I love leading seminars, especially when I get a lot of leeway on how to lead them, and especially when I have a small and excited group.
And here I was, dragging my feet and dreading it. It helps when you're reading a book that's engaging like Natalie Zemon Davis's The Return of Martin Guerre. I got them to go from debating the mysteries of the story to being at each other's throats over historiographical issues like the usage of narrative.
(Is it weird that I'm now dreading next week a little, when I meet my second group? It's like this week was too good, and now I'm worried that I'll be disappointed by the second group, or I'll try to force them to act like their classmates.)
And now, I force myself to sit down and read two 500-page volumes by Thursday afternoon. 50 pages down, 950 to go...
5 comments:
I really like that book. And I love the American remake of it, starring Richard Gere and Jody Foster. I know I probably shouldn't like the latter. But I do. I can't help it.
THERE'S AN AMERICAN REMAKE?!? I was already pumped for the Gerard Depardieu original. But Jody Foster? I'm so there!
I'll have to alert my seminar group to the fact that there are two movies. They're going to be thrilled.
Well, the American one isn't called "Martin Guerre." It's called, "Sommersby." And it's set in post-civil war America instead of like long, long ago France.
I told Chris the story and he already wants to see the Gerard Depardieu original, but you can't even begin to imagine how excited he is to see any movie that stars both Richard Gere and Jodie Foster.
Hoorah! I'm so glad I shared.
The funny thing is that I originally watched it with Spanish subtitles.
Yes, it was on my vacation to Cancun.
Post a Comment