English 275 Syllabus Fall Semester 2002     M 6:00-9:30 p.m.  204/210 AH

"So much literature, so little time."    --Anon.


Week 1 8/26  Introductions; Critical Approaches to Literature
Introduction, discussion of course requirements, work in computer lab: 204 AH
Home page for this course: http://krypton.mankato.msus.edu/~susanna/english_2751.htm  

Week 2 9/2
Labor Day Holiday. Class does not meet.

Week 3 9/9 Topics in Prose: Plot and Perspective
Updike, "A&P" http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/  
Film adaptation and filmmaker's interview with John Updike
**Diagnostic response writing (on "A & P" in computer lab)

Tonight's assignment: This evening (9/9/02) we will meet in AH 204 at 6 p.m. for our English 275 class. We will spend  time on Updike's story, "A & P," and you will write a diagnostic essay online in response to questions about that story. So, please come to class prepared to discuss and write about it. Later, during the second part of our class time, we will view a short film adaptation of the same story, along with an interview with John Updike about his work.
If agreeable to you, we will take one short break tonight. Doing so will enable us to adjourn class a bit earlier than 9:30 p.m. If you have any questions, please reply to this message, and I'll be happy to answer them.

Week 4 9/16 Topics in Prose: Point of View and Character
Faulker, "A Rose for Emily" http://www.online-library.org/fictions/emily.html  
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/fiction/faulkner.htm  

Porter, "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" (and film adaptation)
http://www.ksu.edu/english/baker/english251/sg-Porter-JGW.htm  
http://members.aol.com/sunny2345/porter.html  
**Response writing and web site exploration 

Here are some possible ideas to think about as you read "The Jilting of Granny 
Weatherall" and watch a film adaptation of Porter's short story:

Please consider these questions:
1. What does Granny's last name symbolize?
2. How does Porter use stream of consciousness technique to reveal 
both plot and character, past and present?
3. What is the "jilting" referred to in the story's title?
4. How would you respond to this reader's reaction: "This is the 
story of an eighty-year-old woman lying in bed, getting groggy, and 
dying; I can't see why this story would interest anybody."

Tonight's assignment: we will discuss two short stories by Faulkner and Porter. Please come to class (on 9/16/02) having already read both stories, and be ready to discuss them and do WWW work related to them. During the second portion of class, we will also view a film adaptation of Porter's "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall." See you at 6 p.m. in 204 Armstrong.

Week 5 9/23 Topics in Prose: Character and Point of View
Walker, "Everyday Use" http://www.luminarium.org/contemporary/alicew/  
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/AliceWalker.html  

Carver, "Cathedral" http://titan.iwu.edu/~jplath/carver.html  
http://dir.salon.com/books/feature/2000/01/18/carver/index.html  
**Response writing and web site exploration

Tonight's assignment:  Please come to class ready to write a short reaction (on computer) to the film adaptation  of "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" that we watched during last week's class period.  Class will be devoted to two short stories, one by Alice Walker and the other by Raymond Carver. Please have both stories read and be prepared to discuss them in class. We will work with WWW sources related to both authors. During the second half of class, we will watch a film adaptation of Carver's story "Cathedral," and a short writing assignment will follow for the next class.  Scroll through the URLs page to find some excellent WWW resources on these authors' works. 

Week 6 9/30 Topics in Prose: The Initiation (Coming of Age) Tale
Joyce, "Araby"    http://eserver.org/fiction/araby.html      e-text of story    http://www.stg.brown.edu/~rog/WWD/WWDaraby.html    Wallace Gray's notes on "Araby"  http://theliterarylink.com/araby_essays.html     analyses of the story

Boyle, "Greasy Lake"    http://www.tcboyle.net/greasy.html    All about T.C. Boyle

Tan, "A Pair of Tickets"   http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/AmyTan.html    Voices from the Gap web resources on Amy Tan   

http://www.salon.com/12nov1995/feature/tan.html   Salon Magazine interview with Amy Tan

**Response writing and web site exploration  Professor Kathy Piehl will meet with us in the computer lab to explain WWW resources available to us.

Discussion of the Summary/Precis Paper assignment
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Week 7 10/7 Topics in Prose: Theme via Character and Setting
Cather, "Paul's Case" (and film)  http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/authors/Cather/Pauls-Case.htm    e-text of the story

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/4925/   Paul R. Bixby's commentary on this short story

http://www.storybites.com/catherpaul.htm   Karen Bernardo's commentary on "Paul's Case"

Mansfield, "Miss Brill"  http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/mansfield/garden/brill.html  e-text of the story

http://www.ksu.edu/english/baker/english320/SE-Miss_Brill.htm   sample critical essay

Chopin, "The Storm"   http://www.storybites.com/Chopinstorm.htm   Karen Bernardo's commentary on the story

~~~~Summary/Precis essay due  10/7/02
**Response writing and web site exploration
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Week 8 10/14 Topics in Drama: Ibsen's "A Doll's House"
MSU Theatre and Dance Department Production: "A Doll's House"
MSU Theatre home page: http://www.mnsu.edu/theatre/index/shows.htm  
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/Writings/Drama/doll.html  
http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/introser/ibsen.htm  

Week 9: 10/21 Topics in Drama: Ibsen's "A Doll's House"
Discussion of Ibsen's play and of the MSU production; film adaptation

Week 10 10/28 Topics in Prose: Fiction, Culture, History
Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" Baldwin, "Sonny's Blues" Hurston, "Sweat"
~~~~First draft: topic for critical analysis/documented essay due 10/28/02
**Response writing and web site exploration

Week 11 11/4 Topics in Poetry: The Sonnet
Shakespeare, "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day," "Let Me Not To the Marriage of 
True Minds Admit Impediments," "The World is Too Much With Us, Late and Soon"; Donne, 
"Death Be Not Proud"; Keats, "Bright Star"; Wordworth, "Mutability"; Hardy, "Hap"; 
Hopkins, "God's Grandeur"; Barrett Browning, "How Do I Love Thee?"; Lazarus, "The New 
Colossus"; Millay, "What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why"; Addonzio, "First 
Poem for You"       **Response writing and web site exploration

Week 12 11/11 Topics in Poetry: "I" Poems
Whitman, "I Saw in Louisiana': Browning, "My Last Duchess"; "Yeats, "When You are Old"; 
Frost, "Mending Wall," "Stopping By Woods," "The Road Not Taken"; Bishop, "The Fish"; 
Wright, "A Blessing"; Plath, "Lady Lazarus"; Ginsburg, "A Supermarket in California"; 
Pastan, "Ethics"; Olds, "The One Girl at the Boys' Party"; Alvarez, "The Women on My 
Mother's Side Were Known"        **Response writing and web site exploration

Week 13 11/18 Topics in Poetry: The Work of Two Major Poets
Emily Dickinson (all poems in anthology) Langston Hughes (all poems in anthology)
**Response writing and web site exploration

~~~~Poetry explication essay due  11/18/02

Week 14 11/25 Topics in Drama: Theme and Plot in the Short Play
Glaspell, "Trifles" and "A Jury of Her Peers" http://www.scribblingwomen.org/sbjury.html  
http://www.sc.edu/lancaster/faculty/rashley/102hypertext/lucas/  
http://www.cas.suffolk.edu/english/richman/Eng102/Trifles.htm  [e-text of story available 
here]    ~~~Plan for critical analysis/documented essay due.

Generation of questions by class members for the take-home final examination. 

Week 15 12/2 Last Class meeting of the semester
Course evaluations, self-assessments, instructions for take-home final examination.

There will be a comprehensive take-home exam which you will have approximately ten days 
to complete. You can choose to do an individual exam or a collaborative exam with another 
class member. The examination will feature quite a number of short-answer questions; you 
will select several to which you will respond in typed, double-spaced answers. Each class 
member will generate and contribute questions to the exam, which I will type and 
distribute at our last class meeting on December 2, 2002. 

Week 16 12/9 Final draft: critical analysis/documented essay due by 6 p.m.

Final Examination: