nd
HE111: RHETORIC AND INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
Syllabus, Fall 2006 [Sections 1002, 4003, 6004]
Required Texts:
DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama .
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
Lunsford, Andrea A. The Everyday Writer . 3 rd ed. Bedford/St. Martins,
2004.
Conrad, Joseph. Typhoon and Other Tales . Revised ed. Edited by
Cedric Watts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Ibsen, Henrik. An Enemy of the People . Translated by Arthur Miller.
New York: Penguin Group, 1979.
Melville, Herman. Billy Budd and Other Stories . New York: Penguin
Group, 1986.
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire .
Course Goals:
I intend in this course primarily to provide you with the necessary tools and skills for effective written and verbal communication in any discipline, and especially in your chosen professional as military officers. To that end we will engage in a dialogue with short fiction and drama, and develop our abilities to critically examine and evaluate the relationships between authors and their audiences; a clear understanding of the rhetorical devices employed in literature better enables us to make use of those devices ourselves. Once we develop our skills of communication and argumentation, we will hone the students’ writing ability, helping each member of the class to refine a clear yet distinctive style.
I also intend to establish the relevance of literature in both your personal and professional lives, and hope to instill you with a love for language in its many forms.
Course Policies:
I expect all assignments and readings to be completed on time, and every student to be prepared for class discussion. DO NOT JUST
READ the assignments, THINK about them! I recommend taking notes on the reading in the same notebook you use for class notes, and I highly encourage you to mark your texts: highlight, underline, comment in the margins (these habits will be invaluable when you begin the writing process). Participation in classroom discussions is crucial to the success of this course; we have as much to learn from one another as we do from the texts themselves. Indeed, a professor of mine once taught me that the best courses are those in which both the students and the instructor learn something!

Extra instruction is available upon mutual arrangement. I prefer appointments to be scheduled two days in advance. I teach MWF1, MWF4,
MWF6, and hold office hours of MWF2, but I also maintain an open-door policy, and will make every effort to assist you when needed.
All work will be each student’s own. Plagiarism is unacceptable, and will not be tolerated.
Papers will be submitted in accordance with the MLA citation style, written in 12 pt Times New Roman with one inch margins.
If at any point you become uncomfortable with the subject matter of the material we are reading, I expect you to come to me. We will establish an understanding, or make arrangements for a different assignment for you.
Course Requirements:
NO Mid-Term Examination
NO Final Examination
3 Long Essays (4-5 pages)
4 Short Essays (1-3 pages)
In-Class Reading Quizzes
PARTICIPATION!
Grading Procedures:
Short Essays
Long Essays
Quizzes
30% [5%, 5%, 10%, 10%]
45% [10%, 15%, 20%]
25%
I reserve the right to alter a student’s grade by 10% on the basis of classroom participation. Any assignment that is turned in after a deadline will lose a letter grade for each day that it is late.

LESSON SCHEDULE:
Week of 21 AUG
1. INTRODUCTION – Course Syllabus and Policies
2. Lunsford: Writing in the Disciplines (pp.461-70, 476-80)
3. Lunsford: Writing (pp.26-30, 36-69)
ESSAY #1 DUE [DESCRIPTIVE]
Week of 28 AUG
1. Lunsford: Constructing Arguments (pp.79-91)
DiYanni: Inroduction (pp.2-18)
2. DiYanni: Reading Stories (pp.21-5, 32)
DiYanni: Updike, A & P (pp.26-31)
3. DiYanni: Chopin, The Story of an Hour (pp.32-35)
DiYanni: Types of Short Fiction (pp.42)
Week of 04 SEP
1. LABOR DAY – NO CLASS [TUES 05 SEP – MONDAY SCHEDULE]
DiYanni: Plot & Structure: O’Conner, Guests of A Nation (pp.43-53)
2. DiYanni: Character: Boyle, Astronomer’s Wife (pp.54-9)
3. DiYanni: Setting: Mason, Shiloh (pp.60-70)
ESSAY #2 DUE [NARRATIVE]
Week of 11 SEP
1. DiYanni: Point of View: Faulkner, A Rose for Emily (pp.71-8)
2. DiYanni: Language and Style: Joyce, Araby (pp.79-84)
3. DiYanni: Theme: Welty, A Worn Path (pp.85-91)
Week of 18 SEP
1. DiYanni: Irony & Symbol: Lawrence, Rocking-Horse Winner (pp.92-106)
2. DiYanni: Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths (pp.266-73)
3. DiYanni: O’Brien, The Things They Carried (pp.434-446)
ESSAY #3 DUE [TBD]
Week of 25 SEP
1. DiYanni: Chekhov, The Kiss (pp.284-96)
2. DiYanni: Kafka, The Metamorphosis (pp.370-400)
3. Conrad: Typhoon
Week of 02 OCT
1. Melville: Billy Budd, Sailor
2. Melville: Billy Budd, Sailor
3. Melville: Billy Budd, Sailor
Week of 09 OCT
1. COLUMBUS DAY – NO CLASS
2. Conrad: The Secret Sharer
3. Conrad: The Secret Sharer
ESSAY #4 DUE [COMPARE/CONTRAST The Secret Sharer and Billy Budd ]
Week of 16 OCT
1. DiYanni: Reading Plays (pp.895-901, 910-15)
DiYanni: Types of Drama, Elements of Drama (pp.916-936)
2. DiYanni: The Greek Theater (pp.955-959)
DiYanni: Sophocles, Oedipus Rex (pp.960-999)
3. DiYanni: Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
Week of 23 OCT
1. DiYanni: Modern Realistic Theater (pp.1216-18)
DiYanni: Ibsen, A Doll’s House (pp.1219-69)
2. DiYanni: Ibsen, A Doll’s House
3. DiYanni: Miller, Death of A Salesman (pp.1352-1421)
Week of 30 OCT
1. DiYanni: Miller, Death of A Salesman
2. Ibsen, Enemy of the People

3. Ibsen, Enemy of the People
Week of 06 NOV
1. Miller, Introduction to A Streetcar Named Desire
Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
2. Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
ESSAY #5 DUE [ARGUMENT – Students’ Choice]
3. VETERANS’ DAY – NO CLASS
Week of 13 NOV
1. DiYanni: The Elizabethan Theater (pp.1008-11)
DiYanni: Shakespeare, Othello (pp.1013-1100) (Act I)
2. DiYanni: Shakespeare, Othello (Act II)
3. DiYanni: Shakespeare, Othello (Act III)
ESSAY #6 DUE [REACTION/REVIEW of Streetcar Named Desire ]
Week of 20 NOV
1. DiYanni: Shakespeare, Othello (Act IV)
2. COMPRESSED CLASS SCHEDULE
DiYanni: Shakespeare, Othello (Act V)
3. THANKSGIVING – NO CLASS
Week of 27 NOV
1. DiYanni: Othello Discussion Conclusion
2. DiYanni: Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (pp. 1429-71)
3. DiYanni: Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
ESSAY #7 DUE [ARGUMENT - Othello ]
Week of 04 DEC [ARMY WEEK]
1. FILM: Othello
2. FRIDAY SCHEDULE
FILM: Othello
Course Evaluations
3. NO CLASS