English 100: Introduction to English Studies/1

Ron Strickland

English 100: Introduction to English Studies

Spring 1998

Office: Stevenson 404
Phone: 438-7907 / E-mail:
Office Hours: 9:00-10:00 MTW

WWW URL:

Required Texts: / Lentricchia and McLaughlin, Critical Terms for Literary Study (2nd ed.)
New Folger Library Romeo and Juliet
Dell Paperbacks Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story
Reserve Texts: / Robin Lakoff, Talking Power
Michael Spiller, The Development of the Sonnet
Louis Althusser, Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays
Terry Eagleton, "The Subject of Literature"
Antony Easthope, Poetry as Discourse
Lawrence Stone, The Family, Sex and Marriage in England: 1500-1800
Antonio Barcelona Sanchez, “Romeo and Juliet’s Love”
Jill Levenson, “Romeo and Juliet Before Shakespeare”
Richard Ohmann, English in America
Thomas Moisan, “Rhetoric and the Rehearsal of Death: The ‘Lamentations’ Scene in Romeo and Juliet”
Others, TBA
Course Description
This course seeks to introduce students to the field of English Studies, broadly conceived, with special attention to the ways in which the different disciplines that constitute the field (composition and rhetoric, linguistics, and literary studies) interact with and impact each other. English studies is a diversified field; developing an understanding of it means not only understanding the different disciplines it encompasses but also recognizing and using the interplay among these disciplines in advancing your knowledge and skills. Assignments in this seminar are intended to sustain a dialectical relationship among these disciplines as they respond individually and collectively to current issues in the field. The course is organized in three sections. First there is an overview of some of the ways social, political and intellectual trends s have contributed to the transformation of literary study in recent decades. These developments have provoked a crisis in traditional literary study such that, increasingly, the study of canonical literature is being displaced from its central position in English curricula. Our department’s curriculum, and this course, reflect these developments. In the second section students we will read Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, an exemplary canonical literary text, in careful detail. The third section will explore a variety of current conditions in English Studies and several of the subdisciplines that make up our department by focusing on issues surrounding Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet as a locus of cultural power and conflict.
Assignments and Grading Formula:
First paper (6-8 pages) ...... ……...... 35%
Final paper (6-8 pages) .....…...... 35%
Final Exam …………...... 10%
Class participation & e-mail micro-essay...... 20%
Reading and Discussion Schedule:
1/13 / Introduction; Establishing E-mail Accounts
Theoretical Contexts
1/15 / Read McLaughlin, “Introduction” from Critical Terms for Literary Study
Suggested further reading:
Terry Eagleton, “The Subject of Literature” and “What is Literature?”(reserve)
1/20 / Read Mitchell, “Representation”
1/22 / Mitchell, “Representation”
1st Micro-essay Due
1/27 / Read Rowe, “Structure”
1/29 / In-class Video: The Day the Universe Changed
2/3 / Lecture-Discussion
2nd Micro-essay Due
Reading Literature: Romeo and Juliet
2/5 / Read the Introduction from New Folger Library Romeo and Juliet
2/10 / Lecture and Discussion
2/12 / Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
In-class Video: Excerpts from Zeferelli’s Romeo and Juliet
2/17 / Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
In-class Video: Excerpts from Zeferelli’s Romeo and Juliet
Generic Forms and Romeo and Juliet
2/19 / Read Paul Bove “Discourse”
2/24 / Read Aristotle, from ThePoetics (handout)
2/26 / Lyric Poetry: Conventions of the Sonnet
Representative 16th-century Sonnets (handout)
3rd Micro-essay Due
3/3 / Representative 16th-century Sonnets (handout)
Romeo and Juliet, I: v, 94-108
3/5 / Read McLaughlin, “Figurative Language”
3/10 / Spring Break
3/12 / Spring Break
3/17 / Historical Linguistics: Wherefore art thou “thou”?
Read Brown and Gilman, “The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity” (handout)
First Formal Essay Due
3/19 / “The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity”
3/24 / Canonicity, Textual Authority and Authorship
In-class Video: The Shakespeare Mystery
see related web sites:


3/26 / Read Donald Pease, “Author”, and John Guillory “Canon”
4th Micro-essay Due
3/31 / Romeo and Juliet as Popular Culture
Read John Fiske, “Popular Culure” and “Cornerstone’s Romeo and Juliet in Mississippi: Romeo Raps”
(handout)
4/2 / Lecture/Discussion: Shakespeare andPopular Culture
Read Norris Houghton, “Introduction” to Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story
4/7 / In-class Video: Excerpts from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet
related web sites:


4/9 / In-class Video: Excerpts from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet
4/14 / In-class Video: Excerpts from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet
4/16 / The Citizens of Verona vs. Friar Lawrence
Read Geoffrey Harpham, “Ethics”
4/21 / Mock Trial: the trial of Friar Lawrence, charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor
4/23 / Mock Trial
4/28 / Rhetoric and Discourse Analysis
Read Stanley Fish, “Rhetoric”
4/30
5/7 / Pierre Iselin, “’What Shall I Swear By?’: Rhetoric and Attitudes to Language in Romeo and Juliet” (reserve)
Final Paper Due