Office: 408 Placid
Phone: x2319
Hours: MW 9:30-10:20, 12:15-1:30;Tuesday 3:45-5:00
email: wclough@email.stvincent.edu
The Riverside Anthology of Literature, third edition. Douglas Hunt, ed.
All readings are from this text unless otherwise noted.
EL 103: Principles of Literature is a general introduction to and survey of literature intended for non-literature majors, or for those students with a very limited exposure to literature. In this class we will take a very broad approach to literature, examining it in terms of the three most basic genres: short story, poetry, and drama. We will read a variety of works of each type by classical and contemporary authors, looking at both form and content as well as themes and major concerns. Through class discussion and assignments we will learn to analyze such literary elements as plot, character, mood, and setting. We will also examine how each genre of literature works. What makes a poem a poem, for example? And how might the same theme be handled differently by a poet and a dramatist? To this end, we will also look at how different writers approach similar issues, for example race or sexuality.
Most importantly, we will explore the role that literature plays in our lives and what it can teach us. I hope to convey to all of you a sense of how enjoyable and rewarding the study of literature can be, and to help you develop your own set of critical tools for enjoying literature.
This particular section of EL 103 is intended specifically for freshmen, and so part of the course will also serve as an introduction to college-level academics. I hope to help you develop approaches to reading, writing, and thinking that will serve you well in all of your courses. If any of you are upperclassmen you are certainly welcome to join us-- but you may find this approach a bit simplistic and tedious at times.
Tests: I will be giving two in-class tests this semester: a mid-term on October 17 and a comprehensive final on Thursday, December 7, at 1:30 PM. Please do not miss these tests unless absolutely necessary. If for some reason you legitimately can not take the tests at these times, please let me know in advance and I will make special arrangements. If you miss a test without a sufficient excuse, I reserve the right to penalize any make-up test as I see fit, or even to deny one altogether. I will discuss details of the tests at a later time.
Themes: During the semester you will write two themes of approximately 1000 words each. Although I will distribute specific topics for these themes, I encourage you to develop your own. If an idea or concept in a story or poem strikes your fancy, explore it; maybe it can be expanded into a paper.
All themes are to be neatly typed or word-processed on standard eight-and-a-half by eleven inch unlined white paper; handwritten papers are not acceptable. Further details on the format of the themes will be given later.
Please turn in the themes on the due dates listed on the syllabus. If your theme is late without a sufficient excuse, it will be penalized one letter grade for each class day it is late. If you are genuinely having trouble getting a theme done on time, please see me so that we can work something out ; do not simply turn the paper in late with no explanation or it will be penalized.
The class on Sept. 26 will be very important, since during that class I will discuss the principles of college-level writing, using material on pp. 1583-1606 in RAL. Please read this material well ahead of time and come prepared to ask questions about anything that is not clear. Pay especial attention to areas where expectations may be different from what you encountered before.
Creative Option: If you are of a creative bent, it may be possible for you to substitute a short story, a long poem or series of short poems, or a short play for your second theme. Should you wish to do so, the following criteria will apply:
I will discuss more about this creative option after the mid-term.
Quizzes, homework, etc.: Occasionally I will give quizzes on the assigned readings. Some will be announced but some will not be, so you should come to every class expecting to be quizzed. Quizzes can not be made up if missed. If you do miss a quiz, my usual practice is to give you a "bye" on one, but any after that receive a zero.
I may also give occasional homework assignments, which will be due on the dates specified when they are given out.
From time to time I will supplement the material in RAL with handouts or outside reading. Of course, you are responsible for any such additional assignments I make.
Miscellaneous housekeeping details
Attendance: You are expected to attend all classes. My usual policy is to allow three unexcused absences--that is, one week's worth of classes; after that, each unexcused absence lowers your final mark by a third of a letter grade (from a B to a B-, or from a B- to a C+, for example).
If for some reason you will not be able to attend a class, for example because of a field trip, please let me know ahead of time. If you are sick, please inform me when you return. But please inform me; don’t simply fail to either show up or provide me with an explanation, or your absence is unexcused.
Late arrivals/early departures: Please be on time for each class and stay until dismissed. If you are having trouble getting to class on time, or if you must leave early for some reason, please let me know. Any combination of three late arrivals or early departures without excuse equals one unexcused absence.
Final marks: Your final marks will be based on the following scale:
If you are having problems of any kind, please stop by and see me so that we can talk things over. Please don’t stay away out of shyness or fear.
Aug. 25: Introduction to course.
Aug. 27: HANDOUT: Fables and parables, from the Book of Genesis.RAL: Milton, from Paradise Lost, 593-602.
Aug. 29: Grimm and Grimm, "The Juniper Tree," 35-42; Jarrell, "On the Truth in Fairy Tales," 42-43; Marquez, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" and interview, 371-78; Cisneros, "On Fairy Tales, Myths, and Stories," 513-14.
Sept. 1: Labor Day. No class.
Sept. 3: Hawthorne, "The Birthmark," 43-56; Kafka, "A Hunger Artist," 220-28.
Sept. 5: Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "On Unity in the Tale," 57-62; Maupassant, "The Necklace" and "On the Conflict . . .", 133-40.
Sept. 8: Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener," 62-90.
Sept. 10: Chopin, "Desiree's Baby," 140-44; Wharton, "Roman Fever" and "On Crowding Moral Dilemma into a Short Story," 172-82.
Sept. 12: Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "On Her Own 'Nervous Prostration,'" 158-71.
Sept. 15: Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily," 253-60.
Sept. 17: Bambara, "The Lesson" and "Wholesomeness Versus Hatred," 447-454; begin Baldwin, "Sonny's Blues," 326-50.
Sept. 19: Baldwin, "Sonny's Blues," 326-50; Achebe, "On Baldwin's Sadness," 351-52.
Sept. 22: Achebe, "Girls at War" and "Fulfillment . . .", 393-405.
Sept. 24: O'Connor, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and "The Meaning of the Misfit's Final Comment . . .", 352-66.
Sept. 26: "Writing about Literature," 1583-1606.
HANDOUT: Baudelaire, "Knock Down the Poor!"
Sept. 29: Imagery, 557-59; Williams poems and commentary, 747-53.
HANDOUT: Haiku by Basho, Issa, et. al.
Oct. 1: Poems by Po Chu-I, Williams, Wright, 572-78.
Oct. 3: Shakespeare sonnets, 578-80; Donne poems and commentaries, 583-91.
Oct. 6: Broumas, "Cinderella," 571; Tennyson, "Ulysses," 48-50; Browning, "My Last Duchess," 656-58; Robinson poems and commentary, 722-28.
Oct. 8: Blake poems and comentary, 613-22.
Oct. 10: Theme I due. Whitman and Ginsberg poems, 673-79.
Oct. 13: Extended weekend. No class.
Oct. 15: Review of first half of course.
Oct. 17: Mid-term exam.
Oct. 20: Dickinson poems and commentary, 561, 687-94.
Oct. 22: Adrienne Rich, 897-907.
Oct. 24: Soyinka, "Telephone Conversation," 569-70; Hughes and Cullen poems and commentaries, 792-805.
Oct. 27: Brooks poems and commentary, 873-81.
Oct. 29: Selected poems by Robert Frost (728-38) and Seamus Heaney (939-46).
Oct. 31:
Nov. 3
Nov. 5 Sophocles, "Oedipus Rex," 1045-1101.
Nov. 7
Nov. 10
Nov. 12 Miller, "Death of a Salesman" and "On Personal Dignity . . .", 1243-1325.
Nov. 14
Nov. 17
Nov. 19 Chekhov, "The Cherry Orchard" and "On Lopakhin . . .", 1197-1242.
Nov. 21
Nov. 24: Theme II due. Begin Henley, "Crimes of the Heart," 1511-68.
Nov. 26-28: Thanksgiving. No classes.
Dec. 1:
Henley, "Crimes of the Heart" and commentaries, 1511-1570.
Dec. 3:
Dec. 5: Review of course. Evaluations.
Dec. 11: 1:30-3:30 p.m.--Final exam.
FINAL NOTE: No semester is totally predictable. Therefore, I reserve the right to make changes in this syllabus should circumstances warrant it. Of course, I will announce any such changes in advance. Barring such an announcement, this syllabus will stand.