Grimmelshausen, Adventures of a Simpleton, 175-245.
13:30 tutorial leaders: Tony Carlin, Lindsay Dennis
14:30 tutorial leaders: Zina Burmatoff, Ryan Sikma
Tutorial leaders: Your job is to lead a class discussion of today's reading. Our final section of The Adventures of a Simpleton (Simplicissimus) takes us to France, Russia, on a pilgrimage to Einsiedeln (Switzerland), and back to the Spessart forest; introduces us to marauding and garrison duty; and gives us a glimpse of a supposedly common effect of the Thirty Years War: an uninhabited village. (Remember our discussions of the destructiveness of the War.) In the course of the unfolding of Simplex's life, we read the life stories of two associates from the days of the siege of Magdeburg. At the end of the novel, we arrive safely (?) in the Germany of the Peace of Westphalia.
You could get us to make sense of Simplex's comings and goings and to integrate the assigned reading (and the entire novel) into the events of the War and broader themes of historical analysis. Is this a novel about the War or is the War simply the author's pretext for transmitting his message, whatever that may be?
By leading a discussion I do not mean make a presentation. You need to think of ways of getting your classmates to address the essential facts and larger themes of the reading. You may do this however you wish (split the class into groups, organize a debate or game, direct our attention to specific passges in the chapter, etc.), but I expect that you will proceed by asking questions in one form or another.
You should be able to depend on your classmates' cooperation. They know what your assignment is, and they should prepare themselves accordingly to make sure that they understand the material and to support you.
At the end of class, please submit a typed plan for the assignemnt, e.g. the questions you devise and where you think they should lead the discussion.
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