Austin Woerner's Memory Palace
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WOC190 Fall 2019 Session 1

Class Notes and Homework Assignments

Day 6

W-Th Sept. 11-12

  • Finish discussing “The Mwiko”

  • Read Object essays

  • Intro to “Proverbs of Hell”

Homework

➤ Begin “Mazie” and “The Maui Surfer Girls.”

For non-native speakers of English:

Read the beginning of both of these essays, and decide which of them you’re most interested in reading in its entirety. Read as much of that essay as you can.

For native speakers of English:

Read both essays in their entirety. Be ready to tell us which one you like the most, and why!

Featured
Joseph Mitchell, “Mazie"
Joseph Mitchell, “Mazie"

Joseph Mitchell’s classic profile of a famous denizen of the 1930s Bowery.

Featured
Susan Orlean, "The Maui Surfer Girls"
Susan Orlean, "The Maui Surfer Girls"

Susan Orleans profiles a group of free-living teenage surfer girls in Hawaii.

➤ “Proverbs of Hell”

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William Blake, "The Proverbs of Hell" (excerpts)
William Blake, "The Proverbs of Hell" (excerpts)

English Romantic poet William Blake imagines: What if Hell were not a place of evil and punishment, but a country like any other? These proverbs, collected by an imaginary traveler journeying through the land of Hell, are imagined to reflect the culture and values of the people of Hell — though their meaning is cryptic and ambiguous.

1) Read the excerpts from “Proverbs of the Hell.” Decide which one you found the most interesting. For that proverb, be ready to tell us: What kind of person would believe this is true (or that one ought to do this)? Try to imagine them concretely: What might this person look like? What kind of food would they eat? How would they dress? What vehicle would they drive? etc.

2) Translate Proverbs #2, 10, 14, 23, 24, 32, and 39 into Chinese. (Or, if you’re not a native Chinese speaker, for each proverb write another proverb that conveys a similar meaning.)

➤ Write observations for classmates’ essays

For each piece of writing that was read out loud today, write a paragraph (100-200 words) of observations about it. Type your observations and print them out in such a format that your observations could be given directly to the student (i.e. each paragraph of observations should be on a separate paper).

Austin Woerner