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English R1A: The Fantastic, The Sublime, The Weird | Fall 2013 | Rough Draft
Instructor: Joshua Anderson
email: joshuaanderson@berkeley.edu
Class Meeting: TBA
Office Hours: TBA
syllabus and other resources available at www.fantasticsublimeweird.wordpress.com
COURSE DESCRIPTION & OBJECTIVES
What does it mean when we say that something is “fantastic?” What do we think of when we
think of “fantastic” literature? On one hand, many (if not all) literary works seem to exhibit a sort
of innate fantastic quality, while on the other, much of what we might consider fantastic literature
(and therefore what we consider to be not fantastic) often obscures the fantastic itself, through
entrenched borders established by genre and/ or canonical delineations.
This class seeks to explore the contours and contents of “The Fantastic” as it is evinced ­
explicitly or implicitly ­ in a wide variety of literatures. In it, we will use the threefold constellation
of terms ­ The Fantastic, The Sublime, The Weird ­ as an orienting assemblage with which to
think through, with, and about the texts, while continuing to (re)calibrate our understanding of
these terms as the course progresses. This course is explicitly designed to not be a study of
genre ­ its not a course on or about Science Fiction. Instead, it seeks to rethink the possibilities
of how one might approach and understand the fantastic in literature and, finally, to explore the
ethical and political implications of the fantastic, as something that can be thought of as being
measurable by its divergence from the real, the concrete, the actual, or the present.
Parallel to our inquiry into The Fantastic is the goal of this class to improve your writing. We will
concentrate on both mechanics and style, learn how to read closely, critically analyze texts,
formulate interesting arguments, organize claims into coherent essays, formulate thesis
statements, workshop papers together, review basic grammar, and learn the ropes of MLA­style
citation methods and paper formatting, among other things.
TEXTS
Books:
Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon
Susan Swanson, The House In The Night
Octavia Butler, Dawn
Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
China Mieville, Perdido Street Station
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
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Course Reader:
Nikolai Gogol’s The Nose and The Portrait, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark, H.P.
Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, as well as selections from John Milton’s
Paradise Lost, William Faulkner’s The Sound & The Fury, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, The
Synoptic Gospels, Thomas Hoccleve’s The Art of Learning How to Die, Joseph
Bruchac’s Native Plant Stories, and Grace Dillon’s Anthology of Indigenous Science
Fiction, Walking the Clouds.
Movies:
Rene Laloux and Roland Topor’s Fantastic Planet, Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal,
Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away
GRADING
Attendance
Participation
Exercises and Assignments
Papers
Paper #1
Paper #2
Paper #3
Paper #4
(TOTAL:
10%
10%
10%
5%
15%
25%
25%
100%)
Attendance & Participation
Attendance is obviously necessary. However, there are often times when attending a
class is simply impossible. My task is to provide you with the optimal learning environment,
while your task ­ in regards to absences or potential absences ­ is to communicate with me as
much as possible.
Similarly, if you are worried or anxious about participating in class, know that there are
multiple ways which one might participate ­ group activities, in­class writing assignments, online
writing assignments, etc. Again: communicate with me after class, over email, or in office hours
if you are concerned about this.
Papers
Each paper (except for the first) requires that both a rough and final draft will be turned in
(see schedule below). For the second through fourth papers, your rough draft counts as 5% of
that paper’s grade, while the final draft accounts for the remainder (10%, 20%, 20%,
respectively).
All papers should follow standard MLA guidelines, including (but not limited to) 1” margins
on all sides, 12­point font, double­spacing all text, pages numbers in the upper right­hand corner,
proper citations, etc. For more information on MLA formatting consult the current MLA Handbook
or visit Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab at www.owl.english.purdue.edu.
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ACADEMIC HONESTY
Plagiarism is a serious offense. The campus Office of Student Judicial Affairs1 and the UC
Berkeley Campus Code of Conduct2 define plagiarism as the “use of intellectual material
produced by another person without acknowledging its source,” and includes
Wholesale copying of passages from works of others into your homework, essay, term
paper, or dissertation without acknowledgment.
*
* Use of the views, opinions, or insights of another without acknowledgment.
* Paraphrasing of another person’s characteristic or original phraseology, metaphor, or
other literary device without acknowledgment.
Using someone else’s words and/ or ideas from any medium ­ print, digital, or otherwise ­ is
plagiarism. The submission of plagiarized work will render the offending student subject to an F
grade for the work in question, and possibly for the whole course. It will also make him or her
liable for referral to the Student Judicial Affairs Office for further disciplinary action. If you have
any questions about it, ask me after class, over email, or in office hours.
DISABILITY­RELATED ACCOMMODATIONS
If you need disability­related accommodations in this class or if you have medical information you
wish to share with me, please let me know in the first week of classes so that we may arrange
whatever accommodations may be necessary.
WRITING RESOURCES
Student Learning Center Writing Program
UC Berkeley College Writing Programs
Tools for writing & literary research
www.slc.berkeley.edu/writing
www.writing.berkeley.edu
www.english.berkeley.edu/resources
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY RESOURCES
Disabled Students’ Program
University Health Services
UHS Counseling and Psychological Services
After­Hours Assistance Line
Alameda County 24­Hour Crisis Hotline
National Suicide Prevention Hotline
www.dsp.berkeley.edu
www.uhs.berkeley.edu
510­642­9494
855­817­5667
800­309­2131
800­273­8255
SCHEDULE
1
2
Week
Date
Reading
1
8.27
Introduction & Overview
http://sa.berkeley.edu/conduct/integrity/definition
http://sa.berkeley.edu/student­code­of­conduct
In Class
Writing Due
4
8.29
2
3
4
5
6
9.1
Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
*** No Class ­ Labour Day ***
9.3
Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
Plagiarism
9.5
Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
9.8
Film: Fantastic Planet
9.10
Milton, Paradise Lost, selections
9.12
Milton, Paradise Lost, selections
9.15
Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of
Darkness
Thesis
Statements
9.17
Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of
Darkness
Clauses
9.19
Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of
Darkness
9.22
William Faulkner, April 7th, 1928, from Quoting from the
The Sound & The Fury*
Text, MLA Style
9.24
William Faulkner, April 7th, 1928, from Body Paragraphs
The Sound & The Fury
9.26
William Faulkner, April 7th, 1928, from
The Sound & The Fury
Reading
Response:
Faulkner
9.29
Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight
Run­On
Moon; Susan Swanson, The House In Sentences
The Night*
Essay #2 Final
10.1
Ovid’s Metamorphoses, selections;
selected Gospel stories, New King
James version*
10.3
Thomas Hoccleve, The Art of
Learning How To Die*
Essay #1 ­
Diagnostic
Close Reading /
Analysis
Reading
Response: Milton
& Spenser
Essay #2 Draft
Parallel/ Clauses
Reading
Response:
Brown &
Swanson, Ovid &
5
Jesus, or
Hoccleve
7
8
9
10
11
10.6
Film: Ingmar Bergman’s The
Seventh Seal
10.8
Octavia Butler, Dawn
Semicolons,
colons
10.1
0
Octavia Butler, Dawn
Commas
10.1
3
Octavia Butler, Dawn
10.1
5
Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood
10.1
7
Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood
10.2
0
Nikolai Gogol, The Nose & The
Portrait
10.2
2
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
10.2
4
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
10.2
7
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
10.2
9
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Birthmark
10.3
1
Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away
11.3
H.P. Lovecraft, At The Mountains of
Madness*
11.4
H.P. Lovecraft, At The Mountains of
Madness
Passive Voice
Essay #3 Draft
Style & Clarity
Essay #3 Final
Reviewing
Common
Mistakes
Reading
Response:
Shelley or
Hawthorne
Avoiding
Summary,
Commentary
6
11.7
12
13
Workshop
11.1
0
11.1
2
China Mieville, Perdido Street Station
11.1
4
China Mieville, Perdido Street Station
11.1
7
China Mieville, Perdido Street Station
11.1
9
China Mieville, Perdido Street Station
11.2
1
14
selections from Native Plant Stories,
told by Joseph Bruchac*
11.2
6
selections from Walking The Clouds,
edited by Grace Dillon*
12.1
Reading
Response:
Lovecraft
Essay #4 Draft
*** No Class ­ Tnxgiving Day ***
selections from Walking The Clouds,
edited by Grace Dillon*
12.3
16
Workshop
Workshop
11.2
4
11.2
8
15
Reading
Response:
Lovecraft
Reading
Response:
Bruchnac &
Dillon
Workshop
12.5
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Reading
Response:
Borges
12.1
2
Read/ Review Week
Essay #4 Final