For Thursday....

Hello all,

We began the class be conducting a short overview of homework and assisgnments. We also discussed our plans for attending a museum tomorrow. Here is the link to the musuem. http://www.armedforcesmuseum.com/

We will meet in the classroom at 11:00 to 11:15, and then we will drive to the museum. The museum is 3.50 a student. Please email me if you want to drive, need a ride, or need help with the fee. Plan to be at the museum for at least an hour to look at the exhibit. Remember, as we go through the exhibits you will want to take notes and make observations about what you see and how it is packaged.
*if you can't make it to the museum, you can attend later, and then present the stub or sticker to me for credit.

Today we discussed the connections between Caruth, Lubin, and Nemivorsky. The discussion differed a bit from the prior conversation, as we had a lot of communication and generation of ideas. OUr discussions explored issues of authority in history and the creation of history, the manipulative quality of media, the "they" of the power strucutre, and identity issues.

Professor Julien began the discussion and introduced concepts related to Caruth's understanding of Freud's _Moses and Monothesim_. Julien presented the idea of history and trauma; in particular, Julien focused on latency in the recollection of trauma and historical creation. The discussion shifted to an exploration of repression and the lack of consciousness at the time of the event. Lexi and Mike contributed their views that it is not that the person is "sleeping" but that the person lacks awareness, or true recognition at the time of the event. The link between history and trauma was explored in class, and then this link was furthered examined through the connections of Freud's reading and reconstruction of Jewish History in his work. Lexi viewed the work from the perspective that it is an autobiography of Freud's experiences, and it is a scholarly reconstruction of the history. This reconstruction is informed by the recapturing or recollection of the experiences; however, this conversation opened the door to the debate between historical facts and historical perspective.

Professor Lexi then presented her observations about _Suite Francaise_. Lexi observed that the story captures the theories and ideas that we have been exploring in the Caruth and Lubin readings. In addition, the various reactions that the characters display in the selection also reflect elements of our reading. The characters, explored by Chris, Danny, and Mike, all represent elements of the various methods used to explore trauma: the mother is caring, the grandfather is oblivious, the servants become equal, etc. Lexi mentioned that the cat, in the story, serves as a metaphor for the Nazi invasion of Paris. Very clever. Cindy lead us to a discussion about media via the radio in the story.

Professor Tommy explored issues related to Orly Lubin's piece. Tommy explored the issues of looking back, and forgetting but not forgetting, and how the experiences detailed in the piece correspond yet clarify certain aspects of Freud's piece (Moses...). The exploration of Lubin also opened the door to a discussion about subjectivity and objectivity in regards to the recollection of trauma. We explored the question of whether it is better to have a collective identity or a individual identity as a provider of testimony and trauma.

As we concluded the class, our exploration shifted to media and the power of the media, which in fact is another element of our readings for today...and that element is the element of testimony. As I mentioned, we must always ask ourselves who is doing the creation or the telling and who do these tellers want to speak to? In fact, the largest factor in the testimony and trauma. In addition, this factor also encompasses all aspects of communication, whether it is historical, personal, religious, or personal, testimony, both in the act of telling, listening, or witnessing, is the key to creating understanding and inquiry.

We had a short discussion about media and the military. We will continue the themes in this discussion in the future. Keep the ideas in your head.

We then started watching _Life is Beautiful_. If you didn't get a chance to watch it during class, please pick up a copy at my office (Brown Hall) or at the library. The film is also available for download. I will send you a link asap.

For Thursday

Read-None

Write-None

Do-Prepare for your visit for the Military Museum

*The next posting is due on Friday (on Caruth-textbook, Vonnegut-on moodle, Craig and Egan-on moodle) and the blog posting will be due at the end of Friday.

Take care,


Kat