Group+Projects

This is the page where group projects will be posted. We'll post a sample with G.K. Chesterton soon so you can see an example of what will be expected.

Each group project will consist of giving a brief overview of the author and his / her conversion or struggle with their faith. Additionally some groups will prepare a presentation explaining the context in which the work was written. Below are some various samples that would correspond with the rubric. First is an embedded presentation using google docs summarizing Chesterton's experience. We will go through the presentation in class. Additionally there is a link to a google doc where the sources are provided and analyzed. This is an important element as well.

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 * G.K. Chesterton**

Link to google doc detailing sources and their evaluation: [|link here]

Relevant Media Clips media type="youtube" key="K4wUYTMcXBE" height="344" width="425"

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=Cultural History - Nihilism & Anarchy=

(A caveat - in case what follows does not make this abundantly clear, my mind is rather tangential - those who have been in my class can testify to the veracity of my claim. If some of the things I cite here don't make sense, do not worry - chances are they don't).

First a couple brief definitions, lifted directly from the introduction to the wikipedia article on each of these topics:

Nihilism: **Nihilism** (from the [|Latin] //nihil//, nothing) is the [|philosophical] doctrine suggesting the [|negation] of one or more [|meaningful] aspects of [|life] (OR ALL OF THEM - my addition). Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of [|existential nihilism] which argues that life[|[1]] is without objective meaning, [|purpose], or [|intrinsic value].

Anarchy: **Anarchism** is a [|political philosophy] encompassing [|theories and attitudes] which consider the [|state] to be unnecessary, harmful, or otherwise undesirable, and favour instead a [|stateless society] or [|anarchy].

I'm sure that there are lots of other definitions out there, but those two serve pretty well - I am not particularly eager to get bogged down in definitions (I would love to meet the writing teacher who first came up with the idea of having students start papers with a definition and punch that person in the face - yes, it's great that we all agree on what our terms mean, but that is a boring way to start a paper. If I really wanted to know what //Webster's// thought about the matter, I could look it up myself thankyouverymuch. Nothing personal if you have started/do start your essays that way, just beware that some people's eyes immediately glaze over when you do that).

We discussed a little the other day about what might have brought these worldviews about - World War I would've been a little after this novel, but would certainly be a major factor of the past century leading to nihilistic/anarchic thinking (Lewis writes about this - a pretty huge swath of his generation was wiped out during the not quite as popular world war). O'Connor will address this as well (see her letter to A. on 8/28/55 - "Another reason for the negative appearance: if you live today you breathe in nihilism. In or out of the Church, it's the gas you breathe. If I hadn't had the Church to fight it with or tell me the necessity of fighting it, I would be the stinkingest logical positivist you ever saw right now."). For right now, I think it is somewhat fair to suggest that anarchy is type of nihilistic thought (though not exactly, but somewhat).

Instead of definitions, I offers some examples/suggestions of things that point to nihilism/anarchy. First an example from literature, a passage from Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.

Paul Petrovitch raised his hands. " I do not understand you at all! You insult the Russian people. I don't understand that one can help recognizing principles and rules ! What then directs you in life ?" " I have already told you, uncle, that we do not recognize any authority," interrupted Arcadi. " We act in view of what we recognize as useful," added Bazarof; " to-day it seems to us useful to deny and we deny." " Everything ? " "Everything." " How! not only art, poetry, but even ... I hesitate to say it...." "Everything," repeated Bazarof, with an inexpressible Calmness. Paul Petrovitch looked at him fixedly ; he did not expect such a reply; Arcadi blushed with pleasure. "Allow me, allow me," interrupted Nicholas Petrovitch ; " you deny everything, or to speak more exactly, you destroy everything.... Notwithstanding, it is also necessary to rebuild...." " That does not concern us....

I mentioned Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov in class the other day - I think it pretty magnificent. One of the titular brothers, Ivan, says at one point, "Everything is permitted," very much the nihilist, and then is later horrified when another character acts on his suggestion. Ivan (as well as Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment) are descendants of Turgenev's characters quoted above. I do not think I can recommend Brothers K highly enough.

There is a passage I would like to quote from Goethe's Faust, from the first meeting of Faust and the devil, but it will have to wait a bit until I get my hands on my copy of it. A-ha (not just a pop band from Norway)! Even better, on Google books you can find the lines from Faust and an excellent interpretation of them. Please go to Google Books and search for a book called Doing the Truth in Love by Michael Himes. If you search in the book for Goethe, you will go to page 69 - please read that page in particular - the discussion that continues onto 70-1 is good too, but the first paragraph in which he discusses Faust is particularly relevant in regard to some of the things that Gregory says in Thursday.

There is also a quote that I thought was from Raymond Chandler, but cannot find for the life of me - I give you the quote anyway: "There is nothing wrong with Los Angeles/Southern California that a rise in the water/ocean level wouldn't fix."

From literature to music:

First up is the Sex Pistol's "God Save the Queen." Punk was seen as a reaction against disco and rock of the 1970s - this song and this group and the best example of that spirit I know. Some of the selected lyrics, "Lord God have mercy, all crimes are paid. When there's no future, how can there be sin?" I love the way Johnny Rotten, the lead singer, drones "No future, no future, no future," over and over at the end. A critic I like a great deal said that it seems like the radio should melt after it finishing playing their songs. As much as nihilism and anarchy are bad things, I find this song makes them sound rather thrilling, and kind of fun, even though I suppose I know that they are not.

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Now to my favorite rap song of all-time (not the best, there is a difference, if pressed to name the best rap song of all-time, one might respond with Notorious BIG's "Juicy," and possibly be right), Geto Boys, "Mind Playing Tricks on Me." You might know them from the rap song in Office Space. I could talk a great deal about this song, but will try to limit myself somewhat here. I think all four verses of this song show a world falling apart. In the first verse, I feel the person the narrator is being stalked/haunted by to pretty obviously be himself. The second verse starts with good old fashioned boilerplate boast rapping - "I make big money, drive big cars, everybodys knows me, it's like I'm a movie star," but the rest of the verse is a study in paranoia. Notice how casually he tosses off, "I live by the sword" - he doesn't have to finish the thought, he knows his end, and he is trying to pretend that end doesn't terrify him. The third verse brings religion in a bit, with little comfort. The fourth verse, courtesy of wee fellow Bushwick Bill, is absolutely crazy - not much to say about it. It's hard to believe that the insanity and paranoia of the first three versed could be topped, but man o man Bill does it - "it wasn't even close to Halloween." The video is rather disappointing, pretty literal, but seeing Bill chase after the little kids is worthwhile. The beat though, that same guitar riff looped over and over, tends to bury its way into the brain. I have embedded the edited (and in my opinion, inferior) version of the song - I am no fan of censorship, but figured I would leave the choice up to you as to which version (I have no good answer to the dilemma of how one resolves the problem of form versus content in rap music) you might want to check out.

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As for film, I teach a films class, religious themes in films, and ask at the start of class for people's favorite movies. Some that pop up with some frequency, and that have nihilistic elements in them, are V for Vendetta, Green Street Hooligans, Boondock Saints, Fight Club, and Clockwork Orange. It has been a while since I have seen the last one, though do recall being disturbed at how much it warped Beethoven's 9th for me for a while, but generally find the first four to be rather disappointing films - Fight Club by a good stretch the best of the bunch of the first four, but still a flawed film. I feel it does have its moments though. I think it would be fun to put together clips of all those films and have a class discussion of violence/nihilism, but am yet to get around to it.

An example of sort from the art world could be the Dada movement. A leading proponent of the movement was Marcel Duchamp. Below is one of his most famous works, called "The Fountain."



Yes, it is a urinal. Apparently no museum accepted it - some of Dada is considered anti-art, or maybe found art. It was an attempt of sorts (again, I think with some validity to it) to tear down the art world at the time.

An example from the world of theater would be some of the works of Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot and Endgame would be good examples of plays that, by virtue of their form, are critiques of the the world of theater at the time.

Last and not least, I return to literature. "The Second Coming" by Yeats is a poem that has been quoted and quoted and anthologized and anthologized, but I still find it a rather terrifying poem. The text, followed by Yeats reading it.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.
 * THE SECOND COMING**

Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand; A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

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