Copyleft

Copyleft
Copyleft is the use of copyright law to access, distribute, and modify versions of a work for free with the prerequisite that the modified versions of the work will remain free to access, distribute, and modify. In usual circumstances of copyright, the produced work is protected from modifications and unlawful distribution. Copyleft uses copyright with distribution terms. The distribution terms allows everyone to access the work and all forms of the work. This allows anyone to modify the work as long as the same distribution terms remain intact once the work has been modified. Copyleft can be seen as the in between of taking complete and no ownership of a work. The work is not left in the public domain, where no ownership of the work is claimed, nor are all copyright laws enacted on the work. Only some restraints are placed on the work. This allows the work to remain free, while others can improve the work and the work will still remain free. Furthermore, most people find that the main purpose of copyleft is to produce a better product through communal interactions.

The history behind copyleft shows that copyleft made a profound impact through a technology boom where an abundance of software arose. The GNU General Public License was founded by Richard Stallman after he left the company he was working with, to publish his software to a public domain where it could be improved by others without the issues of copyright. He used copyleft to ensure his work would only be improved on. Today GNU is used regularly to supply people with free software. Stallman states on the GNU website," I want to encourage free software to spread, replacing proprietary software that forbids cooperation, and thus make our society better."

This idealistic view of copyleft is intriguing. Everyone is able to access free software, and the software is enhanced regularly by communal brainpower. However, the issue arises; where is the incentive to publish free work? Stallman says that the incentive alone is the pride one takes in the free work that was published; yet the publisher’s benefits are in no way monetary. This system of copyleft can be seen as a Marxist standpoint. The capitalist system revolves around the incentive to create and engineer a new design for monetary value. Copyleft can be seen to go against this the American system.

In a sense, copyleft connects producers and consumers. The consumers now have an input in how a particular software functions. It also incorporates copyright, but in such a way that it eliminates a middleman. Copyleft allows programmers to improve upon software freely without the impact of proprietors who may want to steal a program and sell it.

Now that you have an idea of what copyleft is consider the following questions:
Questions:
1) Should we have the right to use copyleft? Do you think it degrades the American system of capitalism?
2) Do you think copyleft is the best way to improve a product?
3) There are claims that proprietor software developers use copyright to take away the users’ freedom and that copyleft is a means to guarantee this freedom. What are your views on this statement?
4) Could copyleft be considered a form of plagiarism? Explain.

Sources

"Copyleft -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 23 Feb. 2010. .

Stallman, Richard. "Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)." The GNU Operating System. Web. 23 Feb. 2010. .

"What is Copyleft? - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)." The GNU Operating System. Web. 23 Feb. 2010. .

Multimodal Donne Annotation Assignment Description

ENGL1102/Spring 2010/Wharton
Individual Assignment 3: Multimodal Donne Annotation

Overview:

The goal of this assignment is to create a multimodal composition that provides an overview of the interpretation and commentary surrounding one of John Donne's Holy Sonnets.  In our discussion of Wit, we have been talking about how the play, in addition to offering an original dramatic narrative, also works as a sort of commentary upon and interpretation of a number of the Holy Sonnets.  While some of the ideas that Edson expresses in the play are uniquely her own, she is also drawing upon a large body of critical work that provides numerous ways of looking at and thinking about Donne's poetry.

In this project, you will be exploring that same body of critical work as it relates to the sonnet you have chosen to annotate.  Some of you may be familiar with the annotated bibliography as a piece of academic writing.  This project is intended to develop some of the same research and rhetorical skills as an annotated bibliography, while at the same time continuing your work with multimodality.

Where the previous two assignments have focused on communicating your own ideas and interpretations, this assignment will focus on understanding and communicating the ideas and interpretations of others in a coherent, comprehensive, and objective manner.

Assignment Description:

Your final composition must include the following:

1. The text of the sonnet you are annotating
2. Ten (10) annotations that describe and discuss ideas and interpretations drawn from at least five (5) outside sources
3. Complete MLA-style citations to the outside sources that you have used
4. At least five (5) of the ten annotations should include audio, visual, and/or other non-verbal content 

As noted, in its goals and objectives, this composition shares a great deal with the annotated bibliography.  For a good, detailed description of the annotated bibliography, see the Cornell University Library's website "How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography."  Like an annotated bibliography, your final composition will include citations and annotations that "inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited."

In format, however, your composition will differ markedly from an annotated bibliography.  Rather than a written list of citations accompanied by annotations, your composition will take the form of an annotated text of one of Donne's Holy Sonnets.  For some good advice on annotating poetry, see the University of West Georgia website "How to Annotate a Poem." Of the annotations you include, at least half of them must include audio, visual, and/or other non-verbal content.

Your composition may take the form of a Word document in which the text of the sonnet you've chosen is set out along with footnotes or endnotes that contain your citations and annotations.  It might also take the form of a website that consists of a hypertext markup of the sonnet you've chosen, in which the citations and annotations are set out in linked pages and/or as mouseover text/images.  You can also use a PDF program, such as Adobe InDesign to create a PDF document.  I encourage you to be creative and to use technologies with which you are competent and familiar.

To help you brainstorm, here are a few examples of annotated texts that integrate some of the strategies you'll be deploying in this assignment:

You might want to consider incorporating visual representations of textual material and information, such as:

• Word clouds, which you can generate using Wordle:

• Information Clusters or Maps:

• And flowcharts, to describe the evolution of an image or narrative development:

With regard to audio, you may want to consider incorporating audio files that demonstrate how a particular line scans or might be scanned (i.e., how the punctuation and meter of a line work), when such information is relevant to thinking about how that line is to be interpreted.

As you are putting together your composition, make sure that you consider factors such as readability/usability/accessibility (e.g., whether your audience can read or access the annotations), integration of visual, audio, and non-verbal material, and the critical context in which the sonnet you are annotating is situated.

Elements of the Composition:

Text of the sonnet

• Should be complete and legible
• Must include the number of the sonnet as provided in the online edition we're using for class

Annotations

• May offer summaries of interpretations offered by other readers of the poem, with citations to the source(s) where those interpretations can be found 
• Can include text, images, and/or audio
• Should be clearly tied to the text of the poem through written description and/or visual means (e.g., notes, arrows, hyperlinks, etc.)
• Must incorporate your own summaries, descriptions, discussion of and thoughts about the outside sources and interpretations you have included
• Must consist of more than links to online materials discussing the sonnet you've chosen

Citations

• Must follow MLA format as closely as possible
• Should be incorporated into the annotations to which they are relevant
• Will be evidence of your research, showing that you've used at least five (5) outside sources

Assignment Stages:

All drafts, including Stage 4 your final draft, will be posted to your original blog.  In some, perhaps all cases your blog posting may consist of a link to your actual draft on the web along with instructions of how to access and view it.  You can use your Prism account to upload and store Word documents, PDFs, etc., which you may then link to your blog post.

Stage 1: Rough Draft comprising text of the sonnet you'll be annotating and an annotated list of at least five outside sources (Posted to your individual blog as "Multimodal Donne Annotation: Stage 1" by class time on Wednesday, March 3, 3 points)

• Your list of sources should provide a complete MLA citation for each source
• The annotation for each source should should provide: (1) a description of the source, (2) a discussion of its author and intended audience, (3) a consideration of factors related to its credibility, (4) a summary of the ideas and information you think you might be drawing from that source, and (5) a discussion of how the source in question responds to, expands upon or adds to the other sources in your list

In-class peer-review of Stage 1, reviews of two (2) peers to be completed in class Wednesday, March 3, 3 points)

Stage 2: Rough Draft comprising text of the sonnet you'll be annotating, an annotated list of at least five outside sources, and an outline or description of the subject matter and proposed format of your final composition (Posted to your individual blog as "Multimodal Donne Annotation: Stage 2" by class time on Friday, March 5, 3 points)

• This draft should incorporate a revised version of all the information provided in your Stage 1 draft
• It should also provide an outline or description of the format that you'll be using for your final draft and a summary of the contents of each of your ten (10) annotations

Out-of-class peer-review of Stage 2, reviews of two (2) peers to be completed by 11:00 pm on Saturday, March 6, 3 points)

Stage 3: Rough Draft of your composition comprising the text of your chosen sonnet with at least five annotations (Posted to your individual blog as "Multimodal Donne Annotation: Stage 3" by class time on Monday, March 8, 3 points)

• This draft should be an attempt to realize the form in which your final draft will be cast
• So if you are planning on turning in a hypertext markup of the poem for the final draft, this draft should be a hypertext markup as well
• Use preparation of this stage to prepare for and iron out any anticipated or unanticipated difficulties in execution that you may encounter

Out-of-class peer-review of Stage 3, reviews of two (2) peers to be completed by 11:00 pm on Tuesday, March 9, 3 points)

Stage 4: Final Draft (Posted to your individual blog as "Multimodal Donne Annotation: Stage 4" by 11:00 pm on Friday, March 12, 82 points)

• Since this is the final draft, I expect all formatting and linking issues to be resolved at this point, wonky formatting and broken links, like typos and grammatical errors, will negatively impact your final grade

Assignment Goals and Desired Learning Outcomes:

• Rhetorical Awareness: The purpose of this composition is to demonstrate that you have done substantial background research into the critical context surrounding the sonnet you've chosen to annotate and that you have selected sources after careful consideration of the information and scholarship that are available.  It should also demonstrate that you have carefully considered and effectively communicated what each source adds to your understanding of the sonnet.  In addition, it should show that you've thought about how different ideas and information can be effectively conveyed using different communicative modes.
• Stance and Support: Making an argument involves using appropriate evidence drawn from appropriate sources.  Material (summaries, paraphrases, quotations) drawn from all of your sources should be relevant to and integrated with your annotations, and you should provide proper attribution in MLA format when you incorporate the words, work or ideas of another in your annotations.
• Organization: A composition follows a logical progression.  Ideally, your final draft should have a form that reflects an understanding of the critical context surrounding the poem you are annotating and an awareness of the needs of your audience in understanding that critical context.  Consider how to annotate the poem that makes sense in terms of providing information where it is relevant to the text of the poem, while at the same time giving an overview of possible interpretations.
• Conventions: This assignment is designed to get you thinking about the conventions of multiple modes of communication and how those conventions influence a composition that incorporates more than a single dominant mode.  Ideally, your composition should reflect an awareness of the conventions of visual, aural and electronic media while also complying with conventional rules regarding citations and documentation, grammar, punctuation and mechanics in the textual component.
• Multimodal Integration: In this assignment, you will work with integrating multiple modes into a unified work.  Ideally, your final draft will demonstrate some understanding of how multiple modes of communication work together to create the final composition.

Grading Rubric:

I will use the attached rubric as a guide when grading your projects.  Comments on your work will in most cases consist of a summary of how the rubric applies to your work, and extended comments on the final draft.

Adaptation Criticism.

Adaptation Criticism is the commentary on how true the reworking of a piece of literature is to the original. Adaptations take the form of a new novel, a play, a song, or a film. Often, in changing the literature to become a new piece, the original ideas are lost or changed. For the purposes of this assignment, we will focus primarily on “page to screen” adaptations, as these are what we as a whole are most familiar with.

Thomas Leitch, a professor at the University of Delaware, has examined the distinctions between how people perceive a piece of literature and how they perceive a film adaptation of that same piece. He has listened the twelve fallacies of film adaptation, most of which state that screenplays are yet another step in the adaptation of an original text. Take the film “Gone With the Wind.” Margaret Mitchell wrote the novel with an idea in mind – an idea of how Tara should look, what Scarlett looked like, and how Atlanta looked at the time. In writing the screenplay, the screenwriter had a different view of the same things and put his or her own ideas into the script. In creating the film, the director, cast, and crew added their own opinions and ideas. So, by the time the film reaches its consumers, the original ideas held by Margaret Mitchell have been influenced and changed by countless numbers of people.

Leitch’s fifth fallacy states that “Novels deal in concepts, films deal in percepts.” You can gain a specific idea from a novel, from reading the words of the author. However, it is a bit more difficult to do the same with a film. The director must almost always change certain parts of the novel to convey the message to the audience. The actors are also able to give a viewer more visual clues to something going on in the plot than if that same viewer were trying to read the novel. His sixth fallacy states that “Novels create more complex characters than movies because they offer more immediate and complete access to character’s psychological state.” Have you ever read a book and completely understood the character? Understood their thoughts and actions? Yet when you watch the screen adaptation the character is nothing like you thought that person to be? In a book you are able to read a character’s thoughts and gain a better understanding of that character, but in a film, you must accept the actor or actress as the character and their actions become the actions of the character.

Think about and discuss.

1. How do you perceive film adaptations?
2. Although not discussed, how did you perceive the play adaptation of The Canterbury Tales at the Shakespeare Tavern? Did it live up to your expectations of the novel?
3. What are some other, modern examples of “page to screen” adaptation? Do you think they followed the book or not?
4. Is there a line where film adaptation changes the author’s original message? Does this overstep any copyright laws or legal procedures?


Leitch, Thomas. "Twelve Fallacies in Contemporary Adaptation Theory." Criticism 51.2 (2009): 149-71. Web. 13 Feb 2010. .

Parody vs. Satire

Parody vs. Satire

Parody and Satire are terms which are often used interchangeably. There is a grey area between the two, often blurred and thus the terms are often mistaken for each other. A parody, according to So What . .. About Copyright? What Artists Need to Know About Copyright and Trademarks , generally imitates or mimics a style or look, while a satire is often a humorous or political critique of a vice or error. The main difference between the two is that parodies are protected under the copyright law, more specifically the law of fair use, while satires are not.

So what exactly is the fine line between a parody versus a satire? They both generally but need not, whether directly or otherwise, make use of humor and they both serve for entertainment purposes. However, parodies are used solely for entertainment purposes whereas satires use the humor somewhat obviously to convey a message. Also, parodies, due to their nature, comment on the original works that they mimic, in other words they give credit to the original works that they make fun of within the context of their humor. In relation to the law of fair use, which states that “to be original, a work must contain a grain of creativity”, we can see that parodies, although using the ideas and themes of an original work, alter the original work for the sake of humor as well as commenting on the original work within the humor; they do not detract from the original work. Satires, however, simply branch off of the original works for their own political or critiquing purposes, without commenting or giving credit to the original works and so can be viewed as a form of plagiarism. Moreover, parodies are usually about or usually make a play on fictional circumstances or characters, whilst satires deal with non-fictional material.

In the context of the Canterbury Tales, we can see that the Tales was a satire of Medieval English society, a critique of the cross section of society of the day. However, because his commentaries and ideas were disguised so well under the pretence of humor, that is they were not completely apparent, he was able to play his work off as a parody. Another reason why the Tales could be seen as a parody instead of a satire was that the Tales were written completely in Middle English. Even though some of the source material for the Tales was also written in English, some were also written in Latin and so Chaucer’s choice to translate the Latin to write in English would also lend some semblance of originality to the Tales and not as a complete replicate.

So...

1) Do you think satires should also be protected as parodies are and why? And if not, do you think parodies should have the protection that they do?

2) What are some contemporary examples of parody/satire? Be sure to specify which one.

3) Who should decide whether something should be satire or parody?

4) How has the role of the Canterbury Tales as a parody/satire changed over time?

Citations:

Litman, Jessica, Kay Murray, and. Christine Steiner. “What Every Artist Should Know About Copyright and Trademark Law.” So What . . . About Copyright? What Artists Need to Know About Copyright and Trademarks. Ed. David Bollier et al. Public Knowledge, 2005. 11-47. http://www.crt.louisiana.gov/culturalassets//images/howto/so-what-about-copyright.pdf

Webster's Online Dictionary

Recasting *The Canterbury Tales* Assignment Description

ENGL1102/Spring 2010/Wharton
Individual Assignment 2: Recasting The Canterbury Tales

Overview:

The goal of this assignment is to create a multimodal composition that describes a new or updated character for Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, and explains and justifies the rationale behind the choices that you make in constructing your new or updated “pilgrim.” This is an opportunity to expand upon the choice that you made in the first assignment regarding a new setting for the “General Prologue.” So your new or updated Canterbury character should be one that you might find in the new setting that you described in Assignment 1, “Resetting The Canterbury Tales.” Your final composition will comprise two essential elements:

• A two-minute video, which may incorporate both “found” and “original” video, images, sounds, and music, that depicts and describes your new or updated character.

• A 750-word essay that describes, explains, and/or justifies your new character.

Assignment Description:

In our discussions of The Canterbury Tales we have explored how Chaucer draws upon and transforms literary source materials, social and professional stereotypes, and the people he may have seen around him every day to create characters that fill specific roles and help to convey purpose and meaning within his work. We have talked about how the choices that he makes in adapting source material help us to understand and interpret the Tales themselves, as well as Chaucer’s own understanding and interpretation of, and response to his sources. We have also seen a modern stage adaptation of The Canterbury Tales, in which the modern author or adapter made specific choices about setting and characterization that themselves offer up an interpretation of the Tales and their meaning for a modern audience.

This assignment asks you to create a multimodal composition that offers your own interpretation of at least one of The Canterbury Tales and your thoughts on the role that characterization plays in creating meaning within the tale upon which you have chosen to focus and, to some extent, the Tales as a whole. So, part of your job in creating a new or updated character is deciding which of the Tales he or she might tell and how he or she would tell it. Your interpretation of the tale you choose should be shaped by your own thoughts on:

• Chaucer’s purpose in writing the tale you have chosen and The Canterbury Tales as a whole

• the relationship between the tale you have chosen, the Tales as a whole, and the social and historical context in which Chaucer wrote

• the relationship between the tale you have chosen and the pilgrim that Chaucer originally chose as its teller

• the significance of each character as a “source” of his or her tale

• Chaucer’s use of character to distance himself from, or bring himself closer to the author(s) of his source material

Rather than thinking of this as two separate compositions, consider it as a single composition comprising two multimodal elements, each of which can incorporate one or more modes from the WOVEN (written, oral, visual, electronic, non-verbal) spectrum. So your video might contain written and oral, as well as visual and non-verbal elements, and the essay could incorporate visual, oral and non-verbal elements, as well as written text. To some extent, the entire composition will be electronic, since all stages and the final draft will be posted as a unified composition in a single posting to your individual blog. As a whole, the composition should be constructed around and unified by your “thesis,” which is your interpretation of the tale you’ve chosen and your understanding of its place in The Canterbury Tales as a whole.

Elements of the Composition:

Two-minute video

• must provide a description/explanation of your new or updated character and must offer some indication of which of The Canterbury Tales he or she would tell, and how he or she would tell it

• should consist of no more and no fewer than two minutes of footage

• can make use of standard videography, photography, digital or computer generated imaging techniques, free-hand drawing/animation, or any combination thereof

• should probably include audio

• may make use of both “found” and “original” video, images, sounds, and/or music

• should show consideration of the following:

1. what is Chaucer’s purpose in writing The Canterbury Tales?
2. how do the pilgrims work as the sources of their tales?
3. how does Chaucer use characterization to comment upon or transform the meaning/nature of his source material?
4. what is the relationship between your new or updated character and the Canterbury tale he or she will tell?
5. how do the choices you’ve made in creating or updating your character reflect your interpretation of the Canterbury tale you’ve chosen?
6. how do the choices you’ve made in creating or updating your character convey or change the meaning of the Canterbury tale you’ve chosen?
7. what attitude to the Canterbury tale you’ve chosen are you trying to evoke, and how does that relate to the attitude evoked by the Chaucer’s original teller of that tale?
8. what adjectives are generally associated with the character you’ve chosen, and how do those adjectives relate to the adjectives one might use to describe the teller Chaucer originally created for the tale you’ve chosen?
9. how does the video work with the essay to present a complete description and justification of your new or updated character, and your decision to assign him/her as the teller of the tale you’ve chosen?

750-word Essay

• should consist of no fewer than 750 words

• *****should state your thesis clearly*****

• should be organized around your thesis, with paragraphs organized around the main points of your argument

• should be relatively formal in tone and should provide specific evidence, drawn from Chaucer’s text, the source material, our class discussions, and the other two elements of your composition, in support of all of your major points

• may include visual, non-verbal or other modes of composition in addition to written text

• should show some consideration of all the items listed above in the description of the video, in addition to the following:

1. what is your interpretation of the tale you’ve chosen and The Canterbury Tales as a whole?
2. how does the video help to present and/or explain your interpretation?
3. how have you integrated the essay with the video as a single, seamless, composition?

Assignment Stages:

All drafts, including Stage 3 your final draft, will be posted to your individual blog. Peer-reviews will be posted as comments to your peer’s individual blog. Remember that all assignment stages must be completed in order to avoid receiving an unsatisfactory grade for an incomplete assignment.

*****Video equipment can be rented from the library, and video editing software is available in the library’s multimedia center. If you are planning on using the library’s resources, make sure that you plan accordingly.*****

Stage 1: Rough Draft of ***either*** your essay or your video (Posted to your individual blog as “Recasting The Canterbury Tales: Stage 1” by class time on Friday, February 12, 4 points)

• video rough draft -- Should consist of at least four minutes of footage and should be uploaded to the web--for example to your public folder on Prism or to a video-hosting site such as YouTube. “Posting” the video to your blog involves embedding a link to the video in your blog posting in such a way that the video plays or can be played within the blog without transitioning to a new site or opening a new tab/window like this:

*****Tips on embedding YouTube video can be found at http://www.youtube.com/youtubeonyoursite*****

• essay rough draft -- Should consist of at least 500 words and should offer a clear, arguable, specific thesis and a complete overview of your proposed argument.

Out-of-class peer-review of Stage 1, reviews of two (2) peers to be completed by 11:00 pm on Saturday, February 13, 4 points

Stage 2: Rough draft of whichever element for which you do not yet have a draft (Posted to your individual blog as “Recasting The Canterbury Tales: Stage 2” by class time on Monday, February 15, 4 points)

• your second draft should consist of a new posting to your individual blog that comprises a draft of ***either*** your video or your essay, whichever you did not do for Stage 1.

• see above for detailed instructions on what counts as a draft

In-class peer-review of Stage 2, reviews of two (2) peers to be completed in class Monday, February 15, 4 points

Stage 4: Final Draft (Posted to your individual blog as “Recasting The Canterbury Tales: Stage 3” by 11:00 pm on Monday, February 22, 80 points)

• the final draft should be a blog posting that integrates the final draft of your video and the 750-word essay

• *****your final draft MUST include a works-cited list that identifies ALL source material, including anything drawn from the texts we’ve been discussing in class, as well as the sources of found material in your video*****

• once again, “posting” this stage to your blog involves embedding a link to the video in your blog posting in such a way that it plays or can be played within the blog without transitioning to a new site or opening a new tab/window

• since this is the final draft, I expect all formatting and linking issues to be resolved at this point, wonky formatting and broken links, like typos and grammatical errors, will negatively impact your final grade

Stage 5: Reflection (Posted to your individual blog as “Recasting The Canterbury Tales” Stage 5” by 11:00 pm on Monday, March 8, 4 points)

How did your composition evolve from one draft to the next in response to peer feedback and/or your own consideration of it? How does your final draft use more than alphabetic text to convey your argument? What composition strategies worked well for you in this assignment, and how might they work well in other rhetorical situations?

Assignment Goals and Desired Learning Outcomes:

Rhetorical Awareness: The rhetorical situation comprises your purpose, audience and context. The rhetorical situation influences the kind of arguments that you can make as well as how you make them. You should have a clear idea of your audience, purpose and context before you begin composing, and your final draft (which includes both elements) should reflect your awareness of all three. Ideally, your composition should express your unique personality as an author, in addition to making a persuasive argument for your interpretation of the tale you have chosen and how characterization affects meaning in The Canterbury Tales.

Stance and Support: Making an argument involves using appropriate evidence drawn from appropriate sources. Material (summaries, paraphrases, quotations) drawn from all of your sources should be relevant to and integrated with your argument, and you should provide proper attribution in MLA format when you incorporate the words, work or ideas of another in your essay. When you rely on your own personal experience and knowledge, you should clearly identify it as such, and such examples should also be relevant to and integrated with your argument.

Organization: A composition follows a logical progression from introduction to conclusion. Ideally, your final draft should have a form that reflects the logical progression of your argument and an awareness of the needs of your audience in understanding it, rather than one that follows a pre-determined formula (e.g., the video followed by a “five paragraph theme”). Consider how you might use text to introduce the video in your blog and control where and when your audience plays it, “wrapping” your text around it so that it encourages your audience to see the video as an integrated part of your argument.

Conventions: This assignment is designed to get you thinking about the conventions of multiple modes of communication and how those conventions influence a composition that incorporates more than a single dominant mode. Ideally, your composition should reflect an awareness of the conventions of visual, aural and electronic media while also complying with conventional rules regarding citations and documentation, grammar, punctuation and mechanics in the textual component.

Multimodal Integration: In this assignment, you will work with integrating multiple modes into a unified work. Ideally, your final draft will demonstrate some understanding of how multiple modes of communication work together to create the final composition.

Grading Rubric: I will use the attached rubric as a guide when grading your projects. Comments on your work will in most cases consist of a summary of how the rubric applies to your work, and extended comments on the final draft.

Blog Post 1: Translatio Imperii et Studii

To understand the concept of Translatio Imperii et Studii, it is important to first break down exactly what the latin phrase means. Imperii, first and foremost, refers to political power and legitimacy while Studii refers to knowledge and culture, specifically in writing. Translatio literally means transfer or movement. Together these elements refer to the geographical and chronological movement of knowledge, culture, political power, and political legitimacy between one civilization and another. The concept of this transfer begins in the Middle Ages with the struggle between nations for European supremacy. Nations called upon their Roman ancestry, as in the cases of France and England, to legitimize their claims to power. This declaration of power in the name of the Roman empire serves as a prime example of Translatio Imperii, as political power is transferred from the previous Roman empire to give legitimacy to the political power of both France and England.

Simultaneously, as political power transferred from culture to culture, so too did knowledge and ideas. When looking at the emerging literature before and after the Medieval period, for example, there are many correlations between the romantic motiffs of Anglo-Norman text and the later writings of Sir Thomas Malory(Schwartz).
Translatio Studii becomes increasingly important when considering the scope of this class. Look no further than the direct correlations between the stories and settings presented in Boccaccio's The Decameron and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In fact, these two works, with the addition of John Gower's Confessio Amantis, provide us with important examples of knowledge and ideas in literature transferring between cultures and times periods. For instance, let us consider the Wife of Bath's Tale as presented by Chaucer. This particular tale correlates directly with many of the story elements and themes in Gower's Tale of Florent, which was written around the same time. For instance, the idea of woman's sovereignty, as well as chivalry amongst men, contributes heavily to both stories, as well as many shared plot and setting elements. This case provides a great example as to how certain motifs can transfer between authors of the same period, while The Decameron, which shares a very similar structure and purpose with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, provides a great example as to how idea transfer between cultures and times. In regards to the scope of this class, Translatio Studii is a primary explanation as to how literature is adapted over time and space.

Think and Respond!!:

Can you think of any contemporary trends in which Tranlsatio Imperii et Studii takes place?

How can Translatio Imperii et Studii be applied to domestic sovereignty, as in the Tale of the Wife of Bath?

At what point does Translatio Studii deviate from a new system of thought, using old ideas, to a simple recasting of the original text?


Citations:

Schwarts, Deborah. "Translatio Studii et Imperii." 1999-2002.
http://cla.calpoly.edu/~schwart/eng513/courtly/translat.htm.

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. "Translatio Imperii." Wikipedia(2009).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translatio_imperii.

Resetting the Canterbury Tales: Stage 4 Final Draft

As the prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales unfolds and the gentle ebbs of spring rush in, so too do a small band of pilgrims on their way to honor the resting place of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. As each of the pilgrims sits, journey worn, in the Tabard Inn tavern, Chaucer takes the opportunity to provide a unique glimpse at this particular caste of characters. What makes this glimpse unique is not the variety of characters, but the setting itself. Each pilgrim, though of different social classes and backgrounds, seems devoid of rank. As pilgrims, a lowly Miller sits with as much distinction as a respected Clergyman, or so Chaucer makes it seem. This lack of class division and distinction allows the reader to carefully analyze each character; casting aside any social pretense or stereotypes and allowing said reader to see these characters in new lights. For instance, amongst the group is a Pardoner, a man of the church, and as such readers of Chaucer’s time would expect him to be virtuous, however, he is described as one of the most dishonest characters of the group. Among them there is also a Monk, who, despite his holy vows, is one of the most gluttonous, secular characters in the party. Though Chaucer does take the time to establish characters both entertaining and familiar, such as the promiscuous Wife of Bath or the foul-mouthed Miller, even in those characters, Chaucer utilizes them to present new ideas to the reader, such as sovereignty and the presence of vulgarity. Thus, as Chaucer utilizes the setting of a pilgrimage as a tool to strip social pretense from his characters, The Canterbury Tales functions as a social commentary for its time, using the guise of a pilgrimage to provide the reader with a unique observation of each of the main characters, who represent new looks at the old stereotypes of Chaucer’s time.
Thus, with Chaucer’s use of setting as a means to take a fresh look at society, this project intends to follow to do the same. This resetting of the Canterbury Tales takes place during one of the great contemporary American pilgrimages…holiday traveling. This new take starts in an airport terminal in the wake of an unrelenting blizzard. As a result, many flights are delayed indefinitely; however leaving the airport in this weather is not an option. Thus a flight of passengers, stranded in the airport, band together in the local terminal pub to kill the time with drinks and merriment. While there, the captain, not drinking of course, proposes that they all go around telling jokes and that the passenger with the best joke gets a drink and a meal paid by all. The setting chosen for this project correlates closely to Chaucer’s setting in that it follows a group of weary travelers however puts an obviously modern twist on an old story. Either way, the setting will effectively strip the characters of their pretense, as all of them will be trapped in a similar, tiresome situation. So, the setting of an airport, and bar therein, will effectively mimic Chaucer’s tactic of placing a large amount of various people in a similar, precarious situation, forcing them to ignore distinctions and join together and provide news takes on old stereotypes. Thus, in the end, Chaucer’s basic tool for bringing a story like this to an audience is just as effective, as seen in this reincarnation and contemporary readings of the Canterbury Tales.




Citations:

Minus the Bear. "Absinthe Party in the Fly Honey Warehouse." Highly Refined Pirates. Suicide Squeeze, 2002.