iohannesrhetor

[iohannesrhetor]

I don’t want to come off like I know better than English teachers, but I feel like symbolism isn’t taught the right way. Students don’t need to be taught how to identify symbols—humans are pretty good at that to begin with—they need the background knowledge required to know what the symbol means.

Sometimes, the barrier is a lack of knowledge. Identifying symbols often requires cultural/historical context: the meaning of certain colors/flowers, the political environment of previous decades, religious iconography and doctrine, historical events and their consequences, famous stories, etc. You can’t tell a student the Vikings invaded England in 793 CE and then quiz them on when the Norman Conquest was, just like you can’t teach students a rose symbolizes love and then expect them to know that white symbolizes purity/innocence—they’re completely different pieces of information. When you point out a symbol which relies on information a student doesn’t have, they’ll come away thinking it’s all made up bullshit.

Another barrier is identifying authorial intent. “The curtains are blue” doesn’t represent a lack of knowledge that blue symbolizes unhappiness. If you assume the reader already knew the character’s emotional state, then the symbol appears meaningless. Understanding why this detail might have been included requires literary concepts which aren’t taught until much later, by which point the student has already written off symbolism as pointless bullshit.

[iohannesrhetor]

Linguists are like vampires but instead of drinking your blood they harass you about a weird irregularity in your speech that no one else would have noticed.

[iohannesrhetor]

[iohannesrhetor]

apostrophe

So question: is Tumblr's "Your Honor" and Twitch's "Hey, chat" a form of apostrophe? I say yes.

[iohannesrhetor]

New video for university essay writers (and instructors).

Less wholesome, more snark, but all meant in love.

[iohannesrhetor]

Despite the linkbaity, trend-chasing title and thumb, this video essay is really about the writing process. It explores the potential for AI LLMs to serve as a "reflective other" to refine one's own ideas and organization, the potential dangers of a world where nobody reads and nobody writes, and why talking to your instructor is always best practice.

[iohannesrhetor]

fourteenth century apology video

I was explaining the premise of Chaucer's Legend of Good Women to my son (poor kid). In its prologue, Chaucer explains how women have been attacking him for slandering the honor of women and being an enemy to love on account of his depiction of Criseyde in Troilus and Criseyde(*), and Chaucer basically says he'll make up for it by writing a book about virtuous and faithful women.

My son says to me "wait, are you saying Chaucer invented the ukulele apology video in the 1300s?!"

All the way dead. Love that kid.

(*leaving a lot out here about how problematic these texts are and how Chaucer is-- my 'fave is problematic' like they used to say)

[iohannesrhetor]

Coming soon to my YouTube Channel (Language, Culture, and Literature), a whole-ass video lecture on Michel Foucault, the problematic daddy of modern gender studies, queer theory, post-colonial studies, and new historicist criticism

[iohannesrhetor]

A very specific kind of mixed reaction

I think there must be a German word for things that give you aesthetic chills but make your cringe at the same time, like those incredibly well executed "He Gets Us" commercials that are funded upstream by forced birthers and bigots like David Green's (Hobby Lobby) Servant Foundation.

[iohannesrhetor]

Why Are English Majors?

This twenty-five minute video offers a concise history of literary criticism and interpretation in "the West" since antiquity, from Homeric scholars of Alexandria to 21st century queer theory, new formalisms, etc.. Enjoy!

[iohannesrhetor]

Look, there is a long tradition in western literature of men (and to a lesser extent women) expressing friendship in passionate, intimate terms, that in our own time can't help but be viewed through the lense of sexuality but which in the past were considered perfectly consistent with platonic friendship. While I appreciate the impulse to recuperate the past in a way that endorses sexual diversity and undoes the historic erasure of LGBQTIA+, we cannot always jump to the conclusion that all passionate intimate friendships in classic literature are romantic or sexual in nature. lol jk Robert Walton is gay as hell for Victor Frankenstein.

Teen Frankenstein!

Reading Frankenstein at 17: I can't believe a teenager wrote this!!

Reading Frankenstein at 47: I can totally believe a teenager (albeit an exceptionally brilliant one) wrote this.

It's all about identity, self-discovery, parent issues, and thise BIG HUGE very interesting feelings of resentment, sorrow, grief, and anger. Also, the plot coherence is entirely secondary to the VIBES. I can also believe a hetersexual teenage girl wrote this because the main guys are hot schmucks. RIP Henry.

[iohannesrhetor]

Teen Frankenstein!

Reading Frankenstein at 17: I can't believe a teenager wrote this!!

Reading Frankenstein at 47: I can totally believe a teenager (albeit an exceptionally brilliant one) wrote this.

It's all about identity, self-discovery, parent issues, and those BIG HUGE very interesting feelings of resentment, sorrow, grief, and anger. Also, the plot coherence is entirely secondary to the VIBES.

I can also believe a hetersexual teenage girl wrote this because the main guys are hot schmucks. RIP Henry.

[iohannesrhetor]

soup de main: SURPRISE, BITCHES, IT'S SOUP!

soup de foudre: SURPRISE, BITCHES, IT'S YOUR FAVORITE SOUP!

soup de jour: soup of the day

soup de jure: soup the government wants you to eat

soup de facto: the soup everyone actually eats

[iohannesrhetor]

We're back! Well, the podcast is, anyway! A new episode is up, talking about the history of ecology and the terms food web and food chain. Apologies for the unscheduled hiatus, it's good to be back at it!

(The wrong audio was up briefly; delete & re-download for the right one!)

[iohannesrhetor]

"i cant watch shows about fantasy kingdoms without thinking about how they should be abolishing the monarchy" that my friend sounds like a skill issue

[iohannesrhetor]

I don't think it's right to use AI generated images. In my day we stole digital images directly from the artist.

[iohannesrhetor]

I have made a 30 minute video-- it is 20 minutes of lecture and 10 minutes of essay on the semantic evolution of the word "wholesome" in the last ten years.

I had a lot of fun making it. I hope you enjoy.

Please pardon the excessively link-baity thumbnail.