5-page paper

ENG 100R, Fall 2019

Analytical Essay 4

In this essay, you are expected to give your own independent, interpretative position on the

question below and to support your thinking with close reading and analysis. You will need to

synthesize both texts and make connections between them. Utilize the skills we’ve practiced in

class, especially on the Reading Quizzes.

Texts:

Greene, Jayson. “How Do We Live With Music Made by Problematic Artists?” Pitchfork,

https://www.pitchfork.com/features/overtones/ho-do-we-live-with-music-made-by-

problematic-artists/.

Hsu, Hua. “When White Poets Pretend to Be Asian.” The New Yorker, https://newyorker.com

/books/page-turner/when-white-poets-pretend-to-be-asian/.

Prompt:

We began the semester thinking about the personal histories of two writers, Zadie Smith and

Jean Twenge, and the ways in which information they share about themselves might be linked to

their research methods. We then thought about the influence of historical thinking on the present-

day observations of Michael Greenberg and Jelani Cobb. For Unit 3, our own histories factored

into the ways in which we encountered discussions of higher education written by Alex Carp and

Katy Waldman. Our semester concludes thinking with Jayson Greene and Hua Hsu about the

effects on listeners and readers of artists’ personal histories, whether brought to light by

creditable accusations or obscured by false identities. Bringing together our skill set assembled

throughout the semester – understanding the text, finding authors’ assumptions, assessing your

role as a reader, and assessing the text as a whole – synthesize the essays of Greene and Hsu,

along with your own thinking, to answer the following: To what extent and in what ways does

an artist’s background influence the experience of their work?

Thinking to get started:

• What kinds of background details does Greene take into account in “How Do We Live With Music Made by Problematic Artists? What kinds of background details does Hsu

consider in “When White Poets Pretend to Be Asian”?

• How does Greene feel/respond to the background details of musicians in his experience of their music? What assumptions does he make about the reader’s experience? How

does Hsu feel/respond to the background details of poets in his experience with their

poetry? What assumptions does he make about the reader’s experience?

• Do the assumptions of Greene and Hsu apply to you? How do you feel about the cases they discuss?

• What do you think is necessary (or valuable) to consider about an artist’s background? Does this put you in agreement or disagreement with the examples and arguments of

Greene and Hsu?

Details to remember:

Rough Draft: FOUR full pages, including header + title + introduction. NO CONCLUSION.

Due: Mon 12/2, upload to Canvas before class. Bring laptop or printout for Peer Review.

Final draft: FIVE full pages, added body paragraph(s), conclusion, and substantial revision.

Due: Wed 12/11, upload to Canvas by 12pm. NO LATE SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED.

Formatting: Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced, 1-inch margins

MLA style: heading, title, page numbers, parenthetical citations, Works Cited