TRENT UNIVERSITY
English 1001H: Truth, Lies, and Storytelling
Syllabus for Fall, 2012
COURSE INSTRUCTORS
Lewis MacLeod TC WH 123, lewismacleod@trentu.ca, ext 6022.
Office hour: Wednesday, 11am-12pm.
Kelly McGuire TC WH 120, kellymcguire@trentu.ca, ext. 7574.
Office hour: Friday, 1-2pm.
Administrative Assistant: Patricia Heffernan, TC WH 134, pheffernan@trentu.ca, ext. 7733
COURSE DESCRIPTION
When we tell stories, whether in song, poetry, drama, film or prose, are we telling lies? How do literary fictions in
any genre engage, reflect, distort, or heighten the truth? What, if any, are the distinctions between something that’s
“true” and something that’s “real”? Do words sometimes get in the way of the truth? These and other questions will
provide entrances into the texts in this course.
Teaching Assistants:
In addition to the two Course Instructors, there will also be Graduate Teaching Assistants leading workshop
sections. These teachings assistants work in association with the professors. Each workshop will have its own
individual trajectory, based on the interests and aptitudes of both workshop leaders and students, but the general
objectives and the overall workloads of all groups will be very much the same. Basically, the organizations of
workshops need not be identical in order to be fair.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Students of ENGL 1001H will
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engage with a wide range of literary texts in different genres from different time periods and countries
develop analytical writing skills that will serve them well no matter what discipline they enter
acquire a basis for the further study of English literature. This basis includes:
Writing Skills. Students will 
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improve their ability to articulate, in writing, their response to works of literature
learn how to move beyond simplified models of the essay in order to explore the implications of a thesis
and support their assertions
improve their ability to develop their ideas in a clear orderly way, and to refine, adjust and correct them
improve their ability to construct an argument and marshal evidence in support of their ideas
Critical and Analytical Skills. Students will 
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improve their ability to articulate their response to works of literature
learn how to pay attention to the complexities of literary texts, their structures, reiterations, tones, implied
values, points of view, inter-relations
develop an awareness of contexts (historical, cultural etc.) that will enhance close reading
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acquire skills in using necessary resources such as dictionaries and glossaries, and institutional resources
such as the Academic Skills Centre and the Library
learn how to move beyond simplification of the texts, as in plot summary, character sketch, thematic
reductionism to a more complex appreciation of literary texts and the ways they work
become familiar with procedures and disciplines associated with literary study (such as prosody, imagery,
irony, symbolism, narrative method, intertextuality and allusion).
acquire a preliminary understanding of the relevance, range and nature of literary and critical theory
Discursive and Rhetorical Skills. Students will
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improve their ability to articulate orally their response to works of literature
improve their ability to present an argument orally
learn how to build on the observations and insights of colleagues
COURSE STRUCTURE
Lectures
The general aim of the lectures is to provide an understanding of genre and other concepts useful in literary
analysis. The lectures will also provide historical, political and literary context for the particular works being
studied and some sense of their relation to each other. They will also focus on the works themselves and will often
be illustrated by the analysis of specific passages.
Workshops
Workshops are the other crucial component of the course. Instructors will organize their workshops in different
ways, but the two basic functions of all seminars are the same: to explore the works on the course more closely than
is possible in the lectures and to give students the opportunity to express, test and refine their own interpretations of
the works.
Important Note about preparation and attendance
Students are expected to attend all lectures. Brief lecture outlines giving the structure and main headings will be
provided after the lectures are given, on myLearningSystem (on myTrent), but they will not reproduce the content of
the lectures. Advice on taking good lecture notes is available from your instructor and from the Academic Skills
Centre. Laptops may be used during lectures, but only for note-taking and lecture-related activity. Students are
expected to attend all workshops. Consult your seminar leader about her or his policy regarding absence from
seminars. Students are expected to read all the assigned texts before the first lecture on that text (or before the first
workshop, if it precedes the lecture).
The students who have done best in this course in past years are those who have attended all lectures and workshops,
and participated actively in workshops.
REQUIRED TEXTS
The texts listed below can be found at the Trent University Bookstore, with the exception of Neil Gaiman’s Dream
Country (Vol. 3 of The Sandman library) , which you are asked to order online. All other materials will be made
available on the university’s Blackboard system.
Peter Carey, My Life as a Fake (Random House)
Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep (Random House)
William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Penguin)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Oxford)* 1818 edition
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H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds (Penguin)
COURSE EVALUATION
Essay One:
1000 words
Mid-term exam
Essay Two:
1800 words
Workshops:
Final Exam:
10%
20%
25%
15%
30%
Due Dates:
Essay One
Mid term
Essay Two
Sept 28
Oct 19
Nov 23
SCHEDULE
September 7: Introduction
Unit One: Gothic/Mystery/Detective Fiction
September 14: William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”; Edgar Allan Poe, “A Cask of Amontillado,” “Murders in the
Rue Morgue”; Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (readings available on Blackboard)
September 21: Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep
September 28: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Unit Two: Fact, Fiction, Myth
October 5: Readings from The Book of Genesis and the Book of Revelation, Aboriginal Creation Myths, Victorian
Travelogues (readings available on Blackboard)
(Thanksgiving Oct. 8)
October 12: H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds; Orson Welles, War of the Worlds (broadcast)
October 19: Peter Carey, My Life as a Fake
READING WEEK
Unit Three: Truth, Irony, Sincerity, and Play
November 2: William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
November 9: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (cont.); Neil Gaiman, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from Dream
Story; Mary Lamb, from Tales from Shakespeare (Blackboard)
November 16: Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market”; S.T. Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
(Blackboard)
November 23: Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess”; Charlotte Mew, “The Farmer’s Bride”; T.S. Eliot, “The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (Blackboard)
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November 30: Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own; Alice Walker, from In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens;
D.H. Lawrence, “Give her a Pattern” (Blackboard)
EXAMS
LATE SUBMISSION POLICY
Extensions of deadlines are possible ONLY by prior arrangement (that is, before the due date) and only with
sufficient reason. The burden of your workload will not normally be regarded as sufficient reason, since you are
expected to schedule your assignments and other obligations. The instructor is under no obligation to accept late
essays. In the event they are accepted, essays submitted late without permission will receive a half grade deduction
(e.g., B reduced to B-) for every day the essay is late. The weekend counts as one day. Late essays will receive
substantially reduced corrections and comments.
UNIVERSITY POLICIES
Academic Integrity:
Academic dishonesty, which includes plagiarism and cheating, is an extremely serious academic
offence and carries penalties varying from a 0 grade on an assignment to expulsion from the
University. Definitions, penalties, and procedures for dealing with plagiarism and cheating are set out in Trent
University’s Academic Integrity Policy. You have a responsibility to educate yourself –unfamiliarity with the policy
is not an excuse. You are strongly encouraged to visit Trent’s Academic Integrity website to learn more:
www.trentu.ca/academicintegrity.
Access to Instruction
It is Trent University's intent to create an inclusive learning environment. If a student has a disability or health
consideration and feels that he or she may need accommodations to succeed in this course, the student should
contact the Disability Services Office (BH Suite 132, 748-1281,
disabilityservices@trentu.ca) as soon as possible. Complete text can be found under Access to
Instruction in the Academic Calendar.Trent in Oshawa contact the Disability Services Office, Kristina Murray
kristinamurray@trentu.ca
(Room 111, 905-435-5102 ext 5024).
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