Further thoughts on irony

You should have with you a copy of the first few paragraphs of "AN ARGUMENT To Prove, That the Abolishing of CHRISTIANITY in ENGLAND, May, as Things now stand, be attended with some Inconveniencies, and perhaps not produce those many Good Effects propos'd thereby," with your thoughts about the ways in which it seems to you Swift's irony is working. We'll begin by passing those around and reading what people thought. Read a half dozen. Mark anything you think surprising, or striking, or perceptive; comment if you like. At the end, get your own back.

We'll then start discussion with a round.

Reading Swift

I've posted a list of who has signed up to read and report on which works of Swift. Although I won't put a limit on how many people can read the same text, obviously we should spread the work out.

We have two class meetings left in the term, and I'd like us to be able to read all the reports and make a decision about which one work (or possibly two) of Swift we'll read over the holidays as a way of finishing our work on him and be ready at the beginning of the second term to scout out other major writers of nonfiction we should attend to.

A reminder, then, about your thoughtful descriptive reflection on your chosen text: it should be aimed at giving the rest of us as full a sense as you can of what sort of text it is -- how it sounds, what its arguments or assumptions are, etc. Be descriptive rather than evaluative: it's not important to this task (however important it is to you) whether you enjoyed or were persuaded by the text: your job right now will be to tell the rest of us what it's like.

Post it to the "Reading Swift" forum by Monday before class time (sooner is better, so people can begin reading them).

Looking back, and forward, to learning reflections

I expect to post my thoughts on the mid-first-term learning reflections tomorrow or Friday; they're mainly directed at helping people write the most convincing real midterm learning reflection possible. Watch for a link on the main course page, or an email.