Less is Less: Assessors' Comments on  Student Portfolios for LTWR 604

LTWR 604 Author Studies: James Joyce

Text 46: Although writer starts with a critical question and concludes with an interesting observation that Eveline has lost love in order to know it, the path between is a murky retelling of incidents. Some grounding of the critical issue in each body paragraph would have helped.

Text 47: Paper seems to have more to do with Joyce’s transformation of religion (active) than Joyce’s influence by religion (passive). A stronger emphasis on the Catholic concepts Joyce changed might have helped this reader. Essentially, I’m asking for a compare/contrast approach to show the writer-priest at work in the stories and novel.

Text 48: The arguing here is grounded well in the Joyce. The style and organization make this essay a joy to read.

Text 48: The arguing here is grounded well in the Joyce. The style and organization make this essay a joy to read.

Text 49: As a tool, feminist theory focuses nearly every paragraph here. The theory applied with good examples from Joyce and sound organization made this an easy essay to read. The section I would like to see revised are the beginning discussion of "A Mother" and the conclusion of "The Dead." The discussion of "A Mother" could have made more of the risks of falling outside the virgin-whore boundaries, and the conclusion of the discussion of "The Dead" could show how Gabriel revolutionizes Irish-Catholic-male characters. Of course, I would like to see a concluding paragraph summarizing the feminist approach to the entire collection. The writer’s interest in the topic comes across to this reader.

Text 50: Difficult to say with certainty because essay is missing final page(s). Signing metaphor raises questions about ageism and didactic uses of art. If epiphany is "a memorable phase of the mind," Big Bird might receive credit for more epiphanies than author believes. That is to say, the metaphor seems to go too far and introduce an unintended argument that not all epiphanies are equal. Probably best to stick to specific examples in Joyce. The farther one extends a metaphor, the more likely that it will break down.

Text 51: In second half, the essay begins to address Joyce’s religion/politics/aesthetics in a concrete way. The passage on Dedalus and Lynch walking makes a good use of Aristotle. Unfortunately, the rest of the paper is somewhat murky for this reader. The front pages on Aquinas and Aristotle rarely seem to pay off in application to Joyce. It seems the writer discovers her true thesis on the last page, that Joyce’s departure from Catholicism is matched by a movement toward art as his new religion, an idea not articulated in the front pages. (The assessor also has a column of notes that are not included here)

Text 52: Essay goes beyond a detailed analysis to link Joyce’s aesthetic on words to her own. Could paper benefit by explicitly considering the differences between the way Joyce’s characters use words? Is there an emerging arc to the theme? (The reader also provided a column of notes not included here)