Where I'm Calling From

This is one of Carver's most praised stories. Published in the early 1980's, it was included in the Best American Short Stories and was subsequently tagged for inclusion in John Updike's BASS of the Century Anthology.

The style is somewhat richer than the spare minimal sentences that Carver produced under the editorial hand of Gordon Lish. I think it points the way Carver would be turning in his last years, as he wrote true masterpieces like Errand.

In the story, Carver uses supporting characters to develop the voice and character of the narrator. Given your reading and completion of the worksheet, please write no more than 4000 characters in which you discuss how several supporting characters helps us to understand the protagonist-narrator.

Carver Video

Please watch parts 1, 2, 3.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Rayond Carver

You have read Cathedral, the poem Photograph of My Father in his 22^nd Year and the memoir piece that includes that poem.

What themes does Carver announce in these pieces? How might we expect that he enlarge (beyond mere stereotype) our understanding of a certain part of American culture?

What parts of each piece of writing (story, essay, poem) communicate most clearly to you? Just begin with a short quote and then tell how that quote means something to you.

Then go the blog and write in your response. Create about 300 words worth of writing. Your audience is your peer group, plus teachers and other smart folks who like to learn about writers and writing. So pay attention to grammar and spelling. But the most important part is the quality of your ideas, the sincerity of your response. This is a Pass/Fail grade. No late work, no excuses.

Dystopia wars

Orwell's 1984 warns us that the future will dominated by totalitarian governments who use force to rule the populace. Brave New World offers another view: that people will become so bebased by entertainment and pleasure that they will willingly give up freedom for a life of guaranteed, mindless pleasure.

Read the short summaries of both books at the links above to remind your self of the books (or learn about them for the first time.

The read this letter from Huxley to Orwell.

Which is more a more accurate future of authoritarian govenment for a country like the USA? Why?

Limit to 4000 characters.

Rockism

Read and respond. Are you a rockist. Where are your music biases?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/arts/music/31sann.html?_r=1

Language

Like far too many "educated" Americans, I am fluent in exactly NO other world languages. I can read French a bit, but it's been twenty years since I did any real reading in French, way back in grad school. I have a hazy desire to learn Spanish because so many of our nation's newest citizens are Spanish speakers, but I never seem to find the time.



If I could learn any language, I think I would go back to French. That language retains, for me, its cosmopolitan allure, its sound of sophistication. And I would like to read the Mallarme, Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Reverdy again with clarity. There is newish translation of Rimbuad’s Illuminations by my hero John Ashberry. I have the dual language edition and have enjoyed playing with some of the challenging ideas therein. My French is too too rusty to do much more than look at various phrases and try to remember how the verb tenses work.



Read the essay here. Then write about 400 words in which you summarize your own work with world languages and then look to the future. What will you learn and why? After all, you are still young! Your brain is still plastic enough to learn a language quickly.

Show off as a writer. Please proofread carefully.

The Ghost in the Machine

We can distinguish five positions on consciousness: eliminativist, dualist, idealist, pan­psychist and mysterianist. Which are you? Readf and explain why you favor your choice.

Read the article here.