ENGL 205 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
FALL 2008
Title: ANCIENTS, MODERNS & MODERNISTS
Time:
Class #: 31126
Place: 4050 Wescoe
Instructor: ATKINS, G. Douglas
COURSE DESCRIPTION: In this course we read widely while focusing on “Ancient” writers of the eighteenth century and the twentieth, including Pope, Swift, Joyce, and Eliot, the latter two Modernists who joined the Augustans in opposing Moderns. We will, in addition, read The Odyssey and Madame Bovary. We will look closely at these texts in order to see by means of them, joining them in a “journey towards understanding.” Since I believe, and will teach, that in order to read well, you have to “write it down” (Andrew Lytle), there will be several papers, probably at least five. Whether there will a final exam depends upon how the group progresses. Class will be conducted as lecture/discussion, with students expected to be prepared for daily participation. I hope to arrange at least one field trip, this to Spencer Research Library.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Homer, The Odyssey, trans. Rouse; Swift, Gulliver’s Travels and Other
Writings; Pope, Poetry and
Prose; Flaubert, Madame Bovary, trans. Bair; Joyce, A Portrait of
the Artist as a Young Man; Eliot, Collected Poems; Eliot, Selected
Essays; and other texts available in the library; Dept. of English, Composition
and Literature.
Title: FAULKNER & MORRISON
Time:
Class #: 38033
Place: 223 Fraser
Instructor: FOWLER, Doreen
COURSE DESCRIPTION: In this class, we will explore the major
fiction of two of
Course Requirements: two papers (approximately 5-pages each), an oral presentation, a midterm, and a final exam. Class participation also is a requirement.
REQUIRED TEXTS: William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, Absalom, Absolom!, Go Down
Moses, and Intruder in the Dust;
Toni Morrison, Song
of Solomon, Beloved,
Jazz, and Playing in
the Dark.
Title: WRITING THE SELF
Time:
Class #: 41636
Place: 4050 Wescoe
Instructor: GRAHAM, Maryemma
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Class mantra: I write, therefore, I am
Many people have defined autobiography, the largest category of life writing, but for the moment, let us consider the following one by James Olney: “a narrative work, written by a person about him/herself, that assigns significance to the events of the past, discovering in them and then creating out of them a pattern that brings the author and the reader into the present.” In all autobiography, one is making that which is experienced privately a matter of public record. Autobiographical narratives began to be written as soon settlers arrived in the country that would become America, but formal study of this largest category of life writing, is just thirty-something. In a poll taken of people who read books, 75% said they prefer autobiography above all other genres. Whether or not you are in this group of people, you are invited to join a class that explores the reasons why autobiography holds such fascination in literary study and in popular culture. Our starting point will be to look at autobiography in relationship to explorations of the self and questions about identity.
Our method will be to read comparatively, with an interest in the structural components of autobiography as well as in the process of development (formation of the self) that we witness. Beginning with a early classic autobiography (James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man), and immigrant autobiography (Jade Snow Wong, Fifth Chinese Daughter; Richard Rodriquez, Hunger of Memory), we will read a Kansas story (Gordon Parks, Learning Tree) and move contemporary American autobiographies (Dorothy Alison, Bastard out of Carolina; Sister Souljah, Coldest Winter Ever);) experimental autobiography (Sandra Cisneros, House on Mango Street; Sherman Alexie, Tonto and Lone Ranger Fistfight in Heaven) and finally to a very recent international autobiography (Mende Nazer, Slave). These are life stories of young adults exclusively. Plan on being challenged, researching, and, of course, writing a response paper on each book. There will be one midterm covering the basic vocabulary, the elements of autobiography, and the history of the genre (objective exam). Classes will be structured as a seminar with discussions, individual presentations, and a class project. A set of background readings will accompany the course and will be available in advance. Rule of thumb: you must read each book in its entirety in order to back up your ideas with examples.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man; Wong, Fifth Chinese
Daughter;
Rodriquez, Hunger of Memory; Parks, Learning Tree; Alison, Bastard
out of
and Lone Ranger Fistfight in Heaven; Nazer, Slave;
and Dept. of English, Composition and
Literature.
Title: HISTORICAL HEROINES
Time:
Class #: 33702
Place: 1003 Wescoe
Instructor: MORIARTY, Laura
COURSE
DESCRIPTION: Historical fiction is an immensely popular genre, and it's easy to see
why: when it's done well, readers feel as if they are experiencing another era
on a personal and intimate level. Historical fiction can also offer alternative
narrations of the past, giving voice to groups of people whose perspectives
have been ignored or neglected in conventional history books. In this course,
we will focus on fiction that reconstructs the past from the perspectives of
imagined women. We will pay particular attention to competing narratives of the
same time period, considering each writer, as well as the time period in which
she was writing, to better understand the different
agendas and perspectives of each story. We will also consider the extent to
which time and place affects character and fate, imagining how these heroines might
have fared in our time, and how we might have fared in theirs. Regular class
participation and attendance required. Several short papers
and two of medium length, quizzes, and a final project.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Mitchell, Gone with the Wind;
Morrison, Beloved; Smiley, The All-True Travels and Adventures of
Lidie Newton; Prasad, On Borrowed Wings; Atwood, Alias Grace;
Atwood and University of Ottawa Press, Searching for “Alias Grace”; See,
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan; Dept. of English, Composition and Literature;
and selected short story handouts.