At the beginning of the semester you must sign up for one of four presentation groups. Each group is responsible for leading class discussion and analysis of one of four major texts this semester: Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times.
In preparing your presentations, you must attend to four key concerns:
(Note that, for certain texts, question number four may present a double contextual frame: for example, Housekeeping was published in 1980, but the narrative is set in the 1950s. Be careful not to confuse these two different contextual frames.)
You should use the four parameters above to guide class discussion and lead us toward an interpretation of the text. Your presentation should conclude with an explanation of which parameter you found most useful in analyzing the text, and why.
Each group should meet with me to discuss their presentation at least one week before the due date. Texts and dates of presentations appear below.
One week after the presentation, each member of the group is to hand in a brief written explanation of his or her specific contribution to the presentation. The grade you receive for the presentation thus will take into account both the merit of the presentation as a whole and the substance of your particular contribution.
