Lesson 4 Professions for Women

Part I: pre-reading:

General introduction; Argumentation Opinion or central idea Demonstration Conclusion

Teaching aims

1.to analyze the structure of this argumentation 2.to appreciate the language features of Virgina Woolf 3. to learn the characteristics of Mordenist writers 4. to know something of the feminist movement (Background)

5. to understand the rhetorical devices: metaphor; antithesis; parallelism; repetition…

6. to learn some other language points

Virginia Adeline Woolf

The Author: Virginia Adeline Woolf (1882 - 1941) was an

English novelist and essayist, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century.

She was one of the leaders in the literary movement of modernism. This elite group also included Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot.

Quote

"Have you any notion how many books are written about women in the course of one year? Have you any notion how many are written by men? Are you aware that you are, perhaps, the most discussed animal in the universe?"

----Virginia A Woolf

Literature Background

Modernism as an artistic and cultural movement is generally music and literature emerging in the decades before 1914 as artists rebelled against late 19th century artistic traditions.

The modernist movement emerged in the mid-19th century in France and was rooted in the idea that "traditional" forms of art, literature, social organization and daily life had become outdated, and that it was therefore essential to sweep them aside and reinvent culture.

It encouraged the idea of re-examination of every aspect of existence, from commerce to philosophy, with the goal of finding that which was "holding back" progress, and replacing it with new, and therefore better, ways of reaching the same end.

Stream of consciousness

“Stream of consciousness” means a carefully modulated poetic flow. The author always describes the possibilities of moving between action and contemplation, between specific external events in time and delicate tracings of the flow of consciousness where the mind moved between retrospect and anticipation.

确切地说，意识流是心理学家们使用的一个短语。它是 19 世纪由美国实用主义哲学创始人、心理学家威廉 · 詹姆斯创造的，指人的意识活动持续流动的性质。詹姆斯认为，人类的思维活动并不是由一个一个分离的、孤立的部分组成，而是一条连续不断的、包含各种复杂的感觉和思想 " 流 " 。

Part II While reading

Language points study Literay apprecation

Language points--Para 1: In the profession of literature, the author

finds that there are fewer experiences peculiar for women than in other professions because many women writers before them have made the road smooth.

guiding me as I move forward material obstacles Spiritual/mental/psychological obstacles. Reputable: in a good repute; having a

good reputation; respectable

Language points

do battle with: fight against; phantom: a ghost or a specter; sth exists only in o

ne’s imagination The Angel in the House: The popular Victorian ima

ge of the ideal wife/woman came to be "the Angel in the House," who was expected to be devoted and submissive to her husband. The Angel was passive and powerless, meek, charming, graceful, sympathetic, self-sacrificing, pious, and above all—pure.

The phrase "Angel in the House" comes from the title of an immensely popular poem by Coventry Patmore, in which he holds his angel-wife up as a model for all women.

For Virginia Woolf, the repressive ideal of women represented by the Angel in the House was still so potent that she wrote, in 1931, "Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer."

torment: cause to suffer great pain in mind or body; to annoy. (n. torment/torment)

e.g. The knowledge of his guilt tormented him. as briefly as. draught: (A.E.) draft ( a current air in a room.)(fireplace is

warmer and more comfortable.) take credit to myself: 把功劳归于自己 She was given the credit for what I had done. 事情是我做的 , 她却受到称赞。 It’s used in the phrase `to your credit' in order to indicate an

achievement deserving praise turn upon: to suddenly attack someone without warning or tr

eat sb badly. have up: to take to court. (pass.)(have sb. up)

Inversion. She would have plucked the heart out of my writing: the conventional attitudes would have taken away

the essence of my writing. pluck: to pull out sharply. put pen to paper: to write sth. conciliate: to win the support or friendly feeling of; to do sth in order to end an argument or make som

eone feel less angry. ( 赢得好感；安抚，平息怒火 )

blunt: a. not sharp. (The knife is very blunt. )

b. speaking roughly and plainly without trying to be polite or to hide unpleasant facts. ( 直言不讳的，毫不客气的直言不讳的，毫不客气的 )

fling: to throw quickly with lots of force. despatch: a. to send to a place or for a partic

ular purpose. b. (euph.) to kill officially or by pla

n. befall: to happen to sb. as if by fate.

Para. 4 rid: get rid of. falsehood: an untrue statement,lie;lying. What is a woman? the identity and the role of women in the society. human skill: human knowledge, or judgment. 我认为我认为 , , 只有女性在人类知识所涉及的所有文艺和只有女性在人类知识所涉及的所有文艺和

专业领域真正表达自己的感情之后专业领域真正表达自己的感情之后 ,, 她们才会知道她们才会知道女性是什么女性是什么 ..

Para. 5

proceeds:(the money or profit gained from a sale,business)

lethargy: lazy state of mind; the state of sleepy or inactive.

disquiet: to make anxious. nose: to look closely and inquisitively. dart: move quickly or suddenly.

trance: a sleeplike condition of mind in which one does not notice the thing around.

sweep: to spread or move quickly. Unchecked: not controlled or prevent from h

appening. slumber: (lit.) to sleep. smash: a powerful blow. Metaphor.

Para 7

Formidable: a. very great and frightening, causing anxiety…

e.g. Her mother is a most formidable lady. b. difficult to defeat or deal with; e.g. They climbed the last part of the mount

ain in formidable conditions. ( 他们在恶劣条件下攀登山的顶峰． )

hitherto: until this time; up to now A room of one’s own: freedom or position in

the society. Metaphor Rent; decorated; furnished; shared room

terms: (pl.) conditions offered or accepted; way of expressing oneself;

be on good/friendly/bad/terms with sb: have a good/bad relationship with…

On (upon) …terms: under …conditions; Under the terms of agreement, Hong Kong r

eturned to China in 1997.

Part III Post reading

Conclusion of the lesson (metaphor in use) Key to exercises Task for discussion homework

Conclusion of the lesson

Literature task: Mordenism and “stream of consciousness”

Language features of the text; Using of the key words Figures of speech Homework and exercises: (see the text book)

Key to the exercises

2. those conventional attitudes would have taken away the most important part, i.e., the essence or core of my writing.

5. It will take a long time for women to rid themselves of false values and attitudes and to overcome the obstacles to telling the truth about their body and passions.

7. Through fighting against the Angel, through great labor and effort, you have gained a position or certain freedom in a society that has been up to now dominated by men.

Task for discussion

What professions are suitable for Chinese women in your mind? Why?

Homewrok: translation practices

It is simple enough to say that since books have classes fiction, biography, poetry—we should separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us. Yet few people ask from books what books can give us.

Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If we could banish all such preconception when we read, that would be an admirable beginning.

Do not dictate to your author; try to become him. Be his fellow worker and accomplice. If you hang back, and reserve and criticize at first, you are preventing yourself from getting the fullest possible value from what you read. But if you open your mind as widely as possible, then signs and hints of almost imperceptible fitness, from the twist and turn of the first sentences, will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other. Steep yourself in this, acquaint yourself with this, and soon you will find that your author is giving you, or attempting to give you, something far more definite.