Prepping for Lit Crit in 2011
By Mark Bernier, Literary Criticism State Contest Director | Monday, February 07, 2011 9:22 AM
The district and region meets are just down the road, and I trust that the invitational meets are serving as good preparation. The calendar appears crowded with opportunity even if the weather (and the economy) might be interfering a bit.
Living with the Reading List has its effects; some, I hope, are short-term. I recently dreamed about Lizzie coming upon Yank in a greenhouse, the image of which is permanently burned into my imagination's retina. The Omphalian oracle positioned among "last year's" Erewhonian statues doesn't haunt me, perhaps because New Zealand, even in my dream world, is so beautiful. So it is that I hope that you are enjoying Austen's invitation into Society and O'Neill's thrusting you into the caged world of the working class, as well as Roethke's beckoning you along the recursive path that is the breadth of his lifetime of experience.
Good luck at each stage of the season!
The authority for the terms and concepts found in Part 1 of the 2011 Literary Criticism season is the Harmon-Holman Handbook to Literature, eighth, ninth and 10th editions. The differences as they apply to the contest are limited to the prize lists in the appendices of each edition. If your campus circumstances dictate use of the eighth or the ninth edition, be certain to supplement the Nobel Prize and the Pulitzer Prize lists to match the coverage found in the 10th: Nobel up to 2004 and Pulitzers up to 2005. The 2011 Literary Criticism Reading List, as published, indicates that the 11th edition is the authority (in contrast to what is printed in the current C&CR). The actual wording for items for both Parts 2 and 3 will be drawn from the 11th; however, none of the items, including those covering the prize lists will be found only in the 11th and not in the other editions.
I value the time that the coaches and the teams spend annotating and otherwise making serviceable any recent edition, and I'll endeavor to make certain that the information tested is available for study in every edition, eighth through 11th. We will probably move on to the 11th for the 2012 season. The 2012 Reading List will be announced very soon. (How 'bout a Shakespeare comedy?)
Please keep the questions and comments coming my way.