Madness and Civilization: Excerpts 4 and 5

After re-reading section #4 and reading section #5, please respond to the following questions in SEPARATE posts, beginning with the number. Post each post IN REPLY to the previous post on that number. In each post, respond to another's post.

#1: In section 4, which we read in class, Foucault describes madmen—now seen as animals rather than sinful humans—enduring freezing temperatures with apparent ease. But the novel should remind you that in modern times most insane people understood to be particularly weak and fragile. How could madmen two hundred years ago be so different, so superhuman in their strength? Here is his explanation: "Animality, in fact, protected the lunatic from whatever might be fragile, precarious, or sickly in man. The Animal solidity of madness, and that density it borrows from the blind world of beasts, inured the madman to hunger, heat, cold, pain" (74). How is Foucault explaining the changed physical strength of the insane? Extrapolating from this example, how, for Foucault, do the subjective and the objective, the mental and the physical—our perception and understanding of things and the things themselves—interact?


#2: In excerpt 5, Foucault is explaining the origins of the modern asylum and the modern treatment of insanity (psychoanalysis). On the bottom of page 250, Foucault's historical argument seems to face a challenge. He needs to explain how the 19th century practice of keeping the insane in an obedient silence led to the 20th century practice of psychoanalysis, where the mentally ill patient does almost all the talking and the therapist listens in silence. How does he explain this connection? (Look at the bottom of 250 and top of 251.) And how is the increasingly humane treatment of the insane in some sense a bad sign? (Look from 250 to the top of 252.)


#3: Just to help your reading, on p 252 "minority" is used in the legal sense, meaning not a legal adult. And on p 253 and the top of 254, he is referring to the myth at the core of psychoanalysis, the Oedipus theory. The Oedipus complex is the child's desires to sleep with the mother and to kill the father (who stands in the way of sleeping with the mother). The relationship with the mother represents and determines all sexual relationships, and the relationship with the father represents and determines all relationships to authority (from your teachers to God to your inner conscience—think of "The Law" from Kafka). By explaining insanity in terms of the Oedipal complex, what role does the family acquire in causing and curing insanity? How, according to Foucault, is this 20th century vision of the traditional family part of the same trend that he identifies in the 19th century with Tuke's asylum?

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

After you read the excerpt, write two separate posts. Spend 15-20 minutes on each post. Be sure to reference another person's post in each of yours (unless, of course, you're the first).

1. CONTENT: Write about two quotes that indicate some key themes of this excerpt from The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Do you see them in any way in the novel? How do they change how you read the novel?

2. STYLE: How does the style of the piece relate to its content? How does the style of the piece relate to the style of the novel? How does the style of the piece relate to the themes/content of the novel? Use two examples from the piece.

Steppenwolf (part 2)

PART 2: Pages 180 ("The inscription") to 190 ("vacancy").

INSTRUCTIONS: The final scenes at the Magic Theater are, in my opinion, what make the book extraordinary. They're also intentionally confusing, for Harry as well as for us readers. As a group, let's help each other find meaning in these scenes.

Both of your two posts need the following:

- One quote from the pages indicated above with a connection you explore to something else from the book or from another book we've read.

- One quote from the pages indicated that seems interesting but confuses you. Explain why it interests you and why it confuses you. Ask a question that your peers can explore.

- Respond to at least one other post on this section. (First person to post gets a break.)


Publish your posts in reply to this one.

Steppenwolf (part 1)

PART 1: Pages 176 ("And now") to page 180 ("invitation.")



INSTRUCTIONS: The final scenes at the Magic Theater are, in my opinion, what make the book extraordinary. They're also intentionally confusing, for Harry as well as for us readers. As a group, let's help each other find meaning in these scenes.

Both of your two posts need the following:

- One quote from the pages indicated above with a connection you explore to something else from the book or from another book we've read.

- One quote from the pages indicated that seems interesting but confuses you. Explain why it interests you and why it confuses you. Ask a question that your peers can explore.

- Respond to at least one other post on this section. (First person to post gets a break.)


Publish your posts in reply to this one.

Metamorphosis

Choose two quotes from what we have read of "The Metamorphosis" so far and explore them.

See if you can use them to address these questions:

-What is this story about?

-How does this relate to Kafka's other works?

The Judgment

Post two quotes and a question that links them as a comment to this post.

Exquisite corpse

1. Choose 2 quotes from pages 33-89. At least one of the quotes should be challenging. Look for metaphors, for lines whose relation to the book you just don't get, or lines which you just don't get. Copy them into a post on the blog as a comment to this post.

2. Choose another post's quotes and use them to come up with a question or discovery that would begin a paragraph. Post this question or discovery as a comment to the post with the quotes.

3. Choose a set of quotes with their question or discovery and write a paragraph. Start the paragraph with that question or discovery, and use the quotes in your paragraph. Post your paragraph as a comment to the question or discovery post.

4. Read the posts with which you were involved: the discovery and paragraph that followed from your quotes, and the paragraph that followed from your discovery. Choose something to share with the class.