ENGL
200:Introduction to Literature
Internet address: www.stfrancis.edu/en/chilton/introsyl.htm
Fall, 2004
Instructor
information:
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Instructor:
Office phone: FAX:
e-mail:
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Randolph Chilton
815-740-3454
(ext. 3454 on campus)
815-740-4285
rchilton@stfrancis.edu
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Office:
Office hours:
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S308
9-11 TR; 4-5:30
M
and by appointment
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Objectives:
At the end of this
course, a student should
- know and be able to use and debate the basic
vocabulary of literary criticism;
- have developed and know how to use the skills
of literary analysis through the reading and interpretation of selected
literary and critical texts;
- have developed, as part of these skills, a
consciousness of the assumptions that motivate and shape our
interpretations;
- have gained a critical understanding of
literary works as art forms; and, through all of this,
- have gained a
critical perspective on our culture, our common human experience, and the
mediation of culture and experience through language.
Required text:
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature.
Sixth edition. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's
Press, 2002.
Recommended text:
One of the various editions of Edgar V.
Roberts' Writing Themes About Literature
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, various dates).
Other texts may be mentioned during the
course of the semester, and I encourage you to use the library on your own. But
this class does not require that kind of research. Instead, you are expected to
apply your own mind, to exercise actively your own intelligence on what we read
in order to develop further your ability to think critically and analytically.
In other words, I will look most closely at how and what you think, not what
you find that someone else thinks.
Tentative Calendar
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Date
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Reading Assignments
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Writing Assignments
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[Reading and writing assignments
are due on the dates indicated.]
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Week 1
Aug. 25
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Language, Literature,
Culture
- "Not Waving but Drowning"
(handout)
- "For Michael" (handout)
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Week 2
Sept. 1
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Introduction (1-6)
FICTION
- Reading Fiction (9-41)
- Tallent, "No One's a Mystery"
(handout)
- Chopin, "The Story of an Hour"
- Van der Zee, from
A Secret Sorrow
- Godwin, "A Sorrowful Woman"
- Modleski, "The Popularity of Romance
Novels"
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Week 3
Sept. 8
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- Plot (64-83)
- Burroughs, from Tarzan of the Apes
- Vidal, "The Popularity of Tarzan
Books"
- Walker, "The
Flowers"
- Faulkner, "A Rose for
Emily"
- Perspectives (82-3)
- Character (99-104)
- Mansfield, "Miss Brill" (259-63)
- Lahiri, "When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine" (104-115)
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Quiz #1
Faulkner exercise
-- due Sept. 8
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Week 4
Sept. 15
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- Point of View (173-78)
- Updike, "A&P"
(606-10)
- Symbolism (220-30)
- Ríos, "The Secret Lion"
- Collette, "The Hand"
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Quiz #2
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Week 5
Sept. 22
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- Hawthorne, "The
Birthmark" (359-71)
- Perspectives (371-79)
- Faulkner, "Barn Burning"
(493-506)
- Perspectives (506-513)
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Quiz #3
Quiz #4
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Week 6
Sept. 29
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POETRY
- Reading Poetry (671-707)
- Robinson, "Richard Cory" (806)
- Hughes, "Theme for English B" (1027)
- Rios, "Seniors" (702)
- Pound, "The River Merchant's Wife: A
Letter" (handout)
- Word Choice, Word Order, and Tone
(715-51)
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Week 7
Oct. 6
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Paper #1 due
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Week 8
Oct. 13
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- Images (752-76)
- Imagist poems (handout)
- Figures of Speech (777-800)
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Test: In-class
Explication
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Oct. 16-24
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Fall Break
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Week 9
Oct. 27
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- Patterns of Rhythm (863-70)
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Week 10
Nov. 3
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- Sound and rhythm continued
- Yeats, "Leda and the Swan"
(1194)
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Week 11
Nov. 10
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DRAMA
- Strindberg, "The Stronger"
(handout)
- Miller, Death of A Salesman (1823-89,
1889-92)
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Test: Sound and
Rhythm
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Week 12
Nov. 17
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- Miller, Death of A Salesman (1823-89,
1889-92)
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Paper #2 due
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Nov. 24-28
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Thanksgiving Break
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Week 13
Dec. 1
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Week 15
Dec. 8
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- Citizen Kane (discussion)
- Conclusion
Final exam Dec. 15
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Requirements:
Two 750-1,000 word analytical essays (500 pts. total); four
in-class tests on fiction (100 pts. total); two in-class tests on poetry (100
pts. total); final essay test (200 pts.); some non-graded imitative writing;
attendance and active participation (including written exercises and
discussion) (100 pts.); occasional unscheduled quizzes.
Academic
Policies
- Attendance and class participation: In-class participation will be graded, and
will count as one full grade (100 pts.) in figuring the final grade. Participation
does not mean agreeing with the instructor. In fact, informed and
well-reasoned disagreement is liable to bring you more credit than simply
repeating what I have said. Questions, too, can play a very valuable part
in class discussion, including questions that begin, for example,
"Are you saying that . . . ?" In general, I will look for
participation that shows you to be engaged in the work of the class--in
active, critical reading, thinking, and writing. To participate, of course,
you must attend, so attendance is a requirement. If you do miss a class,
it will be your responsibility to find out from your classmates what
occurred and what was said--I won't be able to reconstruct the experience
for you.
- Consultations: You will have questions and ideas about the
works we read that, for one reason or another, we may not be able to deal
with in class. You may also wish to discuss written assignments as you are
working on them or after you have had them returned. Feel free to talk to
me about any topic related to the class whenever you see me, in or out of
my office. (Make an appointment if you want to be sure to see me for an
extended conversation in my office.) I encourage you to talk about such
topics with one another and come to my office together, if you wish. I am
also available by phone and through e-mail.
- Help with writing: I will be available on an appointment
basis. Contact me any time, and we will schedule one. Again, you are also
encouraged to make full use of e-mail and fax if you have questions about
your work or want me to look over a rough draft.
- Grading
- Plagiarism
- Paper
topics/assignments