English 3-014: Introduction to Literature
Fall 2008
Schedule: T/R 8-9.50am, Hart Hall 1116
Office: Voorhies 320, Office Hours: T/R 10-11am
"Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity" --G.K. Chesterton
Required Text: The Norton Introduction to Literature, 9th edition, media version
Prerequisite: You must have already completed the Subject A requirement to take English 3.
Course Description and Objectives:
The G.K. Chesterton quote above comes from a piece called “The Defense of Penny Dreadfuls” in which he discusses notions of high and low literature and the important social functions that narratives serve at a time when different types of printed text were causing social controversies. This quote tells us that there are strong, tangible connections between what happens inside works of literature and what happens in the world outside their covers. From this point of view, literature isn’t just a means of escape or enjoyment, though they certainly can and do provide these for us. The point to emphasize is that literature is complicated—related both to luxury and necessity, and if we read literature closely and rigorously, it can reveal things about how we think and talk about life and all the issues that comprise it. Furthermore, Chesterton’s essay argues that it isn’t only content that causes our responses to literature, but that form—the structures and strategies of literary language—does too.
This class embraces these ideas and takes as its main objective teaching a core set of skills required to analyze, appreciate, and enjoy works of literature with an interest in content, form, and context. You will develop these skills through close reading a wide range of literary works in a variety of genres, and by writing responses as well as more formal pieces about those works that pique your interest.
Throughout this quarter, you should strive to obtain and cultivate the following abilities:
- Develop a thoughtful, informed, and sophisticated perspective on any given literary text.
- Examine the reasons for your responses to texts.
- Situate your perspective in the context of the university, the field, and/or the conversation at hand.
- Communicate your perspective clearly through writing to the appropriate audience.
Cultivating these habits of mind is our aim this quarter, so let’s peel open our first text!
Course Assignments:
Blog Writings and Projects
You will create and maintain a blog for this course. There will be weekly writing assignments and/or projects to be completed and posted on your blog by the deadlines indicated. These writings contribute to the 6000-word writing requirement for this course and will range from informal to formal style and will be evaluated based on the requirements established for each assignment.
Reading Quizzes, Attendance, and Participation
There will be regular short reading quizzes at the beginning of class meetings. These quizzes will be given at the start of class meetings, so be prompt in order to give yourself the full time to complete them. In addition, you are expected to attend class regularly and to arrive having completed the reading. Significant absences or late arrivals will lower this portion of your grade.
Formal Paper and Draft Workshop:
You will write a substantial evidence-based, thesis-driven essay at the end of the quarter. This essay will include a portfolio that demonstrates how the essay develops ideas and issues you have raised in your blog. Your essay will also go through a draft workshop in which you will evaluate others’ drafts in order to revise your final version. Attendance is required at the workshop—failure to attend or failure to bring a substantial draft will result in an automatic 1/3 reduction of your grade for that paper (i.e. a B becomes a B-). Please also note that I never accept drafts or final papers via email, so plan ahead and ask early for assistance in drafting.
Midterm and Final Exams:
The midterm exam will be on Tuesday, October 28th in class, and the final will be Monday, December 8th, 10.30am-12Noon.
Grading/Evaluation Policies:
Blog 30%
Reading Quizzes/Part./Att.: 10%
Formal Final Essay 30%
Midterm Exam: 15%
Final Exam: 15%
Submitting Your Final Essay:
Your essay portfolio must be handed in at my Voorhies 320 office on December 5th before noon. DO NOT submit any papers to the English or University Writing Program department offices. They do no accept student papers. In case of medical or other emergency, contact me before the due date to discuss an extension; extensions are not otherwise granted. Late papers will receive a 1/3 grade reduction for each day past the due date, and no papers will be accepted after the final examination.
Office Hours:
You are greatly encouraged to visit me in my office hours early and often! I have found office hour meetings significantly beneficial to students, whether in the brainstorming phases of writing, working through a challenging literary work or idea, or in the midst of final essay revisions. If your schedule precludes you from coming to my scheduled office hours, I am willing to make an appointment. I do not accept drafts over email, so do stop by to see me.
Course Requirements and Policies:
¦ ENL3 has a 6000-word requirement. You must complete every graded written assignment, including the final exam, in order to fulfill the requirement and pass the course. If you are missing any formal assignment at the end of the quarter, I cannot pass you.
¦ You must earn a C- or better in order to pass, even if you have turned in all the work.
Academic Honesty:
With regard to plagiarism, don’t do it! Whether the work of others is submitted through purposeful mendacity or for lack of familiarity with what constitutes plagiarism, it is a serious academic offense that you will do well to avoid. Suspect papers will be submitted to the UC Davis Student Judicial Affairs to follow university procedures regarding academic honesty. I am happy to help you avoid this issue, so bring any question to class or office hours before the assignment is due. A complete outline of university policies and guidelines for avoiding plagiarism can be found at http://sja.ucdavis.edu.
Disclosures:
If you require any accommodation in the course due to a disability, please acquire formal documentation of the disability from the UC Davis Disability Resources Center. You may then notify me by providing the documentation so I can make arrangements to meet your needs.
Modifications:
Course schedule subject to change with notification from instructor. Course policies will be modified only if absolutely necessary.
ENL 3: Introduction to Literature: Fall 2008
Schedule of
You are expected to complete assignments for the day on which they are listed. You will be notified of any changes to this schedule well in advance both in class and electronically.
Thu., Sep. 25 Course Introduction
First reading and writing. Establishing our blogs.
Key Concepts: Defining “Literature” and How & Why to Write About it
Tue., Sep. 30 “What is Poetry?”
Read Shakespeare “That time of year thou mayst in me behold”, Wordsworth “Nuns Fret Not”, Brooks "First Fight. Then Fiddle"
Key Concepts: Line, Stanza, Rhyme, Rhythm, Metre, The Sonnet form
Writing: Evidence and Claims 1
Thu., Oct. 2 “A dimpled spider, fat and white”
Read Frost “Design”, Hemans “Casabianca”, Rich “Diving into the Wreck”
Key Concepts: Imagery and Symbolism
Writing: Evidence and Claims 2
Tue., Oct. 7 “Form and Content, Form versus Content, Form as Content”
Read Williams “This is just to say”, Pound “In a Station on the Metro”
Blake “The Tyger”
Key Concepts: Couplet, Ambiguity
Writing: Introductions—making a first impression
Thu., Oct. 9 “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”
Read Hopkins “God’s Grandeur”, Thomas “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, Brautigan “Love Poem”
Key Concepts: Pace, Texture, Punctuation, Repetition
Writing: Formulating your thesis
Tue., Oct. 14 Student Poetry Presentations
Thu., Oct. 16 “Poet on the Peaks: Gary Snyder in Context”
Read Poetry Handout of Snyder’s poems
Key Concepts: Reading poems in the context of the author and his/her historical/social/cultural contexts. Conclude poetry segment.
Tue., Oct. 21 “What is Narrative?”
Read Bierce “An Occurrence at
Key Concepts: Basic Structures of Story & Plot—Fabula & Syuzhet
Thu., Oct. 23 “There are no longer problems of the spirit.”
Read Faulkner “A Rose for Emily” and Nobel Prize Banquet Speech (online)
Key Concepts: Narrative persona, characterization, revelation-suggestion-suppression
Writing: Conclusions
Tue., Oct. 28 Midterm Exam
Thu., Oct. 30 “Won’t you please empathize? I prefer not to.”
Melville “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, Carter “A Souvenir of
Key concepts: Focalization, POV
Writing: Organization—at the local and global levels of your writing
Tue., Nov. 4 “Opacity, Transparency, and The Human Condition”
Read Alexie “Flight Patterns”, Naiyer Masud “Obscure Domains of Fear and Desire” (handout)
Key Concepts: Characterization, Interiority/Exteriority, (In)Direct Speech
Writing: Development—extending your ideas into longer writings
Thu., Nov. 6 “Technotale”
Read Cumming “The 21 Steps” (online), Handout on tech & lit.
Key Concepts: Setting & imagery, technology and narrative. Conclude Narrative Segment
Thu., Nov. 13 “What is Drama?”
Read Sophocles Antigone lines 1-402 (pp. 2074-83)
Key Concepts: Acts, Scenes, Lines, Stage Directions
Writing: Revisions: strategies and priorities
Tue., Nov. 18 “There are a lot of dreadful things in the world…”
Read Antigone lines 403-End (pp. 2083-2105)
Key Concepts: Drama & Genre
Writing: Process and Product—thinking through the portfolio
Thu., Nov. 20 “Pulling out of the Station”
Read A Streetcar Named Desire, scenes 1-2 (pp. 1539-55)
Key Concepts: Plot elements, mise en scène, diegetic levels
Writing: One-pager due
Tue., Nov. 25 “Strange Humanities”
Read A Streetcar Named Desire, scenes 3-8 (pp. 1556-87)
Key Concepts: Dialogue and/vs Action, Dialogue and Gender
Writing: In-Class Draft Workshop
Tue., Dec. 2 “How We Go On”
Read A Streetcar Named Desire, scene 9-End (pp. 1588-1602)
Key Concepts: Dramatic Conclusions and/or Closures
Thu., Dec. 4 “Of Last Things”
Review for Final Exam
Writing: Final Paper Due: Friday December 5th by Noon in my office.
Monday, Dec. 8th Final Exam: 10:30am-12Noon
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