Paralysis, Simony, and Gnomon in James Joyce’s "Dubliners"

Hjemmeeksamen i ENG4365 – The Short Story in English, vår 2013. En pdf av oppgaveteksten finnes her. 

James Joyce’s “The Sisters” was first written on commission as an isolated story for The Irish Homestead (Gabler xv–xvi). When included as the first in the short story cycle Dubliners, the opening paragraph was amended (e.g. Kerins 243; compare the reprint of the original version in Norris, Contexts 204) to include the three concepts of paralysis, simony, and gnomon, presented by the young first person narrator. According to Murray McArthur, the purpose of this and other emendations was to “[shape] ‘The Sisters’ as the macro-index or riddle that stands as first text or opening frame” not only of Dubliners, but of the entire Joycean canon (245). Thus one can fairly assume that all revisions of and additions to the first version of “The Sisters” are important for understanding the entire cycle – or oeuvre – it was meant to frame; and that italicized additions to the opening paragraph are even more so.

The Function of History in "The Reluctant Fundamentalist"

Hjemmeeksamen i ENG4373 – Multicultural American Literature, vår 2012. En pdf av oppgaveteksten finnes her.

I have chosen essay option 1, and will discuss the function of history in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (the abbreviation TRF will be used to refer to the novel throughout the essay).

The novel is written in a first-person narrative, the narration as such related by the main focalizing character, Changez, who is recounting his experiences as a young student and professional in America to an American visitor at a restaurant in Lahore, Pakistan. The novel thus alternates between two quite distinctly different settings, the story-telling spell at the restaurant, functioning as a frame-story; and the story that is being told, i.e. the gradual unraveling of Changez’ encounters with American culture and society. By the end of the final chapter, the two narrative strands meet.

Circulation of Social Energy – How Texts Come Alive

Hjemmeeksamen i ENG4310 – Literary Theory in English, vår 2012. En pdf av oppgaveteksten finnes her.

1. Introduction

This essay will be a discussion on some basic assumptions of the critical tradition of new historicism. In line with new historicism’s “determination to do so much justice to the example itself,”[1] I will base it on a close reading of Stephen Greenblatt’s 1998 essay “The circulation of social energy,” and discuss how new historicism appears specifically within and throughout that text.

 

Following the assignment text, I will try to separate out, and focus my discussion around, three basic assumptions of new historicism: First, that there is no single totalizing or autonomous originator, neither of a text, nor of a consistent, corporate social ideology; second, that, through a process of dynamic exchange, a text emerges out of, and bases its existence on an interplay with, a distinct culture; and third, that a successful text through this process can be empowered with a kind of social energy that makes it speak to us across centuries. Finally, I will remark briefly on the relevance of Greenblatt’s theoretical stance for other eras and genres.