COM 1102: WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE

Fall 2010

Dr. Perdigao

class time: M W F 10:00 am

office hours: M W F 11:00-11:50 am

2:00-2:50 pm

office: 626 Crawford

phone: 321-674-8370

email:

website: my.fit.edu/~lperdiga

Required Texts:

Michael Meyer, The Bedford Introduction to Literature, 9th ed.

Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides

Introduction:

In this course, we will examine various literary forms—fiction, poetry, drama, and film—with a focus on issues of identity. In these texts, we will explore the significance of storytelling, how writers experiment with language to articulate race, class, and gender differences, and, ultimately, find meaning. In your papers, you will draw on the connections between the works, using different approaches to better understand what is at stake in each of these works of self-discovery and “othering.” As readers and writers, we will look at what these literary worlds tell us about our own lives and how we see ourselves.

Policies and Procedures

Grading:

First Essay 20%

Second Essay 20%

Third Essay 20%

Presentation 10%

Quizzes 10%

Final Exam (Thursday, December 9 from 1-3 pm) 20%

Each essay consists of 3-4 pages written in MLA format and includes a works cited page. All essays must be typed; use a standard 12-point font with margins of approximately 1¼ inches (about 250-300 words per page). Essays are due at the beginning of class on the due dates. Students are required to submit their papers to www.turnitin.com on the assigned date; failure to submit the paper to turnitin.com on the due date or to turn in the hard copy the following class will lead to a failure of the assignment. Our class ID is 3389945 and the password is Buffy.

For the presentation you will select a text to present to the class, a text that connects with/expands on issues we have discussed this semester. Consider offering this text as an addition to the syllabus, a “recommended” reading for COM 1102: Writing About Literature. This text might be a short story, a poem, a play, a song, a film, a television episode, a piece of artwork—anything that represents one/many of the issues we have discussed. You will have 10-20 minutes (for an individual or a pair) to present your text, your “lesson” (a way of reading it/offering connections to other texts), to the class. If you select a scene from a film, keep the scene to about 5 minutes so that you have time to discuss your close reading. The text you select may directly connect to one of the works we have discussed or more broadly speak to a larger theme.

A quiz will focus on the assigned reading(s). The quiz may be announced the day before class or be a “pop quiz.” As a result, regular attendance is mandatory; make-up quizzes are unlikely.

Academic Dishonesty will be handled in accordance with Humanities and Communication Department policy. Cheating and plagiarism will result in failure of assignment and/or failure of course and will be reported to the Dean of Students and recorded in your permanent student file. Dishonest conduct may lead to formal disciplinary proceedings. Be certain that you are familiar with Florida Tech’s academic dishonesty policy (http://www.fit.edu/current/documents/plagiarism.pdf).

Cell phone policy: If your phone rings, if you try to make an outgoing call or text messages are sent or received (translation: basically any variation of playing with your phone when you should be paying attention), you are responsible for bringing donuts (or an acceptable alternative) to the following class.

Attendance is required. Absenteeism and tardiness will adversely affect your final grade. Excessive absenteeism could lead to failure of the course. You are responsible for all of the work you miss.

8/16 Introduction: Embracing the self and naming “others”

8/18 Critical Strategies (2041-2064)

Reading and the Writing Process (2065-2098)

8/20 Writing about Fiction (52-71)

Plot (72-73; 78-81)

Andre Dubus, “Killings” (103-116)

A.L. Bader, “Nothing Happens in Modern Short Stories” (116)

______8/23 Character (121-122 [top]; 123-126)

Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (442-460)

Claire Kahane, “The Function of Violence in O’Connor’s Fiction” (493)

Setting (184-186)

William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily” (90-98)

Faulkner, “On ‘A Rose for Emily’” (98-99)

A Sample Close Reading, A Sample Student Response (99-102)

8/25 Mordecai Marcus, “What Is an Initiation Story?” (288)

David Updike, “Summer” (379-384)

Susan Minot, “Lust” (339-346)

Questions for Writing, Samples (384-391)

8/27 Alice Walker, “The Flowers” (81-83)

Point of View (212-217)

Amy Bloom, “By-and-by” (632-637)

Colette, “The Hand” (274-276)

______

8/30 Symbolism (262-265)

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, “Clothes” (265-274)

Gail Godwin, “A Sorrowful Woman” (39-44)

9/1 Brian Aldiss, “Super-Toys Last All Summer Long” (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga)

Style, Tone, and Irony (329-333)

Mark Twain, “The Story of the Good Little Boy” (603-607)

9/3 Tim O’Brien, “How to Tell a True War Story” (346-356)

E. Annie Proulx, “55 Miles to the Gas Pump” (567-568)

Terry L. Tilton, “That Settles That” (627)

______

9/6 Labor Day—no class

9/8 Lee Smith, “The Happy Memories Club” (588-600)

Margaret Atwood, “Happy Endings” (624-627)

9/10 Short Fiction

______

9/13 Short Fiction

9/15 Writing About Poetry (790-798)

Robert Francis, “Catch” (750)

A Sample Student Analysis (751-754)

Richard Wakefield, “In a Poetry Workshop” (1350)

Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro” (861)

First Essay Due: Hard Copy Due in Class, Document Submitted to www.turnitin.com

9/17 Billy Collins (1158-1165), “Marginalia” (787-788); “Introduction to Poetry” (764)

Charles Simic, “In the Library” (1265-1266)

______

9/20 T.E. Hulme, “On the Differences between Poetry and Prose” (863)

Peter Pereira, “Anagrammer” (780-781)

Thomas Lux, “Onomatopoeia” (930-931)

9/22 Julia Alvarez (1185-1190), “Sometimes the Words Are So Close” (1203), “On Writing

‘Sometimes the Words Are So Close’” (1202-1203)

Word Choice, Word Order, Tone (799-805)

Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est” (852-853)

9/24 Kenneth Fearing, “AD” (896)

Billy Collins, “Building with Its Face Blown Off” (1176-1177)

“On ‘Building with Its Face Blown Off: Michael Meyer Interviews Billy Collins” (1177-1180)

______

9/27 Mark Jarman, “Ground Swell” (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga)

Alvarez, “Dusting” (1200); “On Writing ‘Dusting’” (1199)

9/29 Figures of Speech (864-875)

Sylvia Plath, “Mirror” (879-880)

Claribel Alegria, “I Am Mirror” (1301-1303)

10/1 Symbol, Allegory, and Irony (888-895)

Jim Stevens, “Schizophrenia” (881)

Octavio Paz, “The Street” (1310-1311)

______

10/4 Sounds (916-930)

Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky” (932-933)

Langston Hughes (1129-1139), “Lenox Avenue: Midnight” (1143-1144)

Patterns of Rhythm (946-953)

Hughes, “Song for a Dark Girl” (1144)

10/6 Hughes, “Formula” (1142-1143)

Poetic Forms (970-997)

Elaine Mitchell, “Form” (998-999)

Open Form (1000-1005)

X. J. Kennedy, “The Purpose of Time Is to Prevent Everything from Happening at Once” (980-981)

10/8 Two Translations of a Poem by Pablo Neruda (834-836): Neruda, “Verbo” (834); “Word” (835); “Word” (835-836)

Kelli Lyon Johnson, “Mapping an Identity” (1211)

______

10/11 Columbus Day—no class

10/13 Poetry Workshop

10/15 Poetry

______

10/18 Elements of Drama (1381-1384)

Richard Orloff, Playwriting 101: The Rooftop Lesson (1813-1820)

10/20 David Auburn, Proof (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga: 1969-1996 [Act I])

Second Essay Due: Hard Copy Due in Class, Document Submitted to www.turnitin.com

10/22 David Auburn, Proof (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga: 1996-2017 [Act II])

______

10/25 Proof

10/27 Drama

10/29 No class

______

11/1 Big Fish

11/3 Big Fish

Andrew Hudgins, “Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead” (990-991)

11/5 No class

______

11/8 Drama

11/10 Arrangements

Reading: Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides (3-47)

11/12 The Glass Panes

Reading: VS (48-93 [top])

______

11/15 Exhibition

Reading: VS (93-140)

11/17 Reading the Signs

Reading: VS (141-185 [bottom])

11/19 “Time to write them off”

Reading: VS (185-216)

______

11/22 Scapegoats and Seers

Reading: VS (217-249)

Third Essay Due: Hard Copy Due in Class, Document Submitted to www.turnitin.com

11/24 Thanksgiving—no class

11/26 Thanksgiving—no class

______

11/29 Adaptation

12/1 Adaptation

______

12/9 Final Exam (1-3 pm)