E106: James Joyce’s Ulysses
Laura O’Connor
HH 230, Tu/Th 2:00-3.20PM
Office hours: Wed 3.30-5.30PM, or by appt
Course code: 23436 x 4-1574, loconnor@uci.edu
This capstone seminar for English majors is designed to immerse you in James Joyce’s
Ulysses (1922), often lauded as the finest and most influential twentieth-century novel, and to
provide a stimulating and supportive environment for participants to write a long research-paper
on an aspect of Ulysses they find intriguing. We’ll begin by situating the novel in relation to its
structural Homeric parallel and Irish and modernist contexts. Our ten-week itinerary will cover 2
or 3 Homeric episodes each week as we follow the ordinary lives of Stephen Dedalus and
Leopold and Molly Bloom and other Dubliners over the course of a single day, June 16th 1904.
Discussion will be stimulated by pre-circulated reading questions and by participants’ postings
on the class messageboard. Students are expected to submit a prospectus and annotated
bibliography by Nov 13, to submit a final draft on Nov 30, and engage in a peer-reviewing
process on them with the instructor in week nine, and to bring the completed paper to class on
Dec 11.
Requirements
This seminar is designed to enhance your skills as a reader and independent researcher by
providing a collaborative framework for exploring Joyce’s Ulysses. Students are required to read
and think about the assigned episodes before each class, to attend all classes punctually, and to
contribute to class discussion. Because discussion is the core of seminar activity, attendance is
required. If you must miss a class meeting, please let me know before that class; unexcused
absences will adversely affect your participation grade and could be grounds for failure. (Since
attendance is part of the participation grade, I take roll). I’ll give you a warning if your
participation is inadequate. You are encouraged to consult with me throughout the quarter about
your research. I do not handle substantive questions—e.g. is this thesis statement ok?—via
email, and nor do I accept assignments by email attachment except by pre-arrangement under
exceptional circumstances. Please limit email messages to notifications of unavoidable absences,
clarifications of the syllabus or assignments, etc. If you cannot see me during office hours we can
schedule an appointment.
The principal requirement of the course is the completion of a 13-15 page research-paper
on an elective topic cleared in advance with me (60%). The research-paper will be produced with
the help of a prospectus, annotated bibliography, regular writing assignments, and discussion
with the instructor and peers. You should aim to have your research topic approved by midterm.
Students who have difficulty selecting a research-topic by midterm will have an opportunity to
work out a viable topic on the basis of their take-home essay with the instructor. As well as the
prospectus and bibliographical work related to the research paper and peer reviewing (15%), you
will be required to post regular thesis statements, bibliographical research exercises, and reading
responses on the class message-board. There will also be in-class writing / group discussion
assignments based on pre-circulated reading questions. Quizzes, postings, and miscellaneous
assignments (including week nine peer-reviews), attendance and participation will comprise 25%
of the final grade.
A major component of the discipline of the seminar is submitting assignments on time.
All assignments must be turned in at the beginning of class on the days they are due. If you are
absent on the day that an assignment is due, even if your absence is excused, it is your
responsibility to make sure it gets to me before 5pm that day or it will be marked down (slide it
under my office door, HIB 352). You are required to turn in a complete draft of the 15-page
research paper on Nov 30. You will receive feedback on the final drafts from peers and the
instructor, but the draft isn’t graded. However, if you don’t turn the draft in on time, or if your
draft is incomplete, your final paper will be docked a full letter grade. The stringent late-paper
policy will also be observed for the final paper, which will be docked a half-grade for every day
it is late. Please consult the research guidelines for a full description of this policy.
Adjustments may be made to the schedule, and if so, the revised schedule will be
announced in class and electronically, and students are responsible for keeping up-to-date with it.
Any student may add or drop a course in the School of Humanities up to the end of the second
week of classes with the instructor's signature. Requests to add or drop after the second week
will be granted only for exceptional circumstances. If you don’t attend class on Oct 7 and don’t
contact me to explain your absence, I’ll assume that you’ve decided to drop the class and may
assign your place to someone else. Students with disabilities who believe they may need
accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the Disability Services Center at 8247494. Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at the University of
California, Irvine. Cheating, forgery, dishonest conduct, plagiarism, and collusion in dishonest
activities erode the University's educational, research, and social roles. They devalue the
learning experience and its legitimacy for the perpetrators and for the entire community. Please
familiarize yourself with the UCI Policy on Academic Honesty:
http://www.senate.uci.edu/9_IrvineManual/3ASMAppendices/Appendix08.html
Assigned Texts
James Joyce, Ulysses. Ed Hans W. Gabler. New York: Vintage, 1986 ISBN 0-394-743121
Don Gifford and Robert Seidman, Ulysses Annotated UC Press, 1988
Rec’d: Harry Blamires, The Bloomsday Book; Hugh Kenner, Ulysses
SCHEDULE
Week 0
Oct 2: Introduction
Week 1
Oct 7: Telemachus
Hugh Kenner, “Uses of Homer,” T.S. Eliot, “Ulysses, Order & Myth”
Oct 9: Nestor, Proteus
Hugh Kenner, “Oh Impossible Fellow”
first thesis statement on reading due
Week 2
Oct 14: Calypso. 45-55
second thesis statement on reading due for A-K
Oct 16: #Lotus-Eaters & Hades
André Topia, “Intertextuality in Ulysses” 103-16
First critical précis (on Topia) due for L-Z
Oct 18: “Riverrun: James Joyce and the Ecologies of Modernism” conference at UCR
Week 3
Oct 21 # 7 Aeolus
Karen Lawrence, “Bloom in Circulation”
First critical précis (on Lawrence) due for A-K
Oct 23 # 8, 9 Lestrygonians 124-50
Second thesis-statement due for L-Z
Week 4
Oct 28: Scylla and Charybdis 151-79
Show critical review for annotated bibliography on elective article
A-K thesis statements
Oct 30: Wandering Rocks 180-209
Lawrence, “Wandering Rocks and Sirens”
L-Z thesis statements
Week 5
Nov 4: # 11, Sirens 210-39, Take-home midterm essay distributed
Nov 6: #12, Cyclops 240-83
Topia, 116-24; Will Litton, “The Passion for the Real and Joyce’s “Cyclops”
A-K thesis statements
Week 6
Nov 11: #13, Nausicaa 284-313
Vicky Mahaffey, “Ulysses & the ends of gender”
L-Z thesis statements
Nov 13, #14, Oxen of the Sun 314-49 Take-home midterm or prospectus due
Week 7
Nov 18: Circe 350-496
A-K response posting
Nov 19: OH: Confer about prospectus; required for students with late prospectus
Nov 20 Circe, Eumaeus 497-505 Late prospectus due
L-Z response posting
Week 8
Nov 25 Eumaeus & Ithaca 501-607
Nov 27 Thanksgiving--class cancelled
Week 9
Midnight, Sunday Nov 30: Everyone must email final drafts to the instructor or peer-reviewers
Dec 2 class cancelled for peer reviewing
Dec 4 Penelope 608-644
Week 10
Dec 9: Penelope & sneak peak @ Finnegans Wake
Dec 11: Final paper due, Review & distribution of certificates, Rejoyce