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Literature 100:
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Section One;
Registration #41460 |
“The private person who squares his accounts with reality in his
office demands that the interior be maintained in his illusions. … From this springs the phantasmagorias of the
interior. For the private individual
the private environment represents the universe. In it he gathers remote places and the past. His drawing room is a box in the world
theater.”
—
Walter Benjamin, “
Course Description:
Reading
Literature 100 is a class in which you will
explore a wide variety of literature — novels, short stories, poetry, and drama
— ranging in period from the fifteenth-century to the present and encompassing
authors from around the world. The aim
is to provide a general introduction to literature, including an examination of
the major literary periods, movements, and genres. By the end of the course, you will have surveyed representative
works written in English, honed your interpretative skills, familiarized
yourself with literary conventions, and learned to think critically and
carefully about those conventions.
Whether discussing literature or world events, we will attempt to expand
rather than confine our engagement with the material, ultimately seeing how
literature offers a means to (re)envision and hopefully to (re)create the
material world in which we all live.
Required
Texts
The following books (one anthology and one novel) are available at Ned’s
bookstore — http://www.nedsbooks.com/emu/;
483-6400;
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v
Literature: An
Introduction to Reading and Writing,
edited by Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs, Compact 2nd Edition (Prentice
Hall, 2002; ISBN #0130978027)
v
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
(Penguin Signet Classic, 2000; ISBN #0451527712)
Make sure to get the same editions pictured and listed
above; otherwise, the differing page numbers will make it difficult, if not impossible,
for you to follow along with class discussions. Nothing is more vital for success in this class than keeping up
with, and actively engaging in, the daily reading assignments and class
discussions.
Many other required texts are located in the Halle
Library’s Electronic Reserve: http://reserves.emich.edu/. (Contact another student or myself if you
forget the password.) If you experience
difficulty viewing these texts on your computer, see the link “Problems viewing
PDF or other file formats? Read
this!” You may need to download small
versions applications (Adobe, MS Word, etc.) in order to open them. It is best to print out the Electronic
Reserve materials in one sitting in advance from the computers on the first
floor of the
Make sure to bring a copy of each text that we will be
discussing to class. You
will need to have read the assigned material, and have it on hand, when I call
on you in class or when we do group work, which will be often. There will also be periodic quizzes.
Grading
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20% |
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Daily
Responses, Quizzes, Poetry
Presentation, |
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25% |
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Examination
#1: The Novel & Short Story |
Monday,
July 19
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30% |
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Examination
#2: Poetry & Drama |
Tuesday,
August 17
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25% |
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Five-Page
Critical Essay |
Thursday,
August 19
( |
The participation grade, largely based on responses,
quizzes, and the poetry presentation, is a considerable portion of your final
grade — 20% — so keep up with the reading and response assignments and make your
voice heard in class. Late assignments
are marked down only minimally, but they must be turned in within a week of the
initial due date. Your total
participation points will be averaged, put on a fair grading curve, and then
bumped up or down slightly depending on how actively you engage in class
discussions.
The exams will consist only of
essay questions. The first exam will
have one question on the novel and another on short fiction; the second exam
will have one question on poetry and another on drama. You will be able refer to an outline during
the exams, but not to the texts themselves.
The critical essay will be given
two grades — one for the quality of the theme and one for the quality of the writing
— which will be averaged together equally for a final grade.
Attendance
Because this class primarily
consists of reading and discussion — rather than facts, figures, or
memorization — attendance is crucial.
You may be absent four times without penalty. Each absence after that will result in a
reduction of your final grade by one-third the letter grade: that is, the fifth
class missed will turn a final grade of an A into an A-; the sixth, into a B+;
and so on. The four absences are for
emergencies, so if you ditch the class four times, do not expect a reprieve
from the rule if you become ill or have other extenuating circumstances towards
the end of the semester.
Above all, make sure to withdraw
from the course if you find that you cannot attend class regularly or fall too
far behind in the reading. Aside from
the grade reduction, missing classes will hinder your ability to do the
assignments properly and promptly.
Likewise, even though there will be no penalty for lateness, it can have
several undesirable consequences: you may miss crucial information (such as the
extension of a deadline) often covered in the first ten minutes of class and,
of course, you will likely distract other students and myself while entering
the room. If you are late, it is your
responsibility to ensure that you have not been marked absent. If you are absent from class, contact
another student who can fill you in on missed work before contacting me.
In the unlikely event that you
experience an emergency of any kind at the end of the semester (a death in the
family, lost limb, prison term, &c.), I will go out of my way to help in
any way I can, including giving you an incomplete, supposing that you document
the situation in some fashion and have otherwise kept up with the assignments,
attended class regularly, and finished a majority of the course.
Academic Dishonesty
Any academic dishonesty will
result in a failing, zero-percent grade for the assignment. Thus, if you plagiarize on the essay, you
can expect, at most, to receive a C (or 75%) for your final grade, supposing
that you did everything else in the class perfectly. Similarly, if you
cheat on the second exam, you can expect at most to receive a C- (or 70%),
again supposing that
you did everything else perfectly.
Plagiarism is a very serious
offense against the Code of Student Conduct.
According to Funk and Wagnalls’ New Standard Dictionary (1921),
plagiarism is the “act of plagiarizing or appropriating the ideas, writings, or
inventions of another without due acknowledgment; specifically, the stealing of
passages either for word or in substance, from the writings of another and
publishing them as one’s own.” The
general rule is that if you use three or more words of another writer in a row
without enclosing those words in quotation marks and acknowledging your source,
you are guilty of plagiarism.
With the internet, plagiarism is
quite easy and tempting to do; however, plagiarism is also that much more easy
to catch and document, so do not even think about doing it in this class or
elsewhere. Note: Turning in a paper
that you wrote for another class as an essay for this class, i.e. recycling the
same words for double credit, also constitutes academic dishonesty at EMU.
Schedule
Section
One: The Novel
Monday, June 28: Student Introductions;
Introduction to Literature 100; Class Itinerary; Selection from Adrienne Rich,
“When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision”
Homework: Review Syllabus (write down any questions that you have);
Get Books; Read Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing
(1-3); Read Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (iii-27), including the Forward,
Author’s Introduction, and Preface
Tuesday, June 29: Discuss Approaches to Literature
and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; Groupwork on Critical Approaches to
Literature (Literature, 1309-21)
Homework: Read Literature (57-61); Read Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
(28-77)
Thursday, July 1: Discuss Elements of Fiction and
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; Watch and discuss James Whale’s film
adaptation of Frankenstein (1931); Begin watching Kenneth
Branagh’s film adaptation, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)
Homework: Read Literature (61-69);
Read Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (78-152)
Monday, July 5:
Tuesday, July 6: Watch and Discuss Branagh’s Mary
Shelley’s Frankenstein
Homework: Read Literature (98-104); Finish Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
(153-198); Begin Groupwork on Frankenstein
Thursday, July 8: Discuss Literary Plot, Form, and
Structure; Discuss Film Adaptations of Frankenstein; Groupwork on Frankenstein
Homework: Read Literature (135-42, 192-202); Read Kate
Chopin, “The Story of an Hour,” Literature (295-97); Read Michael Herr,
“Dispatches” (200-208) and Ambrose Bierce,
“
Section
Two: The Short Story
Monday, July 12: Discuss Character and Point of
View; Watch filmic representations of Chopin; Discuss Chopin, Herr, and Bierce
Homework: Read Literature (238-43, 288-95); Read Charlotte
Perkins Gilman, “Yellow Wallpaper,” Literature (431-41); Read James Baldwin’s
“Sonny’s Blues” (86-122), available in the Electronic Reserves: http://reserves.emich.edu/. Bring copies of ER materials to class.
Tuesday, July 13: Discuss Setting, Style; Discuss
Gilman and Baldwin; Debate on “Yellow Wallpaper” and “Sonny’s Blues”
Homework: Read Literature (326-32); Review the short stories
that we have read so far and find examples of each of the following literary
devices: symbolism, allegory, and allusion.
You will turn in this assignment, so write your findings down as you
proceed.
Thursday, July 15: Discuss Symbolism, Allegory, and
Allusion; Review for Exam One (Fiction: Novel and Short Story)
Homework: Prepare outlines for Exam One. Optional: Read “Taking Examinations on Literature,” Literature
(1324-34)
Monday, July 19: Exam One (Fiction) — The Novel and Short
Story
Homework: Read Literature (451,456-58, 480-87); Read Langston
Hughes, “Harlem,” Literature (546) and T. S. Eliot’s “Preludes”
(518-19); Read Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” (1 pg.), Wallace Stevens, “The Idea of
Order at Key West” (1 pg.), Sharon Olds, “The Solution” (1 pg.), and Robert
Creeley’s “Oh Max” (2 pgs.), each available in the Electronic Reserves: http://reserves.emich.edu/. Bring copies of all ER materials to class.
Section
Three: Poetry
Tuesday, July 20: Discuss the Difference Between
Sound and Text; Poetry on Video (Plath, Creeley, Eliot, Hughes, Stevens, Olds)
Homework: Read Literature (506-508, 534-542); Read e. e. cummings,
“next to of course god america I,” Literature (492), William
Shakespeare, “Sonnet 18” (551); Dylan Thomas, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good
Night” (626); Read Edna St. Vincent Millay, “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed” (1
pg.), Adrienne Rich, “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” (1 pg.), and Dorothy Parker,
“Résumé” (1 pg.), each available in the Electronic Reserves: http://reserves.emich.edu/. Bring copies of all ER materials to class.
Thursday, July 22: Discuss what to think about when
you think about poetry; Audio selections from the Caedmon Poetry Collection
(Yeats, Thomas, Sandburg, cummings, Moore, Stein, Plath, Atwood); Groupwork on
Poetry
Homework: Select a poem from the anthology to discuss for Poetry
Presentation, turning in a list of four poems in the order that you desire to
present on them; Read Literature (593-604, 639-47); Read William Blake,
“The Tiger,” Literature (514-15), Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”
(516-17), Ray Durem, “I Know I’m Not Sufficiently Obscure” (517-18), and Emily
Dickenson, “Tell All the Truth But Tell It Slant” (721); Read Allen Ginsberg,
“Howl” (4 pgs.), available in the Electronic Reserves: http://reserves.emich.edu/. Bring copies of all ER materials to class.
Monday, July 26: Discuss Poetry and Figurative
Language; Poets on Video (Ginsberg, Ginsberg reads Blake, Dickenson)
Homework: Work on Poetry Presentation; Begin Homework due August 3;
Start writing the critical essay (perhaps on your chosen poem), due Aug. 19.
Tuesday, July 27 — Monday, August
2: Poetry
Presentations
Homework: 1) Work on Poetry Presentation; 2) Start writing the
critical essay (perhaps on your chosen poem), due Aug. 19; 3) Begin Homework
(due Tuesday,
August 3): Read Literature (801-13, 819-20); Read Aristophanes’ Lysistrata
(43 pgs.), available in the Electronic Reserves: http://reserves.emich.edu/. Bring a copy to class.
Section
Four: Drama
Tuesday, August 3: Discuss Drama, Dramatic
Conventions, and Lysistrata
Homework: Read Literature (1027-36); Prepare for Debate on Lysistrata
Thursday, August 5: Discuss the conventions of
comedy; Debate on Lysistrata
Homework: Read Literature (850-61); Read William Shakespeare,
Hamlet, Act 1, Literature
(909-939)
Monday, August 9: Discuss Tragedy and Hamlet
Homework: Read William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 2-3, Literature
(939-981)
Tuesday, August 10: Discuss Hamlet; Begin
Watching Franco Zeffirelli’s film adaptation of Hamlet
Homework: Read William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4-5, Literature
(981-1016)
Thursday, August 12: Watch and discuss Franco
Zeffirelli’s film adaptation of Hamlet
Homework: Write a response comparing and contrasting Shakespeare’s
and Zeffirelli’s Hamlet
Monday, August 16: Discuss Hamlet; Review for
Exam Two; Discuss Essay Requirements
Homework: Prepare outlines for Exam Two. Optional: Read “Taking Examinations on Literature,” Literature
(1324-34)
Tuesday, August 17: Exam Two — Poetry and Drama
Homework: Write
a five-page essay on at least one of the works in Literature: An
Introduction to Reading and Writing that is not listed above and that we
have not covered in class. The essay —
double-spaced, typed, with one-inch margins, and in Times New Roman 12-point
font — is due Thursday, August 19 by