ENGLISH 112 Literature of Western Civilization II Summer 1996
Required Texts:
Literature of the Western World, II, 3rd ed. Eds. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. (Macmillan, 1991).
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson (Plume, 1990)
Dorfman, Ariel. Death and the Maiden (Penguin, 1991)
Course Description:
The course introduces you to the critical interpretation of literature--primarily in the Western tradition--through selected drama, fiction, and poetry from the late 17th century to the present. We shall explore the social, sexual, political, and formal (language, structure, style) issues and relations that these texts represent through class discussion, small group work, films, and written assignments. We shall also explore the possibility of an online newsgroup component to the course to extend our discussion and writing beyond the classroom.
Requirements:
1. Two critical responses (on selected works--by Austen and Wilson or Dorfman--each response 350-400 words, single-spaced, titled, on one page) that prompt you to identify and to address interpretive and critical issues that these texts present. You may choose a study question to suggest a topic or problem to explore in your response, or you may develop your own topic or approach to the work in question. Your observations and analyses should be succinct and sharply focused, with potential for substantial further development.
2. One sharply focused journal entry (150 words, single-spaced)--this is similar to the critical responses, but less developed, on either Tartuffe or Figaro's Marriage.
3. Participation in class and group discussion (including informal writing). Please take advantage of the opportunity small groups may provide to discuss your reactions, share your insights and research, and to listen and reply to others' ideas. I shall call regularly upon groups to facilitate class discussion, with each group leading off discussion (10 minutes) on specific texts and critical readings twice during the term. On these days I expect the group scheduled for that day to be prepared to lead off our discussion by presenting their positions on the material (with some brief summary, focus on key points in the reading, perhaps some incorporation of secondary criticism or historical research), and by suggesting further issues the class might consider. For plays, groups may even stage or block a scene, and suggest its significance through performance, or a group could organize a debate over a conflict in the text. I hope this strategy will enable you to move the class in directions you find most helpful, give you opportunities to develop critical skills through collaboration, and prevent me from dominating class discussion while still providing occasions for sharing my perspectives with you.
4. Participation via local online discussion newsgroup. I expect you to contribute a paragraph or more to the conversation at least once a week, posting your entry to the current week's discussion by 9 a.m. each Wednesday morning. I will award five points per week for one or more entries.
5. One double-spaced essay, 7-8 pp. More on this later, but in general this essay enables you to explore an interpretive/contextual problem, try out a critical approach/hypothesis, and help to express ideas prompted by your reading and viewing of a work from our syllabus and by our discussion. I am interested in seeing the ways that you select, define, and engage questions and contradictions, and I attend to the clarity, imagination, and grace that you demonstrate in presenting your topic, thesis, and argument. I do not always expect an essay to conclude by "solving" such problems or by "proving" your thesis; I do hope that you address an interesting topic in thoughtful and useful ways. Please feel invited to confer with me during the writing process.
6. Due dates: All required work is due at the beginning of class on the due date--work turned in later will be marked late and graded accordingly. All required graded written work will be downgraded one notch (for example, B+ to B, converted to points for each assignment) for each weekday late (not just days classes meet but counting just one day for a weekend). Work more than a week late will not be accepted. I will grant short extensions for medical and family emergencies--but talk with me as soon as possible to request an extension. ALWAYS KEEP EXTRA COPIES OF YOUR WORK.
7. Attendance is required--your in class participation is a crucial part of a collective learning experience. Excellent attendance is rewarded; poor attendance is penalized. If you have no absences by the term's end (excused or not), you will receive four bonus points. One and a half absences will not affect your semester grade. But two absences will lower your semester total by seven points with seven point reductions for each additional absence (for example, three absences=minus 14 points and so on). Almost all absences will be counted--excused or not--if something extraordinary occurs, talk to me.
8. Grades: Four Newsgroup entries (5 pts each); One Journal Entry (10 pts); Two Critical Responses (25 points each); One Essay (100 points). These required assignments add up to a maximum of 180 points. Thus 162-180 points equals an A, 144-161 equals a B, 126-143 equals a C, 108-125 equals a D, and anything below 108 merits an F. I shall also reserve a potential three bonus points based on my perceptions of the strength of your participation and efforts over the semester.
9. Office hours. I encourage you to confer with me--especially before assignments are due--to talk about your interests, intentions, and writing strategies. My office is not accessible to the handicapped, so please let me know if you need to meet me elsewhere. If you cannot make my regular hours, we can usually arrange another time. I also welcome communicating with you by e-mail (sflores@uidaho.edu, or just sflores if you are on Raven).
6/10 Literature of Western Civilization SYLLABUS Summer 1996
Moliere, Tartuffe, including film excerpts; Sarraute's "Tropism XVIII"
6/11
Tartuffe
6/12
Beaumarchais, Figaro's Marriage; Newsgroup session
6/13
Journal Entry on Tartuffe or Figaro's Marriage due
6/17
Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience, esp. "The Little Black Boy," "The Chimney Sweeper," "Holy Thursday," "The Human Abstract," "The Angel," "The Tyger"
6/18
"London," "The Clod & the Pebble," "My Pretty Rose Tree," "Garden of Love," "A Poison Tree," and The Book of Thel
6/19
Newsgroup entries due (two by now); Austen's Persuasion
6/20
Persuasion
6/24
Critical Response due on Persuasion
6/25
Machado de Assis, "Dona Paula"; Dickinson's poems (see study questions, handout of additional poems); Chopin, "The Story of an Hour" (handout)
6/26
Newsgroup entry due; Wilson, The Piano Lesson, including viewing film
6/27
Critical Response due on The Piano Lesson or Death and the Maiden 7/1
Death and the Maiden
7/2
Death and the Maiden (film)
7/3
Newsgroup entry due; Peer-edit draft of essay; Sartre, "The Wall" 7/5
Essay due; Walker, "To Hell with Dying"
Click here to access the newsgroup for this course (uidaho.class.eng.112.01). Available only to users on the University of Idaho campus, and intended for those enrolled in the class. Go to Stephan Flores' Home Page.