English 170W: Introduction to Literary Study
The Ends of Interpretation
Fall 2014, Section 5 (M, W, 8 a.m.- 9:50 a.m.)
Instructor
Kevin Cooney
kcooney1@qc.cuny.edu
Office: Klapper 344
Office Hours: M,W 12:30–1:30 p.m.
Required Texts
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Djuna Barnes, Nightwood
9780811216715
Nella Larsen, Passing
9780142437278
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
9780060913076
William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale
9780140714883
Selected readings at http://cooneyfall2014eng170.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/
Course Overview
Welcome to English 170! As the Gateway course to the English major, a writing
intensive course, and a prerequisite for upper-division English courses, English 170 is
designed to encourage persuasive writing and critical thinking about literature. The
course serves as an introduction to literary terminology; to the genres of drama, fiction,
and poetry; and to literary theory.
This semester, as the punning course title suggests, we will study the purposes (“ends”)
of interpreting literature by focusing on four literary texts with especially problematic
endings. Marked by their unresolved, indeterminate, or ambiguous endings, The Winter’s
Tale, Passing, Nightwood, and The Crying of Lot 49 force us to examine our own
assumptions about interpretation. At the same time, we will read articles specifically
devoted to interpretation and critical methodology. These articles explain some of the
important criteria and questions for theorizing literature’s relation to history, questions of
canon formation and aesthetics, representations of race, gender, and sexuality, the
relationship between authorship and community, and methods of close reading.
Course Goals
Throughout the semester, this course will help students to become better students of
literature by promoting the following theoretical and practical approaches:
1. Display a working knowledge of basic terms and concepts used in the analysis of
a variety of literary genres.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of how literary works relate to their immediate
historical context and to the traditions from which they emerge.
3. Be able to undertake the close reading of a literary work, with particular emphasis
on the relationship between parts and wholes and between form and meaning.
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4. Be able to construct a literary argument using secondary sources (in particular
discipline-specific databases and archives) and employing MLA style.
5. Engage in written reflection on the critical assumptions that inform their own and
others’ interpretations of literary works.
Course Requirements
Essay #1: Problems of Interpretation (20%)
The first essay will focus on a problem of interpretation in The Winter’s Tale. Choosing
something in the text of the play that seems to call for explanation—a character’s words
(or implied thoughts), the relationship between characters, a repeated motif or theme,
questions of staging, continuities or discontinuities in the plot—write an essay explaining
what the problem is and how you would explain it. Your essay should be 4-5 pages
double-spaced. Develop your own argument or thesis about the play using evidence from
the text to support your thesis.
Essay #2: Close Reading and Argument (20%)
The second essay will focus on the connections between 1) sexuality and race 2)
sexuality and speech 3) race and speech in either Nella Larsen’s Passing or Djuna
Barnes’ Nightwood. Make a claim about what this novel/novella reveals about these two
interconnected(?) topics. Include at least one passage (approximately 1-2 paragraphs)
from Passing or Nightwood that you provide a detailed close reading of. Your essay
should be 4-5 pages double-spaced.
Annotated Bibliography (10%)
The annotated bibliography is a list and description of the 2 best scholarly sources you
have found on your topic. Both sources should be cited in MLA style. For each source
write one paragraph (3-5 sentences) that summarizes it and one paragraph explaining how
it will fit into your final essay. Do not use someone else’s words (or the author’s own
words) as a summary of the article.
Essay #3: Revised Essay with Research (20%)
Revise and expand Essay #1 or Essay #2 by including 2 scholarly sources that you have
found. The revised essay should be 8-10 pages double-spaced. (Essays and articles that
we have read in class may be used, but they don’t count towards the 2 scholarly sources.)
Final Exam (10%)
The final exam will test students’ ability to identify passages from the course readings,
demonstrate close reading, and to write an essay synthesizing literary texts and modes of
interpretation. It will be held on Monday, December 15th during our normal class
session.
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Participation (20%)
Writing emerges out of conversations. Your class participation will be vital to making
this a good class. Attending class, doing the readings, completing assignments on time,
and sharing your ideas are all important to the success of the class. But that’s not all.
Here are a few other points to bear in mind:
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Cell phones should be set to silent or turned off.
Please do not text, play games, or update your social media in class.
Laptops are permitted in the classroom, but they should not become either a
distraction or a substitute for participation.
Please come to class on time.
Bring copies of your assigned reading with you to class. (Most of the time, you
can use the electronic copy of the reading on your laptop. But sometimes I will
ask you to bring a printed copy.)
On peer editing days, bring a copy of your draft to class. Make sure to plan ahead
so that you aren’t late to class.
All of these things can affect your participation grade. More specific participation
policies are listed below:
Attendance/Lateness: More than 3 absences will begin to reduce your participation
grade. If you miss more than 6 classes, you risk receiving a zero for participation.
Lateness also counts towards your participation grade. I count lateness as a percentage of
the class. For instance, if you are 55 minutes late to our 110-minute class, you have
missed 1 2 of a class.
Quizzes: I will give occasional, unannounced quizzes throughout the quarter to make sure
that everyone is doing the reading. These quizzes will focus on the main ideas from the
 reading. They will be part of the participation grade.
Grading
Note: To earn a passing grade, you must complete all three essays.
A+: 97-100
A: 93-96
A-: 90-92
B+: 87-89
B: 83-86
B-: 80-82
Essay 1 — 20%
Essay 2— 20%
Essay 3 —20%
C+: 77-79
C: 73-76
C-: 70-72
D+: 67-69
D: 60-66
F: 0-59
Annotated Bibliography—10%
Final Exam—10%
Class Participation — 20%
Student Resources for Writing
Email/Office Hours: If you have any questions about anything, the syllabus should be
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your first resource. I am easily reached by email, and I am happy to talk to you in office
hours, or to set up alternate times to meet if necessary. If you have any questions, please
ask me.
Writing Center: The Writing Center is an excellent resource for writing. While the
tutors will not proofread the essay for you, they will work with you on the revision
process. The Writing Center is located in Kiely Hall 229. You may need to make an
appointment up to a week in advance during the busy points of the semester. Check out
their website at http://qcpages.qc.edu/qcwsw.
Special Accommodation: If you have a reason for special accommodation in this class,
please inform me and contact the Office of Special Services: Kiely Hall 171, 718-9975870.
Helpful Links for English 110 Students:
• The Writing Center at http://qcpages.qc.edu/qcwsw
• The Writing at Queens website offers tips for writing: http://www.writingatqueens.org
 “Writing Intensive Courses: A Guide for Students”
 “Goals for Student Writing at Queens College”
• Revisions: A Zine on Student Writing: qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/Writing/zine.htm
Academic Integrity
All students must abide by CUNY’s policy on Academic Integrity. The policy states the
following about plagiarism:
Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research, or writings as
your own. Examples of plagiarism include:
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Copying another person’s actual words or images without the use of
quotations marks and footnotes attributing the words to their source.
Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without
acknowledging the source.
Failing to acknowledge collaborators on homework and laboratory
assignments.
Internet plagiarism, including submitting downloaded term papers or parts
of term papers, paraphrasing or copying information from the internet
without citing the source, or “cutting and pasting” from various sources
without proper attribution.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. A student who has plagiarized any part of a paper will
automatically fail the paper and possibly the class. The student will also be listed on a
departmental record that will be maintained for the duration of the student’s enrollment at
Queens College and reported to the Dean of Students, who may decide to take further action.
See the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity (http://web.cuny.edu/academics/infocentral/policies/academic-integrity.pdf) for further information.
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Changes to the Syllabus
As the instructor, I reserve the right to make changes to the syllabus and the course. If I
decide to make material changes to any part of the syllabus, I will announce them in class
and post a new version of the syllabus on our course website.
Course Schedule
An asterisk (*) denotes a reading that is posted online.
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Week 1: Introduction: What is Literature?
W, 9/3
Introduction
Wednesday, 9/3 = Last Day to Add a Course
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Week 2: Language in Terms of Other Arts
M, 9/8
William Shakespearea, “Sonnet 55”*; Frank O’Hara, “An
Image of Leda”*; Jorie Graham, “At Luca Signorelli’s
Resurrection of the Body”*; W. J. T. Mitchell, “Representation”
(11-22)*
W, 9/10
3
M, 9/15
William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (3-23); Margreta De
Grazia, “Shakespeare and the Craft of Language” (49-64)*
Week 3: Reading Winter’s Tale Historically
William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (23-42); Valerie
Traub, “Gender and Sexuality in Shakespeare” (129-146)*
William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (42-64); Stephen
Greenblatt, “Culture” (225-232)*
Wednesday, 9/17 = Last Day to Drop a Course without “W” Grade
Week 4: Reading Winter’s Tale as Performance
M, 9/22
William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (64-116); John
Astington, “Actors and the Body” (248-254)*
W, 9/17
4
W, 9/24
5
M, 9/29
W, 10/1
6
M, 10/6
W, 10/8
No Class
Week 5: Questions of Canon and Interpretation
Hugh Grady, “Shakespeare Criticism, 1600-1900” (265-278)*;
Terry Eagleton, “The Rise of English” (48-59)*
Draft of Essay #1 Due
Stanley Fish, “How to Recognize a Poem When You See One”
(267-278)*; Reed Way Dasenbrock, “Do We Write the Text We
Read” (237-248)*
Week 6: Female Authorship and Narrative Doubles
Nella Larsen, Passing (9-47)
Essay #1 Due
Nella Larsen, Passing (51-81); Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar,
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7
M, 10/13
W, 10/15
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M, 10/20
W, 10/22
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M, 10/27
W, 10/29
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M, 11/3
“The Female Swerve” (289-295)*; Toril Moi, “[Excerpt from
Sexual/Textual Politics]” (295-301)*; Michael Omi and Howard
Winant, “Racial Formations” (3-13)*
Week 7: Race and Sexuality
Columbus Day; No Class
Nella Larsen, Passing (85-114); Deborah McDowell, “[Excerpt
from ‘Black Female Sexuality in Passing’]” (363-371)*
Week 8: Legal Contexts for Race + Defining Style
Earl Lewis and Heidi Ardizzone, “A Modern Cinderella: Race,
Sexuality, and Social Class in the Rhinelander Case” (129147)*
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (3-31); T.S. Eliot, “Introduction”
(xvii-xxii)
Week 9: Reading Nightwood through Genre
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (32-70); H. Porter Abbott, “Defining
Narrative” (13-27)*
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (71-113); Marcia R. Lieberman,
“Some Day My Prince Will Come” (321-334)*
Week 10: Authorship and Autobiography
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (114-148); Margot Norris, “Doing
Djuna Justice” (581-589)*
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (148-180); Roland Barthes, “The
Death of the Author” (221-226)*
Thursday, 11/6 = Last Day to File for Unevaluated Withdrawal
Week 11: Deconstruction + Psychoanalysis/ Library Visit
M, 11/10
Barbara Johnson, “Writing” (39-49)*
Draft of Essay #2 Due
W, 11/5
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W, 11/12
12
M, 11/17
W, 11/19
13
M, 11/24
W, 11/26
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M, 12/1
Library Visit TBA
Week 12: Reading Crying of Lot 49 Psychoanalytically
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (1-30)
Essay #2 Due
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (31-63); Charles
Bressler, “Psychoanalytic Criticism” (142-155)*
Week 13: Reading Crying of Lot 49 Allegorically
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (64-119)
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (120-152); Thomas
Pynchon, “A Journey Into the Mind of Watts”*
Week 14: Lyric Poetry: Meter and Form
Jon Stallworthy, “Versification: Rhythm and Meter” (20276
2036)*; Karen Volkman, “What We Know,”* “And When the
Nights,”* “I Never Wish to Sing”*; William Wordsworth,
“Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey”*
W, 12/3
15
M, 12/8
W, 12/10
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M, 12/15
Vera Pavlova, “If There is Something to Desire”*; James
Merrill, “The Thousand and Second Night”*; Elizabeth Bishop,
“One Art”*
Annotated Bibliography Due
Week 15: Major and Minor Languages for Poetry
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, “What is a Minor
Literature?” (165-172)*; Gloria Anzaldúa, “Preface” and “El
Sonavabitche”*
T.S. Eliot, “The Waste Land” (472-487)*
Draft of Essay #3 Due
Week 16: Identity and Influence
Walt Whitman, “As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life”*; Frank
O’Hara, “Ode: Salute to the French Negro Poets”*
Essay #3 Due
Final Exam
MLA Citations for Online (*d) Articles
Abbott, H. Porter. “Defining Narrative.” The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 13-27.
Astington, John. “Actors and the Body: Meta-Theatrical Rhetoric in Shakespeare.”
Gesture. 6:2 (2006). 241-259.
Barthes, Roland. “The Death of the Author.” Falling Into Theory: Conflicting Views on
Reading Literature. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000.
221-226.
Bressler, Charles. “Psychoanalytic Criticism.” Literary Criticism: An Introduction to
Theory and Practice, 4th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007.
142-155.
Dasenbrock, Reed Way. “Do We Write the Text We Read.” Falling Into Theory:
Conflicting Views on Reading Literature. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 237-248.
De Grazia, Margreta. “Shakespeare and the Craft of Language.” The Cambridge
Companion to Shakespeare. Eds. Margreta De Grazia and Stanley Wells. New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 49-64.
Deleuze, Gilles and Félix Guattari. “What is a Minor Literature?” Falling Into Theory:
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Conflicting Views on Reading Literature. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 165-172.
Eagleton, Terry. “The Rise of English.” Falling Into Theory: Conflicting Views on
Reading Literature. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000.
48-59.
Fish, Stanley. “How to Recognize a Poem When You See One.” Falling Into Theory:
Conflicting Views on Reading Literature. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 267-278.
Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. “The Female Swerve.” Falling Into Theory:
Conflicting Views on Reading Literature. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 289-295.
Grady, Hugh. “Shakespeare Criticism, 1600-1900.” The Cambridge Companion to
Shakespeare. Eds. Margreta De Grazia and Stanley Wells. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2001. 265-278.
Greenblatt, Stephen. “Culture.” Critical Terms for Literary Study. Eds. Frank
Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1995. 225-232.
Johnson, Barbara. “Writing.” Critical Terms for Literary Study. Eds. Frank Lentricchia
and Thomas McLaughlin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. 39-49.
Lewis, Earl and Heidi Ardizzone. “A Modern Cinderella: Race, Sexuality, and Social
Class in the Rhinelander Case.” International Labor and Working-Class History
51 (Spring 1997). 129-147.
Lieberman, Marcia R. “Some Day My Prince Will Come: Female Acculturation through
the Fairy Tale.” Composing Gender. Eds. John O’Hara and Rachael Groner.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 321-334.
McDowell, Deborah. “Excerpt from ‘Black Female Sexuality in Passing.’” Passing: A
Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Carla Kaplan. New York: W. W. Norton &
Company, 2007. 363-371.
Mitchell, W. J. T. “Representation.” Critical Terms for Literary Study. Eds. Frank
Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1995. 11-22.
Moi, Toril. Excerpt from Sexual/Textual Politics. Reprinted in Falling Into Theory:
Conflicting Views on Reading Literature. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 295-301.
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Norris, Margot. “Doing Djuna Justice: The Challenges of the Barnes Biography.”
Studies in the Novel 28:4 (Winter 1996). 581-589.
Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States, 2nd Edition.
New York: Routledge, 1994. 3-13.
Pynchon, Thomas. “A Journey Into the Mind of Watts.” New York Times. June 12,
1966.
Stallworthy, Jon. “Versification.” The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Eds. Margaret
Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy. New York: W. W. Norton &
Company, 2005. 2027-2052.
Traub, Valerie. “Gender and Sexuality in Shakespeare.” The Cambridge Companion to
Shakespeare. Eds. Margreta De Grazia and Stanley Wells. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2001. 129-146.
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