English 102: Composition and Literature
The Birth and Death of the Author: Subjectivity and Existential Crises in Literature
Instructor: Brian R. Gutierrez
English 102 M/W 6:00-8:20pm
Phone: (206) 528-4598 ext.6
Office: IB2423C
Office Hours: Mondays 5:00-6:00pm (and by appointment)
BGutierrez@sccd.ctc.edu
http://facweb.northseattle.edu/bgutierrez/
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Course Description: This course is the continuation of the composition sequence with further
instruction and practice in the writing process, concentrating on critical reading and writing
techniques needed for the preparation and completion of documented essays. In this course you
will be using literary texts (and critical essays) as the basis for your argumentative essays. So,
although this is a composition course, we must first begin with learning how to be competent
readers of these sorts of texts. Knowing the plot of a text or identifying the point a literary critic
makes is not enough. Your reading will have to result from observations that you can draw
conclusions from. These observations and conclusions will then serve as the primary material in
your arguments. What is more, though this course is driven by a common theme, your
observations, and ultimately your arguments, will not be limited to those ideas. Instead, the
notions of subjectivity and authorship will function as touchstones through the many class
discussions we’ll have throughout the quarter.
NB This course is first and foremost a composition course, not a literary appreciation course.
Learning Objectives:
1. To produce complex, analytic, persuasive arguments that matter in academic contexts
2. To read, analyze, and synthesize complex text purposefully in order to generate and
support writing
3. To methodically summarize, paraphrase, quote, and otherwise cite sources in a
documented format
4. To develop flexible strategies for revising, editing, and proofreading arguments
.
Required Texts:
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and J. Paul Hunter. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text,
Contexts, Nineteenth-Century Responses, Modern Criticism. A Norton critical edition.
New York: W.W. Norton, 1996.
Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Compact Handbook. Seventh Edition. New York:
Longman Publishers USA, 2010.
Writing Journal (Composition Book)
Electronic Texts:
(Primary Texts)
Manfred, Lord Byron (George Gordon)
Poetical Selections from Emily Dickinson
Poetical Selections from Gerard Manley Hopkins
Notes from Underground, Fyoder Dostoevsky
Selections from The Flowers of Evil & Paris Spleen, Charles Baudelaire
Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
Six Characters in Search of an Author, Luigi Pirandello
(Theory and Criticism)
Preface to Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth
“The Death of the Author,” Roland Barthes
“What is an Author,” Michel Foucault (Foo-Khō)
“Crisis in Poetry,” Stéphane Mallarmé
“The Art of Fiction,” Henry James
Selections from Marxism and Literature, Raymond Williams
Selections from The Mad Woman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth
Century Literary Imagination, Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar
Recommended Texts:
Dictionary and Thesaurus
Grades:
Weekly reading quizzes………………… 10%
Two Formal Essays……………………... 30% (each)
Peer group participation……………… …10%
Response Papers… ………………… … 10%
Research Assignments……………………10%
(Course grade based on a total of 400 points)
Course Requirements:
Weekly Reading Quizzes: As you will notice, these quizzes make-up a rather large
portion of your total grade intentionally. It is imperative that you complete all assigned
readings, not solely for your own benefit, but also for that of your fellow students, as
these readings will be the focus of our discussions in class.
Two Formal Writing Assignments: To be discussed later in full detail.
Peer Group Participation: Once again, because the class focuses on collaborative
learning, I must stress how important your attendance and participation is for this to be a
beneficial and knowledge rich environment. What is more, it is important that peerreviewing partners give each other honest, constructive criticism. You MUST bring A
COMPLETED draft to each peer review session in order to receive participation points.
Response Papers: This component of the class continues your writing knowledge and
experience by creating multiple occasions for you to consider questions posed in class
(submissions must be a minimum of 500 words).
Research Assignments: This includes various assignments designed to further your
understanding of the material, in this case, taking the form of an annotated bibliography
(Minimum of 5 sources).
Format
Please type all assignments according to MLA (Modern Language Association)
guidelines. This includes (but is not limited to):
12 pt. Times New Roman font
Standard Margins
Double-spaced
Page Numbers w/ Last Name
MLA style citation/Works Cited page
Should you feel unsure about what this means, or should you have a concern about this
matter, please, see your style guide (which contains all of the details), and/or come talk to
me. You may want to take note of the numerous computer and printer terminals around
campus.
Attendance Policy: If you miss more than 4 class periods, you jeopardize your ability to
pass this course successfully. Tardiness is also unacceptable and disruptive; if you come
in more than 15 minutes late to class or leave early, you will be marked absent. Also,
every other act of tardiness beyond 5 will be counted as an absence. Each unexcused
absence beyond 4 will result in your final grade lowered by 0.1 (e.g., 3.7 to 3.6).
Late Work: No, thanks. Well—emergencies are emergencies, and dire circumstances
have a way of creeping up—especially around the end of the quarter…so here’s my
policy: late assignments will receive half-credit, and will not receive comments, and any
paper more than a week late will receive a zero. Should you hand in more than a few
assignments late, you will have to drop the class or risk turning in an incomplete
portfolio. Let’s put it this way: if you start your papers/revisions early, you can mitigate
any possible difficulties you may encounter along the way.
(NB I do not accept electronic papers)
NB: You MUST complete and hand-in all assignments in order to pass this course
successfully. This means if you fail to hand-in an assignment by the scheduled due date,
you are still ultimately required to submit it to me.
Evaluation
Your final course grade will be determined on the basis of the following criteria:
production and revision of two formal essays, involvement in and preparedness for peer
response sessions, timely completion of all assigned reading and writing, and active
participation in in-class discussions and activities. In addition, since it will not be
possible for you to achieve these objectives without attending class every day, your grade
will also be impacted by your attendance as you will not be able to participate if you are
not present. Finally, I will consider each student's growth as it pertains to reading and
writing skills and will factor this into his or her final course grade. Having said that, I will
provide you with rubrics that describe the outcomes and qualities I am looking for in
various assignments and will always be willing to explain how I have arrived at any
grade or score given.
Classroom Presence and Discussion
The more you engage in this academic community, the more you will learn. As with
class attendance, it is important for you to participate in class discussions as thoroughly
as possible; we want our time to be productive. Even if you have a hard time
participating in discussion, for whatever reason, I ask that you give it your best shot.
Stretching yourself is rarely a bad thing. In the same way, if you tend to be talkative,
remember that not all participation is good participation and a key part of a class
discussion is what you hear, and not merely what you say. Presence is just as important:
raising your hand and speaking is great, but not having your book out, not taking notes,
or sleeping in class will reduce your participation grade just as easily as being a nuisance.
Respect
Because the exchange of ideas is so important to this class, it is necessary for everyone to
be respectful of one another. It is normal and even expected that, in our class discussions,
we will disagree. Differences can and should be discussed, but these discussions should
maintain the academic spirit of respect—just as a good essay takes into account possible
counterarguments, we, too, should remember that our positions are not sacrosanct.
Derogatory or discourteous language/behavior will not be tolerated in our classroom.
The LOFT
The English Writing Center is a free peer tutoring service offered by the English
Department specifically to help students with writing assignments. Students visiting the
writing center can expect to conference with a writing assistant (one-on-one) for up to an
hour at a time. There is no limit to the number of visits a student can make each quarter.
Think of it as therapy for your writing.
Accommodations
Please let me know if you need accommodation of any sort. If you have a documented
disability that affects you as a student in this class, you are encouraged to let me know. It
is also a good idea to contact the Disabilities Services office (527-3697, CC2446c) so that
appropriate accommodations can be made.
Plagiarism:
We will discuss plagiarism in more detail in class. For now, please be aware of how
serious it is to pass someone else's thoughts, quotes, or papers off as your own. Simply
put, I expect that the work you turn in will be your own! It is one thing to work together
in our writing workshops to improve your papers (fixing punctuation, spelling, and
scrambled sentences or improving the organization) or to go over to the Writing Center.
It is something else to plagiarize.
Plagiarism describes actions that range from buying an entire paper online to turning in
papers you have written but that are full of entire paragraphs copied from electronic,
print, and other sources without citation. The purchase of papers online is a big business;
in the most obvious sense, plagiarism is a reprehensible offence, resulting in the failure of
that particular class, and punishable to the point of expulsion.
WHENEVER you use information gained from another source, you MUST acknowledge
or cite that source:
 If it is an exact quote (word for word), you need to use quotation marks.
 If you have changed the wording around to simplify the language, for example,
you still need to cite (identify) the author, but you do not need to put the passage
in quotes.
NB: I reserve the right to change or alter the syllabus at any time. It is your onus to
maintain an active dialog with your fellow students or me to remain current on this topic.
AUTUMN QUARTER 2009: M/W SCHEDULE
WEEKS 0&1
Wed 9/30
IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES
CLOSE READING
First Day of Instruction
HOMEWORK
Begin Reading
Frankenstein
Finish reading novel
Wed 10/7
Quiz #1 on Frankenstein (only Book I)
Introduction to the Romantic Period and the
Gothic Imagination
Assign first response paper (SP 1.1)
Quiz #2 on Frankenstein
WEEK 2
Mon 10/12
Short Paper 1.1 Due
Byron’s Manfred
Wed 10/14
Quiz #3 on Manfred
SP 1.2
SP 1.2 Due
Assign Annotated Bibliography
Selections from
Dickinson and
Hopkins
Mon 10/5
WEEK 3
Mon 10/19
SP 1.1
Wed 10/21
WEEK 4
Mon 10/26
Wed 10/28
WEEK 5
Mon 11/2
Assign First Major Paper
Paper Proposal Due
(Conferences)
Peer Review Day
Bring THREE Copies
Wed 11/4
Selections from
Baudelaire
WEEK 6
Mon 11/9
MP#1 Final Draft Due
Wed 11/11
Quiz #5 on NFU
WEEK 7
Mon 11/16
SP 1.3 Due
Wed 11/18
Quiz # 6 on Metamorphosis
WEEK 8
Mon 11/23
Wed 11/25
WEEK 9
Mon 11/30
Wed 12/2
Wed 12/9
WEEK 11
Kafka’s Metamorphosis
SP 1.4 Due
Assign Annotated Bibliography
Pirandello’s Six
Character in Search of
an Author
Quiz #7 on Pirandello
Assign MP #2
Paper Proposals
Due
(Friday by 5:00pm
via email)
Review Proposals
Peer Review
MP#2
Bring THREE Copies
WEEK 10
Mon 12/7
Dostoevsky’s Notes
From Underground
Peer Review
Bring TWO Copies
Portfolios and Reflection Letter
Concluding Thoughts
Mon 12/14
Portfolios DUE!!!!!!
No Later Than 6:00pm
Drop Box In My Office