H05027 HARDY/TECHNOLOGY/TEACHING COMPOSITION - 3/30/05 - HARDY FORUM ARCHIVES ____________________________________________________________________________
From: dmseck@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Hardy and computers
Date: March 30, 2005 8:51:22 AM PST
Hello All,
I recently completed a grad class focusing on computer technology in the composition class room. For me, it raised the question how would Thomas Hardy regard this technology? I am interested in the opinion of Hardy experts. We are, after all, using technology to converse through this list, keeping Hardy in electronic conversation. Considering composition is moving away from literature based study, how might technology function to bring Hardy's work more to the forefront? My guess is that most professors on this list are teaching literature. Is anyone teaching composition? If so, how are you integrating Hardy into your pedagogy?
Thanks,
Donna Seckrater
CSUSB grad student
English Composition
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From: nhardyboy@aol.com
Subject: Re: Hardy and computers
Date: March 30, 2005 10:26:59 AM PST
Interesting question, Donna. Hardy was often very bemused by modern technology--it took him quite a while to get a telephone connected to Max Gate, and he was often bewildered by the cinema, calling a "scientific toy" and thinking it wouldn't last. I can't see Hardy warming to the use of a computer--please someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he even used a typewriter!
I have taught composition, but I have yet to use Hardy in a comp course. Wish I could help you there.
Paul Niemeyer
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From: hardycor@owl.csusm.edu
Subject: Re: Hardy and computers
Date: March 30, 2005 10:48:49 AM PST
It's quite a few years since I taught comp Donna, but my one attempt to
introduce Hardy was an assignment on "The Man He Killed" at the onset of
the first Gulf War. It elicited cries of "I hate poetry" etc. and was
not generally well received by my (mostly) non-lit majors. Even though I
glossed some of the less common words ahead of time they did not seem to
catch the poems drift until I explicated it.
Betty Cortus
hardycor@owl.csusm.edu
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From: dmseck@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Re: Hardy and computers
Date: March 30, 2005 12:16:55 PM PST
I agree, Paul, that Hardy would unlikely be a computer enthusiast, considering his stance on modernity. Yet, I wonder if he might be open to them if their use could, in some way, bolster the study of his work? A bit of irony there, to say the least.
Donna Seckrater
Grad student
CSU,
San Bernardino
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From: dmseck@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Re: Hardy and computers
Date: March 30, 2005 12:27:52 PM PST
I expect, Betty, that most poetry would receive similar responses from non-lit majors, sadly. Jude the Obscure wasn't particularly well received by several students in my undergrad Eng Lit III class, oddly, since it is so "dark," as they said. Bizarre, to me, from a culture that is so in tune to CSI type television, which is quite graphic.
Donna Seckrater
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From: jacky@wilkibob.me.uk
Subject: RE: Hardy and computers
Date: March 30, 2005 12:51:50 PM PST
It is an interesting concept that if Hardy had had a palm-held word processor he would not have needed to use bark from trees to make his notes for Far From the Madding Crowd, but, as I believe he commented, the thoughts probably would not have come had he had his palmy with him!
Jacky Wilkinson
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From: sflynn@gettysburg.edu
Subject: RE: Hardy and computers
Date: March 30, 2005 1:09:03 PM PST
Donna -- I haven't taught basis comp for years, but I've taught Hardy in introductory literature courses that fulfilled my college's first-year writing requirement. Of course, I don't do the novels (not enough time), but I've had very good luck with "The Ruined Maid"and "The Darkling Thrush" (among other poems), and students have loved Hardy's short story, "The Withered Arm."
Cheers,
Suzanne Flynn
Gettysburg College
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From: NHardyboy@aol.com
Subject: Re: Hardy and computers
Date: March 30, 2005 1:14:06 PM PST
Interesting--I will be teaching _Tess_ in my sophomore-level lit class in two weeks, and I had a student say to me, "Why aren't we reading _Jude_? I LOVE that book!" I pushed her a bit on this, and she indicated that she likes the dark and (ulp) "Goth" elements of the novel.
Paul
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From: dmseck@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Re: Hardy and computers
Date: March 30, 2005 2:28:09 PM PST
Yes, interesting. I'm certainly *not* Goth (way too old for that), but see where she gets the connection. Hmm. I'd think she'd enjoy Tess, as well, though they are quite different works.
Donna
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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Re: Hardy and computers
Date: March 30, 2005 5:27:45 PM PST
A little late on the scene here, Donna -- I think Hardy might well have been excited by the computer. Innovative technology? (aside from the fiction where there is of course his fascination with the telegraph (L) and astronomical instruments (TT)), he was thrilled with his new bicycle (which Kipling thought too heavy but TH wasn't to be put off by that). He & Emma even affectionately nicknamed her bike, "Grasshopper!" For years, he roamed for miles & miles by bicycle and took it by train for longer trips -- (said he loved the solitude) and insisted to all his visitors that they bring theirs with them when coming to Max Gate (there must be well over a dozen fond references to his bicycle in his letters). And yes, he did use a typewriter and seems quite devoted to it if the amount of times he mentions it in writing to his friends is indicative (of course in these days one always apologised for using a typewriter instead of handwritten script). He only regretted he hadn't learned to use it when younger, when his sight was stronger.
And as for the motor car! Exhilarating, he said, especially the high speed achieved on the highway. He loved open air car trips to places like Stonehenge, although he found the jolting very painful and injurious to his back. He was keen to ride in cars that didn't jolt so uncomfortably. I believe Lady Jeune had one such car.
Movies? Well, with the first Tess movie he didn't simply find it curious and interesting --as Paul says, the whole techie idea seemed to him "a scientific toy" (which is what would I call my computer on a good day! - something else on a bad day!) -- but he also insisted on his authorial rights and especially the right of intervention.. He seems to have liked the idea of collaborating and suggested that if much would have to be omitted in the making of the film that did not mean the director had any right to "tamper" (his word) with the story. -- Absolutely No Happy Endings -- said he.
Who knows? I vote Hardy and the Computer!
Cheers,
Rosemarie
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From: Jcphardysoc@aol.com
Subject: Re: Hardy and computers
Date: March 31, 2005 1:11:47 PM PST
I'm not sure Hardy found high speed in the motor car exhilarating - according to the reminiscences of his chauffeur (one of the Stevens Cox Monographs), he would not allow himself to be driven at more than 25 mph (40 kph). However, I believe Florence enjoyed a ride on T.E. Lawrence's motorbike - Lawrence was a real speed merchant.
However, I agree with Rosemarie that he would probably have embraced computers with enthusiasm; after all, he availed himself of many of the other new technologies of his long life eg the steam train (more exhilarating speeds than 25 mph - up to 70+ mph probably), the steam ship, plus the car and telephone as mentioned, even if the Max Gate plumbing was not state-of-the-art by the 1920s. He was also receptive to new scientific theories such as Darwinism.
Best wishes
John Pentney
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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Re: Hardy and computers
Date: March 31, 2005 2:50:36 PM PST
To: HARDY-L@csusm.edu
Reply-To: HARDY-L@csusm.edu
Well, to Hardy himself, it was speed -- "Sir F. & Lady J. met me by appointment, with their motor-car. We rushed up & down hill -- particularly the latter -- at tremendous speed for turnpike-road travelling, & reached here about 8 -- the car having done about 70 miles that day" (to FH -- sounding pleased - ) And it's true that when he used the word "exhilarating," (driving) he was speaking about Emma's trip across Salisbury Plain. But how intrepid he was, despite those dreadful "jolts." At about 80 years old he wrote to Charles Morgan that looking at the map "by the light of the suggestion to go by road I find the distance to be not so formidable as I thought -- 95 miles I make it -- a distance I have been accustomed to do by car in one day."
Enthusiasm? I'd say so. (was his chauffeur a poor driver maybe? )
Bravo old guy!
Best
Rosemarie
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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Re: PS Hardy and the motor car
Date: March 31, 2005 3:22:08 PM PST
I should add (to protect myself) that open-air driving did make Hardy ill. Frequently. The jolts, the cold wind and the rain, in an open car --even though he was sometimes provided with blankets and hotwater bottles --did cause him health problems. He was invariably concerned for his friends' suffering similar hazards and would constantly write to them cautioning them. He would have preferred to cycle if only to save his back, if it had been possible.
He was often disenchanted, but game, nevertheless!
Cheers,
Rosemarie
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From: fsiedow@omniglobal.net
Subject: Re: Hardy and computers
Date: March 31, 2005 8:26:40 PM PST
Hi, everyone: It seems I remember that letter, or a similar one -- later, or in another close in time, he said that he didn't like that speed, he would rather ride his bicycle, tho it WAS quicker/more practical for longer distances to use the car. I sensed (in my readings) that he usually didn't like the car very much. I think he had an accepting nature about many things new, not about others (their outdated plumbing, for one - he used a "sit-bath", in a tub, even after he had a real bathroom built, for Florence?, I think).
Cheers; Fred S.
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From: fsiedow@omniglobal.net
Subject: Re: PS Hardy and the motor car
Date: March 31, 2005 8:29:33 PM PST
Rosemarie Morgan wrote:
....He would have preferred to cycle if only to save his back, if it had been possible.
......He was often disenchanted, but game, nevertheless!
OK, I concede! -- Fred S.
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