THE EUROPEAN NOVEL
English 3322.251
Spring 2008
Flowers Hall 224
Professor Paul Cohen
Flowers Hall 358
Phone: 245-7685
Email: cohen@txstate.edu
Office Hours: TTh 1:30-3:30 and by appointment
Course Web site: http://www.english.txstate.edu/cohen_p/novel/novel.html
COURSE CONTENT: We will study, in English translation, a selection of the most important
European novels, from the 17th to the 21st centuries, originally written in Spanish, French,
Russian, German, and Italian.
TEXTBOOKS:
Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote (Part I, Chapters I-XIII) (Signet)
Voltaire: Candide (Dover)
Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary (Bantam)
Fyodor Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground (Signet)
Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis (Dover)
Italo Calvino: If on a winter’s night a traveler (Harvest)
Georges Perec: Life a User’s Manual (Godine)
Javier Marías: Dark Back of Time (New Directions)
Other editions are acceptable. In an unabridged edition of Don Quixote, the equivalent section
is Part I, Chapters I-XXI. You will read each assigned novel before the first class session on
that novel.
EVALUATION: You will write a short essay (worth 20% of your course grade) due on
February 18, and a longer documented research paper (worth 40%) due on April 18. For each
of those, I will provide two or three topics from which you may choose. You will submit your
papers electronically using Turnitin.
You will also take a Mid-term Examination on March 4 and a Final Examination on May
(worth 20% each). Each Examination will consist of both objective questions and an essay,
each of which will count for half of the Exam.
ATTENDANCE: I will expect you to attend all classes, and to arrive no later than the
appointed time. The exams will draw very heavily upon classroom material, so students with
numerous absences will be unable to pass them. If you miss instructions given in class, you
are responsible for getting them well before the next meeting. If you miss an examination,
you will not be allowed to make it up.
EMAIL: I will communicate with you through your Texas State email address. If you don’t
have one, get one immediately. If you don’t want to check your Texas State email, have it
automatically forwarded to the address you prefer.
STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: Students with special needs (as documented by the
Office of Disability Services) should identify themselves at the beginning of the term. The
Department of English is dedicated to providing these students with necessary academic
adjustments and auxiliary aids to facilitate their participation and performance in the
classroom.
COURSE SCHEDULE
The schedule is subject to frequent changes, as announced in class.
January 15
January 17
January 22
January 24
January 29
January 31
February 5
February 7
February 12
February 14
February 19
February 21
February 26
February 28
March 4
March 6
March 18
March 20
March 25
March 27
April 1
April 3
April 8
April 10
April 15
April 17
April 22
April 24
May 1, 2:00-4:30
Introduction
Translation
Electronic resources
Theory
Don Quixote (Part I, Chapters I-XIII)
Don Quixote (Part I, Chapters I-XIII)
Don Quixote (Part I, Chapters I-XIII)
Don Quixote (Part I, Chapters I-XIII)
Candide
Candide
Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary
Mid-term Examination
Notes from Underground
Notes from Underground
The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis
If on a winter’s night a traveler
If on a winter’s night a traveler
Life a User’s Manual
Life a User’s Manual
Life a User’s Manual
Life a User’s Manual
Dark Back of Time
Dark Back of Time
Conclusions and predictions
Final Examination