Introduction to Literature
Syllabus
This reading schedule is intended to be suggestive, not prescriptive. In the event we find that we need to spend more time on a text than originally allocated, we can easily adjust our syllabus. You should know that one of the signs of a good class discussion is that we will not have time to address all the reading that has been assigned for a certain day. Let’s proceed with the understanding that this class, like life, is a set of contingencies. I will announce at the end of each class what specific texts we will be discussing closely for the following session. Please stay tuned!
As a kind of first, informal assignment, explore our textbook (as print or e-book) and consult its TOC (with TLC) for the pagination of our readings and the bio sketches and author index. For reasons of cost, you are welcome to share books, but you must come prepared and have all our assigned materials read.
Short Fiction
| Week 1 – 2 |
Getting our Feet Wet in the Morass of Deep/Short Fiction
- Edgar Allan Poe, "" (HULO 1 +2)
Alan Parsons,
Of topical interest: ""
- James Baldwin, "" & Ken Burns, Risk (video) (HULO 1-3, DVLO 2+3)
Characterization
- David Foster Wallace, "" (HULO 1+3, DVLO 1)
- Junot Diaz, "" (HULO 1-3, DVLO 1-3)
- DP #1__________________________________________
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| Week 3–5 |
Setting, Symbols and Stuff
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ""
- Tim O' Brien, ""; (HULO 1-3, DVLO 2+3)
Of topical interest:
- (NULC author 2020)
- Robert Olen Butler, (1992)
- Viet Thanh Nguyen, (2015)
- DP #2 ___________________________________________
Eudora Welty, "" P.O. - Discussion Questions (HULO 1-3, DVLO 2)
- Raymond Carver, ""
- Jhumpa Lahiri, ""
Of topical interest:
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- DP #3 ___________________________________________
- Reading More Fiction - Overflow Hour - Our Glossary
**** NOTEBOOKS DUE (1) ****
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Poetry
| Week 6 |
Sniffing the Stuff out: Poetry - Reading, Responding, Writing (Most poetry assignments fulfill all HULO and DVLO, in varying degrees)
- Defining Poetry, Lydia Davis, "Head/Heart"; Bruce Springsteen, "Nebraska"; Sherman Alexie, "A Facebook Sonnet"
- The Art of (Reading) Poetry - An Album (7 poems)
- YouTube clips (select)
- FYI:
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| Week 7–9 |
Situation Setting, Speaker
- Yusef Kommuyakaa, "To Do Street," "Facing It" (locate all poems of these authors in textbook > Index of Authors)
- Kay Ryan, "Repulsive Theory," "Blandeur"
- DP #4 ___________________________________________
FYI:
- Linda Pastan, "To a Daugher Leaving Home," "Listening to Bob Dylan, 2005," "love poem," "In the Har-Poen Tea Garden," "Marks"
DP #5 ___________________________________________- Terrance Hayes, "Mr. T -," "Carp Poem"
- FYI: , Terrance Hayes
- perhaps useful:
Metaphor, Simile, Symbol
- Robert Browning, "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister," "My Last Duchess"
- DP #6 ____________________________________________
- Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken," "Home Burial," "Range-Finding," "Stopping by Woods . . . ," "Design,"
"' -,'"
- Poems Pick & Choose - Recommendations:
- Section 16, Sounds of Poetry - Word and Music - An Album (selections)
- Helen Chasin, "The Word Plum"; Kenneth Fearing, "Dirge"; Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from "The Charge of the Light Brigade"; Wilfred Owen, "Dulce et Decorum Est"
- DP #7 ____________________________________________
- Reading More Poetry - Overflow Hour - Our Glossary Revisited
- Section 21: Cultural and Historial Contexts - The Harlem Renaissance (selections)
- Countee Cullen, "Yet Do I Marvel"; Angelina Grimke, "The Black Finger"; Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"; Claude McKay, "Harlem Shadows"
- from ideas in the head to ideas on the page: sample essays and writing exercises in our Intro
- DP #8 _____________________________________________
**** NOTEBOOKS DUE (2) ****
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Drama
| Week 10–12 |
Drama: Reading, Responding, Writing
- Susan Glaspell, , Trifles - Discussion Questions (HULO 1+3, DVLO 2+3)
- August Wilson, (HULOs 1-3, DVLO 1-3)
- Of topical interest
- DP #9 _______________________________________________
**** NOTEBOOKS DUE (3) ****
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| Week 13–15 |
- Film screening, Dead Poets Society (class vote)
- ; film access: (Thank you, Jack!)
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DP #10 ________________________________________________
Fiction Rocks: Punk Rock, Time, and the (Future) Form of Narrative
- Jennifer Egan, A Visit From the Goon Squad (All HULOs and DVLOs)
DP #11, Goon Squad I ________________________________ DP #12, Goon Squad II ___________________________________
Of Topical Interest
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Visit Toolbox for an Editing Checklist and student sample paper, and make sure you give yourself enough time to visit the Writing Center as you work on your paper drafts.
**** Additional office hours: Wednesday, 27November, 12:30-2:30, Pre-Turkey :) ****
**** Signature Ass./The Big Question/FDPs due: Monday, 2 December 2019, 10:30, in class and CANVAS ****
Click here to find it on my own site.
**** Final Exam Review and FINAL EXAM (in class and take home) ****
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