Dr. John Paolo Sapienza
English Department, City College of San Francisco
Office: Batmale Hall 528
Office hours: MW 2-3 F 8-9 or by appt.
Phone: (415) 239-3408
Email: jsapienz@ccsf.edu
Website: http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jsapienz/
English 46C Literature in English from the Mid-Nineteenth through the Twentieth Century
Required texts available in the CCSF Bookstore:
+Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Dover.
+Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Dover.
+Eliot. T.S. The Wasteland, Prufrock and Other Poems. Dover.
+Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Dover.
+Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper Perennial.
+James, Henry. Daisy Miller. Dover.
+Johnson, James Weldon. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Dover.
+Joyce, James. Dubliners. Dover.
+Pound, Ezra. Early Poems. Dover.
+West, Nathaniel. Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust. New Directions.
+Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. Dover.
+Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dover.
+Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. Penguin Popular Classics.
Other required nonfiction texts available online:
+Arnold, Matthew. “The Function of Criticism.” Project Gutenberg. Selections from the
Prose Works of Matthew Arnold. EBook #12628
+Eliot, T.S. “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” In Wikisource:
<http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Sacred_Wood/Tradition_and_the_Individual_Talent>.
+Lawrence, D.H. “Why the Novel Matters.”
<http://individual.utoronto.ca/amlit/why_the_novel_matters.htm>.
+Wilde, Oscar. “The Critic as Artist.” <http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/E800003-007/>. 131-150.
+Woolf, Virginia. “Modern Fiction.”
<http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91c/chapter13.html>.
+Woolf, Virginia. “A Room of One’s Own.”
<http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91r/>.
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COURSE GUIDELINES:
1) Attendance and participation are extremely important. After six absences I will drop
you from the class; exceptions may possibly occur if due to documented serious
injury or illness. If you cannot--for any reason!--make this class regularly, and you
know this now, do not make the mistake of enrolling. To pass this course you must
do the work and part of doing the work is being present and active in the class.
2) Timeliness is just as crucial. Class will begin promptly and being tardy three times
will be equivalent to one absence.
3) All reading assignments are to be completed on time.
4) Writing assignments are to be completed on time. I accept one late essay during the
semester (no more than one week late)—no questions asked. There is still a penalty
of sorts: I do not comment on a late essay. No other late papers will be accepted and
no late homework at all. Any paper turned in more than 5 minutes after class starts
will be considered late. You cannot pass the course unless you complete all the essay
assignments.
5) Turn off all beepers, pagers, cell phones before entering the classroom or you will be
excused and counted absent for the day.
6) You are responsible for any material presented in class. If you are absent be sure to
find out what you have missed. Be in touch with a classmate or contact me.
7) Work sent by email will NOT be accepted unless you make an arrangement with me
before hand.
SEMESTER GRADE COMPUTATION:
Essay #1
Essay #2
Essay #3
Midterm Exam
Final exam
20%
20%
40%
10%
10%
100%
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Weekly Syllabus - English 46C:
From Victorian to Modern, from Optimism to Emptiness, from Certainty to
the Relative
Week One: Who am I? Identity and Anomie.
M: Intro to course. Discussion of the Victorian Age.
W: Read Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.
F: Read Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.
Week Two: Darwin and Literature.
M: Holiday—MLK Birthday
W: Read Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
F: Read Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
Week Three: Freewill and Fate.
M: Holiday—Lunar New Year
W: Read Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles
F: Read Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Week Four: Self and Identity.
M: Read Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
W: Read Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
F: Read Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Week Five: Moral Decay and Social Responsibility.
M: Read Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
W: Read Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
F: Holiday—Lincoln’s Birthday
Week Six: Old and New.
M: Holiday—Washington’s Birthday
W: Read James’ Daisy Miller.
F: Read James’ Daisy Miller.
First Essay due
Week Seven: Sense and Sensibility.
M: Read Joyce’s Dubliners.
W: Read Joyce’s Dubliners.
F: Read Joyce’s Dubliners.
Week Eight: The Center Cannot Hold.
M: Read Wharton’s Ethan Frome.
W: Read Wharton’s Ethan Frome.
F: In-class exam
Week Nine: Alienation and Despair.
M: Read Eliot’s Wasteland, Prufrock and Other Poems.
Midterm
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W: Read Eliot’s Wasteland, Prufrock and Other Poems.
F: Read Eliot’s Wasteland, Prufrock and Other Poems.
Week Ten: Less is More.
M: Read Pound’s Early Poems.
W: Read Pound’s Early Poems.
F: Read Pound’s Early Poems.
Week Eleven: What’s A Woman To Do?
M: Read Chopin’s The Awakening.
W: Read Chopin’s The Awakening.
F: Read Chopin’s The Awakening.
Week Twelve: The Cost of Rebellion.
M: Read Chopin’s The Awakening.
W: Read Chopin’s The Awakening.
F: Read Chopin’s The Awakening.
SPRING BREAK
Week Thirteen: What’s A Woman To Do Now?
M: Read Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.
W: Read Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.
F: Read Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.
Week Fourteen: Further Costs.
M: Read Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.
W: Read Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.
F: Read Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.
Week Fifteen: Class, Race, and Gender.
M: Read Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.
W: Read Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.
F: Read Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Week Sixteen: Who’s Got the Money?
M: Read Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.
W: Read Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.
F: Read Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Week Seventeen: What’s So Modern About Being Alone?
M: Read West’s Miss Lonelyhearts.
W: Read West’s Miss Lonelyhearts.
FINAL EXAM: Tuesday May 19 from 8:00-10:00 am
Third Essay due: To be discussed
Second Essay due