ENGL 200 D: Reading Literature: Literature in the Marketplace

“Selling a Book By Its Cover” (NYTimes)

Discussion question: what does this tell you about the potential of books to be valuable?

“The End” (NYMag)

Discussion question: This article, from approximately three years ago, makes several observations about the state of the book industry, and its future. Do you see things that it got right? That it got wrong? What’s happened since?

“In the Future, Everything Will Be Free” (Institute for the Future of the Book)

Final question: do you read books online? Why, or why not? What do you see ereaders, and printed books, as offering you? What influences your ability and choices to buy books? (whether for pleasure, or for school/professional purposes?) What would an ideal book be for you, and why?

Please post one discussion questions for tomorrow here. You have until the end of the day today, Monday, August 8th.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom presents an alternative economy to our current one. It’s meant to be slightly disorienting; to require you to look at the way the world works from an alternate perspective.  Don’t let it intimidate you: the best way to deal with it is to treat it like a puzzle that you’re putting together.

1. How does the Bitchun Society work?

2. What economic problems does it solve? And what new ones does it create?

3. In what way is labor valuable within the Bitchun Society? And how does it interact with other types of value? Look at Dan, Lil, Julius (the narrator), Debra, or Tim Fung for examples.

4. Because the Bitchun Society uses wireless networking, nearly everyone is connected all of the time. How does this change everyday life? How does it effect the system of credit?

There’s only one question for tomorrow’s reading: what ideas do you see being articulated in this novel? These might take the form of things that you see Fleming as wanting to promote, or things that he promotes unconsciously, out of habit. They might be large, or minute. Be prepared to cite the pages in the text where you see them appearing.

: Part II of this novel is really about the differences and similarities of Bond and Goldfinger. Both men cheat at golf, though for different reasons; both men have an attraction to women; both men particularly care about things being done in a certain way. Neither man is an individual working entirely alone; and neither man is of high station.

1. Moving beyond these broad differences and similarities, how else can Bond and Goldfinger be said to resemble each other? Find specific passages, and be prepared to explain your interpretation. Also be prepare to explain why these similarities and differences might be said to be important.

2. If you look back at Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, Section I, Chapter III, paragraph 20, you will find descriptions of the man of inferior rank, and the man of rank and distinction. Where do Smith’s characteristics match up with Bond and Goldfinger? How might their actions be classified, according to this paragraph?

3. Think back to Addison and Defoe’s discussions of Lady Credit. How might the actions of women in this novel (so far, Jill Masterton and Tilly Soames) be said to echo or confirm Defoe and Addison’s ideas? How might they challenge them?

There are a few overarching questions for the whole novel that I’d like you to bear in mind as you read:

1. Who is James Bond, and what is James Bond? He is, on the one hand, an individual who is capable of affecting, for good or for ill, large scale economies. How is his interest opposed to or in harmony with that of the general interest?
2. What is the general interest? And what competing interests are portrayed in the novel?
3. What connections exist between Bond and Goldfinger?

Note to the class: this reading is longer than some; be sure to give yourself time to get through it!

1. Today, Wordsworth is known as one of the “great” poets — but he was nothing of the sort when he wrote the introduction (Preface) to the collection of poems called the Lyrical Ballads. As you read, one of the most important things to keep in mind is why he thinks people ought to be interested in buying his book. What does he think makes it valuable?

2. Along the same lines as the first question, what kind of poetry and/or writing/art/etc. does Wordsworth see as not valuable? Why not?

3. You’ve now seen the poor described by Mandeville and Smith. What does Wordsworth think about them? How would you describe his views? Are they sympathetic? Sinister? Somewhere in between?

4. Mandeville seems to think that all art is luxury (see <i>The Grumbling Hive</i>, ll. 387-390). Would Wordsworth agree with him? Is there a way that we can decide whether a specific piece, or type of art, is a luxury, or if it is not?

5. Is writing poetry a laborious process? Why or why not? (Be prepared to cite evidence from the text!)

I’ve made annotations throughout the sections you’re being asked to read for tomorrow. Ch. 1 is a bit long, Ch. 2 is quite short; the reading from Ch. 3 is very short, and in Ch. 5, I’m asking you to read a section from the beginning, and from the end, which I’ve marked with post-it notes in Diigo. There are two parts from ch. 5 that I’d like you to read.

We’ll talk briefly about the principles/statements that Smith makes about the way that labour works, and value works, but there are two major questions that I’d really like you to think about:

1. Can labour be property? (If not, why not? If so, what kind of property can it be? What are the limits for using it?)

2. Think back to Joseph Addison’s short essay on genius. Addison imagines a very different world from that of Smith’s. Is there any place for genius in The Wealth of Nations? When you think about the sort of work that genius might involve, do you see similarities in TWoN? Differences? What are they?

Remember to be ready to cite the specific section or paragraph of your source!

1. Look up “sentiment” in the dictionary (even if you’re sure you know the answer). Look up “moral,” as well. Based on the definitions, and the excerpts that you read from Adam Smith, what are “moral sentiments?” And why would they be important in economic activity?

2. In the excerpt that you’re reading, Smith is not, for the most part, focused on traditional money, but on a different sort of quality. What would you call this quality? And how do you see it flowing?

2. Much of the Theory of Moral Sentiments is focused on what it takes to be successful. In your own words, what are three pieces of advice that Adam Smith might give people today? (Be prepared to cite evidence from the text to back up what you say!)

3. What are the risks that people who are considered “great” face?

4. Pay particular attention to paragraph I.III.20. What must the man of inferior rank do to distinguish himself, according to Smith? And according to your reading of other paragraphs in this section, why will Smith’s strategy succeed, or fail?

5. Based on what you have read from this section of the Theory of Moral Sentiments, how would you describe Smith’s world in terms of equality or inequality? (Is it very equal and fair for everyone? Highly discriminatory/non-equal? Equal in regards to somethings and not in others?) Be ready to give specific answers.

1. One of the major reasons that both Duck and Collier’s poetry became popular was that it described, in detail, an experience that many of their readers found exotic and unfamiliar: that of working long hours in the field. So: what are some of the details that you see Duck and Collier emphasizing as part of the labour experience?

2. As a follow-up to the first question, are there any details that you see Duck (and to a lesser degree, Collier) glamorizing in any way? Duck is much more likely to invoke aspects of classical mythology or personifications of nature (Winter, the Sun, etc.) in his poem: pick one set of lines where you see hm doing this, and interpret them.

3. In line 125, Duck mentions “sportive Labour” — what IS sportive labour? And what other types of labour show up in the poem?

4. What aspects of labor does Duck like most? What aspects of it does he like least?

5. What do you think that Duck wants his readers to take away from the poem as a message?

6. How does Collier respond to Duck? What specific rebuttals does she make to his points?

7. In “The Grumbling Hive,” Mandeville suggested that some types of value were important to the community at the end of the poem, and others weren’t.  Collier, as a woman, is also dealing with assumptions that some types of value aren’t important. What types of value are those? And how does she argue for them?

8. Would you use the same justifications and arguments that Collier uses to justify your own labour? What others might you use?