1912 8:00a-8:50a MWF (25) 3 cr.
1913 9:05a-9:55a MWF (25) 3 cr. ROBERTS (description follows)
1914 12:20p-1:10p MWF (25) 3 cr.
1915 8:00a-9:15a TR (25) 3 cr.
1916 8:00a-9:15a TR (25) 3 cr.
1917 9:30a-10:45a TR (25) 3 cr. BRANTLINGER (description
follows)
1918 1:00p-2:15p TR (25) 3 cr. SORENSEN (description follows)
1919 2:30p-3:45p TR (25) 3 cr. FARRIS (description follows)
1920 4:00p-5:15p TR (25) 3 cr.
1921 5:45p-7:00p TR (25) 3 cr.
1922 7:15p-8:30p TR (25) 3 cr.
1923 10:10a-11:00a MWF (25) 3 cr. WELLS (description follows)
ALL SECTIONS ABOVE ARE COAS INTENSIVE WRITING SECTIONS.
Representative works of fiction; structural techniques in the novel.
Novels and short
stories from several ages and countries.
FOR ROBERTS SECTION 1913:
This course will explore formal techniques in the construction and
critique of fictional
narratives, such as plot, setting, point of view, style, and
symbolism. As we investigate
narratives generally concerned with the themes of detection, mystery,
and readerly
expectations, we will consider various explanations for the choices
writes (and readers)
make and for the cultural and social significance of storytelling.
Texts will include
Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, Charles Dickens's The
Mystery of Edwin
Drood, Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler,
and numerous short
stories from James Pickering's anthology Fiction 100.
The class will be a combination of lecture, group discussion, and project presentations, and students will be required to attend regularly, write several short response papers, at least 2 or 3 longer revised papers, a midterm and final exam.
FOR BRANTLINGER SECTION 1917:
The subject of this class is how fictional narratives work. During
the first half of the
semester, we will examine the basic elements of novels and short
stories: characters, plots,
settings, narrative perspectives, style, and aspects of time and
timing. Readings for this
part of the class will come from the most recent edition of The
Norton Anthology of
Short Fiction, ed. R. V. Cassill. During the second half of the
semester, we will
explore how the different elements of fiction work in relation to a
major theme--for
instance, the theme of storytelling within stories themselves. We
will read two or three
longer works, including Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and,
perhaps, Margaret
Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Paul Auster's New York
Trilogy, Don DeLillo's
White Noise, Louise Erdrich's Tracks, or Toni
Morrison's Beloved.
There will be four or five quizzes, but no midterm or final. This is
an "intensive writing
course," so there will also be five paper assignments, 3 to 5 pages in
length, with a chance
to revise one or two of the papers. Final grades will be based on the
quizzes (40%), the
papers (40%), and attendance and participation (20%).
FOR SORENSEN SECTION 1918:
As we read a series of short stories and novels in this course we
shall discuss and write
about both formal elements of these works of fiction (plot, narrative
structure, character,
point of view, etc.) and thematic issues, particularly the ways in
which fiction reflects,
reflects on, produces and resists social relationships of power
between different groups.
After familiarizing ourselves with some of the formal conventions of
fiction, we shall
explore and compare fictional experiments and consider the thematic
implications that arise
from such manipulations of form.
Although the final choice of texts has yet to be determined, it will
likely include short
stories by Franz Kafka, William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, Tillie Olsen,
Sandra Cisneros, and
others, and novels by Daniel Defoe, Jane Austen, and John Dos
Passos.
Course requirements will include three 2-page response papers, three
3-4-page papers
analyzing the significance of a formal element, and one 5-6 page paper
of extended
interpretation, and active participation in class.
FOR FARRIS SECTION 1919:
The purpose of this course is to help you learn to read, enjoy, and
write about fiction. Our
examination of short stories and novels will take into consideration
not only formal
elements but also the cultural contexts in which the works were
written and critical pieces
written in response to them. This is an intensive-writing course, so
we will pay particular
attention to how one goes about fashioning responses into
well-supported analyses and
interpretations of works of fiction.
TEXTS:
The Story and Its Writer (4th edition), Charters
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
City of Glass, Paul Aster
You will write five focused response papers (1-2 pages) and two longer
major papers (4-6
pages). There will be a midterm and a final exam .
FOR WELLS SECTION 1923:
This is a reading- and writing-intensive course designed to introduce
students to a variety
of fictional forms. We will begin by reading several examples of
short fiction (short
stories, short short stories, and perhaps a novella) before moving
into a long unit on the
novel. We will pay attention to the formal and stylistic aspects of
each work, asking why
it is that a writer has chosen this form and deployed these techniques
in order to tell this
story. We will also consider a number of non-formalist approaches to
texts, and in our
frequent writing assignments, students will have the opportunity to
try on different
critical voices to see how the meanings of texts can vary depending on
one’s critical
vantage point.
To give the course a thematic focus, we will concentrate on texts that
make “fiction” itself
a central narrative element: texts in which characters lie, try to
pass themselves off as
something they are not, withhold truths from the reader, and concoct
various other fantasies
that may or may not be apparent to us as we read. We will thus be
reading fictional works
about fictional processes, which should teach us much about the course
topic. Among the
texts we may read are Mark Twain’s Puddn’head Wilson, Nella
Larsen’s Passing,
William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, and Nick Hornby’s About
a Boy. Students
should expect frequent short response papers and 4-5 medium-length
formal papers, some of
which will require revision.