English 398: Critical Writing
Winter 2009
MW 1:30-3:18
CC 212
Professor Friedman
Office Hours: Thursdays 9:30-11:30
& by appointment (Denney 565)
Email: friedman.193@osu.edu
American Fiction and Literary Criticism
Course Description: In this course, we will explore the theory and practice of interpretation, developing
skills that are essential to upper-level English studies. While the course focuses on the process of
analytical essay writing, it also seeks to immerse you in related techniques of critical reading, thinking,
and discussion. A series of writing assignments and in-class workshop activities will give you practice in
close textual analysis, constructing arguments based on evidence and analysis, thesis writing, organizing
your claims and evidence, using argumentative rhetoric, and engaging with other critics’ writing. At the
same time, our reading and class discussion will familiarize you with a range of approaches to literary
criticism; to that end, I have paired representative critical texts with a diverse group of nineteenth- and
twentieth-century fictional narratives (mostly short stories and novellas), texts that lend themselves well
to the various approaches and that, in many cases, are preoccupied internally with questions of reading
and interpretation.
Required Texts:
Available at B&N OSU, SBX, College Town, UBX, Buckeye Books; call ahead to check stock
-William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (Vintage)
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz and Other Stories (Dover)
-Steven Lynn, Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory, 5th ed. (Pearson)
*All other assigned texts are available through e-reserve on the course’s Carmen website; you are
expected to bring paper copies of these assigned readings with you to class.
Requirements:
-One brief in-class presentation
-Six short written exercises
-One 2-3 page essay
-One 4-5 page essay (2 drafts)
-One 8-10 page final paper, including a research component
-Regular attendance and active participation during class meetings
Schedule of Readings and Assignments (subject to minor changes):
* = on e-reserve through the course’s Carmen website
Introduction: What Is Literature? …Literary Criticism?
M 1/5
In-class Reading/Discussion: Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Spring” (1877) and “Spring and
Fall: to a young child” (1880)
W 1/7
Reading Due: Kelley Griffith, excerpts on “Interpretation” and “Literature” [handout]
Terry Eagleton, “Introduction: What Is Literature?”*
Eudora Welty, “The Key” (1941)*
M 1/12
Reading Due: Steven Lynn, Chapter 1 of Texts and Contexts (pp. 3-13)
Juan Rulfo, “Talpa” (1953)*
Writing Due: Short Exercise 1
Historicism, Cultural Studies, and Marxist Criticism
W 1/14
Reading Due: Edgar Allan Poe, “The Man of the Crowd” (1840)*
Walter Benjamin, from “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire”*
M 1/19
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Class does not meet
W 1/21
Reading Due: F. Scott Fitzgerald, “May Day” (1920) [in The Diamond as Big as the Ritz]
Lynn, from Chapter 6 of Texts and Contexts (pp. 145-168)
Writing Due: Short Exercise 2
M 1/26
Reading Due: Fitzgerald, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” (1920) [in Diamond]
Warren Susman, “‘Personality’ and the Making of Twentieth-Century Culture”*
Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, on “The Art of Quoting” [handout]
Writing Due: FIRST ESSAY
W 1/28
Reading Due: Fitzgerald, “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” (1922) [in Diamond]
Andrea Lunsford, on “Revising paragraphs, sentences, words, and tone” [handout]
Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies
M 2/2
Reading Due: John Edgar Wideman, “Fever” (1989)*
Writing Due: Short Exercise 3
W 2/4
Reading Due: Alice Walker, “Nineteen Fifty-Five” (1981)*
Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Race”*
M 2/9
Reading Due: Louise Erdrich, “Saint Marie” (1984)*
Griffith, on “Choosing Topics” [handout]
Writing Due: Short Exercise 4
Gender and Sexuality Studies
W 2/11
Reading Due: Henry James, Daisy Miller (1878)*
M 2/16
Reading Due: Myra Jehlen, “Gender”*
Lynn, from Chapter 8 of Texts and Contexts (pp. 227-243)
Writing Due: DRAFT OF SECOND ESSAY
W 2/18
Reading Due: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wall-paper” (1892)*
Lynn, from Chapter 9 of Texts and Contexts (pp. 267-272)
M 2/23
Reading Due: José Garcia Villa, “Untitled Story” (1933)*
Psychoanalysis, Narrative Theory, and Deconstruction
W 2/25
Reading Due: Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Roger Malvin’s Burial” (1832)*
Lynn, from Chapter 7 of Texts and Contexts (pp. 199-209)
Writing Due: SECOND ESSAY
M 3/2
Reading Due: Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1840)*
Sigmund Freud, “Mourning and Melancholia”*
Lynn, from Chapter 9 of Texts and Contexts (272-286)
Writing Due: Short Exercise 5
W 3/4
Reading Due: William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (1930): through p. 81 (end of “Darl”
section)
M 3/9
Reading Due: Faulkner, As I Lay Dying: through p. 179 (end of “Whitfield” section)
Peter Brooks, “Reading for the Plot”*
Lynn, from Chapter 9 of Texts and Contexts (286-298)
Writing Due: Short Exercise 6
W 3/11
Reading Due: Reading Due: Faulkner, As I Lay Dying: finish
Lynn, from Chapter 5 of Texts and Contexts (pp. 107-122)
<< FINAL PAPER DUE: Tuesday, March 17, by 4:00 p.m. Deliver to my mailbox in the English
Department office (Denney 421) >>
Evaluation Method: Grades will be determined on basis of the first essay (10%), the second essay
(20%), the final essay (30%), the short written exercises (20% cumulatively), and attendance/
participation/presentation (20%).
Short written exercises: Beginning Monday, January 12, there will be short written exercises (usually
around 2 pages each) due in class each Monday meeting, with the exception of those Mondays when
the longer essays are due and the Monday of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. We will have 6 of
these written exercises in total: see above schedule for exact due dates. For the most part, these will be
preparatory exercises in which you practice skills in advance of the longer essays and/or further your
process of planning, drafting, and revising those essays. Therefore, these exercises will be crucial to our
in-class writing workshops. On occasion, I may also use these exercises to ask you to respond in
writing to a reflection question or to some aspect of the reading; in order to stimulate discussion. The
exercises will not necessarily require you to write formal essays, but might ask for more informal work
like lists or outlines. That said, I do expect you to submit legible, typed work, which you have
proofread to eliminate mechanical mistakes. Specific prompts/instructions will be distributed in class
on the Wednesday before each exercise is due; it is your responsibility to keep up to date with the
assignments. I will grade these exercises on a 10-point scale and take the average of the 6 scores to
calculate this component (20%) of your final grade. Any missed exercise will be factored into this
component of your grade as a zero.
Essays: Detailed topics for the longer essays will be distributed at least two weeks before the due dates
(see above schedule). Essays submitted after the due date will not be accepted without prior approval.
The basic format for each essay will be as follows. Essay 1 (2-3 pages): A close reading of an important
passage from one of the stories, which makes a case for how the passage develops a major theme in the
text. Essay 2 (4-5 pages): An analytical essay that asks you to practice one of the approaches to literary
criticism that we have studied thus far. You will submit a polished draft of this essay, in advance of the
final due date. Essay 3 (8-10 pages): A complex analytical work about a text or group of texts from our
course, which requires you to research and engage with 2 or more pieces of literary criticism on your
chosen text(s).
A Word on Office Hours and Writing Consultation: I am available every Thursday morning in my
office (565 Denney) and encourage you to see me during this time to talk about paper writing or to
discuss other aspects of the course material. I am usually available to talk after class too: if possible,
please give me some advance that you’d like to meet then. I view one-on-one writing consultation as a
central aspect of my job, and our small class size and focus on writing makes this activity especially
feasible and valuable. Note also that the College of Humanities runs a writing center, which offers
useful tutorials on projects like the ones assigned in our class. Consult the CSTW Writing Center
website (http://cstw.osu.edu/writingCenter/default.cfm) or call (688-4291) for more information.
Presentation: Each member of the class will initiate the discussion of one of the literary or critical texts
on the syllabus this quarter, spending around 10 minutes summarizing main points or offering guiding
questions. I will distribute detailed instructions for both types of presentation on Wednesday, January 7
and give you the opportunity to sign up for the date/text of your choosing.
Attendance and Participation: Regular attendance is expected at all class meetings, and you are expected
to arrive punctually and to remain in the classroom for the duration of our scheduled time. Excessive
absences (more than 1 unexcused absence) will negatively affect your final grade, with each successive
unexcused absence subtracting 5 percentage points from your attendance/participation score. Routine
and/or extreme lateness to class will also negatively affect this score.
Productive and thought-provoking class discussions depend upon your active participation: You should
come to class prepared to comment on the assigned readings and to engage with your classmates’ ideas.
While participation, of course, requires attendance, my evaluation of your participation also takes into
account other factors. Any activity that makes it impossible for a member of the class to be attentive
and to engage with the proceedings of the class—for example sleeping or playing with electronic
devices (checking phones, texting, etc.)—will be treated as a barrier to participation and thus negatively
affect this component of his or her grade. Class members earn highest participation scores for
thoughtful, regular contributions to discussion. Civility and respect in the discussion setting are also
paramount.
Academic Integrity: This course follows the standards laid out by the University’s Office of Academic
Affairs: “Academic integrity is essential to maintaining an environment that fosters excellence in
teaching, research, and other educational and scholarly activities. Thus, The Ohio State University and
the Committee on Academic Misconduct (COAM) expect that all students have read and understand
the University’s Code of Student Conduct, and that all students will complete all academic…assignments
with fairness and honesty. Students must recognize that failure to follow the rules and guidelines
established in the University’s Code of Student Conduct may constitute ‘Academic Misconduct’ [and lead to
subsequent referral to the COAM]. OSU’s Code of Student Conduct (Section 3335-23-04) defines
academic misconduct as: ‘Any activity that tends to compromise the academic integrity of the
University, or subvert the educational process.’ Examples of academic misconduct include (but are not
limited to) plagiarism [the unauthorized representation of another’s ideas or words as one’s own],
collusion (unauthorized collaboration), copying the work of another student, and possession of
unauthorized materials during an examination.” The Code of Student Conduct is available online
(http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/resource_csc.asp).
*If you have any questions about academic integrity, please contact me, or consult the COAM’s helpful
website (http://oaa.osu.edu/coam/faq.html#faqlist). We will be discussing the concept of plagiarism
at length later in the quarter, but you are expected to be familiar already with university policies on
plagiarism and other aspects of academic integrity.
Disability Services: The Office of Disability Services (150 Pomerene Hall; x2-3307) offers support and
accommodations for students with disabilities. Their policies and procedures can be viewed online
(http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu/current.asp).