[First-Run-of-the-Term Syllabus]

ENGL 2145-01: Introduction to English Studies

Summer 2007
(CRN 10173)

MW 2-4:45p,EB231

 

Professor Robert W. Hill
Office Hours, EB 117:Monday/Wednesday, 1:30-1:45p, by appointment, and often online.
Phone and voicemail: (770)423-6346
E-mails: rhill@kennesaw.eduAND­­ rhill41@gmail.com (alwayssend to both addresses)
RWH website at KSU: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~rhill
WebCT: http://vista.kennesaw.edu
Nicenet (CLASS KEY = 7202666E95): http://www.nicenet.org  

 

INTRODUCTIONTO ENGLISH STUDIES. This course introduces students to the reading, writing, research,and critical strategies essential to the KSU English and English Educationmajors. The course draws connections among the four content areas in theEnglish Department (Literature, Language, Writing, and Theory) and focuses ontheir relationship to broader social and personal contexts, enabling studentsto make informed choices about their program of study and their careers. If youhave already taken either ENGL 2140 or 2150, do not take this class.

 

REQUIRED TEXTS (N.B.: 5 books in your possession for classes):

 

Bishop,Elizabeth. “At the Fishhouses.” 25Nov. 2005  http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15209.

---. “In theWaiting Room.” 25 Nov. 2005http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15211.

---. “One Art.” 25Nov. 2005 http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15212.

Brooks,Gwendolyn. “A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi.Meanwhile,
a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon.” 25Nov. 2005 http://poetlaureate.il.gov/brooks_bronzeville.cfm.

---. “The Loversof the Poor.” 25 Nov. 2005http://poetlaureate.il.gov/brooks_lovers.cfm.

---. “We RealCool.” 25 Nov. 2005http://poetlaureate.il.gov/brooks_we.cfm.

Didion, Joan. TheYear of Magical Thinking. New  York: Knopf, 2005. ISBN 140004314X.

Gibaldi,Joseph.  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed.  NewYork: MLA, 2003. ISBN 0-87352-986-3.

Harmon,William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 10th ed. UpperSaddle River, NJ:Prentice, 2005. ISBN 0131344420.

Hopkins, GerardManley. “Pied Beauty.” 25Nov. 2005 http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/134.html.

---. “The Windhover.”25 Nov. 2005 http://www.bartleby.com/122/12.html.

Kundera,Milan. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. 1978. New York: HarperPerennial, 1996. ISBN 0-06-092608. 

Shakespeare,William. Sonnet XXIX [“When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes”]. 25Nov. 2005 http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1855.html.

---. SonnetLXXIII [“That time of year thou mayst in me behold”]. 25Nov. 2005 http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1864.html.

---. Sonnet CXXX[“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”]. 25Nov. 2005 http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1873.html.

Melville, Herman.“Benito Cereno.” 1856. 13 Nov. 2005 http://books.mirror.org/melville/benitocereno/.

MississippiMasala. Dir. Mira Nair. Writ. SooniTaraporevala.  Perf. Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury.Goldwyn, 1991.

Ohmann, Richard.“Teaching and Studying Literature at the End of Ideology” from English in America:A Radical View of the Profession (NewYork: OxfordUP, 1976]. 27 Aug. 2007http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/ohmann.html.

Richter,David, ed. Falling into Theory: Conflicting Views on Reading Literature. 2nd ed. Boston:Bedford-St. Martin’s, 1999. ISBN 0312201567.

Smoke Signals. Dir. Chris Eyre. Writ. ShermanAlexie. Perf. Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard. Miramax, 1998.

Stevens, Wallace.“The Idea of Order at Key West.”13 Nov. 2005 http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Poetry/Stevens/The_Idea_of_Order_at_Key_West.html.

---. “Of ModernPoetry.” 25 Nov. 2005http://skreak.com/stevens.php.

---. “The PlainSense of Things.” 25 Nov.2005 http://skreak.com/stevens.php.

---. “SundayMorning.” 25 Nov. 2005http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Poetry/Stevens/sunday_morning.html.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:  

  1. Focusing on the four content areas in the English Department (Literature, Language, Writing, and Theory) and their relation to the broader context of English Studies and its interpretive practices, this course examines formal conventions of three major literary genres (poetry, fiction, and drama) and many of the theoretical and critical strategies that inform contemporary literary criticism. 
  2. In addition to emphasizing the reading, writing, research, and analytical skills vital to a major in English, the course also addresses various disciplinary issues, such as the construction of literary value; the roles that gender, ethnicity, race, and sexual orientation play in reading, teaching, and interpreting texts; and connections among the humanities, politics, and the so-called “real world.” 
  3. With the pervasiveness of electronic media in our contemporary culture, we are also obligated to practice at least minimal competence with computers and computer research in this course—thus, our required online response writing.
  4. Throughout the semester, and in developing an Online Career Portfolio, students will be encouraged to recall their own experiences in English classes and to reflect upon just what it means to be an English/English Education major.
  5. Simply, to enjoy the study of English and the exchange of ideas and information with other members of an academic literary—that is, reading—community.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

During the course of the semester, students will:

perform a “close reading,” orexplication, of a literary work;

write a critical essay;

take three objective tests ongenre-specific and literary/critical terms;

write a documented researchessay;

engage in weekly onlineresponse writings;

develop an OLCP (Online CareerPortfolio); and

present a final exam byelectronic means. 

In addition to these requirements, students are expected to read theassigned materials in their entirety, to participate actively in classdiscussion, and to attend class regularly.  The requirements break down asfollows:

·                   The Close Reading—600-750words, formatted and documented in accordance with MLA style—asks you toanalyze an assigned text in accordance with the principles and practice of NewCriticism.  These principles and their application will be discussed inclass.

·                   The Critical Essay you’ll writethis semester will analyze a text from a particular theoretical/criticalperspective and employ at least two relevant secondary sources.  The essayshould be 1200-1500 words, formatted and documented in accordance with MLAstyle. I will suggest some topics for this essay, but, upon consultation withme, you may pursue one of your own.

·         The Objective Tests will covergeneric and critical terms/vocabulary/nomenclature/jargon (e.g., personification,point of view, deconstruction,discourse community) described in yourtextbooks (primarily Harmon’s Handbook to Literature) and during class discussion.  These will beshort-answer tests.

·                   The Research Essay you’ll writethis semester, employing at least three relevant secondary sources, should be1800-2000 words formatted and documented in accordance with the MLAstyle.  In it, you will explore at length one of the theoretical,pedagogical, or professional issues raised in class.  The topic you selectwill depend upon your own particular interests: if, for example, you areinterested in literary theory, you might take a theoretically informed approachto a literary text; if you are an English education major, you might discusshow one or more of the issues discussed in class affects teaching.

·                   For the Final Exam, you willdeliver as a Word attachment an essay intended to be written in one hour. I will distribute a guideline for this report shortly before the date of thefinal.

·                   Class Participation is a vitalpart of your learning experience and crucial to the success of this course as awhole.  Our class will be a collaborative enterprise, with studentsactively contributing to our classroom community’s understanding of the textsand topics we’ll explore throughout this semester.  Obviously, one cannotcontribute much to discussion without first having read the material, nor canone participate at all without attending class.  Thus classparticipation—raising questions or responding to discussion, offeringanswers, thoughts, or suggestions—together with REGULARATTENDANCE, will be important factors indetermining your final grade for the course.  Two or moreunexcused absences constitute grounds for lowering your final grade, as doesexcessive TARDINESS or early departures; more than four absences, excused orunexcused, will result in a failing grade for the course. In the event that you are late,it is your responsibility to inform me after class.  Otherwise, you willbe counted absent.

Final Grades will be factored asfollows:

Closereading                                        10%
Criticalessay                                         15%
ResearchEssay                                     30%
Objective Tests                                    15%
Response Writing, including OLCP                   10%
ClassParticipation                                 10%
FinalExam                                            10%

ACADEMIC HONESTY & CLASSROOM CONDUCT: 

Every KSU student is responsible for upholding the provisions of the StudentCode of Conduct, as published in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs.Section II of the Student Code of Conduct addresses the University’s policy onacademic honesty, including provisions regarding plagiarism and cheating,unauthorized access to University materials, misrepresentation/falsification ofUniversity records or academic work, malicious removal, retention, ordestruction of library materials, malicious/intentional misuse of computerfacilities and/or services, and misuse of student identification cards. Incidents of alleged academic misconduct will be handled through theestablished procedures of the University Judiciary Program, which includeseither an “informal” resolution by a faculty member, perhaps resulting in agrade adjustment, or a formal hearing procedure, which may subject a student tothe Code of Conduct’s minimum one-semester suspension requirement or worse.(Pertinent hyperlinks to more university information on this subject arereadily visible on my main web page: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~rhill).

ENGLISHSTUDIES: HISTORY AND DISCIPLINE

Focus:  What is English Studies?  When did English become a“discipline”?  What does it mean to “study” English, and how is the KSUEnglish major organized?

FirstDay of Class: Stuff and tone

1.      Housekeeping: minimal notes on syllabus; instructions foremailing the professor; announce online final examination

2.      Practice using both Nicenet and WebCT in class.

3.      Close-reading exercises and response writings on first threepages of Kundera and Didion.

4.      Some terms discussed: “academic attitude”; phenomenological“bracketing”; semiotics; literary “tone”; narrator; ambiguity/ambivalence;irony; literary “style”; gender signals and stereotypes in literary style;assign immediate completion of Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting;

FirstFull Week (June 4, 6):

1.      Have completed Kundera’s The Book of Laughter andForgetting.

2.      David Richter, “Why We Read: The University, the Humanities,and the Provinceof Literature” (15-30).

3.      Bring copy of KSU undergraduate catalogue.

4.      ASAP: (a) email to me info about which three essays fromRichter that you will read immediately; (b) browse Harmon’s Handbook and bring your list of recommended items for us all.

STUDYING ENGLISH: WHAT AND HOW WEREAD

Focus: What is “language,” and how does it work?  What kinds ofbooks do English majors read, and why?  What is “the canon,” and who getsto decide?  Are there “right ways” to read a text?

5.      Richter, “What We Read: The Literary Canon and the Curriculumafter the Culture Wars” (121-36).

6.      Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “Canon-Formation, Literary History,and the Afro-American Tradition: From the Seen to the Told” (175-82).

7.      Dennis R. Preston, “Myth 17: They Speak Really Bad EnglishDown South and in New York City”(http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/attitudes/).

8.      Richter, “How We Read: Interpretive Communities and Meaning”(235-52).

9.      Patrocinio Schweickart, “Reading Ourselves: Toward a FeministTheory of Reading” (http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/wyrick/debclass/schwe.htm).

10.  StanleyFish, “Is There a Text in This Class?” (http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/wyrick/debclass/fish.htm).

11.  Miall, David S., and Teresa Dobson. “Reading Hypertext and theExperience of Literature” (http://jodi.tamu.edu/Articles/v02/i01/Miall/). 

SecondFull Week (June 11, 13):

POETRY

Focus: What kind of language is “poetry,” and how does it work?  Arethere terms, techniques, and conventions unique to the genre?  How shallwe read, write, and talk about poetry?

Assignment: Objective Test #1

READING CLOSELY: POETRY AND NEWCRITICISM

Focus: What is a “close reading,” and how is it done? What makes a close readingdifferent from any other kind of reading?  What’s “new” about NewCriticism?

Assignment: Essay.1 = Close Readingdue no later than noon Friday the 15th

ThirdFull Week (June 18, 20):

STRATEGIES FOR READINGAND INTERPRETING TEXTS:

LITERARY THEORY

Focus: Why “theory,” and what is it for?  What’s the differencebetween literary theory and literary criticism?  What does literary theoryhave to do with reading and writing about literature?

  1. Have completed Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking
  2. Richter, “Introduction: Falling Into Theory” (1-13)
  3. Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation” (http://www.coldbacon.com/writing/sontag-againstinterpretation.html)
  4. Losh, Elizabeth. “The New Close Reading: Web-Based Technology and Writing Pedagogy” (http://e3.uci.edu/faculty/losh/pubs/cr.doc).
  5. Herman Melville’s “Benito Cereno.”

FICTION

Focus: What is fiction?  Are there terms, techniques, andconventions unique to the genre?  What is the difference between “fiction”and “non-fiction”?  How shall we read, write, and talk aboutfiction? 

Assignment: Objective Test #2

FourthFull Week (June 25, 27):

June 29 = LAST DAY TO WITHDRAW WITHOUT ACADEMIC PENALTY

WRITING AS AN ENGLISH MAJOR

Focus: How and what do English majors write?  What are thedifferences between summary, explication, and analysis?  What is MLA styleof citation, and how is it used?

Assignment: Essay.2 = Critical Essay due no later than noon Friday the 29th.

FifthWeek (July 2, Holiday on the 4th):

DRAMA

Focus: What is drama?  Are there terms, techniques, and conventionsunique to the genre?  What is the difference (or therelationship) between a play and its performance?  How shall we read,write, and talk about drama?  How may we, and may we not, reasonably andusefully speak of “drama” and “film” together?

Assignment: Objective Test #3

1.      Mississippi Masala

2.      Smoke Signals.

3.      Any Shakespeare play you’ve already studied.

4.      Any other play you’ve seen or studied.

SixthFull Week (July 9, 11):

WRITING THE RESEARCH PAPER

Focus: What do EnglishMajors need to know, and how can they find out?  What kinds of sources areavailable to English Majors?

1.      Library Workshop

2.      Writing Workshops

SeventhFull Week (July 16, 18):

  1. George Will, “Literary Politics.”  (http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=114&sid=0667e0de-a7d7-40a3-bf0f-1b68e71fc728%40sessionmgr108).

ENGLISH STUDIES ANDINTERDISCIPLINARITY:  LITERATURE, POLITICS, AND CULTURE

Focus: How do cultural and historical conditions affect literary texts andthe ways in which we read them?  What is the difference between the“literary” and the “non-literary”?  Can strategies for analyzing literarytexts be applied to other forms of writing or communication, e.g., visual,electronic, or digital? 

Assignment: Essay.3 = Research Paper due no later than noon Friday the 20th.

EighthWeek (July 23—LAST CLASS):

  1. Refining your OLCP

FINALEXAMINATION PERIOD:
Monday, July 25, 2-4p

Here are several wayswe’ll establish and maintain an active learning community during this semester:

Informme immediately about your access to and skill with computer technology;

Followour evolving syllabus at my KSU web site and its reiterations in Nicenetand WebCT;

Send a“Here I am” message to BOTH my e-mail addresses above, including your mostaccessible telephone number(s);

Usingthe Class Key that I will announce the first day (Class Key: 7Z8874ZE74), join our class at http://www.nicenet.org;

Usingyour WebCT number and PIN number, join our WebCT class at http://vista.kennesaw.edu;

Spend atleast fifteen minutes once a week online, writing thoughtful responses to our readings/viewings,class discussions, classmates’ writings, etc., being sure all the while tomaintain civil, respectful, considerate rhetoric in dealing with our co-workersin this important enterprise. (I will read everything but intrude rarely.) DoNOT duplicate responses, but you must have roughly equal numbers of responsesat each site.

Meetingonly twice a week, we need always to attend class unless a genuine emergencyprevents (usually medical).

RESPONSE WRITING:

“Response writing” includesin-class writing assignments and online responses. These will not be graded forgrammar, spelling, mechanics, etc., but for their regular, conscientiouscontribution to our ongoing class discussion. Bluntly, either it’s done or itisn’t. These are graded twice, A or F, at midterm and at the end of the course.Unless otherwise instructed, you should post these responses to Nicenet orWebCT for classmates’ edification and delight. Spend at least fifteen minutestwice a week online, writing thoughtful responses to our readings/viewings,class discussions, classmates’ writings, etc., being sure all the while tomaintain civil, respectful, considerate rhetoric in dealing with our co-workersin this important enterprise. (I will read everything but will intrude rarely.)Do NOT duplicate responses, but you must have roughly equal numbers ofresponses at each site.

[I must say that it grieves meto have to lay out such prescriptive, quantitative details. Writing these responsesshould become second nature, proceeding from your active engagement in thisconversation of scholars. When and if you think of this assignment as a task tobe completed only with numerical exactitude, you have already limited the wayyou can be drawn into genuine exchanges with your classmates and—to speaksomewhat abstractly—with ideas. Engagement is really the key—honestengagement, which will inevitably produce more than the minimum of “assignmentsmet.” As students of yourselves as well as of subject matter, you ought to feelsome obligation to think about how and why you think the way you do. Playing onthe relatively safe testing-ground of academia, you’ll gain much more strengthand subtlety by entering the game without the impediment of legalisticnumbers-counting.—RWH, 10/17/03, ditto 8/27/06, 1/1/07]

Response writings serve severalfunctions in this class. They can be the basis for class discussion when theyare written at the beginning of class; they can guide your preparation for thefollowing class when they are written during or at the end of the period. Thoseresponses written at the end can also indicate to me material that needsfurther explanation or development at the next meeting. I expect you always touse those writing assignments to develop your ideas and to improve andstrengthen your writing abilities. They serve you as an ongoing dialogue withyourself about issues raised in the course and in the process of our ideas’evolving in class discussions.

EXPECTATIONS:

I expect students to take theirwork seriously, to come to class prepared and willing to participate, and totreat peers and their ideas with respect.

Formal writing assignments,especially the documented essay, must demonstrate good academic writingpractices as well as a serious effort to deal with writing problems that mayhave been pointed out in earlier written work.

In addition to my comments onyour papers and in class lectures, I will be glad to work with you duringoffice hours to facilitate your improvement as a writer. You may also go to theexcellent staff in the WritingCenter (located on the second floorof the EnglishBuilding: 770-423-6380) toimprove on those elements of the writing process that give you trouble.

I expect students to read well,think well, write well, and speak well as members of this English Studiescommunity. And enjoy the ride.—RWH, 1/7/04 (ditto, 11/25/05, 8/27/06, and1/1/07).

 

[This page last revised, June 1, 2007.—RWH]