AP Literature 2015-16

Dr. Jamir

SEMESTER I/MIDTERM OVERVIEW

Our exam is Tues., Dec. 15 8:30-10:30am. The room assignment is A-1.

The exam will consist of two parts.

Part I will consist of the following question types: true or false, matching, multiple choice, and short answer.

Part II will be a timed essay in which you will be asked to analyze one or more pieces of literature we have discussed this semester.

You should bring pencil, pen, and several sheets of lined notebook paper.

AP Literature 2015-16

Dr. Jamir

MODERNISM & POSTMODERNISMGUIDE

Books, stories, poems / Key Concepts for Modernism
  • Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut *See the PPT posted to Aug. 24.
  • “Sailing to Byzantium,” “The Second Coming,” and“Leda and the Swan” by W.B. Yeats
  • “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot (*For Eliot’s work, see the links posted to Sept. 8 and 9.)
  • “Sunday Morning” by Wallace Stevens
  • “The Red Wheelbarrow” and “Spring and all” by William Carlos Williams
  • “Araby” by James Joyce
  • “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway
  • “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield
/
  • Subjectivity
  • Impressionism
  • Disillusionment (following WWI)
  • Industrialization and technological advancement
  • Urbanization
  • Chaos/disorder
  • the Victorian Era
*See the PPT posted to Sept. 14.
Key Concepts for Postmodernism
  • Self-reflexivity (metafiction)
  • Parody
  • Pastiche
  • Eclectic approach
  • Genre play
  • Unique visual formatting
*See the PPT posted to Aug. 17.

James Joyce and epiphany

In literature, an epiphany occurs at the end of a piece. The epiphany belongs to the main characters. The content of an epiphany is a start realization (and one might say instead revelation), usually that the world is not operating properly or well. The language of an epiphany is often formal and/or eloquent.

Joyce writes, “Its soul, its whatness, leaps to us from the vestment of its appearance. The soul of the commonest object, the structure of which is so adjusted, seems to us radiant. The object achieves its epiphany.”

-Joyce, The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

AP Literature 2015-16

Dr. Jamir

EXISTENTIALISM GUIDE

Books, stories, films, and scholarship / Historical figures & texts
  • No Exit and The Flies by Sartre
  • “The Guest” by Camus
  • The Metamorphosis by Kafka
  • “The Myth of Sisyphus” and “An Absurd Reasoning: Absurdity and Suicide” by Camus
  • “Existentialism Is Humanism” by Sartre
  • The Road to Freedom (documentary on Sartre)- BBC, 1999
/
  • Jean-Paul Sartre (French)- 1905-80; modern atheistic existentialism; introduced the term existentialism; Le Nausee (1938)
  • Albert Camus (French)- 1913-60; The Myth of Sisyphus (1942)

Key concepts for books and stories / Key concepts for existentialism
  • Sight/seeing
  • Physical appearance
  • Gender
  • Guilt
  • Imprisonment/being stuck or trapped
  • Strangers (or *others)
  • Memory
  • Mystery
  • Communication
  • Family
  • The supernatural/otherworldiness
  • Death
  • Change or transformation
/
  • essence
  • existenceexistence precedes essence!
  • void/muck (le neant and le visqueux, respectively)
  • angst/nausea/dread
  • passive vs. active
  • choice existence
  • the system (conforming to)

Formal traits / Characters in No Exit
  • Biblical allusions
  • Postmodernism Retelling (Greek myth), fragmentation
/
  • Garcin
  • Inez
  • Estelle
  • the valet

Characters in The Flies / Characters in The Metamorphosis
  • Zeus (and fake name)
  • Orestes (and fake name)
  • Electra
  • Aegisthus
  • Clytemnestra
  • The three furies
  • The flies
/
  • GregorSamsa
  • Grete Samsa
  • Mr. Samsa
  • Mrs. Samsa
  • The chief clerk
  • The three boarders

Settings
  • Hell
  • Argos
  • Algeria
  • Paris

AP Literature 2015-16

Dr. Jamir

THE SOUND AND THE FURYGUIDE

*PPT on Modern Southern Lit. posted to Oct. 26.

Characters / Key Concepts
  • Quentin Compson
  • Candace/Caddy C.
  • Jason C.
  • Benjy C.
  • Jason C. IV
  • Jason C. III
  • Caroline Compson (née Bascomb)
  • Uncle Maury
  • Damuddy
  • Dilsey
  • Roskus
  • Versh
  • Luster
  • T.P.
/
  • Frony
  • Dalton Ames
  • S. Herbert Head
  • “little sister”
  • Shreve
  • Deacon
  • Gerald
  • Julio
  • Earl
  • Uncle Job
  • Lorraine
  • Miss Quentin
  • Man with the red tie
/
  • Family
  • Community
  • Identity
  • Gender
  • Sexuality/Sex
  • Sin
  • Economic status/money
  • Ethnicity/race
  • Power/control
  • Loyalty
  • Time
  • Communication
  • Memory
  • Storytelling
  • Secrets
  • Escape
  • Luck

Symbols / Settings
  • Golf course and balls
  • Red flag and tie
  • Fire
  • Fence and gate
  • Jackson
  • Trees (and other plants and flowers, e.g. honeysuckle) *Benjy likes to hold a flower.
  • Water
  • Glass
  • Mirrors
  • Shadows
  • Bridge
  • Sparrows
  • Quentin’s watch
/
  • The South
  • Jefferson, MS (*Yoknapataphaw (“split land”) County)
  • Jackson, MS (*mentioned repeatedly)
  • HarvardCambridge, MA
  • Mottson

Key terms / Other texts
  • Southern grotesque
  • Prelapsarian
  • lapsarian
  • Synesthesia
  • Stream of consciousness
  • Flashbacks
  • Typography
  • Call and response
/
  • “Mississippi” by Faulkner