English 108, Section 01, Fall 2011
Course and Instructor Information
Course: Engl 108, Sec 01
Time: T/Th, 12:00 – 1:15
Place: THOM 201
Instructor: James Trout
email: trouteus@gmail.com
phone: 5-2502
Office: 383, Avery Hall
Hours: W, 11:00 – 12:00 (or, by appointment)
Time: T/Th, 12:00 – 1:15
Place: THOM 201
Instructor: James Trout
email: trouteus@gmail.com
phone: 5-2502
Office: 383, Avery Hall
Hours: W, 11:00 – 12:00 (or, by appointment)
The object of this course is two-fold: first, it introduces students to literary texts within a range of genres, including poetry, drama, the short story, and the novel; second, it provides ways for students to successfully read and interpret literary texts, focusing in particular on explication.
The word explication comes from the Latin explicare meaning to unfold. Today, we use this word to indicate the process of analyzing and interpreting a text. According to The Bedford Glossary of Literary Terms, explication is “a detailed examination of a short poem or passage as a means of elucidating the work as a whole . . . . Only elements that bear directly on the interpretation of the text and a further understanding of its meaning are considered; hence practitioners of this method concentrate on diction, imagery, style, symbolism, tone, and so forth.”
Explication is at the heart of literary studies, but it is also very limited in scope. In addition, students will also become familiar with other methods for understanding literary texts, including historical, feminist, and postcolonial critical approaches, which seek to understand the ways in which literary texts are aware of, challenge, or accede to dominant structures of power. If explication is important to understanding the text itself, these latter methods help us to understand the way the text operate in the world.
1. Jonathan Culler, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).
2. Ross C. Murfin and Supryia M. Ray, The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, 3rd ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009).
3. Janet E. Gardner, ed., 12 Plays: A Portable Anthology (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003).
4. Beverly Lawn, ed., 40 Short Stories: A Portable Anthology, 3rd ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009).
5. Brett Easton Ellis, Lunar Park
6. Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Suggested Texts
1. Elaine P. Maimon, Janice H. Peritz, and Kathleen Blake Yancey, A Writer’s Resource: A Handbook for Writing and Research, 2nd ed. (New York: McGraw Hill, 2009).
2. David G. Nicholls, ed., Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and Literatures, 3rd ed. (New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2007).
The primary texts will be supplemented with further readings that will be made available on the course website. You can find these readings under the “Readings” heading on the left column of the site.
40% Final Essay
25% Midterm Essay
25% Midterm Essay
10% Presentation
15% Weekly Assignments
10% Class Participation
A = 94 - 100%
B = 84 - 86% C = 74 - 76% D = 64 - 66% |
A- = 90 - 93%
B- = 80 - 83% C- = 70 - 73% F = Below 64% |
B+ = 87 - 89%
C+ = 77 - 79% D+ = 67 - 69% |
Reading will be the essential activity of this class and will provide the basis for all other work. All class discussions, presentations, weekly assignments, and essays will be responses to the assigned readings; therefore, it is absolutely essential that each student come to class having carefully read everything that was assigned for that day.
Essays
There are two essays assigned in this course and both are argumentative:
- Midterm Essay: Close reading and interpretation (4 pgs)
- Final Essay: Comparative analysis (8 pgs)
In general, each essay will require you to formulate an argument about a text, or texts, of your choice. You will then support your argument through explication of one or more passages. The first essay will be shorter and will focus on one text; the second will be longer and will compare two texts, making an argument through the comparison. In each case you will be using both explication and other critical methods learned in class to draw your wider conclusions.
Weekly Assignments
Each week you will be required to contribute to the class blog, which will also act as a discussion board. The assignment may change a little from week to week, but in general, each blog post will be an explication of a short passage of your choosing. These posts are designed to help you engage with individual texts in a meaningful and productive way, and they are also practice for your essays and presentations. In addition to explication, the blog posts may involve the use of key critical terms from The Bedford Glossary.
Weekly posts will be due no later than 6 pm each Wednesday. This time frame gives me the opportunity to review the way the class is engaging with the texts and allows me to incorporate student observations into class discussions.
Presentations
Student presentations will lay the foundation for each day’s discussion. Each student will choose one text from the readings and will present on that text on the day we’re assigned to talk about it. As with the blog posts and essays, explication will be a key feature of the student presentation, but it will only be part of it. Presentations will also include the explanation and use of a critical approach other than close reading. Each student may choose the approach he or she would prefer to work with (see the Appendix in Culler, 121–132 for examples). There are a limited number of approaches, so more than one student will likely end up defining and using a particular method. More information on presentation requirements will be posted on the site.
I will send around a sign up sheet for presentations at the beginning of the semester.
Class Participation
In a class of this nature, which relies on the intelligent and informed exchange of ideas, class participation is critical. The readings will provide us the object of our discussion each day, but students will be responsible for generating that discussion. Students will be graded on both the quantity and quality of their participation for each day of class. If you do not participate at all the entire semester, you will automatically receive a ten percent reduction in your grade.
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory. If you have five or more unexcused absences you fail the course. You may miss any other four days you choose, but you are responsible for finding out what we did in class (please ask your peers). Any work performed in class cannot be made up, so plan your schedule accordingly.
Academic integrity will be strongly enforced in this course. Any student caught cheating on any assignment, quiz, or essay will be given an F for the course and will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct.
As an institution of higher education, Washington State University is committed to principles of truth and academic honesty. All members of the University community share the responsibility for maintaining and supporting these principles. When a student enrolls in Washington State University, the student assumes an obligation to pursue academic endeavors in a manner consistent with the standards of academic integrity adopted by the University. To maintain the academic integrity of the community, the University cannot tolerate acts of academic dishonesty including any forms of cheating, plagiarism, or fabrication. Washington State University reserves the right and the power to discipline or to exclude students who engage in academic dishonesty.
Reasonable accommodations are available for students with a documented disability. If you have a disability and may need accommodations to fully participate in this class, please visit the Disability Resource Center (DRC). All accommodations MUST be approved through the DRC (Admin Annex Bldg, Room 205). Please stop by or call 509-333-3417 to make an appointment with a disability specialist.
The Writing Center
Students are encouraged to visit the Writing Center as they write their assignments for English 201. The Writing Center is located in CUE 403. They also offer online tutoring.
