English 241-1: Fiction and Drama
Syllabus for Fall Semester, 1998
MC 317; T Th 1:00-2:15 p.m.

Goals of this course:
English 241 (3 semester credits) fulfills a Humanities requirement within the University's and the College of Arts and Sciences's general education requirements. Such courses must treat significant material in the humanities in a way that emphasizes the particular approach to knowledge found in humanities disciplines, in this case literature. English 241 is also a W course, that is, one that partially fulfills the Writing Across the Curriculum requirement. It is also one of two prerequisite courses for an English major or minor. To fulfill these various roles, this course has two basic goals:

1. to introduce students to the particular ways in which literature (in this course fiction and drama) deals with human experience. This means reading a number of stories and plays with a focus on analyzing how they create and communicate meaning. While not concerned principally with questions of literary theory or technique, the course will involve some treatment of literature as a way of knowing and of its formal aspects. Students will be expected, in the course of the semester, to master a certain amount of basic critical terminology and to be able to use it in their own discussions of fiction and drama.
2. to help improve students' writing. This is not a composition course, but it is concerned in part with writing critical essays on literature, and a portion of our time will be devoted to discussing and assessing written work.

Required text: The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition, ed. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter (New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1998). All assignments listed below cite page numbers from this volume in parentheses. You should bring this text to class every day.

Schedule:
T Sept. 1	Introduction to course
Th 3	on reading fiction (2-14)
T 8	plot: stories by Maupassant, Atwood (14-28); tone, irony (303); Chopin, "Story of an Hour" (377-79); Eliot, "Journey of the Magi" (771-72)
Th 10	point of view: Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"; Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (72-87); short paper assignment
T 15	characterization (103-6); setting (149-51): Cheever, "The Country Husband" (29-47)
Th 17	symbolism: Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown" (188-99); short paper assignment due
T 22	theme (209-12): Joyce, "Counterparts" (217-24); Bambara, "Gorilla, My Love" (360-65); second paper assignment
Th 24	Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily" (431-38)
T 29	criticism on "A Rose for Emily" (429-31, 439-76); discussion of short papers and second papers in progress
Th Oct. 1	O'Connor, "Everything that Rises Must Converge" (301-4; 342-52)
T 6	O'Connor, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" (304-15)
Th 8	Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" (541-53); second paper due
T 13	Marquez, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" (379-84); Kafka, "A Hunger Artist" (573-79)
Th 15	MID-TERM EXAM
T 20	Conrad, "The Secret Sharer" (226-55)
Th 22	"The Secret Sharer," continued; mid-terms and papers returned and discussed
T 27	introduction to drama: Glaspell, Trifles; Ives, Sure Thing (992-1015)
Th 29	Sophocles, Antigone, lines 1-841 (1521-43); staging (1023-26)
T Nov. 3	Antigone, continued (1543-56)
Th 5	Antigone, continued; criticism (1556-77)
T 10	Shakespeare, Hamlet, acts I-II (1214-54)
Th 12	Hamlet, continued; third paper assignment
T 17	Hamlet, act III (1254-77)
Th 19	Hamlet, continued
T 24	Hamlet, act IV (1277-95)
Th 26	THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
T Dec. 1	Hamlet, continued
Th 3	Hamlet, act V (1295-1312); revised first or second paper due
T 8	NO CLASS<
Th 10	Hamlet, continued; third paper assignment due
T, Dec. 15,	1:00-3:00 p.m.: FINAL EXAM

Course requirements:

1. Attendance and participation. You are expected to come to class each day having read the assignment for that day and to ask whatever questions or make whatever observations about it that you have. We will try to proceed from discussion as much as possible. I reserve the right to fail any student who misses five or more classes. If you happen to miss a day, you are responsible for getting from me or from a colleague the assignment for the following day. We will try to adhere to the schedule on the syllabus, but there may be some variations now and then, and you are expected to be aware of them. In grading I will take participation into account in borderline cases.
2. Exercises and quizzes (15% of grade). From time to time (probably once every three or four class meetings) there will be short-answer quizzes or exercises given in class on the day's assignment. These may or may not be announced in advance. If you miss a quiz, the only way you can make it up is to call me right away and arrange to take it sometime before I hand it back to the class. In grading I will drop the lowest quiz grade.
3. Papers (45%). There will be three paper assignments during the course, as listed on the syllabus. Specific assignments will be given in class. The first paper (about 400 words) will be a short analysis of a question in connection with one of the assigned stories. The second (about 1000 words) is to be an analysis of some aspect of a short story read outside of class. The third (about 1200 words) is to be an analysis of some aspect of Antigone or Hamlet. You may revise and resubmit either of the first two papers once they have been handed back and discussed in class, and if the revision is substantially better I will substitute that grade for the first one. Revisions of either your first or second paper are due no later than December 3. I will be happy to talk with you about your writing at any time. In averaging your writing grade at the end of the course I will look for trends. I routinely mark down papers handed in late by one grade for each day they are late.
4. Mid-term exam (15%), covering the work of the first half of the course. It will probably include some passages for analysis and an essay question or two. It may involve your commenting on a story not read in class but assigned for the exam.
5. Final exam (25%), covering chiefly the work of the second half of the course. It will combine essay and short-answer questions and may involve your commenting on a play not read in class but assigned for the exam.

Additional notes:

1. The instructor reserves the right to fail any student who fails any of the five parts of the course requirements listed above.
2. On behavior: I expect students to come to class on time and to remain in class as long as it is in session (which is determined by me, not by your watch). Whispering or making other non-academic noise is not acceptable behavior, nor is eating or drinking in class. I reserve the right to mark down the grades of students whose behavior distracts other students (or me) from the business at hand.
3. The University requirements for a course qualifying as a W course have been established as follows:
   1. a minimum of 2000 words in writing assignments;
   2. at least two separate assignments or drafts, with feedback to assist the student in preparing subsequent papers or drafts;
   3. at least some of the required writing to be prepared outside of class;
   4. students must demonstrate satisfactory performance (C or better) in the writing component in order to pass the course.