WORLD LITERATURE (THEMES: WAR, CAPTIVITY, IDENTITY, MORALITY, HEROISM)

English 2337.07

Spring 2006: TTh 9:25-10:40     

Dr. Zabelle Stodola

Office phone: 569-3161

Home phone: 664-8747 (answering machine; use only in real emergencies, please)

E-mail: kzstodola@ualr.edu (I encourage you to e-mail me with questions, comments, or clarification concerning the course, exams, or papers. E-mail is my preferred method of communication. I answer e-mails promptly.)

DISPLACED PERSON!!

The English Department suite of offices in 502 Stabler Hall continues to be renovated. Through February 2006, the Department is temporarily housed in University Plaza (at Asher and University), where we were last fall semester. It’s not the easiest place to find. Therefore, if you need to get hold of me out of class, I suggest that you contact me by e-mail and/or see me in person after class until I am resituated in my usual office in SH 502.  I will keep you posted on a move-back date.

OFFICE HOURS:

Tuesday 11:30 to 1, Thursday I 1:30 to 5:30, and by appointment.

TEXTS:

I'm listing the books in the order we will study them. The following books, all paperbacks, are required. Please try to buy the editions that I have chosen, so we’ll all be able to refer to the same page easily. Most are available used. You can buy them one at a time if you wish, but be sure you have them all by about the middle of the semester as the bookstores return unsold books toward the end of each term. If the UALR Bookstore is out of books, remember to try the other local bookstores, too. You may be able to buy even cheaper copies online from amazon.com, bn.com, or elsewhere. You must come to class with books because we look closely at passages from them, so if you are not able to buy some or all of them, it is your responsibility to borrow them from a library:

1. WLADISLAW SZPILMAN, The Pianist (Picador/ St. Martin’s Press), 1946

2. BANANA YOSHIMOTO, Kitchen (Washington Square), 1988

3. EURIPIDES, Medea (Penguin Classics), 431 BCE

4. ANONYMOUS, Everyman and Other Miracle and Morality Plays  (Dover), c. 1485 

5. MARY ROWLANDSON, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (Bedford), 1682  

6. BHARATI MUKHERJEE, Jasmine (Grove), 1989

7. SHERMAN ALEXIE, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (HarperPerennial), 1993

You will see that all the texts for this course deal in one way or another with war, captivity,  gender, ethnicity, “race,” identity, or moral responsibility. The authors cover different time frames (from several hundred years BCE to the late twentieth century), genders, ethnicities (Polish/Jewish, Japanese, ancient Greek, English, Indian, and Native American), and literary genres (autobiography, drama, poetry, and fiction).

I will provide handouts of other works, especially some poetry that complements other texts on our list. I’d like to do some of this via e-mail to save on paper; so please check your UALR e-mail address regularly as I will send a message to the entire class using that  address. In addition, we will view extracts from some films/videos. Everything is potentially testable, though the main emphasis is, of course, on the texts we’ll be reading. You must therefore do all the reading, come to class, do the exams and written work, and watch the films carefully.

GUIDELINES:

• I will determine your final course grade by three homeworks (10% + 20% + 20% = 50% of the final grade); the midterm (10%); the final (20%); classwork (10%); and attendance and participation (10%). I can arrive at a fairer final grade if I have a variety of assignments on which to base your course grade. I will average the letter grade for each assignment in keeping with the percentage weightings, where any letter grade in the A range equals 5 (excellent); B range, 4 (very good); C range, 3 (good/average); D range, 2 (barely passing); F range, 1 (failing, does not represent college-level work). A final average of 4.5-5.0 equals a grade of A for the semester; 3.5-4.49 a B; 2.5-3.49 a C; 1.5-2.49 a D; 0-1.49 an F.  Please note that if your assignment or exam grades go down at the end of the semester, I will take that into account in reaching a course grade for you. 
• Your midterm will be in week 7 and will cover work up to that point; your final will be at the officially designated time (Thursday 11 May, 8 to 10 am) and will cover work from weeks 8 to 16. You must take both exams to pass the course.  I rarely give make-up tests.

• Absences: No penalty for up to six absences (three weeks of class), not that I’m encouraging you to stay away even that much; I will reduce your final course grade if you have between seven and eight absences (four weeks of class), but depending on the quality of your work, it is still possible for you to pass the course; I will automatically fail you for the course if you are absent nine or more times.   
• This class is genuinely designed for non-English majors. I value your personal responses and views, and I encourage discussion. Be prepared and willing to talk! This is not supposed to be a lecture course.
• The homeworks are three to four pages long (typed, doublespaced, 250 words per page approx.) and must come in during the class period they are due in hard copy  and also be submitted to an anti-plagiarism site called turnitin.com.  These length requirements are the minimum; you are always welcome to write more and develop the topic. I will provide the general topic for each paper, but you will have some choice within the overall guidelines. You should treat these papers like essays with a clear organization, support (details) for your points, and correct grammar and punctuation. If you have a genuine problem handing in your homework on time, you must let me know at least the day beforehand. Extensions are not automatic, but I can probably give you a short extension if we discuss the problem before the paper is due. However, I will not accept a late paper without prior approval (I will give you an F for that homework).  I will give you further instructions for the homeworks and for the anti-plagiarism site later.
• Classwork, exams, and quizzes can only be done during the class period they are assigned.
• Plagiarism is a serious offense. It means passing off other people’s words or ideas as your own without acknowledgment (citing your sources is usually needed both within and at the end of a paper). This information could be from a book, another student, or an internet site, for example. I require you to turn in your homework to the anti-plagiarism site turnitin.com. If you plagiarize, I will at the very least fail your paper and, depending on the nature of the plagiarism, I reserve the right to fail you for the course, according to university policy. If you are at all unsure about what constitutes plagiarism, err on the side of caution and either ask me first or go ahead and provide a reference to be sure.
• Bad weather policy: I follow the standard UALR policy, which says that if the Little Rock School District closes, UALR day classes do too. Of course, UALR may also close at times when the Little Rock School District does not, so check radio and television, the UALR website, and/or UALR Public Safety. According to a memo from the Chancellor, the decision to cancel classes meeting at 4:00 p.m. or later will be based on recommendations from the Arkansas State Police and the Little Rock Police Department.  When feasible, that decision will be made by 2:00 p.m.
• Please look carefully at the following disability statement and tell me if you are a student needing extra accommodation; I will be happy to provide it:

MESSAGE FROM THE UALR PROVOST TO STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Disability Support Services: It is the policy of UALR to accommodate students with disabilities, pursuant to federal law and state law. Any student with a disability who needs accommodation, for example in arrangements for seating, examinations, note-taking should inform the instructor at the beginning of the course. It is also the policy and practice of UALR to make web-based information accessible to students with disabilities. If you, as a student with a disability, have difficulty accessing any part of the online course materials for this class, please notify the instructor immediately. The chair of the department offering this course is also available to assist with accommodations. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact Disability Support Services, telephone 501-569-3143 (v/tty), and on the Web at http://www.ualr.edu/dssdept/.

GOALS:

·         To understand literary terms and read examples of the major Western literary genres

·         To gain some idea of the chronological development of Western literature

·         To be exposed to multicultural literary works representing texts by male and female  authors from different cultures

·         To be exposed to the aesthetic pleasures of great literature

·         To be (more) comfortable reading, analyzing, and writing about literature

·         To enjoy reading literature if you don’t already! Or at least to enjoy it more because you understand it better.

Syllabus / Stodola / 2337.07 / Spring 2006 /SUA 102D  

There are many websites that can provide background information about these authors and books, and I certainly invite you to use them. If you find any helpful information that I haven’t mentioned, please share it with me and with the rest of the class. Because I am teaching this class in a smart classroom, we will have access to these websites on a large screen and on individual terminals.

WEEK 1

17 & 19 Jan : Course introduction/Guidelines & syllabus/Some definitions: literary genres, author/narrator/persona, theme, plot, reader, canon, ethnocentrism, point of view /Class handout on literary periods in Western culture 

WEEK 2

24 & 26 Jan: THE HOLOCAUST/NAZISM/WORLD WAR TWO/WRITING THE UNWRITEABLE/ AUTOBIOGRAPHY/POLITICAL & PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY/FORGIVENESS

Introduction to the Holocaust and World War 2

Wladislaw Szpilman, The Pianist

Selections from the film 

Consult these websites:

http://www.thepianistmovie.com

http://www.imdb.com (the Internet Movie Data Base) and follow link to The Pianist

WEEK 3

31 Jan & 2 Feb: Finish The Pianist  

Assign homework #1 (on the Holocaust) due Tuesday 21 February   

WEEK 4

7 & 9 Feb: IDENTITY/GRIEF/JAPANESE CULTURE/LOVE & FRIENDSHIP 

Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

Consult http://www.yoshimotobanana.com

WEEK 5

14 & 16 Feb: ANCIENT GREEK TRAGEDY/DIVORCE/AMBITION & REVENGE/GENDER ISSUES

Euripides, Medea

Extracts from video 

Consult http://www.showgate.com/medea

WEEK 6

21 & 23 Feb:  Medea continued

Homework #1 due  Tuesday 21 February 

WEEK 7

28 Feb: Introduction to poetry    

Thursday 2 March Midterm (on The Pianist, Kitchen, and Medea) 

WEEK 8

7 & 9 Mar:  Poetry continued

Assign homework #2 (on poetry) due Tuesday 4 April   

 WEEK 9

14 & 16 Mar: MEDIEVAL DRAMA/LIBERATING THE SOUL FROM THE BODY/LIFE BEFORE AND AFTER DEATH/PERSONAL MORALITY/ALLEGORY

Anonymous, Everyman

Consult http://www.luminarium.org and follow link for medieval drama and then for Everyman

WEEK 10

21 & 23 Mar: Finish Everyman    

SPRING BREAK 27-31 MARCH

WEEK 11

4 & 6 Apr: KING PHILIP’S WAR/CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES/PURITANISM/SELF & OTHER

Rowlandson, The Sovereignty & Goodness of God

Homework #2 due Tuesday 4 April

WEEK 12

11 & 13 April : INDIA/THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE/ IDENTITY/”AMERICANNESS”

Bharati Mukherjee, Jasmine

Video interview with Mukherjee

 Consult these websites:

http://www.voices.cla.umn.edu (type in BM’s name and follow link)

http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Mukherjee

WEEK 13

18 & 20 April: Jasmine continued  

Assign Homework #3 (on response to course readings) due Thursday 4 May      

WEEK 14 

25 & 27 April:  IDENTITY/NATIVE AMERICAN POLITICS/FAMILY/THE SHORT STORY/HUMOR

Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

View film based on the book, Smoke Signals

Consult the official Alexie website: http://www.fallsapart.com

WEEK 15

2 & 4 May: Finish Lone Ranger

Homework #3 due Thursday 4 May     

FINAL EXAM AT THE SCHEDULED TIME DURING EXAM PERIOD: Thursday 11 May, 8 to 10 am (On Everyman, The Sovereignty & Goodness of God, Jasmine, and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven)