Academia as a vocation. Thoughts on teaching, scholarship, and the other things that the privilege of being an academic affords the ability to think about. I also use this blog when I teach as a central repository of stuff related to various courses, so you'll find some of that if you browse here too.
21.5.12
S/S/F Summer 2012: Embassytown
Here is a place for people to post their questions for the class discussion of Embassytown as comments.
I haven't quite finished the book at this point yet and I think my most pressing questions will probably be answered. That said, the entire existence of this special Ambassador question raises interesting questions. Should we focus more on the creation, or, in a sense, manufacturing of Ambassadors? Would it make them more successful in our global system? Also, compare and contrast the role of the Ambassador in Embassytown with the roles of the Ambassador today.
Communication have a sender and a receiver of a certain message- and a message is a way of representing an idea. If symbolism cannot be used in your communication, doesn't this make Language something different entirely?
Is the way that the Ariekei get addicted to words a criticism of religion? The author is, after all, a marxist, and may very well have the opinion that religion is simply an opiate for the masses.
4 comments:
I haven't quite finished the book at this point yet and I think my most pressing questions will probably be answered. That said, the entire existence of this special Ambassador question raises interesting questions. Should we focus more on the creation, or, in a sense, manufacturing of Ambassadors? Would it make them more successful in our global system? Also, compare and contrast the role of the Ambassador in Embassytown with the roles of the Ambassador today.
Communication have a sender and a receiver of a certain message- and a message is a way of representing an idea. If symbolism cannot be used in your communication, doesn't this make Language something different entirely?
My question is really simple, and it's been bugging me for a while: Are the ambassadors human?
Is the way that the Ariekei get addicted to words a criticism of religion? The author is, after all, a marxist, and may very well have the opinion that religion is simply an opiate for the masses.
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