Travel Classics Assignments
Instructions
Readings: There are seven reading assignments (one per week). The books are available at the NYU bookstore. For several of the books, online e-texts are available, as noted below. (I did not order the Odyssey since we’re only reading a short selection; you can find copies at the bookstore in the trade section.)
Blog posts: There are fourteen thirteen blog assignments, with two kinds of assignments.
a. For the first assignment on each reading (due on Monday night), write 400 words about the reading. Focus on a travel theme, a topic related to your concentration, perhaps something you might talk about in your colloquium when the text comes up. Take a look at the bibliography page for each reading assignment and try incorporating an idea or quotation from one of the secondary sources. This post should stick closely to the reading—quote from it, refer to details in it, focus on an interpretive issue—but assume your audience has just read the book and don’t just summarize and write synopses. Possible topics include the motives for travel, fact vs. fiction, the experience of travel, preconceptions about a place, guests and hosts, the Old World encounter with the New, descriptions of places, the customs of the people, geographical topics.
b. For the second assignment on the reading (due before class on Thursday), write about 200 words on something related to the reading. This post is for fun and made for Google searches of various types—Images, Video, News, Books, Scholar. Possible topics include a new items about the classic text; a travel book that follows “in the footsteps” of the classic traveler; literary works, art works, songs, and movies based on or inspired by the classic text; something contemporary about a place in the book; your own experiences traveling to places mentioned in the text or a personal experience similar to something in the reading. If you didn’t read a scholarly article for the first assignment on the book, you might do that for this one. For these posts, it may be helpful to provide a link to the web page you’re referencing; the instructions for creating links are here. You might also add a video to your post (and check out all the videos on the Travel Studies You-Tube page).
Format: Your post will probably consist of several paragraphs (about 100 words long): please use “block style”—double space between paragraphs and do notindent at the beginning of a new paragraph. When you create an entry, you’ll be asked to include a title and subtitle. It’s up to you, but generally the title is something poetic and the subtitle something more descriptive and prosaic. Also, remember to scroll to the "Travel Classics" in the "Course" box and the appropriate assignment topic in the "Travel Classics Topic" box.
Images: Each post has an image. Please give your selection of images some thought. It can be one of your own photos or something off the internet. Try out various key words on “Google Images” or whatever search engine you’re using. Please remember to include the URL for the website where you found the image so that you can give credit where it’s due. If it’s your own photo, say so at the end of the post. You can also add a video by pasting the URL in the video field at the bottom.
Process: Check this assignment page for recently-added details on the assignment; do the reading, then do a little outside research or read one of the articles on the bibliography page, then write your post, but don’t post it immediately. Read some other blog posts and see what ideas are going around; this might be a good time to write a comment on someone else’s post; then go back and revise your own post and post it to the website.
Comments: In addition to writing your own posts, you are required to write 14 13 short comments (50-100 words) on other people’s blogs, one for each assignment. The comment is not a teacher-like evaluation of the post’s quality. Instead, respond to some idea in the post by providing additional thoughts, amplifying, clarifying, questioning, agreeing, disagreeing, providing a link to a related website, etc. Try to keep up with the comments so that you aren’t commenting on posts from a couple of weeks back.
Assignments
Odyssey
Reading: Books 9 - 12 of the Odyssey. An e-text is available online here. You might pick up the story a little earlier, back in Book 8, line 540.
Post #1: Odyssey. Post by Thurs., Jan. 27. For the Odyssey, there’s just one post assignment, and it can be of the first or second type described above.
Herodotus in Egypt
Reading: Herodotus, An Account of Egypt(Book two of the Histories). E-text available from several sources: Guttenberg project, here; Felberbaum translation, here; hypertext version, here; and another version in two parts, one and two.
Before you do the posts, please read these "tips for better posts."
Post #2: Herodotus (a). Post by Mon., Jan. 31. For background, check out the the bibliography on Herodotus page, e.g., the New Yorker article, "Arms and the Man," or "Herodotus the Tourist. by James Redfield. Remember, for this post, do something serious, analytic, interpretive—stick to the reading and say something thoughtful about it.
Post #3: Herodotus (b), Post by Thurs., Feb. 3. For the second Herodotus post, focus on a book, image, video, website, story, etc., that relates to the reading.
Marco Polo
Reading: In the Penguin Classics edition, read the Introduction, Prologue, and chapters 1 - 4 (pp. 7 - 193). If you would like to try reading the selection online, log onto NYUHome, and go to the "ebrary" and you'll find an online version of the book; read pages 3 - 175 in this edition. Another option is the wiki version of the text: in this one, read the Preface, Book First, and Book Second-Parts I and Part II through chapter 55.
Post #4: Marco Polo (a). Post by Mon., Feb. 7. For the first Marco Polo post, please stick closely to the reading, focusing on an question of interpretation or a passage in the book. It would help to read something about the book, so pick something in the Marco Polo bibliography page or a Bobcat search. If you want to do something autobiographical or develop an opinion, save it for the second Marco Polo post (b).
Post #5: Marco Polo (b). Post by Thurs., Feb. 11. The idea for this post is to point to a map, website, movie, book, news item, scholarly article, painting, poem, etc., that helps with the discussion of the reading. So don't digress too far, and while it's fine to work in a personal story or opinion, try to craft it so it contributes to an understanding or appreciation of the reading itself. If you're looking for ideas, check out In the Footsteps of Marco Polo, Cavino's Invisible Cities, Coleridge's Xanadu, or a video on the Travel Studies You-tube page.
Ibn Battuta
Reading: Chapters 1 - 6. Partial e-text available, here (contains chapters 1, 3, 4, and 5).
Post #6: Ibn Battuta (a). Post by Mon., Feb. 14. For the first Ibn Battuta post, please stick closely to the reading, focusing on an question of interpretation or a passage in the book. It would help to read something about the book, so pick something in the Marco Polo bibliography page or a Bobcat search. If you want to do something autobiographical or develop an opinion, save it for the second Marco Polo post (b).
Post #7: Ibn Battuta (b). Post by Thurs., Feb. 18: Some of the Marco Polo posts seem to digress too much from the reading. The idea for this post is to point to a map, website, movie, book, news item, scholarly article, painting, poem, etc., that actually helps with the discussion of the reading. It's fine to have some fun, but please, no posts on the Ibn Battuta Mall, the Ibn Battuta Hotel, etc.
Columbus
Reading: In the Penguin edition of the The Four Voyages, read the introduction and "The First Voyage" (through p. 130). Most of the reading assignment from the Penguin edition is available online in the Google Books' version, here; the Penguin editor synthesizes material from various sources, including Columbus' letter, here; his journal, here, and his son's biography, here.
Post #8: Columbus (a). Post by Mon., Feb. 21
Post #9: Columbus (b). Post by Thurs., Feb. 25
Cabeza de Vaca
Reading: The entire book. (If you locate an e-text in English, let me know.)
Post #10: Cabeza de Vaca (a). Post by Mon., Feb. 28. As usual, for this post please stick closely to the reading, focusing on an question of interpretation or a passage in the book. It might help to read something about the book, so pick something on the Cabeza de Vaca bibliography or a Bobcat search
Post #11: Cabeza de Vaca (b). Post by Thurs., March 3. It may not be easy finding something relevant to this book for the (b) post, so use your imagination, and try not to repeat something someone else has posted (since there's not a lot out there). You could always look to the scholarly material.
The Tempest
Reading: The Tempest (available online here) and Montaigne's "Of Cannibals" (available online here).
Post #12: Tempest (a). Post by Mon., March 7. As usual, for this post please stick closely to the reading, focusing on an question of interpretation or a passage in the book. The play is not obviously a "travel narrative," but try to think about a travel theme. You don't have to include a discussion of Montaigne's essay in your post. It might help to read something about the book, so pick something on the Tempest bibliography or the Montaigne bibliography, or do a Bobcat search.
Post #13: Tempest (b). Post by Thurs., March 10. NOTE: THIS ASSIGNMENT IS CANCELLED. PROCEED TO "FINAL THOUGHTS," NOW POST #13, DUE MARCH 10.
Final Thoughts
Post #13: Final. Post by Sun., March 13. NEW DUE DATE: MARCH 10. Focus on one travel-related theme and discuss it in the context of several of the books (not necessarily all of them). Although you'll be writing about more than one book, try to stick to the usual length, about 500 words.
