The Painted Veil

This week in British Literature we are beginning W. Somerset Maugham's 1925 novel, The Painted Veil. The story of a British couple living in Hong Kong at the height of the cholera epidemic, Maugham's novel has much to say about sin, redemption, and the power of forgiveness. It is also a fascinating look inside a prominent British colony and the relationship between the colonists and those who have been colonized.

The title for the novel comes from the first line of a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley. For this week's blog post, I want students to continue sharpening their poetry analysis skills by offering their own analysis of what this poem is about while also trying to see how they might already relate the content of the poem to what they have read of the novel so far. Below is the poem:

Lift not the painted veil which those who live

Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,

And it but mimic all we would believe

With colours idly spread,--behind, lurk Fear

And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave

Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.

I knew one who had lifted it--he sought,

For his lost heart was tender, things to love,

But found them not, alas! nor was there aught

The world contains, the which he could approve.

Through the unheeding many he did move,

A splendour among shadows, a bright blot

Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove

For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

Quoting Wilde-ly...

It is often said that Oscar Wilde is one of the most quotable authors of all time. As we have seen from our reading of The Importance of Being Earnest, his witty epigrams and fanciful contradictions often cut straight to an insightful and honest understanding of the complexities of the human condition.

For this week's blog post, I want you to familiarize yourself with some of Wilde's quotes. Simply perform a Google image search of "Oscar Wilde quotes" and you will have plenty to choose from. Pick the quote that you find the most compelling and then a visual representation of it that speaks to you. Post the image on your blog and explain why you like the quote.

Additionally, I want you to listen to the first two segments of this episode of the podcast This American Life. The episode is called "Status Update" and first two segments are an interview with some teenage girls in which they discuss the rules and culture of Instagram. In your blog post, reflect on what they have to say and how it made you feel. I think this will also help you as you work on your Earnest writing project. 

The "Comedy" of Manners

This week, in Brit Lit, we have begun reading Oscar Wilde's classic play The Importance of Being Earnest. Coming at the tail end of the Victorian Era, Wilde skillfully and wittily skewers what he views as the ridiculous and limiting social rules of the time.

For a modern audience, these rules of social order can seem both difficult to grasp and entirely absurd. But I do think it is imperative to our engagement with the text to not only understand the sort of complex rules Wilde was dealing with while also taking a step back and recognizing that, while they may be different, we too have our own cultural understanding of certain proper social behavior.

For this week's blog post, students have two issues I want them to address:

1. Please read the chapter entitled "Evening Parties" (pg. 122-127) from the 1913 etiquette guide Manners and Rules of Good Society: or Solecisms to Be Avoided. In your blog, give a general response to this chapter and also identify one rule that seems absolutely ridiculous as well as one rule that still applies today. You can find the chapter here.
2. Secondly, I want you to think about social media in particular. What are one or two "social rules of etiquette" that exist today regarding social media. What is okay and what is a no-no? How and why do you think these rules came into existence?

Have fun with this assignment. And remember, Wilde once said, "It is ridiculous to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." Don't be tedious!!!