SAMPLE SYLLABUS Queensborough Community College, CUNY
EN102-D35B – Composition II: Introduction to Literature
Literary Retellings and Adaptations
Leah Anderst
Email: LAnderst@qcc.cuny.edu
Prerequisite for this course: EN101
Course Description and Objectives
How many movies made each year are adaptations of preexisting literary works? Many! How
often do viewers and critics praise these cinematic adaptations? Rarely! The book is always better,
right? Somewhat lesser known than movies made from books are literary retellings – stories,
novels, plays, or poems written “after” or inspired by a literary “original.” While many movie
directors strive to stay faithful to an original, writers often take more liberty when they decide to
adapt or retell a story, and the results are often highly inventive and thought provoking. In this
section of EN 102: Introduction to Literature, we will read thematic retellings across a variety of
literary genres (including short story, novella, drama, and poetry), examining the ways that the
multiple versions of a single story, mutually illuminate one another, their separate time periods,
cultures, and perspectives.
English 102 is also an academic writing course. By reading, thinking, talking, and writing about
these works, we will build on the writing and analytical skills developed in English 101. Each
course meeting will combine discussion of particular readings, discussion of literary genre,
discussion of writing skills, and hands on writing and reading activities. Continued practice in
writing combined with an introduction to literature: fiction, drama, and poetry. We will review
elements of writing, analytical and critical reading skills, and research strategies.
Required Texts
Course Pack with Syllabus and Readings
A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
Clybourne Park, Bruce Norris
They Say, I Say, Gerald Graff
Rules for Writers or another style manual of your choosing
A Flash Drive or a free Dropbox account for storing and saving your files
Assignments
Three Graded Papers – 60% broken down as follows: 1. 15% 2. 20% 3. 25%
Final Exam – 15%
Participation – 10% (divided into a Midterm and a Final grade - 5% each)
Quizzes and Informal Writing – 15% (divided into a Midterm and a Final grade – 7.5% each)
-Late Work: Informal writing will not be accepted late. For formal writing (papers 1,2, and 3),
turning in late work will result in deductions on your grade - one grade step per day late. (For
example: one day late, B becomes B-) I will not accept papers more than one week late.
-Revisions: Revision is, in many ways, the heart of good writing. I encourage you to revise your
papers when you can. For this class, I allow revisions for the first two formal assignments (papers
SAMPLE EN 102 Syllabus 1 and 2). Revisions are due no later than two weeks after I return the graded paper back to you.
Keep in mind that a revision is much more than fixing errors on your papers. I expect a significant
reworking of the essay’s ideas and/or structure. All revisions require either an office hour meeting
with me to discuss your revision plan or evidence of a visit to the writing center, as well as an
“author’s note” of ½ to 1 page turned in with your revision describing the steps you took to revise
as well as an explanation about why this new version is superior to the earlier version. You must
also turn in the earlier paper that includes my comments and grade. Note: Completing a revision
does not in itself guarantee a grade increase.
Grading – I will regularly update your grades on our Blackboard page
A – Excellent Overall (A-=90-93, A=94-96, A+=97-100)
B – Mostly Adequate, some Excellent (B-=80-83, B=84-86, B+=87-89)
C – Adequate (C-=70-73, C=74-76, C+=77-79)
D – Mostly Adequate, some Unacceptable (D-=60-63, D=64-66, D+=67-69)
F – Unacceptable Overall (anything below 60%)
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Course Policies and Procedures:
Class Comportment: You must silence your electronic devices prior to coming to class. You may
not take calls, text, or search the internet during class. There will be no eating in class.
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Attendance and Lateness: Writing is a craft, best learned through constant practice. That is why
your consistent presence is crucial to your success in this class. I allow three “free” absences, the
fourth and fifth absences will result in a deduction to your course grade, and a sixth absence will
automatically result in a grade of F for the course. It is up to you to be smart and save your allowed
absences for a time when you really need them. Lateness is disruptive and disrespectful – please
come to class on time. Please do not ask me for permission to leave class early. Finally, full class
attendance entails your mental as well as physical presence. Students who nap and/or keep their
heads on the desk will be marked as absent.
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Email Etiquette: We will write in a variety of writing styles throughout the semester from
informal, in-class writing to polished, formal essays. Email to your professors will fall somewhere
between those two styles. Always: include a greeting (Hello, Hi, Dear, etc.), write your name in
your email, write your course number (I’ll learn your names soon, but this helps me), Look in the
syllabus first if you’re emailing to ask a question. Never attach an assignment and hit send without
indicating what you’re sending, why, etc. Never use text abbreviations.
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Academic Honesty: Academic dishonesty is a very serious matter and will not be tolerated. I
assume that everything you hand in is your own work – conceived, researched, and written by you.
Anything in your process that does not belong to you (work, ideas, data from others, sources) must
be properly documented. Failure to do this is plagiarism – which QCC treats very severely. We
will discuss research methods and proper citation throughout the course. Any plagiarism in any
assignment will result in an automatic F for that assignment and possibly for the entire course. If
you are unsure about documentation or have questions about plagiarism, please ask me.
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Extra Help: I am available for extra help during my office hours. You may drop in to my office
hour, but getting in touch with me in advance guarantees I’ll save the time for you. The Writing
SAMPLE EN 102 Syllabus Center offers free help as well, and I strongly encourage you to make use of their services.
(Library Building, First Floor, 9am-9pm Mon-Th and shorter hours on Fridays and Saturdays).
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Special Services: Any student who feels that he/she may need an accommodation based upon the
impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss specific needs. Please also contact the
office of Services for Students with Disabilities in the Sciences Building, Room 132 (718 631
6257) to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.
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Honors Contracts: If you are interested in receiving “Honors Credit” for this course, please come and
see me outside of class to discuss. Honors Contracts require more work for each formal assignment as
well as an additional assignment in the course – a speech, say, of one of your papers.
Semester Outline
Unit 1 - Growing Up (Fairy Tales and Short Stories - Paper 1)
Primary Readings:
Roald Dahl “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”
Ronald Blackwell’s “Li’l Red Riding Hood”
Little Red Riding Hood stories by Perrault, Brothers Grimm, and Marelle
Catherine Storr’s “Little Polly Riding Hood”
Angela Carter’s “The Company of Wolves”
Tomi’s Ungerer’s Little Red Riding Hood
Unit 2: A Retold Hero (Odysseus – Poetry - Paper 2)
Primary Readings:
Homer’s The Odyssey : First part of Book 1, Book 2, Book 5, Book 9, and Book 23
“Ulysses,” Tennyson
“Ithaka,” Cavafy
“Ithaca: The Palace at 4am,” Richard Howard
“Penelope,” Dorothy Parker
“Penelope,” Carol Ann Duffy
“Telemachus,” William Dickey
“Telemachus’s Fantasy” and “Telemachus’s Guilt,” Louise Gluck
Unit 3: Innocence and The Everyman (Drama - Paper 3)
Primary Readings:
“The Unknown Citizen,” W.H. Auden
“Life Cycle of Common Man,” Howard Nemerov
“We wear the mask,” Paul Laurence Dunbar
“Harlem,” Langston Hughes
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
Film: A Raisin in the Sun
Bruce Norris, Clybourne Park