ENG 114 Introduction to Literary Genres and Traditions:

“Curiouser and Curiouser”

Dr. Kathryn Laity ffice: 423 Western x3778

Office Hours: M 12-2, T 3-5 or by appointment

ENG 114 (04, Sp 07)TR 13.05-14.20 Albertus 303

Course description:

This course is designed as an introduction to literary study for education majors who have a concentration in English/Language Arts. It introduces students to typical questions, frames of references, terms, and critical tools that define the serious study of literature. By focusing on several different genres of literature representative of widely different historical eras and literary contexts, we will also attempt to understand the roles played by literary study in human and societal development. We will investigate major literary genres with a focus on how people adapt to the unexpected. As we read, reread, discuss, analyze, and write about texts together, we may begin to shape a better understanding of our own complex strategies for adapting to abrupt change, and how that may begin to translate into the classroom.

Objectives:

  • To gain an understanding of literature as a scholarly field of study and engage in the activities of the scholar and critic of literature.
  • To practice analysis, interpretation, and research while studying a range of literary works.
  • To demonstrate familiarity with concepts and terminology appropriate to literary study.
  • To delineate the historical developments of literary genres and to recognize and analyze the conventions of several genres and subgenres.
  • To recognize the process of canonization and marginalization in literary study and understand current approaches to widening and diversifying the scope of literary study.
  • To gain familiarity with a variety of critical approaches to literature.
  • To refine skills in literary research through the use of both print and electronic resources.
  • To practice literary scholarship and incorporate it into well-designed literary research papers and oral reports using appropriate documentation.

Required Texts:

MLA Handbook, Gibaldi [0873529863]

Poetry handout [on Blackboard]

Aphra Behn, TheRover [Methuen0413668800]

Alice in Wonderland [Broadview 155111223X; on film Miller’s /Svankmajer’s Alice]

Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis [Pantheon 037571457X]

BLACKBOARD ():

Our daily assignments will be listed on the calendar of our course home page and reading assignments may also be posted there, so be prepared to check Blackboard frequently.

Requirements (100 points total, 93=A, 90=A-, 87=B+, 83=B, 80=B-, etc.):

Discussion participation and weekly reaction papers20

Oral Presentation on The Rover15

Short critical analysis of Persepolis15

Poetry analysis10

Alice Film Review10

Formal Literary Research Paper30

GENERAL POLICIES:

  • Active participation includes attendance; if you are not attending, you are not participating. Missing more than two classes will result in a grade penalty of 5 points off your total grade for each successive absence. Active participation also includes being prepared for class.
  • DEADLINES: Add/Drop Jan 23; Convert to Pass/Fail Jan 30; Withdraw w/o F Mar 30.
  • Always bring the day’s reading to class with you. You may wish to refer to the text during our discussions or while you work on an in-class writing assignment or quiz.
  • Papers are due at the beginning of class; late papers are penalized 10 points/day.
  • All headphones/earpieces should be removed and electronic devices (cell phones, beepers, etc.) should be turned off or disabled during our class; it is rude to disrupt the class.
  • Similarly, tardiness also disrupts the other students, and is unacceptable.
  • If you are a student with a documented disability and require academic accommodations, please register with Ginny Rossin, the Coordinator of Special Services, located in the Academic Support Center on the 2nd Floor of St. Joseph Hall (campus extension 2335 or 337-2335, off campus) for disability verification and for determination of reasonable academic accommodations. After you have made arrangements with that office, please see me to discuss your accommodations.
  • All students are subject to policies set forth in the Catalog and Student Handbook.
  • Plagiarism is the theft or appropriation of another person’s ideas or writing. You will be guilty of plagiarism if you do not properly cite the words of others in your paper, if you buy or borrow an essay, if you download information from the web and paste it into your paper, or if you copy information from your text verbatim without attribution. Plagiarism is a serious charge; not only will you receive a zero for the assignment, but it may lead to failing the course. Any incident of plagiarism will be entered into your permanent academic record; repeat incidents may result in expulsion from the College. Consult your student handbook for St. Rose’s Academic Honesty Policy, or go to:

FIRST ASSIGNMENT (All future assignments are on our Blackboard calendar):

  • Read “The Wanderer” ( and print a copy to bring to class. Examine the poem as a cultural artifact: what can you tell about the people who produced it? What are their values? What was their life like? What does its anonymity tell you about “authorship” in its time?
  • Read pp 3-24 in the MLA Handbook. Be prepared to discuss the material.

(Image courtesy of the Broadview Alice)