Fall 2012
Comp Lit 135
Comp Lit 135: Introduction to Short Fiction
(Section 01 | Mon/Wed 2:50-4:10 PM | Scott Hall 101)
Instructor:
Jinhwa Lee
Office Hours: Mondays 4:30-6:00 PM (Au Bon Pain), or by appointment.
Sakai:
https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal (01:195:135:01 F12 accessed with NetID/Password)
Email:
jinhwa.lk@gmail.com
(You can contact me this way when you have any queries and emergencies, and I will respond
you as soon as I can. Give me 24 hours to get back to you on weekdays and 48 hours on
weekend and holidays.)
Course Description
Throughout the semester we will read a wide variety of short stories from many, if not all, corners of
the world and learn how to appreciate each story closely, carefully, and critically paying attention to
its respective and intersected contexts. In an effort to train ourselves to be a critical reader/writer,
I’d like to invite you to primarily pay attention to the particular contexts of each text. At the same
time, we will re-examine our position as readers in terms of our own historical, social, cultural, and
political contexts. In so doing, we will be able to understand reading stories is an effective tool to
encounter others, however vicariously.
To improve our capacity of close reading we will familiarize ourselves with the key elements of
fiction such as plot, character, narrator, dialogue, point of view and style, and analyze the particular
ways in which these elements work in each short text we examine. The limited length of short
fiction requires us to be highly attentive to every particular element of it for grasping details. This
might be challenging to most of us especially because of it being short and thus condensed. Yet it
can be pleasing as much when we become eventually able to capture the artistry and its effects in
each fiction.
Since reading fiction requires us to engage with and respond to the writer’s and the narrator’s
individual and still interrelated contexts, we will always ask the following set of questions (but not
limited to it) in order to delve into what runs under the seemingly transparent surface: 1) What
motivates the character/narrator to act/speak as s/he does in the story? What inhibits her/him from
acting/speaking in certain ways? 2) What would have been done otherwise in terms of author’s
particular choice for character’s/narrator’s certain action/speech? What does author achieve by
choosing certain details and not others for her/his fictional narrative? 3) What and how do particular
experience and knowledge of ourselves affect our interpretation of the fictions? How does the
presence of reader matter to certain fiction?
We will also examine the problem of fictiveness and realness of fiction that are seemingly
incompatible by posing questions on the issue of complex relation between fictive world of text
created by writer and the world we actually inhabit. Last but not least, one of our major foci will be
making intimate connections between two or more texts in order to let one illuminate the other.
This way of putting one text in dialogue with the other, termed a comparative approach to texts,
rewards readers in that it opens up vaster realm of interpretation for the texts in question. That can
help mark distinct characteristics of each text better and locate the texts in an ensemble of diverse
literary relationships rather letting them being isolated on its own.
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Comp Lit 135
Learning Goals and Fulfillments
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We will practice close and critical reading of the assigned literary texts.
We will learn how to contextualize our appreciation of literature.
We will consider how translation affects our understanding of literature.
We will gain theoretical tools for literary analysis.
We will train ourselves to write critical comparative paper responding to plural texts making
meaningful connection among them.
We will engage in a collaborative intellectual community by actively and respectfully
participating in class discussion.
By achieving these goals the course (listed as fulfilling 3p AHp) will give you the skills required to
meet the explicit SAS requirement that Arts and Humanities Courses:
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Examine critically philosophical and other theoretical issues concerning the nature of reality,
human experience, knowledge, value, and/or cultural production;
Analyze arts and/or literatures in themselves and in relation to
specific histories, values, languages, cultures, and technologies (p);
Engage critically in the process of creative self-expression.
Further, this course employs the learning goals that have been developed by
the Program in Comparative Literature for its respective majors, minors,
and for non-majors who take these courses as electives:
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Students will demonstrate familiarity with a variety of world literatures as well as methods of
studying literature and culture across national and linguistic boundaries and evaluate the
nature, function and value of literature from a global perspective;
Students will demonstrate critical reasoning and research skills; design and conduct research
in an individual field of concentration (such as literary theory, women’s literature, post
colonial studies, literature and film, etc); analyze a specific body of research and write a clear
and well-developed paper or project about a topic related to more than one literary and
cultural tradition.
Course Requirements / Grade Distribution
Attendance and Participation: 10%
In-Class Writing Assignments: 10%
One-Page Weekly Responses: 30%
Midterm Paper:
20%
Final Paper:
30%
Sum:
100%
Attendance and Participation (10%): Attendance and in-class participation is mandatory. Please
be punctual and be prepared. Arriving more than 20 minutes late will be counted absent. Up to
two unexcused absences are allowed; in this case please use the University absence reporting
system (https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/) to indicate the date and reason for your absence. An
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Comp Lit 135
email is automatically sent to me. More than two unexcused absences will result in lowered final
grade.
Excused absences will be granted for the observance of religious holidays, doctor’s
appointments, family emergencies, athletic practices/games, etc. Please make sure to let me
know as soon as you get to know your inability to attend class for these reasons.
Class is your time to share thoughts and ideas of relevant issues of the week’s readings—be
ready to listen to others and be eager to contribute to discussion. Reading the assigned text
before each class is one of the basic efforts to be civil both to yourself and to your fellow
classmates. I believe everybody will have something they want to talk about after reading the
texts. For engaging atmosphere, all electronic devices including laptops, tablet pcs, ipads, and
cell phones, should not be used during class. Please print out your readings before you come to
class so that you do not have to open your laptop to look at the text we discuss.
In-Class Writing Assignments (2% × 5 = 10%): There will be five unannounced in-class writing
assignments to check on how thoroughly you have read the assigned readings. You will submit
the assignment to me when you leave the class. These are open-book assignments.
Brief Reading Responses (5% × 6 = 30%): There will be six response papers throughout the
semester. Three responses respectively before and after the midterm. Prompt for each response
will be distributed a week before the deadline. 250-350 words in length, these assignments are
designed to guide you through the ways of establishing well-supported longer papers and to help
you better participate in class discussions. Submit electronically via Sakai. Due dates can be seen
in the course schedule.
Papers (Midterm 20% + Final 30% = 50%): Both midterm (3-5 pages) and final papers (5-7
pages) will be comparative ones that require you to work on two or more texts in your papers. I
will supply three to four suggested topics for each paper that will aid you to set up the theme of
your paper.
Still, feel free to explore other topics that are not included in my suggestion and devise your own
comparative framework which should be approved by me before you start writing. Please make
sure to hand in any individual topics to me at least two weeks before the paper is due.
The papers are formal expository papers and must have a clear thesis, your direct response to
the texts you choose to examine (using quotations), and critical questions and answers to them.
The papers do not require outside research so please keep your focus on analyzing the chosen
texts by yourself. No need for secondary materials. Submit electronically via Sakai. Due dates
can be seen in the course schedule.
The responses and papers should be written on US letter sized paper (8.5” x 11”), doublespaced, with 1” margins on all four sides and typed in 12-point Times New Roman. Do not
justify the margins. For more directions for formatting, style and citation, please consult Purdue
OWL website’s MLA guide: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/.
Late assignments are not accepted. If you anticipate a problem turning in any one of the
assignments on time, please talk to me in advance via email and/or in person. All assignments
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Comp Lit 135
except for in-class writing should be submitted electronically via Sakai under the folder of each
assignment (Click on “Assignments 2” folder first). Please remember, Sakai shuts down the
assignment folder after deadline.
Grading Rubric
A (90-100%) B+ (87-89%) B (80-86%) C+ (75-79%) C (70-74%) D (60-69%) F (59 and below%)
No curved grading. Everybody will get the final letter grade according to each one’s own
accumulated percentage. Grading rubric for each assignment will be announced as class progresses.
Required Readings
The following books for the course are available for purchase at the Rutgers University Bookstore
(http://rutgers.bncollege.com/):
- Borges, Jorge Luis. Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. New York: A New
Directions Book, 2007. (ISBN: 0811216993, 9780811216999)
- Chekhov, Anton. Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov. New York: Modern Library, 2000. (ISBN:
9780553381009)
- Woolf, Virginia. A Haunted House And Other Short Stories. San Diego: A Harvest Book, 2002
(ISBN: 9780156028035)
All other required materials will be found on Sakai under the folder entitled “Resources.” Please
print out, read, and bring each assigned texts to class.
Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
Plagiarism is any form of unauthorized use of other person’s ideas without acknowledging the
source in due manner. It includes quoting, paraphrasing, and imitating without referring to the
original source, act of copy-and-paste without quotation marks and reference, downloading other
person’s work and submitting it as your own, among the other. To avoid plagiarism, it is your
responsibility to check out the specific details regarding what constitutes plagiarism and how not to
do it. Students who violate the University Academic Integrity Policy by committing plagiarism will
fail the course and face the University disciplinary action. Please learn the contents of the webpages
below:
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Take a tutorial on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity (Camden Plagiarism Tutorial):
http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/EducationalModule/Plagiarism/
Visit Rutgers Writing Program’s guideline against plagiarism:
http://wp.rutgers.edu/courses/plagiarism
Consult “Don’t Plagiarize: Document Your Research!” for tips about how to take notes so
that you don’t plagiarize by accident:
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_instruct/instruct_document.shtml
For more information on Rutgers’ policy on academic integrity, see the document below:
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/files/documents/AI_Policy_9_01_2011.pdf
Students with Disabilities
Students with disabilities requesting accommodations must follow the procedures outlined at:
http://disabilityservices.rutgers.edu/request.html
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Fall 2012
Comp Lit 135
Course Schedule
Week 1
9/5
Introductions
Week 2
9/10
9/12
Response #1 (9/9)
Guy De Maupassant, “The Necklace,” “Horla”
Lu Xun (鲁迅), “A Madman’s Diary,” “My Old Home”
Week 3
9/17 Edgar Allan Poe, “The Purloined Letter”
9/19 Edogawa Rampo (江戸川 乱歩), “The Psychological Test”
Week 4
9/24
9/26
Response #2 (9/23)
Agatha Christie, “Motive v. Opportunity,” “The Four Suspects”
Dashiell Hammett, “Ruffian’s Wife,” “The Man Who Killed Dan Odams”
Week 5
10/1 Virginia Woolf, “A Haunted House,” “Monday or Tuesday,” “An Unwritten Novel”
10/3 Woolf continued, “Moments of Being,” “Together and Apart,” “A Summing Up”
Week 6
Response #3 (10/7)
10/8 Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Rule of Names,” “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”
10/10 Franz Kafka, “Before the Law,” “A Report For an Academy”
Week 7
10/15 Anton Chekhov (Анто́н Па́влович Че́хов), “Vanka,” “Rothschild’s Fiddle”
10/17 Chekhov continued, “The Darling,” “The Lady With the Dog”
Week 8
Draft for Midterm Paper (10/21)
10/22 Writing Workshop (1)
10/24 Writing Workshop (2)
* 10/27 Midterm Paper (Saturday 11:59 PM Submit electronically via Sakai.)
Week 9
10/29 Jorge Luis Borges, “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” “The Garden of Forking Paths”
10/31 Borges Continued, “The Library of Babel,” “Funes the Memorious”
Week 10
Response #4 (11/4)
11/5 Park Wan-suh (박완서), “In the Realm of the Buddha”
Higuchi Ichiyo (樋口一葉), “Separate Ways”
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Comp Lit 135
11/6
Akutagawa Ryunosuke (芥川龍之介), “In a Grove”
Murakami Haruki (村上春樹), “The Elephant Vanishes”
Week 11
11/12 Primo Levi, “The Molecule’s Defiance,” “A Tranquil Star”
11/14 Ghassan Kanafani (‫)ك ن فان ي غ سان‬, “Return to Haifa”
Week 12
Response #5 (11/18)
11/19 Edwidge Danticat, “A Wall of Fire Rising,” “Night Women,” “New York Day Women”
11/21 No Class (Thanksgiving Recess)
Week 13
Response #6 (11/25)
11/26 Michelle Cliff, “Contagious Melancholia,” “The Store of a Million Items,”
“A Public Woman”
11/28 Shani Mootoo, “Out on Main Street,” “Sushila’s Bhakti”
Week 14
12/3 Junot Díaz, “Edison, New Jersey,”
“How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie.”
12/5 Dazai Osamu (太宰 治), “Merry Christmas”
O’ Henry, “The Gift of a Magi,” “Transients In Arcadia.”
Week 15
Draft for Final Paper (12/9)
12/10 Writing Workshop (1)
12/12 Writing Workshop (2) / Last Day of Class
* 12/16 Final Paper Due (Sunday 11:59 PM. Submit electronically via Sakai.)
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