01 Thursday Feb 17

Rachel Crow’s Notes for Thursday February 17th
Dr. Mathur began class with a reminder that we are starting Marxist theory on Tuesday the 22nd. She also mentioned that she would be adding another text to the reading on blackboard for Marxism. To follow up the discussion from last class she gave us a refresher on the concept of hybridity. Hybridity is essentially an authoritarian text that contradicts itself, and two examples would be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and The Tempest, written by William Shakespeare. Then we dove into Orientalism with a powerpoint. First we looked at the author of She, Henry Rider Haggard, who lived in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He was a popular writer in the nineteenth century who spent extensive time in South Africa over a span of several separate trips. He also travelled to Egypt in 1887, 1912, and again in 1924. He was often vilified in his time for being a popular writer. Instead of revising his old works, which was common to do at the time, he published new work instead. Next we looked at the English novel, which can be generally defined as pros narratives which were written for a literate middle-class audience. Examples of english novels would be those written by Charles Dickens, and Jane Austin. We also learned about more genre specific aspects of 18th and 19th century specific literature. Oriental tales were fantastical stories about the mysterious East, while gothic romance novels were mystery and horror tales with elements of the supernatural woven in, often blurring the lines between the living and the dead. We followed the powerpoint with discussion of the first five chapters of the book She, by Henry Rider Haggard. We established that the book opens by bringing three people together: Holly, Vincey, and Job. Holly is the narrator, but it is written as a tale within a tale. The novel is a letter that Horace Holly has written that is understood to be a truthful account. We then did a writing exercise by comparing and contrasting the descriptions of the three characters (Horace Holly, Leo Vincey, and Job) with their physical, intellectual, social, and psychological characteristics in mind. As a class we determined that Horace is described as being studious, a realist, a father figure, the rule giver of the trio, and a likeness of Cain. Leo on the other hand is described as having an average intellect, and being the child. He was also noted him as being impulsive, imaginative, highly attractive to women, and a likeness of Apollo. Job is described as the mother figure in the group. He is not educated, but displays humility, and loyalty. It was suggested that Horace and Leo may be foils. The Freudian concept of the Id, Ego, and Superego may be applied here as well, the Id being Leo, the ego Horace, and the superego represented by Job. Of course it also must be noted that all of these descriptions we get from Horace’s point of view. Next we divided into groups to discuss examples of orientalism and hybridity in She. We said that Orientalism was found in the description of Africa, which was made to sound foreign and scary. The mystery surrounding the foreign sphinx and boxes containing the letter to Leo from his father also applied to orientalism. The Vincey family heritage which we learn from the contents of the box, as well as the description of the powerful white woman who resides in the African swamps both embody orientalism as well. Then we discussed hybridity. Heritage can be applied here as well because of the way that Vincey tends to associate himself with his Greek roots, but not the Egyptian roots as much, suggesting that he embraces his western heritage, but not the eastern heritage. The theme of life and death was also noted as an example of hybridity, in that the characters are searching for immortality in what is understood to be a deadly place. The ship captain, Mohammed, also shows hybridity because even though he is responsible for leading the trio out of trouble in a storm, he is looked at as being untrustworthy. After this we followed the genealogy of Leo Vincey. From the written accounts contained in the box his father left him we come to know that Kallikrates (an Egyptian priest of Isis) and Amerartas (the beautiful in strength) are his earliest known relatives. They had a son, Tisisthenes. They are were the story of Vincey’s heritage begins. The white woman offered Kallikrates immortal life if he would stay with her, but he refused, so she killed him. Tisisthenes was given the task by his mother to avenge his father, noted by his name, which means “the mighty avenger”. The family eventually travels to Greece, then Rome, Lombardy, Brittany, and at last England. The family name changes several times, but it always keeps the same general meaning, which is “the avenger”. Along with the name, Vincey inherits the quest of avenging his family. Dr. Mathur ended class by giving a brief introduction to Marxism, and posing some questions to think about for next class.