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Required
Texts:
Austen, Persuasion
(1818)
Clark, The Ox-Bow Incident (1940)
James, Daisy Miller (1878) Penguin edition ONLY
Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912)
Powell, My Home Is Far Away (1944)
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (1599)
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About this Course: Great
Books: Literature is part of the university's General Education (GE) Program.
Regardless of what you might think, GE was not instituted to slow down
your progress toward graduation, wring more money out of you, or bore
you to death. Rather, the GE Program "seeks to:
- sharpen critical thinking,
problem solving, and communication skills as a basis for lifelong learning;
- cultivate an awareness
of the moral and ethical insight needed for participation in the human
community;
- increase knowledge and
understanding of the past, of the world in which we live, and of how
both past and present have an impact on the future" (WSU catalogue).
Approaching these worthy
intellectual and interpersonal goals through a wide variety of studies,
which may not seem to have any "practical" application to your more immediate
professional goals, is part of the universalizing experience which
is at the heart of a university education, and, indeed, has been a central
part of university education since the beginning of universities.
In this particular version
of the course we will concentrate the act of persuasion both
within, and as an element of, literary texts. That is, within the texts
characters are motivated to act through various types of persuasive pressure
derived from social, ethical, personal, temporal and cultural notions
of good and bad, which we will examine and discuss. Additionally -- and
more importantly from our perspective -- literary texts motivate readers
to move through them through other types of persuasive pressures: using
language to cause anticipation, reflection, recognition, dread, uncertainty,
revision of expectations, etc. As the course progresses, we will try to
come to some understanding of these persuasive mechanisms via a contemporary
theory of readers and texts, variously termed "Reader Response" or "Reception"
Theory.
English 204 is also a
writing-intensive course for the GE program. For more information
see http://web1.wright.edu/academics/wac/gened.htm.
Work: Some form of
reading is due every day. Some form of writing is due nearly every day.
Some assignments will be made orally, or on the blackboard, in class.
Others will be made in handouts. The graded work for this course includes
- 5 Expectations/Outcomes
assignments. Since the Outcomes portion of the assignment asks you to
revise your thoughts, this will constitute the revision opportunity
specified in the WAC guidelines
- Group worksheets for Julius
Caesar
Expectations/Outcomes and
worksheets are due in class, on the day assigned and will not be accepted
late. If you must miss a class, turn in these items in advance
if you wish credit. 25%
- 2 exams. The midterm and
final include objective questions on reading and lecture material, handouts,
terms and historical contexts. 25%
- 1 creative or scholarly
writing assignment, your choice. 25%
Attendance: This is
an intensive course and it moves rapidly. Simply keeping up with the reading,
while important, is not sufficient for passing. Much of the real learning
will take place during class lectures and discussion. However, I cannot
compel you to attend class and, frankly, if you do not intend to come
on time and prepared to participate fully, I'd rather you stayed away.
I do not plan to take attendance after the drop/add period ends, but all
students should be aware of the following policies, which are not subject
to discussion or amendment:
- I will not accept any
written work after the class period in which it is due. I will be glad
to accept worksheets before the due date.
- I will give no make up
exams. In rare, documented emergencies, if I am notified before the
day of the exam, I will schedule an individual exam time for you.
- Your essay and optional
revision are acceptable only during or before the class period
in which they are due.
- Ordinarily I will neither
recap class discussion nor repeat assignments after a class meeting.
If you notify me about an unavoidable, documentable conflict prior
to the missed class I will give the assignment by phone or email,
at my discretion.
- In the event of a childcare
emergency, your children are always welcome to come and play quietly.
New college students should
realize that if they miss any class often enough, their performance on
exams will suffer.
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Calendar:
Note: Readings and writings are due on the date indicated. If you do not
believe you can complete your work in a timely manner, please drop this
course; others are waiting to enroll.
Mar.
26: Introductory Matters
Mar.
28: Read/Discuss Clark, The Ox-Bow Incident, chapters 1-2.
Expectations Due.
Apr.
2: Continue discussion: The Ox-Bow Incident, chapter 3.
Apr.
4: Conclude discussion: The Ox-Bow Incident, chapters 4-5.
Outcomes due.
Apr.
9: Read/Discuss: Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored
Man, chapters I-IV. Expectations Due.
Apr.
11: Continue discussion: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored
Man, chapters V-IX.
Apr.
16: Conclude discussion: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored
Man, chapters X-XI. Outcomes due.
Apr.
18: Read/Discuss: James, Daisy Miller, Preface to the New
York Edition, pp. 40-43, and chapter 1. Expectations Due.
Apr.
23: Continue discussion: Daisy Miller, chapters 2-3.
Apr.
25: Conclude discussion: Daisy Miller, chapter 4. Outcomes
due.
Apr.
30: Exam 1.
May
2: Read/Discuss: Austen, Persuasion, volume 1, chapters
1-8. Expectations Due.
May
7: Continue discussion: Persuasion, volume 1, chapter 9
through volume 2, chapter 5.
May
9: Conclude discussion: Persuasion, volume 2, chapters 6-12.
Outcomes due.
May
14: Read/Discuss: Powell, My Home Is Far Away, Part One,
"The Man in the Balloon." Expectations Due.
May
16: Continue discussion: My Home Is Far Away, Part Two,
"The Shepherdess in the Snowstorm Ball."
May
21: Conclude discussion: My Home Is Far Away, Part Three
"Home Is Far Away." Outcomes due.
May
23: Read/Discuss: Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Acts 1-2.
Group worksheets due.
May
28: Conclude discussion: Julius Caesar, Acts 3-5. Group
worksheets due.
May
30: Writing assignment due. Present assignments to class.
June
4: Exam.
8-10am
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