Voices From the Gaps - Fall 2007

Dr. Renee Gladman Biography

Dr. Renee Gladman was born in 1971 in Atlanta, GA. She is the middle of three daughters. Renee Gladman attended Catholic school, then middle school. After she finished her early education, she moved to high school called Benjamin Elijah Mays which she graduated with honors. Then, she went to College at Vassar in Poughkeepsie, an area of New York, received her B.A. in Philosophy, and then she studied poetics in the San Francisco Bay area at a Fledgling school called New College of California. From this school she earned her M.A. In that time, Dr. Gladman, living in San Francisco allowed her to grow as a prose and city writer. In 2001, she moved to New York City.
Currently, she teaches at Brown University where she works as an assistant professor of the Literary Arts program. Dr. Gladman has been a transcriber, an editorial assistant, an audio editor, and now a professor.Dr.Gladman looks at writing and reading as favorite pastimes. Therefore, she writes, and her prose collection includes the Arlem, Not Right Now, Juice, and the Activist. she published her first book of poetry called A Picture-Feeling. Lately, she edited 10 chapbooks of innovative poetry and prose.. According to our group email exchanges with Dr. Gladman, states how she loves writing and communicating through writing lines while it publishing as she states “The activity I’ve done since 1996 that equals my passion for writing is publishing.� Dr. Gladman had edited a journal, a chapbook series, and now a perfect-bound press (i.e. for full length books) called Leon Works. Again, this short biography of Dr. Renee Gladman was not being completed without her support!

Posted by Madhurima Chakraborty at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)

1) Are there communist aspects to Devi's "Statue"? Why or why not? Please give examples.
2) What is the importance of the statue of Duni in "Statue"? What/who does it benefit? And what might it symbolize?
3) Which two charachters from "Statue" would you set up as a protagonist/antagonist pair? What are their motivations?

Posted by Katie at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Mahasweta Devi was born on January 14, 1926 and grew up in West Bengal. Her father wrote poetry, prose writer, and novelist and her mother was a writer and social worker. They greatly inspired Devi to be an intellectual writer and to value her culture. She was sent to the finest middle and high schools, and furthered her education at Asutosh College of Calcutta University with a degree in English with high honors in 1946.

Devi married soon after college, and because her husband was a communist and constantly harassed, work was hard to find for him; money was tight. They had one son. Devi worked odd jobs until she became a teacher in 1967. In 1984, she retired to focus on her writing career and social activism. She wrote weekly newspaper columns and dozens of short stories and novels throughout her writing career.

Devi’s writings mainly focus on culture, especially tribal. Devi’s stories are part of an important contribution to many current discourses on third world literature. Many critics praise Devi on her ability to capture the plight of tribal communities. Her works have been translated from Bengali into many languages, including English, Hindi, and Kannada. Devi is still alive and continues to write.

Posted by Kadi Storms at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

1. What affect does Persepolis have in the format of a graphic novel that would not be present in the form of a regular novel? Explain your answer.

2. What does social class say about the opinions toward war not only in the novel, but in our society as well? Are there any parallels? If so, where are they prevalent?

3. Define what it means to be a child. Using Marjane's experience as a child as well as your own, do you think being sheltered in an environment full of chaos is healthy for that child? Why or why not.

Posted by Serina Jamison at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Marjane Satrapi Biography

Marjane Satrapi was born November 22nd, 1969 in Rasht, Iran. Marjane found herself growing up in the time of the political turmoil. As a child she witnessed the Iranian political regime and fleeing civil liberties of Iran’s citizens that led to the ‘Islamic Revolution’, including the fall of the Shah, the first years of the Iran vs. Iraq war and the Ayatollah Khomeini regime. As a child she attended Lycee Francais, a French non-religious bilingual school. As the growing oppression on civil liberties continued and light of her independent spirit, Satrapi’s parents sent her to Vienna, Austria in 1983 at the age of 14. Marjane spent her adolescence in Austria, returning to Iran for college. In college she met her husband Reza and was briefly married until being divorced.

Satrapi moved to Strasbourg, France shortly after her divorce, where she studied illustration and eventually landed in Paris, France where she met David B., a French comic artist to whom which she adopted a similar style. After joining the Atelier des Vosges, and after her peers heard her life stories and seen her drawings, she was encouraged to create a comic book out of which the Persepolis series was born. Persepolis and Persepolis 2, the autobiographical graphic novels, are vivid portraits that are based on Satrapi’s everyday life experiences up through college.

Besides writing Persepolis and Persepolis 2, Satrapi has published other works which include Embroideries and Bordados. Of her published works, a couple have won distinguished awards and Satrapi has seen Persepolis adapted into an animated film which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2007.

Posted by Marcel Allen at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Remember to talk specifically about the film, citing moments and refering to specific incidents to make your response stronger and more argumentative. Also, remember to try and include Fanon's "Concerning Violence" in your responses.

1) What does the documentary accomplish by framing itself with the story of Amy Biehl? In what ways is this useful or harmful? To whom?

2) How does the film talk about women?

3) What is the nature of violence as established by a) the TRC and b) Long Night's Journey Into Day. How does this correspond to or differ from Fanon's views on violence?

Posted by Madhurima Chakraborty at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

What influence do parents, particularly Ouma Sarie, have in David's Story?

Posted by Kadi Storms at 2:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Zoe Wicomb was born on November 23, 1948 in Namaqualand, South Africa to parents Robert Wicomb and Rachel Le Fleur Wicomb. She lived in a small, remote town situated in a very hot, dry region of the country miles away from any other civilization. Her father worked as a schoolteacher and her mother died when Zoe was very young. She was encouraged to speak English and attended an English speaking school in Capetown. She went to the University of the Western Cape and after graduating, left for England in 1970. She then attended Reading University.

In England she worked as a teacher in Nottingham then moved to Glasgow, Scotland. She returned to South Africa to teach English at the University of the Western Cape for three short years before returning to Scotland to take the position she currently holds as a professor of English at the University of Strathclyde. She lives in Glasgow with Roger Palmer, a professor at the Galsgow School of Art and their daughter Hannah.

She is the author of You Can’t Get Lost in Capetown, David’s Story, Playing in the Light, and various other short stories and essays. Her works have been translated into many languages including French, German, Italian, Dutch, and Swedish.

Posted by Katie at 6:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Continue reading "Bessie Head Prompts" »

Posted by Serina Jamison at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

1. In her essay "Clare Savage as a Crossroads Character," Michelle Cliff says that she "understand[s] the landscape of [her] island as female," (266). What is the significance of this feminization of land for the novel No Telephone to Heaven?

2. How does the division of "wild" and "tame" (again, see her essay) play out in Michelle Cliff's novel?

3. Cliff says that Clare's ending in No Telephone to Heaven is perhaps not a tragic one. In what ways do you agree/disagree?

Posted by Madhurima Chakraborty at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

We're always online anyway, why not put it to good, solid, academic use?

The idea behind this blog is to facilitate and continue discussions outside class. Though you are always free to post about class matters, there will be plenty of times during the semester, as indiciated on the syllabus, when you are required to use the blog.

Welcome to Voices From the Gaps!

Posted by Madhurima Chakraborty at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)