Gilbert: Freshman Studies: Fall 99
Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

Friday, September 24:

  1. The first short paper is due.
  2. Please reread pp. 3-122 of AILD and be prepared to discuss these questions (among others you may have):

    • What do we know (for sure) about Darl? About Jewel? About Cora?

    • How much time passes between the beginning of this section and the end? How do we know? What happens on each day? Note (and be prepared to discuss) specific places in the text that tell us about the timing of events.

    • Where in the text do we find out for sure that Vernon and Tull are the same person? that Cash is Addie's son? that Addie Bundren is dead?

    • List several key words that describe each of the main characters. What words describe Jewel, for example?

    • Whose idea is it for Darl and Jewel to go off with the load of wood? Says who? Why do they go?

    • What does Cash's chapter on pp 82-83 tell us about Cash? Why is it written as a list? Would it be more or less effective as a prose chapter?

  3. Sign up for a time to meet with me. The signup sheet is outside my office (Main Hall G2).

Saturday, September 25
Faulkner's 102nd birthday! Enjoy Octoberfest for him.

Monday, September 27

  1. Remember: Meet in the Stansbury Theatre in the Music-Drama Center for Professor Fritzell's lecture. At the lecture, listen carefully; take good notes. Our discussion Wednesday will focus on the lecture: what points Mr. Fritzell made and how he supported them.

  2. Please reread the end of the book (pp. 123-261) before the lecture.

  3. Your papers will be waiting for you outside my office by 8:30 a.m. I will bring the papers to the lecture, so you can try to find me there. I'll be in the back, toward the center.

Wednesday, September 29

  1. We'll start (as promised) by discussing Monday's lecture. Please bring your notes.

  2. We'll talk some about writing.
  3. We'll try to pin down more details of the journey:
    • Where are they on each day of the journey?
    • What happens there?
    • Reported by whom?

Note: Remember to go see Rashomon Wednesday or Thursday evening at 7:00 pm in Stansbury theatre. You'll be viewing it again early next week after we've started discussing the film and before Professor Dintenfass's lecture. This time, just watch it as you would watch any film.

Friday, October 1

  1. First paper rewrite due.
  2. We'll conclude our discussion of AILD by trying to tie up loose ends and look at the work as a whole. Some questions which might arise include:

    • Why does Faulkner write the book this way? Is he trying to make some point about the way we know things? If so, what point? If not, what is he up to?

    • Is Darl really insane? Who says so?

    • How does Cash change (or how does our perception of Cash change) through the book?

    • Language plays an important role in the three chapters, "Cora," "Addie," and "Whitfield," (pp. 166-179). What is that role? What does Addie (for example) believe about language?

    • Is AILD a comedy or tragedy?

Back to the schedule
revised: 22-Sept-1999