Journal writing reminds us that
interacting with literature takes place in a far wider venue than that of research papers.
The breadth of cultural conversation extends out past analysis to reflections,
reviews. imitations, and even translations. Responding to texts calls on the range
of our God-given abilities, ones which are a part of the human task of moral and cultural
agency. We are created to react in fully-orbed ways.
You will keep a journal of responses to
our semester readings. You should respond to at least one selection of literature per
week. These will be taken up each week at beginning of class. They will be
evaluated according to three general principles:
1) Awareness of the reading: I should be able to
to tell that you are clearly responding in some way to an assigned reading.
2) Active, engaged responses: You are not just
mirroring the obvious; instead, you are willing to interact with authors' ideas, symbols,
language, and style.
3) Thoughtful, developed prose: While journals
allow you the luxury of freewriting, I do expect to see some care taken in the exposition
of your ideas. You are more than welcome to be experimental; however, choose your
words with a sense of craft.
"What about length?" I
will leave that up to you. I will probably question you if all your entries are
haiku, and a full-scale Russsian novel for each entry is perhaps more than you will want
to do (or I will want to read). Give yourself some freedom to explore your
ideas. If that kind of open-endedness makes you uncomfortable, try aiming for a page
or so per entry.
Some methods you might consider:
1. Free-association of ideas; stream of
consciousness
2. A record of quotations that move you and why
3. A digest of ideas
4. Literary Analysis -- The Standard
5. Poetry
6. Short Stories
7. Meditations/ Memoirs
8. Riddles, Jokes, or Proverbs
9. Platonic Dialogues
10. Responses to Propositions
11.A Dictionary of Terms and Ideas
12. Diagrams, Art Work
13. A parody or imitation of an author
14. A "New York Times" style book review
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