretty well split in opinion.  They may have had a hard time with the language, but they picked up on the themes. They were able to weep at this masterpiece from thousands of years ago.

There seems to be a good rapport among the lit students, and one lady really brought the class to life last week by bringing in warm bunelos. I was only going to eat a bite of one to be polite, but the donut melted away too quickly, reminding me of the donuts from a bakery near where my dad used to work. He could polish off a dozen in no time because they were so airy and sugary when warm that they seemed to evaporate. Only thing missing was coffee, which I'm afraid to drink because this class starts at 8 pm.

We are going to read "Fences" by August Wilson next, because the university next door is staging it in a few weeks.   I just read it for the first time myself, and although the language may strike some students as a bit rough (it was a bit jarring to me, at least - it had crossed my mind to take my kids to the play because I'm always looking for ways to sneak some culture in them, but it's definitely too mature for the youngers), I think the students will really enjoy discussing the family dynamics.  They've enjoyed talking about how the lovers in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" fall into familiar patterns; in "Fences" I hope they'll listen to the ghosts speaking about the next phase of life: marriage and parenting - and how the songs sung by Troy and Lyons and Gabe (like the stories in the anthology) keep the characters waking up in the morning, even when it seems like they've cut themselves off from all their reasons for living.

Now if I could just figure out how to get the same energy to enliven my composition class.  I get a lot of blank stares when I ask for volunteers to read or discuss.  Maybe it's time to bring in hot donuts.

On Looking into Fitzgerald's Sophocles

It’s been a busy week since my return. We’re back into the throes of homeschooling, and I’ve begun teaching a literature class at the community college. After the second meeting, a student came up and asked what kind of group projects we were going to do. Ahhh, I usually don’t love group projects. He encouraged me to include a lot of interactive activities, and he mentioned that the students were having trouble understanding me. I guess I talk too fast and too soft. An air conditioner runs in the middle of the room, so that makes hearing difficult. And I have a this midwestern accent.  I also need to remember that none of these students is a literature major. This is a general education course for them.
Looks like I have some work to do. I’ve got to come up with some ideas to make this stuff interesting and engaging. The class runs from 8-9:30 pm, so whatever we do also needs to keep everyone awake. Anyone have any suggestions for making introduction to literature classes fun and exciting? In college, I just liked reading the stories and talking in class. As a matter of fact, I hated group projects. But I’m going to have to stretch myself if this is going to work.


We’ve started the course with Oedipus the King. I decided to do drama first because this is the oldest text in their anthology, after Antigone. I like chronological order as an organizing tool, and drama has the added benefit of being easy to read aloud. We'll end the semester with poetry, which has a lot of possibilities for projects, but it is going to be a challenge to find projects to go with the short stories.

Tomorrow night is our last of three classes on Oedipus, and then we move to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The kids know little to nothing about Greek mythology, but seem interested in it, so I’m going to bring in some artwork, since MND also alludes to Greek mythology. For a project, I think I’m going to have them get in small groups and come up with a short skit about what happens to Oedipus next. Then surprise! I can tell them about Antigone and Oedipus at Colonnus.   

Does that sound fun? Personally, I’d rather sit around and discuss Oedipus’s search for his identity, since this is a theme tugging at my heart right now. “Fate and Free Will” is always advertised as the main theme, but Oedipus’ search for knowledge of the truth strikes me as just as considerable. Should Oedipus have given up his search and remained comfortable, or did he make the right choice in pursuing truth, despite the suffering he has to undergo? While “Could he escape his fate?” is an interesting question, I think the students may find it more relevant to ponder what consequences come from a lack of self-knowledge. Creon tells Oedipus after he is completely humbled by the truth that “you are ready now to listen to the god.” The position of suppliant makes Oedipus an even greater man. I suppose it would be too personal to ask students to share about a time they were forced to confront an uncomfortable truth about themselves… maybe this is on my mind because married people are forced to face those kind of truths all the time.

The other theme that resonates with me while reading Oedipus this time around is “exile.” Exile is nearly equivalent to death to the Greeks. When did the fear of exile lose its power? When travel became easier? During the age of exploration and adventure? The age of colonization? Does anyone fear exile any more? I suppose jail is a kind of exile. Exile is a symbol for being at odds with God, out of touch with divine order. Another sort of alienation from truth. Personally, I find being far from roots both exhilarating and exhausting. At times a sort of frenetic state of indecisiveness threatens to overwhelm me. It takes time and energy to figure out where to go and what to do and whom to turn to in a new place. And when I fail to cultivate a true sense of directedness toward heavenly things, the things of earth can threaten to engulf my wellbeing.


Returning to these familiar books is a sort of antidote, a reminder that here are things I love, things I’d forgotten I loved, things that point to the beyond. Sophocles, I’ve missed you! Mr. Robert Fitzgerald, I love your note on translation that almost needs its own translation! “The style of Sophocles was smooth. It has been likened by a modern critic to a molten flow of language, fitting and revealing every contour of the meaning, with no words wasted and no words poured on for effect. To approximate such purity I have sought a spare but felicitous manner of speech, not common and not ‘elevated’ either, except by force of natural eloquence.” Eloquence, indeed. Dear students, I may fail to impress one single bit of knowledge on you, other than that there are people out there that love this stuff, and it is up to you to figure out why. And maybe in the process you’ll fall in love with it, too.