Text 1 and text 2 analysis

mardi 13 septembre 2022 14:35

The confidence-man: His masquerade by Herman Melville and Carson McCullers The Ballad of the Sad Café
As an author Melville write a lot about voyages, travels, searching and McCullers focus on such feelings as loneliness. The two
books have been written nearly a century apart and inscribe themselves into the literary period of the American Renaissance.
The Confidence-man: his masquerade can be thought as a reflection on Melville, especially as there is several chapters focused
on the art of writing, as Melville struggled to get much confidence from his readers.

American literature can be divided into different periods such as:

Early American literature: writings focusing on discovery, exploration.
The American Renaissance: Melville, Poe, Hawthorn, Whitman
Then specific trends start to appear such as: romanticism, sentimentalism (women writers), transcendentalist (Emmerson,
Thoreau), realism (Howells), naturalism popularized in a way by French writers (Dreiser, Norris, Crane, London), modernism
(James, Stein, McCullers), post-modernism which starts around the 70s till today.

The titles of the two novels also have their own importance, with Melville for instance it focuses on the main character, reference
to the deception and mask as the confidence-man refers to a person who is conniving and deceive people. From the title alone,
we can already understand that nothing and no one can be trusted in the novel. On the contrary, with McCullers we have a
reference to a place which reflect the influence of places on the characters which is present throughout the novel. McCullers
associate a feeling to the place which is referred to.

Comparison of the two text:

The figure of the stranger is an inherent theme in both novels, both of the characters also embark on a journey. Beyond being
stranger, they are presented of outcast and different which can be noted by the extensive description of their physical
appearance which portray the way they present themselves and thus are viewed by others. Their presence attract curiosity and
suspicions from the other characters present in the scene. The two characters are defined not by what they have both what they
lack to be considered as part of the group. There is a phenomenon of both attraction and rejection between the two main
characters and their surroundings.
Along with the figure of the stranger the theme of identity, or lack of, is omnipresent, as in the first text no character are named.
The two text also have in common that both of them serve to introduce a character, both introduction are focused on the
characters' oddest traits almost presented in a grotesque way. Both main characters are singled out, both stand out.
In both cases, we have an external point of view with the narrator being a stranger to the scene, watching from afar not
participating. This echo the expression: "who to speak of a stranger better than a stranger."
If we focus on the tense used in the text we notice that both past and present are used in the second text as opposed to the first
written only in the past tense. This imply that the event described in the first text are over and thus are presented as a
recollection of events that are revolute as opposed to the second text in which the narrator is the present in the story, telling the
story of the past but also commenting on it. In the second text, the narrator is trying to make the event sensational and hook the
reader on the story.
The comment at the beginning: "It is rare that a stranger enter the town on foot at this hour",

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Commentry
mardi 20 septembre 2022 15:29

Organize a commentary on the text, a thesis statement, main theme and focus
The arguments should be organized from the more obvious to the least one.

Potential theme for a commentary could be :

• The individual and the group
• Estrangement/Otherness
Potential part in a commentary:
1. Intrusion, how the stranger is perceive on the outside
a. The motif of the journey
The journey is the first thing to be mentioned in the two text with the stranger boarding Le
Fidèle et the hunchback arriving to town in the second. Opposition between the two text as in
the first one the stranger is starting his journey and in the second the hunchback has reached
his destination. The journey might be symbolical of mind openness as it is the opportunity to
open oneself to new experiences and yet in both cases we found small-mindness which is
typical in small towns, second text setting, as opposed to the surprising nature of this small-
mindness in travelling people.
2. Strangeness
a. The grotesque elements in the stranger's description
b. Individual vs Group
What makes them stand out, and the consequences of those differences on them. In the first
text, it is unlikely that the stranger will be accepted as part of the group but could be possible
for the character of the second text. However, rejection is present in both leading to feelings
of rejection and thus isolation which is the predominant feeling in both text.
3. Loneliness/isolation
a. Rejection/inclusion
b. Consequences on the individual
4. Conclusion
The stranger creates suspicion in the group at first sight. Fear of what is different, unknown.
Both text leave open the relationship between the margin and the centre. However, both text
brings marginal characters at the centre of the narration.

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Text 3+4 analysis
mardi 20 septembre 2022 15:28

Both are first person narrative, with references to past and present. The journey is the focus
of the story, the characters adapting to a new world as a consequence. This means a new
definition of their self have to be constructed.
The first text is sort of biographical, so we may wonder how does the author fictionalize
herself.
The journey in past is expressed in the present self reflecting on the past self.
In both cases, the narrator are survived by the books.
We have different form of journey, such as the one from life to text, the journey in space.
The narrators are also traveling through the past reflecting on their past self.
Main questions:
• What were their expectation?
• What did they find?
When you start a journey, where do you end up ? The final destination can be seen as a sort
of conclusion. A new identity is shaped.
The difference between the two text is that the first one is autobiographical and the second
is fiction.
Both text start with the arrival of a character in a new place.

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Text 5 and 6
mardi 4 octobre 2022 14:43

1914/1940: Modernism
It came after Romanticism and questioned the very roots of it. Emphasis on style and how the story is told. Experimentation with structures and
points of view in both poetry and prose. A sub-movement is The Lost Generation. Confusion is the main focus of authors in a post WWI world,
where the order of thing is now put into question.

Both text are first person narratives, and are two American classics. The two narrators are both looking at themselves, yet b oth are presented as
strangers to themselves. Thus, a question one might ask is how can the reader know those characters if they do not even know themselves. One
was wounded during the war in the first text. The narrators are unaware of themselves as subjects, and are completely detache d from their own
feelings. Hemingway sentences are most of the time short and curt but not all the time. The punctuation is omnipresent and th e syntax is
syncopated, and alternation of short and long sentences. Whenever the narrator mention something he does not develop the pace of his
sentences accelerate. Hemingway's style has been defined as minimalism. He leaves everything unstated, which does not equate with an
impossibility from the narrator to think or feel.
As opposed to the second narrator, the first one knows exactly what the issue is but refuses to face it.

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Text 7 et 8
mardi 4 octobre 2022 19:22

Text 1: Henry James, The American (1877)

Context:
Henry James was born in New York City to a cosmopolitan, upper-class East Coast family, whom travelled extensively in Europe during James's youth.
From 1869 on, James lived and wrote almost entirely in Europe, supporting himself by contributing short stories, reviews and serial novel to newspaper.
He wrote The American during a year-long stay in Paris (1875-1876), after which he moved to London. James lived in England for the rest of his life,
becoming a British subject in 1915 in part to protest America's failure to support the British in World War I.
The American, one of James's earliest important works, first appeared as a serial novel in the Atlantic Monthly, his third serialized novel, revised the text
in 1907 for publication. The novel is a thematic exploration of a the collision of the New World and Europe, notable for its high and eloquent style,
gorgeous prose, carefully crafted narrative, and substantial attention to detail. Though written serially, The American is nonetheless full of the
parallelism, prophesy, foreshadowing, structural symmetry and déjà vu one might expect from a traditionally written novel.

Themes:
In the novel as a whole:
• The Role of Misperception in the Cultural Divide between Europe and America: Newman's European ambitions is his misperception that Europe can
be understood simply as an older, richer, and more sophisticated version of America. This conception that the difference between America and
Europe cannot run too deep, is a symptom of the stereotypically American ignorance of history, and thus of all the cultural, social, and political
differences that accrue in history's wake. Americans are frequently seen as failing to distinguish an abstract admiration for European culture and
artifacts from a selfish wish to possess them.
• Personal Happiness vs. Familial Duty: James propose a broad examination of the difference in American and European society, especially as
concerns questions of love, friendship, marriage, fidelity, and interpersonal connection.
• The Depth and Force of Cultural Difference: To be a tourist, even a long-term one, is to confront a perpetual homelessness in which one's chosen
city, however fascinating or familiar, is never intuitively one's own.
When Newman takes a foreign wife, the tourist's wish to explore, the child's wish to know, and the invader's wish to conquer are all curiously
incorporated in this desire to possess a foreign person. Whereas natural borders—in essence, simply piles of rocks or bodies of water—can
ultimately be crossed with effort and ingenuity, formal boundaries cannot be taken at face value. Instead, formal boundaries are testaments to
human difference, erected as a result of war, politics, principle, or ideology.
In the extract:
• Europe as the continent of fine arts: the plot takes place in France, in the Louvre Museum, one of the most famous museum in the world. The arts
have a central place in the story.
• Cultural divide between America and Europe: The main character is American, described as a perfect specimen of Americanism. This emphasis on
his very American features and he lack of connection and understanding to the arts make him seem out of place with the settin g he finds himself in.
• The isolated figure of the tourist: the main character is not only out of place and disconnected with the setting he is alone which reinforce the
feeling of isolation permeated through the text.

Text 2: Richard Ford, The Womanizer (1992)

Richard Ford, (born February 16, 1944, Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.), American writer of novels and short stories centred around lonely and damaged
people.

Themes:
In the extract:
• Cultural divide between American and Europe: The plot takes place in France but Austin is from America, and Josephine's parents moved there as
well. Comparison and contrast are drawn between the two countries, especially when it comes to social expectations. For examp le, how Josephine
as a woman behave toward Austin and other men in general.
• Personal happiness vs Familial Duty: Both characters seem to be in unfulfilling lives, Josephine confess that although she did liked her husband she
did not love him. As for Austin, beyond the fact he is married not much is said about his wife, she is associated to him more like a possession that
add to his social status than like someone he might love. Plus, the thought of infidelity also crosses his mind but, and here is the difference with
Josephine he does not actually do it. Josephine chose personal happiness by having an affair as she was dissatisfied with her marriage but Austin
chose familial duty and refrain from it.
• Isolation caused by Cultural differences: Austin is a foreigner, a tourist in Paris, and this is shown from the very beginning of the text by his spatial
confusion, as he aimlessly search for a street he will recognized. He is shown to have some knowledge of France, as he knows some of those street
and can speak some words of French. But still he is isolated by not being able to easily navigate through the city and join c onversations. Because of
that, he is reduced to a spectator on the side-lines, observing the action but being unable to join it.22

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 Analysis
mardi 11 octobre 2022 14:40

Common point:
Both text are located in France, in Paris more specifically.
Both main characters are American men. (Lol)
Both text are third person narrative.
One of the common theme, is the clash between the old and new world.
Both text are the openings of their respective book.
Both title refers to the main character and the type they represent.
Idea of reproduction present in both text, first with art copies and second with reproduction of life into art and a book about the infidelities of one's wife.
Constantly moving from observer to the observed.

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Textes 9+10
samedi 15 octobre 2022 10:40

Henry James, Portrait of a Lady, 1908

Throughout his career, James earned criticism for the slow pacing and uneventful plotting of his novels, as well as for his elliptical technique, in which
many of a work's important scenes are not narrated, but only implied by later scenes. But as a stylist James earned consistent admiration; he is often
considered to be a "writer's writer," and his prose is remarkable for its elegance of balance, clarity, and precision.
The Portrait of a Lady is often considered to be James's greatest achievement. In it, he explored many of his most characteristic themes, including the
conflict between American individualism and European social custom and the situation of Americans in Europe.

Themes:
• Female Independence vs. Marriage: Isabel Archer, the protagonist of Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady, is a fiercely independent young
woman who departs from America to explore the enchanting world of Europe. Defying the social expectation that she be obedientand
dependent on a man, Isabel is determined to forge a life in which she prioritizes personal freedom. She does end up marrying but unlike the
traditional Victorian marriage plot, James’s novel does not culminate in happy matrimony for the protagonist. Her new husbandreveals himself
to be a controlling and Machiavellian character who despises female independence. Isabel’s entrapment in marriage reflects the novel’s other
undesirable ones, which suggest that female independence cannot exist within a Victorian marriage.
• The European Old World vs. the American New World: In The Portrait of a Lady James plays on this international contrast. James himself was an
American who spent significant time living in Europe, and The Portrait’s protagonist, Isabel Archer, is a young woman who similarly travels from
America to Europe for worldly experiences. Although Isabel begins the novel a spirited individual who embodies the best elements of the New
World, she is captivated by the allure of Old World values that then trap her into a dreadful marriage. Through this situation, James suggests
that the Old World tradition of social duty is far more limiting and harmful than New World individualism.
• Art and Morality: James richly imbues Isabel’s story with details of the art that she views while sightseeing and visiting private homesteads. In
Europe, aesthetic taste demonstrates sophistication. As Isabel becomes more knowledgeable in European sensibilities, she comes to appreciate
art in a more nuanced manner; however, she makes the mistake of equating aesthetic taste with ethical values, marrying the aesthetically
refined yet morally corrupt Osmond. It is therefore Isabel’s artistic as well as idealistic sensibilities that partially lead to her downfall. Through
the novel itself, James owns and controls Isabel’s character as a work of art. This is reflected in the novel’s title, The Portrait of a Lady, with
James painting many portraits of Isabel ranging from a naïve yet independent young woman to a sophisticated yet socially confined wife.

Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country, 1913

Typical for members of her class at that time, Edith had a distant relationship with her parents. She received a marriage proposal at a young age, but
the wedding was ultimately thwarted by her prospective in-laws’ perception of the well-established Jones family’s unsurpassed snobbery. In 1885, at
the age of twenty-three, Edith married Edward Wharton, an older man whom the Jones family found to be of suitably lofty social rank. At an early
stage the marriage turned somewhat sour, but Wharton remained with her husband for well over twenty years. She divorced him in 1913, although
she never renounced his family name. The temptations of illicit passion constitute an undeniable focus of Wharton’s fiction, and many have pointed
to Wharton’s unhappy marriage as an explanation. Criticized as an immoral radical in her early years and as a moralizing conservative in her later
years, Wharton has been difficult to pin down in her shadowy, shifting beliefs. She was undoubtedly concerned with the moral universe, but, in her
fiction, conforming to social norms is constantly at odds with a rejection of conformity. In the early 1910s, she settled in Paris, where she remained for
the rest of her days. One of her close associates there was the novelist Henry James, a fellow American expatriate of similarly intense and
indecipherable moral sensibility.

Main theme: TRADITIONAL GENDER NORMS OPPRESSING BOTH MEN AND WOMEN
In The Custom of the Country, traditional gender norms affect both men and women. These norms are inherent in the very title of the novel.
Wharton proposes that the “custom of the country” dictates that American men don’t discuss the reality of their financial stresses because they don’t
respect their wives. This oppresses both men and women; men aren’t given the space to sort through their pressures, and women aren’t deemed
smart enough to handle those pressures.
For Ralph, a life of humble travel and intellectual pursuits is happiness enough. However, in marriage to Undine, Ralph is forced to keep up with her
extravagant material desires. Ralph exemplifies an underappreciated man who has few avenues to deal with his stresses. Without someone to confide
in, Ralph internalizes the perception of his weaknesses.

Comparison:
They both present different means of dealing with identity crisis.
The characters have contradictory visions and feelings.
The tension that results is intended.

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 Set 6
mardi 8 novembre 2022 14:53

Ernest Hemingway- Cross Country Snow:

Nowadays, all the Nick Adams stories are edited together . Editors edited it in a way that it could be read as a sequel. Originally, Hemingway never
intended for the stories to come together.
There is clues of deterioration in their physical environment which hints at the deterioration of their relationship.
The motif of the frame window is also telling of Hemingway's intention.
First person point of view.
Ann Beattie- Snow:
In the afterword, Beatie reflects on short stories and novels: for her "often stories are more about moments than novels are and I tend to trust
moments more than whole trajectories."
Third person narrative.
The idea of the past and remembrance is central to the story which is especially noticeable in the first lines of the text. Cold is also central in the
setting of the scene, it is mentioned many time in the text from the first line onward and is also implied by the title. The cold settling in stages echoes
the couple's relationship falling apart piece by piece. This phenomenon is known as flash stories/sudden fiction. Some passages from the text use
stream of consciousness, with an emphasis on the visual aspect. This lead to some syntax rupture. The emphasis lay on the trivial, the everyday, the
insignificant which becomes significant for the narrator, giving way to exotic fantasies. The use of colours in the text and their symbolism is
interesting to analyse. In the text, it can be considered as a form of escapism on the narrator's part, that she present a dark scene in a colourful way
as a means to not face the truth of the relationship falling apart. This could be linked to the construction of a dream world in which she escape and
reimagine her environment.
What is also noticeable in the text, is an alliteration in "p", an example is "icicle" becoming "Popsicle" which presents the narrator's mind at word and
how she transposes images of her physical surrounding into her mind.

Fishing trip-manhood escape from home

A common trope in American literature, idea that men long to escape from home and his responsibilities. This tradition started with "Rip Van
Winkle", and in this continuity can be listed Broadback mountain. Some novelist who played with this idea is Hemingway. When the man return from
this escape home, things are not as they used to be.
Leslie Fiedler, Love and Death in the American novel:
A classical study of American literature in which is analysed this trope.

Ernest Hemingway- Cross Country Snow:

Things did change during Nick Adams journey but the difference with Rip Van Winkle is that Nick never manage to gain independence. There is to
some extent, some homoeroticism within the story to be exploited. However, both characters try at the same time to assert their masculinity.
Pose the question of what will happen when they go back, which is never answered.
Ann Beattie- Snow:
Ultimately, the two text shows instability within the narrative in itself, with the instability of the relationship between characters or characters
themselves, the instability of the self, and in the structure itself with stream of consciousness and syntax rupture.
Written in the present tense which pose the idea of the remembrance of past conflicting with the present.
The last paragraph invites us to imagine the story about the snow.

Conclusion:
Moreover, both stories end with very open endings, which reflect to some level the instability of the narrator and trump the expectation of the
reader. The blank page could also be symbolical of the mystery surrounding the end of the story in snow.
Absence is also a central theme in both stories.
The instability and discrepancies in the two stories can be explained by the influence of point of view as the stories is seen through the lens of the
characters which have opposing views.
The open endings give the impression of unfinished stories.

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Set 7
mardi 15 novembre 2022 14:31

H.P Lovecraft, "The Shadow Out Of Time"

Fred Chappell, "Weird Tales"

As a comparison we can note that one text is a first person narrative and the other have an omniscient narrator.
Both text inscribe themselves in the tradition of the Gothic which started with H. Walpole and A. Radcliffe.
• American Gothic: focus on the uncanny and macabre. Includes the use of supernatural elements such as ghosts and monsters. The setting is
often an old castle, manor or some ruins. Some elements such as the presence of the natural world along with a damsel in dist ress is typical of
that style.

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