Note: Additional notes and “lessons” derived from Ragtime (04-Feb) — here.
Reading (and blogging) suggestions for Ragtime:
Click–>
As I suggested today in class,
take notes as you read — follow a particular character closely;
e.g. Evelyn Nesbit, Tateh, Younger Brother, Harry Houdini, Emma Goldman, Coalhouse Walker, Jr.
pay attention to (and especially note) intersections as well as less direct connections
(i.e. by association; within expanding social network — Q. view of novel as social network? Implications?).
Look up historical information online, (perhaps starting with the title?); note any liberties Doctorow takes or any “literary function” he uses factual information for, (keeping in mind our premise of Barthes’ “Text”…).
Consider issues that we will discuss more explicitly next week:
1) “American Exceptionalism” / “American Dream”
2) “Historicity” & “Historiography”
– Q.) distinctions between “the past” / “history” / “memory” ?
– Note how characters inscribe history, with their unique experience. Implications?
As always, be attentive to emergent connections, at a more general level of the course. For example, online associative reading produces an unexpected link when I find which southern New Jersey town Evelyn Nesbit lived in for a time. Proceeding from this, insights…?
Likewise, make note of any quotes or elements that emerge as related to our project, such as the above image: Charles Dana Gibson’s “The Eternal Question.” Doctorow writes, “It showed Evelyn in profile, with a profusion of hair, one thick strand undone and fallen in the configuration of a question mark” (5). Approaching history using our method, we keep in mind how literature functions more like a question — effect or lesson for our project?
More coming soon.
Listen to Scott Joplin’s ragtime songs:
“Maple Leaf Rag” (1899) — (see Ragtime 160). Intriguing for our purposes that this YouTube contributor calls it “The Trolley Song”….(associating two seemingly unconnected characters, yes? Did you note who takes an extended trolley ride?)
Also, “Wall Street Rag” (1909), which Coalhouse Walker Jr. first plays (Ragtime 159).
Probably more familiar with Joplin’s most famous work:
“The Entertainer” (1902)
“Not too fast,” Joplin warns in his performance/composition notes. We tell my brother (the pianist/composer) this all the time — perhaps an apt instruction for reading, too? (after calling this a “quick read”)
ghink
