Joe Law

Office: 027 Paul Laurence Dunbar Library

Office phone: 775-2155

E-mail: joe.law@wright.edu  

Office hours: 10:00-10:50 MWF and by appointment (Note: Because of my duties as coordinator of the WAC program, I am sometimes unable to keep office hours as scheduled. I’ll let you know in class if I anticipate being away. I’m usually on campus until around 5:00 each day, so it shouldn’t be hard to schedule some other time to meet if needed.)

This syllabus and the policies outlined here are also available through the English department web page: <http://www.cola.wright.edu/Dept/ENG/english.htm>

REQUIRED TEXTS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The undergraduate catalog describes English 410/610 (Studies in British Literature) as "Intensive study of British literary history and/or the work of individual British writers. Intended to develop an understanding of literature within the contexts of the author’s life, literary production, and historical background."

This section of the course will focus on the work of Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). Near the end of his life, he wrote, "I was a man who stood in symbolic relations to the art and culture of my age." The validity of that statement is clearer than ever, as is his symbolic standing to our own age. In his brief career, Wilde produced significant work in a number of genres, including poetry, drama, fiction (a novel, short stories, children’s stories), and criticism. This class will examine Wilde's works and his life in terms of both the context in which they were produced and their significance for today.

POLICIES AND COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Writing Across the Curriculum: English 410 is designated as a writing intensive course in the writing in the major portion of the Writing Across the Curriculum program. In addition to a letter grade for the course, you will also have an entry on your transcript to indicate that you have satisfied the writing intensive requirements of the class. (If you do not pass that portion of a writing intensive class, only the course grade will appear on your official transcript.) To receive that credit in any writing intensive course, you must make a C or above on the writing portion of your grade. In this particular class grades are based almost entirely on writing, so the writing intensive grade and course grade will be the same.

Course Grade: Research proposal (5%); annotated bibliography (15%); research paper (45%); fourth-hour project (25%), quizzes and any additional informal assignments (10%). 

Grading standards for the finished research paper are included with this syllabus.

Late Work: As a rule, I do not accept late assignments. Late work will be accepted only in the case of a documented illness or if arrangements have been made with me prior to the absence.

Attendance: Attendance and participation are required of all students. Much of the work in the course will be carried out in class discussion. Missing a class means that you cannot benefit from the comments of other students and that other students cannot benefit from yours. I will take attendance at the beginning of each class.

Tardiness: Class will begin as scheduled. Late arrivals disrupt class, so please be on time. Students who arrive late will not receive additional time to complete any activities already begun, such as a reading quiz. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class; if you are late, it is your responsibility to see that my record is corrected that same class period.

Editing skills: Since this is a literature class rather than a grammar course, I will not be teaching grammar per se; however, it will affect grades on assignments. It is the responsibility of all students to proofread and edit their own work before it is submitted. Any student who does not exhibit proficiency in editing throughout the semester should not expect to pass the course.

Paper format: All assignments should follow MLA style. The fifth edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers is now available, so be sure you're using the current one. The MLA has made a portion of the guidelines for documenting World Wide Web sources available on their Web site at <http://www.mla.org>.

Academic honesty: All work submitted must be your own, with outside sources properly acknowledged. Academic dishonesty includes copying another's work, turning in someone else's work as your own, allowing a tutor to write part or all of your paper, or allowing someone else to use your work in this same manner. If you are unsure about your work in this matter, talk to me before you submit the paper, not after.

Special accommodations: If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please see me as soon as possible. We should make any necessary adjustments at the beginning of the course.

University Writing Center: Writing Consultants in the Writing Center (031 Library) are available to assist you as you work on your papers. Be sure to take a copy of your assignment with you when you go. The Writing Center also has a cluster of networked computers available for student use. (Computer assistance is also provided.) The service is free to all WSU students. To get more information about this quarter's hours and the services provided, call 775-4186

READING AND ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE

01/03/01 Introduction to course

01/05/01 Wilde in Context (read Holland's introduction)

01/08/01 Wilde in Context

01/10/01 Wilde in Context--read excerpts by Ruskin, Arnold, and Pater (online reserve)

01/12/01 "Lord Arthur Saville's Crime" and "The Sphinx without a Secret"

01/15/01 MLK Day (no class)

01/17/01 "The Happy Prince" and "The Selfish Giant"

01/19/01 Intentions

01/22/01 Intentions

01/24/01 Intentions; begin "The Soul of Man Under Socialism"

01/26/01 "The Soul of Man Under Socialism"

01/29/01 Selections from Poems ("Hélas!" "Ave Imperatrix," "Impression du Matin," "In the Gold Room," "The Harlot's House," and "Impressions [Le Jardin, La Mer]")

01/31/01 "Portrait of Mr. W. H." (read shorter original version, online reserve); last day for all but freshmen to drop a class with a record of W

02/02/01 Term paper proposal due; begin The Picture of Dorian Gray

02/05/01 The Picture of Dorian Gray

02/07/01 The Picture of Dorian Gray

02/09/01 "The Fisherman and His Soul"

02/12/01 Salome

02/14/01 Salome; begin An Ideal Husband

02/16/01 An Ideal Husband

02/19/01 An Ideal Husband; begin The Importance of Being Earnest

02/21/01 The Importance of Being Earnest

02/23/01 Annotated bibliography due; The Importance of Being Earnest

02/26/01 The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde--before class, look carefully at <http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/wilde/wilde.htm>

02/28/01 De Profundis

03/02/01 De Profundis

03/05/01 "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"

03/07/01 Oscar Wilde Today

03/09/01 Term paper due; Oscar Wilde Today

03/12/01 Summary and Review; bring #2 pencil for doing course evaluation

FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, March 13, 2001, 1:00-3:00 p.m.

BOOKS ON RESERVE

Beckson, Karl. The Oscar Wilde Encyclopedia. New York: AMS, 1998. PR5823 B34 1998

---, ed. Oscar Wilde: The Critical Heritage. New York: Barnes, 1970. PR5824 B37 1970

Ellmann, Richard. Oscar Wilde. New York: Knopf, 1988. PR5823 E38 1988

Schmidgall, Gary. The Stranger Wilde: Interpreting Oscar. New York: Dutton, 1994. PR5823 S35 1994

Wilde, Oscar. Letters. Ed. Rupert Hart-Davis. New York: Harcourt, 1962. PR5823 A27 1962a C.2

---. More Letters of Oscar Wilde. Ed. Rupert Hart-Davis. New York: Vanguard, 1985. PR5823 A4 1985

---. Oscar Wilde's Oxford Notebooks: A Portrait of Mind in the Making. Ed. Philip E. Smith II and Michael S. Helfand. New York : Oxford UP, 1989. PR5812 S55 1989

ONLINE RESERVE

Wilde, Oscar. "The Portrait of Mr. W. H." Lord Arthur Saville's Crime and Other Stories. London: Metheun, 1912. 145-96. [This is the version originally published in Blackwood’s, July 1889.]

Excerpts from John Ruskin's Modern Painters, Vol. 3 (1854); Matthew Arnold's Essays in Criticism (1865); and Walter Pater's The Renaissance (3rd ed., 1888).

SOME WILDE-RELATED URLs

The "Official" Web Site of Oscar Wilde

http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/index.html

Photographs of Wilde at the Clark Library (UCLA)

http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/clarklib/wildphot/

The Trials of Oscar Wilde

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/wilde/wilde.htm

The Unofficial Lord Alfred Douglas Page

http://members.aol.com/starparty/bosie_index.html

Reading Wilde Querying Spaces

http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/exhibits/wilde/00main.htm

Oscar Wilde Sites on the World Wide Web

http://www.showgate.com/tots/gross/wildeweb.html#works Many links to Wilde-related sites, particularly electronic versions of Wilde’s works; don't overlook the Monty Python Oscar Wilde sketch or "Oscar Wilde Returns" (excerpts from recordings with direct voice medium Leslie Flint).

ASSIGNMENTS

TERM PAPER ASSIGNMENT

General Assignment (final paper due 03/09/01): Write a research paper of about 7-10 pages (1,750-2,500 words) on some topic concerning Oscar Wilde. Students taking the class for graduate credit will write a somewhat longer paper (around 15 pages). You may write about an individual work, a group of works, a later adaptation of Wilde's work, or some recent work featuring Wilde as a character. Another possibility is to take the topic of your fourth-hour project as a starting point. No matter what direction you choose, you'll need to start planning right away.

Proposal (due 02/02/01): In a brief paper (1-2 pages) describe the research paper you intend to write. Be sure to identify the topic clearly and the point(s) you think you will be making about them. Your approach may change as you keep working on the paper--it probably will, in fact--so don't be alarmed if it does. This is a proposal, not a contract, so it's not a problem. Be prepared to talk about your proposed topic on the day this assignment is due.

Annotated Bibliography (due 02/23/01):

In an opening paragraph or two, describe the project you are working on. This section should reflect the changes have taken place in your thinking about the topic since you proposed it. After that introductory description, provide bibliographic entries for at least five secondary sources you have looked at as you have been working on the paper. Those taking ENG 610 should provide ten entries in this section. After each entry, provide a one- or two-sentence annotation that describes the item and comments on its potential usefulness for your project. If you want to provide more than required number of entries, feel free to do so. Including something in this assignment does not oblige you to use it in the final version of the paper. This assignment is also a good opportunity to see if you have questions about MLA format.

Note to ENG 610 Students

Rather than asking for a separate project, I have asked for additional work on several of the assignments. Be sure you take note of those different requirements.

FOURTH-HOUR PROJECT

Because Wilde is far too complex figure to be dealt with in a limited number of class meetings, the fourth-hour project will be used to explore additional links between Wilde and his age. Everyone will write a brief informative paper (2-3 pages) about one of the following topics. In general, think of the final paper as something like an encyclopedia entry—it should include a brief summary (or definition or description) of the work or topic chosen, an indication of its significance, and a list of references for further reading. I will consult with each of you briefly about what should be included for individual items. Copies of the final versions of these short assignments will be duplicated and distributed to the whole class. You will also make a brief oral report to the class about your topic. This part of the project will not be graded formally, but I will reduce the final project grade by a full letter for anyone failing to make a class presentation as scheduled.

Works by Wilde

"The Sphinx" (Poems)

"Charminides" (Poems)

Comparison of two versions of The Picture of Dorian Gray

Comparison of two versions of The Portrait of Mr. W. H.

"The Canterville Ghost" (including subsequent film treatments)

"Poems in Prose"

"The Birthday of the Infanta" or other story from A House of Pomegranates

A Woman of No Importance

Lady Windemere's Fan

A Wife's Tragedy (unfinished play)

Other Topics

Joris-Karl Huysmans, A rebours

Christopher Hichens, The Green Carnation

Wilde as literary critic (excluding Intentions)

Wilde and Pater

Woman's World

Decadence

Avant-garde journals of the 1890s (especially The Yellow Book and The Savoy)

Wilde and the "decorated book"

Wilde and the development of "homosexuality"

A member of Wilde’s family or social/professional circle (either parent, Constance, Robert Ross, Alfred Douglas, Aubrey Beardsley)

Adaptation of a work by Wilde