SCHEDULE OF FIRST LONG EXAM

BTW Class, our first long exam will be on Saturday, July 11, 2009. That will cover everyhting we discussed from the start and an analysis of a short story, not the ones we have discussed in class. Thanks. God bless!!!

DOUBLE WHAMMY!!!

Hi, class. This is still related to the never-ending case of Manuel Arguilla. I think it is problematic to classify his works as purely art for art’s sake because his subjects later on took a different route; he started depicting life in the city or slums in his later stories. Also, his stories “Midsummer” and “How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” faithfully capture the life of rural folks even as he makes use of vivid and sensuous language. In fact, Arcellana said that Arguilla used English “as if it were a Philippine dialect – so adequately does he find it for his purpose.” He was what could be considered to be the perfect embodiment of a balance between the formalist and socialist style. (We were neither right nor wrong after all… lusot…) Perhaps, I’ll let you be the judge. Try reading Arguilla’s works, and know for yourselves. I guess, this is the easier way out for me:P

In class, we maintain appearances. :P Here’s to more fruitful and argumentative discussions in the future. You can always question my statements, class. Let’s have a real discourse.

PS.
Your assignment on archetypes has been uploaded in our yahoo group. I changed some of the items. Please check it out. Write your own interpretations. Thanks. God bless.

THE PRETENDERS IS NOW AVAILABLE AT THE BOOKSTORE

Class, the book "The Pretenders" is already available at our bookstore. The copies will be on shelf this week. Any unpurchased copies might be pulled out the following week, so I suggest you buy your copies immediately. I think the book is priced at P230 each. Thanks.

RE: GROUP ACTIVITY FOR MY FATHER GOES TO COURT

Class, we'll do the diagram exercise on Carlos Bulosan's My Father Goes to Court inside the classroom instead. But (For A15), if you have already prepared the powerpoint presentation, you may still present that in class. For the rest, please bring a cartolina or manila paper and some pentel pens. The reason for the change in instructions is we ran out of time in my other secton (A15), and I wasn't able to group the class. So for both sections, please bring the materials I mentioned, and as much as possible, answer the questions about the material, which I have uploaded in the FILE section of our yahoo groups, to prepare you for the presentation of analysis next meeting.

Thank you. And start reading Nick Joaquin's "Summer Solstice". God bless!

OOOOPS....

Hi, Class... This message goes to A15... I just realized when I had already left the classroom the blunder I committed when I said that Arguilla falls under Art for Man's Sake. He actually belongs to the tradition of Villa who believes on Art for Art's Sake. Villa's works, as exemplified by Midsummer and How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife, depicts the life in the countryside with the exactness and "luminosity" characteristic of Amorsolo paintings. However, unlike F. Sionil Jose or Bulosan, his stories, at least the ones I mentioned, do not advocate for change in society,which as we discussed, is the primary concern of artists espousing Salvador P. Lopez's literary thrust...

I'll talk more about this in class... I just can't let the day pass by without clearing up the mess I had made. I am more lucid now:P

God bless... and sorry for the confusion. Thank you

COMPILATION OF READING MATERIALS

For those who don't know yet, I already left copies of your reading materials with the 2nd floor photocopying machine operator. That's where you can get a copy of carlos bulosan's my father goes to court. thanks

NEW INSTRUCTIONS

There's no need for you to post your photos on the comments section of our class blog since blogger doesn't seem to have the feature which allows that. Just post the pictures on your own blog, and we'll just look into them Thanks.