Sharwane Blagrove
ENG 410
Professor Silva
March 5, 2023
Materiality Draft
’S’’ by Doug Dorst and J.J Abrams evokes curiosity as you read it. This book has several parts to it that helps to somewhat understand it. This book is very engaging, and you cannot help but be mesmerized by the movable book features. The paratextual part of this book can be distracting. The uniqueness of the marginalia will be focused on. In addition to that the Ship of Thesus which is the main novel will be mentioned as it connects with the marginalia novel. “S” will be looked at in a unique way in terms of trying to find the purpose of this novel.
The ‘’S’’book is written by an imaginary author name V.M Strake which nobody seems to know. It was written in Czech and translated into English in 1949 by F.X. Caldeira. The entire story is a mystery. To make it even more complex to read are two college student name Eric Husch and Jennifer (Jen) Heyward uses the margin to create another book. They started out as just acquaintances trying to write in the book to show what they understood from the main story “Ship of Thesus” this seemed to belong to Eric in the first place but Jen got a hold of it and started the notes. This is where it all begun, they were able to unravel “S” based non their understanding of the novel. It begins to add more confusion to the reading as they would oftentimes starts to write about themselves. Making jokes at each other and asking personal question about each other.
The Margin of a book is one paratext that should be used to better understand the book in its entirety. The writing on the margin had changed over time. In the 19th century with library becoming more popular the writing on the margin of a book was seen as a destruction of a library property. It has now become unpopular as it is seen as something unethical. It is however done in some schools and college libraries. In the case of Jen and Eric they were more in a competition to see who understands the book more. Eric is a graduate student and so he shows off in most of his comments like he knows more than Jen. His comments are sometimes cynical, and he tries to be bossy and in control of the conversation. Jen is a undergraduate student and she tries to show Eric that she is just as smart. Eric wrote in pencil during the early readings of the text before he met Jen. The color of the pen made it clear who is writing what, this makes it easier to follow the conversation between the two students while paying attention to the novel itself. Eric writes with black ink pen and Jen writes with a blue ink pen. Eric writes in capitalized script while Jen writes in cursive this is an indication of their first meetings. The color of the ink began to change further in the chapters which in that Jen begun to use orange and Eric uses green this was after their relationship deepens. Then the color changed again to Jen using purple while Eric uses red ink this was after they met. Then each color was black in the final set of notes after they moved to Prague.
All the notes between them were very intriguing, at one point you might be eager to just read their story and forget about the main story but then their personal story started to get confusing then it is tempting to lead one in the direction of just focusing on the novel itself. The margin has enough space to create all that story thus leaving us with a novel within a novel.
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Peer: Sharwane
Reviewer: Diamond
Argument:
There isn’t a clear argument but it is clear what your going be looking at as you state in your first paragraph but what makes S so unique that it can help find the purpose of this novel what is the purpose. You raise a lot of interesting points just need to be elaborated more. There isn’t a clear thesis statement, just a generalized conversation about important facts about S and Jen and Erica’s relationship . The paragraph that needs more attention to argumentation is paragraph three in your introduction when you state the paratextual part of the book can be distracting and in paragraph three you contradict that by stating “ the margin of a book is one paratext that should be used to better understand the book in its entirety .” Although there is no clear argument your last paragraph can expand and lay out a clear cohesive thesis . “The margin has enough space create all that story thus leaving us with a novel within an novel .” What does this tell you about materiality and content ?
Textual Evidence:
There aren’t any direct quotes well none I can identify. There seems to be a conversation around the quotes you can potentially use as you reference the marginal notes of Jen and Eric often but you don’t specifically quote anything from the inner or outer story .
External sources:
I think you are talking about an article we had for additional reading “Narrating Selves Amid Library Shelves’ ‘ when you talk about the bary library and in the 19th century marginal notes becoming more common but I don’t see any external sources quoted nore talk about . Maybe consider an article about the two stories and people’s views on if Jen and Eric’s story or the S. story is more significant than the other and if this takes away from the content and how it affects materiality . Just a suggestion keep the great ideas flowing.
Feedback :
You summarize the outer text of Jen and Eric more and focus on their relationship more specifically however the lack of a summary of the inner text S. kind of dishmishes what point you are trying to get across.
It seems you are more interested in breaking down the outer text but you can support your statements such as how you describe Eric and Jen “ are more competitive to see who understands the book more” and I will ask you why ? There are some great marginal notes you can quote from here.
The essay contains a clear and argumentative thesis statement. The report asserts that the marginalia in S’ by Doug Dorst and J.J Abrams is a significant paratextual element that aids in understanding the novel. The paper employs textual evidence to support the argument, including changes in ink color and handwriting styles used by the two main characters in the margin notes. Each paragraph contributes to the central idea, with the most effective one discussing the history of writing in book margins. The paragraph that reads the strongest regarding the main argument is the paragraph on the uniqueness of the marginalia, discussing how the marginalia is used to create a novel within a novel and adding complexity to the reading experience, directly supporting the thesis statement. However, the paragraph on the history of writing in book margins requires more attention and analysis. To improve this paragraph, the writer should provide more specific examples of how the history of writing in book margins relates to the marginalia in “S” and how it adds to the novel’s purpose.
Textual evidence
The paper applies quotes to the marginalia to enhance explicit understanding of the novel. While direct excerpts and paraphrasing from the novel are used, more external sources could strengthen the argument. For instance, the author cites specific sources and provides examples of how marginalia has been viewed throughout history.
External sources
I don’t see any referenced sources, should find sources that connect to the book and incorporate it in your paper.
Feedback
To improve the essay, you should provide more analysis of the marginalia’s impact and incorporate additional external sources.
1 Argument:
I don’t think the thesis is clear here. The bulk of the paper is either your opinion about the experience or summarization of the book/marginalia. Consider making a more well defined argument.
The paragraphs don’t seem to be tied in to any central point and seem somewhat independent of each other.
You started off paragraph 3 well, but veered off the topic later on in the paragraph.
Paragraph 2 seems just like summarization. You might want to consider using this paragraph to develop your argument a bit.
2 Textual Evidence:
There was no direct textual evidence in this paper.
3 External Sources:
There were no identifiable external sources used in this paper.
4 Feedback: It seems that your paper is in the early stages, which is understandable. 2 points to consider are:
You may want to consider coming up with a more clearly defined thesis.
Instead of summarization, consider adding textual evidence and tying that back to your thesis.
Sharwane,
As your peers state above, it seems that you’re still in early stages of the paper. There isn’t yet a clear thesis or argument about the elements you mention. Pay special attention to Diamond’s review here, as she mentions a lot of useful questions for you to consider. Be sure to also give yourself time to revise for sentence structure, looking in particular for issues with fragments, passive voice, and tense shifts.