As promised, but much later than I’d hoped, here are some ideas for our “play” unit group exercise, in which we’ll assume roles and “play” in and around a slim novel of our collective choice. Please use the link below to enter your preferences. But first, here are the finalists. All four are fairly slim, fast reads, which was Priority One:

The Awakening:

turn-of-the-century novel by Kate Chopin, a pioneer of women’s fiction in the US. The plot relates the story of Edna Pontellier, a genteel married woman in South Lousiana, who breaks free of her conventional social role in all sorts of ways. It doesn’t end well for her.
Why it would be fun: scandalous at the time, revived in the 70s in “second wave” of feminism, lively plot/characters/setting. And it’s in public domain, so cheap/fast to get.

The Bluest Eye:

Toni Morrison’s first novel, published in 1970s and set in 1940 or so. Traces the story of the Black community in a small industrial town in OH, focusing on the travails of Pecola, a vulnerable poor Black girl who yearns for “blue eyes” and thus is subjected to the era’s tacit elevation of “white beauty.”
Why it would be fun: well, not exactly fun in term of the content, but Morrison was a young mother when she wrote the novel, which would be fun to explore. In addition to the panoply of vivid characters, one could play a “second wave” feminist reviewer, a member of the Black Arts movement, or perhaps secondary-school teacher or ordinary school-age reader of the text. Not pub domain, but very cheap and widely available.

Benito Cereno:

Melville’s masterful novella whose protagonist, the cheerful-yet-clueless Amasa Delano, happens upon a strange ship people with mostly enslaved people and a skeleton crew of whites. Sloooowly he comes to realize that the enslaved people have taken over the ship. The drama is in the amazingly distorted vision Delano possesses, which makes him blind to the Black agency that’s in front of his nose.
Why it would be fun: hugely influential text with lots of great characters to play. Melville has a fascinating biography himself, and he based it on a real incident, so one could play the “real” Amasa Delano. Rich reception history, so one could play a critic or editor or teacher. Pub domain: lots of free options, including one on CUNY’s Manifold instance.

The Great Gatsby:

you probably know it, but it’s Nick Carraway’s narrative of Jay Gatz/Gatsby’s stunning rise and fall amid the backdrop of Jazz Age NYC.
Why it would be fun: Bathtub gin, gangsters, racism, and flappers: what’s not to like? One could play Fitzgerald, one of many characters, one of the many significant critics or adapters of the text (Baz Luhrman, director of a recent film version, or the Elevator Repair Service’s production of GATZ, a nearly verbatim adaptation for the stage).

To get a sense of how the game looks, you can see a prior DH 720s crack at two Nella Larsen novellas here. And here’s some honors English students at Hunter “playing” a collection of stories from the African-American writer Charles Chesnutt. From the splash pages, click on GAMES to access the actual play for both projects. It’s a bit hard to “read” someone else’s game, since it’s in backwards order and really is more process- than product-oriented. But at least you can check out the interface and get a feel.

Tonight, we’ll finalize what texts and how many groups, and we’ll also try to quickly rough in roles as much as possible. Then you’ll create your character page (here’s an example) and make your first move for next week, which will require some background reading. I’ll hack together some resources for research once I know what text/s we’re playing.

Here’s the Google Form to help us rough in the project: takes one minute only!