Instructor: Mat Wenzel, MFA, M.Ed.
E-Mail: mwenzel@fsu.edu
Office: WMS 331 Office Hours: T/R 9:15 to 10:45 SYLLABUS
If you were a "new critic" what are one or two things you would focus on in this passage from S-town? What (maybe more importantly) would you not address at all?
If you were a formalist, what is something you would focus on?
Comment below with a link to your portfolio and a brief summary of your track and work!
How does it address Acheson's three essential questions? Which does it address most strongly or are you most excited about? What...
Choose a couple of terms from today's assignment. Compare/contrast. How are they connected and distinct?
As a "new critic", I noticed how Reed recounts the story from his perspective. In interviewing John and gathering all of his information, which is all over the place and pretty inconsistent, as well as focusing on the strange quirks of the town and John himself, there is a lot of ambiguity about the situation and requires us to look a little deeper.
As a formalist, the first thing that caught my attention is the initial imagery of the hand made clock. Reed spends the first few minutes of the podcast relating the complexity of handmade clocks, and how fixing up an antique clock can be "maddening" as you'll never know if you're going down the right path. I think…
New Critic: I would most likely focus on the dialect between John and Brian and how through those conversations develops the motifs of mental health and corruption. They would also look into the credibility of the characters, analyzing the effectiveness of the text and how messages/themes get across to the audience.
Formalism: I would address on the thoroughness of how mental health (and other themes/motifs) is portrayed in the passages purely through the structure of the text present; creating criticism founded on what is given, neglecting what could be hidden (and found through context clues and analyzation) and the individuality of the authors work.
https://ybraswell.wixsite.com/mysite/post/pope-3-2-3-3-new-criticism-and-formalism
https://emmajomcauliffe.wixsite.com/mysite/post/pope-3-3-new-criticism
I am really sorry about my user name :,)
https://amc16ae.wixsite.com/mysite/post/pope-3-2-and-3-3