Web Assignment Number Two: The Epic Hero
English 2322
Mr. Seiferth
It's time now for you to begin to explore the net and to compose your first essay on the general topic, the epic hero. For this assignment, you will need to have read Louise Cowan's essay, "The Epic as Cosmopoesis", Joseph Campbell's HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES (pp. 1-79) and Chapter Five of his discussions with Bill Moyers, JOSEPH CAMPBELL AND THE POWER OF MYTH The Jospeh Campbell Foundation. (We will view the actual conversation with Bill Moyers and Joseph Cambell in class.) In order to make this assignment relevant to your experiences, you will be asked to select a current film (one which you have already viewed) and discuss the hero in that film with salient comparisons to BEOWULF. In both cases, your evaluation criteria will be drawn from Cowan and Campbell. Since this paper will follow the "writing process" which we use at Palo Alto College, you will not be asked to submit a final draft right away; instead, we shall take the paper through "pre-writing," "shaping," two "drafts," "editing," and then, the final draft. You will be able to "broadcast" your drafts to your colleagues in the class and peer edit, that is, to receive and use suggestions by all of us in the class. This paper should reflect the structure discussed in class, i.e., the review of basic writing--see the www--and be submitted in standard, formal, written English.
In short, this paper will be a comparison essay in which you present and evaluate the works under discussion according to the criteria drawn from Cowan and Campbell. You will then illustrate your ideas with relevant and cogent illustrations drawn from the texts, the film and Beowulf.
You will find some great information in the following areas:On-Line Literary Resources, and A WWW Page Created by a Student at U.T. Austin.
You may also find of great interest the STAR WARS page since Campbell and George Lucas worked together on the mythological basis for the trilogy.
A WWW Page Devoted to STAR WARS At The University of Pennsylvania.
Be sure to support your observations with relevant
quotations taken from the texts. Check The MLA Guide to Research Papers for the appropriate documentation forms,
both print and electronic.
Review the various resources found on the Writing and Research pages.
You will find these very helpful.
The paper should be around five pages in length and may be submitted
either through e-mail and attachment or in hard copy. In either case, save
your work on disk or on paper; don't risk losing your hard work!
