This (fourth-run-of the term) syllabus is the general syllabus for both my ENGLISH 2110 courses this term.

See WebCT and Nicenet frequently for messages and ongoing discussions.—RWH, 1/20/08

[Revised, January 21, 2008]

ENGLISH 2110-W38 (CRN 11430)
Dr. Robert W. Hill, Professor Emeritus
Spring 2008

Office Hours in EB141: Tuesday/Thursday 11am-noon, and by appointment
Email: rhill@kennesaw.edu AND rhill41@gmail.com
KSU Website: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~rhill

***(To email me, always send to both my addresses.
To contact y'all en masse, I will send to both WebCT and Nicenet,
as well as to your personal email addresses if I have them.)***
 

KSU Course Description:

ENGL 2110: World Literature 3-0-3.

Prerequisite: ENGL 1102 (with C or better).

A study of world literature which explores human experience
by examining diverse aesthetic and cultural perspectives
from ancient to modern times.

 

KSU Academic Calendar for Spring 2008

                                    KSU Exam Schedule for Spring 2008

***KSU Statement on Academic Honesty (8-17-99)***

***KSU Student Code of Conduct***

 

Best advice for this course:

Read. Take notes. Be engaged for the long haul.

Or, as Garrison Keillor says,

"Be well, do good work, and keep in touch."

--RWH, 12/30/07


Required texts and other references:

Borges, Jorge Luis. “Some Versions of Homer.” PMLA 107.5 (Oct. 1992): 1134-38. [Full text available through Sturgis Library electronic resources and/or GALILEO.]

Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com.

Kandahar [Safar e Ghandehar]. Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Perf. Niloufar Pazira. New Yorker, 2001. (Blockbuster and Netflix).

The Kitchen Toto. Dir. and writ. Harry Hook. Perf. Edwin Mahinda. Warner, 1987.

Mack, Maynard, et al., eds. Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Expanded ed. New York: Norton, 1997. ISBN 0-393-97143-0 or 0-393-97143-9 (just be sure it’s the 1997 edition).

Maynard Mack, General Editor (Ph.D. Yale University) is Sterling Professor Emeritus of English at Yale University. His books include King Lear in Our Time (1965), The Garden and the City: Retirement and Politcs in the Later Poetry of Pope (1969), and Alexander Pope: A Life (1985), for which he won the Los Angeles Times 1986 Book Prize for best biography of the year, and Everybody's Shakespeare (1993).

Bernard M. W. Knox (Ph.D. Yale University) was for many years the Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles’ Tragic Hero and His Time (1957), The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy (1964), Word and Action (1979), Essays Ancient and Modern (1989), The Oldest Dead White European Males (Norton, 1993), Backing Into the Future (Norton, 1994), and recently edited The Norton Book of Classical Literature (1993).

Indira Peterson (Ph.D. Harvard University) is Professor of Asian Studies at Mount Holyoke College. Her articles on Indian literature and culture have appeared in The Journal of Asian Studies, Literature East and West, and Asian Folklore Studies. Among her books are Poems to SÏva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints (1989) and Design and Rhetoric in a Sanskrit Court Epic: The Kiratarjuniya of Bharavi (forthcoming).

Stephen Owen (Ph.D. Yale University) is Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. His books include The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T’ang (1980), Traditional Chinese Poetry and Poetics: An Omen of the World (1985), Remembrances: The Experience of the Past in Classical Chinese Literature (1986), and An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911 (Norton, 1996).

Jerome Clinton (Ph.D. University of Michigan) is Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His translations include The Tragedy of Sohr·b and Rost·m, from the Persian epic The Sh’hn’me. He is the author of The Divan of Mauchihri Damghani: A Critical Study (1972) and a language text, Modern Persian: Spoken and Written (forthcoming), and has published many articles on Middle Eastern literature.

Robert Lyons Danly (Ph.D. Yale University) is Professor of Far Eastern Languages and Literature at the University of Michigan. Among his many translations are In the Shade of Spring Leaves: The Life of Jiguchi Ichiyo, with Nine of Her Best Short Stories (Norton, 1992), for which he won the American Book Award in Translation in 1982, and two translations of works by Ihara Saikaku, Worldly Reckonings and The Woman Who Lived for Love (forthcoming).

P.M. Pasinetti (Ph.D. Yale University) is Professor Emeritus of Italian and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of numerous articles, revies, and film scripts, as well as several novels, including Venetian Red (1960), From Academy Bridge (1970), and Dorsoduro (1983), and was the recipient of the Fiction Award of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

John Nierhorst (B.A. Cornell University) is a writer and translator who has published widely on native American literature, specializing in Aztec studies. His books include Four Masterworks of American Indian Literature (1974), The Red Swan: Myths and Tales of the American Indians (1976), The Mythology of Mexico and Central America (1990), and The Way of the Earth: Native America and the Environement (1994).

Sarah Lawall (Ph.D., Yale University) is Professor of Comparative Literature and Adjunct Professor of French at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her publications include Critics of Consciousness: The Existential Structures of Literature (1968), "The Self-person of Surrealism" (1984), "World Literature, Comparative Literature, Teaching Literature" (1990), and Reading World Literature: Theory, History, and Practice (1994).

F. Abiola Irele (Ph.D., Sorbonne) is Professor of African, French, and Comparative Literatures at The Ohio State University. He is the editor of The Selected Poems of Senghor and The African Experience in Literature and Ideology (1990), and the author of numerous articles on African literature and intellectual movements.

The Man Who Would Be King. Dir. John Huston. Writ. Rudyard Kipling (story). Perf. Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Christopher Plummer. Warner, 1975.  (Blockbuster and Netflix).

Mississippi Masala. Dir. Mira Nair. Writ. Sooni Taraporevala. Perf. Sarita Choudhury, Denzel Washington. Samuel Goldwyn, 1992. (Blockbuster and Netflix).

Movie rental and purchase sites online: Blockbuster.com (1 DVD at a time, 2/mo by mail: $3.99 +tax/mo) AND Netflix.com (1 DVD at a time, 2/mo by mail: $4.99 +tax/mo, "2 weeks free trial"); Video Library;  Amazon.com (might purchase new or used copies of hard-to-find movies)

Nicenet.org http://www.nicenet.org/. [Class Key: 8224677226].

Pan’s Labyrinth [El laberinto del fauno]. Dir. and writ. Guillermo del Toro. Perf. Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Doug Jones. New Line, 2006. (Blockbuster and Netflix).

Rashômon. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Writ. Ryunosuke Akutagawa (stories). Perf. Machiko Kyô, Toshirô Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura. Criterion, 1950. (Blockbuster and Netflix).

WebCT http://vista.kennesaw.edu/. [NetID and your PIN].

The Wedding Banquet [Hsi yen]. Dir. Ang Lee. Perf. Dion Birney, Winston Chao. Samuel Goldwyn, 1993. (Blockbuster and Netflix).

 

Class Schedule (Nota bene: all readings are to be completed before the scheduled class meeting):

WEEK I.
Tuesday, January 8        The syllabus, read carefully, including all hyperlinked materials. Discuss "nations," "canon," "masterpieces," and other cultural constructs. All selections from the Ancient Egyptian "Leiden Hymns" and "Love Songs" (Mack 44-48)
Thursday, January 10      Borges’s “Some Versions of Homer” [For productive discussion and note-taking, bring printed copy to class with you]. Gilgamesh (Mack 13-42)

WEEK II.  
Tuesday, January 15      All selections from Genesis and Job (Mack).
Thursday, January 17      Mississippi Masala (117m)

Monday, January 21     Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. No KSU Classes

WEEK III.  
Tuesday, January 22      All selections from Plato and Aristotle (Mack 500-24)    
Thursday, January 24      All selections from Walt Whitman (Mack 2308-13); Emily Dickinson's "Much Madness is divinest Sense--," "I heard a Fly buzz--when I died," "The Brain--is wider than the Sky--," "Because I could not stop for Death--," "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--," "He preached upon 'Breadth' till it argued him narrow--" (Mack 2317, 2318-19, 2319-20, 2321)

WEEK IV.  
Tuesday, January 29          The Kitchen Toto (96m; available only as VHS. Nota bene: In this case alone, I have arranged a viewing during today’s class period for ENGL 2110-23, 9:30-10:45am. For this viewing, be sure to be on time, as the movie—which will have to be truncated somewhat—is 96 minutes and the class period is only 75.  For ENGL 2110-W38, I will arrange at least one additional viewing, depending on how many have been unable to see it by this week.
Thursday, January 31      Test #1 (multiple choice, machine-scored) 

WEEK V.  
Tuesday, February 5      All selections from Confucius and Chuang Chou (Mack)
Thursday, February 7      From The Book of Songs: 17, 18, 22, 24, 25, 28 (Mack)

WEEK VI.  
Tuesday, February 12    All selections from The Bible: The New Testament (Mack)
Thursday, February 14    Test #2 (cumulative--up to 20% of the test may include materials from earlier in the course; multiple choice, machine-scored)

WEEK VII.  
Tuesday, February 19    All selections from The Koran (Mack)
Thursday, February 21    The Thousand and One Nights (Mack)

WEEK VIII.  
Tuesday, February 26    The Man Who Would Be King (129m)
Thursday, February 28    Test #3 (cumulative--up to 20% of the test may include materials from earlier in the course; multiple choice, machine-scored)

March 1-7      Spring Break. No KSU classes Saturday-Friday
Monday, March 10       Last day to withdraw without academic penalty

WEEK IX.  
Tuesday, March 11        All selections from The Ramayana of Valmiki (Mack).
Thursday, March 13        Kandahar (85m)       

WEEK X.  
Tuesday, March 18        Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (Mack)
Thursday, March 20        Test #4 (cumulative--up to 20% of the test may include materials from earlier in the course; multiple choice, machine-scored)

WEEK XI.  
Tuesday, March 25              Rashômon (85m)
Thursday, March 27       Oedipus the King (Mack)

WEEK XII.  
Tuesday, April 1            Lu Xun's [Lu Hsün's] "Diary of a Madman" (Mack)
Thursday, April 3            All selections from The Bhagavad-Gita (Mack).

WEEK XIII.  
Tuesday, April 8            T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. [For productive discussion and note-taking, bring printed copy to class].
Thursday, April 10           The Wedding Banquet (105m); poems of Bai Juyi and Wen Tingyun [For productive discussion and note-taking, bring printed copy to class; "Poetry Translations from the Chinese." Trans. Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping. Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/issue-spring2003.htm.]

WEEK XIV.  
Tuesday, April 15           Test #5 (cumulative--up to 20% of the test may include materials from earlier in the course; multiple choice, machine-scored)
Thursday, April 17           Borges's "The Garden of Forking Paths" (Mack)

WEEK XV.  
Tuesday, April 22           Pan’s Labyrinth (119m)
Thursday, April 24           In-class review based on written questions or observations from students

Monday, April 28                KSU: Last day of classes for spring semester

FINAL EXAM for 2110-23 = April 29, 9:30-11:30am: The exam will be hyper-cumulative—that is, up to 90% may include materials from before April 15 on your syllabus.

April 29-May 5           KSU: FINAL EXAMS

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

TESTS AND GRADING:

1.     Five major tests, one hour (50+ questions), multiple-choice, one grade droppable = 15% each (for four tests); these tests to be accomplished online in WebCT (more later on this)

2.     Final exam, same format as Tests = 20%

3.     One formal essay, 1200-1500 words, an extended version of something you began to explore in Nicenet or WebCT, something that you and I (me, the professor guy) can agree is a good topic for you in this class = 20%

4.     Attendance: An “issue” for on-line courses (isn’t it?). Without requiring everybody to show up in a WebCT chat room at 3am, or some such plan, the best way to know you are engaged in the ongoing course is to observe and participate in  your online writing, in both venues—Nicenet and WebCT--which I will read all of and occasionally respond to. The online world here—for a literature course that aspires to be more than just a fill-’er-up FACTS machine—is a study group in a pedagogical situation that makes in-class discussion literally impossible. The online discussion sites, whether graded or not, are a forum for working out, affirming, testing, and therefore remembering your ideas about the material of this course.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Works Consulted

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Mack 2936-3030.

Amazon.com www.amazon.com.

Auden, W.H.  Introduction. The Living Thoughts of Kierkegaard. By Søren Kierkegaard. New York: David McKay, 1952; New York Review of Books, 1999. xiv-xv. 20 Jan. 2008 http://www.nybooks.com/shop/product-file/20/thel20/introduction.pdf.

 

Bai Juyi. Trans. Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping. "Assignment under the Title 'Departure at Ancient Grass Field.'" Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-assignment.htm.

---. "Buying Flowers." Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-buying.htm.

---. "Lament for Peony  Flowers." Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-lament.htm.

---. "Light Fur and Fat Horses." Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-light.htm.

---. "On Laozi." Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-on.htm.

---. "Poem II" [from "Two Quatrains about a Pond"]. Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-poem.htm.

---. "Song of Collecting Lotus Seeds." Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-song.htm.

---. "To My Wife." Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-to.htm.

---. "White Cloud Spring." Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-white.htm.

Blockbuster.com www.blockbuster.com.

Borges, Jorge Luis. "The Garden of Forking Paths." Mack 2874-81.

---. “Some Versions of Homer.” PMLA 107.5 (Oct. 1992): 1134-38.

Dickinson, Emily. "[Because I could not stop for Death--]." Mack 2319-20.

---. "[The Brain--is wider than the Sky--]."  Mack 2318-19.

---. "[He preached upon 'Breadth' till it argued him narrow--]." Mack 2321.

---. "[I heard a Fly buzz--when I died]." Mack 2317.

---. "[Much Madness is divinest Sense--]." Mack 2317.

---. "[Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--]." Mack 2321.

Eliot, T.S. The Waste Land. Mack 270-2802.

---. The Waste Land www.bartleby.com/201/1.html.

Gilgamesh. Trans. N.K. Sanders. Mack 13-42.

Internet Movie Database www.imdb.com.

Kandahar [Safar e Ghandehar]. Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Perf. Niloufar Pazira. New Yorker, 2001.

The Kitchen Toto. Dir. and writ. Harry Hook. Perf. Edwin Mahinda. Warner, 1987.

Mack, Maynard, et al., eds. Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Expanded ed. New York: Norton, 1997.

The Man Who Would Be King. Dir. John Huston. Writ. Rudyard Kipling (story). Perf. Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Christopher Plummer. Warner, 1975.

Mississippi Masala. Dir. Mira Nair. Writ. Sooni Taraporevala. Perf. Sarita Choudhury, Denzel Washington. Samuel Goldwyn, 1992.

Netflix.com www.netflix.com.

Pan’s Labyrinth [El laberinto del fauno]. Dir. and writ. Guillermo del Toro. Perf. Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Doug Jones. New Line, 2006. (Blockbuster and Netflix).

Parton, Dolly. “Coat of Many Colors.” LyricsFeak. 20 Jan. 2008 http://www.lyricsfreak.com/d/dolly+parton/coat+of+many+colors_20041950.html.

Pinker, Steven. “The Moral Instinct.” New York Times 13 Jan. 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/magazine/13Psychology-t.html?ei=5087&em=&en=180615d155579d74&ex=1200373200&pagewanted=all.

Rashômon. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Writ. Ryunosuke Akutagawa (stories). Perf. Machiko Kyô, Toshirô Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura. Criterion, 1950.

Roethke, Theodore. “I Knew a Woman [lovely in her bones].”  8 Jan. 2008 http://gawow.com/roethke/poems/122.html.

Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Mack 392-433.

The Thousand and One Nights. Trans. Jerome White Clinton. Mack 923-48.

Video Library http://www.vlibrary.com/vlibrary/.

The Wedding Banquet [Hsi yen]. Dir. Ang Lee. Perf. Dion Birney, Winston Chao. Samuel Goldwyn, 1993.

Wen Tingyun. Trans. Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping. "To the Tune of 'Beautiful Barbarians.'" Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-totunebeautiful.htm.

---. "To the Tune of 'Dreaming of the South Side of the River.'"  Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-totunedreaming.htm.

---. "To the Tune of 'The Water Clock Sings at Night'" (Poem 1). Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-totune.htm.

---. "To the Tune of 'The Water Clock Sings at Night'" (Poem 3). Kennesaw Review Spring 2003. 29 Dec. 2007 http://kennesawreview.org/OLD_SITE/spring2003/barnstone-totunewater.htm.

“Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Traditional. 20 Jan. 2008 http://ingeb.org/spiritua/willthec.html.

Xun, Lu [Lu Hsün] "Diary of a Madman." Mack 2726-35.