Course Guidelines Path 1 Calendar Class Discussion Path 2 Groups & Texts Writing Assignments Reference Texts


Grace and the Grotesque
Calendar for Class Discussion & Exams (Path 1)

ornamental line


"Endure hardship as discipline . . . "
(Hebrews 12:7, NIV)

find pre-class study questions by clicking
on the colored, horizontal bar above each day's readings

Consider adding Gen 6:5-9 one of the days we discuss Dogville

Add qstns about justice vs. vengeance to the end of Dogville qstn list

Open course with apparent contradiction in Luke 21: 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends,and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.

Date
Readings: Path 1
Details

Link to Points for Reflection: The Positive Negative
R, 4-2

The Positive Negative [NO CLASS on T, Mar. 31 due to Farm Workers Day holiday]
video: introduction to course guidelines & website
The Bible: Acts 5:1-11, 4:32-37, PDF
Flannery O'Connor's letter to "A" (Betty Hester), Aug. 28, 1955 / 948-51, PDF
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "A Musical Instrument" (1860), PDF
Robert Browning's "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" (1842), 89-92, PDF
Salvador Dalí's Woman with a Head Full of Roses (1935)
S, 4-4 DUE by midnight: Impassioned Plea #1 / comment on Dr. M's "A.I. Ate My Homework, Then My Soul"
 
Link to Points for Reflection: Stumbling Blocks
T, 4-7

Stumbling Blocks
The Bible: I Corinthians, chps: 1:1 thru 2:16
The Bible: Matthew 26:47 - 28:10
The Bible: Luke 22:47 - 24:53
The Bible: John 18:1 - 20:31
Matthias Grünewald's The Crucifixion (1515)
Salvador Dalí's The Spectre of Sex Appeal (1934)
Salvador Dalí's Corpus Hypercubus (1954)
Link to Points for Reflection: Fierce and Dreamy Both
R, 4-9

Fierce and Dreamy Both
The Bible: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
video: artistic modalities w/ graphs (36 min.)
video: Life Is Layered--Part 1: "Dirt, Digging, and Cultural Engagement" (16 min.)
Flannery O'Connor's talk "The Teaching of Literature" (date unidentified) / PDF (print out & bring to class)
Flannery O'Connor's "A Temple of the Holy Ghost" (1954), 197-209
Path 2 grps assigned

  • roundtable discussion; sml grp discuss & report

Link to Points for Reflection: Not Your Own Hero
T, 4-14

Not Your Own Hero / guest speaker: Hannah Anderson
The Bible: Matthew 16:24-26
The Bible: Philippians 4:4-9
The Bible: Romans 14:1-23
Flannery O'Connor's "The Church and the Fiction Writer" (1957), 807-12
Flannery O'Connor's "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction" (1960; 1965), 813-21
Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" (1955), 263-84
  • sml grp exercise
T, 4-14 Required Public Talk w/ Hannah Anderson: "Imagining the Worst: An Invitation to the Mythical, Mystical, and Macabre"
Building 33 (Fisher Science), room 286 / 7:10 p.m.
  

Link to Points for Reflection: The Right Horror
R, 4-16 Maximum Control
The Bible: Psalm 23
The Bible: Luke 12:24-34
video: Life Is Layered--Part 2: "The Sensuous Surface" (31 min.)
Salvador Dalí's prose poem "St. Sebastian" (1927)
Salvador Dalí's lecture "The Moral Position of Surrealism" (Mar. 22, 1930)
 Salvador Dalí's Apparatus and Hand (1927)
Salvador Dalí's The Great Masturbator (1929)
Salvador Dalí's The Persistence of Memory (1931)
reference the Principles and Elements of Design handout . . .
Students bring, printed out in color or on digital tablet (not cell), Dr. M's comments on Impassioned Plea #1
  • lecture: Dalí's bio / Part 1
M, 4-20 OPTIONAL, FREE SCREENING: John Michael McDonagh's Calvary (2014) at 7 p.m. in Dr. M's garage (536 Paseo Bella Montaña, Unit A). Otherwise, watch it on your own.  
M, 4-20 thru S, 4-25 Groups discuss assigned Path 2 short story by Flannery O'Connor during expanded office hours; 30 min. per grp  
T, 4-21 DUE BEFORE TUESDAY CLASS: Impassioned Plea #2 / comment on Dr. M's intro. to Calvary (2014)  

T, 4-21

Metaphor, Paradox, and Truth
The Bible: Romans 5:1-8,
The Bible: Mark 10:13-16
The Bible: Matthew 13:1-23
The Bible: I Corinthians 7:1-5
C. S. Lewis's The Problem of Pain, only chp. 4 ("Human Wickedness"), pgs. 30-38 at this PDF
Dr. M's intro. to John Michael McDonagh's Calvary (2014)
John Michael McDonagh's Calvary (2014) / available at Amazon Prime / only look at the content warnings if you're okay with lots of spoilers!
film terms handout [students: print out and bring to class--this and all future PDFs]
  • slideshow-directed, interactive lecture
  • small group argumentation exercise

Link to Points for Reflection: The Way of Distortion: A Realism of Distances
R, 4-23

The Way of Distortion
The Bible: Mark 12:1-12
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "Lord Walter's Wife" (1862), PDF
Robert Browning's "Porphyria's Lover" (1834; 1836, 1842), PDF
C. S. Lewis' "Transposition" (1940) / PDF
The Bible: Genesis 4:1-16; 2 Samuel 11:1-12:25; Job 23 (all), 24 (all), & 31:1-22; Lamentations 3:16-40
Midterm Exam study guide

  • small grp exercise

T, 4-28

Rousing Arousal
The Bible: Song of Songs, chps. 1-8 (entire book)
CLOSED-BOOK MIDTERM (bring 100-qstn scantron & blue book); essay exam first (50 min.), objective exam second (20-25 min.)
  • roundtable discussion
  • exam

Link to Points for Reflection: Eyes Wide Shut

R, 4-30

Eyes Wide Shut
The Bible: 1 John 1:1-9
Robert Browning's "Andrea del Sarto" (c.1853; 1855), PDF
Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood (1952), chps. 1-3
  • slideshow-driven discussion

Link to Points for Reflection: Parabolic Drift
T, 5-5

Parabolic Drift
The Bible: Luke 15:11-32
video: Flannery O'Connor's life
video: Life Is Layered--Part 4: "Psychological Substance" (24 min.)
Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood (1952), chps. 4-7
  • sml grp: argumentation exercise

R, 5-7

Out of Sight
The Bible: Mark 8:22-25
The Bible: Acts 9:1-19
Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood (1952), chps. 8-14 (73 to end)
  • pairs: Mad Libs
M, 5-11 DUE by 9 a.m.: Impassioned Plea #3 / comment on Dr. M's intro. to your assigned Path 2 film at Digging in the Dirt
  

Link to Points for Reflection: Love and Marriage
T, 5-12 Love & Marriage
The Bible: Ephesians 5:21-33, James 3:3-10
video: the lives of EBB & RB
video: Life Is Layered--Part 3: "Equality & the Disenfranchised" (26 min.)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850), sonnets 7 & 30 / PDF
Robert Browning's "Meeting at Night" (1845) and "Parting at Morning" (1845), PDF
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "The Romaunt of the Page" (1839), PDF [used w/ permission of one of the editors, Dr. Beverly Taylor]
Robert Browning's "A Lover's Quarrel" (c.1853), PDF
  • slideshow-directed discussion
Link to Points for Reflection: The Evolution of Ecstasy
R, 5-14

The Evolution of Ecstasy
The Bible: Ecclesiastes 1-2
video: Life Is Layered--Part 5: "Spiritual Substratum" (34 min.)
Salvador Dalí's essay "Mystical Manifesto" (1951)
Salvador Dalí's My Wife, Nude, Contemplating Her Own Flesh Becoming Stairs, Three Vertebrae of a Column, Sky and Architecture (1945)
Salvador Dalí's The Madonna of Port Lligat (1950-51, 2nd version of the painting, not the 1949 version)
Salvador Dalí's Christ of St. John of the Cross (1951)
Salvador Dalí's The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952-54)
bring: the Principles and Elements of Design handout to class

  • slideshow-driven discussion
M, 5-18 REQUIRED SCREENING: Lars von Trier's Dogville (2003) / 2h 51m / The Palm theater in downtown SLO / 7 p.m. / optional content warning
  

T, 5-19

Grace and Justice
The Bible: Luke 13:5-9
The Bible: Matthew 18:21-35
Lars von Trier's Dogville (2003), watch at The Palm / 7 p.m. / Monday, May 18.
Dr. M's intro. to Dogville
C. S. Lewis's The Problem of Pain (1940), chp. 8, PDF
  • slideshow-directed discussion
W, 5-20 DUE BEFORE CLASS ON THURSDAY: Impassioned Plea #4 / comment on Dr. M's intro. video for Dogville (2003) / details
  

R, 5-21

Dark Like Blood
 The Bible: Proverbs 1:1-19
The Bible: 2 Peter 2:1-22
Lars von Trier's Dogville (2003)
C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces (1956), Part 1: chps 1-9
bring film terms handout
  • sml grp: argumentation exercise

Link to Points for Reflection: Magical Freedoms
T, 5-26 Graceful or Grotesque?
The Bible: Proverbs 31:10-31
Salvador Dalí's Paranonia (1935-36)
Romance 101: "Shared Visions: More Dance Than Drill"
Romance 101: "Future Forward"
Salvador Dalí's Paranonia (1935-36)
C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces (1956), Part 1: chps 10-14
  • sml grp: tableaux vivants & dry-erase drawings

R, 5-28

Veilings and Unveilings
The Bible: I Corinthians 13:1-13
Romance 101: "Can I Trust You to Protect Me?"
C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces (1956), Part 1: chps. 15-21 and Part II: chps. 1-4
  • format: roundtable discussion

T, 6-2

Magical Freedoms
The Bible: Genesis 1-3
pre-class video: the life of C. S. Lewis [includes notes about The Problem of Pain, all of which I assigned in an earlier course iteration]
C. S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew (1955)
  • roundtable discussion
  • small group exercise

Link to Points for Reflection: Everything Off Balance
R, 6-4

Everything Off Balance
The Bible: Mark 12:28-34 and Matthew 10:32-39
Salvador Dalí's The Temptation of St. Anthony (1946)
Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" (1953), 137-53
Final Exam Study guide shared and discussed

  • discussion
  • review session for final exam
  FINAL EXAM: MISCELLANEOUS VIDEO REVIEW LECTURES [only review if assigned this quarter]
video: Elements & Principles of Design and "Christ Crucified" (33 min.) [TYPO: I say "immaculate conception" when I should say "Virgin Birth"]
RB's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" (reading & explication)
Part 1: lecture on Dalí, in pieces: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7
EBB's "The Romaunt of the Page" (walk-through reading)
LvT's Dogville & film terms
pre-class video: Life of Lars von Trier 		 
Finals Week FINAL EXAM (Path 2 & select Path 1 texts)
sec 01 (class: 7:10-9:00 a.m. / TR) / final: Tues., June 9, 7:10-10:00 a.m.
sec 02 (class: 9:10-11:00 a.m. / TR) / final: Thurs., June 11, 10:10-1:00 p.m.		  

 

Thick purple lines decending and flowing. Behind and looking through is a face and several square shapes with lettering
Cubist Self-Portrait (1923)
oil on canvas
Salvador Dalí

 


Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu