|
Prof. Bruce Harvey Spring 2005, Tuesday evenings 6:25-9:05, Biscayne Bay Campus
In the American Romantic period (1830-1860), American literature achieved unprecedented imaginative glories (the age is sometimes called the "American Renaissance"). The works of Melville, Poe, Whitman, Stowe, Dickinson, and Douglass are deeply psychological and socially astute, often mythic or melodramatic, and stunningly adventurous in form and theme. We will explore each author's unique vision, as well as what the writers hold in common and how many of the issues important to them--the convolutions of power, racial and gender tensions, the value of nature, the inviolable dignity of selfhood--remain important to us today. I will give occasional lectures to fill in biographical and historical/cultural context, but the bulk of class time will be devoted to discussion.
The course has
three
goals: |
|
Prof. Bruce Harvey Spring 2005, Monday evenings 6:25-9:05, Biscayne Bay Campus
The course has
three
goals:
After the first meeting, email me saying "I've read the entire syllabus"--so that I know you did and so that I will have your email address. Your email message is also a chance for you to express any initial concerns or questions that you might have about the course policies or the course in general.
|
|
|
GRADES To meet different learning styles and interests, I've devised the options below:
EVERYONE
--25% Six-page interpretive essay
***
RESEARCH
OPTION
--06% One-page
summary of three of the above articles
LEARNING LITERARY THEORY OPTION
--12% Two page theoretically informed mini-reading of a portion of the text you wrote your six-page essay on
EXAM OPTION
COURSE POLICIES & ASSIGNMENTS
Participation and
attendance: Every student is a
vital part of the class community, and I will expect you to work to make the
class an energizing experience. The flow of good discussions will result
in a course more satisfying for everyone. Participation can take a variety
of forms--the raising of questions or issues, stating opinions about the work or
topic being discussed, responding to other students’ or my comments, involvement
in group activities, and so on. Classroom participation will affect your final
grade positively--helping to pull it up a notch or two (especially in borderline
cases).
Reading Responses: On each of the dates marked with a ** on the syllabus a response to a "Prof. Query" is due. These must be decent in terms of grammar, spelling/punctuation, and sentence style; and they should be focused--i.e., don't ramble and don't summarize plots. The responses are a chance for you to explore your intellectual reactions to the texts; write what you think, not what you believe I may want to hear. Sometimes I will post a passage and ask you to respond; at other times the query will be more open-ended.
Post-discussion or late responses--which should be emailed to me at harveyb@fiu.edu--will not be accepted past the Thursday after we meet, and only two of these can count towards your total. These may take off from--but must avoid merely parroting--our discussion.
The responses should be single-spaced and between 1/2 and 1 page long, printed on a single page. Put your name/my name/course title/response title at the top, with no cover page.
For each, you will receive either a "2" (thoughtful and competently written) or a "1" (not very thoughtful or poorly written) or "0" (not submitted). "1"s may be revised, but the revision must be extra thoughtful and especially polished in terms of grammar and style. All revisions must be submitted within a week of the original being returned to you. The revisions may be emailed to me, left in my mailbox, or brought to class. The collective grade for the responses will be calculated as follows: A(16-15), A-(14-13), B+(12-11), B(10-9), B-(8-7), C+(6), C(5), C-(4), D+(3), D (2), D-(1), F(0).
Occasionally, I may post online especially interesting or well-written responses sans names.
Midterm: The midterm will be a short 1/2 hour quiz-style check on whether you've kept up with the reading and "Go" sites. I don't try to use trick questions or obscure passages.
Paper and Options:
Everyone writes a standard analytical-interpretive essay, six-pages long, focusing on one of our works. You then have the choice to either convert that
paper into one in dialogue with other scholarship (i.e., research), or
instead take a semi-comprehensive exam at the end of the semester, or
learn a bit about--and demonstrate you've learned a bit about--literary theory. If you elect
the research option, you then have a sequence of preparatory stages; if you elect the
exam option, you take the exam on the officially designated day; if you select
the theory option you must order a theory book, on your own, and follow the
directions for the two related assignments.
The following requirements are for those who select the research option:
Annotated Bibliography: You may find scholarly books and articles either on the FIU shelves or through electronic-databases, especially JSTOR and ProjectMuse. The google site--www.scholar.google.com--also is useful.. Encyclopedia-style resources, online or in the library, do not qualify as serious scholarship. For this assignment, you need only locate and skim six books and/or articles, and briefly (one or two sentences) describe their relevance to the topic focus in your paper above. The emphasis is on finding relevant research materials efficiently. I will provide very little feedback other than a letter grade: "A"=complete (six listings) and correct bibliographical format and lucid one/two sentence descriptions; "B"=good faith effort apparent, but some glitches in phrasing; "C"=half-hearted, less than six listings, and sloppy prose; "D"=less than six listings and listings don't seen very relevant to your topic along with poor prose; "F"=not submitted.
Summary of the articles: Summarize--not evaluate--three of the above. This assignment requires that you read the secondary materials closely, noting main points of the argument in each. Your job is to summarize accurately and concisely. You can devote one paragraph to each article, with comparative points (if appropriate) beginning at the beginning of each paragraph.
The following requirements are for those who select the theory option:
Buy this book (or check out of a library if available): Peter Barry, Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. This theory introduction is suitable especially for English majors pondering graduate school or for any student interested in the intersections of literature, psychology, philosophy, and so on. Read it and consult my online lectures and links for my graduate theory course (I will show you where to go, online, down-the-road).
I will do all that I can to help you develop your analytical/interpretive writing skills, but this is not a remedial class. Little slack will be given for sloppy prose. Any essay with a number of major grammatical or sentence-construction glitches in the first paragraph will be returned without a grade, and at my discretion will be deemed late. A late paper will be penalized 2/3rds of a grade for each class period submitted late, and only emergencies will allow you to submit your essay late without a penalty. Competing work commitments do not count as emergencies. I will try to flag down (and help you recognize and correct) prose problems in your response papers, but please keep in mind that what passes for a response paper (a "2" instead of a "1" basically means "C" or better).
Final Exam:
The in-class final exam--for those who select the non-research or theory option--will be
semi-comprehensive and consist of short answers and paragraph responses to significant
quotes from our texts. Instructions will be handed out later. All course
material--our main texts, "Go" site links, my online course notes--will be fair
game for the final. Incompletes: These can only be granted if you have a health or family emergency.
Plagiarism: Don't do it.
Plagiarism is easy to detect, and the consequences for being found guilty of
plagiarism can be devastating for your FIU career (besides being ethically
nasty). If you do not know the university policies on plagiarism, learn
them. |
|
PROF. HARVEY'S INSTRUCTIONAL LINKS |
|
FIU LINKS Plagiarism Policy FIU Library AZ Database (for JSTOR, ProjectMuse, and FirstSearch) |
|
LITERARY STUDY LINKS |
|
MISCELLANEOUS EXTRA SOUTHERN LITERATURE AND CULTURE LINKS |
|
STIMULATING
LINKS www.ctheory.net (a sophisticated site about contemporary culture theory--academic but also spicy; see especially the downloadable book section) www.curiousuniverse.umontreal.ca/en/index.php (graphics and texts about the marvelous and yet artificial ways we order the world other to ourselves)
|
|
SYLLABUS
E-text = primary text (located either at this or another linked website) that you should print out & bring to class Prof's Stuff = review notes based on lecture or discussion, usually posted after we've read an author Web Links = selected links for the cultural periods or authors the class is reading
|
|
SYLLABUS
E-text = primary text (located either at this or another linked website) that you should print out & bring to class Prof's Stuff = review notes based on lecture or discussion, usually posted after we've read an author Web Links = selected links for the cultural periods or authors the class is reading
DISCUSSION SITE LOG-ON INSTRUCTIONS
2. Click on the title of this course, taking you to the online version of this syllabus. 3. Click on the "Discussion Site" link at the top of the online syllabus (www.bruceharvey.pageout.net), and click on our class. 4. Click on "Student Registration" and follow the directions, using the class password (not to be confused with your personal password you will choose in a moment). The class password is ___________. 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. 5. Write down your user ID and personal password here (or somewhere): ________________________. 6.. Click on "Discussion Area". 7. Click on "Enter Discussion Area". 8. Login. Cookies must be enabled in your browser. 9. Leave a posting in whichever group I have assigned you to (A, B, or C). 10. 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.
|