Presentation comments/questions Round 1

I thought everyone did a really nice job with their presentations--everything they were talking about was exciting and interesting, because it all just seems to fit together.  I think the themes I took away from the day were symphonies and definitions of reality.

Madeline--- I liked how you brought in the illusion at the beginning of class; because it was like a symphony of movement and noise and light.  It was all conducted by you to create a different kind of reality, which was fun.  The parallels you brought up between Prospero and Nabokov gave me a Shelby kind of aha moment, because it just seemed so obvious once you pointed them out, especially when the illusion is kind of dropped at the end of the books. I think most of my questions were already answered in class, but I thought you did really well.

Michael-- I loved your window visual with the magnetic chess pieces and the overlapping boards.  I don't actually have any questions for you either-- I'm really bad at this game, but I wanted to let you know that you made me think about Kinbote as a complete mistranslation, from who he is (Botkin, Kingbot, Kinbote) to how he perceives the world.  I thought the point you made about the book never truly ending and your point about stealing were fabulous.  You just made me think.  I really wish your paper was up, because I would have loved to pick your brain before finishing mine. 

Breanna-- I am looking forward to reading your paper, because it sounds so extensive and rich.  The only thing I have to say about your presentation (besides good job) is to slow down a little.  I realize you didn't have much time, but I had some difficulty keeping up.  I wrote down something in my notes like. . . "macrocosm, microcosm. . . /words weren't just arbitrary. . .what" and then ? because I didn't finish my thought.  I guess my question would be something about arbitrary nature of words and macrocosm and microcosm, because I think it must have sounded neat to me at the time, but I just didn't catch what you said.

Sarah-- I thought it was neat that you brought in a musician to help give us a visual (or I guess a sound) to understand your ideas.  I am also looking forward to reading more about your paper, because it sounds like you discovered so much and just couldn't share it all in 20 minutes.  Looking through my notes, I think I'd ask more about what a fugue is?  I am not really a music person; but I guess now I can just look it up online.