English 161: Narrative and Narrative Theory
Fall 2014-15, M/W 11:00-12:30
Building 60, Room 120
Professor Alex Woloch
Office: Room 307, Building 460
Office Hours: Wed 1:00-3:00 and Friday 12:00-1:00
Office Phone: 723-4594
Email: woloch@stanford.edu
Course Description:
An introduction to stories and storytelling -- that is, to narrative. What is narrative? How
is it done, word by word, sentence by sentence? Must it be in prose? Can it be in
pictures? When is narrative fictional and when non-fictional? How has storytelling
changed over time? We’ll consider these questions through a series of ambitious works
that explore some of the limits, norms, assumptions and aesthetic possibilities of narrative.
The course will cover a range of historical periods and a variety of media: novels, short
fiction, film, the graphic novel. Issues include: point-of-view, chronology, ways of
organizing (and disorganizing) plot, autobiography, first- and third-person narrative (and
how they can be intertwined), unreliable narrators, hidden and nested stories, narrative
and history, narrative and memory.
Texts
Daniel Defore, Robinson Crusoe
Jane Austen, Emma
Henry James, “The Beast in the Jungle” and “In the Cage”
Herman Melville, Benito Cereno
Roland Barthes, S/Z
Akira Kurosawa, Rashoman (film)
Sarah Polley, Stories We Tell (film)
Art Spiegelman, Maus
Course Schedule
Section One: Novel and Narrative
Monday September 22: Introduction
Wed September 24: Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (1-37)
Borges, “Funes Memorious” (coursework)
Mon Sept 29: Defoe, Crusoe (37-119)
Wed Oct 1: Defoe, Crusoe (119-end)
Borges, “Borges and I” (coursework)
Monday Oct 6: Jane Austen, Emma (Volume 1)
Wed Oct 8: Austen, Emma (Volume 2)
Monday Oct 13: Austen, Emma (Volume 3)
Wed Oct 15: Sarah Polley, Stories We Tell (screening to be arranged)
Section Two: Experimental Narrative
Mon Oct 20: Henry James, “In the Cage”
Wed Oct 22: Henry James, “Beast in the Jungle”
Mon Oct 27: Melville, Benito Cereno
Wed Oct 29: from Amaso Delano, “Narrative of Voyages and Travels, in the Northern
and Southern Hemispheres” (coursework)
from Greg Grandin, Empire of Necessity (coursework)
Section Three: Theorizing Narrative
Mon Nov 3: Roland Barthes, S/Z
Wed Nov 5: Roland Barthes, S/Z
Section Four: Film/Graphic Novel
Mon Nov 10: IN-CLASS SCREENING: Akira Kurosawa, Rashoman
Wed Nov 12: Kurosawa, Rashoman
from David Bordwell, Film Art: An Introduction (coursework)
Mon Nov 17: Art Spiegelman, Maus 1
Wed Nov 19: Art Spiegelman, Maus 1
from Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics (coursework)
Mon Nov 24/Wed Nov 26: THANKSGIVING BREAK
Mon Dec 1: Review
Wed Dec 3: In-class final
Course Requirements
1. Active Reading and Participation. Students are required to attend all lectures and
discussion sections, to participate thoughtfully in the discussion, and to complete all
reading assignments. (20% of grade)
2. Reading Responses. Each student should submit one brief reading response for each
text (around 1 page single-spaced). These are designed to faciliate more rigorous
reflection on the reading and active participation in weekly section discussions. In some
cases, I might give specific parameters for the response. Generally, the response should
begin by focusing on a detail within the text that is particularly striking or intriguing to
you: a single episode, scene or passage, an odd sentence, a telling choice of wording or
phrasing, a character, a recurrent image, a syntactic pattern, etc. How does this detail
relate to the larger narrative stakes at issue in the text as a whole? (20%)
3. Midterm Essay. A 5 page essay on one of the first texts in the course (Robinson
Crusoe, Emma, Stories We Tell). Topics to be provided on Wed Oct 15 and essay due
Wed Oct 22. (20%)
4. Final essay. A final 6-8 page essay focusing on one of the later texts in the course
(Henry James stories, Benito Cereno, S/Z, Rashoman, Maus) or comparing two texts from
the course. Topics to be provided on Monday Dec 1 and essay due Monday Dec 8. (20%)
5. Final exam. A final in-class exam will have two parts: brief I.D.s, based on terms from
the course and the readings; discussion and analysis of selected passages. (20%)
***
Students with Documented Disabilities
Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability
must initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional
staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable
accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current
quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as
possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is
located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066,
URL:http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/oae).
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4. While the faculty alone has the right and obligation to set academic requirements, the
students and faculty will work together to establish optimal conditions for honorable
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