Final Exam LTEN 150 Spring 2017
The final exam should be submitted as an attachment to: LTEN150@medievallit.org
The exam must be submitted to this address by 5:59 pm on Wed. 6/14/17. Late exams will not be accepted.
Please be sure to put your full name in your email header, in your file name and at the top of the first page of the essay. If on-line submission in any way creates a hardship for you, please let me know immediately and we will make arrangements accordingly. Please send your essay as an attachment in Word--if you have questions about other formats, please just ask.
Please answer the following two question:
In Playing in the Dark, Toni Morrison explores the influence of the Africanist presence in U.S. literature. We have discussed her methodology as a model for understanding the Jewish presence in English literature. A significant difference in the historical situations between the Africanist presence in the United States and the Jewish presence in England is the fact that the Jews were expelled from England in 1290 and were not readmitted until 1656. The Jews therefore constitute what some have called an “absent presence” in the English literary imagination. Using THREE texts from our syllabus discuss the significance of this absent Jewish presence in early English literature.
A strong essay will have a clear thesis that presents your interpretation of the “absent presence” of Jews in England and English literature in three of the texts we’ve read. The essay might show a similarity in how this works between three texts, contrast this ‘absent presence’ in the three texts or show some mixture among the three. A strong essay will use specific textual evidence/textual readings to support the thesis. Morrison's discussion of analytic methodology is a useful stimulus to developing readings of our texts.
An additional suggested strategy for this essay would be to ground your thesis about a Jewish "absent presence" through a specific element that links several of the texts we have read. An essay might trace the role of Pauline hermeneutics or the role of place. Gender and its relation to representations of Jews and Judaism is another possibility we have pursued throughout the course.
Your essay should be no longer than 1500 words. MS Word has a function to measure document length. Go to File—Properties and then Statistics to get your count. Please double space.
If you need to cut down on words you provide give shortened quotations using ellipses.
What I am looking for: Essays with clear theses and clear argumentation and prose. Essays that use textual evidence to support points made, a feature that will also illustrate your understanding of the assigned readings and class discussions. You are welcome to use any and all of your notes from class here obviously and to discuss these questions with each other. In fact, talking to each other about these issues would likely benefit you, although the final product must be your own work. I would encourage you not to look at secondary sources in print or online. I expect you’ll spend quite a bit of time thinking about the question you choose and some time outlining or making notes, but I know you have other exams and I’m expecting that you will write the essay itself in about 3-4 hours. Do use your spell check function and read aloud once to fix errors. I’ll be reading fast and lots of errors will distract me from your argument and could end up hurting your grade.
A word on citation: I envision these essays as in-class, open-book essays that you get to write at a time and place that is convenient for you. All you should need to answer the questions is our texts and your notes from class. You don’t need to provide citations unless you do reading beyond what has been assigned in class, perhaps during the work for your presentation. If you do use someone else’s ideas you MUST cite them in order to live up to the standards of academic integrity, but, please note that I don’t expect outside sources and, given all the pressures of finals week, I recommend that you just stick to your own ideas. (By the way, there is no need to cite me/my lectures).