Dr. C.’s Learning Web

ENGL 295 Introduction to Literary Studies 03 Dr. Campbell
Spring 2007/Combs 002/ MWF 2:00-2:50

Office: Combs 123/654-1131/gcampbel@umw.edu
Office Hrs. MWF 10-11:30, R 2-3 & by appt.

Main Texts: A.S. Byatt, Possession; William Shakespeare, Hamlet; Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Supernatural Love; Mary Kinzie, A Poet’s Guide To Poetry; The Norton Anthology Of Theory And Criticism

Film Companions: Providence; Memento; Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control

This course has two large goals: to introduce you to some of the Big Issues surrounding literary studies and philosophies of art and language over the last 2500 years, and to equip you to get down to Brass Tacks by teaching you skills and strategies for analyzing, interpreting, and writing about literature. Throughout the semester, we will shuffle between Big Issues and Brass Tacks. Sometimes the line between the two will look absurdly obvious; other times, Big Issues and Brass Tacks may be very hard to tell apart.

The syllabus below outlines a minimum course of reading. I encourage you to read around in the Norton more fully. I may refer to unassigned essays in class. The idea here is not to read the entire Norton, but to be curious and make the syllabus something other than a simple contract.

Syllabus (subject to change!)

1/15 Introduction: What is literature? How do we study it? Why do we study it? HyperPoem exercise.

BIG ISSUES: Art, Mimesis, Symbolism, Figurative Language-and Ethics

1/17 Practical criticism exercise (link on Dr. C.’s Learning Web), Norton Introduction: xxxiii-28, Plato

33-37, 49-85

1/19 Aristotle, 86-121; Longinus, 135-154

1/22 Providence (in-class screening) part one

1/24 Providence (in-class screening) part two

1/26 Derrida, 1815-1830. You should have finished your first reading of Possession now.

1/29 Saussure, 956-976

1/31 Bakhtin, “Speech Genres”

2/2 Bakhtin, 1186-1220. You should have finished your second reading of Possession now.

THE NOVEL

2/5 Possession

2/7 Possession

2/9 Possession Butler, 2485-2501

2/12 Possession
2/14 Possession

2/16 Possession

BIG ISSUES: Theories of Self, Psyche, Reading, and Writing (Memento)

2/19 Freud, “The Uncanny,” 929-952

2/21 Foucault, “What is an Author?” 1615-1636

2/23 UMd day

2/26 Wollstonecraft, 582-593 Novel paper due (4-5 pp.)

2/28 Woolf, 1017-1029

3/2 Hughes, 1311-1317, Said 1986-2012

3/3-3/11 SPRING BREAK

THE DRAMA

3/12 Hamlet, including introduction.

3/14 Hamlet

3/16 Hamlet, Benjamin 1163-1189

3/19 Hamlet

3/21 Hamlet, Iser 1670-1682; Fish 2067-2089

3/23 Hamlet

BIG ISSUES: Tradition, Canonicity, Literary History, Postmodernity, Culture

3/26 Eliot 1088-1097

3/28 Bloom 1794-1805, Greenblatt 2250-2254

3/30 Herrnstein Smith, 1910-1932 Drama paper due (4-5 pp.)

4/2 Du Bois 977-987, Hurston 1144-1162, Gates 2421-2432

POETRY (Fast, Cheap & Out of Control)

4/4 Schnackenberg, Introduction to prosody (Kinzie pp.217-289)

4/6 Schnackenberg, prosody

4/9 Schnackenberg, Kinzie,1-50

4/11 Shnackenberg

4/13 Schnackenberg, Kinzie, 51-110

4/16 Schnackenberg

4/18 Schnackenberg, Kinzie, 111-186

4/20 Schnackenberg

4/23 Schnackenberg, Kinzie, 187-216

4/25 Schnackenberg

4/27 Schnackenberg, conclusion. Poetry paper due (4-5 pp.)

FINAL EXAM: Monday, April 30, 3:30-6:00 p.m.

GRADED WORK:

E-participation 10% Final exam 20%

Novel assignment 20% Class meeting participation 10%
Drama assignment 20% Poetry assignment 20%

PAPERS:

Each of the three following assignments requires you to work closely with the text, but as you do your analysis you must also attend to at least two of the required Norton readings for that unit, and that attention should be explicit in your paper. Papers must be typed, double-spaced throughout, in a Times Roman 12-pt. font, and secured with staple or paper clip only.

NOVEL ASSIGNMENT: An analysis of symbolism in a scene, episode, or other short passage from Possession. 4-5 pp.

DRAMA ASSIGNMENT: Comparative performance analysis of a scene from Hamlet. 4-5 pp.

POETRY ASSIGNMENT: A prosodic/formal analysis of at least fourteen lines from a poem by Schnackenberg. 4-5 pp.

PARTICIPATION:

E-participation: At least one substantive post to our class’s online discussion forum prior to each class meeting, and concerning that class’s reading assignment. You must post by 10 p.m. of the night before the class meeting. You will also be required to choose and explain an appropriate avatar for yourself, as specified by the instructor. Posts are graded on a credit-no credit basis.

Class meeting participation: Consistent, informed participation during our class meetings. Satisfying these minimum requirements earns a grade of “C” for class participation. A grade of “B” in class participation characterizes unusually active, engaged, and informed participation in nearly every class. A grade of “A” for class participation characterizes unusually active, engaged, and informed participation, in nearly every class, that is also exceptionally acute, interesting, and responsive. More than two absences will likely lower your class meeting participation grade.

EXAM:

The final exam will be cumulative, open-book, and open-notebook.