ENGLISH 3 COURSE GUIDE 2015 WELCOME TO ENGLISH 3 The Department of English seeks to stimulate and develop the imaginative and critical faculties of its students. In both its teaching and research activities, it is guided by the goals of cultural enrichment and social justice. In particular, the Department is committed to: • developing a South African-centred curriculum which nevertheless sees English as a world language and seeks to include a wide range of literature in English from other parts of the world; • situating the detailed study of individual literary works and authors within a more general inquiry into matters of cultural history, genre and language; • exposing students to a variety of critical and scholarly orientations and fostering appropriate argumentative skills; • promoting correctness, clarity and precision of expression in student speech and writing; • sustaining a challenging learning environment through the provision of lectures and small-group seminar classes. This Course Guide and the Guide to Essay Writing will answer many of your initial questions. CONTENTS 1. Staff 2015 1 1.1 Lecturing staff 1 1.2 Administrative staff 1 2. About English 3 2 2.1 Aims of the course 2 2.2 Signing up 3 2.3 Problems 3 3. Course content 3 3.1 Course overview 3 3.2 Paper descriptions and prescribed works 4 3.3 Additional works 14 4. Duly Performed (DP) requirements 14 5. Lectures 15 5.1 Listening, thinking and learning 15 5.2 Lecture attendance 16 6. Seminar electives 16 6.1 Independent study 16 6.2 Reading, thinking, talking and writing 17 6.3 Elective attendance 18 7. Written assignments 19 7.1 Assignment dates 19 7.2 Submission of assignments 19 7.3 Extensions for assignments 20 7.4 Getting your assignment back 21 7.5 Departmental marking notch system 22 8. Examinations and calculation of marks 25 8.1 June and November examinations 25 8.2 Class mark, exam mark and final mark 25 9. Using the library 26 9.1 Open shelves 26 9.2 Reference section 27 9.3 Periodicals section 28 9.4 Short loan 28 9.5 English Subject Guide and Faculty Librarian 28 10. Using the Internet 29 11. Further resources and support 30 11.1 Recommended reference works 30 11.2 The English Department’s homepage 31 11.3 Noticeboards and filing cabinet 31 11.4 The audiovisual room 32 11.5 Consultations 32 12. Student support 32 12.1 Course coordinator 33 12.2 Class representatives 33 12.3 Course evaluations 33 13. Dropping English 34 14. Lecture and seminar timetables, essays 35 1. STAFF 2015 1.1 Lecturing staff Name E-mail Room Cornwell, Prof. Gareth d.cornwell@ru.ac.za 20 Dass, Dr Minesh m.dass@ru.ac.za 22 Klopper, Prof. Dirk (HoD) d.klopper@ru.ac.za 5 Marais, Prof. Mike m.marais@ru.ac.za 39 Marais, Dr Sue s.marais@ru.ac.za 27 McGregor, Dr Jamie j.mcgregor@ru.ac.za 38 Naidu, Prof Sam s.naidu@ru.ac.za 37 Seddon, Dr Deborah d.seddon@ru.ac.za 24 Spencer, Dr Lynda Gichanda l.spencer@ru.ac.za Walters, Prof. Paul p.walters@ru.ac.za 21 8 Phiri, Dr Aretha a.phiri.ru.ac.za 35 Wylie, Prof. Dan d.wylie@ru.ac.za 10 (English 3 Course Coordinator) 1.2 Administrative staff Name E-mail Room Booth, Ms Carol (Office Administrator) c.booth@ru.ac.za 3 Youthed, Ms Tammy (Part-Secretary) t.youthed@ru.ac.za 4 Page | 1 2. ABOUT ENGLISH 3 In English 3, you will continue to build on the knowledge and skills acquired in English 1 and 2. As well as studying the set texts, you will be encouraged to develop a greater self-consciousness about your own practice as a reader. This entails: A sophisticated understanding of the conventions by which texts produce meaning, e.g. the conventions of literary realism. An acquaintance with some of the major theories which inform the ways in which we read and interpret literature. An appreciation of the historicity of meaning and of the acts of interpretation which produce it. Increasingly independent enquiry, using a range of critical, historical, and theoretical material. At third-year level students choose their course of study from a number of options, amounting to four papers altogether: two ‘core’ papers and two ‘electives’ (see below). 2.1 Aims of the course A student passing English 3 should, by the end of the year, be able to: Understand and interpret literature in relation to the historical context in which it was produced. Explore the nature of literariness through an investigation of the linguistic strategies of texts. Relate texts to critical traditions in order to explore their meaning through the discriminating use of secondary texts. Demonstrate critical thinking and the ability to construct arguments, both oral and written, especially in relation to theoretical and other secondary critical material. Page | 2 Demonstrate an ability to pursue independent thought and selfmotivated participation in relation to seminar tasks, including forming topics for essays and presentations, where required. 2.2 Signing up At signing up, you will confirm the two core papers you will be taking (one in each semester), as well as the two seminar electives in which you have been placed. You will also collect copies of the following: The English 3 Course Guide. The English 3 timetable for lectures and seminar electives. Any relevant materials for the first term. The Departmental Guide to Essay Writing. 2.3 Problems If you encounter any problems with the course, the first person to speak to is your lecturer. If your lecturer him/herself is the problem, then speak to the English 3 Course Coordinator or one of your Class Representatives (see section 13.3 below). The English 3 Course Coordinator for 2015 is Prof. Dan Wylie (Room 10). You must see the Office Administrator, Ms Carol Booth (Room 3 on the ground floor), if you wish to change courses or address related timetable issues. 3. COURSE CONTENT 3.1 Course overview In the first semester, students choose one of the following two core papers: Early Modern Literature or Encountering African Literature, and one of the six electives (see below). In the second semester, students Page | 3 choose one of two core papers, Realism and the English Novel or South African Post-Apartheid Writing, and one of the six electives on offer. 3.2 Paper descriptions and prescribed works FIR S T S EM ES T ER Paper 1: Early Modern Literature This paper is designed around the idea of the Renaissance itself: how this period reworked existing stories, literary forms and genres into new forms of both popular and elite literature. It offers a number of different examples of early modern literature and treats the various formal innovations of the period as an important aspect of socio-political and cultural history. The paper begins with the first book of Spenser’s Faerie Queene, one of the great epic poems in the English language and a complex allegory which comments on notions of justice, faith and ethics in Tudor England. This is followed by two Shakespearean plays. Richard III features one of Shakespeare’s most extraordinary characters: a hunchbacked villain whose outward deformities, in keeping with early modern conceptions of the body, express an evil soul. The play may be categorized as either history or tragedy. A play from the Jacobean period, King Lear exists in two versions and its unavoidable textual instability permits close attention to the materiality of early modern texts, and the concomitant instability of plot and character in the play’s afterlife. John Donne’s poems speak back to earlier forms of verse and invent a range of speakers to explore the varied experiences of both romantic and divine love. The course will end with a study of some of Milton’s shorter poems – “Hymn on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” “L’Allegro” and “Il Penseroso,” and the great classical elegy “Lycidas.” Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book One, ed. Carol V. Kaske (Hackett 9780872208070) William Shakespeare, Richard III (Arden 9781903436899) Page | 4 _____ , King Lear (Arden 9781903436592) John Donne, Selected Poems (Penguin Classics 9780140424409) John Milton, Selected Poems (Penguin Classics 9780140424416) Paper 2: Encountering African Literature This paper foregrounds the encounters in African writing between cultures, genders, genres, emerging classes, religions, ethnicities and theoretical paradigms. It provides both a historical overview of African literature and an opportunity for engagement with relevant theories, debates and issues, as well as a focus on contemporary African literature which captures the cultural diversity and richness of the continent, and its relations with the rest of the world. The inclusion of Toni Morrison’s Beloved, a contemporary novel concerned with the slave experience in the United States, relocates African-American literature within the investigation of intercultural perspectives, entangled histories, and a diasporic understanding of Africans within the world and the world’s relationship to Africa. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, A Grain of Wheat (Penguin 9780141186993) Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North (Penguin Modern Classics 9780141187204) Mariama Bâ, So long a Letter (Heinemann African Writers Series: Classic 9780435913526) Oral literature (a reader will be provided) Toni Morrison, Beloved (Vintage 9780099273936) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus (Harper Perennial 9780007189885) Page | 5 Seminar electives (a) Jamie McGregor: Modern British Fantasy, 1916–1977 The enormous popularity of The Lord of the Rings has often caused it to be labeled “cult” fiction, unworthy of serious academic attention. Despite this prejudice, its admirers have long recognised it as an outstandingly vivid and original heroic epic, an unforgettably moving story of friendship and sacrifice, and a tour de force of the creative imagination. It also forms part of a notable resurgence of fantasy fiction in Britain in the mid-twentieth century, including works by authors widely different from one another in outlook, but equally responsive to the unprecedented horror of the time they lived in, from the Christian allegory of C.S. Lewis and the Arthurian whimsy of T.H. White to the Gothic irony of Mervyn Peake. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (Harper Collins 9780261102385) C.S. Lewis, Perelandra (Voyager 9780007157167) T.H. White, The Sword in the Stone (Harper Collins 9780007263493) Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast (Vintage 9780749394820) Recommended further reading: Despite their often substantial size, the books included in this course are merely parts of even longer sequences. Readers of The Lord of the Rings will probably already know its precursor The Hobbit, and may even harbour ambitions to tackle The Silmarillion (despite its forbidding reputation as “a telephone directory in Elvish”). The other set texts are similarly illumined by being studied together with their companion volumes. For those who wish to invest in one or more of the complete series, alternative titles are therefore included below. (In the case of the Lewis, buying the additional volumes separately currently seems the more affordable option, though it is also available singly as the “Cosmic”, “Space” or “Ransom” trilogy.) C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (Voyager 9780007157150) _____, That Hideous Strength (Voyager 9780007157174) Page | 6 T.H. White, The Once and Future King (Voyager 9780006483014) Mervyn Peake, The Gormenghast Trilogy (Vintage 9780099288893) (b) Sue Marais: Film and Postcoloniality This elective explores contemporary cinematic representations of crosscultural diversity and transnational entanglements by applying relevant postcolonial and film theory to a discussion of a select number of specific films. However, students will be required to broaden the ideas and insights so gained by conducting research into other films of their own choice. Herzog, Aguirre, Wrath of God Inarritu, Babel Haneke, Caché/Hidden Egoyan, Adoration Tamahori, Once Were Warriors Mehta, Earth (c) Lynda Gichanda Spencer: Is chick lit chic? Re-reading Romance in Contemporary Women’s Fiction. “What is wrong with fiction written for women, by women, about women? And why do the critics never seem to have read any of the books they profess to hate?” (“In defence of Chick-lit”, Books Blog, guardian.co.uk) While popular fiction may be regarded by many critics as an inferior genre/ low brow literature, it continues to appeal to women writers and readers. In this elective we will begin by questioning why, in spite of being dismissed, romance fiction continues to be highly successful. We will also read western romance fiction alongside African romance and consider the various ways in which African women writers are using and subverting the genre. We will reflect on how women writers are experimenting with various new narrative forms and rewriting the popular romance. We will reflect on how Page | 7 this new genre known as chick lit is positioned in relation to feminist ideas and concerns. We will interrogate how, according to Pamela Butler and Jigna Desai, these narratives open up spaces to negotiate the contradictions and complexities of contemporary feminine subjectivities. Mills and Boon Sapphire Press Nollybooks Consuming Passion (film) Sex and the City (Series) Fielding, Helen. Bridget Jones’s Diary (Picador 9780330375252) Wanner, Zukiswa. The Madams (Oshun 9781770070585) (d) Gareth Cornwell: Joseph Conrad In this course we shall read three classic novels by the major Modernist writer Joseph Conrad. The texts speak cogently to the perennial human quest for meaning and value in a universe devoid of moral substance. The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’ is a sea story, Lord Jim is set mostly in the Malayan archipelago, while the narrative of The Secret Agent unfolds in Victorian London. Joseph Conrad, The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’ and Other Stories (Penguin 9780141441702) _____, Lord Jim (Penguin 9780141199054) _____, The Secret Agent (Penguin 9780141441580) (e) Gareth Cornwell: American Fiction This course offers a sampling of the rich variety of fiction published in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. Texts range from the “dirty realism” of Richard Ford’s Rock Springs and Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son, to Cormac McCarthy’s incendiary Western, Blood Meridian, Marilyn Robinson’s Page | 8 whimsical Housekeeping and Daniel Woodrell’s genre-bending Tomato Red. Richard Ford, Rock Springs (Grove Press 9780802144577) Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping (Picador 9780312424091) Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian (Vintage 978-0679728757) Denis Johnson, Jesus’ Son (Picador 9780312428747) Daniel Woodrell, Tomato Red (Back Bay Books 9780316206211) (f) Dirk Klopper: J.M. Coetzee and the Autobiographical Other This course considers the confluence of autobiography, fiction and history in Coetzee’s trilogy of fictionalised memoirs, Boyhood, Youth and Summertime, and in a fictional work that has clear autobiographical reference, Diary of a Bad Year. It examines how Coetzee uses these discursive concerns to explore issues of authorship and authority, self and other, language and power, text and world. J.M. Coetzee, Boyhood (Random 9780099268277) _____, Youth (Random 9780099433620) _____, Summertime (Random 9781742741208) _____, Diary of a Bad Year (Vintage 9780099516224) SECOND SEMESTER Paper 3: Realism and the English Novel This paper introduces students to English fiction of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Starting with Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, we examine the emergence of the novel as a genre, paying particular attention to these texts’ installation of the technique of realism and the understanding of subjectivity it inscribes. Thereafter, we assess the ways in which Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations draw on classical realism’s Page | 9 highest form, that is, the Bildungsroman. From the relative stability of the Bildungsroman, we move to Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, and consider some of the implications of Darwinian thought for the forms of nineteenth-century fiction. The paper concludes with John Fowles’s reassessment of classical realist fiction from the self-reflexive, postmodernist vantage of The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (Oxford World’s Classics 9780199553976) Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy (Oxford World's Classics 9780199532896) Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (Oxford World’s Classics 9780199535576) Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (Oxford World’s Classics 9780199219766) Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure (Norton 97803939772788) John Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman (Vintage Classics 97800994478331) Paper 4: South African Post-Apartheid Writing Christy Collins suggests that imaginatively it is possible to move beyond the polemical question which so preoccupied writers and readers under apartheid: “Which side are you on?” to embrace the alternative, “nonessentialist” question of “Where is here?” This course explores the ways in which particular writers have responded to both these questions, and explores their representations of identity, community and place/environment – or social and psychological geographies – in contemporary, ‘post-apartheid’ South Africa. Phaswane Mpe, Welcome to Our Hillbrow (University of KwaZulu-Natal 9780869809952) Kopana Matlwa, Coconut (Jacana 9781770093362) Ishtiyaq Shukri, The Silent Minaret (Jacana 9781770092495) K. Sello Duiker, Thirteen Cents (David Philip 9780864863577) Page | 10 Ken Barris, What Kind of Child (Kwela Books 9780795702334) Zoë Wicomb, Playing in the Light (New Press 9781595580474) Seminar electives (g) Dan Wylie: Animals and Animality in Literature What makes us ‘human,’ if it is not our distinction from ‘animals’? Yet in some sense we are ‘animal’ and ‘mammal,’ too. Writers have extensively explored the problem. In this course, some theoretical and philosophical key texts, ranging from Nietzsche to Donna Haraway’s notion of the ‘cyborg,’ will open the field. There are no set texts: students will be required to present regularly on topics of their choice. These might include: the impact of Darwinism in fiction; the genre of the ‘bestiary’ in poetry; the concept of the ‘pet’ in literature; the concept of the ‘wild,’ wilderness and ecology; the figure of the animal-hunter in fiction and/or non-fiction; the world as seen from the perspective of the dog; etc., etc. Assessment will be continuous, based on short pieces of writing, the presentations, and a final long essay on an individually-chosen but guided topic. (h) Deborah Seddon: Spoken Word: From South Africa to South Carolina Spoken word or performance poetry is one of the most socially dynamic and politically potent forms of verbal artistry. It has played an important role throughout history in many cultures and continues to survive and adapt to new technologies and social contexts. This course explores the varied uses of oral traditions in South Africa before, during, and after apartheid; Afro-Caribbean dub poetry; and the development of AfricanAmerican rap. We will begin by exploring the South African poetic tradition of izibongo (praise poetry) in the work of a number of South African iimbongi, including Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi, David Livingstone Yali Manisi, and Zolani Mkhiva, and then go on to engage with contemporary Page | 11 poets who are working within but also reinventing the oral tradition including Ingoapele Madingoane, Lesego Rampolokeng, Ike Muila, and Isabella Motadinyane in South Africa, and Linton Kwesi Johnson, Gil ScottHeron, and the Last Poets across the Atlantic. The subtitle of this course is taken from Gil Scott-Heron’s 1978 album, From South Africa to South Carolina which draws attention to the connection made by poets themselves between the struggle against oppression in South Africa and in the Black Diaspora. The course will examine the place of the oral tradition in the South African literary canon and the transnational aesthetics at work in modern forms of oral poetry. A range of audio and audio-visual material will be made available. A reader of poetry and criticism will be provided. (i) Minesh Dass: American Music, American Girls and American Dreams This elective will consider the relationship between popular American music and the USA’s conception of itself. In particular, it will focus on music produced in the twentieth and twenty-first century which represents or relates to the American Dream. The work of songwriters such as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Adam Duritz, Tupac Shakur and Tracy Chapman will be analysed, but students will be encouraged to consider other artists whom they feel are relevant and worthy of consideration. Some of the following questions will be discussed in class (although this is by no means an exhaustive list): What is the relationship between popular culture and a hegemonic state like America? Is popular culture always inevitably in the service of/co-opted by the dominant discourse? Can it ever be considered a kind of counter-narrative? What is the American Dream and how do various songwriters conceive of it? Why is the figure of the ‘American girl’ so ubiquitous and how might it be related to America’s various fantasies about itself? How might Page | 12 female songwriters complicate or problematize this standardised construction? In which ways are we, in South Africa, meant to understand this body of work? In other words, does our reception of the music differ from that of Americans because of our context? (j) Paul Walters: John Milton, Paradise Lost Damned by Dr Johnson in the C18th as a “surly and acrimonious republican,” Milton is perhaps the literary giant of the later C17th. Expensively and well educated, Milton took a further 5 years of study and travel after his degree as a personal “finishing” programme towards his goal of becoming a poet, writing “shorter” poems of considerable power in the meantime (see the Early Modern Paper). He returned from Europe at the outbreak of the Civil War, which he entered on the side of Cromwell and the Parliamentarians (Roundheads/republicans). He became Latin Secretary to Oliver Cromwell, having to justify (in Latin) to the crowned heads of Europe why England had chosen to dispose of theirs (Charles I). And so began a period of nearly 20 years in which his talents were almost entirely confined to prose. With the Restoration of the monarchy, Milton was by now entirely blind and in some danger of his life, but was allowed to retire into “obscurity” in which he wrote some of the greatest poems on classical models in the English language: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. This elective will focus on a close reading of Paradise Lost: not for the fainthearted, the poem has the potential to be a life-changing experience – you will never look at iambic pentameter in quite the same way again! John Milton, Paradise Lost. Ed. Barbara Lewalski (Wiley-Blackwell 9781405129299) (k) Paul Walters: Literature and Teaching The course provides a preliminary overview of theories of reading, the history of education in South Africa since 1948, issues arising from that Page | 13 history, and possible ways of addressing some of the literary/pedagogic challenges confronting teachers in the C21. A reader will be provided. Students will be expected to do extensive further reading. (l) Aretha Phiri: African-American and African Literature in Dialogue This elective description will be made available in the first semester of 2015. 3.3 Additional works In addition, the following texts are highly recommended for reference purposes (M.H. Abrams’ A Glossary of Literary Terms should be purchased by every student in English 3): A Glossary of Literary Terms. Ed. M.H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham. 10th ed. (Wadsworth Cengage 0495906599) The Collins Cobuild Grammar (Collins 0007393640) All students are required to possess a good dictionary (not a “pocket” edition), such as Collins, Concise Oxford or Compact Oxford Dictionary for Students. 4. DULY PERFORMED (DP) REQUIREMENTS The term “Duly Performed” or “DP” indicates that you have completed sufficient work to allow the English 3 credit to be awarded. The Department has three DP requirements: 100% attendance at seminar electives. Submission of all written work. Sitting for the June and November examinations. Page | 14 If, on medical, compassionate or other valid grounds, you are unable to attend a lecture, a tutorial or a seminar, or are unable to submit an assignment by the due date, a Leave of Absence (LOA) form must be obtained from the Office Administrator, completed, supported by relevant documentation, and returned to her. She will then inform you whether your LOA has been granted. Failure to submit an LOA application may result in the loss of your DP (see sections 5.2, 6.2, 7.2 and 8.3). If you have lost your DP, you will not be permitted to write the examinations. If you miss a June or November examination, you must apply to the Dean of Humanities to write an aegrotat. For more information about the aegrotat, consult the relevant sections in the University Calendar or speak to administrative staff in the Dean’s office. If, for whatever reason, you arrive late for an examination, you may sit for the examination up to 45 minutes after its commencement. Report your late arrival to the Office Administrator as soon as possible. 5. LECTURES 5.1 Listening, thinking and learning ALWAYS TAKE YOUR TEXT WITH YOU TO LECTURES. Lectures are not only occasions on which a transfer of specific information about a prescribed text takes place. A lecturer will often range widely in his or her discourse, incorporating philosophical or theoretical argument, biographical evidence, or historical contextualisation. There is never a clear line of division between such knowledge and careful attention to the text itself. Lecturers vary considerably in their styles. Some will read from prepared lecture notes, while others will speak more informally. You are expected Page | 15 already to have acquired the skills of note-taking. While it helps to be able to jot down the important points made in a lecture, do not expect to be able to record every detail of a complex exposition. Cultivate the habits of listening attentively, identifying main ideas, and noting down the different aspects of the argument and the textual evidence invoked in support of it. Your lecturer will be well satisfied if the lecture serves to stimulate your own reading and thought. Most lecturers will supply you with a list of recommended readings to be found in the library or online. Lectures will assist you to gain an idea of what sort of approach toward a text is being employed, so that your own thinking and reading can be usefully directed. Although the knowledge and understanding conveyed in a lecture can sometimes be found elsewhere, it will seldom be available in a form as distilled, synthesised and accessible as the lecture itself. Students who miss lectures will find themselves ill-prepared for assignments and exams. 5.2 Lecture attendance Lecture attendance may be taken, even if not for DP purposes. However, your attendance should not be enforced so much as a matter of your personal commitment. Missing lectures is ALWAYS to a student’s detriment. This will be even more so in this year’s format, in which the line between ‘lectures’ and ‘seminars’ may be blurred, and may demand studious, active and prepared participation on the student’s part. 6. SEMINAR ELECTIVES 6.1 Independent study The seminar elective paper has the same status and weighting as a core paper, but instead of having both lectures and tutorials on the prescribed Page | 16 works, students meet once a week in a small seminar class where the emphasis is on class participation and independent study. The precise structure of the elective will vary, and you will be given information on the specific teaching format and written requirements of your elective once it commences. There is no examination on the elective paper. 6.2 Reading, thinking, talking and writing ALWAYS BRING THE RELEVANT TEXT AND HANDOUT MATERIALS WITH YOU TO LECTURES. There is much enjoyment to be had in reading, thinking, talking, and writing about literature. Success in English studies depends upon bringing to these four fundamental skills your own particular gifts of insight, temperament and energy, and trying to achieve a sufficient degree of competence in each of them to enhance your enjoyment of literature significantly. Seminars electives provide an opportunity to practise three of the above skills – reading, thinking and talking – and to prepare for exercising the fourth in the writing of assignments. Joining in the discussion is important: a tutorial is a collective undertaking, and you have a responsibility to your fellow students to participate – especially if you have been asked beforehand to present or lead a discussion group. They and your lecturer are not there to judge you but to learn with you: try to overcome your shyness, and work on the premise that your opinion is as valuable as anybody else’s. Feel free, too, to introduce new questions or ideas if you think they are relevant to the discussion. Your lecturer will chair the discussion and try to respond to any difficulties that arise, but it is not the sole responsibility of the lecturer to ensure that an interesting and stimulating discussion occurs – nor can you expect from him/her “the last word” on any issue being discussed. Page | 17 It is important to be prepared, to have done the required reading, and to have given the issues to be discussed considerable thought: the benefit you receive from a seminar depends to a significant extent on how much you are prepared to put into it. Your lecturer is also available for individual consultation, by appointment. 6.3 Seminar elective attendance 100% attendance at elective seminars is a DP requirement. This is less a policing matter than our concern to keep track of any problematic situations that might arise. If, on medical, compassionate or other valid grounds, you are unable to attend a seminar, an LOA form must be obtained from the Office Administrator, completed, and returned to her together with the relevant documentation in support of your application (e.g. doctor’s certificate, memorandum from counsellor, letter from parent/warden, notification from sports body). All LOA applications received by the Office Administrator are forwarded to the Head of Department for consideration, after which you will be informed whether your LOA has been granted. Normally, an LOA application will only be considered if it is submitted before the scheduled seminar. Under exceptional circumstances, however, an LOA application submitted after the seminar has taken place will be considered, provided this application is received within one week of the missed seminar class. At the end of each term, an email will be sent to students who have missed seminars without having submitted an LOA application, stating that they have lost their DP and have one week in which to appeal against this ruling by submitting a DP Appeal form available from the Administrative Officer. Appeals against the loss of a DP are forwarded to the Head of Department for consideration. Page | 18 7. WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS In addition to the work required for your seminar elective, you are expected to hand in four essays during the year, two per core paper. The maximum length of standard third-year essays is 1800 words. 7.1 Assignment dates March 20 May 8 August 14 October 2 Spenser (Early Modern) / Ngugi & Salih (African) Lear (Early Modern) / Oral Literature (African) Defoe (Realism) / Mpe (Post-Apartheid) Dickens (Realism) / Duiker (Post-Apartheid) Assignments for Electives will be arranged individually. 7.2 Submission of assignments Submission of all written assignments is a DP requirement (see section 4). When: Assignments are due by 09h35 on Fridays, and submission dates are listed on your lecture timetable (see section 15.1). If you anticipate a problem handing in on time, see the Office Administrator well in advance, as you will need to apply for an extension (see section 8.3 below). Do not simply hand your essay in late with an excuse. Where: Assignments are placed in the boxes bearing the relevant lecturers’ names, in the foyer of the Department. The boxes designated for the submission of assignments are on the right-hand side: the boxes on the left are for marked assignments awaiting collection by students. It is NOT advisable to give an assignment to a friend to hand in, because of the risk that it may end up in the wrong box and be mislaid. Assignments submitted are ticked off against the class-list as soon as they are received. Please remember to include all the relevant information on the front page Page | 19 (see section 1.3 of the Guide to Essay Writing), together with a Plagiarism Declaration and your Turn-it-in report. A stapler will be provided in the foyer for use on assignment submission dates. Late assignments: The boxes are locked at 09h35. Assignments handed in after that time, but before 10h30, may be penalised 10% by the Office Administrator. Assignments submitted after 10h30 and up to noon on the seventh day thereafter, without an accompanying LOA application form and supporting documentation, will be accepted for DP purposes, provided this does not occur more than twice in the year. Such assignments will, however, score “0”, and will therefore make no contribution towards your class record. A third late submission without an accompanying LOA application form will not be accepted and will result in the loss of the DP. 7.3 Extensions for assignments If you have a legitimate reason for not handing in an assignment on time, an LOA form must be obtained from the Office Administrator, completed, and returned to her together with the relevant documentation in support of your application (e.g. doctor’s certificate, memorandum from counsellor, letter from parent, notification from sports body). All applications received by the Office Administrator are forwarded to the Head of Department for consideration, after which you will be informed whether your LOA has been granted. Normally, an LOA application will only be considered if it is submitted before the due date of the relevant assignment. Under exceptional circumstances, however, LOA applications submitted after the due date will be considered, provided these applications are received within one week of the due date. An application for an LOA does not automatically grant a student an extension for a written assignment. The application requires approval by the Head of Department and extensions are granted only for medical, Page | 20 compassionate or other valid reasons. YOUR LECTURER IS NOT EMPOWERED TO GRANT YOU AN EXTENSION. A maximum of one extension per semester will be granted. Should you fail to submit an assignment on the due date without having applied for an LOA, you will receive an email from the Office Administrator stating that the relevant assignment must be submitted within seven days to be considered for DP purposes, and that the assignment will receive a score of “0”. You will also be informed that you may, within seven days, and under exceptional circumstances only, apply for an LOA. If you apply for an LOA and it is granted, the assignment must be submitted within seven days of the submission of the LOA application. If, after seven days, you have not submitted your assignment and have not applied for an LOA, you will receive another email stating that you have lost your DP and have one week in which to appeal against this ruling by completing and submitting the relevant DP Appeal form available from the Office Administrator. Appeals against the loss of a DP are forwarded to the Head of Department for consideration. 7.4 Getting your assignment back Assignments are designed to help you constantly improve a number of skills, such as reading, writing, self-editing, structuring arguments, and providing evidence for your ideas in the form of quotations from the text. In order to improve, you need to engage seriously with the feedback you receive from your lecturers: when you get an assignment back, re-read it, and read all the written feedback provided by your lecturer. Attending to this individual feedback is the best way to learn from your mistakes, find out what you have done well, and prepare to do better in future assignments. It is also a good idea to re-read a previous assignment just before you begin to write another one, so that the previous feedback on how to improve is fresh in your mind. Make an appointment to consult Page | 21 with your lecturer if you have any questions about an assignment you have written. 8.5 Departmental marking notch system Your essay will have been marked according to the following scheme. The Department uses this scheme to ensure that, despite students having different markers, the standard of marking is consistent. On your scripts, markers will allocate ONLY the percentages listed in the right-hand column below; for example, an essay assessed at 2.2- is always allocated 62%, and so on. However, although only certain percentages are used (and not the full range), your final percentage for the year will most likely fall somewhere within the entire range from 0 – 100, and it is on this basis that you will be confirmed as, for example, an upper second. DEPARTMENTAL MARKING NOTCH SYSTEM Symbol 1 Equivalent 100 95 92 88 82 1.1 78 (The range for the first class is 75-100%.) 2.1 72 2.2+ 68 2.262 (The range for the second class is 70-74% for an upper second and 60-69% for a lower second.) Page | 22 3+ 58 352 (The range for the third class is 50-59%.) F 45 40 35 30 25 15 0 (Anything below 50% is a failure.) The following gives an indication of what the Department expects of an essay graded according to these categories: 1 82-100 Highly original thought; critical attitude towards text and any relevant secondary reading; evidence of independent reading; comprehensive and focused answer to the question; virtually flawless expression, organisation and presentation. One can scarcely imagine a better answer at its level; it teaches and surprises the marker. 1- 78 Unusually competent if not entirely original; strong evidence of secondary reading, where appropopriate; evidence of a critical, thought-provoking and independent argument; accurate referencing; excellent command of detail of text; high level of conceptualisation; very polished if not entirely flawless expression and organisation. 2.1 72 Very competent; not necessarily original, but well-marshalled argument; accurate knowledge of, and attention paid to, details Page | 23 of the text; possibly but not necessarily (depending on year of study) some treatment of secondary works; strong conceptualisation; lucid expression and organisation containing only a sprinkling of errors; strongly nuanced vocabulary. 2.2 62-68 Solid, but not particularly exciting, with little originality; good knowledge of and attention paid to text; some argumentative assertions viable, but possibly arguable or bordering on inaccurate; relatively little use of (or over-dependence on) secondary works; expression and organisation generally lucid, containing some errors but not such as to destroy sense. 3 52-58 Passable; shows basic knowledge of text, despite some misreadings or factual errors; shows some effort at argument and remaining relevant to the question, though not entirely successfully; naive; almost no originality of thought; expression and organisation regularly flawed but almost always followable. F 45 Almost passable, but too flawed by lack of adequate knowledge of the basics of the text; lacks coherent argument; does not go beyond pointing out the obvious; expression and organisation regularly flawed to the extent of obscuring sense; vocabulary seriously impoverished. 35 etc. Seriously lacks basic knowledge of the mechanics of the text; factual errors; sense consistently lost in errors of language and expression; no argument; fundamentally incompetent in language skills. Page | 24 8. EXAMINATIONS AND CALCULATION OF MARKS 8.1 June and November examinations You write ONE three-hour examination in June (corresponding with the core paper taken in the first semester) and ONE three-hour examination in November (corresponding with the core paper taken in the second semester). The structure, format and content of individual examinations may vary from year to year, and previous examination questions are not necessarily a reliable guide. Important information about the content and arrangement of examinations will be posted on the English 3 noticeboard in good time, and conveyed to you in lectures. Please note that any examination may contain a compulsory question on a particular text or topic. Assessment of the electives is arranged individually. 8.2 Class mark, exam mark and final mark The final mark for the year is calculated by weighting each paper equally (the two core papers and the two elective papers; each comprise 25% of the final mark. In the core papers, the essays count 50% and the exam 50%. The calculation of the mark for the seminar elective you have taken will differ from elective to elective. Please note that marks awarded for first semester papers are provisional and subject to moderation by the Department’s external examiner in November. The core paper and the elective paper completed in the first semester will contribute towards a June mark. The core paper and the elective paper completed in the second semester will contribute towards a November Page | 25 mark. The June mark and November mark will be added together and divided by 2 in calculating your final mark. 9. USING THE LIBRARY Aside from relevant knowledge and skills imparted in lectures and tutorials, an obvious resource for the completion of assignments and the writing of examinations is the library. Pamphlets providing detailed information on use of the library and the resources it contains are available in the library foyer, and additional information is available via the library link on the Rhodes website. Material that you might wish to consult is found on the open shelves, in the reference section, and at the Short Loan desk. Even though you may be directed by a lecturer to specific critical works, you are advised to concentrate on getting to know and understand your set texts really well. There is no substitute for such knowledge. Useful approaches to the set works are suggested in lectures and tutorials. What is looked for in discussions and essays, however, is your response to the text in the light of this guidance, not a summary of critical opinions derived from other readers and commentators. 9.1 Open shelves Books on the open shelves are arranged according to the Dewey Decimal classification system. The classification numbers most relevant to you are: 800-809 810-819 820-829 828.909-828.939 828.99 General literary theory American literature English literature South African literature African literature Page | 26 Numbers within these ranges vary according to literary form and historical period, e.g. Elizabethan plays are classified at 822.3, twentieth-century English novels at 823.91. A book’s classification number is completed by the addition of three letters, usually the first three letters of the author’s surname: e.g. Hard Times by Charles Dickens would be found at 823.8 DIC. Locate a book by obtaining its classification number at an OPAC (computerised catalogue) terminal on the ground floor of the library, or via the library link on the Rhodes website. 9.2 Reference section Books in the reference section on the ground floor of the library include dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and general bibliographies. The most important bibliographies are now available online, including the MLA [Modern Language Association] International Bibliography, which can be accessed via the library’s webpage. Dictionaries and encyclopaedias of literature and literary criticism are useful sources of information about literary terms and concepts, authors, literary movements, and individual literary works and their critical reception. Major works include the following: Cassell’s Encyclopaedia of World Literature R803 CAS Dictionary of World Literary Terms R803 DIC Longman Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature R803 LON Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics R803.1 PRI Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism R809.04 NIN Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism R809.04 TWE Contemporary Literary Criticism R809.04 CON Oxford Companion to American Literature R810.9 OXF British Writers R820.9 BRI Cambridge Guide to English Literature R820.9 CAM Page | 27 Oxford Companion to English Literature R820.9 OXF Encyclopaedia of Post-Colonial Literature in English R820.991712 ENC 9.3 Periodicals section Journals devoted to English studies are to be found in the Periodicals stacks on the top floor of the library. Check the catalogue to find the location of particular journals. You may not always be required to seek out journal material yourself as individual articles may well be placed on Short Loan for your use (see below). The periodicals section is, however, a rewarding place to browse, and you are expected to consult journal articles in order to prepare for essays and examinations. Many journals are now available online (via the e-journal link under “Resources”), and can be accessed via databases such as JSTOR and EBSCO. 9.4 Short loan Copies of recommended readings on texts with which students are currently engaged are placed on Short Loan in the library (the loan period is one hour at a time). When lectures on the text have been completed, the material will be shifted to 48-hour loan. To find out which materials have been placed on Short Loan for a specific course, or by any particular lecturer, consult the “short loan” link under “Catalogue” on the library’s webpage. 9.5 English Subject Guide and Faculty Librarian The English Subject Guide, which is located under “Resources” on the library website (Libguides), contains a wealth of useful and interesting information, plus links to relevant online resources. Page | 28 The Humanities Faculty Librarian is Ms Linda Cartwright. Her office is on Level 4 in the library. If you need help with finding books or retrieving online information, she is the person to approach. 10. USING THE INTERNET The Internet can be a very useful tool, but you are encouraged to use it wisely. Do not be duped into thinking that, because something is posted on the web, the information it contains is reliable or correct. Make sure that the site you are using is a reputable and scholarly source. Check for the letters “ac” or “edu” in the URL: this indicates that the page is from a university website, and therefore that the information provided on literary texts is likely to be accurate. Many websites, designed to “help” students with English literature essays, provide information that is simplistic, misleading, and sometimes erroneous. Avoid these sites, e.g. Sparknotes.com. The information there may well have been written by an undergraduate student like yourself, in order to earn a little extra money. Why trust these sources above your own ideas? The Rhodes Library has access to a vast range of online databases for academic purposes. Good website sources include the online Oxford English Dictionary (OED.com); JSTOR, a database of downloadable scholarly articles from good journals in many disciplines; the MLA bibliography, one of the largest collections of academic papers in the world; and the GALE group literary website, which provides reliable information on authors and their work. Ask your lecturer or a Rhodes librarian for advice on reliable websites to use. Useful websites offering guidance on academic writing, specifically, include the following: www.columbia.edu/acis/bartlby/strunk/strunk.htm www.infoplease.com/homework/writingskills1.html Page | 29 www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ www.mindtools.com/CommSkill/Writing_Skills.htm www.studygs.net 11. FURTHER RESOURCES AND SUPPORT 11.1 Recommended reference works Copies of the following reference works are available at the University Bookstore (Van Schaik’s) and/or in the Main Library (Short Loan or Reference): Sheridan Baker’s The Practical Stylist (8th ed. London: Longman, 1997): Most students who fail to do well in English I have not learned the basic principles of good writing by the end of the year. The Department recommends this text to help you with various aspects of essay writing. Study the book carefully and selectively to correct and improve the grammar, style, and organisation of your written work, particularly where specific faults have been pointed out to you by your lecturer. Nicholas Visser’s Handbook for Writers of Essays and Theses (2nd ed. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman, 1992): This handbook contains invaluable information on style and usage, punctuation, grammar, the presentation of essays, and the documentation of sources. M.H. Abrams’s A Glossary of Literary Terms (10th ed. New York: Wadsworth Cengage, 2010): Every academic discipline has its own terminology. This glossary gives short, clear explanations of important literary terms and their backgrounds. Beyond knowing those terms which are essential to the course, you are encouraged to explore the entire book to acquaint yourself with the fundamental concepts of literary studies. Dictionary: The wider your vocabulary, the better. Make a habit of learning the meaning of every new word you come across, paying attention to the Page | 30 context in which you found it. Accurate spelling is also important: check that every word is correctly spelt before handing in an essay. 11.2 The English Department’s homepage Students can access the English Department’s homepage via the Rhodes’ website (under “Academic” – “Departments”), or directly at: http://www.ru.ac.za/english/. The homepage contains information about staff, courses, current events, and resources on the Internet. It also contains a sample of undergraduate essays, which provides examples of the best students’ academic writing, and pages on crucial academic and literary skills. For example, the entry entitled “Essential Resource Pack” contains detailed guidelines on paragraph- and essay-writing skills, the analysis of poems and passages, argumentation and theory, and much more. Increasingly, too, messages and links to recommended readings are posted on the website, and on RUConnected. 11.3 Noticeboards and filing cabinet In the foyer of the English Department there are noticeboards for each course. These provide students with essential information on lecture and tutorial groups, current essay topics, and the format of forthcoming exams. It is important to check the English 3 noticeboard regularly, so that you are up-to-date. The foyer also has display boards, on which news cuttings and notices of forthcoming seminars are posted, and cabinets which contain materials relevant to courses currently being taught. This year you should acquaint yourself with the third year filing cabinet in the English Department foyer, as this is where handouts will be distributed and essays usually returned. You will have your own file in the filing cabinet that you should keep an eye on, in addition to the third-year noticeboard. Page | 31 11.4 The audiovisual room The Audiovisual (AV) Room is number 14 on the middle floor of the Department. It contains a comprehensive collection of audio recordings, videos and DVDs – of plays, poetry readings, adaptations of novels, and other useful background material – together with audio equipment and a large flat-screen monitor. A list of what is available can be consulted in the Office Administrator’s office. If you wish to watch a video or listen to a recording, you must make a booking with her so that you can do so during office hours. Audiovisual material may not be removed from the Department. Occasionally lecturers will arrange viewings of a popular or course-related DVD/video, and a notice to this effect will be posted on the English III noticeboard, indicating the screening time(s). 11.5 Consultations Consultations with lecturers may be arranged in advance. Some lecturers post their office hours and the times at which they are available for consultation on their office doors. You may also communicate with lecturers via e-mail, if you have an urgent query or wish to arrange a meeting, but Twitter and Facebook should not be used for this purpose! 12. STUDENT SUPPORT AND ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT This section deals with whom you can consult if you are experiencing problems, either of a personal or academic/course-related nature. Page | 32 12.1 Course coordinator The English 3 Course Coordinator, Prof. Dan Wylie (Room 10), is available to answer questions, provide guidance and assist you, if you need support. 12.2 Class representatives Class representatives are elected during the first weeks of the academic year. They serve as an additional channel of communication between students and the Department’s teaching staff. The Head of Department meets the class representatives, together with Course Coordinators, twice each semester. These meetings are important opportunities to give and receive feedback. Frequently ideas for the improvement of the Department’s activities emerge from the discussions. Students often find it useful to communicate opinions on courses or individual members of staff, favourable or not, to the Head of Department, who can then respond appropriately. Class representatives are encouraged to approach the Course Coordinator and Head of Department at any time, should the need arise. In addition, all students should feel free to consult the latter about any subject at any time. He is generally available in his office, but students may also contact him by e-mail (d.klopper@ru.ac.za), or arrange an appointment with him. 12.3 Course evaluations As per University requirements, the Department conducts regular course and teaching evaluations or surveys. Course evaluation is conducted by the Course Coordinators, and teaching evaluation by the individual member of staff concerned. Responses are then referred to the Head of Department. Page | 33 Any policy decisions arising from such evaluations are posted on the course noticeboards, and/or communicated to students directly in lectures. 13. DROPPING ENGLISH If you find that you are over-committed or that, for some reason, English is simply not for you, please inform the Office Administrator Ms Carol Booth before you disappear. If you decide to drop English at any stage during the year, even if only after a week or two, you must first arrange to see the Dean of Humanities (in the Faculty of Humanities building/Randell House, on the corner of Somerset and Prince Alfred Streets) to discuss the matter, and inform an administrative staff member in the Student Bureau in Eden Grove. If you do not follow these steps, i.e. deregister officially, you will be liable for the full cost of course handouts and your name will remain both on the Department’s class-list and on the University Administration’s Student Record lists, creating confusion. Feel free to ask the Course Coordinator and the Office Administrator if you still have any questions. We hope that you have a marvellous and successful year and that many of you will consider applying to do Honours with us in 2016! Page | 34 14. LECTURE AND SEMINAR TIMETABLES, ESSAYS FIRST SEMESTER Week beginning EARLY MODERN LITERATURE (Physics Upper) AFRICAN LITERATURE (Physics Upper) SEMINAR ELECTIVES Wed 09:35 Mon 16:05 Tues 08:40 Wed 16:05 Thurs 10:30 Feb 16 Intro Early Mod DS Spenser JM Intro African LS Ngugi SN Feb 23 Spenser Spenser Ngugi Ngugi March 2 Spenser Spenser Ngugi Salih LS March 9 Richard III JM Richard III Salih Salih March 16 Richard III Richard III Salih Ba LS March 23 King Lear DS King Lear Ba Ba April 13 King Lear King Lear Oral Lit DW Oral Lit April 20 King Lear Donne DS Oral Lit Oral Lit April 27 FREEDOM DAY Donne Oral Lit Oral Lit May 4 Donne Donne Morrison DS Morrison May 11 Donne Milton Morrison Morrison May 18 Milton Milton Adichie SN Adichie May 25 Milton Milton Adichie Adichie Assignments: March 20: Spenser May 8: Lear PW Fri 11:25 EASTER FRIDAY WORKERS DAY Assignments: March 20: Ngugi & Salih May 8: Oral Lit Page | 35 SECOND SEMESTER Week beginning REALISM AND THE ENGLISH NOVEL (Physics Upper) SA POST-APARTHEID WRITING (Physics Upper) SEMINAR ELECTIVES Wed 09:35 Mon 16:05 Tues 08:40 Wed 16:05 Thurs 10:30 July 20 Intro Realism MM Defoe MM Intro SA MD Mpe MD July 27 Defoe Defoe Mpe Mpe August 3 Sterne JM Sterne Mpe Matlwa LS August 10 WOMENS DAY Sterne Matlwa Matlwa August 17 Sterne Austen MM Shukri MD Shukri August 24 Austen Austen Shukri Shukri Sept 7 Austen Dickens DK Duiker SM Duiker Sept 14 Dickens Dickens Duiker Duiker Sept 21 Dickens Hardy DK Barris MM HERITAGE DAY Sept 28 Hardy Hardy Barris Barris Oct 5 Hardy Fowles MM Barris Wicomb MD Oct 12 Fowles Fowles Wicomb Wicomb Oct 19 Fowles Revision Wicomb Revision Assignments: August 14: Defoe October 2: Dickens Fri 11:25 Assignments: August 14: Mpe October 2: Duiker Page | 36