Trends in Literature
Pamela Zoline’s “The Heat Death of the
Editorial Project (200 points)
(Adapted from University of Massachusetts’ Prof. Bob Crossley)
work is an important scholarly activity in all literary studies, and especially
so with texts of science fiction or that don’t have a canonical standing,
unlike some of the big canonical works (Romeo
and Juliet, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, etc.) This project is an
introduction to annotating texts for readers.
yourself part of a team of scholars contributing to an anthology. Your
job is to write an introduction to Pamela Zoline’s
short story and then decide what you feel needs explanation for your readers
who are reading the text for the first time. Your editor has asked you to do
Write an introduction to the text.
Choose 20 points that you feel are the most important for a first time
reader (without the guidance of fascinating end of the world class) to
comprehend the story. Footnote any terms or allusions that are likely to
be difficult, as well as any concepts that need explaining.
You may also use your annotations to explore some of the literary elements
for the story (i.e., structure, imagery, repetition, characterization,
symbolism, theme, metaphor, etc…).
Connect the significance of the research to the story. How does this fit
in and help us glean more from the story?
The total length of your project should be 5-7 pages double spaced.
You may decide what proportion to spend on the introduction and how much
attention should be given to each footnoted item. REMEMBER: sometimes
footnotes are longer than the actual piece cited!
DEEPER. You will see that there are 23 points already “highlighted” in
your copy. There were more, but the
Xerox did not copy them; DO NOT limit yourself to these terms. Most
of them are basic definitions. Use them as a guideline on what terms could
be explained but look deeper. Be creative in your literary analysis and
looks for obscure and unheard of points. In other words, if you find
another term of idea that you are not familiar with, you should
Please indicate the paragraph number from which each point your annotated in
your final project.
PLAGIARIZE! Your final annotations must include 20 footnotes. Each
footnote should provide enough explanation for the reader. This
information should be in your own words. NO COPY AND PASTE.
Please clearly number all footnotes and include the term. You may use the
numbers provided in your text. If you are adding others, clearly label the
paragraph number and term. (Ex. 2. Foraminifera: defining sentences…)
AND LABEL. Each term should begin a new paragraph. Each paragraph should
be labeled, like the Zoline story, by the number
of the paragraph from which the item comes. Pleas follow the chronology of
YOUR CITATIONS. Here’s a weird requirement: Please footnote all
footnotes with a proper citation. [see handout]
You will be graded on thoroughness, detail, and clarity.
over the story several times, annotating carefully each time.
the Internet, dictionaries, encyclopedias, mythology guides, etc.
in mind all the things you as a reader would like to understand as you