Unit Eleven On Consigning Manuscripts to Floppy Discs And Archives to Oblivion

1. Unit ElevenOn Consigning Manuscripts to Floppy Discs And Archives to Oblivion By Willis E McNelly

2. Dictionary work • species: category of organism, a kind, variety, or type 种类，物种， 类型 • Advent: arrival, coming into being出现，来临 • Deplore：regret deeply , feel sorry for,谴责、反对，对…深表遗憾 • Wobbly：shaky, moves unsteadily from side to side • Wan: looks pale and tired (文学用语)苍白，憔悴的 • Memory bank: the storage unit of a computer • Typo: error in printed or typewritten matter打印或印刷错误

3. Flabby: feeble, weak, loose or soft, not firm松弛的、无力的、松软的 • Musty： having an odor suggesting of mould; smells stale and damp,有霉味的，发霉的 • Doodles: scribbling乱涂乱画之物 • Deeds: a written and signed paper that is an official record of an agreement, esp. an agreement concerning ownership of property (财产等)契约，证书

4. Exhortation: 规劝、劝诫、劝告（exhort） • Spew: flow out in large quantities like a stream喷出，喷发 • Dot-matrix printer: a printing device using a rectangular pattern of small dots to print characters矩阵式打印机 • Holograph: books or document written in the author’s own handwriting亲笔文件、书信等 • Immaculate：free from error无瑕疵的

5. About the title • On: about • Consign…to…: (a formal word) hand over…to …; to put …in a certain situation or position.将…托付给…，交给…;将…置于…处境或位置 • The sentence is an elliptical one.

6. Willis E.McNelly:the author • (1920- ),U.S teacher,editor, and author, received his M.A. degree from Loyola University in 1948 and his Ph.D from Northwestern University in 1957.Since 1968 he has distinguished himself as professor of English at California State University, Fullerton.

7. Background Knowledge • Some word processors or computers: (Wangs, IBMs, Apples,etc.) • Some word processing programs: Wordstar, Scriptsit, Apple writer programs,… • Introduction of computer technology and its development

8. Dr. An Wang(Feb. 7, 1920, Shanghai - Mar. 24, 1990, Boston) • He received his B.S. from Chiao Tung University in Shanghai in 1940 and his Ph.D. in applied physics from Harvard University in 1948. • In 1948 he invented the computer memory core, the most common device used for storing computer data before the invention of the integrated circuit (chip). IBM bought this patent for $500,000. • He founded Wang Laboratories in June 22, 1951 with $600. The firm began by making calculators and other electronic items. • In 1971 Wang Laboratories branched into word processors and computers, dominating the word processing market by the end of the decade. • In 1986 Wang employed 30,000 people and enjoyed $3 billion in sales. But with the advent of the personal computer, the company fell behind.

9. Dr. An Wang • I founded Wang Laboratories … to show that Chinese could excel at things other than running laundries and restaurants. • No matter how complicated a problem is, it usually can be reduced to a simple, comprehensible form which is often the best solution. • You have to risk failure to succeed. The important thing is not to make one single mistake that will jeopardize the future.

10. William Butler Yeats

11. William Butler Yeats(1865-1939) • Irish poet, dramatist and prose writer, one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th century. Yeats received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. • Some of his famous poems: • The Lake Isle of Innisfree; • The Second Coming; • Leda and the Swan; • Sailing To Byzantium

12. Among School Children Labour is blossoming or dancing where The body is not bruised to pleasure soul. Nor beauty born out of its own despair, Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil. O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer, Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole? O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?

13. 在学童中间 • 辛劳本身也就是开花、舞蹈， 只要躯体不取悦灵魂而自残， 美也并不产生于抱憾的懊恼， 迷糊的智慧也不出于灯昏夜阑。 栗树啊，根柢雄壮的花魁花宝， 你是叶子吗，花朵吗，还是株干？ 随音乐摇曳的身体啊，灼亮的眼神！ 我们怎能区分舞蹈与跳舞人？ 卞之琳 译

14. Among School Children - Theme • It creates a triumphant interaction between art and its creation • Man in the act of creation is drawn into the immortality of the creation, and the creation, although pure and perfect, must depend on the man. • The process is natural and entirely unforced. Therefore the two are one and interdependent.

15. W.B. Yeats and M. Gonne • William Butler Yeats,(1865-1939),Irish poet playwright, and patriot, is the greatest lyric poet in English of the early 20th century. In 1889, he met and fell in love with the fiery Irish patriot Maud Gonne, who figured prominently in many of the poems written in the latter part of Yeats’ career.

16. W. B. Yeats & Maud Gonne • Maud Gonne (1866-1953) ,Irish nationalist, was famed as the friend of Yeats. She dedicated her life to the cause of Irish independence, and engaged in constant political agitation against the British. She helped to found an Irish nationalistic movement (the Sinn Fein). She was a lifelong friend and source of inspiration of Yeats, but she refused his many offers of marriage.

17. In 1889 Yeats met his great love, Maud Gonne (1866-1953), an Irish actress and revolutionary who became a major landmark in the poet’s life and imagination. • From that moment, as he wrote, "the troubling of my life began." He fell in love with her, but his love was hopeless. Maud Gonne liked and admired him, but she was not in love with him. • Her passion was lavished upon Ireland; she was an Irish patriot, a rebel, and a rhetorician(演说家，修辞学家), commanding in voice and in person. In fact, she was a founder (1906) of Sinn Fein. When Yeats joined in the Irish nationalist cause, he did so partly from conviction, but mostly for love of Maud.

18. W. B. Yeats & Maud Gonne • In 1899 Yeats asked Maud Gonne to marry him, but she declined. • Four years later she married Major John MacBride, an Irish soldier who shared her feeling for Ireland and her hatred of English oppression. • In 1917 Yeats asked Iseult Gonne, Maud Gonne's daughter, to marry him. She refused. • Some weeks later he proposed to Miss George Hyde-Lees and was accepted; they were married in 1917. A daughter, Anne Butler Yeats, was born in 1919, and a son, William Michael Yeats, in 1921.

19. No Second Troy • Why should I blame her that she filled my days • With misery, or that she would of late • Have taught ignorant men most violent ways, • Or hurled the little streets upon the great, • Had they but courage equal to desire? • What could have made her peaceful with a mind • That nobleness made simple as a fire, • With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind • That is not natural in an age like this, • Being high and solitary and most stern? • Why, what could she have done, being what she is? • Was there another Troy for her to burn? • Maud Gonne’s marriage to Major John MacBride in 1903 inspired Yeats's poem 'No Second Troy'.

20. 没有第二个特洛伊 • 我有什么理由怪她使我痛苦， 说她近日里宁可把最暴烈的行动 教给那些无知的小人物， 让小巷冲上去同大街抗衡， 如果它们的勇气足以同欲望并肩？ 什么能使她平静，而心灵 依然高贵，纯净有如火焰， 她的美又如强弓拉得绷紧， 这绝非当今时代认为自然， 由于它深远、孤独而又清高。 啊，这般天性，又怎能希望她改换？ 难道还有一个特洛伊供她焚烧？

21. Edna St. Vincent Millay(1892-1950) • Millay, who was openly bisexual, was one of the most successful and respected poets in the U.S.. • With the frank and cynical love poetry of A Few Figs From Thistles in 1920 and Second April in 1921, Edna St. Vincent Millay was hailed as the voice of her generation, embodiment of the New Woman. • A Few Figs From Thistles drew much attention for its controversial descriptions of female sexuality and feminism.（Thistle is a wild plant with prickly leaves and purple flowers） • In 1923 her fourth volume of poems, The Harp Weaver, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

22. Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950): U.S.poet; and winner of 1923 Pulitzer Prize in poetry ; one of the most successful and respected poets and one of the most skilled writers of sonnets in the 20th century. She used traditional verse forms in the expression of simple, strong emotions. Her major efforts were devoted to lyric poetry in “A Few figs from Thistles”(1920), “Second April”(1921) and “the Ballad of the Harp Weaver”(1922).

23. A Few Figs from Thistles(1920) Study the “first fig” and try to work out its implication: My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But, oh, my foes, and, oh, my friends – It gives a lovely light.

24. First Fig • My candle burns at both ends;It will not last the night;But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends – It gives a lovely light! ---A Few Figs From Thistles • 我的蜡烛两头燃烧， 天亮之前就要熄灭； 可是呵，我的敌人，我的朋友 ── 烛光闪烁多么可爱！

25. Ray Bradbury and “Fahrenheit 451” • Ray Bradbury, the author of more than 500 published literary works, was born in Illinois, on August 22, 1920, an imaginative child prone to nightmares and frightening fantasies, which he later drew on for his writing. He began writing for 4 hours a day when he was 12 years old. And in 1943, he became a full-time writer. he often blends science fiction with social criticism and writes about the destructive tendency in humans to use technology at the expense of moral and aesthetic concerns.

26. Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 • Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian（反面乌托邦的） fiction novel which is set in a world where books are banned and critical thought is suppressed; the central character, Guy Montag, is employed as a "fireman". 451 degrees Fahrenheit is stated as "the temperature at which book-paper catches fire, and burns ...".

27. Fahrenheit 451 It’s a highly acclaimed story about Guy Montag who is a fireman who burns books in a futuristic American city. In Montag’s world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in this society do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Instead, they drive very fast, watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size sets, and listen to the empty radio programs.

28. When Montag realizes burning books has been a vicious plan to destroy human civilization, he escapes and finds a group of renegade（叛逆） intellectuals (“the Book People”). Together they search for survivors in this brainwashing world and try to rebuild civilization.(see reference) • Consider the last sentence in para. 3.

29. James Joyce(1882-1941) the man second only to William Shakespeare in terms of the command of English language; Irish novelist, playwright, and poet,transformed the traditional novel by a multitude of new methods and stands at the center of innovative modern literature. Ulysses (1922) : one of his masterpieces

30. Thomas Jefferson • Benjamin Franklin And his famous letter to president of Yale, Ezra Stiles (1790) (later published in Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin) • Ronald Reagan • Declaration of Independence • The constitution of the U.S.(Framed by George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, James Wilson, John Jay, Rufus King, Edmund Randolph, Gouverneur Morris, and Benjamin Franklin)

31. , third president of the United States (1801-1809) and author of the Declaration of Independence. He was one of the most brilliant individuals in history. His interests were boundless, and his accomplishments were great and varied. He was a philosopher, educator, naturalist, politician, scientist, architect, inventor, pioneer in scientific farming, musician, and writer, and he was the foremost spokesman for democracy of his day. Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826)

32. Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790) American printer, author, diplomat, philosopher, and scientist, whose many contributions to the cause of the American Revolution (1775-1783), and the newly formed federal government that followed, rank him among the country’s greatest statesmen. • Benjamin Franklin was a statesman and diplomat for the newly formed United States, as well as a prolific author and inventor. Franklin helped draft, and then signed, the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

33. Organization and development 1.Thesis: Manuscripts, those vital records of an author’s creative process, are an endangered species. (para. 1) 2.Point of view of the author: We should deplore the disappearance of manuscripts.(para.2) 3.Illustration: value of manuscripts of Yeats’ magnificent lyrics glowing with the power of his passion; manuscripts of Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451(paras 3-4)

34. Organization and Structure 4.A lot of manuscripts put together—archive, including memoranda, diaries, journals, first, second and third drafts (para.5) 5.Illustration: The significance and value of archive (paras. 6-8) 6.Summary and conclusion: manuscripts are our gift to our heritage for future generations. And writing and revising should be done on paper, not on a computer. (para.9)

35. Structure of the Text Para. 1 Introduction manuscripts Part 1 Para. 2, 3, 4 Body archives Part 2 Para. 5, 6, 7 Conclusion Para. 8, 9

36. Main Idea of Paras. 2 & 3, 4 • Manuscripts reveal the tremendous efforts and strong passion that writers pour into the creation of their works. • Manuscripts can faithfully record the whole process of a literary work — from its prototype to the finalized, published version.

37. Paragraph 4：Fahrenheit 451 • Fahrenheit 451 is developed out of a series of short stories which Bradbury wrote in the early 1950s. The Fireman Fire Burn, Fire Burn! The Hearth and the Salamander

38. Paragraph 4 • What does McNelly want to illustrate with this example? • Manuscripts can faithfully record the whole process of a literary work — from its prototype to the finalized, published version.

39. Fireman/firefighter • Novelette中篇小说 • Hearth: floor of a fireplace （壁炉的）炉床: • Salamander: A mythical creature, generally resembling a lizard, believed capable of living in or withstanding fire. 火蜥蜴，火蛇：一种传说中的动物，象蜥蜴，据说能生长于水中或抵御火 常用来比喻消防员

40. Paragraph 5 • How do you justify the use of “moreover” at the beginning of this paragraph? • It indicates furtherance, a shift from manuscripts to archives, to which they contribute.

41. Paragraph 7 • What similarity do you think McNelly has in mind when he uses the word “similarly” at the beginning of this paragraph? • The fascination hand-written letters from famous men and women hold is similar to that of manuscripts of famous writers.

42. Paragraph 8 • Comment on the rhetoric of this sentence: “Libraries preserve them, students learn from them, auctioneers cry them at fabulous prices, owners cherish them. And word processors totally eliminate them.” • Parallelism— repetition of four short, simple “subject + verb + object” structures to show the value of manuscripts to contrast with the effect word-processors have on them. This is highlighted by the sentence-initial “And”.

43. Questions for Discussion • What is the thesis of the text? Can you find any sentence(s) in the text to express the thesis? • How do you interpret the sentence “…beauty was born out of its own despair, and blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil” in para.2? The creation of beauty was the result of a painstaking process, so much so that sometimes writers simply lose hope; and the wisdom imbued in great works was the result of many sleepless nights.

44. Which paragraphs are devoted to the point that manuscripts reveal the tremendous efforts and strong passion that their writers pour into the creation of their works? • How do you understand the sentence: “How appropriate, even ironic,it might have been had his various drafts gone the way of the burning books and disappeared into the memory bank”?

45. Paraphrase: It would be appropriate and even ironic for such a science fiction writer like Bradbury to suffer, If his many drafts, having met with the same fate as the books that were burnt in his Fahrenheit 451, had gone out of sight completely simply because he stored the drafts in the computer’s memory bank. 在他的小说《华氏四百五十度》中，书籍令人痛惜地被烧毁， 如果他的书稿也遭到同一样的命运， 消失在存储器里，（如果他改用电脑写作）那会是多么适宜甚至讽刺（想想吧，一个科幻小说家遭到了跟自己书里描绘的情节一样的命运）！

46. What’s the point illustrated in para.4? • Comment of “And” in “Libraries preserve them,…And word processors totally eliminate them.”(in para.8) • Pick out the rhetorical questions and comment on their effect.

47. Two categories of manuscripts are mentioned in the text: • Literary manuscripts(paras. 2-4) and non-literary manuscripts (paras. 5-7). The literary type records the creative process of the artist, and it is more significant for literary studies and appreciation; the non-literary type reveals to us our past, and is more significant for historical studies.

48. Purpose of Writing • Expressing a strong stand against the use of word processors by authors because he believes that manuscripts contribute to a nation’s heritage while word-processing will deprive future generations of a valuable part of their cultural inheritance.

49. Language Points • …beauty was born out of its own despair (as William Butler Yeats put it) and blear-eyed wisdom out of mid-night oil…(in para. 2) the creation of beauty was the result of such a painstaking process so that writers sometimes may even lose hope; and the wisdom imbued in great works was the result of many sleepless nights. burn the mid-night oil: 挑灯夜战，加班加点工作 blear-eyed wisdom： (transferred epithet， 移就，一种修辞手法) wisdom that comes from hard work blear-eyed: (of eyes) blurred, seeing dimly, esp. because of tiredness,视线模糊，眼睛红肿，（blearily,睡眼惺忪）

50. Language Points • Edna St. Vincent Millay may have burned the candle at both ends and wondered at its lovely light, but her first drafts are treasures for future generations. (in para. 2) Edna St. Vincent Millay may have exhausted herself and worked hard day and night, and may have marveled at her success and inspiration, creation of beauty, but it is her first drafts that are more valuable for future generations. • Burn the candle at both ends: exhaust oneself by trying to do too many things, work hard day and night • Wondered at its lovely light: may have marveled and feel surprised at her success and inspiration, creation of beauty