WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF ART ? INTRODUCTION TO THE ART OF SHORT STORIES

A replica of Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 “Fountain”

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Get out your notebooks! Take 5 minutes to write a short letter to Mr. Duchamp. Tell him what you think about “Fountain.” Start your letter with “Dear Mr. Duchamp,” Use some of these sentence starters to help you write: I think ‘Fountain’ (is/is not) art because… My reaction to ‘Fountain’ was… I think you wanted “Fountain” to mean… R E A D Y ?

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS: RL.10—By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories… W.10—Write routinely…for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. L.3—Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions…and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

THE “REAL WORLD” QUESTIONS FOR TODAY: What is the purpose of art? What is our role in experiencing art? (and how does it apply to short stories?)

DEFAMILIARIZATION Here’s how it works: Over time, we become familiar with the world around us and stop noticing things. Art forces us to see the familiar in a new way… to make it unfamiliar How is this true in Photography? Sculpture? Paintings? Video games? Literature?

HOW DO WE FIND MEANING IN STORIES? PLOT is what happens in the story THEME is what the story is “dealing with.” (racism, class systems, love, loss, etc…) MEANING is your individual experience with the plot and theme! Let’s use a Venn Diagram to visualize it…

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

YEAH, BUT HOW DO WE DO IT? First, we need to understand the plot of the story to discover its themes, then we can explore what it might mean. We’ll use a technique called a “Somebody/Wanted/But/So” chart. SOMEBODYWANTEDBUTSO Who is the character? What does he/she want in the story? What tried to keep them from getting it? So how did he/she get past the thing that tried to stop them?

SELF-REFLECTION: How many of you feel like you have a better understanding of the purpose of art? What is a tool that can be used to summarize a story and discover its plot and themes? From 1-5, How do you feel about using a SWBS to generate your own story ideas? 1—I have no idea 3—I think I’ve got it 5—I could teach some- one else to do it!

A LOOK AHEAD…  Reading some short stories  Writing a short story  Tomorrow will be a brainstorming day.  You will be creating a bunch of SWBSs for possible stories of your own.  Be thinking about stories you might want to tell, either from your real life (nonfiction) or from your imagination (fiction).

IN THE TIME WE HAVE LEFT… Create a SWBS chart for your first story idea SOMEBODY = You WANTED = Something you want but can’t have BUT = What keeps you from doing it or getting it? SO = How did it resolve? (Or make up your own fictional ending!)