Cassi's World Literature Blog!

I really enjoyed our visit to the Archives and Special Collections today! I learned a lot about the history of so many different texts. Regarding Antigone, I learned that it was originally written down on Papyrus, and in 1502 there was a milestone printing in Italy that became a reference for a lot of different people. This was really interesting to apply to our reading of Antigone, being that we read a 2005 translation. It was cool to think about the pathway the text could have taken from the original papyrus to the books we were using.  There were a lot of other literary works we went over that I learned a lot about such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and other cuneiform writing on clay tablets. I thought it was so cool to see and be able to hold something that was from around 3000 years ago! We also learned about Esther on scroll, and the large St. John's Bible.  One of the most interesting overarching concepts of this that I would be interested in learning about is the physical ...

 First, I looked at Heather's Neatline exhibit. I had just used Neatline for the first time, so I was curious to see how someone else used it and see if I missed anything or if I should have done something differently. I thought her exhibit was awesome! I thought it was cool how she connected multiple points on the map to one Waypoint. Another thing I thought was awesome was having the multiple map layers! I would definitely say this was a successful Neatline exhibit, and I know who I can go to if I have any questions about how to navigate in more in the future!  The next research excursion I looked at was John's essay on the Greek Chorus. I remember we talked about this topic in class a little bit, so I was really interesting in seeing what he would find about this! I thought he did a really good job taking what he learned from his research and applying it back to specific moments in Antigone. I thought the segment about how the age of the Chorus giving them superiority over ...

 Looking at the final project, I am excited! The concept seems super interesting, and I cannot wait to dive in further. I am finding it a little difficult to brainstorm without reading the last 2 texts, as I do not want to become attached to a topic from Home Fire/Antigone without considering what the other texts could offer! However, there are definitely some interesting jumping off points I am considering. One idea I thought could be interesting is to look into the impact translations have on a text. I'm not sure if this counts as intertextuality, but looking at different translations of Antigone across time could be an interesting comparison. However, this doesn't stretch very far across the globe so I don't know how interesting that would be culturally. Expanding the idea slightly, maybe it would be cool to do translations of ancient plays in general, from all around the world? I know there are a lot of modern day adaptations, so it could be interesting to feature somet...

 As I mentioned in class, what I thought was most interesting was the arguments that sparked over the difference in the speaker of one single line. In the scene where it is unclear whether the line should belong to Ismene or Antigone, it really opened my eyes to how important a speaker is in a scene. The attribution of certain lines to certain characters is absolutely intentional and reveals information not only about the plot, but about that character and their motivations. In the attribution of this line being unclear, it questions the characters of both Antigone and Ismene. While I'm sure we could talk about this line forever, as several scholars have already been inclined to do, this actually makes me wonder about more than just this line. As the lecture discussed, the play was often spread through oral tradition. The transcriptions on papyrus or scrolls relied on memory and random viewers interpretations. Additionally, the play was performed through different locations and tim...

After our class discussion yesterday, I was thinking more about the comparison between Creon and Karamat, specifically in their treatment and views of women. During class, I saw Creon's overt misogyny and contrasted it with what I thought was Karamat's more open viewpoint. However, Michelle brought up some good points I had forgotten about in Home Fire, where Karamat shows a similar viewpoint to Creon.  As I reflected on this, I think a conclusion that I settled on is that while their display of misogyny may be different, Shamsie uses Karamat to reflect Creon's same anti-feminist ideals, just in a more subversive sense. I think this speaks to the context of each text. In Ancient Greece, it was normalized to say women belong in the home and that men are superior. However, in modern day Britain, that is not something you can just come right out and say. Consequently, Karamat's actions, especially toward his son Eamonn, show the same biased sentiment, just less upfront. Al...

While all of your research excursions look fabulous, the first one that caught my eye was Griffin's presentation on women in the afterlife. I thought it was a very interesting topic, especially since it was something that didn't even cross my mind when I was reading. I had thought about the role of women, as it seemed to be a pretty central theme in the novel, and I had briefly considered the afterlife as far as Parvaiz was concerned, but I never thought of the overlap between the two concepts. I thought it was super interesting to learn about how the women's treatment in the afterlife should be equitable to men's, despite the current social division we see in our realm. I would definitely check this out if you guys haven't already! The second one I looked at was Hilary's essay on sexual expectations. I remember reading Hilary's blog post about her considering this topic, so I was looking forward to hearing about it! It was such an interesting read! I loved ...

 I know we touched on this a lot during our class discussions, but the inclusion of the Icarus and Daedalus story was something of particular interest to me in Home Fire.  Shamsie brings it up when discussing the parachutists, but I can't help but think of it again and again whenever she mentions two distance figures throughout the novel. For example, at the beginning of Eamonn's section, he notices two ducks paddling in the water. Shamsie uses this vision of two people moving together and apart throughout the novel in different places, just as Icarus and Daedalus chasing after one another in the sky.  Coming back to when it was first mentioned, I didn't think too much of it at the time, not knowing how the story would develop. But now, I think there are definitely some interesting parallels that can be drawn. Shamsie describes Icarus as "hurtling down" and "his father Daedalus, following too slowly to catch the vainglorious boy" (Shamsie 9). I think thi...

 Hey guys! After working with Neatline, I think it is a really cool tool to show different regions of the world and how they connect to a concept. I do have some concerns in creating projects on there, as the user interface isn't something that is super intuitive to me. I don't have much experience with websites that go an in-depth as Neatline can, and having so many options to turn on/off to make things work correctly is a bit overwhelming when I am thinking about creating a project.  On the other side of this though, I am excited to work through these initial confusions and get to a place where I feel like I can use Neatline effectively. I think it is a tool that can be very beneficial, as there is a large range of things you can do on it! I really like how the timeline can interact with the real-world map, and as someone who often struggles with contextualizing texts, I think this is something that could really help.