Living, loving, and dying in literature
English 220: Introduction to Literature
Online, Spring 2016
Quentin Bailey, qbailey@mail.sdsu.edu
Office hours: Monday, 10–12; AL 223.
Welcome to English 220: Living, loving, and dying in literature. This is an asynchronous,
online course (which means that there are no set times of the day or week when you have
to attend class). Instead, the course is divided into 8 modules that you will need to
complete according to a specific timetable (given below). Each module consists of a series
of readings, a couple of short lectures, a model response, some additional links for you to
review, a multiple-choice test, and a 250-word writing assignment. At the end of the course,
there will be a comprehensive multiple-choice exam.
In the course of the semester, we’ll cover a range of literary forms—novels, short stories,
plays, and poems—and travel in our imagination to a number of different locations:
Ancient Greece, nineteenth-century Europe, Prague during the Russian invasion of 1968,
and early twentieth century Ireland. We’ll also meet some famous literary figures—
Achilles, Emma Bovary, Heathcliff, Romeo and Juliet, Doctor Faustus, Victor Frankenstein—
as we learn to talk about literature from a variety of different perspectives. In particular,
we’ll be attending to some of the most famous representations of love, life, and death in
literature. Many of these scenes have inspired other writers, painters, and musicians … and
have been enjoyed by countless readers. We’ll be talking about the ways in which these
central aspects of human life are depicted, both in terms of the ideas the writers put forth
and in terms of the techniques they deploy.
This is the first time English 220 is being offered online during the regular academic year. I
have taught it on several occasions during summer school, but have revamped it
completely for this semester. This means that there might be a glitch or two along the way.
I will keep you notified of any that I become aware of; please let me know if you detect any.
I can be reached most easily by email – qbailey@mail.sdsu.edu – and will also be available
Tuesday mornings, 10 – 12, for those who wish to meet face-to-face. My office is in the Arts
& Letters building, Room 223.
General Education: Foundations in the Humanities and Fine Arts
The course serves to fulfill certain General Education requirements. In particular, it aims to
give you the ability to:
1. Analyze written, visual, or performed texts in the humanities and fine arts with
sensitivity to their diverse cultural contexts and historical moments.
2. Develop a familiarity with various aesthetic and other value systems and the ways they
are communicated across time and cultures.
3. Argue from multiple perspectives about issues in the humanities that have personal and
global relevance.
4. Demonstrate the ability to approach complex problems and ask complex questions
drawing upon knowledge of the humanities.
Are you ready for this course?
1. Have you completed English 100, RWS 100 or 101, Chicana or Chicano Studies 111B,
American Indian Studies 120, Linguistics 100, OR General Studies 260A with a grade of “C”
or better?
2. Have you completed the readiness survey at
https://sunspot.sdsu.edu/pls/webapp/survey.hybrid_learning.main
3. You might also like to make sure that your computer has the following basic software:
Adobe’s Acrobat Reader and Flash Player, QuickTime Player, and Microsoft Word Viewer (if
you do not already have Word installed).
4. Are you prepared to work in a self-disciplined and self-motivated fashion? The course is
designed to give you some flexibility within individual modules, but you need to take
responsibility for completing all the work for each module within the specified time frame.
Required texts (available at the university bookstore):
1. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 3rd ed. Norton
2. James Joyce, Dubliners, Dover Thrift Editions
3. Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Additional readings for each module will be posted on the relevant Blackboard page.
Assessment:
The course consists of 8 discrete modules and a comprehensive final. In each module you
are required to complete a multiple-choice test and a 250-word writing assignment. These
tests and assignments are due by 11.55 pm on the day specified in the course outline.
8 tests (5% each):
8 writing assignments (5% each):
Comprehensive multiple-choice final:
40%
40%
20%
Please note: the final examination will be held Thursday 5 May. You will need to set aside 1
hour between 9 am and 9 pm in which to complete the exam.
Course Outline:
The following outline provides details of readings and due dates for completion of each
module. Information about additional material (sample discussion papers, film and music
clips) is available in the “Checklist” for each module, which sets out the work you should
complete BEFORE taking the test and submitting the writing assignment. You are welcome
to complete modules ahead of the deadline; late work will not be accepted. Please check
your email regularly for announcements of any changes to the course.
Module
Primary Readings
Due date
1. Young Love
Christopher Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to his
love” & Sir Walter Ralegh, “The Nymph’s Reply” [Bb]
Shakespeare, “Prologue” & “First kiss,” Romeo and Juliet,
Act 1. Scene 5 [Bb]
Emily Bronte, “I am Heathcliff,” from Wuthering Heights,
chapter 9. [Bb]
Virginia Woolf, “Clarissa’s memories of Sally Seton,” from
Mrs. Dalloway [Bb]
Joyce, “Araby,” from Dubliners
Friday 29
January
2. Classic love
Sappho, “Some Say” [Bb]
Shakespeare, Sonnets 16, 18, 116, 130 [Bb]
John Donne, “The Good Morrow”
Jane Austen, “Knightley’s Declaration,” from Emma and
“Darcy’s second declaration,” from Pride and Prejudice [Bb]
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “How do I love thee” & Robert
Browning, “My Last Duchess” [Bb]
Lord Byron, “She walks in beauty” [Bb]
Wednesday
10 February
3. Love, life,
and family
Lord Byron, “Prometheus” [Bb]
Percy Shelley, “Opening speech” from Prometheus Unbound
[Bb]
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
James Joyce, “The Sisters,” “An Encounter,” “Counterparts,”
“A Little Cloud,” from Dubliners
Wednesday
24 February
4. The lives of
others
William Wordsworth, “The Thorn,” “The Mad Mother,”
“The Two Thieves,” “Beggars” [All Bb]
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner”
Charles Baudelaire, “The Seven Old Men,” “Let’s beat up the
poor!” [Bb]
Katherine Mansfield, “The Garden Party” [Bb]
James Joyce, “Grace” from Dubliners
Wednesday
9 March
5. Sex and
desire
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Christopher Marlowe, “Helen of Troy,” from Doctor Faustus
[Bb]
D. H. Lawrence, “The White Stocking” [Bb]
Phillip Larkin, “High Windows” & “Annus Mirabilis” [Bb]
Katherine Mansfield, “Daughters of the Late Colonel” [Bb]
Wednesday
23 March
6. Forbidden
loves
Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market” [Bb]
James Joyce, “A Painful Case,” from Dubliners
W.H. Auden, “Lullaby,” “Musee des Beaux Arts,” “Stop all
the clocks” [all Bb]
D.H. Lawrence, “The Prussian Officer” [Bb]
Katherine Mansfield, “Bliss” [Bb]
E.M. Foster, from Maurice [Bb]
Friday 8
April
7. War Death
Homer, from The Iliad, part 22 [Bb]
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”
[Bb]
Sir Henry Newbolt, “Vitai Lampada” [Bb]
Thomas Hardy, “Drummer Hodge” [Bb]
Rupert Brooke, “The Soldier” [Bb]
Siegfried Sasson, “They” [Bb]
Jessie Pope, “War Girls” [Bb]
Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est” & “Anthem for
Doomed Youth” [Bb]
Friday 22
April
8. Love and
death
Shakespeare, “Death of Romeo and Juliet,” from Romeo and
Juliet [Bb]
Wordsworth, “Strange fits of passion,” “She dwelt among
the untrodden ways,” & “A slumber did my spirit seal” [Bb]
Edmond Rostand, from Cyrano de Bergerac
Emily Bronte, “The death of Heathcliff,” from Wutheirng
Heights [Bb]
James Joyce, “Clay” & “The Dead” from Dubliners
D.H. Lawrence, “Odour of Chrysanthemums” [Bb]
Phillip Larkin, “Aubade” [Bb]
Stevie Smith, “The Person from Porlock” [Bb]
Wednesday
4 May
Accommodations:
Students who need accommodation of their disabilities should contact me privately to
discuss specific accommodations for which they have received authorization. If you have a
disability, but have not contacted Student Disability Services at 619-594-6473 (Calpulli
Center, Suite 3101), please do so before making an appointment to see me. The web site for
Student Disability Services is: http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/sds/index.html
Academic Integrity:
Do not present other people’s work or ideas as your own. Always provide clear reference
details when you cite other people’s work. This includes not only directly cited work, but
also paraphrases of other people’s ideas. Remember: the skillful presentation of research
improves a piece of writing; citing your sources is part of this process. All writing
assignments for this class will be submitted via Turnitin, which checks for instances of
academic dishonesty. As mandated by CSU policy, all incidents of academic dishonesty in
this class will be reported to the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities. For further
details of this process, please see http://csrr.sdsu.edu/academics1.html.
A Note on Technology:
Please be assured that if and when problems occur on the SDSU end, you will not be
penalized. However, when problems occur on your end, the story is different: You are
responsible for your computing needs. When problems occur on your end, you must fix
them. I am an English professor and cannot provide IT support . IT problems that you
experience do not constitute an acceptable excuse for non-completion of work.
A Note on Grades:
I make every effort to assess your work as fairly as possible and to provide you, through
the Blackboard grade center, with details of your performance. But—unlike some other
classes—literature is not about facts and figures. That is its beauty. Instead, it is about
judgment, taste, and scholarly standards. If you have any questions about your grade,
please let me know. I am happy to review your work and explain the reasons for my
assessment.