Office Hours: T 1:00-2:15 e-mail: kbluemel@monmouth.edu
W 7:30-8:30 pm Office: Wilson Annex 509
Th 9:00-10:00pm electronic
F 1:00-2:15 and by appointment
Required texts:
Tartuffe, Moliere (Harcourt Brace)
Tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann, E. T. A. Hoffmann (Chicago)
Goblin Market, Rossetti (Dover)
Selected Short Stories, Tagore (Penguin)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson (Norton)
Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, Johnson (Dover)
Pygmalion, Shaw (Dover)
The Bloody Chamber, Carter (Vintage)
Course Description and Goals: This semester, we’ll examine literature in diverse genres (poetry, plays, short stories, the novel) and from diverse cultures and nations (French, German, English, American, Indian) written over the course of three hundred years (from 1664 to 1979). Our goal is to understand these texts through reading and comparative analysis that focuses on the course theme of “love and betrayal.” Once we have come up with working definitions of “love” and “betrayal,” we’ll ask specific questions of each text we encounter including:
What different kinds of love and betrayal do you discover? How is love related to betrayal? What do relations between love and betrayal have to do with the kinds of stories, poems, and plays that get written? Can you figure out what seems most important about love or betrayal to the various authors? What about you? How are love and betrayal associated with the endings of the texts?
Course Objectives:
Through reading and analyzing the course texts, listening to lectures, and participating fully in all class discussions and assignments, you will achieve the following by the end of the semester:
1. understanding of major movements, figures, and forms of western and western-influenced literature within their historical and cultural contexts;
2. improvement of close reading skills;
3. strengthening of writing and research skills developed in previous English classes, including competence in MLA (Modern Language Association) style;
4. conversion of written material into personal understanding and personal understanding into individual readings of texts.
Specific class requirements and grading: Class Participation and Attendance (10%); Quizzes (10%); In-class Paper (10%); Mid-term Exam (15%); Group Presentation (15%); Final Researched Paper (20%); Final Essay Exam (20%). All class requirements will be graded on a ten-point scale in which A=100-90, B=89-80, C=79-70, D=69-60, F=59-0. Within this scale, “plus” or “minus” grades correspond to the following example: B+=89-87, B=86-84, B-=83-80.
Attendance policy: Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes and examinations except in cases of illness or emergency. I do not accept “excuses” (doctors’ notes, etc.) since the policy described below is designed to accommodate the usual problems students face getting to class. You may miss up to two weeks of classes (four daytime classes) without repercussions. You will be penalized 1/3 of a letter grade for the first additional missed class and 1/3 of a letter grade for every week of missed classes thereafter. For example:
Final grade: B
At first absence beyond two weeks: B-
At first absence beyond three weeks: C+
Excessive absences will result in failure of the course. Three late arrivals and/or early departures equals one absence. If you forget your assigned textbook two times, you are marked absent a day. There are no make-ups given for quizzes missed due to absence or late arrival. This policy means that wise students will “save” their two-weeks’ worth of automatically excused absences for those days they will be sick, at funerals, or otherwise prevented from attending class
Students who desire a waiver of this policy must ask the L.C.A.C., the Athletic Department, a University Dean, or the Campus Health Center to provide a written excuse directly to the instructor. Student athletes, officers, and participants in other university activities are expected to attend class, regardless of other commitments.
Paper/Exam policies: I expect to receive all papers and reports at the beginning of class on the day they are due; extensions for papers or rescheduling of exams are acceptable in properly documented cases of emergency, sickness, family crisis, etc., but no paper will be accepted more than two weeks after the due date. Computer problems are not a valid excuse for late work. A 1/3 of a grade (e.g., from "A" to "A-") will be deducted for every day (not class) that your paper is late. Times of submission for late papers must be verified by departmental signature if I am not there to receive your work.
All but final papers that receive a "C-" or below can be rewritten if you see me for help outside of class or provide evidence of attendance at the Writing Center. The grades of revised papers will be averaged with original paper grades.
Quizzes cannot be made up.
Academic Honesty Policy: Plagiarism will not be tolerated! Any paper that shows signs of cheating in this way, regardless of intent, will fail. We will discuss in detail what constitutes plagiarism, but ultimately you are responsible for knowing how to avoid plagiarism. Please study the English Department handout on plagiarism, any English handbook, the Monmouth University Student and Residential Handbook, or come talk to me if you have any doubts about standards and procedures involving academic integrity. What follows is the University’s statement on academic honesty:
Academic honesty is at the heart of the educational experience. All students are expected to participate fully in that experience by avoiding all dishonest behavior in relation to academic work. Such behavior may include (but not be limited to) failing to document borrowed words or ideas from research sources, handing in the work of another as one’s own, or copying during an exam. The consequences for such behavior can range, depending on the circumstances, from failure in the particular assignment to dismissal from the University.
Library materials must be respected. They must not be stolen, damaged, or defaced in any way. The resources of the library are to be shared by the Monmouth University community. Selfish disregard for library materials greatly injures the ability to communicate ideas and is a violation of the collegial spirit of education. It is also against the law. Make sure you leave books, magazines, reprints, articles and the like in the same condition in which you borrowed them.
General course requirements and guidelines:
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1. I expect students to read all of the assigned material carefully before coming to class. All weekly reading assignments are reasonable; if you are unable to keep up with homework, don't hide but rather come talk to me about the problem. |
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2. VITAL: all students must bring their required textbooks to each class meeting. If you forget your textbook two times, you are marked absent for a day. If you can’t understand why this requirement is important and won’t be able to abide by it, drop the class immediately. |
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3. Everyone is encouraged to come to my office hours to talk about their progress in and reaction to the class. If you make an appointment and for some reason cannot keep it, please try to let me know in advance, either by note (in my mailbox or under my office door) or by telephone. |
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4. All cell phones and pagers should be turned off in class. However, if you are coping with a family emergency and need to leave your cell on, please tell me before class and sit by an exit. |
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5. You are expected to observe good classroom decorum. Anyone who consistently demonstrates a pattern of disruptive, abusive, or prejudiced behavior (verbal or otherwise), will be required to drop the course. |
Accommodations for special needs: A student with disabilities who needs special accommodations for this class should meet with me and the appropriate disability service provider on campus as soon as possible. In order to receive accommodations, you must be registered with the appropriate disability service provider on campus as set forth in the student handbook and must follow the university procedure for self-disclosure, which is stated in the University Guide to Services and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities. A student will not be afforded any special accommodation for academic work completed prior to disclosure of the disability or prior to the completion of the documentation process with the appropriate disability service officer.
Last day to withdraw from class: You can withdraw from class with an automatic assignment of a “W” grade up to Monday, March 31.
Syllabus
Jan 22 T Introduction
Eighteenth-Century: The Enlightenment
Jan 25 F Moliere, Tartuffe, Acts I-II (7-75)
Jan 29 T Moliere, Tartuffe, Acts III-V (79-164)
Feb 1 F In-class Paper
Nineteenth Century: Romanticism and Realism
Feb 5 T Hoffmann, “Councillor Krespel” (126-46)
Feb 8 F Hoffmann, “The Sandman” (93-108)
Feb 12 T Hoffmann, “The Sandman” (108-125)
Feb 15 F Rossetti, “Goblin Market” (1-16)
Feb 19 T Tagore, Selected Short Stories (pages t.b.a.)
Feb 26 T Tagore, Selected Short Stories (pages t.b.a.)
Feb 29 F Midterm
Mar 4 T Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (7-32)
Mar 7 F Criticism on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (see handout for specifics:
Stevenson, Miller, Gould, Symonds)
Mar 11 T BREAK
Mar 14 F BREAK
Mar 18 T Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (32-62)
Twentieth-Century: Modernism and Postmodernism/Postcolonialism
Mar 21 F Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1-30)
Mar 25 T Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (30-69)
Mar 28 F Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (69-100)
Apr 1 T Shaw, Pygmalion, Preface and Act I (ix-xii + 1-9)
Apr 4 F Shaw, Pygmalion, Act II (11-31)
Apr 11 F Shaw, Pygmalion, Act V and final commentary (55-82)
Apr 15T Shaw, Pygmalion: film
Apr 18 F Research and Writing Day!
Apr 22 T Carter, “The Bloody Chamber,” (7-27)
Apr 25 F Carter, “The Bloody Chamber,” (27-41)
Papers Due!
Apr 29 T Carter, “The Courtship of Mr. Lyon,” (41-51)
May 2 F Carter, “The Werewolf,” (108-110) and “In the Company of Wolves” (110-118)
Review for Exam.
May 9 F Final Exam, 10:45-12:45