All projects must have annotated bibliography. These will be converted for the CD-ROM.
Group Projects: Building the Class Hypermedia Project-American Literature as a HyperNarrative
This class is all about connections . . . connections between writers and their culture; American history and our stories; America's past and our future. If we were writing American Literature's autobiography what would we call it? I suggest HyperNarrative. Like Hypertext, our culture and our writing have nodal elements. How does the American Literature narrative intersect with other narratives in our culture?
We plan to research American folktales in an effort to determine the cultural influences that give rise to them, describing the relationship between the tales and the cultures in which they are created. We will also examine the effect that the oral tradition has upon the tales, describing the origins, evolution, influences and modern versions of these folktales. Additionally, Kenneth and I hope to compare modern folktales and urban myths with their historical counterparts and answer the question of whether folk tales and the oral tradition are still alive and in the same format as they have been for centuries, or whether such legends are things of the past. We can show that many cultures had tall tales, if we can find any research on them, and then show how they are the same/different. We might even want to narrow our western tales down to one only concerning technology, or overpopulation, or poverty, or an important issue of that time.
By the midterm we hope to have compiled a list of folktales, narrowed the list to the three or four that are best suited to our needs, researched these tales, and found multi-media support for the project. By the due date we expect to have completed the project by tying these elements together in the hypertext setting.
We expect the workload and task-assignment to be a fairly even split, with both of our group's members researching, digitizing, editing, and designing the project.
Timeline:
Throughout the twentieth century, American musicians have greatly influenced the literature of their author counterparts. From the Jazz and Blues of the 20s to the Rock and Roll of the 90s, writers have had quite a bit of inspiration from the music of the times. We will study how different types of music had a profound impact on the literary works produced in different time periods.
We will each pick a different style of music and apply them to certain decades in which they had the greatest impact. Jeremy will work on rock and roll of the 60s, Garrett will study jazz and blues of the 40s, Heidi will research country and western of the late 50s and early 60s, James will concentrate on classical of the 19th century to lead into our talk of the 20th century and Melonie will investigate folk music of the late 60s and early 70s. Each person will look at a few artists and authors in each decade that pertain to our music types. We will each do a critical analysis of each artist and author.
Example of Individual Topic by Garrett:
I propose, for a starting point, that I will research works by T.S.
Eliot and Langston Hughes regarding jazz discourse in modernist poetry. I
will study the influence of jazz musicians to the works of Eliot and
Hughes. These musicians will be researched and documented accordingly to
the appropriate author. I will accumulate at least 10 sources pertaining
to the topic of jazz discourse of these particular authors I plan on
downloading pictures of Eliot, Hughes, and the influential jazz musicians,
and any other relevant places, people, etc., to give a visual aid. I will
also download some excerpts of the actual poetry to correlate the
relationship. I will analyze important social
issues in the text that can possibly aid in understanding what
influenced the jazz musicians in their works.
Goals: Midterm
Jeremy - digitizing
Garrett - digitizing
Heidi - text editor
James - primary designer
Melonie - text editor
Text editor: Kris
Primary designer: Kamal
Digitizing: Sharron
This group assimilates and adds to the information brought in by the class regarding our readings (including the authors skipped over). This group also helps with the interface design, structuring and maintenance of the entire project.
We are going to take the theme of major wars and write about how literature played a role in them. We have chosen some major wars including the American Revolution, the Civil War, WWI, WWII, and Vietnam. First, we are going to take each war on an individual basis and search for some major literary works which were written both about the war and literature written during the war period. For example, for the American Revolution we plan on looking at the work of Thomas Paine as well as researching for some other major works of the war period. Then, after researching into the representative wars, we are planning to compare and contrast the literary works. One thing to note is that we don't know all too much about literature on all of the wars that we have chosen. For this reason, we are going to take this project on a basis driven by what we find and where this information takes us.
Specifically, Kristin is going to research the American Revolution and Thomas Paine's influences (How his pamphlets were interpreted back then and how they shape our opinion of those times today). Stacie is going to do the same with Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Civil War. Jenn, on the other hand, is going to write on the influences of American literature during Vietnam as a result of being thrown into the war. She will also analyze how the literature of those times is interpreted today. Under each war we will have a author bio, a summary of why we were in the war and a timeline that shows other events of the times to put the viewer in the right frame of mind.
Mid-semester goals:
End-of-semester goals:
Kristen- primary designer
Jennifer-digitizer
Stacie-text editor
Group Topic:
History records that religion was the foundation of early America.
The authors of early America were influenced greatly by a society centered
around religion. We will study how the religion entered into and shaped
American Literature.
First, we will compare and contrast the religious backgrounds of particular authors and see the differences in the ways that their beliefs affected their writings. Trey will study authors from 1620-1820, particularly Anne Bradstreet and Johnathan Edwards. Audra will study 1820-1865, particularly Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emmerson. Connie will study authors from 1865-1914, particularly William Faulkner and Zora Hurston. Of course, these authors are subject to change. Depending on the depth of our study, we may compare and contrast writings from different time periods as well as how contemporary literature addresses religion.
Four Midsemester Goals:
Responsibilities:
Connie: Digitizing and author research
Billy: Primary Designer and author research
Audra: Director Expert and author research
Our group is going to focus on female writers of color in American Literature during the 20th century. We will showcase Alice Walker, Terry McMillan, Maya Angelou, and Amy Tan. All of these women share a common link in that they have had at least one of their books made into a film. We will research each author's background, influential events that helped to shape their lives, a list of their most renowned works, and a video clip of the author's movie.
There will be a comparison and contrast of the authors' writing styles and an analysis of some of the events that helped to mold them into the artists they are today. We will also explore the authors who were of great influence to our women writers. In this project, we hope to find interesting similarities and distinct differences between these women and their books.
Goals:
Midterm:
After Midterm:
Kesha will be responsible for digitizing all the sound bites and video clips which will be collected by the whole group. Kimberly will be our Director Expert. Cynthia will edit the text that all have helped to write. We will all be involved in researching and collecting data.
Your group will give a mid-term presentation and a final presentation of the work.
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