Dank Genre Memes for Incoming Teens (and others)
Hi everyone!
Welcome to the Warwick English department. I hope you're doing well in the midst of the current crisis. I'm Michael Meeuwis (m.meeuwis@warwick.ac.uk) and I teach here. We've decided to put together some resources for you to have a think about while you're waiting for your courses to start. Once your library accounts are ready, there's a wealth of introductory material to send you to; for the mo, under panicked and hastily put-together circumstances, we've done our best. I've chosen four genres you'll come to know while studying here: plays, novels, poetry, and manifesto. I'm sending these around with some materials culled from the Internet about how to read these genres. Think of this as a pre-syllabus, an introduction to some of the materials you'll also be working with in your first-year modules. Stay happy and safe, everyone, and we look forward to welcoming you in the coming academic year.
- Theatre
William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/measure/full.html
Royal Court Young Writers’ Toolkit, Episode One (but do please view whole series if interested):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANBNv3kGO4o
Ronald Hayman, How to Read a play (you’ll need to check this out, as in a library)
https://archive.org/details/isbn_0394170229_0
- Novels
Jane Austen, Emma (1815)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/158
John Sutherland, How to Read a Novel (e-checkout as well)
https://archive.org/embed/howtoreadnovelus00suth_0
Also, I’m in the process of writing a guide to reading Jane Austen’s novels. If you’re interested, please send me an email, and I’ll send you a link.
- Poetry
Richard Lovelace, “A Song to Aramathea, that she would Dishevel her hair”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44656/song-to-amarantha-that-she-would-dishevel-her-hair
Linda Hogan, “Trail of Tears: Our Removal”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57881/trail-of-tears-our-removal
Emily Dickinson, “Banish Air from Air”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56454/banish-air-from-air-963
How-to essay, Rebecca Hazleton, “The Choice of Constraint”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/145052/the-choice-of-constraint
How-to essay, Edward Hirsch, “Epic, Drama, Lyric”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/68421/epic-drama-lyric-be-plural-like-the-universe
Warwick video: Jonathan Bate in conversation with Stephen Fry, on reading poetry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap59pZiFZt0
- Manifesto
Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party (1847)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/
Valerie Solanas, S.C.U.M. Manifesto (1967)
https://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/shivers/rants/scum.html
Julian Hanna, “Manifestos: A Manifesto”