List and Define 15 Terms from Hélène Cixous’ ‘The Laugh of the Medusa’

All definitions were obtained from http://www.merriam-webster.com unless otherwise indicated.

1. Medusa, p. 308

• a mortal Gorgon who is slain when decapitated by Perseus

2. post-structuralism, p. 308 (from http://www.answers.com/topic/poststructuralism)

Any of various theories or methods of analysis, including deconstruction and some psychoanalytic theories, that deny the validity of structuralism’s method of binary opposition and maintain that meanings and intellectual categories are shifting and unstable.

3. libidinal, p. 308

• of or relating to the libido (sexual drive)

4. phallocentric, p. 308

• centered on or emphasizing the masculine point of view

5. jouissance (French), p. 308

• pleasure : sexual pleasure : orgasm

6. erotogeneity -> erogenous, p. 309

• 1 : producing sexual excitement or libidinal gratification when stimulated : sexually sensitive
• 2 : of, relating to, or arousing sexual feelings

7. masturbation, p. 309

• erotic stimulation especially of one’s own genital organs commonly resulting in orgasm and achieved by manual or other bodily contact exclusive of sexual intercourse, by instrumental manipulation, occasionally by sexual fantasies, or by various combinations of these agencies

8. phantasm, p. 309

• 1 : a product of fantasy: as a : delusive appearance : illusion b : ghost, specter c : a figment of the imagination
• 2 : a mental representation of a real object

9. ebullient, p. 309

• having or showing liveliness and enthusiasm

10. obsequious, p. 310 (from wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

• bootlicking: attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery
• attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner; “obsequious shop assistants”

11. equilibrium, p. 310

• 1 a : a state of intellectual or emotional balance : poise <trying to recover his equilibrium> b : a state of adjustment between opposing or divergent influences or elements
• 2 : a state of balance between opposing forces or actions that is either static (as in a body acted on by forces whose resultant is zero) or dynamic (as in a reversible chemical reaction when the rates of reaction in both directions are equal)

12. Apartheid, p. 310

• 1 : racial segregation; specifically : a former policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of South Africa
  2 : separation, segregation <cultural apartheid> <gender apartheid>

13. narcissism, p. 310

• love of or sexual desire for one’s own body

14. insurgent, p. 311

• 1 : a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government; especially : a rebel not recognized as a belligerent
  2 : one who acts contrary to the policies and decisions of one’s own political party

15. ignominy, p. 317

• 1 : deep personal humiliation and disgrace
• 2 : disgraceful or dishonorable conduct, quality, or action

List and Define 15 Terms of Horkheimer’s & Adorno’s “From Dialectic of Enlightenment”

1. dialectic, p. 1223 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialectic)

• discussion and reasoning by dialogue as a method of intellectual investigation; specifically : the Socratic techniques of exposing false beliefs and eliciting truth b : the Platonic investigation of the eternal ideas

2.  Enlightenment, p. 1223 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Enlightenment)

• capitalized : a philosophic movement of the 18th century marked by a rejection of traditional social, religious, and political ideas and an emphasis on rationalism

3. microcosm, p. 1224 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microcosm)

• 1 : a little world; especially : the human race or human nature seen as an epitome of the world or the universe
• 2 : a community or other unity that is an epitome of a larger unity

4. macrocosm, p. 1224 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/macrocosm)

• 1 : the great world : universe
• 2 : a complex that is a large-scale reproduction of one of its constituents

5.  cognoscenti (pl.), cognoscente (sing.), p. 1227 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cognoscenti)

• a person who has expert knowledge in a subject

6. Dada => Dadaist, p. 1228 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dada)

• a movement in art and literature based on deliberate irrationality and negation of traditional artistic values; also : the art and literature produced by this movement

7. Expressionism => Expressionist, p. 1228 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expressionist)

• a theory or practice in art of seeking to depict the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in the artist

8. puritanism, p. 1232 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puritanism)

• strictness and austerity especially in matters of religion or conduct

9. effrontery, p. 1232 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effrontery)

• shameless boldness

10. Fascism, p. 1236 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Fascism)

• 1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
• 2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control

11. humanitarianism, p. 1236 (from http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=humanitarianism)

• the doctrine that people’s duty is to promote human welfare

12. individuation, p. 1237 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/individuation)

• 1 : the act or process of individuating: as a (1) : the development of the individual from the universal (2) : the determination of the individual in the general b : the process by which individuals in society become differentiated from one another c : regional differentiation along a primary embryonic axis
• 2 : the state of being individuated; specifically : individuality

13. bourgeois, p. 1237 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bourgeois)

• 1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of the townsman or of the social middle class
• 2 : marked by a concern for material interests and respectability and a tendency toward mediocrity
• 3 : dominated by commercial and industrial interests

14. Nazi, p. 1237 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Nazi)

• 1 : a member of a German fascist party controlling Germany from 1933 to 1945 under Adolf Hitler
• 2: often not capitalized a : one who espouses the beliefs and policies of the German Nazis : fascist b : one who is likened to a German Nazi : a harshly domineering, dictatorial, or intolerant person

15. physiognomy, p. 1238 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/physiognomies)

• 1 : the art of discovering temperament and character from outward appearance
• 2 : the facial features held to show qualities of mind or character by their configuration or expression
• 3 : external aspect; also : inner character or quality revealed outwardly

Reaction to “The Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum

                I am on page 77, and my first impression of the novel was different from what I expected.  Knowing the old movie with Judy Garland, I anticipated a wordier, more fluent, pleasing, and a child’s customized writing style.  What I found was on the one hand a very descriptive, and imagination sparking writing style, but on the other hand somewhat direct to an almost factual degree: “There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room” (p. 1).  However, before I got used to the authors distinct way of writing, I found myself stop reading in the middle of a passage, and rereading it again just for the purpose of finding a rhythm in the words or sentences.

                The author not only describes details in a colorful way, he does not hesitate to put the reader in a certain mind frame by portraying a scene or characters using the word “gray” on one page (p.2) six times: “The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass”, “…until they (top of grass blades) were the same gray color to be seen everywhere.”, or “…the house was as dull and gray as everything else” or “…and left them (Aunt Em’s eyes) a sober gray; they had taken the red form her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also”, and “…(Uncle Henry) was gray also…”.  Baum uses so much gray in his description that even my imagination turned black and white.

For the most part I identified simile as patterns of tropes:

…as easily as you could carry a feather (p. 4)

…she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle (p. 4)

… little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds (p.8)

                 In conclusion, even though the novel is written in a very descriptive way, the author does not waste any time to get to the point.  Having the movie in front of my inner eye, I sometimes felt rushed through the scenes without enough elaboration.

List and Define 10 Terms from “The Intentional Fallacy”

1. intentional fallacy, p. 1371 – a.k.a. intentionalism (from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/intentional%20fallacy)

• (in literary criticism) an assertion that the intended meaning of the author is not the only or most important meaning; a fallacy involving an assessment of a literary work based on the author’s intended meaning rather than on actual response to the work

2. affective fallacy, p. 1373 (from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/affective+fallacy)

• a proposition in literary criticism that a poem should be analyzed and described in terms of its own internal structure and not in terms of the emotional response it arouses in the reader

3. orthodoxy, p. 1371 (from wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

• adhering to what is commonly accepted
• a belief or orientation agreeing with conventional standards

4. formalist, p. 1371 (from www.thefreedictionary.com/formalism)

• rigorous or excessive adherence to recognized forms

5. extrinsic matters, p. 1372 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extrinsic)

• originating from or on the outside

6. intrinsic matters, p. 1372 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intrinsic)

• belonging to the essential nature or constitution of a thing

7. impressionism, p. 1373 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impressionism)

• the depiction (as in literature) of scene, emotion, or character by details intended to achieve a vividness or effectiveness more by evoking subjective and sensory impressions than by recreating an objective reality

8. subjectivism, p. 1373 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subjectivism)

• a theory that limits knowledge to subjective experience

9. relativism, p. 1373 (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/relativism)

• 1 a : a theory that knowledge is relative to the limited nature of the mind and the conditions of knowing b : a view that ethical truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them

10. reader-response theory, p. 1373 (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reader_response_theory)

• a school of literary theory that focuses on the reader (or “audience”) and his or her experience of a literary work, in contrast to other schools and theories that focus attention primarily on the author or the content and form of the work