Writing Across Cultures

Stephen Colbert graduation speech Steven Spielberg graduation speech Harvard graduation speech (spoken word) Obama (his last commencement speech...) Graduation poem And another... And another... Etc. It's been fun. Enjoy your life! Go and do brilliant things! HOMEWORK: None!

There's a lot of countries out there that we missed. Find them and learn about them. Use this link to help you get started: http://online.seterra.net/en/ That is all. HOMEWORK: Portfolios are due next class.

An article on Russia before we jump to Japan: Japanese News Traditional Japanese "Noh" Theater Hiroshi Kawasaki  (poet) Japanese Pop Music Sumo: cultural pastime Japanese literature and history is divided into various periods (based largely on who was controlling the country): Nara Period  (710-794 A.D. or C.E.) Japanese literature traces its beginnings from an oral tradition that later used a writing system introduced from China. Most of this literature from the eighth century was created as governmental projects. The  Kojiki  ( Record of Ancient Matters ) and  Nihon shoki  (Chronicle of Japan) are really an anthology of myths, legends, stories, and history (much like the Western Bible, but without the religious significance). The most brilliant literary product of this period was the  Man'yoshu  (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), an anthology of 4,500 poems written by a variety of people ranging from peasants and commoners to e...

Russia (basic information) : the US Department of State has information on World countries with statistics. This can be helpful for social studies courses. Compare US information with a site in the UK.  Russian Culture Russian Top 10 Strange Things Russian Revolution Russian Poets Rasputin Soviet National Anthem News articles Architecture Sports Russian recipes Rap Battles: Rasputin vs. Stalin  (strong language warning!) By far, the most influential film maker of early Russian film was  Sergei Eisenstein . Please read this article on the  state of contemporary Russian Film . Anton Chekhov  is considered to be one of the greatest short story writers the world has ever known. We have read  The Sea Gull , and some of you may have read other Chekhov plays ( Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sister, The Bear (or The Boar), The Marriage Proposal, Ivanov,  etc.)  Consider the elements of a fine fiction story. In normal fiction, a ...

Today, a smorgasbord of culture. For those of you who are not completely exhausted from learning, you may find these resources here helpful in setting your fiction, poetry, plays, and essays in a European setting. Since we are running out of time to cover the entire world in this course, we will only briefly glimpse at a very rich and extensive culture. For your benefit click on these links and learn about these cultures. Some of their literature can be found in the packets of reading as well. Czeslaw Milosz is one of Poland's best loved poets.  His poems can be found here. Forget by Czeslaw Milosz Forget the suffering You caused others. Forget the suffering Others caused you. The waters run and run, Springs sparkle and are done, You walk the earth you are forgetting. Sometimes you hear a distant refrain. What does it mean, you ask, who is singing? A childlike sun grows warm. A grandson and a great-grandson are born. You are led by the hand once again. Th...