The Syllabus

ENGLISH 3: Introduction to Literature
Fall 2010
UC Davis
Tues/Thurs, 8-9:50am, Olson 244

Required Texts: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson, Light of Thy Countetance by Alan Moore, M Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, Rossum’s Universal Robots (R.U.R) by Karel Capek, Writing about Literature (2nd Edition) by Janet Gardner, Forage by Rita Wong, and other texts available online.

Prerequisite: You must have already completed the “Subject A” requirement to take English 3.

Course Description and Objectives:
One of the most successful novels of 2010 so far is Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story. SSTLS is described as an epistolary, dystopian love-story—a specific subgenre of the novel. Success is defined here in two ways: critical and commercial. In other words, critics and reviewers for newspapers, magazines, literary blogs and websites, and literary journals have generally had written favorable assessments of this novel. As to commercial success, the SSTLS is selling a lot of copies, from traditional hard-covers to e-books.
Before the novel was released, Shteyngart and his publishers launched a multi-media campaign to generate interest and sales in the novel. He was interviewed by Terry Gross on the NPR program Fresh Air, and a video trailer for the book featuring Shteyngart, other famous writers, and James Franco circulated on Youtube. Once the book was available, Shteyngart traveled the country doing reading/signing events. At his event in Berkeley, the author said that he also enjoys television and movies, but that a novel gives the reader something those media cannot. When you read a novel, he said, you empathize with another person’s mind—not their perspective (opinions & attitudes) as in tv and movies, but their whole, complicated mind.
What does all of this have to do with our Introduction to Literature course? Answer: Everything. This short account of SSTLS contains key elements we will focus on this quarter as I (re)introduce you to literature: How does a text fit into literary tradition? What is a genre and what does knowing and labeling genres do for us? How do we navigate our ideas about literature as something produced by artists and as a product for sale? How is literature still relevant and compelling in our era of online social networking and digital media? Can literature be meaningful to individuals and to social groups since reading is mostly done alone? And, what can literature show us about the act of narrating—telling stories, which is the primary mode we make sense of our world and almost everything we do in it?

This class engages with these inquiries and takes as its main objective teaching a core set of skills required to analyze, appreciate, and enjoy works of literature with an interest in content, form, and context. You will develop these skills through close reading a wide range of literary works in a variety of genres, and by writing responses as well as more formal pieces about those works that pique your interest.
Throughout this quarter, you should strive to obtain and cultivate the following abilities:
• Develop a thoughtful, informed, and sophisticated perspective on any given literary text.
• Situate your perspective in the context of the university, the field, and/or the specific literary studies conversations at hand.
• Communicate your perspective clearly through writing to the appropriate audience and through in-class discussions.

Course Assignments:

Blog Writings and Projects
You will create and maintain a blog for this course. There will be weekly writing assignments and/or projects to be completed and posted on your blog by the deadlines indicated. These writings contribute to the 6000-word writing requirement for this course and will range from informal to formal style and will be evaluated based on the requirements established for each assignment.

Reading Quizzes, Attendance, and Presentation
There will be regular short reading quizzes at the beginning of class meetings. These quizzes will be given at the start of class meetings, so be prompt in order to have the full time to complete them. You are expected to attend class regularly and to arrive having completed the reading. Significant absences or late arrivals will lower this portion of your grade. You are also required to give one short presentation to the class.

Formal Paper and Draft Workshop:
You will write two evidence-based, thesis-driven essays this quarter—one on poetry and one on fiction. Your essays will go through draft workshops aimed at helping you revise the final versions. Attendance is required at the workshops—failure to attend or failure to bring a substantial draft will result in an automatic 1/3 reduction of your grade for that paper (i.e. a B becomes a B-). These assignments will be handed out well in advance of the due dates so you can start planning and drafting early.

Final Exam:
The final exam will be Tuesday, December 7th, 3.30-5.30pm.

Grading/Evaluation Policies:
Blog 25%
Reading Quizzes/Part./Pres.: 10%
Formal Essays 50% (Poetry=20%, Fiction=30%)
Final Exam: 15%

Submitting Your Final Essay:
Your essays must be submitted to me on the assigned dates (see schedule below). DO NOT submit any papers to the English or University Writing Program department offices. They do no accept student papers. In case of medical or other emergency, contact me before the due date to discuss an extension; extensions are granted only under exceptional circumstances. Late papers will receive a 1/3 grade reduction for each day past the due date, and no papers are accepted after the final exam.

Office Hours:
You are greatly encouraged to use my office hours early and often! I have found office hour meetings significantly beneficial to students, whether in the brainstorming phases of writing, working through a challenging literary work or idea, or in the midst of final essay revisions. If your schedule precludes you from coming to my scheduled office hours, I am willing to make an appointment. I do not accept drafts over email, so do stop by to see me.

Course Requirements and Policies:

 ENL3 has a 6000-word requirement. You must complete every graded written assignment, including the final exam, in order to fulfill the requirement and pass the course. If you are missing any formal assignment at the end of the quarter, I cannot pass you.
 You must earn a C- or better in order to pass, even if you have turned in all the work.

Academic Honesty:
With regard to plagiarism, don’t do it! Whether the work of others is submitted through purposeful mendacity or for lack of familiarity with what constitutes plagiarism, it is a serious academic offense that you will do well to avoid. Suspect papers will be submitted to the UC Davis Student Judicial Affairs to follow university procedures regarding academic honesty. I am happy to help you avoid this issue, so bring any questions to class or office hours before the assignment is due. A complete outline of university policies and guidelines for avoiding plagiarism can be found at http://sja.ucdavis.edu.

Disclosures:
If you require any accommodation in the course due to a disability, please acquire formal documentation of the disability from the UC Davis Disability Resources Center. You may then notify me by providing the documentation so I can make arrangements to meet your needs.



Modifications:
Course schedule subject to change with notification from instructor. Course policies will be modified only if absolutely necessary.

ENL 3: Introduction to Literature: Fall 2010
Schedule of Reading and Writing Assignments
You are expected to complete assignments for the day on which they are listed. You will be notified of any changes to this schedule well in advance both in class and electronically.

Thu., Sep. 23 Course Introduction
First reading and writing. Establishing our blogs.
Key Concepts: Defining “Literature” and How & Why to Write About it

Tue., Sep. 28 “What is Poetry?”
Read Shakespeare “That time of year thou mayst in me behold”, Wordsworth “Nuns Fret Not”, Brooks "First Fight. Then Fiddle", “Sonnet” by Christina Rosetti
Key Concepts: Line, Stanza, Rhyme, Rhythm, Metre, The Sonnet form
Writing: Evidence and Claims 1

Thu., Sep. 30 “A dimpled spider, fat and white”
Read Keats “This Living Hand”, Frost “Design”, Hemans “Casabianca”, Rich “Diving into the Wreck” and Gardner pp. 1-15.
Key Concepts: Imagery and Symbolism
Writing: Evidence and Claims 2

Tue. Oct. 5 “Form and Content, Form versus Content, Form as Content”
Read Emily Dickinson “I dwell in Possibility”, Pound “In a Station on the Metro”, Blake “The Tyger”, Ted Hughes “Crow’s Theology”, Brautigan “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace”
Key Concepts: Couplet, Ambiguity, the Dash—
Writing: Introductions—making a first impression

Thu., Oct. 7 “It Gathers to a Greatness”
Read Hopkins “God’s Grandeur” and select poems by Gary Snyder; Gardner pp. 16-42.
Key Concepts: Pace, Texture, Punctuation, Repetition, and Play
Writing: Formulating your thesis

Tue., Oct. 12 Poetic Form and Writing about Literature
Gardner 82-91
Draft Workshop: Poetry essay

Thu., Oct. 14 “Literature, Science, Geopolitics: Rita Wong in Context”
Read Rita Wong’s Forage, yes, all of it, so start early!
Key Concepts: Reading poems in the context of the author and his/her historical/social/cultural contexts. Conclude poetry segment.

Tue., Oct. 19 “What is Narrative?”
Read Cortazar “Axolotl” and Poe “The Cask of Amontillado”
Key Concepts: Basic Structures of Story & Plot—Fabula & Syuzhet
Poetry Essay Due in class

Thu., Oct. 21 “There are no longer problems of the spirit.”
Read Faulkner “A Rose for Emily” and Nobel Prize Banquet Speech; Gardner pp. 57-60
Key Concepts: Narrative persona, characterization, revelation-suggestion-suppression
Writing: Conclusions

Tue., Oct. 26 “Recognizing some of the Patterns”
Read Gibson’s Pattern Recognition pp. 1-112
Key Concepts: Science fiction literary history, novel structures

Thu., Oct. 28 “How blankness can yield an image…”
Read Pattern Recognition pp. 113-187
Key concepts: Focalization, POV
Writing: Organization—at the local and global levels of your writing

Tue., Nov. 2 “de-recontextualized”
Read Pattern Recognition pp. 188-291
Key Concepts: literary modernism/postmodernism, the Internet, economics, and theorizing the cool.
Writing: Development—extending your ideas into longer writings

Thu., Nov. 4 “Getting out of a novel”
Read Pattern Recognition p. 292 to end
Key Concepts: Analyzing and assessing the conclusion of a sustained text.
Writing: Technology and Academic Writing

Tue., Nov. 9 “Encounter with Literary Criticism”
Read Franco Moretti article; Gardner pp. 110-137 on research papers
Key Concepts: Reading Professional Literary Criticism; Incorporating Research into Your Academic Writing

Thu., Nov. 11 Veteran’s Day—No Class Meeting

Tue., Nov. 16 “What is Drama?”
Read Capek’s RUR, pp. vii-49
Key Concepts: A Literary History of Drama
Writing: Revisions: strategies and priorities

Thu., Nov. 18 “history is not made by great dreams, but by the petty wants…”
Read RUR, pp. 50-End, Gardner pp. 92-93
Key Concepts: Drama & Social Issues, Mise-en-scene
Writing: College Writing as Process and Product

Tue., Nov. 23 “Fiction Essay Progress”
In-class draft workshop

Thu., Nov. 25 Thanksgiving Holiday—No Class Meeting

Tue., Nov. 30 “Yes, I am. I am your Butterfly.”
Read all of M Butterfly.
Key concepts: Social drama: race and gender in literature, narrative structure and surprise

Thu., Dec. 2 “This is the End/There he goes…He’s feelin’ his Cheerios”
Read Alan Moore’s Light of Thy Countenance
Key Concepts: Fiction and Mixed Media
Revisiting core questions about what is literature and what does it do
Fiction Essay due in class




Tuesday, December 7th Final Exam: 3.30-5.30pm