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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Radical Uncertainty: Judith Butler And A Theory Of Character, Shady E. Cosgrove
Radical Uncertainty: Judith Butler And A Theory Of Character, Shady E. Cosgrove
Shady E Cosgrove
This paper will develop a theory of character based on Judith Butler's ideas of subjectivity and gender construction. It will summarise Butler's position and explore the practicalities of reading realist characters as performative repetitions. Then, it will discuss Butler's notion of agency and the subversive repetition, and how realist characters can demonstrate the radical uncertainty inherent in Butler's notion of agency s specifically when texts are rewritten in such a way that characters `question' their `original' depictions. The example of interest here will be Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea in relation to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, with particular attention paid …
Writ101: Ethics Of Representation For Creative Writers, Shady E. Cosgrove
Writ101: Ethics Of Representation For Creative Writers, Shady E. Cosgrove
Shady E Cosgrove
Medicine, journalism, law: these are courses that require students to take classes in ethics. They are compulsory subjects in areas where, upon graduation, students are trained to work with “real” human subjects. It may sound outlandish, but what about creative writing: should creative writers be expected to study the ethical implications of their craft? Certainly many teachers incorporate dialogue about representation into class discussions, but I would argue that prose fiction writers in the academy have escaped scrutiny in the ethics debate because the subjects under analysis — characters — are not real. I will argue here that the effects …
Uncertainty And Praxis In The Creative Writing Classroom, Shady E. Cosgrove
Uncertainty And Praxis In The Creative Writing Classroom, Shady E. Cosgrove
Shady E Cosgrove
According to music pedagogue Randall Allsup (2003: 157), praxis is “not simply the capacity to imagine alternative scenarios, but is instead the slow burning fuse of possibility and action.” This paper will examine the role of uncertainty and praxis in the creative writing classroom, paying particular attention to the role of prose workshopping. First, it will offer an overview of praxis and then it will argue that, when successful, creative writing pedagogy offers praxis: that is, students learn to imagine their writing in different ways through workshopping (possibility) and to enact those changes through the rewriting process (action). Then, it …
Teaching And Learning As Improvisational Performance In The Creative Writing Classroom, Shady E. Cosgrove
Teaching And Learning As Improvisational Performance In The Creative Writing Classroom, Shady E. Cosgrove
Shady E Cosgrove
In this essay I will argue that the teacher-as-performer metaphor is too simplistic. Instead, I will make a case for R. Keith Sawyer’s notion of the classroom as a site of improvisational performance, especially in regards to creative writing. Then I will discuss three aspects critical to the improvisational performance within this context, drawing on my own experiences in the classroom: establishing workshop structures, ascertaining shared language skills, and encouraging student participation.
Reading For Peace? Literature As Activism – An Investigation Into New Literary Ethics And The Novel, Shady E. Cosgrove
Reading For Peace? Literature As Activism – An Investigation Into New Literary Ethics And The Novel, Shady E. Cosgrove
Shady E Cosgrove
Literary ethicists like Dorothy J Hale and narratologists like James Phelan have argued that the reading process makes literary novels worthy of ethical investigation. That is, it’s not just a book’s content – which may debate norms and values – but the process of reading that inspires the reader to consider Other points of view. This alterity, new ethicists argue, can lead to increased empathy and thus more thoughtful decision-making within the ‘actual’ world. In fact, Hale (2007: 189) says empathetic literary training is a ‘pre-condition for positive social change’. This may work well theoretically, but what practical issues does …