Hinsdale South High School
A.P. English IV—English Literature and Composition
2014-15
Mr. Thelen
Room 231
(630) 468-4000, ext. 4370
bthelen@hinsdale86.org
A Case for Literature:
It was by taking novels seriously in my youth that I learned to take life seriously.
Literary novels persuade us to take life seriously [...] showing that we in fact have
-Orhanevents
Pamuk,
Prize for
Literature,
the power to influence
and2006
thatNobel
our personal
decisions
shape our lives. […]
fromtraditional
The Naïvenarratives
and the Sentimental
When we leave aside
and begin toNovelist
read novels, we come to
feel that our own world and our choices can be as important as historical events,
international wars, and the decisions of kings, pashas, armies, governments, and
gods—and that, even more remarkably, our sensations and thoughts have the
potential to be far more interesting than any of these. As I devoured novels in my
youth, I felt a breathtaking sense of freedom and self-confidence.
-Orhan Pamuk, 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature,
from The Naïve and the Sentimental Novelist
Course Objectives:
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having
new eyes.
-Marcel Proust
The goal of AP English IV is to provide advanced senior students with a capstone
experience in reading, reasoning, rhetoric, and criticism. Simultaneously, students
will prepare for the AP English Literature and Composition Exam to be administered
May 6, 2015.
Building off concepts and texts studied during their first three years at Hinsdale
South, students will focus predominantly on works of Western culture from the 16th
through the 21st centuries. The selections themselves are further outlined near the
end of this syllabus but will revolve around the novel, the stage drama, and the short
(that is to say, not-epic) poem. Multiple readings of some texts may be helpful, as a
thorough knowledge of a handful of important books is necessary for success on the
AP exam.
Our approach to each piece will be multi-faceted but will always center on the
“careful reading and critical analysis” of text. Since you are seniors, I want to
emphasize the importance of independent questioning and student-to-student
interaction. This year, more than any other, readers must become leaders. Answers
to the most critical issues will be found through close reading. But this is not to say
that the class will stop with discussions of form and semiotics; it will deepen to
include reflection on each text’s social, historical, and personal value.
As you read and analyze texts, you will produce corresponding written work. While
the form will differ (spontaneous prompt, extended response, thesis-driven essay,
research-based critique, etc.) the goal of developing a “clear, coherent, and
persuasive” voice will remain consistent. Ultimately, we hope to yield greater
“stylistic maturity”, which is characterized in the AP curriculum as:
 a wide-ranging vocabulary used with denotative accuracy and connotative
resourcefulness;
 a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordinate and
coordinate constructions;
 a logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques of coherence such as
repetition, transitions, and emphasis;
 a balance of generalization with specific illustrative detail; and
 an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, maintaining a
consistent voice, and achieving emphasis through parallelism and antithesis.
*Material excerpted from:
http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-english-literature-andcomposition-course-description.pdf
Materials:
Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.
-Henry David Thoreau
Students are expected to come to class prepared everyday with necessary materials for
reading and writing (pens, pencils, paper, glasses, books, etc.). Project specific
materials can be acquired as needed. New clothes not required.
Finally, each student will maintain a reader’s journal. Please consult the related
document for a full explanation.
Class Policies for the Submission of Work:
Time is a cruel teacher. She kills all of her students.
-Anonymous




Students are expected to submit all assignments on time. Failure to so will
result in a one letter-grade reduction for each day the assignment is late,
weekends included.
Successful completion of the course is contingent upon the submission of all
major assignments.
Students are responsible for work missed during absences and must check with
me for assignments to be made-up.
The appearance one’s work is important. Handwritten assignments must be
legible. Selected assignments must be typed. If your writing cannot be read,
revisions cannot be suggested; thus, I will be reluctant to assign a grade. This
can be a particular concern for AP writers in any subject.
Grading Policy:
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill…Great works are performed, not
by strength, but perseverance.
-Samuel Johnson
As a rough estimate, twenty-five percent of the available credit during a quarter will
be allocated to each of the following four categories:
1. Critical Reading Journal
2. Major Writing Assignments
3. Discussion/Participation
4. Various In and Out of Class Exercises, Essays, and Projects
Five Suggestions for Success:
5. Carve out a positive niche for yourself in this class.
4. Read for understanding.
3. Learn to effectively take notes and annotate your text.
2. Cite evidence from the text (in your writing and during class discussion).
1. Ask for help.
Classroom Rules:
Kings will be tyrants from policy when subjects are rebels from principle.
-Edmund Burke
All school rules are to be observed at all times.
Most Importantly:
You are expected to conduct yourself with decorum at all times. When it comes to
your behavior in this class, I have one supreme rule: Be respectful. Respect your
classmates, respect members of the faculty and staff, respect your school, and respect
yourself. Behavior that compromises the learning of any student in the class will not
be tolerated.
Cell Phones:
Please set your phone to silent or off, and put it away. You don’t need it for this class.
For 50 minutes each day, you are effectively out of touch.
Another Case for Literature:
The effective practice of medicine requires narrative competences, that is the
ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of
others….Adopting methods such as close reading of literature and reflective
writing allows narrative medicine to examine and illuminate 4 of medicine’s
central narrative situations: physician and patient, physician and self, physician
and colleagues, and physician and society.
-Rita Charon, Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University, from
“Narrative Medicine: A Model for Empathy, Reflection, Professions, and Trust”
Hinsdale South High School
A.P. English IV—English Literature and Composition
2014-15
Mr. Thelen
Prospective Text List and Grouping
NOTE: According to the official course description for AP English Literature and
Composition: “There is no recommended or required reading list.” While our specific
syllabus may exhibit some material differences from AP courses at other schools or
even other AP sections within our school, the guiding principles will always be
congruent.
Block I: Introduction; Theoretical Underpinnings of the Class
 Vladimir Nabokov: “Good Readers and Good Writers”
 Nabokov: “Natasha”
 Plato: from Republic, Book VII
 Andy and Lana Wachowshi, dirs. The Matrix
 Lu Xun: “Preface to A Call to Arms”
 Kurt Vonnegut: “The Euphio Question”
 Nikolai Gogol: “The Overcoat”
 Nabokov: “Gogol’s Genius in ‘The Overcoat’”
 Lawrence Perrine: "The Nature of Proof in the Interpretation of Poetry"
 Virginia Woolf: “How Should One Read a Book”
PAPER—Vladimir Nabokov: Major Writer?
Block II: Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man
 Walt Whitman: “I Hear America Singing”
 Langston Hughes: “I, Too”
 Natasha Trethewey: “Letter Home”
 Booker T. Washington: The Atlanta Exposition Address of 1895
 W.E.B. DuBois: Excerpts from The Souls of Black Folk
 Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man
 Ralph Ellison: “The Influence of Folklore on ‘Battle Royal’”
 Mezz Mezzrow: “Hip Language”
 Marlon Riggs, dir. Ethnic Notions
PAPER—Culture and Identity: How Do (Choose: Given Names, Food, Popular Culture)
Shape One’s Sense of Self?
Block III: The Female Literary Hero
 Sophocles: Antigone
 Eavan Boland: “It’s a Woman’s World”
 Virginia Woolf: “The Duchess and the Jeweler” and “The Lady in the Looking
Glass”
 Bible: from Genesis
 Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale
 Deepa Metha, dir. Water
PAPER—Rights Paper: Advocate for the Rights of an Oppressed Group
Block IV: The Modern Novel and Joyce’s Development as an Artist
 William Butler Yeats: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”
 James Joyce: “The Sisters,” “Araby,” and “The Dead” from Dubliners
 Richard Ellmann: “A Biographical Perspective on Joyce’s ‘The Dead’”
 Frank O’Connor: “Style and Form in Joyce’s ‘The Dead’”
 John Huston, dir. The Dead
 James Joyce: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
 Salman Rushdie: “Imaginary Homelands”
 Ken Loach, dir. The Wind That Shakes the Barley
PAPER—Assess the Role of Form: Select a Literary Passage; How Does the Formal
Structure of the Prose Determine Its Impact?
Block V: The Postmodern Bildungsroman
 Toni Morrison: Beloved
 Wendy S. Walters: “Lonely in America”
 Ta-Nehisi Coates: “The Case for Reparations”
PAPER—Evaluate a Claim: Does Coates’ Argument Hold-up?
Block VI: Imperialism and Existentialism in Two Novels by J.M. Coetzee
a) Waiting for the Barbarians
 Constantine Cavafy “Waiting for the Barbarians”
 Percy Bysshe Shelley: “Ozymandias”
 George Gordon, Lord Byron: “Apostrophe to the Ocean” from Don Juan
 Rudyard Kipling: “The White Man’s Burden”
 George Orwell: “Shooting an Elephant”
 Aristotle: Excerpt from Nicomachean Ethics
 David Luban: “Liberalism, Torture, and the Ticking Time Bomb”
 bell hooks: “Talking Back”
b) Life and Times of Michael K
 Albert Camus: “The Myth of Sisyphus”
 Rainer Maria Rilke: “The Panther”
 Franz Kafka:
o FK: “A Hunger Artist”
o FK: The Metamorphosis
o David Foster Wallace: “Laughing with Kafka”
o Kevin W. Sweeney: “Competing Theories of Identity in Kafka’s
The Metamorphosis”
Block VII: Independent Project
An independent project may be conducted during the fourth quarter of the year
following the AP Exam. Further information will be given second semester.