On this date on Round and Square's History
[a] Text and illustration RF |
History 150
Spring 2015
Preliminary Writing
Assignment
Confucius and the Analects: The Letter
By choosing the letter format for your first writing
assignment, I am asking you to build upon the skills you have already begun to
develop in analyzing (and providing examples for) passages from Confucius's Analects. You have already reached
a point where you have some experience with the text and its larger context, and your job will be to
explain it "all" to an intelligent non-specialist.
Teach them, really.
Teach them, really.
Letters from “the field” (imagine yourself an anthropologist in the villages of Confucian learning) are a good way to refine your
thoughts about ethnographic and historical study. They are also a useful medium
for beginning the intellectual “framing process” that will accelerate as we
move through the next two-thirds of the course.
The letter writing exercise is especially useful while studying primary source materials, as we are doing right now. The nonfiction writer John McPhee explains to his students that a letter is often precisely the solution to problems of interpretation or clarity—when in doubt, write to mother, he says. In this case, it is not a plea of “send money” that the letter contains, but a reworking, rethinking, and contextualization of your work. You need not limit yourself to kinfolk, but you need to think about who the recipient will be (ideally someone who will welcome a letter about “studying sources”).
You owe it to yourself to listen to this long interview with McPhee. At the very least, listen to the first two minutes. It is the very purpose behind this assignment.
The letter writing exercise is especially useful while studying primary source materials, as we are doing right now. The nonfiction writer John McPhee explains to his students that a letter is often precisely the solution to problems of interpretation or clarity—when in doubt, write to mother, he says. In this case, it is not a plea of “send money” that the letter contains, but a reworking, rethinking, and contextualization of your work. You need not limit yourself to kinfolk, but you need to think about who the recipient will be (ideally someone who will welcome a letter about “studying sources”).
You owe it to yourself to listen to this long interview with McPhee. At the very least, listen to the first two minutes. It is the very purpose behind this assignment.
Now start writing. Toward that end, you should pay attention to the
following issues.
[c] I said, "start writing" RF |
2. I am asking you to connect with a very specific
reader, and to explain "the Analects" in a level of detail that she will find
satisfying. You are the expert, and your
“audience” is the person who will be reading your letter (I will, of course, be
reading over her shoulder). I have found
that this kind of assignment helps students to explain even abstruse matters,
because the personal relationship they have with their readers demands an
attention to patient explanation that is often lacking in more “academic” forms
of writing, in which they assume that a professor already knows what they are
writing about.
3. Your readings last week and this week (Weeks IV and V), are meant to stimulate your thinking with regard to writing this assignment. Pay attention to both.
3. Your readings last week and this week (Weeks IV and V), are meant to stimulate your thinking with regard to writing this assignment. Pay attention to both.
4. You may approach your materials from any angle that
you like, but you will need to “cover” at least the following items, no matter
what order you choose.
a. You must discuss the "who was Confucius?" and "what are the Analects?
questions. Provide your reader with at least a few ways of thinking about
them.
questions. Provide your reader with at least a few ways of thinking about
them.
b. Give your reader a sense of what you have learned up
to this point about
how to interpret and analyze the text. Use examples (quote from the text
and explain what you think it means).
c. You must discuss give at least one specific example from the Analects.
This should not be difficult. Feel free to use more.
d. You must include at least one illustration in your letter. Think of the
rhetorical role of illustrations in the New York Review of Books.
and explain what you think it means).
c. You must discuss give at least one specific example from the Analects.
This should not be difficult. Feel free to use more.
d. You must include at least one illustration in your letter. Think of the
rhetorical role of illustrations in the New York Review of Books.
e. Finally, give your reader some sense of what it is
like to learn about a
a person who lived in another part of the world...2,500 years ago...and
is still relevant today. Give a glimpse, in other words, into the "...and the
World" part of our course title.
a person who lived in another part of the world...2,500 years ago...and
is still relevant today. Give a glimpse, in other words, into the "...and the
World" part of our course title.
5. The best way to approach the writing process is in
three parts (this is a friendly suggestion). First, jot down some notes for
each of the “sections” of your letter. Second, using those notes as a guide,
write a rough draft of the whole letter. Third, revise, polish, and refine.
Voilà you will have something not unlike what Alexis de Tocqueville might have written about understanding a complex, foreign culture that baffled and enticed him 180 years ago. While your letter won’t be as long as Democracy in America, it is likely—if it is done well—to be much like Tocqueville’s rich and evocative letters back to his family about encountering people, texts, and institutions in a strange land called the United States.
You get the idea. If you don't, just raise your hand and ask me (or send me an e-mail message). I'll be happy to help.
Voilà you will have something not unlike what Alexis de Tocqueville might have written about understanding a complex, foreign culture that baffled and enticed him 180 years ago. While your letter won’t be as long as Democracy in America, it is likely—if it is done well—to be much like Tocqueville’s rich and evocative letters back to his family about encountering people, texts, and institutions in a strange land called the United States.
You get the idea. If you don't, just raise your hand and ask me (or send me an e-mail message). I'll be happy to help.
Letters are due (in hard copy form) outside my door
by
10:00 p.m. on Friday, February 20.
[e] And then you may rest RF |
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