Office Hours: T/Th 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m., W 12:30-4:30 p.m.,
or by appointment
Texts:
Description:
This course is designed as an introduction to some of the most influential genres, strategies, and preoccupations of English literature from the earliest medieval texts to the end of the Enlightenment, as well as an introduction to the critical vocabulary of the study of literature. Each work discussed in class will be dealt with in its cultural and historical situation as well as with reference to models of reception aesthetics—that is to say, with attention, first of all, to an author’s reading of earlier texts or his understanding of what is characteristic in earlier periods, and, second, the literary competence of the audience for which a particular work was written, and, finally, our own (un)informed reading of literature composed well before the present day.
Requirements:
2) The writing requirement will be met by one medium-length paper (5-7 pages; typewritten; double-spaced; with 1-inch margins, page numbers, and your name on every page; and carefully proofread) which will involve library research on one of the literary works we will be reading during the semester and which will be due on the date that work will be discussed in class. This project involves the following steps: a) Through the resources in the library, find five books and three articles about one of the literary authors and/or one of the literary works on the syllabus. b) Write a critical review of an appreciable portion of one of the books you have found, or of an entire article, in which you identify and describe the argument and approach used by the author of the book/article and, based on your own understanding of the literary work it is written about, analyze the scholar’s claims and method. List all of the books and articles you have found on a separate bibliography sheet at the end of your paper. This paper must not be a mere summary of another author’s argument, but will include your own thinking on that argument. c) Inform me IN WRITING, at least one week before your paper is due, of the topic of your paper and the book or article on which you are giving your oral report. d) Hand in your completed paper on the date it is due, summarize your findings in a 10-minute oral presentation in class that day, and lead the class discussion of the scholar’s ideas and method. You must return to the library all the materials you have used in preparing your paper before you turn in your paper to me. No more than two presentations will be scheduled normally for any class meeting. The grade on the paper and presentation will account for about 25 percent of your final grade.
3) There will be two "midterm" exams and a final exam. Each of these tests will be composed of two sections, one requiring a number of brief identifications of items from the texts we have read or definitions of key literary terms used to discuss those texts, and another based on quotations from the assigned texts which will demand a full essay as an answer. The exams will be based on the reading assignments and class discussions. The final exam will cover our work during the entire semester. The grade on each "midterm" will account for about 20 percent and the grade on the final for about 35 percent of the final grade.
THE FINAL EXAM WILL BE ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, FROM 2-5 pm.