Prompt: Search the MLA Bibliography and locate three essays, book chapters, or monographs (single-author books) that you might use as the basis for your mid-term essay. What are their respective projects? What about each particularly interests you? Which are you most likely to choose and why?
Before searching the MLA Bibliography, I knew I wanted to focus on Frankenstein or The Scarlet Letter. I agree Heart and Science was useful in a cultural critical sense, but I don’t want to spend the semester writing about a book that “almost no one has ever thought…is a good novel” (Otis 37). I also knew I wanted to find a secondary source related to environmental studies or women’s and gender studies – my minors. I searched for the primary text’s name (Frankensteinor The Scarlet Letter)with a breadth of terms (ecocriticism, ecofeminism, environment, outdoor, nature, feminism, feminist, gender, women, and romanticism) and, by the time I limited the date range to the last 15 years, generated few results.
The three essays I identified are:
- Inuit Diasporas: Frankensteinand the Inuit in England by Karen Piper
- Refusal to Tell: Withholding Heroines in Hawthorne, Wharton, and Coetzee by Elizabeth Alsop
- Hawthorne’s Pearl: Woman-Child of the Future by Cindy Lou Daniels
“Inuit Diasporas” illuminates an absent discourse about indigenous people in Frankenstein. In my directed study under Professor McHugh of her “Postcolonial Ecocriticism of the Sea” course, I have viewed Inuit films and am completing a research project on one. Inuit and their culture and history do interest me, but I’m not sure about taking on a postcolonial project when I’m already taking an advanced course devoted to postcolonial literary theory.
“Refusal to Tell” argues “Hester’s silence is not simply a show of willfulness, of ‘hardness and obstinacy,’ but a deliberate strategy, one which might yield the very results of ‘temping’ or ‘compelling’” (Alsop 85). Alsop essentially shows that Hester’s silence is a power move, unlike one of submissiveness that many critics argue. This essay synthesizes works by Wharton and Coetzee as well. I’m unsure about working with it, as comparison between works constitutes a large portion of the essay.
“Hawthorne’s Pearl” intrigues me most. Many critics define Pearl as “the sinchild” and are “too quick to dismiss Pearl’s integral role in the text” (Daniels 221, 222). Daniels argues “Pearl is the representation of the beginning of the future for all women” (Daniels 235). We did not discuss Pearl in class, and I questioned to what extent she is good or bad while reading. This could be an interesting lead into a final project. I’m sure there’s an argument for how Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a “woman-child.”
I like how your project is about visibility and voice. It will be interesting to see what kind of criticism you fit this analysis into. I am also glad that we are both doing Frankenstein.
Hi Mira!
After simply reading your titles of the articles you chose, I was most intrigued by Hawthorne’s Pearl. I was delighted to see that you were also intrigued by this one after reading further into it. I know that you are stuck between both of these novels and feel (from an outside stance) that you would enjoy The Scarlett Letter. As a woman and gender studies minor, you have a “leg up” and have key information that will make your argument very interesting. I wrote a blog post (the open topic) on my take on Pearl. There is so much to be said about her and I am very interested to read what you come up with!
While my focus is going to be on Frankenstein, it seems most of your sources are leaning towards Hawthorne. Although, in the article that focuses on the absence on indigenous people in Shelley, wouldn’t you have advantage on working on that since you already have knowledge of Inuit people? But at the same time, you wouldn’t want to force your interest either, so makes sense. I like how Alsop’s piece mentions Hester’s silence to be this “power move,” which is not a perspective I had anticipated. If you did choose Alsop, could you simply focus on Hawthorne over the other two authors? However, this would mean you’d be losing out on two-thirds of the paper, as you mentioned. As for your final source, I think a focus on Pearl is definitely necessary since, as you said, it wasn’t discussed in class or in any of our readings really, so it would almost a fresh perspective. She definitely played a role in the novel and shouldn’t be settled in as a background figure, and a source that brings her to light would be an interesting avenue.
Hi Mira. These seem to be some really great sources! I myself have considered Frankenstein for my own paper, so I would be interested to read a little bit more about “Inuit Diasporas.” Though I think this would most likely lie outside of what I had am hoping to do with this novel. I think I am going to go in more the direction of education. Though let me know how you like it, because who knows it maybe something I would be interested to read for the final! After reading your three short synopsizes I think The Scarlet Letter article seems the most interesting. Just based off of what we have discussed in class I could see you doing some great things with the topic!