Course Form (revised 5/1/12)
(Instructions: http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/documents/forms/courseform_instructionsX.aspx)
I. Summary of Proposed Changes
Dept / Program
Liberal Studies
Prefix and Course # LS 484
Course Title
Novel Ancient & Modern
Please check one or more
x New course  Delete course
of the following:
Course Changes
 Course Title  Description  Learning Outcomes
 Prerequisites  Cross-listing  Other
 Credits
from _________ to________
x Number / Level from __494_______
to____484____
 Repeatability
from _________ to________
Justification / explanation (required for ALL proposals) For new courses please provide rationale for why
the course is needed, how it fits with exiting curriculum and whether there are curricular adjustments.
This course is being taught as LS 494 (Seminar in the Humanities), but I was informed by ASCRC that it
needed a number appropriate for a stand-alone course. Hence 484.
Has the Department gone through common course Review?
 Yes x No  In process
II. Syllabus/Assessment Information Required for new courses, learning outcome changes and
course change from U to UG.
Important: please spell out learning goals and learning outcomes clearly in the syllabus.
Learning Goals are a list of what students should know, understand, or be able to do at the end of
the course, including essential information and knowledge or skills relevant to the subject area.
Learning Outcomes are measures of performance or behavior that indicate, to the teacher and the
students, that students understand the material, and what criteria differentiates among different
levels of understanding. Attach syllabus at the end of the document.
III. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Please type / print name Signature
Date
Requestor:
Stewart Justman
Phone/ email :
Program Chair(s)/Director:
Stewart Justman
Dean(s):
Jon Tompkins
All other affected programs:
None
Approve
x Yes  No
 Yes  No
x Yes  No
 Yes  No
 Yes  No
 Yes  No
Are other departments/programs affected by this
modification because of
(a) required courses incl. prerequisites or corequisites,
(b) perceived overlap in content areas
(c) cross-listing of coursework
Signatory Comments (required for disapproval):
Please obtain signature(s) from the
Chair/Director of any such department/ program
(above) before submission
IV: To Add a New Course Syllabus and assessment information is required (paste syllabus into
section V or attach). Course should have internal coherence and clear focus.
Common Course Numbering Review (Department Chair Must Initial):
YES
NO
Does an equivalent course exist elsewhere in the MUS? Check all relevant disciplines if
XXX
course is interdisciplinary. (http://www.mus.edu/Qtools/CCN/ccn_default.asp)
If YES: Do the proposed abbreviation, number, title and credits align with existing course(s)? Please indicate
equivalent course/campus. 
If NO: Course may be unique, but is subject to common course review. The course number may be changed
at the system level.
Short Title (max. 26 characters incl. spaces) Novel Ancient & Modern
Exact entry to appear in the next catalog (Specify course abbreviation, level, number, title, credits,
repeatability (if applicable), frequency of offering, prerequisites, and a brief description.) 
UG LS 484 Novel Ancient & Modern 3 cr. Two antithetical models for the construction of a novel. Offered
yearly.
Complete for UG courses (UG courses should be assigned a 400 number).
Describe graduate increment - see procedure 301.30
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/procedures/default.aspx
Papers should be approximately 4000 words and cite secondary sources including Bakhtin’s Dialogical
Imagination and/or Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics.
Complete for Co-convened courses
Companion course number, title, and description (include syllabus of companion course in section V)
See procedure 301.20 http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/procedures/default.aspx
New fees and changes to existing fees are only approved once each biennium by the
Board of Regents. The coordination of fee submission is administered by
Administration and Finance. Fees may be requested only for courses meeting specific
conditions according to Policy 940.12.1 http://mus.edu/borpol/bor900/940-12-1.pdf .
Please indicate whether this course will be considered for a fee.
If YES, what is the proposed amount of the fee?
Justification:
V. Change an Existing Course
1. Current course information at it appears in catalog
(http://www.umt.edu/catalog) 
YES
NO
2. Full and exact entry (as proposed) 
3. If cross-listed course: secondary program & course
number
4. Is this a course with MUS Common Course Numbering?
http://www.mus.edu/Qtools/CCN/ccn_default.asp
If yes, please explain below whether the change will eliminate the common course status.
YES NO
5. If co-convened course: companion course number, title, and description
(include syllabus of companion course in section V) See procedure 301.20
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/procedures/default.aspx
6. Graduate increment if level of course is changed to UG.
Reference procedure 301.30:
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/procedures/default.aspx
Have you reviewed the graduate
increment guidelines? Please check (X)
space provided.
(syllabus must be attached)
7. Other programs affected by the change
8. Is there a fee associated with the course?
VI Department Summary (Required if several forms are submitted) In a separate document list course
number, title, and proposed change for all proposals.
VII Copies and Electronic Submission. After approval, submit original, one copy, summary of
proposals and electronic file to the Faculty Senate Office, UH 221, camie.foos@mso.umt.edu.
LS 484: The Novel, Ancient and Modern
Though the word “novel” suggests “new,” and though the “rise” of the novel is conventionally dated to the
18th century, the literary form we call the novel actually originates in an ancient text: the Odyssey. This
course will study and savor two novels: the Odyssey itself and a modern work constructed on completely
different, almost antithetical principles, Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov. (Thus, for example, Homer
precludes suspense on principle while The Brothers Karamazov is breathlessly suspenseful.) As Liberal
Studies majors read the Odyssey in LS 151 (and many of them a work by Dostoevsky in 152), this Capstone
course will enable students to reconsider an inexhaustible work from the higher perspective of the 400 level.
The course is designed, in fact, to allow time to ponder and enjoy two astonishing works of literature, and to
enable investigation of such questions as what a novel is, how a novel is constructed, and why it has risen to
literary prominence.
Learning Goals
The course serves five goals identified by the Liberal Studies Program, specifically:
1. To demonstrate a critical appreciation and understanding of the Western humanistic tradition.
2. To grasp significant methodological and hermeneutical issues intrinsic to humanistic inquiry.
3. To construct arguments with skill.
4. To synthesize findings and conclusions cogently.
5. To read critically and ask perceptive questions of the text.
Reading
Weeks 1 through 7: Several book of the Odyssey per week as assigned
Week 8: Brothers Karamazov, Books 1 and 2
Week 9: BK, Books 3 and 4
Week 10: BK, Book 5
Week 11: BK, Books 6-7
Week 12: BK, Books 8-9
Week 13: BK, Books 10-11
Week 14: BK, Book 12 and Epilogue
Additional readings from:
M. M. Bakhtin, The Dialogical Imagination, tr. Emerson and Holquist (Texas, 1980)
M. M. Bakhtin, Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, tr. Emerson (Minnesota, 1984)
Jenny Strauss Clay, The Wrath of Athena (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996)
Jasper Griffin, Homer on Life and Death (Clarendon, 1980)
Jasper Griffin, Landmarks of World Literature: The Odyssey (Cambridge, 1999)
Gary Saul Morson, Narrative and Freedom (Yale, 1994)
Papers
A paper of at least 2000 words is due on any aspect of the Odyssey by October 10, and of The Brothers
Karamazov by December 5. (Sample topics: How do stories circulate in Odysseus’s world? How do stories
circulate in the Karamazov world? How does Odysseus resolve conflicting impulses? How does Dmitri
Karamazov resolve conflicting impulses?)
Students will have the option of revising the first paper within one week of its return.
In all cases be sure to know the text and cite it accurately, have a thesis, state it, defend it well, and show
mastery of the elements of composition. Consult the LS Writing Standards (to be distributed). If you use
secondary sources, confer with me about them. Students aspiring to an A should submit papers of no less
than 2500 words. Late work subject to penalty.
Final Exam
A comprehensive essay-exam will be distributed a week before its due date. Completed exams should run
approximately 2500 words. Both papers and exams are to be submitted as hard copies, not email
attachments.
Grades
The two papers and the exam will each count for a third of your grade. Note that the entirety of your grade is
based on writing.
Attendance
Three absences are permitted, after which I will deduct a grade from a paper for each absence. Use your three
absences wisely.
Plagiarism
Categorically prohibited. See the “Plagiarism” language in the UM Catalog. For penalties incurred, see the UM
Student Conduct Code.
Recommended Reading (on Reserve):
Stewart Justman, Literature and Human Equality (Northwestern UP, 2006)
Robin Feuer Miller, Dostoevsky’s Unfinished Journey (Yale UP, 2007)
Robin Feuer Miller, The Brothers Karamazov: Worlds of the Novel (Yale UP, 2008)
Stewart Justman
Director, Liberal Studies Program
LA 101
X5793