I L L U S T R A T E D N O T E S
After tracking the plot and language use of William Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING, it is time to seek images that illustrate the events, characters, era, and sensibilities of the novel. This exercise will take you through a virtual tour of historical photography, many reserved in the Library of Congress. Choosing the images also allows you to multi-dimensionalize your experience with the novel. Faulkner would be pleased to know you would consider the Bundrens as real people.
1. Visit the Photo Galleries
These sites feature the photography collection of the Library of Congress and two well-known American photographers: Dorothea Lange and Russell Lee. Lange and Lee are remembered for their Great Depression era images of proud and destitute share croppers from the south, and of the people who moved west in search of a brighter future, ending up in camps in the Central Valley.
Visit the suggested sights and peruse the photos. Allow the images to speak for themselves. You will begin to subconsciously make connections to various aspects of the novel. Eventually, choose four to five images to illustrate any part of your notebook. Consider how the pictures address setting, themes, motifs, events, character traits, sub plots, symbols, totems, tone, or atmosphere.
Hard Times click on Lange and Lee.
Dorthea Lange Collection
Dorthea Lange Gallery
Russell Lee Collection
Visit the suggested sights and peruse the photos. Allow the images to speak for themselves. You will begin to subconsciously make connections to various aspects of the novel. Eventually, choose four to five images to illustrate any part of your notebook. Consider how the pictures address setting, themes, motifs, events, character traits, sub plots, symbols, totems, tone, or atmosphere.
Hard Times click on Lange and Lee.
Dorthea Lange Collection
Dorthea Lange Gallery
Russell Lee Collection
2. Cut and Paste
Collect your chosen images in a word document you can print to then cut out and paste on the left hand pages of your notebook. If your left-hand page is already filled with notes, place them on the pages following your notes. All of the pictures do not have to be the same size.
3. Captions and Explications
For each photograph record the photographer’s name, title of the photograph if there is one, and the online source. Next, write an explication that discusses the details of the image and its connection to the text. Be sure to include text.
Click on the picture to see anexample of "Illustrated Notes."
Click on the picture to see anexample of "Illustrated Notes."
4. Score Sheet
When you are done with your work, print this rubric/score sheet. Compare your work to the rubric. Make any revisions you see appropriate. Then, slip the score sheet into your notebook, and turn it all in!
JUST FOR FUN
1. Nathan Olsen is an illustrator and graphic artist. He has been kind enough to post some artwork from his undergraduate study years, "When I was an undergrad in the 90s, I was a big fan of pen and ink — you could see the artist’s process as he worked through an illustration. For the Advanced Illustration classes I took in 1999, I did a series of brush and ink illustrations about William Faulkner’s 1930 novel, AS I LAY DYING. I had read it in one of the many literature classes I had taken, and I had fallen in love with it. In the book, Addie Bundren dies an unhappy woman and, to exact her revenge on her family, requests burial in Jefferson City — a brutally long journey made worse when one has a rotting corpse in one’s wagon." Click on the picture to see more of his work.
2. Oprah's Bookclub AS I LAY DYING Quiz
3. Interactive AILD trivia quiz
4. Oprah's suggestions for how to read and appreciate Faulkner. What would you add?
5. While reading Faulkner, don't be discouraged if you trip over a few unfamiliar words -- the author is known for treating the English language as his personal property. So whether you city folk don't know a hitch=reign from a plowline, or you're stumped on a highfalutin word, this FAULKNER GLOSSARY has you covered -- from adze to zinc. (Explanation from the Faulkner Glossary page.)
2. Oprah's Bookclub AS I LAY DYING Quiz
3. Interactive AILD trivia quiz
4. Oprah's suggestions for how to read and appreciate Faulkner. What would you add?
5. While reading Faulkner, don't be discouraged if you trip over a few unfamiliar words -- the author is known for treating the English language as his personal property. So whether you city folk don't know a hitch=reign from a plowline, or you're stumped on a highfalutin word, this FAULKNER GLOSSARY has you covered -- from adze to zinc. (Explanation from the Faulkner Glossary page.)
IMAGE CREDITS:
- Superimposed Migrant Mother (Dorthea Lange photograph) over the photo of a home found at http://www.thezmag.com/article-831-arts-culture-guy-the-rogue-theatre.html
- Fish market photo found at http://www.businessinsider.com/depression-era-recipes-2011-11
- Nathan Olsen artwork at http://www.nateomedia.com/notebook/from-the-vault-as-i-lay-dying/