Exam Topics A - REL Narrative
Selves
The exam will be in two parts. Part I will be on matters related
to Writing Papers. Part II will be on topics covered thus far in the
readings and lectures. If you will not be here on Tuesday, January 28
to take the exam, you must make prior arrangements by Tuesday,
January 21. You must receive prior permission for absence as well as
to take the exam separately. Only exceptional cases will be
allowed.
The exam will be multiple choice, and as covered in the syllabus,
will count 10% of your grade. There is only one right answer per
question. If there appears to be more than one right answer, pick the
best answer.
If you have any questions about the exam or the topics included in
the exam, please ask. You can come in during office hours, make an
appointment or inquire by email.
Part I: Writing Papers
Read the following essays and guidelines that are posted on the
Writing Papers links on my web pages:
I. Four Keys to
Writing in the Humanities
II. Four Stages of
Writing
III. Paper Writing
Guidelines
IV.
Writing: The Bridge between Consciousness and Unconsciousness
V. Sentence Structure
and Punctuation: Clauses and Commas
Part II: Readings and Lectures
Week 2: Phenomenologies of Time and Self; Autobiographical
Subjectivity in Question
- According to Paul Brockelman in Time and Self, what does
he mean when he speaks of the self as a "double relation"? (77).
- According to Katsuki Sekida in Zen Training, what is the
relation between first, second, and third nen? What is
absolute samadhi?
- What is the significance of the "turning point" in Jerome Bruner's
concept of the "remembered self"?
- According to Michel Foucault, what is the difference between
classical narrative such as is found in the Odyssey and
modern narratives as found in the works of Flaubert and Kafka (102)?
- For Foucault, what is a "discourse"?
- For Foucault, why must one deal with the ideological function of
the "author" (118)?
Week 3: Uncovering, Recovering and Creating Self-Narrative
- According to Hilde Nelson in Damaged Identities, Narrative
Repair, what is a counter-story, and what is the relation
between master narrative and counter-story? (6)
- What are "found communities" and "communities of choice"? (Nelson
9).
- What makes a story "a story"? (Nelson 11-15).
- What are some different types of good and bad counter-stories?
(Nelson 176-186).
- According to Elspeth Graham et al in "Pondering All These Things
in Her Heart," what are at least three functions of secrecy in the
autobiographies of English women she examines?
- According to Sue Campbell's Relational Remembering, what
are four aspects of personhood? (32-34).