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harveyb@fiu.edu
DISCUSSION SITE (www.bruceharvey.pageout.net)
Sample PDF Paper Using Chicago Endnote Style
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Spring 2007, Wednesday evenings 7:50-10:30, Biscayne Bay Campus
Key concepts about this country's national identity took shape as European travelers explored and then settled upon the continent. In this course, we'll read travel narratives, autobiographies, political-religious treatises, novels, and other literary works to examine how the new nation, ideologically and psycho-culturally, came into being. Our readings will especially focus on pre-1850 cross-cultural encounters and clashes from a variety of perspectives (native American, European, and African). The last third of the semester will take the theme of journeying into the 20th century and our own period.
I will give occasional lectures to fill in historical or cultural or theoretical context, but the bulk of class time will be devoted to discussion. Besides introducing you to a fascinating area of study, a major goal of this course is to improve your analytical abilities--specifically, your ability to see how texts work rhetorically, aesthetically, and culturally. Another major goal is to develop your skill and pleasure in communicating ideas, both in class and on paper.
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Shakespeare, The Tempest (Penguin) Sagely, imperialistic-minded Prospero vs. the sly, lyrical, beastly Caliban: this late play of the Bard presents the key issues that later define the New World experience.
This volume includes an autobiography of a demur Puritan woman, Mary Rowlandson, who learns to survive in the Indian “wilderness”; and the memoir of a Quaker woman who recalls her rebellious escape from paternal and cultural tyranny to carve out a space of independence in the New World.
From village in Africa, to slave ship, to the Americas and middle-class success: Equiano’s life-story captures the early tensions of African-American identity in elegant and stirring prose.
Willa Cather, My Antonia (Bantam) This beautifully nostalgic novel chronicles immigrant life on the prairie states.
Faulkner’s epic of the U.S. South and its “downfall” is lurid, infuriatingly
difficult, brilliant, and overwhelmingly stirring. By many, it is
considered the best American novel.
***Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
(any edition)
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Grades and Assignment Due Dates 20% = In-class participation
20%
= Discussion board participation 40% = Essay final version
10% =
Oral report
Class Participation: Missing class, especially as a graduate student, is poor form: please don't do it. If you miss more than two days, you will not be able to pass the course. A graduate-level seminar is not simply a more intense 4000-level undergraduate course. I look upon you as a potential teacher or colleague-in-the-making and thus, although I'm still leading the class, democracy more or less rules. This means that while typically I will have an agenda, I also want and encourage the class to veer off into other illuminating avenues. I expect more active and regular participation than in an undergraduate class. Passivity on your part--always waiting for me to guide you to important passages and points--is inappropriate. A high degree of intellectual inquisitiveness and resourcefulness is assumed of all students in a graduate seminar.
Discussion Threads: I will
set up the discussion thread web-link (only the class can access it) the first
week. You may initiate topics/threads or respond to topics I or other students
propose. You should submit and read postings routinely, but I don't want this to
become just busy work for you. Think of it as a chance to exchange ideas about
our readings informally. And, as with any dialogue or class discussion,
sometimes you will have a lot to say (a nice meaty paragraph) and sometimes you
won't have much to say at all. Sometimes you will engage the entire class;
other times you and another student will have a sidebar exchange. Checking and
submitting postings once or a week should suffice. Please try, once a main topic
has been initiated, to keep responses and kindred topics subordinate to it;
otherwise, the mechanism gets unruly to navigate. Also, keep current. If you
respond to a topic that is two weeks old, it will be buried in the thread
trail. Lively debate is fine; but be polite and avoid vulgarities. Please
do not get personal. Respectable grammar, spelling, and sentence style are
expected.
At the end of the semester,
cut-and-paste/print out all of your significant contributions, and submit them
to me in sequence. In effect, such will be a journal of your interactions with
the readings/films.
2. Click on "Student Registration" and follow the directions, using the class password at the end of the registration fields (not to be confused with your personal password that you will choose in a moment). The class password is maxcat. If you do not enter a unique user ID and personal password, you will have to enter both items again along with the class password. The class password may not be needed. 3. Write down your user ID and personal password here (or somewhere): ______________ ____________. 4. Click on "Discussion Area". 5. Click on "Enter Discussion Area". 6. Login. Cookies must be enabled in your browser. 7. Leave a posting. 8. When you are at home doing this, you can create a favorite link to the actual discussion page. All you will need to do, then, is to enter the your login user ID and password.
Book Review: Present a digest or review of a scholarly book about or related to one or several of our authors: a biography, a work of literary-cultural interpretation, or a theoretical volume. This should be between one and two single-spaced pages, and written in a format and style kindred to what you would find in an academic journal. Although short, this should be a showpiece--your very best, impeccable writing. It will be due several weeks before the end of the semester.
The review should include a) a summary of the argument/content of the work, b) a critical assessment pointing out strengths and weaknesses. Those can be done in tandem, or a) can go before b). If you were really writing a review, and knew the subject matter well, you'd have also a prefatory paragraph that puts the work in a larger context of kindred works... but I'm not expecting that necessarily. It's good to have a couple of key quotes to exemplify good points or bad points or crucial terminology. Come by my office to get a journal or two from me, which will have sample reviews. They come in all shapes and sizes, so there's a lot of flexibility... but style has to persuade, too.
Analytical-Research Paper: You can write on any of the texts we are reading, and you can--if you have an interest and experience--write on any of the films we will be watching. I assign a grade to the draft, which is less a mark of the "quality" of your draft than of how much remains to be done to produce a successful essay. As early as possible, tell me what you are interested in, so I can help guide you. The essay should be about fifteen pages long or longer, double-spaced. It must incorporate a decent amount of secondary research: historical-cultural, biographical, and/or critical. Longer essay guidelines and tips and citation method/bibliographic format will be provided at the link at the top of this syllabus.
Theoretical Alternative:
Buy an introductory literary theory book (I will consult with you), read it in
its entirety, and then submit a 15 page review of how three or four theories
might be applied to one of our texts. For those who have a particular interest
in film this assignment can be modified so that you can use film theory.
Miscellaneous: There is no final exam.
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SYLLABUS
E-text = primary text (located either at this or another linked website) or a secondary/critical ProjectMuse/Jstor essay that you should print out and bring to class.
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