1 頁 (共 1 頁)

6/19(Tue.) Disgrace (Host:Felicia)

發表於 : 週三 6月 06, 2018 4:10 pm
Felicia.Tong
Hi everyone, this is Felicia. I will be the host on June 19th. Almost two weeks before, an advance announcement was released to tell you that I plan to discuss a novel, Disgrace. On purpose, intentionally, not accidentally, I did it because I thought maybe someone would like to read the book through this chance and I didn’t want to be a nerdy spoiler to open the jack-o-lantern before you tried to forage any information of this novel or finished the reading.

In my own terms, I summarized the novel and the only thing you have to do is to put the following three characters in your mind and you can join the discussion. It’s very simple.

1. David: A white college professor instructs 19th century Romanticism in Literature. He is rather a sex maniac and indulges in complicated relationships with prostitute, secretary, students, and so forth. Of course, he has divorced.
2. Lucy: She is a 25-year-old lesbian and David’s only child, who lives in the country on the farm. Her personality is tepid but forward-looking.
3. Bev Shaw: From David’s first impression is a dumpy, bustling little woman with black freckles, close-cropped, wiry hair, and no neck. She works at a clinic for dog’s euthanasia and after David’s arrival she becomes David’s sex partner.


The Summary of Disgrace:
After a scandal of sex harassment, David was suspended by the university and to escape from the spiritual pressure and seek for some tranquility, he moved to the countryside and lived with his daughter. One day, three black men intruded into their house and raped Lucy. David was beaten and tied up to listen to the brutal process. After this disaster, Lucy asked her father don’t the police the true version of the incident. Day after day, Lucy found she was pregnant and decided to give birth to the babe even though she didn’t know who the father would be. Another day, Lucy told David that in order to be protected she would marry to an old black man who used to be her worker on the farm. No matter how hard David tried to persuade Lucy, she still insisted on taking those painful burdens to stay here. As for David, after his arrival in the county, he went to do clean job at the dog’s clinic for euthanasia as a “dog man”. He felt his life was suddenly turned from white to black. Not only his career but also his sexual quality was downgraded to the lowest rank.


Session One: Lucy
1. If you were Lucy, will you miscarry the baby or give birth to? Why? If you have to stay in the country where people have established their own social mechanism, which is sheerly different from the city. What do you think it would be? What was Lucy afraid of or consideration?
2. In your opinion, what do you think this novel called Disgrace? Please point out how disgraceful Lucy suffered.
3. What do you think about the black men to Lucy? What do they stand for? Any metaphors?
4. Please analyze Lucy’s reaction and personality as possible as you can.
5. In the novel, Coetzee uses a lot of connotations of dog. Could you compare the plots with the connotations?
6. What kind of intention dose the author try to deliver to the readers you think?

Session Two: David
1. If you were David, what would you do? Is there a better way to cope with the misery? Will you react as the same as David? Why?
2. How would you adjust your mood if your daughter was raped?
3. Is it acceptable if your daughter wants to marry a guy who is different color? Asian, Westerners are maybe okay. How about black people? Is it also okay for you? If not, why? If yes, why?
4. Please make some comment about David. What is exactly his personality? What is he looking for from those women?
5. After discussion, are you interested in reading Disgrace? Why?

Update: 2018/6/18
********************************************************************************************************************************************
Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements ********************************************************************************************************************************************
聚會日期:列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間:當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期二聚會地點:丹堤濟南店
地址、電話:台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站:板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法:出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後,沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘,到了濟南路口,左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
最低消費: 80 元


注意事項:
1. 文章是否需要列印請自行斟酌,但與會者請務必自行列印 Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請先看過影片或閱讀過文章,並仔細想過所有的問題,謝謝合作!

給新朋友的話:
1. 請事先準備 2~3 分鐘的英語自我介紹;會議結束前可能會請你發表 1~2 分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題,並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行,參加者應具備中等英語會話能力,對任一討論問題,能夠以 5 到 10 句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前,可以先來觀摩三次,觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交終身會費 NT$1,000。

Re: 6/19(Tue.) Disgrace (Host:Felicia)

發表於 : 週六 6月 09, 2018 10:15 am
Kooper
As an amateur part-time undisciplined novel reader, I read at a snail's pace and so it is fat chance for me to finish the one in 10 days...

Luckily, there is a movie adapted from the book, through which we might get a quick picture of the story. Below is its trailer.



You may also find some book reviews and computerized audio books about the book on the YouTube.

Re: 6/19(Tue.) Disgrace (Host:Felicia)

發表於 : 週六 6月 09, 2018 11:42 am
Rock
This book must be a master piece with the prizes and the readers' engagement. Good job, Felicia.

Google helped me find this useful website:
https://www.shmoop.com/disgrace-coetzee/summary.html

There are summaries, and questions for discussion, too.

Re: 6/19(Tue.) Disgrace (Host:Felicia)

發表於 : 週日 6月 17, 2018 5:05 pm
Felicia.Tong
Kooper and Rock,

Thanks for your warm reminder. I did the second update to dismantle half part of the novel and will do the third update before Tuesday's discussion.

Re: 6/19(Tue.) Disgrace (Host:Felicia)

發表於 : 週一 6月 18, 2018 8:21 pm
Rock
Felicia.Tong 寫: 2. How would you adjust your mood if your daughter was raped.
3. Is it acceptable if your daughter want to marry a guy who is different color? Asian, Westerners are maybe okay. How about black people?...
Question No.2 is difficult. If it's OK by my daughter, I would try to follow that raper, attack him, cut it off, feed it to a dog, and surrender myself to the police.

Question No.3 is easy. As a protector, it's not up to me to tell my princess her favor. Therefore I accept a person of any color, both gender, short or tall. As long as he/she is a decent one.

(When I woke up, I found out that I don't have a daughter....)

Re: 6/19(Tue.) Disgrace (Host:Felicia)

發表於 : 週四 6月 21, 2018 9:28 am
Kooper
Attendees(23): Amy, Anne, Devry, Felicia(Host), Georgia, John, Joseph Yu, Ken, Kooper, Luis, Lulu, Miller, Momo, Rock, Ryan Hsu, Ryu, Sally, Sherry, Shirley, Steve, Tom, Wen-han, Yvonne