Essay Assignment #4
Literature Humanities, Spring 2008
J. O’Neal
Preamble
Some have argued that the Western literary canon is held together
primarily through engagement with a shared set of themes. The “big idea” theory
posits that certain ideas stitch together works which might be too
linguistically, formally, historically, and philosophically diverse to form a
coherent canon otherwise. We’re talking the heavy artillery here: evil, free
will, power, beauty, truth, etc. One
problem (there are others) with this formulation is that these ideas have
changed over the centuries—what we think of now as virtue is not the same, as
you well know, as the virtue of the Hellenistic era for example. The problem of
culture-shift prompted the critic Raymond Williams to survey the historical
development of a group of “keywords” important to literary and cultural study (see
example on reverse side).
Assignment
Using an entry from Keywords as your starting point, write an essay that examines the role of that idea in The Aeneid, Confessions, The Comedia, or Decameron (choose one work only). A copy of Keywords will be available through Butler Reserves by Friday.
Requirements
1. Your essay should be 1000-1200 words long.
2. Final Essays are due by Feb. 28th at 11pm.
3. Drafts are due Feb 22nd at 11pm.
Suggestions
1. Do not begin your essay with
something like the following: “In Keywords,
Raymond Williams defines
“coffee” as ‘the greatest substance in the known universe” Rather, use specific textual
reference to build a case that the
idea you will discuss is an interesting and relevant way of discussing the work you chose.
2. It might be helpful to structure your
question so that your use of the keyword is trying to answer
some question, consternation, or
ambiguity in the text.
3. Don’t forget you are making an argument.
Going through individual moments and saying that they all
have to do with “empire” does not a
critical essay make.
4. You only need to cite as much of the Williams
as you find useful—if you find that you don’t need to
cite it directly, that’s fine. The
keyword is meant to be a starting place to get you thinking, not a
millstone to drag along.
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