Humanities 720
Graduate Introduction to Humanities II
Professor Carol Loranger 7-9:50pm M
414 Millett / 775-2961 182 Millett
Office: 5-7pm M / appt.
email: carol.loranger@wright.edu
newsgroup: wright.hum.humanities720-01
Required Text – Buy this edition only:
Melville, Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative). Ed.
Harrison Hayford and Merton M. Sealts, Jr. Chicago: Univ.
Chicago Pr., 1962.
Readings on Reserve (password: hum720)
- Lawry, “Justice in Billy Budd,” from Law and Literature
Perspectives - Michael, from Allegory Old and New in Literature, the
Fine Arts, Music and Theatre, and Its Continuity in
Culture - Mizruchi, “Cataloguing the Creatures of the Deep,” from
Revisionary Interventions into the Americanist Canon - Sten, “The Dilemma of Nature and Culture: Billy Budd as
Problem Novel,” from The Weaver God, He Weaves: Melville
and the Poetics of the Novel - Coffler, “Classical Iconography in the Aesthetics of
Billy Budd, Sailor,” from Savage Eye: Melville and the
Visual Arts - Thomas, “Billy Budd and the Judgment of Silence,” from
Literature and Ideology - Rogin, “The Somers Mutiny and Billy Budd,” from Criminal
Justice History - Shaw, “Billy Budd: Criticism as Assault on Authority,”
from Recovering American Literature - Smith, “Billy Budd: According to Nature,” from Melville’s
Science - Johnson, “Melville’s Fist: the Execution of Billy Budd”
- Cook and Reed, “Synopsis” and “Britten’s Billy Budd" from
Benjamin Britten: Billy Budd
Useful Internet Sites
Dunbar Reserve: http://wsuol2.wright.edu/search/r?SEARCH=hum720
A Melville clearinghouse: http://www.melville.org
Our Newsgroup: wright.hum.humanities720-01
Calendar
March 29 Introductory Matters—about this course—my
expectations—your expectations. A brief introduction
to Herman Melville and Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside
Narrative).
April 5 Read/Discuss Billy Budd. Structural questions.
Problems of interpretation. First short paper—reader’s
response to Billy Budd due.
Provocations 1 and 2 due online by noon Friday, April 9.
April 12 Read/Discuss “Justice in Billy Budd” and “Billy
Budd: Criticism as Assault on Authority.” Responses 1
and 2 due.
April 19 In-Class Viewing/Discussion of Peter Ustinov’s Billy Budd.
Provocations 3 and 4 due online by noon Friday, April 23.
April 26 Read/Discuss “Billy Budd: An Allegory on the
Rights of Man” and “Billy Budd and the Judgment of
Silence.” Responses 3 and 4 due.
Provocations 5 and 6 due online by noon Friday, April 30.
May 3 Read/Discuss “Cataloguing the Creatures of the Deep”
and “The Somers Mutiny and Billy Budd.” Responses 5
and 6 due.
Provocations 7 and 8 due online by noon Friday, May 7.
May 10 Read/Discuss “The Dilemma of Nature and Culture:
Billy Budd as Problem Novel” and “Billy Budd:
According to Nature.” Responses 7 and 8 due.
May 17 Read/Discuss “Synopsis.” In-Class Viewing/Discussion
Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd.
May 24 Read/Discuss “Britten’s Billy Budd.” In-Class
Viewing/Discussion Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd
continued. Read/Discuss “Melville’s Fist: The
Execution of Billy Budd”
May 31 Memorial Day—No Class. Take a break and re-read
Melville’s Billy Budd.
June 7 Seminar paper due.
Work
Reading: Although there is only one course text, we will be
reading selected articles approaching Billy Budd from
varying disciplinary angles, including law, natural
science, sociology, art and literary criticism. Although
you will only be asked to write directly about one of these
articles, it is essential that you read all of them in a
timely fashion. The articles are on on-line reserve in the
Dunbar Library, which means that you can access and
download them via computers on campus or at work or home. A
single hard copy of each article is also available on 2-
hour reserve.
Writing: I’m asking you to write a short (1000-1200 word)
interpretive response to Billy Budd during the week that
you read it, before we infect each other in discussion.
Additionally, you will write a very short (750-1000 word)
provocation based on the reserve reading assigned to you.
This will be posted to our newsgroup by noon Friday BEFORE
the due date for the assigned reading, so that some of your
fellow seminar-ians will have time to write feisty
rejoinders. You will have the opportunity to write 1 or 2
of these feisty rejoinders (250-500 words) and read them
aloud in class to help guide our night’s discussion. Our
lengthier seminar papers (2500-3750 words) will address
Melville, Melville’s reputation and/or Melville’s Billy
Budd from a disciplinary angle of your choice and will
include a broad overview of contemporary disciplinary
theory or practice and some awareness of the body of
relevant Billy Budd/Melville scholarship along with some
specific treatment of the text itself. While the overall
shape of this essay is open to creative approaches,
documentation should conform to MLA guidelines and the
paper reflect graduate-level English composition and
thinking skills.
Return to the English Department Syllabus Page
Return to Dr. Loranger's Home Page