ENGLISH 2850H: GREAT WORKS OF LITERATURE II Baruch College, Fall 2013 Monday & Wednesday, 12:25-2:05, VC 3-145 Professor Cheryl C. Smith Office: VC 6-249 Office phone: 646-312-3973 (I don’t check messages every day) Email: cheryl.smith@baruch.cuny.edu (the best way to reach me) Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 11-12, Thursday 10-12, and by appointment Required Texts The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd Edition. Package 2 (volumes D, E, F). Bring your text to class! Course Objectives English 2850 will introduce you to a selection of literature from 1650 to the present, covering a number of major literary genres and examining works from around the world. You will study the historical and cultural contexts of the pieces we read and learn about literary themes, techniques, and terminology. In the process, English 2850 will help you develop advanced reading and analytical capabilities. You will also hone your creative thinking and writing skills. This is a communication-intensive course that requires active class participation, oral presentations, frequent writing, group work, and peer review. Through these activities you will develop: The ability to interpret meaning in literary texts by paying close attention to an author’s choice of detail, vocabulary, and style; The ability to discuss the relationship between different genres of literary texts and the multicultural environments from which they spring; Increased confidence in offering a critical evaluation and appreciation of a literary work’s strengths and limitations; Increased confidence in the oral presentation of ideas; and Increased ability to write critical essays employing a strong thesis statement, appropriate textual citations, and contextual and inter-textual evidence for your ideas. Course Requirements Reading Responses/Quizzes: We will have occasional informal reading quizzes (short answers to questions about the day’s reading). These quizzes will be unannounced and can occur on any class day. For some of these quizzes, you will be allowed to reference your text. Remember to have your book with you so you’re prepared not only to participate in class discussions but also to write. If you’re absent or late on the day of an in-class essay/quiz, you will receive a grade of zero. There are no make-ups for quizzes, but I will drop your lowest quiz grade. Blog Posts: You will sign up to compose a blog post in response to one day’s reading. You will be the “go-to” person in class that day (I will ask you to launch the discussion, facilitate, respond, etc.). You will also have to respond to three of your classmates’ posts. More information to follow. Short Essay: You will write a short essay comparing two works of literature. A revision of Essay 1 may be optional, recommended, or required. More information to follow. Review: You will attend a theatrical or musical event or art installation that you can relate—in an interesting/creative/relevant way—to one or more readings from our course. Within one week of the event you attend, you will submit a 2-page review, including some reference to at least one of our readings that you can relate to the event/installation, and you will briefly and informally present on your experience to the class. You must submit (by email) the event/installation you plan to attend and the date you will attend no later than Oct 2; the review is due no later than Dec 2. You must contact me by email no later than Sep 27 if you need an extension on the Oct 2 deadline (no extensions on the Dec. 2 due date for the review). In-class Essay Exam: on the course readings up to that point. Final Project and Presentation: You will develop a final project on the course materials and present it to the class during the final exam period. The final project will require various short assignments leading up to a capstone project. While not a traditional academic essay, the project will involve an essay or some significant writing, and a creative component (a multi-media project, some visual or aural text, creative writing, etc.). More information to follow. Late work is not accepted. You are responsible for handing in, on time, any work assigned or due during any absence. Attendance: Every absence beyond three will lower your course grade by one half step (an A- becomes a B+, a B+ becomes a B). I do not give excused absences since you have up to three absences to use at your discretion. Still, if you know you will miss a class (e.g. for a religious observance or event of personal importance), let me know as much in advance as possible. Class will begin and end at the scheduled time and late arrivals and early departures are very disruptive. Therefore, every two late arrivals or early departures will count as one absence. If you arrive late to class, it is your responsibility to speak with me at the end of the session to make sure you are recorded present and to find out any information you may have missed. Any time you are late or depart early by more than fifteen minutes, you will be counted absent. Students with more than 4 absences will be required to speak with me privately and will be subject to a WU grade. From the official Baruch College attendance policy: “If a freshman or sophomore is absent in excess of twice the number of class sessions per week, the instructor must give the student a WU grade, which counts as an F. The instructor may give a junior or senior a WU grade if he/she has excessive absences. Attendance and lateness clearly play a role in class participation. Instructors have the right to weigh attendance, lateness, and class participation in determining grades.” Participation and Reading: Regular attendance and active participation are required for success in this class. You have to complete reading assignments before class so that you are always prepared to participate in discussions and well on any in-class work. Grading: Your course grade will be calculated according to the following breakdown: Reading Responses/Quizzes = 10% Blog Posts = 10% Short Essay I (first draft and possible revision) = 20% Review = 15% In-class Essay Exam = 15% Final Project (including proposal, stage 1, and complete final version) and Presentation= 30% Academic Honesty: Anyone caught cheating on a quiz, test, or any assignment or plagiarizing will fail the course immediately and be referred to the college for further disciplinary action. Plagiarism occurs when you claim to be the originator or producer of words, opinions, facts or numbers that belong to an author whose work you found online or in a book, magazine or newspaper. All the work you submit for this class must be original work you produced explicitly for this class, unless otherwise agreed upon between professor and student. For more information on Baruch College’s honesty policy: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.htm Accommodations Policy: Baruch College is committed to making individuals with disabilities full participants in its programs, services, and activities through compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. It is the policy of Baruch College that no otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall be denied access to or participation in any program, service, or activity offered by the university. Individuals with disabilities have a right to request accommodations. If you require any special assistance or accommodation, please let me know as soon as you can, ideally during the first three weeks of the semester. Smith, fall 2013 English 2850H section JMWH Syllabus Page 2 CLASS SCHEDULE Read selections for the day they appear on the syllabus; always bring that day’s reading to class. Week 1 Wed Aug 28 Introduction to the course Reading: “The Enlightenment in Europe and the Americas” and “What is Enlightenment?” (pages 91104) and Kant, “What is Enlightenment” (1784) (pages 105-109) Week 2 Mon Sep 2 and Wed Sep 4 No classes scheduled. Week 3 Mon Sep 9 Reading: Jean-Baptiste Molière, Tartuffe (1664). Read the entire play by today. Wed Sep 11 Reading: Tartuffe, continued Week 4 Mon Sep 16 Reading: “Early Modern Japanese Popular Literature” (585-590) and Ihara Saikaku, “Life of a Sensuous Woman” (1686) Wed Sep 18 Reading: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Poems 145 & 164 and “Philosophical Satire” (17th century) and all the selections in “The World of Haiku” (pages 613-631) Week 5 Mon Sep 23 Reading: Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle I (1733-34) Wed Sep 25 Reading: Akinari, “Bewitched” (1776) (available for download from the class blog) Week 6 Mon Sep 30 Reading: “An Age of Revolutions in Europe and the Americas” (3-15) and John Keats, “When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be,” “Bright Star” (1819), “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” (1820) and “Ode to a Nightingale” (1817) Essay I due Wed Oct 2 Reading: Emily Dickinson, read all the poems included in the anthology (pages 482-490) and Christina Rossetti, “After Death,” “Winter: My Secret,” and “Goblin Market” (1850s and 60s) Submission of event or installation for review assignment due no later than today Smith, fall 2013 English 2850H section JMWH Syllabus Page 3 Week 7 Mon Oct 7 Reading: Herman Melville, Bartleby, The Scrivener (1853) Wed Oct 9 Reading: Charles Baudelaire, from The Flowers of Evil: “To the Reader,” “A Carcass” and “Song of Autumn I”; from Paris Spleen: “Windows” and “Anywhere out of the World” (1850s and 60s) Week 8 Mon Oct 14 No classes scheduled. Tue Oct 15 Baruch follows a Monday class schedule this Tuesday Reading: “Realism Across the Globe” (625-630) and Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886) Wed Oct 16 Reading: The Death of Ivan Ilyich continued Revision of Essay 1 due Week 9 Mon Oct 21 Reading: Rabindranath Tagore, “Punishment” (1893) and “Kabuliwala” (1894) Final Project brainstorming and prep (during this week and next) Wed Oct 23 Reading: Lu Xun, “Diary of a Madman” (1918) and “Medicine” (1919) Week 10 Mon Oct 28 Reading: Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis (1915) Final Project Proposal due Wed Oct 30 Reading: The Metamorphosis, continued Week 11 Mon Nov 4 Essay Exam Wed Nov 6 Reading: Virginia Woolf, “A Room of One’s Own” (1928) Week 12 Mon Nov 11 Reading: Federico Garcia Lorca, “Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías” (1935) and Pablo Neruda, “Tonight I Can Write” (1924), “Walking Around” (1935) and “I’m Explaining a Few Things” (1936) Smith, fall 2013 English 2850H section JMWH Syllabus Page 4 Wed Nov 13 Reading: Jorge Luis Borges, “The Garden of the Forking Paths” (1941) and Julio Cortazar, “House Taken Over” (1946) Week 13 Mon Nov 18 Reading: Zhang Ailing, “Sealed Off” (1943) Wed Nov 20 Final Project Stage 1 due Reading: V.S. Naipaul, “One Out of Many” (1971) and Niyi Osundare “Ambiguous Legacy, “Berlin,” and “Day of the Cat” (Osundare poems found on pages 1201-07) Week 14 Mon Nov 25 Reading: Salman Rushdie, “The Perforated Sheet” (1980) Final Project prep Wed Nov 27 No class: Baruch follows a Friday schedule today. Happy Thanksgiving Week 15 Mon Dec 2 Reading: Nawal El Saadawi, “In Camera” (1980) and Hanan Al-Shaykh, “The Women’s Swimming Pool” (1982) Last day to hand in the Review assignment Wed Dec 4 Reading: Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” (1983) and Junot Diaz, “Drown” (1996) Week 16 Mon Dec 9 Reading: Chu T’ien-Hsin, “Man of La Mancha” (1994) and Orhan Pamuk, “To Look Out the Window” (1999) Wed Dec 11 Final Project due Final Project Presentations will begin Final Project Presentations will occur on the last day of class (Dec. 11) and during our scheduled exam time, which is Wednesday December 18, 1-3pm. You are required to be present for both presentation days. Smith, fall 2013 English 2850H section JMWH Syllabus Page 5