Madame de Sevigne

1. Discussion board (200 words)

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné

"the most astonishing, the most surprising, the most marvelous, the most miraculous ... the greatest, the least, the rarest, the most common, the most public, the most private til today ... I cannot bring myself to tell you: guess what it is"

READING: THE LETTERS

To read: click on the link below, read down to the end of that page. Then click "next" and read the letters on the following page. Read them leisurely; note the style and pace.

http://www.bartleby.com/library/prose/4644.html

Also READ this short piece on a biography of the author from the New York Times for context: http://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/08/books/monument-of-mother-love.html?pagewanted=all

DISCUSSION QUESTION:

Can you find any points of commonality between the letters for this week and Montaigne's essays about himself? How are they similar; how are they different?

2. Weekly wiki (150 words).

Students will choose a short excerpt / quote from one of the readings of that week, type it in, then add a short (150 words or so) explanation for your choice. Was your selection important because it:

• is an example of beautiful or striking language?
• exemplifies a particular theme or character?
• makes the reader think about something in a new way?
• is typically "American" in some way (and in what way)?
• was just something that you liked?

Try not to use the same quote that someone else already has; if you must, make sure that what you say about it is original.

For example:

"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." Thomas Paine.

I chose this quote because I think it is a good example of Enlightenment thought which was very popular during the late 1700's. Paine is rejecting formal ties to any specific country or any particular religion (humanist world view). He is focused on the here and now, not an afterlife, and this concern is evident in his writing about social and political systems that influenced the thinkers behind the American Revolution. The language is simple and straightforward.

3. Write responses for another student's work. (75 words)

De Maupassant's "Boule de Suif" falls into the category of Naturalism. The story is an observation in human behavior. De Maupassant's description of the ten main characters centers on their social class rather than their physical appearance. We have the prostitute, the drunken Democrat, the nuns, and "These six people occupied the farther end of the coach, and represented Society--with an income--the strong, established society of good people with religion and principle." The ending of the story isn't happy. The group uses Boule de Suif for her food at the start of trip, faking friendship. They later convince her to sleep with the Prussian soldier so that he'll let them leave. As they begin he second leg of their trip, they revert back to treating her with the same scorn that they showed her at the outset of the story. The story ends in the carriage with Boule de Suif crying and Cornudet is bothering the other passengers with his singing.

It think that Zola's "Captain Burle" is also be an example of Naturalism. It relates the fall of a once respectable military family after the death of its patriarch. It isn't comforting or harmless. It doesn't have a happy ending. The Major resigns, and Captain Burle and Charles are dead.