The Art of Literature
ENGL 262G: Section 03
Instructor: Julie Burke
Room: M02-0404 (McCormack)
Email: Julie.burke001@umb.edu
Office: W-6-22 (Wheatley)
Office Hours: Mondays 11-1. (Office hours will be held in the Campus Center.)
Course Description: In this course, we will explore and examine the world of literature - the imagination
as it finds creative expression in language. Why do we call some writing "literature"? What makes us
label something "art"? How is a writer's craft similar to and different from a painter's brushstroke, a
dancer's pose or leap, a musician's combination of notes? We will familiarize ourselves with literary
devices and terminology such as genre, narrative voice and diction, and understand how our awareness
of those elements contributes to our appreciation of what we read. You will learn to talk and write
about literature and be able to articulate your opinion of what is and is not literary, what is and is not
art, and why a piece of writing "works" for you and why it does not.
About the Intermediate Seminar Program: Intermediate Seminars offer students with 30 or more
credits the opportunity to work on essential university capabilities in small-sized courses that are often
thematic or problem-oriented and interdisciplinary in nature. Designed in part to help students prepare
for the Writing Proficiency Requirement, Intermediate Seminars put special emphasis on critical reading,
thinking, and writing. They focus on other essential capabilities as appropriate to the course and might
therefore include attention to library research and information technology, collaborative learning, oral
presentation, and academic self-assessment. Students who practiced reading, writing, and critical
thinking in a First Year Seminar at UMass Boston will practice them at a more advanced level in the
Intermediate Seminar.
Only ONE Intermediate Seminar may be taken for credit. If you have taken another G200-level course
in any department at UMB, you cannot receive credit for this one.
Prerequisites: English 101, English 102, First Year Seminar (or waiver), and 30 credits. The First Year
Seminar is automatically waived for students who enter UMB with 30 or more transfer credits. Because
these are intensive reading and writing courses, some students may find it helpful to enroll in CRW 221
to further develop their skills with college-level writing before taking an Intermediate Seminar. Discuss
your situation with the instructor if you have any questions about these prerequisites or your readiness
for the work in this course.
The Writing Proficiency Requirement: Students from the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Science
and Mathematics, and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences complete the University’s Writing
Proficiency Requirement through the Writing Proficiency Evaluation (WPE). The Writing Proficiency
Requirement is not the same as the writing placement test you may have taken when you entered
UMass Boston. The WPE can be met through either an examination or a take-home essay submitted
along with a portfolio of papers written for UMB courses. See the WPR website
(www.umb.edu/academics/wpr) for more details about the exam and portfolio options and dates.
Students who have not already satisfied the WPR should arrange to take the exam or submit a portfolio
shortly after completing this course.
Support services for Intermediate Seminar students: The Academic Support Office offers both
individual tutoring and drop-in workshops for students who need help with the critical reading, thinking
and writing skills necessary for success in General Education courses such as this one. More information
on their programs is available online at www.academicsupport.umb.edu/rwsscenter.html, or at their
Campus Center office (CC1-1300). The Ross Center for Disability Services (CC2-2010) provides
accommodations and educational resources for students with demonstrated needs, as outlined on their
website (www.rosscenter.umb.edu). Should you be eligible for these services, you should contact the
Ross Center right away so that their staff can help you identify appropriate accommodations in this and
other courses. Finally, if it appears that you might not pass this Intermediate Seminar and if the
instructor cannot figure out how to support your success in the course, the instructor might inform the
Director of the Student Referral Program in the University Advising Center. This strictly confidential
program is part of an early warning system designed to help students address personal and academic
difficulties that may interfere with their progress in the University.
Assessment of these courses: In addition to course evaluation forms that are routinely administered at
the end of each course at UMass Boston, Intermediate Seminar students are asked to complete a selfassessment questionnaire addressing their progress as critical thinkers and writers. Each term an
assessment committee will look at randomly chosen student writing from a small sample of
Intermediate Seminars. Please save all your writing in this course so that, if you are chosen, you will
have your work available. The purpose of this evaluation is to improve the program and to improve
particular courses as necessary, not to evaluate individual students. You may remove your name from
your papers if you prefer to submit them anonymously.
Student plagiarism and classroom behavior: Students are expected to abide by the University’s Code of
Student Conduct in all their classes at UMass Boston
(www.umb.edu/student_affairs/programs/judicial/csc.html). Plagiarism is a particularly serious
violation, as outlined in the Academic Honesty section of the code (section VI), and will not be tolerated.
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person’s work, research, ideas and/or thoughts, and
will not be tolerated in this class. The following all constitute plagiarism: Using a document or part of a
document written by another student; buying an essay or term paper from one of the services that sell
such documents; using a document published on the Web; having someone else write as essay or term
paper for you; or having someone so drastically edit your work that it no longer your work. It is always
essential to use quotation marks around any words/phrases/sentences that are not yours, and to
properly cite the source of the quotation or information. Plagiarism will result in failure/and or dismissal
from this course.
Offensive and insulting behavior undermines the sense of community that the Intermediate Seminars
strive to build. Class discussion and group projects can be productive only in a climate of respect for
the opinions and beliefs of all. A healthy exchange about issues may include disagreement about
ideas, but it must not demean the character or background of the individuals holding those ideas.
Required Texts: For classroom purposes, you must have the exact edition that is in the bookstore. If you
purchase your books online, make sure the edition has the same ISBN number as listed below.
The Norton Introduction to Literature: Portable Tenth Edition (ISBN: 9780393911640)
Waltz with Bashir: A Lebanon War Story (ISBN: 080508892X)
Reserve Materials—hard copy in-class required!! Several readings are not in the anthology but will
be available on our class WikiPage, to which you will receive (and accept) an invite. You are required to
bring a hard-copy to class.
Course Grade Determination:
Paper 1: 10%
Paper 2 (including workshop, rough draft, & conference): 25%
Paper 3 (including workshop and rough draft): 20%
Final presentation: 20%
Weekly Assignments (Posting on the class WikiPage): 15%
Participation/Attendance: 10%
Email: I will be using wiser to send out class information and documents. Make sure your UMB email
address is properly forwarded to the email you use regularly.
Attendance: Attending class and arriving on time is crucial to your success in this course and to the
success of the course in general. You may not miss more than 6 class sessions and pass the course.
Missing more than 3 classes will negatively affect your grade. Two “tardies” will become an absence.
Any student who misses more than four classes by the April 5th withdrawal deadline will be
recommended to drop the course.
Participation: English discussions rely on your thoughts, ideas, and interpretations; participation is
imperative. Come prepared to participate by reading the assigned materials and by completing your
weekly assignments (see next section). Informal, in-class writing assignments will also greatly contribute
to class discussion.
Weekly Assignments: You will be posting weekly on the class’ WikiPage. These postings, no less than a
paragraph and no more than 1 page, are intended to help you engage with the reading and aid your
critical thinking/writing skills. Each week, someone will be chosen to begin the discussion. If it is your
week, please post by Friday evening so as to allow for the rest of your classmates to respond by Sunday
evening at 5pm. For this assignment, you will chose passages from the text that intrigued you and write
a literary response to the passage you selected. A more detailed description along with a sample of this
assignment will be forthcoming. These postings will compliment your participation and will often be the
basis for our class discussion.
Submission of Assignments: All assignments are due at the beginning of class unless otherwise noted.
Rough drafts cannot be turned in late because you cannot make up peer reviews or conferences. A
paper received after class is considered late and will be marked off one full letter grade. A full letter
deduction will accrue for each day the paper is late after its due date. (This includes weekends.) Emailed
or electronic copies of papers will NOT be permitted.
Formal Papers: In addition to the weekly assignments, your formal papers are the best way to
demonstrate what you have learned about literature and to showcase your ability to express your
thoughts clearly and cohesively through written language. There will be three papers, in addition to a
final project, and all of these papers combined make up well over half of your final grade.
Final Presentation: A formal assignment explanation will be handed out toward the end of the
semester. These final projects will allow you to creatively express your individual understanding of
literature and literary studies, which will be worth 20% of your final grade. As we get closer to the end of
the semester, you will receive a handout that will contain the specifics of your final project assignment
and presentation.
How to succeed in this course: Come prepared, participate, and engage!
A final note on the Intermediate Seminar: Supervising the Intermediate Seminar Art of Literature
courses is Dr. Alex Mueller, Assistant Professor of English. Please expect occasional visits from Dr.
Mueller, as well as other Intermediate Seminar Instructors.
262G: Class Schedule
*Subject to change at instructor’s discretion*
Unit I: Literary Elements
Week One
Jan: 23
Introduction to course: What is art and what is its purpose?
Syllabus Review
25
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” (WikiPage)
Chapter 1: Plot (59)
27
Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” (130)
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” (118)
Chapter 2: Narration and Point of View (102)
Chapter 3: Character (121)
Week Two
Jan:
30
James Joyce’s “Araby” (328) and “Eveline” (Wiki)
Chapter 4: Setting (158)
Chapter 5: Symbol and Figurative Language (212)
Post # 1 due
Add/Drop Ends
Feb:
1
Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (396)
Chapter 6: Theme
3
Introduction to A Raisin in the Sun
Langston Hughes’ “A Dream Deferred” (950)
Week Three - Drama: A Raisin in the Sun
Feb:
6 A Raisin in the Sun- Act I (950)
Post # 2 due
8 A Raisin in the Sun- Act I cont’d
10 A Raisin in the Sun- Act II (981)
Paper # 1 assigned
Week Four
Feb:
13 A Raisin in the Sun- Act III (1009)
Post # 3 due
15 A Raisin in the Sun- completion
17 Writing Workshop Paper 1
Week Five- Poetry (elements)
Feb:
20 No Class- Presidents’ Day
22 Theme and Tone (475); Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” (476); Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s
Waltz” (550); Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” (611)
Paper # 1 due
**no post this week**
24 Situation and Setting (512); Claude McKay’s “The Harlem Dancer” (701); William Blake’s
“London” (483); Maya Angelou’s “Africa” (540)
Week Six- Poetry (form)
Feb:
27 (Poetry elements cont’d) Language (545); Emily Dickinson’s “I dwell in Possibility” (554);
Linda Pastan’s “Marks (567); Pablo Neruda’s “I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You”
(Wiki)
Post # 4 due
29 William Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” (569)
“My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (653);
Emily Dickinson “She dealt her pretty words like Blades” (666);
e.e. cumming’s “nobody loses all the time” (Wiki)
March: 2
Archibald MacLeish’s “Ars Poetica” (639); Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
(691); Toni Morrison’s “Dick and Jane” from The Bluest Eye (Wiki)
Unit II: Literature and Literary Interpretation (Short Story/Research Unit)
Week Seven- Elements of the SS/ Conducting scholarly research
March: 5
James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” (75)
Post #5 due
7 D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner” (343)
Paper #2 assigned
9
William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” (308)
Week Eight- No class. Spring Break
Week Nine
March: 19 Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” (306)
Criticism workshop
Post # 6 due
21 Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “Yellow Wallpaper” (315)
23 Louise Erdrich’s “Love Medicine” (275)
Week Ten
March:
26 Peer workshops for paper # 2
Rough drafts due
Post # 7 due
28 Conferences- in lieu of class.
30
Introduction to the graphic novel
Marjane Satrapi’s “The Shabbat” from Persepolis (24-31)
Unit III: Literature and Cultural Context (War Unit)
Week Eleven- Graphic Novel: Waltz with Bashir
April:
2 Waltz with Bashir (1- 40)
Paper #2 due
**no post this week**
4 Waltz with Bashir (41-80)
Paper # 3 assigned.
Course Withdrawal; Pass/Fail Deadline
6 Waltz with Bashir (complete)
Week Twelve
April:
9 Alice Walker’s “Thousands of Feet below You” and “Dead Men Love War” (Wiki)
Post # 8 due
11 Excerpt from Michael Patrick MacDonald’s All Souls: A Family Story from Southie (Wiki)
13 Excerpt from Don DeLillo’s Falling Man (Wiki)
Unit IV: Rethinking Literary Genres and Final Presentations
Week Thirteen- Journalism as Literature
April:
16
No class
18 Peer workshops for paper # 3
20 Two newspaper articles (Wiki)
A Mighty Heart (film- view on own)
Week Fourteen
April:
23 Four New York Times’ Cartoons
Paper # 3 due
25
Two blogs (Wiki)
27
Reading- TBA
Socratic Seminar Questions Posted (Wiki)
Week Fifteen:
April:
30 Socratic Seminar
May:
2
Socratic Seminar
4
Socratic Seminar
Week Sixteen:
May:
7 Revisit: What is art and what is its purpose?
Seminar Questions and Reflections due
9
Course Evaluations