ENG 273 – Intro to Fiction: Literature, Mystery and Belief
Dr. Christopher Wachal
Email: cwachal@luc.edu
Office: Crown Center 434
Office Hours: MWF 12:30-2:30 and by appointment
Fall 2011
ENG 273-067
MWF – 2:45-3:35
Mundelein 616
A French Orthodox Jew holds his cell phone
up to Jerusalem’s Western Wall so a relative
back home can offer a prayer at the Jewish
holy site.
Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist. – René Magritte
The fiction writer presents mystery through manners, grace through nature, but when he finishes there
always has to be left over that sense of Mystery which cannot be accounted for by any human formula.
– Flannery O’Connor
What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?
– Haroun (Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie)
Introduction
Story-telling is the oldest of the humane arts. Painting, music, oratory, interpretive dance – all are, at
their heart, new forms of telling stories. For millennia, stories have revealed where we believe we
came from, why things are as they are, and what one’s proper disposition toward reality ought to be.
Fiction, a relatively new development in the history of story-telling, enables the communication of
these ideas through imaginative creations and technical manipulations. The questions good fiction
insists we ask are the questions to which there are, as of yet, no easy answers. The fiction taken up in
this course partakes in the literary tradition of ultimate concerns. It examines the role of belief in that
which is beyond reason and considers the utility of belief in a social world hostile to its demands.
Objectives
The primary goal of this course is to train you in the understanding, appreciation, and criticism of
prose fiction. Over the course of the semester you will develop a critical vocabulary for discussing the
formal, thematic and aesthetic aspects of fiction. You will also learn to deploy this vocabulary in
critical writing about literature. Finally, by the conclusion of the course you will be able to examine
prose fiction in context and evaluate and interpret the various, often contradictory claims made by a
piece of literature.
Required Texts
 Faith: stories. Edited by C. Michael Curtis – ISBN: 0618378243
 Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia – ISBN: 0345381432
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Brighton Rock by Graham Greene – ISBN: 9780142437971
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway – ISBN: 0684800713
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid – ISBN: 9780156034029
Course packet of readings from SOS Copies.
Various other handouts distributed in class or via Blackboard.
Assignments (more details on each paper will be provided closer to its due date)
Paper #1 – 4-6 pages – due in class Friday, September 30
Your first paper will examine the use of a single element of fiction in one course reading. Your
paper should explain why the author made the choices he/she did and how those choices
Paper #2 – 6-8 pages – due in class Wednesday, November 9
Your second paper will involve comparing and contrasting the depiction of belief in two separate
course readings. You may approach your evaluation in formal, thematic or aesthetic terms. You
should explain how the authors’ choices serve their differing visions and/or how they arise from
distinct cultural contexts.
Paper #3 – 8-10 pages – due Friday, December 16 at 1:00 p.m.
Your final paper will involve developing a critical reading of one of the novels taken up in the
second half of the course. I will ask you to examine the tensions between competing ideas
represented in the novel. Your paper should rely on highly developed readings of several elements of
fiction within the novel.
Close Readings – 2-3 pages (1000 word minimum)
Close reading is the practice of examining a brief passage from a literary work in the context of the
larger work. These brief papers should explore how important selections from a given work
communicate the work’s theme. They do not require research or any information from outside the
text itself. There will be four close readings assigned over the course of the semester. You must
complete three of them.
Quizzes
There will be two quizzes during the first half of the semester. They will cover concepts and terms
presented in course lectures. Their content will be discussed in advance and their dates are noted on
the class schedule.
Grading
A - 93-100%
A- - 90-92%
B+ - 87-89%
B - 83-86%
B- - 80-82%
C+ - 77-79%
C - 73-76
C- - 70-72%
D+ - 67-69%
D - 63-66%
F - 62% and lower
Major Paper #1 – 10%
Major Paper #2 – 20%
Major Paper #3 – 30%
Close Readings – 15%
Quizzes – 10%
Class Participation – 15%
Each paper will be graded on organization, style, originality and persuasiveness. Organization
concerns how clearly your ideas are presented. Style involves such elements as grammar, formatting,
punctuation, and citation of sources. Originality reflects how new or interesting your reading or
argument is. Finally, persuasiveness is judged on how compelling your evidence is and how effective
your argument is in its entirety.
Course Policies
Attendance/Participation: This course will function best when everyone is involved in discussing the
class material. Regularly attending class, therefore, benefits both you and your classmates. Missing a
class meeting may weaken your understanding of that day’s reading and deprive you of context for
subsequent class conversations. It is because full participation from everyone in class is so important
that it comprises part of your final grade.
Participation is not the same as just showing up and staying awake. Coming to class but contributing
nothing to the class is only marginally better than not showing up at all. Everyone is expected to
come to class on time and be prepared to contribute to class discussion.
Technology: Because the bulk of this class will center on exchanges between you, me, and your fellow
students, I would prefer you not bring anything to class that may distract from those conversations.
However, I also understand that many students prefer to type notes rather than handwrite them. So, if
you need to bring a laptop or other similar device to class on certain days to take notes on a lecture,
you may do so. All of the objective information for which you will be held responsible will be
presented in the first few weeks of the semester. Beyond that time, I ask that you refrain from using
laptops and the like in class. Cellphones should be turned off and only answered in emergencies.
There is never a reason to send text messages during class.
Late Papers: Papers turned in after the end of class the day on which they are due will be docked a
half-letter grade for each day they are late. It is to your advantage to turn in all your work on time.
Note: I will not accept papers via email. This is simply an ineffective way to operate the course. If you
would like me to look at a draft of a paper, then email is acceptable. Otherwise I expect all papers to
be physically in my hands by the time they are due.
Format for all papers: All papers should be printed in black ink on white paper. The text should be
twelve-point, Times New Roman or Calibri font. The paper should be formatted to have one-inch
margins on all sides and double-spaced. Anything other than this format will result in a grade
deduction.
Plagiarism Policy:
Plagiarism is never acceptable in this or any other course. For our purposes, plagiarism is defined as
any attempt to represent work which is not yours as your own. This includes, but is not limited to:
buying a paper online, having a friend write your paper, copying from other papers, failing to cite
sources, quoting without attribution, and turning in a paper from another course. If you are found to
have plagiarized in any way, you will receive no credit for that paper and may be referred to the
Administration for further action.
Schedule
Aug 29
Aug. 31
Sep. 2
Course Introduction
“What is fiction? What is literature? Why does anybody study this stuff anyway?”
Marquez, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” p. 13-19
Sep. 5
Sep. 7
Sep. 9
Labor Day (no class)
Updike, “A&P” (course packet)
Hemingway, “Soldier’s Home” (course packet)
Sep. 12
Sep. 14
Sep. 16
Carver, “A Small Good Thing” (course packet)
Rushdie, “The Prophet’s Hair,” p.207-19
Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown,” p.38-50
Close Reading #1 Due
Sep. 19
Sep. 21
Sep. 23
Anderson, “Hands” (course packet)
Roth, “Defender of the Faith,” (course packet)
Gordon, “The Deacon,” p.20-37
Quiz #1
Sep. 26
Sep. 28
Sep. 30
Walker, “The Welcome Table,” p.254-58
Akpan, “What Language is That?” (course packet)
Kureishi, “My Son the Fanatic,” p.67-76
Major Paper #1 Due
Oct. 3
Oct. 5
Oct. 7
Gappah, ”Before Tonde, After Tonde” (course packet)
Mukherjee, “The Management of Grief” (course packet)
Quiz #2
Oct. 10
Oct. 12
Oct. 14
Fall Break (no class)
O’Connor, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (course packet)
O’Connor, “Revelation” (course packet)
Close Reading #2 Due
Oct. 17
Oct. 19
Oct. 21
O’Connor, “The Displaced Person” (course packet)
O’Connor, “The Displaced Person” (course packet)
Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, Book I
Oct. 24
Oct. 26
Oct. 28
Hemingway, Book II Ch. VIII – XIII
Hemingway, Book II Ch. XIV - XVIII
Hemingway, Book III
Oct. 31
Nov. 2
Nov. 4
Greene, Brighton Rock, Parts One and Two
Greene, Parts Three and Four
Greene, Parts Five and Six
Nov. 7
Nov. 9
Nov. 11
Greene, Part Seven
Major Paper #2 Due (no assigned reading)
Garcia, Dreaming in Cuban, p.3-55 (“Ocean Blue” – “Celia’s Letters: 1935-1940”)
Nov. 14
Nov. 16
Nov. 18
Garcia, p.57-95 (“A Grove of Lemons” – “The Fire Between Them”)
Garcia, 97-126 (“Celia’s Letters: 1942-1949” – “The Meaning of Shells”)
Garcia, p.127-81 (“Enough Attitude” – “A Matrix Light”)
Nov. 21
Garcia, p.183-245 (“God’s Will – “Six Days in April”)
Close Reading #3 Due
Thanksgiving Break (no class)
Nov. 23
Nov. 25
Thanksgiving Break (no class)
Nov. 28
Nov. 30
Dec. 2
Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Ch. 1-4
Hamid, Ch. 5-9
Hamid, Ch. 10-12
Dec. 5
Dec. 7
Dec. 9
Film Viewing: Children of Men
Film Viewing: Children of Men
Film Viewing: Children of Men
Close Reading #4 Due
Friday, Dec. 16
Major Paper #3 due at 1:00 p.m.