Composition I: Expository Writing
Reading and Writing in the 21st Century
Prof. Barbara Barnard Office: Bradley Hall, Y 231
English 101-CE Phone: 572-9778
Spring 2010 E-mail: Barbara.Barnard@ncc.edu
T, Th 8:30-9:45 Office hours: T, Th 2:30-3:45
Room M211
Required text to buy:
The New World Reader, 2nd Edition, by Gilbert H. Muller (Houghton Mifflin, 2008). Bring this book to class every day.
Recommended text (This is a grammar and research handbook; you are not required to buy this one if you don’t need it): A Pocket Style Manual, by Diana Hacker (St. Martins).
Online Resources: This is a web-enhanced course. You will find some course materials (including this syllabus) and a few additional links and resources on our course web pages. I will provide a handout with instructions for accessing CE6.
Turnitin.com: You must submit your papers for this course to the plagiarism checking service Turnitin.com as well as giving me a hard copy in class. I will give you instructions for how to use Turnitin. If you don’t submit to Turnitin.com for plagiarism checking, your paper will not be accepted for grading and you will receive an F. If computer access is a problem for you, you can use a student computer lab on campus to access the site.
January
T 26 Introduction to course and in-class essay (Essay #1).
Th 28 The Writing Process~~Reading, Thinking, and Writing Critically
Read: (1-28) Nicholas Kristof, “Love and Race,”
Susan Bordo, “The Globalization of Eating Disorders,”
Lorraine Ali, “Not Ignorant, Not Helpless”
RR#1 due
February
T 2 American Mosaic—Who are we anyway?
Read: (29-35 & 42-51) Andrew Lam, “All Things Asian Are Becoming Us”
Ishmael Reed, “America: The Multinational Society,” and
Joseph Contreras, “Two Americas?” RR#2 due
Th 4 Film: Farmingville (Dirs. Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini, 2004)
T 9 Film: Farmingville continued, and discussion. RR#3 due
Th 11 Read: (52-62, 284-286 & 274-277) Bharati Mukherjee, “American Dreamer,”
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., “The Cult of Ethnicity,” and
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “Whose Culture Is It, Anyway?” and
Barbara Ehrenreich, “Cultural Baggage” RR#4 due
Deadline for first drafts of Essay #2
February 13-21 Winter break—classes do not meet
T 23 Group discussions—in your small group of 4 or 5 classmates, you will present one
of the following: your draft of Essay #2, a news article related to our
readings, or one of your reading response writings. RR#5 due
Th 25 Essay #2 due, final draft (analytical essay) and
Global Relationships—Sex and Gender Roles
Read: (171-196, 205-213)) Mohja Kahf, “The Muslim in the Mirror,”
“Ellen Goodman, “Justice for Women,” and
Azar Nafisi, “The Veiled Threat,” and
Barbara Ehrenreich and Annette Fuentes, “Life on the Global Assembly Line”
RR#6 due
March
T 2 Film: Offside [dir. Jafar Panahi, 2006]
Th 4 Film: Offside continued. RR#7 due
T 9 ü Globalization—What’s the Big Picture? ý þ
Read: (215-234, 261-270) Thomas Friedman, “Prologue: The Super-Story,”
Pico Iyer, “The Global Village Finally Arrives,”
Johan Norberg, “The Noble Feat of Nike,”
Joseph S. Nye, Jr., “Fear Not Globalization”
Benjamin Barber, “The Educated Student: Global Citizen or Global Consumer?”
RR#8 due
Th 11 Film: The Corporation (Dirs. Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, 2004)
**Deadline for first drafts of Essay #4
T 16 Film: The Corporation (continued). RR#9 due
Th 18 Group discussions—in your small group of 4 or 5 classmates, you will present one
of the following: your draft of Essay #4, a news article related to our
readings, or one of your reading response writings. RR#10 due
T 23 Essay #3 (in-class midterm essay exam)
Th 25 Essay #4 due, final draft (analytical essay) and
ü Clash of Civilizations—Is conflict avoidable? ý þ
Read: (315-17, 326-328, 335-348)
Dinesh D’Souza, “The World in 1500—or the West as a Backwater,”
Samuel Huntington,“The West and the Rest,”
Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart, “It’s the Women, Stupid,”
Amartya Sen, “A World Not Neatly Divided.” RR#11 due
March 27 – April 4 Spring break—classes do not meet
April
T 6 Research: Finding reliable sources of information—We will be meeting in the
library, or in a computer lab (to be announced). Choose your topic for Essay #5 before this date so that you can search for sources in the lab.
Read: “Conducting Research in the Global Era” (485-507) RR#12 due
Th 8 The Writing Process~~discuss sources and documentation
ü RST The Global Environment—Love it or lose it? RST ý þ
Read: (443-451, 459-463, 474-478) Rachel Carson, “The Obligation to Endure,”
Bill McKibben, “Driving Global Warming,”
Francis Fukuyama, “In Defense of Nature, Human and Non-human” RR#13 due
T 13 Who’s a Terrorist?—Some views about terrorism
Read: (363-376, 384-390, 395-400)
“Naomi Shihab Nye, “To Any Would-Be Terrorists,”
Greg Campbell, “Blood Diamonds”
Bill Powell, “Generation Jihad,”
Arundhati Roy, “The Algebra of Infinite Justice” RR#14 due
**Deadline for first drafts of Essay #5
Th 15 Film: Lord of War [dir. Andrew Niccol, 2005]
T 20 Film: Lord of War continued . RR#15 due
Th 22 Group discussions—in your small group of 4 or 5 classmates, you will present one
of the following: your draft of Essay #5, a news article related to our
readings, or one of your reading response writings. RR#16 due
T 27 Essay #5 due, final draft (documented essay, using at least one outside source) and
ü ÿ Global Aid—Health & Development in the Global Village ÿ þ
Read: (402-432) Jeffrey Sachs, “What I Did on My Summer Vacation,”
Namrita Talwar, “Cities Without Slums,”
Fareed Zakaria, “A Threat Worse Than Terror,”
Anuradha Mittal, “Technology Won’t Feed World’s Hungry,”
Kenneth Rogoff, “A Development Nightmare,” and
Vivienne Walt and Amanda Bower, “Follow the Money” RR#17 due
Th 29 Film: Amreeka [dir. Cherien Dabis, 2009]
May
T 4 Film: Amreeka continued, and discussion. RR#18 due
Th 6 Group discussions—in your small group of 4 or 5 classmates, you will present one
of the following: your draft/revision for Essay #6, a news article related to our
readings, or one of your reading response writings. RR#19 due
T 11 Essay #6 due (persuasive research paper/revision; use 2-3 outside sources)
ÿ ü þ Imagining a new world order ÿ ý
Read: (295-303, 245-260)
Mario Vargas Llosa, “The Culture of Liberty”
Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Toward a New Cosmopolitanism” RR#20 due
Th 13 Essay #7: Final Exam Essay
T 18 Deadline for late Essay #6; Conferences
Th 20 Distribution of grades
General Course requirements
Attendance and class participation:
You should have no more than four unexcused absences. Excessive absences will result in a lowered grade; extreme absence problems will result in the loss of credit for the course (a grade of F). Also, chronic lateness may seriously affect your grade (two "lates" equal one absence). On the other hand, responsible attendance and diligent participation in class discussion may raise your grade. You will receive a separate letter grade for your class participation. You must attend class; extreme absence problems WILL result in loss of credit for the course (a grade of F), even if your written work is satisfactory.
Small group discussions of readings, films and essay drafts: On the days scheduled for group discussion, we will break into small groups for organized discussion of essay drafts, reading responses, news, and films. I will circulate among the group discussions and will keep a record of each student’s preparedness for discussion, as this comprises part of your class participation grade. Each person must bring something specific to contribute to the discussion. You may wish to (1) read your essay draft in order to share with your group the ideas you are presenting in the paper you’re working on. Or, (2) you might bring a news article that relates to some issue we’ve been discussing in class. Tell your group about the article and read some excerpts that show key ideas. Or, (3) you may wish to read one of your recent reading responses to the group. If you fail to bring one of these three types of contributions on a day for group discussions, you will receive a zero for your group work for that day.
In-Class Essays and Quizzes: From time to time, there may be in-class essay questions and/or quizzes in order to assess students’ familiarity with the day’s reading. These quizzes and essays will not be previously announced and will count as part of the letter grade for class participation.
Reading Responses (informal writing): As you see on the calendar schedule, you will be submitting a series of 20 reading response writings. These are worth 5 points each, for a semester total of 100 possible points. Points earned will be converted to a letter grade to be averaged together equally with your other letter grades for the course (90-100=A, 85-89=B+, 80-84=B, 75-79=C+, 70-74=C, 65-69=D+, 60-64=D, 0-59=F). These writings should be typed and should be a half page to one page in length (125-250 words). Each will be submitted at the beginning of the class period at which it is due. If you are absent, you may submit the missing response writing at the following class. But if you are present and fail to turn in the work, you may not “make it up.” Your response writings are to be your own original, analytical response to the readings assigned for that day, or to the film we are in the midst of watching in class. I am not interested in receiving work a week later that simply repeats what was already said in class. Instead, please sit down at your computer directly after finishing the assigned reading and write one good, solid paragraph (a page at most) regarding some aspect of the work that interests you. Be sure your response is an analytical one, not a summary. Summaries (in which you simply repeat the main ideas in the readings) will earn a low grade. Don’t just “retell” what has been said in the readings; instead express an opinion about what these authors have written. Also, respond to the group of readings as a whole (not just to the first page of the first article). Demonstrate that you’ve done the reading by making an intelligent comment on it. Do not plagiarize your response writing from web sites like Spark Notes or Wikipedia; plagiarized responses will receive the grade of F, and a second incidence of plagiarism—on any written work—will result in an automatic F for the entire course. You must do your own work to pass this course. Ideas you articulate in your response writings may end up being part of your formal papers. I will not be marking grammatical errors and so forth on these informal writings; instead I’m looking for evidence that you have done the reading and that you are thinking about what you have read.
Essays (formal writing): Six of the essays that you will write during the semester will receive letter grades. Four of the essays will be written outside class and will go through at least two drafts (only the final draft will be graded); the other two graded essays will be written in class and will also serve as midterm and final exams. In these formal writing assignments, grammar and sentence structure do count, along with the quality of your ideas and your mastery of the issues and concepts from our reading.
Three ways to get help with your essay drafts: (1) For one-on-one tutoring in writing skills in general, and for help with your drafts for your out of class papers, you are encouraged to go to the Writing Center (first floor of Bradley Hall—the Y Building). (2) You may also come to see me during my office hours, if needed. (3) If you give me a typewritten draft of your paper at least two weeks before the due date for the paper, I will give you comments and suggestions for revision.
REQUIRED--Turnitin.com: You must submit Essays #2, #4, #5, and #6 (your papers written outside class) to Turnitin.com (the plagiarism checking service) as well as giving me a hard copy in class. Submit both the hard copy to me and the online copy to Turnitin.com on or before the due date for the paper.
More about grading: Your in-class midterm exam (Essay #3) and final exam (Essay #7) will be averaged together equally with the grades on your out-of-class essays (#2, 4, 5 and 6), your composite grade for reading response writings, and your class participation grade. Thus, you will have six essay grades, a grade for response writings, and a grade for class attendance and participation (eight grades altogether) to be averaged together equally. You must attend class; extreme absence problems will result in loss of credit for the course (a grade of F), even if your written work is satisfactory.
Accommodations and Learning Differences: If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact on your ability to carry out assigned course work, I would urge you to contact the staff in The Center for Students with Disabilities, “U” Building (behind the old college union), 572 –7241 (TTY 572 – 7617). CSD will review your concerns and determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation are confidential.
General Instructions for All Essays: Use standard one-inch margins on the top, sides and bottom of each page. Please double-space and use a standard size type face (use 12-point type—no oversized type). Each of your essays should have a title. Be sure you keep a photocopy or second printout of each essay you submit, even if you have the essay file on a computer disk. For help in developing your essay, remember to use the relevant sections in your textbook. Late papers will be dropped one half of a letter grade during the week following the due date. The deadline for late papers is one week after the due date for each paper. An F will be entered in the grade book for any paper not received by the late paper deadline. It is important to keep up with the assignments as scheduled.
Citing Sources for Essays 5-7: We will be discussing this in class. Also, use the relevant section in your textbook (pages 485-507), as well as the model student research paper that will be distributed. If you need help when you are working independently in the library, ask a librarian. Keep a careful record of information about the outside sources that you use. You must provide complete bibliographic information, including exact URL addresses for websites, on your Works Cited list. A website created by an academic institution or department, a museum, or scholarly association would be an appropriate source. A personal website would not be an appropriate source. Wikipedia is not an appropriate source of information for an academic paper. You must know who wrote the web page and who sponsors the site.
Plagiarism Warning: If you try to pass off someone else’s words as your own writing, then you have committed plagiarism. See pages 494-496 in your textbook for the complete definition of plagiarism and for instructions on using sources responsibly. Plagiarism will not be tolerated; plagiarized papers will receive the grade of F and may not be rewritten. A second incidence of plagiarism will result in a grade of F for the course.
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Essay #1 In-Class Essay (first day of class). This brief, ungraded essay serves as a sample of your writing. I may advise you to attend the Writing Center for tutorial help if I see serious problems with sentence-level writing skills or English usage in this sample essay. You will write the essay in class, during the last half hour of the period, and one handwritten page will be a sufficient length.
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Essay #2 Analytical Essay (500-750 words; 2-3 pages typed)
Assignment: Read the assigned essays closely and use them as guides to what good analytical writing might include. Write an analytical essay of your own, based on one of the following topics:
1. Former New York mayor David Denkins first articulated the idea of New York (and the American society in general) as a mosaic of cultures. Do you think this is an apt metaphor for our multicultural society? Which of the essays we’ve read on American society comes closest to expressing your own view of our society? Which essay/s did you feel in disagreement with? Use these essays as sources as you discuss your own characterization of American society. You may also want to use information from the film Farmingville, which we’ll be viewing in class, or from other relevant films you have viewed (for instance Paus Haggis’s Crash, 2005). Do you have any ideas of your own about how we can foster better understanding between people of different cultural backgrounds?
2. Consider two or three important points related to immigration that were raised in the film Farmingville. The filmmakers attempted to look at the issues from the perspective of the immigrants as well as from the perspective of the current residents. Do you think the film presented an impartial and fair view of all “sides” on the issues it examined? You may also wish to refer to some of the articles we have read in discussing your views.
3. Devise your own topic based on any of the essays or ideas we have been discussing. For example, you may be interested in exploring further the issues raised in one of the short essays in Chapter 1.
4. Discuss any of these issues, essays or films in light of current events or of a particular story in the news: for instance the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and the conduct of the senate confirmation hearings in July, the recent arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (one of the authors in our textbook) in his Cambridge home, or the discussion of building a super-fence or wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Submit the original or a photocopy of any newspaper article you use as a source.
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Essay #3 is the Midterm Exam
BE SURE YOU BRING YOUR TEXTBOOK TO THIS OPEN BOOK EXAM.
You will have three expository essay topics to choose from, and you will write on only one. You may use your textbook (The New World Reader), your syllabus (for the list of readings and films) and a dictionary, if you wish. No class notes may be used, with the exception of your own personal, handwritten notes on the films Farmingville, Offside, or The Corporation. If you took notes during the films, you may show those to me at the beginning of the period and use those notes while writing your exam essay.
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Essay #4 Analytical Essay (500-750 words, 2-3 pages typed)
Assignment: Read the assigned essays closely and use them as guides to what good analytical writing might include. Write an analytical essay of your own, based on one of the following topics.
1. In an interview, Jafar Panahi (the director of Offside) says: “In my view, everyone in the world lives within a circle, either due to economic, political, cultural, or family problems or traditions. The radius of the circle can be smaller or larger. Regardless of their geographic location, they live within a circle. I hope that if this film has any kind of effect on anyone, it would be to make them try to expand the size of the radius.” Explore the film’s characters, plot and themes in light of this statement. Or, devise your own topic that deals with issues raised by the film and by our related readings.
2. Barbara Ehrenreich and Annette Fuentes, in “Life on the Global Assembly Line,” imply that working women in many parts of the world are exploited more than men. Write an essay in which you agree or disagree with this idea. In building your essay, you may use information from articles we have read, films we have seen, your own experience, and/or the experience of friends or relatives. Be sure to draw on information that you learned from the essays we read in Chapter 5 (by Kahf, Goodman, Nafisi, and Ehrenreich and Fuentes).
3. Look over the “Responding in Writing” sections that follow the essays we have read during this segment of the course. (As an example, the question above is based on question #8 on page 214.) Use these ideas to spark an essay topic of your own, using articles we have read and/or films we have viewed as sources. Remember that you must have a thesis guiding your essay: what is your controlling idea or argument? How will you explain and support that argument, using information from your sources (as well as from your experience, if you wish).
4. Write an essay dealing with any of the issues raised by the film The Corporation. Do you think the film is an honest and balanced depiction of the problems arising from the growth and behavior of corporations in the U.S. and internationally? Also make use of articles we have read on this topic in building your essay. What are your own views on these issues? What is your thesis? Do you think of globalization as a good thing, a bad thing, or a mixed bag? Articulate your own current understanding of the benefits and consequences of globalization.
5. Look over the essays in the section entitled “Speaking in Tongues: Does Language Unify or Divide Us?” (Chapter 4). I did not assign any of these essays, but if you find this subject interesting, build your own topic, using one or more essays from Chapter 4 as source/s.
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Essay #5 Documented Essay (750-1,000 words; 3-4 pages typed; use at least one
outside source)
Assignment: Choose one of the following topic areas and write a well-developed analytical documented essay. In addition to using any films we have viewed and any source or sources in your textbook, you must use at least one outside source for facts, ideas and/or statistics, and you must cite your sources. You may want to use the on-line databases made available to you by the NCC library, as well as the library’s on-line catalogue for books. When writing your paper, please refer to the section in your textbook on research and documentation (pages 485-507). The sample student essay I distributed will be helpful as an example of correct documentation format (including the formatting of the Works Cited list). You must use in-text citations to cite your sources and you must have a Works Cited list at the end of your essay. Document your sources responsibly. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarized papers will receive the grade of F.
1. Write an essay that explores any of the issues raised by the film Lord of War. Some segments of the film take place in the African country Liberia, where a bloody civil war was fueled by arms dealers and the greed for diamonds. Read the article “Blood Diamonds” in your textbook. You may also want to view the recent film Blood Diamond (dir. Edward Zwick, 2006), which depicts the civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. To what extent are rival forces in these countries responsible for their own fate? To what extent are these wars generated and fueled by the international arms trade and the greed of the diamond cartels? What is the responsibility of the international community when such conflicts arise?
2. The war in Liberia (depicted in Lord of War) is one of many wars that have come to be called resource wars. If you search the Lexis-Nexis database using the search terms “resource wars” or if you type this phrase into the Google search engine, you will come up with an interesting list of articles dealing with the various wars and conflicts related to struggles over the earth’s resources. This is a topic that involves interwoven issues of environmental exploitation as well as human rights, economic globalization, the international arms trade, and many other areas of concern. Using the resources in your textbook as well as at least one outside source, write an essay discussing the issues and attempting to articulate what you think should be done internationally to address these issues.
3. Which of the essays we have read on terrorism comes closest to expressing your own views? Write an argumentative essay in which you present your own view related to an issue or issues about terrorism. Also discuss views different than your own, explaining why you think they may be incomplete or inaccurate. You may use any of our readings or films as sources. You will also need to find at least one outside source.
4. Do the issues raised in Chapter 11 on the global environment resonate with you? Using the essays in Chapter 11 as well as at least one outside source, develop an essay that discusses and illuminates the environmental issue or issues that you find most compelling. Be sure to grapple with the question of what solutions have been discussed and what solutions you feel might be most effective in dealing with the problem/s. If you have viewed any films related to these issues—such as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, or the relevant sections of The Corporation (which we viewed in class)—you may wish to draw on ideas raised by the films as well as your textual sources.
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Essay #6 Persuasive Research Paper (1,000-1,250 words, 4-5 pages typed; at least
2-3 outside sources)
Assignment: Write a well-organized persuasive essay on one of the following topic areas. You may use any of the essays in our textbook and any of the films we have viewed as sources. In addition, you will need to use two or three outside sources (books, newspaper or magazine articles, or on-line sources). Remember: (1) You must have a thesis guiding your essay: what is your controlling idea or argument? How will you explain and support that argument, using information from your sources (as well as from your own experience, if you wish). (2) It’s often effective to argue against views you disagree with, as well as offering ideas from writers who share your opinions. (3) Document your sources carefully. You must use in-text citations and you must have a Works Cited list that includes complete information on all of your sources. When writing your paper, please refer to the section on research and documentation in your textbook (pages 485-507). The sample student essay that I distributed will also be helpful as an example of correct essay format. You must use in-text citations to cite your sources and you must have a Works Cited list at the end of your essay. Document your sources responsibly. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarized papers will receive the grade of F.
Choose one of the following topics:
1. Review the essays in the section entitled “Global Aid: Can We Reduce Disease and Poverty?” (Chapter 10). Write a persuasive essay dealing with any relevant issues, using one or more of the essays from Chapter 10 as sources, as well as locating 2-3 outside sources. Be sure to grapple with the question of what solutions have been discussed and what solutions you feel might be most effective in dealing with the problem/s you are focusing on.
2. Write an essay that explores any of the issues raised by the film Gattaca and Francis Fukuyama’s article “In Defense of Nature, Human and Non-human.” What does it mean to be human? One question we saw explored in the documentary The Corporation is: Who owns the human genome? As revealed in the film, private corporations have been buying patents on the genetic components of every living thing on earth, including human life. What ethical control should placed on these activities? What does it mean to be human, and how can we preserve the nature of human life? Another film you might find relevant is Children of Men (dir. Alfonso Cuarón, 2006).
3. Rewrite and expand any previous essay. If you choose this option, your revised essay must also conform to the requirements of this assignment. It must be an argumentative essay (arguing a point), it must be at least 4-5 pages in length, and it must include sources from our text as well as at least 2-3 outside sources. In addition, if you submit a rewrite, you must also turn in the previous, graded version of the paper. If you do not have your original, previously graded paper, then you may not choose this rewrite option.
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Essay #7 Final Essay Exam
BE SURE YOU BRING YOUR TEXTBOOK TO THIS OPEN BOOK EXAM.
The final is an in-class essay exam. You will receive three essay questions based on three different topics. You will choose one topic to write on. The topics will be drawn from readings and films discussed in the second half of the semester (since the midterm). Questions will not be released before the day of the exam. During the exam, you may use your textbook (The New World Reader), your syllabus (for a list of the readings we’ve done and films we’ve seen), any class handouts, and a dictionary (if you wish). No class notes will be allowed, unless they are your own individual notes on the films we have viewed. If you have film notes that you will be using, show them to me just before the exam begins.
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Composition II: Writing About Literature
English 102-DB Office: Y231
Prof. Barbara Barnard Phone: 572-9778
Fall 2010 E-mail: Barbara.Barnard@ncc.edu
M 9:30-10:45, Th 10:00-11:15 Office hours: T 10:00-11:15, W 9:30-10:45
Room: S108
Prerequisite for this course: English 101. You must pass English 101 before taking this course.
Required text: Access Literature by Barbara Barnard and David Winn
(Wadsworth/Thomson, 2006). Please bring this book to class every day.
Recommended text: A Pocket Style Manual by Diana Hacker (St. Martin's). This book
is recommended if you need a handbook to help with grammar and syntax. You are not required to buy this book.
Online Blackboard Resources: This is a web enhanced course. You will find some resources (including this syllabus) on our course web pages in Blackboard/CE6. You are not required to do any work in CE6; it is simply provided as a resource.
Turnitin.com: You must submit your papers for this course to the plagiarism checking service Turnitin.com as well as giving me a hard copy in class. I will give you instructions for how to use Turnitin. If you don’t submit to Turnitin.com for plagiarism checking, your paper will not be accepted for grading and you will receive an F. If computer access is a problem for you, you can use a student computer lab on campus to access the site.
September
Th 2 Introduction to the course and Naguib Mahfouz, “Half a Day,” Mark
Halliday, “Young Man on Sixth Avenue” (both attached to this syllabus)
M 6 Labor Day – college holiday
Th 9 Rosh Hashanah – college holiday
M 13 #3: (70-94) Guy de Maupassant, “The Necklace” and André Dubus,
"Killings"
Essay #1 (brief in-class essay)
Th 16 #4: (116-142) James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” and (166-174) Bharati
Mukherjee, “A Father.” RR#1 due
M 20 #5: (188-201) and (208-214) Albert Camus, “The Guest” and Sherman
Alexie, “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash
Red Anymore.” RR#2 due
Th 23 #6: (234-255) Frank O’Connor, “Guests of the Nation” and Isabel
Allende, “The Judge’s Wife” and commentary by Michael Steinman (275-276). RR#3 due
M 27 #7: (280-285) and (320-330) Raymond Carver, “Cathedral.” RR#4 due
Film: Cathedral
Th 30 #8: (334-345) Alice Walker, “Everyday Use” and student essay
“’Everyday Use,’ Everyone’s Issues” by Jake Winn (1471-1477).
RR#5 due; deadline for Essay #2 first drafts.
Film: Everyday Use
October
M 4 #9: (375-379) and Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown” (385-
393) and Leslie Marmon Silko and “Yellow Woman” (402-410),
and Silko’s commentary (409-410). RR#6 due
Th 7 #10: (414-426) Louise Erdrich, “The Red Convertible” and Tillie Olsen,
“I Stand Here Ironing” (448-454). RR#7 due
M 11 #11: (460-474) Tim O’Brien, “How to Tell a True War Story” and (478-
482) Charles Johnson, “Moving Pictures.” RR#8 due
Th 14 Essay #2 due (fiction topic), and read
#13: (556-570) Langston Hughes, poetry, and (574-76) memoir excerpt.
Film: Salvation (based on Hughes’ memoir The Big Sea)
M 18 #14: (586-599). RR#9 due
Th 21 Deadline for late Essay #2, and read
#15: (628-641). RR#10 due
M 25 #16: (666-680). RR#11 due
Th 28 Essay #3: MIDTERM EXAM (fiction and poetry)
November
M 1 #17: (696-710 and 722-725). RR#12 due; deadline for Essay #4 first
drafts.
Th 4 #18: (726-747). RR#13 due
M 8 #20: (804-826). RR#14 due
W 10 Day classes follow a Thursday schedule
#22: (894-907 and 929-933). RR#15 due
Th 11 Veterans Day – College Holiday
M 15 Essay #4 due (poetry topic), and
#25: (1024-1051) David Ives, Sure Thing and The Philadelphia,
and discuss Essay #5 (research paper) assignment and topics
Th 18 Research session: class may meet in the Y04 computer lab or in the
library or in the regular classroom for research instruction (location will be
announced).
Read: #33: (1457-1477)
M 22 Deadline for late Essay #4
#26: (1052-1058) and August Wilson, Fences, Act I (1127-1151).
RR#16 due
T 23 Day and evening classes follow a Thursday schedule
Fences Act II (1151-1168) and David Savran’s interview with August
Wilson (1170-1173). RR#17 due; deadline for Essay #5 first
drafts.
Th 25 Thanksgiving – College Holiday
M 29 #27: (1174-1196) Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House, Act I. RR#18 due
December
Th 2 A Doll House, Act II (1196-1209). RR#19 due
and film: A Doll’s House [with Jane Fonda, Edward Fox, Trevor Howard]
M 6 A Doll’s House, film continued, and A Doll House Act III (1209-1223).
RR#20 due
Th 9 Essay #5 due (drama topic), and
Finish discussion of A Doll’s House, and review for final exam
M 13 Essay #6: FINAL EXAM (poetry and drama)
Th 16 Deadline for late Essay #5, and Conferences
M 20 Conferences; grades will be available for those who have submitted their
work on time (late papers at the end of the semester will not be returned to
you unless you provide a self-addressed, stamped envelope with adequate
postage).
Course requirements and information
Attendance: You should have no more than four unexcused absences. Excessive absences will result in a lowered grade; extreme absence problems will result in a loss of credit for the course (a grade of F). Also, chronic lateness may seriously affect your grade (two "lates" equal one absence). On the other hand, responsible attendance and diligent participation in class discussion may raise your grade. You will receive a separate letter grade for your class participation and attendance. You must attend class; excessive absences will seriously lower your grade; extreme absence problems WILL result in loss of credit for the course (a grade of F), even if your written work is satisfactory.
In-Class Essays and Quizzes: From time to time, there may be in-class essay questions and/or quizzes in order to assess students’ familiarity with the day’s reading. These quizzes and essays will not be previously announced and will count as part of the letter grade for class participation.
Reading Responses (informal writing): As you see on the calendar schedule, you will be submitting a series of 20 response writings. These are worth 5 points each, for a semester total of 100 possible points. Points earned will be converted to a letter grade to be averaged together equally with your other letter grades for the course (90-100=A, 85-89=B+, 80-84=B, 75-79=C+, 70-74=C, 65-69=D+, 60-64=D, 0-59=F). These writings should be typed and should be a half page to one page in length. Each will be submitted at the beginning of the class period at which it is due. If you are absent, you may submit the missing response writing at the following class. But if you are present and fail to turn in the work, you may not “make it up.” Your response writings are to be your own original, critical response to the story, poems, or play you have read. Therefore I’m not interested in receiving work a week later that simply repeats what was already said in class. Instead, please sit down at your computer directly after finishing the assigned reading and write one good, solid paragraph (a page at most) regarding some aspect of the work that interests you. Be sure your response is an analytical one, not a summary. Plot summaries (in which you simply repeat the basics of the story line) will earn a low grade. Don’t just “retell” the story (or poem or play); express an opinion about what the author has written; also, respond to the work as a whole (not just to the first page or stanza or scene). Demonstrate that you’ve done the reading by making an intelligent comment on it. For reading assignments in fiction, respond to both stories; for poetry, respond to at least four poems; for drama, respond to all of the reading assigned for that day, whether it is two short plays or one or more acts of a longer play. Do not plagiarize your response writing from web sites like Spark Notes or Wikipedia; plagiarized responses will receive the grade of F, and a second incidence of plagiarism—on any written work—will result in an automatic F for the entire course. You must do your own work to pass this course.
Ideas you discover in your response writings may end up being part of your formal papers. I will not be marking grammatical errors and so forth on these informal writings; instead I’m simply looking for evidence that you have done the reading and that you are thinking about what you have read.
Papers (formal writing): Three out-of-class essays and three in-class essays are required. These essays should be carefully organized and carefully written; grammar and sentence structure do count in these formal essays. Essays #2 and #4 must be 3-4 typed pages in length (750-1,000 words). Essay #5 (your research paper) must be 4-5 typed pages in length (1,000-1,250 words) and must use at least two outside sources. See paper topics below. Late papers will be dropped one half of a letter grade, and the deadline for late papers is one week after the due date. An F will be entered in the grade book for papers not received by the late paper deadline. Your in-class essays are Essay #1 (writing sample), Essay #3 (mid-term exam) and Essay #6 (final exam).
Three ways to get help with your essay drafts: (1) For one-on-one tutoring in writing skills in general, and for help with your drafts for Essays #2, #4, and #5, you are encouraged to go to the Writing Center (first floor of Bradley Hall—the Y Building). (2) You may also come to see me during my office hours, if needed. (3) If you give me a typewritten draft of your paper at least two weeks before the due date for the paper, I will give you comments and suggestions for revision.
REQUIRED--Turnitin.com: You must submit Essays #2, #4, and #5 (your formal papers written outside class) to Turnitin.com (the plagiarism checking service) as well as giving me a hard copy in class. Submit both the hard copy to me and the online copy to Turnitin.com on or before the due date for the paper. Your paper will not be graded until you both submit electronically and provide a hard copy. If the paper is submitted late in either of these forms, then it is a late paper.
Exams: Both the midterm and the final exam will follow the same format: ten identification questions worth a total of 40 points, and one long essay worth 60 points. You must answer all ten identification questions. You will be given a choice of several essay questions, and you will answer only one.
Grades: You will receive seven letter grades in the course: five grades for your formal in-class and out-of-class essays, one grade for response writings, and one grade for attendance and class participation. These seven letter grades will be averaged together equally in calculating your final grade for the course. To add and average your grades yourself, convert them to grade points (A=4, B+=3.5, B=3, C+=2.5, C=2, D+=1.5, D=1, F=0). Please note that excessive absences will lower your grade, and extreme absence problems will result in a loss of credit for the course (a grade of F), even if written work is satisfactory.
Accommodations and learning differences: If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may have an impact on your ability to carry out the assigned coursework, I urge you to contact the staff at the Center for Students With Disabilities, Bldg. U (behind the old College Union), 572-7241. TTY 572-7617. CSD will review your concerns and determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation are confidential.
Guidelines and Topics for Essays #2, #4 and #5
Due dates:
Please see the calendar above for due dates (in bold type) and late paper deadlines (one week following the due dates).
Length: Essays #2 and #4 should be 3-4 typed, double-spaced pages (750-1,000 words).
Essay #5 (research paper) should be 4-5 typed, double-spaced pages (1,000-1,250 words) and must use at least two outside sources in addition to the primary source(s).
Other requirements: Only finished papers will be accepted on the due date; do not submit any notes or preliminary drafts. Please use a standard size type face (12 point) and standard one inch margins. Late papers will be dropped one half of a letter grade. An F will be entered in the grade book for any paper not received by the late paper deadline (one week after the due date).
Developing your essay: See Chapter 32 (“Talking and Writing About Lit”) in the class text for advice and reminders about developing an analytical essay. This chapter also contains sample student papers (on fiction, poetry and drama topics), which are useful for illustrating correct format. Your paper should demonstrate your own ability to analyze a work or works of literature. Your third out-of-class paper (Essay #5) is the research paper, and it must involve the use of at least two outside sources. Chapter 33 (“Sources for Researching Lit”) contains information about the appropriate use of sources. Wikipedia is not an appropriate source for an academic paper. You must use in-text citations, and you must provide complete bibliographic information in a Works Cited list as well.
Please title your papers. Always keep a backup copy of any paper submitted for any course. Please note that on pages 1464-1466 are guidelines for using quotations responsibly, and on pages 1466-1470 are guidelines for documenting sources. In addition, you might refer to the sample student research paper (1471-1477) as a model for correct format. Be sure that you review and follow the guidelines for documenting sources. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarized papers will receive the grade of F and may not be rewritten. A second incidence of plagiarism (on any written assignment) will result in an automatic F for the entire course.
REQUIRED--Turnitin.com: You must submit Essays #2, #4, and #5 (your formal papers written outside class) to Turnitin.com (the plagiarism prevention service) as well as giving me a hard copy in class. Submit both the hard copy to me and the online copy to Turnitin.com on or before the due date for the paper. I will not grade any paper until it is submitted both in hard copy (to me) and electronically (to Turnitin.com). If you turn in the hard copy paper on time but you submit it late to Turnitin, then it is a late paper. If you turn in a hard copy but you do never submit it to Turnitin, then the grade is an F. Fairness requires that every student participate in plagiarism prevention; there will be no exceptions.
Choose paper topics from the following lists: Your essay should cover fresh material. An essay that repeats what has already been said in class might be acceptable, but it is the essay that demonstrates original thinking and an ability to do independent analysis that will earn the higher grade. For this reason, you will want to include in your topics some work(s) or approaches or ideas that have not been covered in class. All of the works listed below are in your class text (use the Index of Authors and Titles in the back of the book to locate them). You must write about primary works of literature that are included in the class text.
TTTopics for Essay #2 (Fiction)TT
- Read the introduction to Flannery O’Connor’s work (Chapter 2) and choose one of her stories in the chapter to analyze. The chapter also contains some commentary on O’Connor’s work that might be helpful.
- Compare and contrast any two of the following stories about women and relationships: Isabel Allende’s “The Judge’s Wife,” Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Pet Dog,” or Alice Munro’s “How I Met My Husband.”
- Compare and contrast two of the following stories about war and the aftermath of war: Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home,” Frank O’Connor’s “Guests of the Nation,” Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story,” or Louise Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible.”
- Read any story (in the text) that we have not covered in class and analyze any aspect or aspects of that story. For example, when discussing style, tone and irony in fiction, we are reading the Carver story in Chapter 7, but we will not be covering the Munro, Díaz or Boyle stories. Or, when we discuss metaphor, image and symbol in Chapter 8, we’ll be covering the Alice Walker story in class, but you might write a paper on symbolism in the Hawthorne, Shumin or Jackson stories. You might also choose a story from Chapter 12.
- Choose any story in the text that we have not covered in class and compare it to a story that we are discussing in class.
- Compare and contrast any two of the following stories involving families and parent-child relationships: Junot Díaz’s “Fiesta, 1980,” Bharati Mukherjee’s “A Father,” Amy Tan’s “Half and Half,” Bi Shumin’s “Broken Transformers,” Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing,” or Gish Jen’s “In the American Society.”
- Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery” (set in a New England village) reveals to us a community clinging to tradition. Chinua Achebe, in his story “Dead Men’s Path” (set in a Nigerian village) reveals to us some quite different truths about tradition and change. Explore the comparisons between these two intriguing stories.
RRTopics for Essay #4 (Poetry)RR
- Compare and contrast any two of the following poems about nature or human beings' relationship to nature: "Design" by Robert Frost, "Pied Beauty" or "The Windhover" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Traveling Through the Dark” by William Stafford, Gary Snyder’s “Pine Needles,” Mary Oliver’s “The Black Snake” or any other poem in our text that shares these themes.
- Analyze and compare any two of the following poems about war or military service: Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “My Father in the Navy: A Childhood Memory,” Henry Reed’s “The Naming of Parts,” Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” Wislawa Szymborska’s “End and Beginning,” or Suheir Hammad’s “First Writing Since.” Or, you may want to compare one of the preceding poems with one already discussed in class: Czeslaw Milosz’s “A Poor Christian Looks at the Ghetto,” Yusuf Komunyakaa’s “Facing It,” “Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est,” or Anna Akhmatova’s “The First Long-Range Artillery Shell in Leingrad.”
- Choose any poem (from any poetry chapter) that we have not discussed in class and analyze and compare it to another poem, either one that we have covered or one that we have not covered.
- Do you have a favorite spoken word, rap, rock, or hip-hop artist whose lyrics you admire? If this artist’s work includes poetic devices such as figurative language, symbolism, rhyme and rhythm, you may write an essay analyzing that artist’s work. If you discuss poems/lyrics not in the textbook, please provide copies for me to read (print-outs of lyrics from the internet would be fine). If you choose this topic, you must write an essay that is both analytical and interpretive; you must analyze the artist’s use of poetic techniques.
- Analyze any one or two of the following poems about desire and love (or the absence of love): Duane Esposito’s "Love," "The Sun Rising" by John Donne, “After Making Love We Hear Footsteps” by Galway Kinnell, “Sex Without Love” by Sharon Olds, “Desire” by Philip Appleman, “The Speed and Weight of Justice” by Richard Newman, “A Fine, a Private Place” by Diane Ackerman, “Delight in Disorder” by Robert Herrick, or “Still to Be Neat” by Ben Jonson.
- Compare and contrast two of the following poems about personal or group identity: Ana Castillo’s “Our Tongue Was Nahuatl,” Etheridge Knight’s “The Idea of Ancestry,” Nazik al-Măla’ika’s “I Am,” Tato LaViera’s “AmeRícan” or “boricua,” Alix Olson’s “Built Like That,” Miller Williams’ “Ruby Tells All,” Gwendolyn Brooks’s “The Mother,” or any other poem in our text that explores similar themes.
- Compare any two of the following poems about coping with death and loss: Gwendolyn Brooks’ “The Mother,” Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break,” Li-Young Lee’s “My Father, in Heaven, Is Reading Out Loud,” or Emily Dickinson’s “After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes—” or “The Bustle in a House.”
- Explore Chapter 21 on Myth and Poetry. Choose two poems from the chapter to analyze and compare.
- This semester, I chose to leave out discussion of fixed form poety (Chapter 19, pages 773-803) so that we could talk about performance poetry instead. If you are interested in fixed forms such as the sonnet and the sestina, explore Chapter 19 on your own, read the explanations and commentary about fixed form, and choose two poems from the chapter to analyze and compare.
RRTopics for Essay #5 (Research Paper on Drama)RR
- Choose a play from Chapter 30 or Chapter 31 and analyze any element or elements of the play. For example, you might choose to analyze the use of irony and symbolism in Susan Glaspell’s short play “Trifles.”
- Read the discussion of heroes and hero myths on page 1330. Also read Arthur Miller’s essay “Tragedy and the Common Man.” Do you find any hero figures in plays we have read? Is Troy Maxson (in August Wilson’s Fences) a hero? Is Rose a heroine? Is Nora heroic in A Doll’s House? Read the intriguing brief play The Cuban Swimmer by Milcha Sanchez-Scott. Is her character Margarita Suárez heroic? These are simply suggestions. You can write about heroes or heroines in any play in your text (one we have read for class, or one we have not).
- Select a character or theme from A Doll House that you are interested in investigating further. Compare and contrast the portrayal of that character or issue in Ibsen’s original with its portrayal in the Joseph Losey film version starring Jane Fonda (we will be viewing this one in class) or the 1989 film version starring Claire Bloom (both film versions are available at most video rental stores and from the NCC library).
- Reread Adam Marchbein’s essay “From the Mind of David Ives.” When Adam took English 102, he became interested in David Ives and read several of his plays. The result was this interesting and insightful paper. If you enjoyed Ives’s short, satirical (and sometimes zany) plays, read one or two more of them and write an essay of your own on Ives’s work. His plays are available in the NCC library.
- Select a theme from Fences that you are interested in investigating further (for instance, fathers and sons, masculinity, the interplay of race and class). Or, select a favorite character from the play and analyze the ways in which August Wilson’s portrayal of that character (across the span of the play) helps to reveal key issues and themes.
- Devise a topic of your own based on any play included in our textbook.
R ÿ R ÿ
Early American Literature
Equality Identity The Individual & Society Religion Mission
Captivity Freedom Frontier Indigenous Land
Colonization Ferment Revolution Independence
Democracy Slavery Anti-Slavery
Civil War
English 203, RA Office: Y231, Bradley Hall
M-Th 8:00-9:55 A.M., N213 Phone: 572-9778
Prof. Barbara Barnard E-mail: Barbara.Barnard@ncc.edu
2008, Summer Session 2
Required texts: The Heath Anthology of American Literature: Volumes A&B, Fifth Edition, Paul Lauter, General Editor (Houghton-Mifflin, 2006). Bring the appropriate volume to class each day (Volume A for the first half of the course; Volume B for the second half). During each weekend, work on the reading for the coming week. Do not leave it all for the night before.
Recommended text: Pocket Style Manual by Diana Hacker (St. Martins, 5th edition). This is a handbook of grammar and documentation guidelines. If you already have a handbook from a previous English course, then you do not need to purchase this one.
WebCT Resources: This is a WebCT-enhanced course. You will find some course
materials (including this syllabus) and additional links and resources on our course web pages. I will provide a handout with instructions for accessing WebCT.
Course Calendar
July
M 7 Introduction to course: Early American Literature--Beginnings
through 1865
Two perspectives on colonization: Ana Castillo and V.S. Naipaul
(see handouts attached to this syllabus)
Native American Oral Literatures (16-105)—we will consider some of
these texts orally during class)
T 8 --Beginnings to 1700--
Read: Introduction (1-15)
New Spain (113-119)
Christopher Columbus, as edited/redacted by de las Casas (119-131)
Cultural Encounters (132-138)
Cabeza de Vaca, from the Relation (139-152)
W 9 Film: Cabeza de Vaca (dir. Nicolas Echevarria)
Th 10 Native American Oral Narratives and Poetry—we will consider some of
these texts orally during class
Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz (186-195)
De Otermín, Hopi, de Vargas, on the Pueblo Revolt (195-213)
New France (214-215) and The Jesuit Relations (224-234)
M 14 Film: Black Robe (dir. Bruce Beresford)
T 15 Submit reading journals for grading
New England (289-293)
John Winthrop (307-317)
Roger Williams (347-365)
Anne Bradstreet (394-397, 402, 406-407)
Mary White Rowlandson (437-468)
Cotton Mather (507-514)
W 16 Film: The Crucible (dir., Nicholas Hytner)—This is a two-hour film, so
we’ll start promptly; be on time, or you’ll miss the opening scenes.
Th 17 Paper #1 due
--Eighteenth Century-- (565-581)
Religion & Settlement (582-583)
Jonathan Edwards (645-647, 666-677)
John Woolman (689-708)
Revolution & Nationalism (800-802)
Handsome Lake (802-804)
Benjamin Franklin (804-815, 821-824)
M 21 J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (921-941)
Thomas Paine (957-970)
John Adams and Abigail Adams (976-988)
Thomas Jefferson (990-993, 1010-1026, 1057-1061)
The Federalist Papers (1027-1041)
Toussaint L’Ouverture (1042-1048)
On the Discourse of Liberty (1049-1050)
T 22 Visions & Voices (1087-1088)
Jupiter Hammon (1094-1097)
Samson Occom (1115-1121)
Judith Sargent Murray (1185-1187, 1193-1199)
Olaudah Equiano (1152-1185)
Philip Freneau (1211-1212, 1217-1219, 1223-1224)
Phyllis Wheatley (1238-1241, 1247-1252, 1056)
Lemuel Haynes (1255-1267)
W 23 Midterm Exam
Th 24 --Early Nineteenth Century-- (1389-1419)
Native America (1420-1422)
Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (1422-1423, 1428-1430)
Elias Boudinot (1442-1452)
John Ross (1452-1458)
Chief Seattle (1472-1475)
John Ridge (1490-1498)
M 28 Spanish America (1499-1500)
Cuentos: Tales from the Hispanic Southwest (1501-1508)
Lorenzo de Zavala (1514-1521)
Narratives: Mexican/Early American Southwest (1524-1527, 1531-1541)
New England (1560-1561)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1578-1581, 1621-1638)
Henry David Thoreau (1735-1752)
T 29 Submit reading journals for grading
Race/Slavery/Anti-Slavery (1825-1826)
William Lloyd Garrison (1838-1841)
Lydia Maria Child (1842-1845)
Frederick Douglass (1879-1887, 1946-1964)
Film: Amistad (dir., Steven Spielberg, 1997)
W 30 Film: Amistad –watch the concluding scenes; discuss film and readings
Harriet Jacobs (2029-2056)
Abraham Lincoln 2076-2080)
Sojourner Truth (2092-2099)
Th 31 Paper #2 due
The “Woman Question” (2081)
Fanny Fern (2100-2101, 2105-2109)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (2109-2115)
Development of Narrative (2116—2117)
Washington Irving (2143-2144, 2153-2165)
Edgar Allan Poe (2459-2461, 2492-2495)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (2242-2245)
August
M 4 Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (2307-2444)
Film: The Scarlet Letter (dir. Roland Joffé, 1995)
T 5 The Scarlet Letter continued
W 6 American Poetic Voices (2864-2866)
Songs and Ballads (2868-2881)
Walt Whitman (2920-2927, 2937-2944, 2990-2994)
Emily Dickinson (3042-3052)
Th 7 Final Exam
Course Requirements
Attendance and participation: Students are expected not only to have done the assigned reading but also to come to class prepared for discussion. Read the works assigned for a given day before that class period, so that you will be prepared to participate in the discussion of those readings. Excessive absences (more than two, in the summer schedule) may seriously affect your grade for the course. Extreme absence problems will result in a complete loss of credit for the course (a grade of F or W). On the other hand, responsible attendance and diligent participation are essential for those who seek to earn the higher grades. Your contribution to class discussion will be taken into account when final grades are calculated. You will receive a separate letter grade for class participation, which will be averaged together equally with your five letter grades for your written work. I may also resort to giving in-class quizzes on the reading, if I perceive that too many class members are not doing the reading. In that event, the quizzes would constitute part of your class participation grade.
Journals (informal writing): Each student must keep a response journal, in which you record your responses (ideas and reactions) to the readings, films and discussions we will explore together. You may use any kind of notebook you wish for this purpose, but it must be a separate notebook from your class notes or other materials, as you must submit your journals twice during the semester for me to assign a grade based on the effort you are making there to respond to our readings and films (if you are more oriented to typing on the computer than writing by hand, then you may type your responses in a Word document and print it to submit when journals are due). Be sure your journal contains only your own ideas and responses. Those who plagiarize any portion of their journals will receive an F for the journal grade. A second incidence of plagiarism will result in an automatic F for the course. Your journal is also a place where you can generate and develop ideas that you may later use in your papers for the course. In addition, if you approach it diligently, it will be a useful study tool when you are preparing for the in-class exams. And I will, from time to time, ask members of the class to read aloud from their reading journals in response to the day’s assigned readings. So, the habit of writing in your journal can also help boost your class participation grade.
Papers (formal writing): You will write two out-of-class papers. The due dates for these papers appear in bold type in the calendar above. Only typed, finished papers will be accepted on the due date. Do not submit any notes or preliminary drafts.
Topics—The paper topics suggested below explore issues related to the themes of the course. You may also devise a topic of your own that further explores some aspect of early American literature. You may wish to read in full a work that has only been assigned in part (for example, The Relation by Alvar Núňez Cabeza de Vaca), investigating further the issues raised within it. Or you may wish to do a comparative analysis of an original text and a film adaptation of it (for example, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne). You may wish to examine an issue or movement of interest to you (such as some aspect of slavery or the abolitionist movement) by comparing competing views of it in literature and film. Two lists of specific paper topics follow these instructions. All papers must (1) present information and (2) make an argument of your own based on the information you have gathered. It is not enough simply to catalogue the views of others; you also need to develop your own view. Some of the topics below contain clusters of questions. These questions are provided simply to help you begin thinking about the topic. You do not necessarily need to answer any of the specific questions; instead, use them as a way to explore what you are interested in and how you would like to focus your discussion of the topic.
Length— Each paper should be 750-1000 words in length (approximately 3-4 pages). Please use correct manuscript format, with one-inch margins and 12-point type (font size).
Sources— This course is a good place to practice your research skills. Each of your out-of-class papers must make use of at least two outside sources (in addition to the materials in your texts). Be sure you document your sources carefully, using MLA documentation format (there are MLA guidelines available on a link from the college library’s homepage at http://library.ncc.edu/ . Another useful tool for building the Works Cited page is at http://easybib.com/ ). You must include a “Works Cited” list that provides complete bibliographic information for each of your sources. Cite your sources (both primary and secondary) within your essay, whenever you present ideas or exact words of other writers. Any form of plagiarism or cheating will result in the grade of F for the paper, and the paper may not be rewritten to change the grade. A second incidence of plagiarism will result in a loss of credit for the course (the grade of F). Be forewarned that I do discover (and prove) several incidences of plagiarism each semester.
Accommodations and Learning Differences: If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact on your ability to carry out assigned course work, I would urge you to contact the staff in The Center for Students with Disabilities, “U” Building (behind the old college union), 572 –7241 (TTY 572 – 7617). CSD will review your concerns and determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation are confidential.
* * *
- Read in full any of the works that we have only read excerpts of. For example, you may want to read the complete text of Cabeza de Vaca’s The Relation, which is available online at http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/search?amode=start&author=Nunez+Cabeza+de+Vaca%2C+Alvar . (I have also put a link for these e-texts on our course home page in WebCT; click on the picture of Juan Diego playing Cabeza de Vaca). There are additional resources related to this and other Early American films at the Lehigh University American Literature Film site: http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/ejg/ejg-filmlist15.html#SPAIN . There is also a link for this site on our WebCT home page (click the film reel icon).
- Read all of the works in our class text by Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz and also view the film based on her life and work, I, the Worst of All (Dir., Maria Luisa Bemberg, 1990). Netflix and Blockbuster online both carry the film. There are additional resources on the Lehigh U. site noted in #1 above (including this page especially: http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/icn2/icn2-title.html ). Analyze the film in relation to the author’s life and work. Or, you may wish to explore the powerful way in which film depicts the situation of women in New Spain and elsewhere in the “New World” of Sor Juana’s day.
- Research the Jesuit missionary efforts during the period we are studying, and read more of the Jesuit Relations. In addition to Black Robe, which we will view in class, you may want to view The Mission (Dir., Roland Joffé, 1986). This is an amazing film (it won an Oscar for best cinematography, and stars Robert deNiro and Jeremy Irons). Focus your analysis on an issue or issues raised by these films and writings.
- We will be viewing the film The Crucible in class and you can find additional resources related to the film and to Arthur Miller’s play on which it’s based at: http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/ttk/ttk-title.htm. In addition, see the link on our WebCT homepage for the University of Virginia documentary archive (http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/salem/home.html), which includes court transcripts, letters and other interesting resources related to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Write an essay that explores the significance of these events in relation to our effort to understand the Puritans of the colonial period. Your discussion must be focused on how this illuminates our understanding of the Puritan writings we have read. See the New England section of your text (289-543), including Cotton Mather’s defense of the executions.
- Compare and contrast the captivity narratives of John Smith (“The General History of Virginia”), Mary Rowlandson (“Captivity and Restoration”), John Williams (“The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion”), or others in our class text. You might want explore some of the following questions in your discussion: What is the role of religion in these captivity narratives? How do these writers view native people? Is there a difference in tone or narrative strategy in these works? How do these works relate to the theme of identity (both individual and collective)? How do they illuminate the writers’ views of the Europeans’ “mission” in the new world?
- Explore further the significance of the Mayflower Compact to the formation of American identity and government. How important are religion and Biblical language in Bradford’s account of the Pilgrims’ settlement? How did the relationship of England and Spain influence attitudes of these English settlers during the time of William Bradford?
- Research the notion of “Manifest Destiny” as it relates to American identity, religion and mission. Although the term itself did not come into general use as a slogan or manifesto until roughly the 1840’s, the idea was present long before that time. In what way to you see this notion evolving from early attitudes revealed by the writings of Smith, Rowlandson, Bradford, Winthrop Wigglesworth and/or others?
- In some early American writings, the new world is represented as a “Promised Land” of Biblical proportions. Are there contemporary versions of this view? Are there still some who view America (particularly the United States of today) as the “new world” and as a “Promised Land”? Explore current attitudes on immigration (including illegal immigration) as they relate to what you know about formation of American identity and mission in the period of discovery, exploration and early settlement.
- Compare the formation and assertion of personal identity in two of the writers we have read or will read in the first half of the term. Some possibilities would be Phillis Wheatley, Benjamin Franklin, Samson Occom, John Woolman, Olaudah Equiano, Anne Bradstreet, or Fredrick Douglass. You may also read and research the work of any writer in our class texts whose work is not assigned on the syllabus.
* * *
Modern American Literature:
1865 to the Present
English 204-MA Office: Y231
Prof. Barbara Barnard Phone: 572-9778
Spring 2005 E-mail: barnarb@ncc.edu
M, W 2:00-3:15 Office hours: M 12:30-1:45, Th 1:00-2:15
Room S109
Prerequisite for this course: English 102. You must pass English 102 before taking this course.
Required text: The Heath Anthology of American Literature Volume Two, Fourth
Edition, Paul Lauter, Editor (Houghton-Mifflin, 2002). Please bring this book to
class every day.
Recommended text: A Pocket Style Manual by Diana Hacker (St. Martin's). This book
is recommended if you need a grammar or documentation handbook.
WebCT Resources: This is a WebCT-enhanced course. You will find some
resources (including this syllabus) on our course web pages. I will provide a
handout with instructions for accessing WebCT.
January
M 24 Changing Visions of the American Dream: Introduction to the course
and to a few American voices (handout attached to this syllabus)
W 26 The Late Nineteenth Century (1865-1910)
Period introduction (1-10), and
African Folk Tales, Intro (37-38), John Tales (51-56),
Mark Twain, Intro (56-59), “Goldsmith’s Friend…” (64-74)
M 31 Read: period introduction (10-22), and
Charles Waddell Chesnutt, Intro (126-27), “The Wife of His Youth” (143-
150),
Paul Laurence Dunbar, Intro (162-64), and poems (172-177),
George Washington Cable, Intro and “’Tite Poulette” (177-193)
February
W 2 Read: period introduction (22-37), and
Grace King, Intro and “Little Convent Girl” (193-199),
Alice Dunbar Nelson, Intro and “Sister Josepha” (199-205)
Ghost Dance Songs, Posey, Oskison, Corridos (207-238)
M 7 Kate Chopin, Intro and “Désirée’s Baby” (363-368)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Intro and “ The Yellow Wall-Paper” (606-619)
And Oral Presentations
W 9 Ambrose Bierce, Intro and “Chickamauga” (459-464)
Stephen Crane, Intro and “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” (495-497 &
520-528)
And Oral Presentations
M 14 Hamlin Garland, Intro and “Up the Coulé” (464-495)
And Oral Presentations
W 16 Paper #1 due
Upton Sinclair, Intro and from “The Jungle” (636-650)
And Oral Presentations
2/21-2/25 Winter Recess—classes do not meet
M 28 The Modern Period (1910-1945)
Read: period summary (887-899) and
W.E.B. Du Bois, Intro and “The Souls of Black Folk” and “The Song of
the Smoke” (916-917, 945-966)
Edith Wharton, Intro and “Roman Fever” (1010-1012, 1067-1076)
March
W 2 Read: period summary (899-904) and
Robert Frost, poems (1127-1139)
M 7 Read: period summary (904-914) and
Sherwood Anderson Intro and “Death in the Woods” (1141-42, 1145-54)
E.E. Cummings (1351-1361)
Katherine Anne Porter, Intro and “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”
(1458-1466)
W 9 Langston Hughes (1598-1629)
Film: Salvation (Dir. Bruce R. Schwartz, 2003, based on Langston
Hughes’ autobiography The Big Sea)
M 14 Ernest Hemingway, Intro and “Hills Like White Elepants” (1492-1505)
William Faulkner, Intro and “Barn Burning” (1515-18, 1543-1555)
W 16 MIDTERM EXAM
3/21-3/27 Spring recess—no classes
M 28 Zora Neale Hurston, Intro and “Sweat” (1656-1665)
And Oral Presentations
W 30 John Steinbeck, “The Chrysanthemums” and from The Grapes of Wrath
(1873-1889)
And Oral Presentations
April
M 4 Richard Wright, “Bright and Morning Star” (1889-1915)
And Oral Presentations
W 6 Paper #2 due
Carved on the Walls: Poetry by Chinese Immigrants (1955-1963)
And Oral Presentations
M 11 The Contemporary Period (1945 to the Present)
Read period summary (1965-1973)
Arthur Miller, The Crucible, Acts I & II (1973-2016)
Film: The Crucible (with Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder, 1996,
screenplay by Arthur Miller)
W 13 Arthur Miller, The Crucible, Acts III & IV (2016-2048)
Film: The Crucible, continued
M 18 Ralph Waldo Ellison, “Flying Home” (2147-2167)
James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” (2169-2191)
Paule Marshall, “To Da-duh: In Memoriam” (2192-2201)
W 20 Tillie Lerner Olsen, from Tell Me a Riddle (2213-2240)
Bernard Malamud, “The Magic Barrel” (2498-2511)
Cynthia Ozick, “The Shawl” (2520-2525)
F 22 Day classes follow Monday Schedule
Rudolfo A. Anaya, from Bless Me, Ultima (2582-2592)
Richard Rodriguez, from The Hunger of Memory (2592-2597)
Etheridge Knight, poems (2640-2645)
M 25 College holiday (Passover)
W 27 Toni Cade Bambara, “My Man Bovanne” (2694-2700)
Micheael Herr, from Dispatches (2731-2739)
Tim O’Brien, “In the Field” (2739-2749)
May
M 2 John Barth, “Lost in the Funhouse” (2824-2841)
Gish Jen, “In the American Society” (2981-2992)
And Oral Presentations
W 4 Paper #3 due
Bharati Mukherjee, “A Wife’s Story” (3061-3071)
And Oral Presentations
M 9 Raymond Carver, “Cathedral” (3099-3116)
Film: Cathedral (Directed by Bruce R. Schwartz, 2003)
W 11 Aurora Levins Morales, poems (3145-3148)
Simon J. Ortiz, poems (3161-3167)
And Oral Presentations
M 16 FINAL EXAM
W 18 Distribution of grades
Attendance and participation: Students are expected not only to have done the assigned reading but also to come to class prepared for discussion. Excessive absences (more than four) may seriously affect your grade for the course. Extreme absence problems will result in a complete loss of credit for the course (a grade of F or W). On the other hand, responsible attendance and diligent participation are essential for those who seek to earn the higher grades. Your contribution to class discussion—in the form of your own work that you share in your presentations and also in the form of thoughtful responses to assigned readings and the presentations of classmates—will be taken into account when final grades are calculated. You will receive a separate letter grade for class participation, which will be averaged together equally with your four letter grades for your written work. Failure to make an oral presentation will result in the grade of F for class participation.
Oral presentations—Each student must present at least one of his or her papers in an oral presentation to the class. This is your opportunity to stand at the front of the class and have your say! We will be a friendly group to try out your ideas on, and this kind of presentation is valuable experience, helping to build confidence and speaking skills that you will find useful elsewhere in life and work. In addition, if you do a good job in your presentation, your classmates will feel excited to take up the questions, ideas or issues you have raised. You may give a presentation based on your reading and research while the writing of your paper is still in progress, or you may present based on a finished paper.
Papers: You will write three out-of-class papers. The due dates for these papers appear in bold type in the calendar above. Only typed, finished papers will be accepted on the due date. Do not submit any notes or preliminary drafts at that time. In addition to the three formal essays, you may occasionally be asked to write brief, impromptu essays in class. Performance on these additional essay assignments will constitute part of your class participation grade.
Topics—The paper topics suggested below allow you to explore independently some readings in your class text that have not been assigned. But they also give you an opportunity to choose subject areas that might interest you. All papers must (1) present information and (2) make an argument of your own based on the information you have gathered. It is not enough simply to catalogue the views of others; you also need to develop your own view. Many of you will want to do research and use outside sources (that is, in addition to the resources offered within your class textbook). This is certainly a good idea, but you must be sure to document your sources. When you use outside sources, you must provide a Works Cited list that gives complete bibliographic information on the works you have used and cited in your essay. Please note that plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarized papers will receive the grade of F and may not be rewritten. A second incidence of plagiarism will mean an automatic F for the entire course, and I will report you to the Dean of Students (no kidding).
Length—Each paper should be 500-750 words in length (approximately 2-3 pages). Please use correct manuscript format, with one-inch margins and 12-point type (font size).
Sources—This course is a good place to practice your research skills. Each of your out-of-class papers may make use of outside sources (in addition to the materials in your text). Be sure you document your sources carefully, using MLA documentation format (see: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html). If you use outside sources, you must include a “List of Works Cited” that provides complete bibliographic information for each of your sources. Cite your sources (both primary and secondary) within your essay, whenever you present ideas or exact words of other writers. Any form of plagiarism or cheating will result in the grade of F for the paper, and the paper may not be rewritten to change the grade. A second incidence of plagiarism will result in a loss of credit for the course and notification of the Dean of Students. Be forewarned that I do discover (and prove) several incidences of plagiarism each semester.
Topics for Paper #1
Devise a topic that involves any work or works from the special sections in your textbook that are devoted to the Late Nineteenth Century period:
Critical visions of Postbellum America (544-672)
Developments in Women’s Writing (672-793)
A Sheaf of Poetry by Late-Nineteenth-Century American Women (793-823)
The Making of “Americans” (823-915)
You may concentrate on one writer within any of these sections, comparing and contrasting one writer’s works. Or, you may consider the works of more than one writer, comparing and contrasting them based on common or contrasting theme/s or characters. If you are interested in a particular theme or cultural development or social justice issue that is illuminated within one of these sections, you may focus on the theme or issue, using various works to help demonstrate a point or explore a concern.
Sample topics for Paper #1:
- Read the works by Standing Bear, Charles Alexander Eastman and Sarah Winnemucca (545-573). Then research the nineteenth century concept of “manifest destiny.” Compare and contrast views of manifest destiny as progress vs. the view of it as genocide and displacement of native peoples. Be sure to use specific examples and quotations from various sources to illustrate the contrasting perspectives.
- Read the works by Holley, Harper, Cooper and Gilman (573-626) and write an essay exploring the most crucial women’s issues of the late nineteenth century. You may find other women writers in these special sections that you would like to consider also, such as Mary Austin or Gertrude Bonnin (849-869), as well as Kate Chopin (363-459).
- Use various readings from these sections to illuminate the situation of immigrants to the United States in the late nineteenth century. Writers you might use include Dunne (626-636), Sinclair (636-650), Cahan, Eaton, Austin, Antin and Martí (in the Making of “Americans” section, 823-915).
- Consider the many African-American voices you have encountered so far in our readings. Select a few that most interest you and use their works to explore some aspect of the situation of African-Americans following the Civil War (e.g., education, voting rights, marriage and family, or violence against African-Americans during this period).
Topics for Paper #2
Devise a topic that involves any work or works from the special sections in your textbook that are devoted to the Modern period:
Alienation and Literary Experimentation (1189-1316)
A Sheaf of Political Poetry in the Modern Period (1316-1351)
The New Negro Renaissance (1566-1713)
Issues and Visions in Modern America (1713-1963)
You may concentrate on one writer within any of these sections, comparing and contrasting one writer’s works. Or, you may consider the works of more than one writer, comparing and contrasting them based on common or contrasting theme/s or characters. If you are interested in a particular theme or cultural development or social justice issue that is illuminated within one of these sections, you may focus on the theme or issue, using various works to help demonstrate a point or explore a concern.
Topics for Paper #3
Devise a topic that involves any work or works from the special sections in your textbook that are devoted to the Contemporary period:
The Beat Movement (2293-2323)
New Communities, New Identities, New Energies (2383-2731)
Vietnam Conflict (2731-2774)
Postmodernity and Difference: Promises and Threats (2821-3162)
You may concentrate on one writer within any of these sections, comparing and contrasting one writer’s works. Or, you may consider the works of more than one writer, comparing and contrasting them based on common or contrasting theme/s or characters. If you are interested in a particular theme or cultural development or social justice issue that is illuminated within one of these sections, you may focus on the theme or issue, using various works to help demonstrate a point or explore a concern.
Mythology and Folklore
English 220-CA Office: Bradley Hall 231
Prof. Barbara Barnard Phone: 572-9778
Fall 2010 E-mail: Barbara.Barnard@ncc.edu
T,Th 8:30-9:45 Office hours: T 10:00-11:15, W 9:30-10:45
Room: M211
Prerequisite for this course: English 102 or English 109.
Required texts:
The World of Myth by David Adams Leeming (Oxford U. Press, 1990),
A Short Introduction to Classical Myth by Barry B. Powell (Prentice-Hall, 2002),
and Spiders in the Hairdo: Modern Urban Legends by Holt and Mooney (August
House Pub., 1999).
Handouts: I will be distributing various handouts that relate to our discussions. These
are required reading also, and you will need a folder to collect them in. Please
bring the handouts to class for relevant discussions, and save them, as you will
need to use them during exams.
Recommended (optional) texts:
A Pocket Style Manual, Third Edition, by Diana Hacker (St. Martin's, 2000). This
book is recommended if you need a grammar and research handbook.
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, with Bill Moyers (Anchor Books, 1991)
Online/Blackboard Resources: This is a web enhanced course. You will find some resources (including this syllabus) on our course web pages in Blackboard/CE6. You are not required to do any work in Blackboard, but I will post links there that may be helpful to you when doing research for your required essays. My current semester syllabi are also available for downloading on my faculty webpages (http://faculty.ncc.edu) under “Documents.”
Turnitin.com: You must submit your formal essays for this course to the plagiarism checking service Turnitin.com as well as giving me a hard copy in class. I will give you instructions for how to use Turnitin. If you don’t submit to Turnitin.com for plagiarism checking, your paper will not be accepted for grading and you will receive an F. If computer access is a problem for you, you can use a student computer lab on campus to access the site.
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Course Calendar
September
[Page numbers refer to Leeming’s World of Myth, unless otherwise noted.]
Th 2 Introduction to course: Great Themes in Mythology & Folklore—
Ancient sources and modern manifestations in film and literature.
“The Man to Send Rain Clouds” by Leslie Marmon Silko (handout)
T 7 íThe Cosmosí Read:
Introduction (3-8) and Creation Stories (11-41); and Powell, Chapter 6
RR #1 due
Th 9 Rosh Hashanah – college holiday
T 14 Flood Stories (43-62) and “Chac-Mool” by Carlos Fuentes (handout)
RR #2 due
Th 16 Afterlife Stories (64-75), and “Yellow Woman” by Leslie Marmon Silko
and “Dead Men’s Path” by Chinua Achebe (handouts). RR #3 due
T 21 Powell, Chapter 1, RR #4 due
Film: from The Power of Myth, “The First Storytellers” [Joseph Campbell, with Bill Moyers, 1988]
Th 23 The Apocalypse (76-89) and “A Father” by Bharati Mukherjee
(handout); Powell, Chapter 2. RR #5 due
T 28 Powell, Chapter 3. RR #6 due
Film: from The Power of Myth, “Masks of Eternity” [Joseph Campbell,
with Bill Moyers, 1988]
Th 30 ÕGods and GoddessesÕ
The Pantheons (95-121); Powell, Chapter 7. RR #7 due
Research session—using the databases and finding research sources for
Essay #1 and #2.
October
T 5 Archetypal Gods, the Supreme Being and the Great Mother (123-146);
Powell, Chapter 4. RR #8 due
Oral Presentations
Th 7 The Dying God (146-163); Powell, Chapter 5. RR #9 due
Deadline for (optional) draft of Paper #1
T 12 The Trickster (163-172) and “Fleur” by Louise Erdrich (handout).
RR #10 due
Th 14 Gods, Goddesses, and Lesser Spirits: Greek and Roman (175-197)
Powell, Chapter 10. RR #11 due
Film: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou [dir. Joel Coen, 2000]
T 19 Gods, Goddesses, and Lesser Spirits: Non-
Greek (197-213).
Film: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou continued. RR #12 due
Th 21 Paper #1 due, and read: ÿHeroesÿ
Conception, Birth, and Childhood of the Hero (221-234); Powell,
Chapter 8; Isabel Allende’s “The Judge’s Wife” (handout).
RR #13 due
Oral Presentations
T 26 The Journey Quest of the Hero (235-265);
Film: Whale Rider [dir. Niki Caro, 2003]
Th 28 Deadline for late papers (Paper #1)
The Journey Quest of the Hero (265-295)
Film: Whale Rider (continued). RR #14 due
November
T 2 Powell, Chapter 14 and
“Four Seasons” by Haewon Lee (handout—student story). RR #15 due
Oral presentations
Th 4 Midterm Exam [You will use your textbooks and handouts during the
exam. All class notes and electronic devices must be put away.]
T 9 Film: Pan’s Labyrinth [dir. Guillermo Del Toro, 2006] and
“The Power of Myth,” with Guillermo Del Toro
Read: Handout: “The Fairy Tale Tradition”
Deadline for (optional) draft of Paper #2
W 10 Day classes follow a Thursday schedule
Rebirth, Return, Apotheosis (298-311) and
Pan’s Labyrinth continued. RR #16 due
Th 11 Veterans’ Day – college holiday
T 16 “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(handout), and “Our Tongue Was Nahuatl” by Anna Castillo (handout).
RR #17 due
Oral presentations
Th 18 þ Places and Objects ü
Places and Objects (313-333); Powell, Chapter 9.
Film: The Warriors [dir. Walter Hill, 1979]
T 23 Day and evening classes follow a Thursday schedule
Paper #2 due, and read: Places and Objects (338-348)
Film: The Warriors (continued) RR #18 due
Oral presentations
Th 25 Thanksgiving – College Holiday
T 30 Excerpts from Xenophon’s Anabasis (handout); Powell, Chapter 11.
RR #19 due
Oral presentations
December
Th 2 Deadline for late paper #2
Urban Myths, Read Holt & Mooney (9-38). RR #20 due
Oral Presentations
T 7 Urban Myths, Read Holt & Mooney (41-70)
Oral Presentations
Th 9 Oral Presentations
Review for final exam
T 14 Final Exam You may use your textbooks and handouts during the
exam. All class notes and electronic devices must be put away.]
Th 16 Oral Presentations
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Course Requirements
Attendance and participation: Students are expected not only to have done the assigned reading but also to come to class prepared for discussion. Excessive absences (more than four) may seriously affect your grade for the course. Extreme absence problems will result in a complete loss of credit for the course (a grade of F). You must attend class; excessive absences will seriously lower your grade; extreme absence problems WILL result in loss of credit for the course (a grade of F), even if your written work is satisfactory. On the other hand, responsible attendance and diligent participation are essential for those who seek to earn the higher grades. Your contribution to class discussion—in the form of your own work that you share in your presentations and also in the form of thoughtful responses to assigned readings and the presentations of classmates—will be taken into account when final grades are calculated. You will receive a separate letter grade for class participation, which will be averaged together equally with your five letter grades for your written work. Failure to make an oral presentation will result in the grade of F for class participation. In addition to your regular assignments described in this syllabus, you may be asked to write brief, impromptu essays or quizzes in class. Performance on these additional essay assignments or quizzes will constitute part of your class participation grade.
Oral presentations—Each student must present at least one of his or her papers in an oral presentation to the class. This is your opportunity to stand at the front of the class and have your say! We will be a friendly group to try out your ideas on, and this kind of presentation is valuable experience, helping to build confidence and speaking skills that you will find useful elsewhere in life and work. In addition, if you do a good job in your presentation, your classmates will feel excited to take up the questions, ideas or issues you have raised. You may give a presentation based on your reading and research while the writing of your paper is still in progress, or you may present based on a finished paper.
Reading Responses (informal writing): As you see on the calendar schedule, you will be submitting a series of 20 response writings. These are worth 5 points each, for a semester total of 100 possible points. Points earned will be converted to a letter grade to be averaged together equally with your other letter grades for the course (90-100=A, 85-89=B+, 80-84=B, 75-79=C+, 70-74=C, 65-69=D+, 60-64=D, 0-59=F). These writings should be typed and should be a half page to one page in length. Each will be submitted at the beginning of the class period at which it is due. If you are absent, you may submit the missing response writing at the following class. But if you are present and fail to turn in the work, you may not “make it up.” Your response writings are to be your own original, critical response to the readings and/or film under discussion on that day. Therefore I’m not interested in receiving work a week later that simply repeats what was already said in class. Instead, please sit down at your computer directly after finishing the assigned reading and write one good, solid paragraph (a page at most) regarding some aspect of the reading that interests you (it might be something you agree with or disagree with, something you understand or something you find difficult to understand). Be sure your response is an analytical one, not a summary. Plot summaries (in which you simply repeat the basics of a story line) will earn a low grade. Don’t just “retell” the story (or myth or film plot); instead express an opinion about what the author has written; also, respond to the work/s as a whole (not just to the first page or scene). Demonstrate that you’ve done the reading by making an intelligent comment on it (whether it’s a negative comment or a positive comment does not matter). Do not plagiarize your response writing from web sites like Spark Notes or Wikipedia; plagiarized responses will receive the grade of F, and a second incidence of plagiarism—on any written work—will result in an automatic F for the entire course. You must do your own work to pass this course.
Ideas you discover in your response writings may end up being part of your formal papers. I will not be marking grammatical errors and so forth on these informal writings, so relax when you write them. I’m simply looking for evidence that you have done the reading and that you are doing some independent thinking about what you have read. Paraphrasing the ideas of others from web sites is not thinking; in fact, over the long haul, that kind of activity can make you brain dead. Seriously. Do your own thinking.
Papers (formal writing): You will write two formal out-of-class papers. The due dates for these papers appear in bold type in the calendar above. Only typed, finished papers will be accepted on the due date. Do not submit any notes or preliminary drafts. In your formal writing (Papers #1 and #2 as well as your exams), grammar, sentence structure, mechanics, and organization do count, as we communicate our ideas more clearly and effectively when we write in well-formed sentences and paragraphs.
Topics—The paper topics suggested below explore issues related to the themes of the course. You may also devise a topic of your own that further explores some aspect of mythology or folklore. You may wish to read in full a work that has only been assigned in part, investigating further the issues raised within it. You may wish to examine an issue of interest to you by comparing competing views of it. Or, you may wish to analyze the range of scholarly debate about an issue, through investigating a number of secondary sources. All papers must (1) present information and (2) make an argument of your own based on the information you have gathered. It is not enough simply to catalogue the views of others; you also need to develop your own view. Some of the topics below contain clusters of questions. These questions are provided simply to help you begin thinking about the topic. You do not necessarily need to answer any of the specific questions; instead, use them as a way to explore what you are interested in and how you would like to focus your discussion of the topic.
Length—Each paper should be 1,000-1,250 words in length (approximately 4-5 pages). Be sure to use correct manuscript format, with one-inch margins and 12-point type (font size). Do not triple-space, do not use oversized fonts, do not leave extra blank space between paragraphs or at the tops or bottoms of your pages; this is a waste of paper and does not fool anyone.
Sources—This course is a good place to practice your research skills. Each of your out-of-class papers must make use of at least two outside sources (in addition to the materials in your texts). Be sure you document your sources carefully, using MLA documentation format (see: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/, or use the tools at: http://easybib.com). You must include a “Works Cited” list that provides complete bibliographic information for each of your sources. Cite your sources (both primary and secondary) within your essay, whenever you present ideas or exact words of other writers. Any form of plagiarism or cheating will result in the grade of F for the paper, and the paper may not be rewritten to change the grade. A second incidence of plagiarism will result in a loss of credit for the course (the grade of F). Be forewarned that I do discover (and prove) several incidences of plagiarism each semester.
Three ways to get help with your essay drafts—(1) For one-on-one tutoring in writing skills in general, and for help with your drafts for Essays #2, #4, and #5, you are encouraged to go to the Writing Center (first floor of Bradley Hall—the Y Building). (2) You may also come to see me during my office hours, if needed. (3) If you give me a typewritten draft of your paper at least two weeks before the due date for the paper, I will give you comments and suggestions for revision.
REQUIRED--Turnitin.com—You must submit Essays #1 and #2 (your formal papers written outside class) to Turnitin.com (the plagiarism checking service) as well as giving me a hard copy in class. Submit both the hard copy to me and the online copy to Turnitin.com on or before the due date for the paper. Your paper will not be graded until you both submit electronically as well as provide a hard copy. If the paper is submitted late in either of these forms, then it is a late paper.
Grading: Your six letter grades (two papers, two exams, reading responses, and the class participation grade) will be averaged together equally to calculate your final grade for the course. To add and average your grades yourself, at any point in the semester, convert them to grade points (A=4, B+=3.5, B=3, C+=2.5, C=2, D+=1.5, D=1, F=0). Please note that excessive absences will lower your grade, and extreme absence problems will result in a loss of credit for the course (a grade of F), even if written work is satisfactory.
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- Explore cosmology (ideas about the creation of the universe) from the point of view of mythology and of science. What do these ways of explaining creation have in common? How are they different? Is there a common ground in which they (mythic stories, scriptures and scientific writings) all seem to be about the same experiences and speculations? Mythic stories may include scripture as well as science fiction. Stories of time machines, for instance, relate to scientific knowledge of the speed of light.
- Devise your own topic related to gender and myth. You might want to explore and compare stories about goddesses from different mythic traditions. You might make a cross-cultural analysis of myths related to relations between men and women, or of myths related to gender identity.
- Analyze a myth retold or alluded to in a film or work of literature, as we will be doing in class throughout the semester. Compare how the myth is used in each. What is the agenda of the original storytellers? Does the creator of the contemporary work also have an agenda or a lesson to convey? What is it and how does it differ from the story’s original purpose?
- Pick a favorite mythic idea: mad scientist/Frankenstein’s monster, Pandora’s box, spider woman, journey into the wilderness, promised land, exile and return, or the hero/heroine’s quest, for example. Try to determine the sources (the primary texts) for this mythic idea (also called an archetype). Discuss meaning in the primary myth and in its later applications. What uses has this myth served (spiritual, social, psychological, ritual)?
- Joseph Campbell (in The Power of Myth) takes a great deal of interest in the mythic material embodied in George Lucas’s Star Wars movies. View one of these movies (for instance Return of the Jedi) and analyze the myths you find portrayed in the film.
- If you are interested in methods of interpreting mythic material, you may want to compare the different approaches represented by sources we have used in class discussion: Barry Powell, David Leeming, and Joseph Campbell. How do their approaches to analyzing and interpreting mythic material differ? Compare specific examples from the three authors’ analyses to illustrate your points about them. Whose approach do you find to be most valid or most meaningful? Why?
9. In an interview with CNN, contemporary folklorist (and urban legend expert) Jan Harold Brunvand was asked “What motivates a UL [urban legend] researcher?” He replied: “I was motivated to focus on urban legends by my students. They always seemed to think that folklore belonged to somebody else, usually in the past, that it was something quaint and outdated. So I started asking them what kind of stories did they learn by word of mouth; what did they repeat. Once I started collecting these stories, I just became fascinated with them.” Devise a topic of your own related to some aspect of urban legends. You may also want to explore one of Brunvand’s many books on urban legends (also called contemporary legends). Our NCC library has 8 different books by Brunvand.
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Literature and Film
The art of adaptation
English 251-C2 Prof. Barbara Barnard
Fall 2008 Office: Y231
Th 8:30-11:15 Phone: 572-9778
Room G169 E-mail: Barbara.Barnard@ncc.edu
Office hours: MW 2:00-3:15
Books required:
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Cape Fear by John D. MacDonald
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
Online Resources: This is a web enhanced course. You will find some resources (including this syllabus) on our course web pages. You are not required to do any work in CE6/Banner; it is simply provided as a resource.
September
Th 4 Introduction to the course: Some issues regarding adaptation.
Handout: excerpt from Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief
Film: Adaptation (Dir. Spike Jonze, 2002)
Th 11 Read: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
Response writing #1 due (Alexie)
Film: Smoke Signals (Dir. Chris Eyre, 1998)
Th 18 Read: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Response writing #2 due (Esquivel)
Film: Like Water for Chocolate (Dir. Alfonso Arau, 1992)
Begin discussion of Like Water for Chocolate
Th 25 Read: “Passion or Heartburn? The Uses of Humor in Esquivel’s and Arau’s Like
Water for Chocolate” by Dianna C. Niebylski (handout)
Read: Beloved by Toni Morrison, first 100 pages
Response writing #3 (Niebylski) and #4 (Morrison, pages 1-100) due
Discuss Like Water for Chocolate and Nieblyski article
Discuss topics and research for Paper #1
Begin discussion of Beloved
October
Th 2 Read: Beloved by Toni Morrison, page 101 to end
Response writing #5 due (Morrison, pages 101 to end)
Continue discussion of Beloved
Film: Beloved (Dir. Jonathan Demme, 1998)
M 6 Classes meet on Thursday schedule
Read: “Beloved: The Adaptation of an American Slave Narrative” by Mia Mask
(handout)
Response writing #6 (Mask) due
Film: Beloved continued
Continue discussion of Beloved and discuss Mia Mask article
Th 9 Yom Kippur—college holiday
Th 16 Paper #1 due
Finish discussion of Beloved and Mia Mask article; review for midterm exam
Th 23 MIDTERM EXAM (open book exam: bring all books and handouts)
Th 30 Read: The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Response writing #7 due (Miller)
Discussion of The Crucible
Film: The Crucible (Dir., Nicholas Hytner, 1996)
November
Th 6 Read: Cape Fear by John D. MacDonald
Response writing #8 due (MacDonald)
Discuss topics and research for Paper #2
Continue discussion of The Crucible
Begin discussion of Cape Fear
Th 13 Read: “Cape Fear and Trembling: Familial Dread” by Kirsten Thompson
(handout)
Response writing #9 due (Thompson)
Discuss Thompson article and Cape Fear
Film: Cape Fear (Dir., J. Lee Thompson, 1962)
Th 20 Continue discussion of Cape Fear and Thompson article
Film: Cape Fear (Dir. Martin Scorcese, 1991)
Th 27 Thanksgiving—college holiday
December
Th 4 Paper #2 due, and
Read: Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
Response writing #10 due (Mosley)
Discuss Devil in a Blue Dress
Film: Devil in a Blue Dress (Dir. Carl Franklin, 1995)
Th 11 Finish discussion of Devil in a Blue Dress (if needed) and
FINAL EXAM (open book exam: bring all books and handouts)
Th 18 Distribution of grades; conferences
Course Requirements
Attendance and participation: Students are expected not only to have done the assigned reading but also to come to class prepared for discussion. Excessive absences (more than two in this double period class) may seriously affect your grade for the course. Extreme absence problems will result in a complete loss of credit for the course (a grade of F or W). On the other hand, responsible attendance and diligent participation in class discussion are essential for those who seek to earn the higher grades. Your contribution to class discussion will be taken into account when final grades are calculated. You will receive a separate letter grade for class participation, which will be averaged together equally with your five letter grades for your written work.
Response Writings (informal writing): As you see on the calendar schedule, you will be submitting a series of 10 response writings. These are worth 10 points each, for a semester total of 100 possible points. Points earned will be converted to a letter grade to be averaged together equally with your other letter grades for the course (see “Grading” below). These writings should be typed and should be a half page to one page in length. Each will be submitted at the beginning of the class period at which it is due. If you are absent, you may submit the missing response writing at the following class. But if you are present and fail to turn in the work, you may not “make it up.” Your response writings are to be your own original, critical response to the work you have read. Therefore I’m not interested in receiving work a week later that simply repeats what was already said in class. Instead, please sit down at your computer directly after finishing the assigned reading and write one good, solid paragraph (or a page at most) regarding some aspect of the work that interests you. For example, a good response to Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven would be a paragraph characterizing Alexie’s use of metaphor and symbolism, and giving several good examples of it from the book. Another response to Alexie might involve a reaction to the book’s structure, as a series of overlapping stories with recurring characters, rather than a conventional novel structure with one overarching story. Or, you might comment on political or social issues raised by the book. Be sure your response is an analytical one, not a summary. Plot summaries (in which you simply repeat the basics of the story line) will earn a low grade. Don’t just “retell” the story; express an opinion about what the author has written; and respond to the work as a whole (not just to the first chapter). Demonstrate that you’ve done the reading by making an intelligent comment on it. Do not plagiarize your response writing from web sites like Spark Notes; plagiarized responses will receive the grade of F. You must do your own work to pass this course.
Papers (formal writing): You will write two out-of-class papers. The due dates for these papers appear in bold type on the calendar above. Only typed, finished papers will be accepted on the due date. Do not submit any notes or preliminary drafts.
Topics—The paper topics suggested below explore issues related to the works we have read and viewed for the course. You may also devise a topic of your own that further explores some aspect of a literary work and film adaptation that we have covered. All papers must (1) present information and (2) make an argument of your own based on the information you have gathered. It is not enough simply to catalogue the views of others; you also need to develop your own view. Some of the topics below contain clusters of questions. These questions are provided simply to help you begin thinking about the topic. You do not necessarily need to answer any of the specific questions; instead, use them as a way to explore what you are interested in and how you would like to focus your discussion of the topic. Important note: The highest grades will go to those essays that include original thinking. If you simply repeat what has been said already in class, then you are not doing sufficient thinking on your own, and your grade will reflect that. Be sure you are analyzing the works you are discussing. Do not write a plot summary in which you simply retell the story or plot; instead you must do some critical thinking about what you have read and viewed. Consider what others have said, but form an opinion of your own.
Length—Each paper should be 750-1000 words in length (approximately 3-4 pages). Please use correct manuscript format, with one-inch margins and 12-point type (font size).
Sources—This course is a good place to practice your research skills. Each of your out-of-class papers must make use of at least two secondary sources (in addition to the novel, novella, or play plus its film adaptation). You must use quotations from the literary text you are discussing. An essay that refers only to the film and does not engage with the literary work will not be acceptable. Be sure you document your sources carefully, using MLA documentation format (see: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html). You must include a “Works Cited” list that provides complete bibliographic information for each of your sources. Cite your sources (both primary and secondary) within your essay, whenever you present ideas or exact words of other writers. Any form of plagiarism or cheating will result in the grade of F for the paper, and the paper may not be rewritten to change the grade. A second incidence of plagiarism will result in a loss of credit (grade of F) for the course. Be forewarned that I do discover (and prove) several incidences of plagiarism each semester.
Accommodations and learning differences: If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may have an impact on your ability to carry out the assigned coursework, I urge you to contact the staff at the Center for Students With Disabilities, Bldg. U (behind the old College Union), 572-7241. TTY 572-7617. CSD will review your concerns and determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation are confidential.
- Read Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief. Do you think the film Adaptation is truly an adaptation of Orlean’s book? Or is it more appropriate to think of it as a take-off on her book? How do you view the relationship between these two creative works?
- Compare the narrative design of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven with that of Smoke Signals. Discuss the changes that Sherman Alexie made in the narrative structure as well as plot and characters when he wrote the screenplay to turn his own novel into a movie. For example, do you think that Thomas Builds-the-Fire makes a good narrator for the entire story (in the film version)? How would the film be different if Alexie had chosen instead to have a variety of narrators with different perspectives on events (as in the book)?
- Explore the use of metaphor, symbolism and magic in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, and examine how Alexie has adapted these techniques in the film Smoke Signals.
- How effective do you find Laura Esquivel’s use of recipes, magic and hyperbole in her novel Like Water for Chocolate? Explore the ways in which her use of these techniques is translated into film. Alternatively, you might examine the portrayal of any of the major characters, comparing the way he or she is depicted in the original text with how the same character is depicted in the film. Or, you may consider the uses of violence in the film.
- The film adaptation of Beloved received a very mixed critical response. Do you feel the involvement of a celebrity like Oprah Winfrey was an asset to the production? Or do you think the artistic values of the film were ill-suited to the kind of audience attracted to Oprah’s highly visible media image? Alternatively, you may want to explore thematic issues raised by the film. Toni Morrison’s novel is full of powerful, magical, metaphorical language. Do you think the film does justice to the metaphorical, lyrical qualities of the novel? Analyze the film techniques used to convey this. Do you find the depiction of the magnitude of suffering caused by the evil of slavery is conveyed most effectively in the novel or the film? Or, you may choose to pose a different question about the film’s depiction of slavery.
- Consider a theme or themes raised in any of the texts and adaptations we have studied so far. Is this theme conveyed as effectively in the film adaptation? Has the adaptation altered any themes or messages, given them a different spin than in the original text? For example, you might consider the importance to Sherman Alexie of depicting Native Americans’ different perspective on American history. Does the film convey this important theme more effectively or less effectively than the original text? Or, are you interested in issues regarding women and relationships, and family responsibilities, that are raised in Like Water for Chocolate? You may want to devise a topic based on issues you perceive as arising from Esquivel’s story.
- Write an essay that explores any aspect of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Nicholas Hytner’s film adaptation. For example, you may be interested in the question of the play’s and the film’s historical accuracy (or inaccuracy). You can find resources related to the film and the play at: http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/ttk/ttk-title.htm . Another good resource is the University of Virginia documentary archive (http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/salem/home.html), which includes court transcripts, letters and other interesting materials related to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
- Choose any of the ideas or concepts presented in Kirsten Thompson’s critical article “Cape Fear and Trembling: Familial Dread” and write a persuasive essay that either agrees with her view or disputes her view. Whatever side you’re on, you must support your assertions with appropriate detailed evidence from MacDonald’s novel and from the film adaptation/s.
- Compare the characterization of any one or more of the main characters in the novel Devil in a Blue Dress with the same character’s (or characters’) depiction in the film adaptation. How do the changes in characterization alter the meaning and tone of the story in the film adaptation?
- Consider a theme or themes raised in any of the texts and adaptations we have studied since the midterm. Is this theme conveyed as effectively in the film adaptation? Has the adaptation altered any themes or messages, given them a different spin than in the original text?
- Create your own topic that draws on any of the works we have read and viewed during the second half of the course (since the midterm).
- What film do you wish we had covered in this course that we did not? You must choose a film that is based on a literary work or work of popular fiction. Write an essay analyzing the original work and its film adaptation.
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Creative Writing
the fiction, poetry, playwriting workshop
English 313-GA Prof. Barbara Barnard
Fall 2010 Office: Y231
M 11:00-12:15, S109 Phone: 572-9778
W 11:00-12:15, S220 E-mail: Barbara.Barnard@ncc.edu
Office hours: T 10:00-11:15, W 9:30-10:45
Two required texts: A Writer’s Country: A Collection of Fiction and Poetry, by Jeff Knorr &
Tim Schell (Prentice Hall, 2001), AND All in the Timing: Fourteen Plays, by David Ives (Vintage, 1995).
Online Resources: This is a web enhanced course. You will find some resources (including this syllabus) on our course web pages in Blackboard/CE6. You are not required to do any work in Blackboard; it is simply provided as a resource. In addition, syllabi for all of my courses are available on my faculty web pages.
Turnitin.com: You must submit your four formal written assignments for this course to the plagiarism prevention service Turnitin.com as well as giving me a hard copy in class. I’m especially sorry to have to do plagiarism checking in creative writing workshops; however, I have had incidents of students submitting plagiarized work in this course (e.g., stealing the poems of others from online blogs). I will give you instructions for how to use Turnitin.com. If computer access is a problem for you, you can use a student computer lab on campus to access the site.
September
W 1 Introduction to the course and discussion of handouts:
Poem: “The Satisfaction Coal Company” by Rita Dove
Story: “Just Lather, That’s All” by Hernando Téllez
Play: “Death Knocks” by Woody Allen
M 6 Labor Day – college holiday
W 8 Read: Knorr & Schell, pages 7-24 and Ives, Preface and Sure Thing (xii.-17). Be
prepared to read a poem or passage aloud and comment on it. RR#1 due
M 13 Read: Knorr & Schell, 25-42, and Ives, Words, Words, Words (18-30).
Select a favorite or problematic passage to read aloud and comment on. RR#2 due
W 15 Drafts Workshop #1 (bring your drafts of 1 or 2 poems, or part of a story or play
to read aloud and discuss in workshop)
M 20 Read: Knorr & Schell, 43-63 and Jim Quinn, Her Deer Story (handout). Be
prepared to read aloud and comment) RR#3 due
W 22 Assignment #1 due (poems, story or one-act play) and Workshop
M 27 Read: Knorr & Schell, 64-92 and Ives, The Universal Language (31-52)
(read aloud and comment) RR#4 due
W 29 Read: Knorr & Schell, 93-100, and Ives, Variations on the Death of Trotsky (53-66)
and be prepared to read something aloud and comment RR#5 due
October
M 4 Read: Ives, The Philadelphia (53-79) and Tobias Wolff, “Bullet in the Brain” and
“Say Yes” (handouts). Be prepared to read aloud and comment. RR#6 due
W 6 Read: Knorr & Schell, 101-115 and Ives, Long Ago and Far Away (81-101)
(be prepared to read a passage aloud and comment) RR#7 due
M 11 Read: Knorr & Schell, 116-130 and Ives, Foreplay, or the Art of the Fugue
(102-125), and be prepared to read aloud and comment RR#8 due
W 13 Read: Knorr & Schell, 131-157 (be prepared to read a passage aloud and comment)
RR#9 due
M 18 Drafts Workshop #2 (bring your drafts of 1 or 2 poems, or part of a story or play
to read aloud and discuss in workshop)
W 20 Read: Ives, Seven Menus (127-154) and Knorr & Schell, 158-174
(be prepared to read a passage aloud and comment) RR#10 due
M 25 Assignment #2 due (poems, story or one-act play) and Workshop
W 27 Read: Ives, Mere Mortals (155-176) and Knorr & Schell, 175-191
(be prepared to read a passage aloud and comment) RR#11 due
November
M 1 Read: Ives, English Made Simple (177-191) and Knorr & Schell, 192-201
(be prepared to read a passage aloud and comment) RR#12 due
W 3 Read: Knorr & Schell, 202-218 and Ives, A Singular Kind of Guy and Speed-the
Play (193-212), and be prepared to read a passage aloud and comment RR#13 due
M 8 Read: Knorr & Schell, 219-227 RR#14 due
W 10 Classes follow a Thursday schedule
M 15 Read: Ives, Ancient History (213-294) RR#15 due
W 17 Drafts Workshop #3 (bring your drafts of 1 or 2 poems, or part of a story or play
to read aloud and discuss in workshop)
M 22 Read: Knorr & Schell, 228-253 (be prepared to read a passage aloud and comment)
RR#16 due
W 24 Classes follow a Friday schedule
M 29 Assignment #3 due (poems, story or one-act play) and Workshop
December
W 1 Read: Knorr & Schell, 254-273 and Ives, Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread (295-
313), and be prepared to read a passage aloud and comment. RR#17 due
M 6 Drafts Workshop #4 (bring your drafts of 1 or 2 poems, or part of a story or play
to read aloud and discuss in workshop)
W 8 Read: Knorr and Schell, 274-293 (be prepared to read a passage aloud and
comment) RR#18 due
M 13 Assignment #4 due (revised poems, story or play) and Workshop
W 15 Workshop continued
RR#19 due – self evaluation: evaluate your own work in the course
RR#20 due – course evaluation: anonymous submission; automatic 5 points
M 20 Workshop continued
W 22 Distribution of grades
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Course requirements and information
Attendance and participation: Creative Writing is a seminar course, not a lecture course. For students, this means more expressive freedom, but it also means that you share more responsibility for your own learning and for the success of the course. Each student is expected to be well-prepared for class and to participate in every class discussion. You will need not only to do the reading but also to consider thoughtfully what you have read.
Excessive absences (more than four) can seriously lower your grade for the course. Chronic lateness will have a detrimental effect on your grade (two “lates” equal an absence), and extreme absence problems will result in a loss of credit for the course (a grade of F). On the other hand, responsible attendance and diligent participation in class discussion are essential for those who seek to earn the higher grades. The workshops are the heart of any creative writing seminar. Your contribution to these discussions (in the form of your own work that you share and also the thoughtful assistance you give to classmates in helping them develop their creative ideas) is essential, and you will receive a separate letter grade for your workshop participation. You will also be awarded a separate letter grade for your attendance and participation in discussion of assigned readings. These two participation grades (one for workshops, one for attendance and discussion of readings) will be averaged together equally with your five grades for written work in calculating your grade for the course. Please note that class participation therefore constitutes nearly one third of your final grade.
Written work – 4 major assignments (stories, poems, plays): You will submit four major written assignments for grading: three original works of poetry, fiction and/or drama (Assignments #1, 2, and 3), and one major revision of work previously submitted (Assignment #4). This course is a creative writing workshop. You must have your works-in-progress as well as your completed original works discussed by the class in order to receive a passing grade for the course. Our goal in workshop discussion will be to explore and appreciate one another's writing and to provide constructive suggestions for each writer. To this end, you will be bringing copies of your work for your fellow writers to make comments on during workshops. Length: You may bring any number or length of poems to workshop, but when submitting poems to me for a graded assignment, two or three poems (or their equivalent) would be expected. A finished short story should be l,000 words or more (at least four pages, typed, double-spaced). A finished one-act play (or scene from a longer play) should be at least four pages, in correct dramatic format. For all of your classes, be sure to keep a copy of any work that you submit. Lateness: Any assignment submitted after the due date will be dropped one half of a letter grade for lateness during the week following the due date, and an additional half of a letter grade for any subsequent week/s of lateness. This policy is intended to help you stay on schedule; otherwise, the work will pile up on you in the latter half of the semester. Turnitin.com—You must submit Assignments #1-4 to Turnitin.com (the plagiarism prevention service) as well as giving me a hard copy in class. Submit both the hard copy to me and the online copy to Turnitin.com on or before the due date for the assignment. Your work will not be graded until you both submit electronically as well as provide a hard copy. If your assignment is submitted late in either of these forms, then it is late work, and the lateness policy applies.
Written work – 20 brief reading responses (thoughts on craft): As novelist John Gardner famously said—and I paraphrase—the young writer needs to read, read, read; the beginning writer needs to read the way a young architect looks at a building (to see what materials were used and how it is constructed) or the way a medical student looks at an operation (knowing she may have to perform that same surgery). In your reading responses, then, you need to be mindful of Gardner’s wise advice. Do not respond as you would to a reading assignment in a literature course. Instead, be alert to learning more about the crafting of poetry, fiction, plays. As you see on the calendar schedule, you will be submitting a series of 20 response writings. These are worth 5 points each, for a semester total of 100 possible points. Points earned will be converted to a letter grade to be averaged together equally with your other letter grades for the course (90-100=A, 85-89=B+, 80-84=B, 75-79=C+, 70-74=C, 65-69=D+, 60-64=D, 0-59=F). These writings should be typed and should be a half page to one page in length. Each will be submitted at the beginning of the class period at which those readings are to be discussed. If you are absent, you may submit the missing response writing at the following class. But if you are present and fail to turn in the work, you may not “make it up.” Your response writings are to be your own original thoughts (or questions) about at least one poem, one story, and one play read for that day’s discussion. I’m not interested in receiving work a week later that simply repeats what was already said in class. Instead, please sit down at your computer directly after finishing the assigned reading and write one good, solid paragraph (a page at most) regarding some aspect of craft in the works that you’ve read, responding to at least one work in each of the three genres. You may comment on something you think worked well in the piece, or on what you perceive to be a weakness of the piece; or you may speculate about how the story would be transformed if told from a different point of view (for instance). Do not write plot summaries (in which you simply repeat the basics of a story line). Don’t “retell” the story (or poem or play); instead express an opinion about the way the author has written the piece. Demonstrate that you’ve done the reading by making an intelligent comment on craft (whether it’s a negative comment or a positive comment does not matter). I will not be marking grammatical errors and so forth on these informal writings, so relax when you write them. I’m simply looking for evidence that you have done the reading and that you are doing some independent thinking about craft.
Duplicating your poems, stories and/or one-act plays for workshop discussion: You will bring copies of your work for the workshop. You’ll get the best feedback if you distribute your copies at least one class period before your work is to be discussed (this applies particularly to those writing fiction and plays), since the class will then have time to read your work in advance of the discussion and make notes and comments for you on their copies. If it’s not possible to hand your work out in advance, then bring your copies to the workshop to distribute before you read aloud. Your fellow writers will make written comments on your copies and return them to you. Although workshopping of poetry is more flexible, to workshop a short story or play, it is important to hand it out in advance so that it can be read by your fellow writers before the class in which you expect to discuss it.
Submitting work to Luna: Luna is your student literary magazine, publishing poetry, fiction, drama, artwork and photography by NCC students. I hope that you will all submit work to Luna, in any genre or genres you wish (fiction, poetry, brief plays, photographs or reproductions of art work). If you wish, submissions can be given to me and I will pass them to the Luna editors. You can also submit online by sending your work, along with your contact information, to: lunancc@gmail.com. The student editors of the magazine decide which works they will accept for publication in the next issue of Luna. This is an opportunity to see your work in print! I will bring in copies of recent issues of Luna for the class to peruse. Luna is also in need of student editors. If you are interested in connecting with the students who are working on the magazine, just send them an email at lunancc@gmail.com.
Grading: I will average together equally your five grades for written assignments (Assignments #1-4, plus reading responses) and your two grades for class participation. Thus you will have seven letter grades to be averaged together equally. Please note that class participation constitutes nearly one third of your final grade. To receive a passing grade, you must attend class faithfully and you must participate. When submitting rewrites for Assignment #4, you must attach the previous, graded assignment, since the rewrite grade depends upon how effectively you have revised your earlier work. I will not accept any Assignment #4 rewrite that is not accompanied by the previous graded draft.
Accommodations and learning differences: If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may have an impact on your ability to carry out the assigned coursework, I urge you to contact the staff at the Center for Students With Disabilities, Bldg. U (behind the old College Union), 572-7241. TTY 572-7617. CSD will review your concerns and determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation are confidential.
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Fiction Writing
English 317-JA Prof. Barbara Barnard
Fall 2005 Office: Y231 (Bradley Hall)
M, W 12:30-1:45 Phone: 572-9778
Room N119 E-mail: barnarb@ncc.edu
Office hours: T, Th 1:00-2:15
Required text: Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, 6th Edition, by Janet Burroway (Addison Wesley Longman, 2003).
WebCT Resources: This syllabus is also posted online, in Web CT. You are not required to do any work in WebCT; it is simply offered as a resource if you choose to use it.
Course Calendar
September
M 5 Labor Day—college holiday
W 7 Introduction to the course and “The Man to Bring Rain Clouds” by
Leslie Marmon Silko (handout)
M 12 Preface to students (Burroway, xiv.-xvi.) and
Chapter 1: Whatever Works>>The Writing Process, and
Discuss character sketches or anecdotes due on the 19th.
W 14 Chapter 2: The Tower and the Net>>Story Form and Structure
M 19 Character sketch or anecdote due for class discussion. (Use the writing
Exercises on pages 27-29 to get started, or generate your own story idea.)
W 21 Chapter 3: Seeing Is Believing>>Showing and Telling
M 26 Chapter 4: Book People>>Characterization, Part I
W 28 Story #1 due
and workshop
October
M 3 Workshop
W 5 Rosh Hashanah—no classes
M 10 Chapter 5: The Flesh Made Word>>Characterization, Part II
W 12 Chapter 6: Long Ago and Far Away>>Fictional Place and Time
M 17 Chapter 6 continued
W 19 Character sketch or anecdote due for class discussion. (You may use one
of the writing assignments at the ends of chapters to begin
building your second story, or you may begin in your own way.)
M 24 Chapter 7: Call Me Ishmael>>Point of View, Part I
W 26 Story #2 due
And Workshop
M 31 Workshop continued
November
W 2 Chapter 8: Assorted Liars>>Point of View, Part II
M 7 Chapter 8 continued
W 9 Character sketch or anecdote due, for discussion
M 14 Chapter 9: Is and Is Not>>Comparison
W 16 Story #3 due
And Workshop
M 21 Workshop
W 23 Chapter 10: I Gotta Use Words When I Talk to You>>Theme
M 28 Chapter 10 continued
W 30 Workshop
December
M 5 Chapter 11: Play It Again Sam>>Revision
And Workshop
W 7 Workshop
M 12 Story #4 due (rewrite of any previous story)
W 14 Workshop, and submit work for Luna magazine
M 19 Workshop, and submit work for Luna magazine
W 21 Distribution of grades
Course Requirements
Attendance and participation: Fiction Writing is a seminar course, not a lecture course. For students, this means more expressive freedom, but it also means that you share more responsibility for the success of the course. Each student is expected to be well-prepared for class and to participate in every class discussion. You will need not only to do the reading but also to consider thoughtfully what you have read.
Excessive absences (more than four) can seriously lower your grade for the course. Chronic lateness will have the same effect. Extreme absence problems will result in a grade of W. On the other hand, responsible attendance and diligent participation in class discussion are essential for those who seek to earn the higher grades. We will work on bits and pieces of stories on the days scheduled for "character sketches and anecdotes," and your contribution to these discussions (both in the form of your own work which you share and also in the form of the thoughtful assistance you give to classmates in helping them develop their story ideas) will constitute an important part of class participation. You will be awarded two letter grades for your class participation, one for your attendance and participation in discussion of readings from the text, the other for your participation and presentations in workshops. These two participation grades will be averaged together equally with your four story grades in calculating your grade for the course. Thus, class participation constitutes one third of your grade for the course.
Written work: You will submit three original stories and one rewrite (of any previous story). At least one of these stories must be duplicated and distributed in full for workshop discussion. Each and every story must be shared with the workshop in some form (even if you do not provide copies for everyone). This course is a fiction workshop. You must have at least one completed story distributed to the class and discussed by the class in order to receive a passing grade for this course. Our goal in workshop discussion will be to explore and appreciate one another's work and to provide constructive suggestions for each writer. Length: Each of your completed stories must be l,000 words or more (at least four pages, typed, double-spaced). Save a clean copy of your work, or be sure you save it on a disk. You may not submit my graded copy for the workshop. Lateness: Any story submitted after the due date will be dropped one half of a letter grade for lateness during the week following the due date, and an additional half of a letter grade for any subsequent week/s of lateness. This policy is intended to help you stay on schedule; otherwise, the work will pile up on you in the latter part of the semester.
Duplicating your story for Workshop Discussion: When you have scheduled your workshop, you will make copies of your story for the class. You must duplicate a clean copy of the story, not my graded copy. This way, members of the workshop will not be influenced by my written comments on your story, but will form their own opinions and suggestions. It is more useful to you, the writer, to receive a variety of suggestions and reactions to your work during the workshop discussion. You must distribute your copies at least one class period before your story is to be discussed, since the class must have time to read your story in advance of your workshop date. You are only required to copy and distribute one story for this kind of thorough workshop discussion (though you must discuss, and read excerpts from, every story you produce).
Grading: I will average together the four story grades and your letter grade for class participation. The rewrite grade (Story #4) is an additional letter grade; it does not replace the grade on the previous draft. Also, when submitting your rewrite, you must attach the previous, graded draft (#l, 2 or 3), since the rewrite grade depends upon how effectively you have revised your earlier work. Late work at the end of the semester must be received before the last week of classes. I will not hold up submission of the class grades because one student has failed to submit late work. As of the last day of class, any work not submitted will receive the grade of F.
Poetry Writing
English 318-TA Prof. Barbara Barnard
Summer Session II, 2007 Office: Y231
M-Th 12:10-2:05 Phone: 572-9778
Room G223 E-mail: Barbara.Barnard@ncc.edu
Required text: Open Roads: Exercises in Writing Poetry by Diane Thiel (Pearson Longman,
2005).
Course Calendar
July
M 2 Introduction to the course and discussion of poems (handout):
T 3 Read: Introduction, #1 Points of Inspiration, and #2 Voice and tone (1-18), and:
Miller Williams, “The Curator” (219)
Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz (206)
Judith Ortiz Cofer, “Quinceañera” (166)
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “Don’t Let That Horse Eat That Violin” (174)
Elizabeth Bishop, “One Art” (161)
Wendy Cope, “Lonely Hearts” (167)
Diane Thiel, “Memento Mori in Middle School” (213)
W 4 Independence Day – college holiday
Th 5 Draft Workshop (bring your draft of a poem to distribute, read aloud and discuss in
workshop; remember to bring copies for all)
F 6 Classes meet on a Wednesday schedule
Workshop continued; discussion of handouts
M 9 Read: #3 Perspective, Point of View, and Distance, and #4 Selecting Details (19-
26), and
Craig Raine, “A Martian Sends a Postcard Home” (202)
Hart Crane, “My Grandmother’s Love Letters” (168)
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, “She Promises to Hold a Secret in Confidence” (209)
William Stafford, “Traveling through the Dark” (210)
T 10 Read: #5 Image and Symbol and #6 Figurative Language, and
April Lindner, “Spice” (195)
William Butler Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” (225)
Marianne Moore, “Poetry” (197)
W.H. Auden, “Musée des Beaux Arts” (160)
William Carlos Williams, “The Dance” (222)
Richard Wilbur, “The Writer” (218)
Wallace Stevens, “Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock” (211)
John Ashbery, “Paradoxes and Oxymorons” (159)
Robert Frost, Poetic Metaphor from “Education by Poetry” (178)
Richard Wilbur, “The Writer” (218)
W 11 Read: #7 Diction, and #8 Drawing Tension, and
Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky” (165)
Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken” (176)
William Stafford, “Traveling through the Dark” (210)
Nikos Kavadias, “A Knife” (188)
Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Richard Cory” (205)
Th 12 Assignment #1 due, and Workshop (bring copies for all)
M 16 Read: #9 Sound & Rhythm, and #10 Speaker and Dialogue (55-64), and
William Butler Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” (225)
Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess” (162)
and reread the poems that Thiel suggests revisiting
T 17 Read #11 Conversations between Texts, and #12 Performing the Poem: Reading,
Slam, Performance (65-74), and
R.S. Gwynn, “Shakespearean Sonnet” (181)
William Burler Yeats, “The Stolen Child” (223)
Michael Harper, “Dear John, Dear Coltrane” (185)
Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Richard Cory” (205)
Paul Simon, “Richard Cory” (208)
Dudley Randall, “Ballad of Birmingham” (204)
W 18 Read: #13 Revision, and #14 Free Verse: Origins and Seasons (75-91), and
Carolyn Forché, “The Colonel” (175)
Walt Whitman, “When I Heard the Learned Astronomer” (217)
Th 19 Assignment #2 due, and Workshop (bring copies of your poems)
M 23 Read: #15 Making and Breaking the Line, and #16 Parallel Structures (93-97), and
Sherman Alexie, “Indian Education” (151)
William Carlos Williams, “The Dance” (222)
Joy Harjo, “She Had Some Horses” (183)
Sherman Alexie and Diane Thiel, “A Conversation with Sherman Alexie” (152)
T 24 Read: #17 Stanzas, and #18 Rhythm and Refrain (99-106), and
Yusef Komunyakaa, “Rhythm Method” (191)
Alfonsina Storni, “Ancestral Burden” (212)
Naomi Shihab Nye, “Famous” (201)
W 25 Read: #19 Hearing the Beat: Using Meter, and #20 Trochaic Meter and Spells
(105-116), and
Review the poems listed on page 105
Th 26 Assignment #3 due, and Workshop (bring copies of your poems)
M 30 Read: #21 Committing a Rhyme, and #22 Forms from Various Cultures and
Traditions (117-147), and
Marilyn Nelson, “Chosen” (200)
William Shakespeare, “When in Disgrace with Fortune and Men’s Eyes” (207)
Dana Gioia, “My Confessional Sestina” (179)
Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask” (169)
Gerry Cambridge, “Goldfinch in Spring” (164)
Frederick Morgan, “1904” (199)
Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, “Pantoum for Chinese Women” (193)
John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (189)
Donald Hall, “Names of Horses” (182)
César Vallejo, “To My Brother Miguel” (215)
David Mason, “Acrostic from Aegina” (196)
Carolyn Beard Whitlow, “Rockin’ a Man Stone Blind” (216)
Langston Hughes, “The Weary Blues” (187)
T 31 Continue discussion of #22, and begin final workshops.
August
W 1 Assignment #4 due (revised poems--optional) and Workshop (bring copies)
In-class Readings or Performance of finished work, and
Submit work in any genre for Luna magazine (include your contact
information—name, address, email, phone—on each piece of work, and bring a copy on a CD-Rom or floppy disc)
Th 2 Conferences/distribution of grades
Course Requirements and Information
Attendance and participation: Poetry Writing is a workshop/seminar course, not a lecture course. For students, this means more expressive freedom, but it also means that you share more responsibility for the success of the course. Each student is expected to be well-prepared for class and to participate in every class discussion. You will need not only to do the reading but also to consider thoughtfully what you have read.
Excessive absences (more than two, in this summer section) can seriously lower your grade for the course. Chronic lateness will have a detrimental effect on your grade (two “lates” equal an absence), and extreme absence problems will result in a loss of credit for the course. On the other hand, responsible attendance and diligent participation in class discussion are essential for those who seek to earn the higher grades. The workshops are the heart of any creative writing seminar. Your contribution to these discussions (in the form of your own work that you share and also the thoughtful assistance you give to classmates in helping them develop their mastery of the craft) is essential, and you will receive a separate letter grade for your workshop participation. You will also be awarded a separate letter grade for your attendance and participation in discussion of assigned readings. These two participation grades (one for workshops, one for attendance and discussion of readings) will be averaged together equally with your three or four grades for written work in calculating your grade for the course. Please note that class participation thus constitutes one third of your final grade.
Written work: You will submit at least three written assignments for grading: three groups of original poems, and one (optional) group of revisions (of work previously submitted). This course is a creative writing workshop. You must have your completed original work discussed by the class in order to receive a passing grade for the course. Our goal in workshop discussion will be to explore and appreciate one another's writing and to provide constructive suggestions for each writer. To this end, you will be bringing copies of your work for your fellow writers to make comments on during workshops. Length: You may bring any number or length of poems to workshop, but when submitting poems for a graded assignment, two or three poems (or their equivalent) would be expected. For all of your classes, be sure to keep a copy of any work that you submit. Lateness: Any assignment submitted after the due date will be dropped one third of a letter grade for lateness during the week following the due date, and an additional third of a letter grade for any subsequent week/s of lateness. This policy is intended to help you stay on schedule; otherwise, the work will pile up on you in the latter part of the term.
Duplicating your poems for Workshop Discussion: You will bring copies of your work for the workshop. You will get the best feedback if you distribute your copies one class period before your work is to be discussed, since the class will then have time to read your poems in advance of the workshop date and make notes and comments for you on their copies. If it is not possible to hand your work out in advance, then bring your copies to the workshop to distribute before you read aloud. Your fellow writers should note written comments on your copies and return them to you.
Submitting work to Luna: Luna is your award-winning student literary magazine, publishing poetry, fiction, drama, artwork and photography by NCC students. I hope that you will all submit work to Luna, in any genre or genres you wish (fiction, poetry, brief plays, photographs or reproductions of art work). Submissions can simply be given to me, as I am a faculty advisor to the magazine. The student editors of the magazine will decide which works they will accept for publication in the next issue of Luna. We also need Luna editors for the next issue. If you wish to work on the magazine, you may be able to earn academic credit as an intern (if academically qualified). There is also some student aide money available to compensate qualified Luna editors. Let me know if you are interested. Whether you want to work on the magazine or not, please do submit your creative work for the next issue. This is an opportunity to see your work in print! I will bring in copies of the Spring 2007 issue of Luna for the class to peruse.
Grading: I will average together equally your three (or four) grades for assignments and your two grades for class participation. Thus you will have five (or six) letter grades to be averaged together equally. Please note that class participation constitutes one third of your final grade. When submitting rewrites for Assignment #4, you must attach the previous, graded drafts, since the rewrite grade depends upon how effectively you have revised your earlier work.
Plagiarism note: Unfortunately, I have recently received plagiarized work in two creative writing workshops; therefore, I must add this warning: Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarized work will receive the grade of F and may not be rewritten. A second incidence of plagiarism will result in an automatic F for the course and notification of the Dean of Students.
Accommodations and learning differences: If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may have an impact on your ability to carry out the assigned coursework, I urge you to contact the staff at the Center for Students With Disabilities, Bldg. U (behind the old College Union), 572-7241. TTY 572-7617. CSD will review your concerns and determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation are confidential.