English 271 Schedule
Fall 2006
Immediately after each date below, you'll find instructions and reading assignments due for that day's class session. CTT = Critical Theory Today. Also after each date, you will find instructions for that class period and likely class activities.
Attendance, active participation, and attention to reading assignments are vital. If you miss a class, you should FIRST get full notes and instructions from at least a couple classmates, THEN contact me for any specific further information you may need. (You're expected to be prepared for each class meeting, whether you missed the previous one or not.) Please remember that absences will affect your understanding of course content, and no amount of make up work can replace regular attendance. If you ever have questions, don't hesitate to contact me: Cindy Nichols.
Thurs. Aug. 24—(Move to IACC 116. Print out our class homepage and schedule. Course introduction: description, assignments, texts, policies. Post self-profiles on Blackboard Discussion Board. Write in-class diagnostic critical essay on selection of poems and post to Blackboard. Why study/analyze literature? Personal and primary experiences. Difficulty
of theory; active reading. Literary study and common
terms: "literary analysis," "literary criticism," "literary theory." Tyson's use of these terms. Perspectives cone.)
Thurs. Aug. 31 —Have all of Gatsby read
by this date. Also read CTT, Chapter 1, pp. 1-11 and Chapter 5, "New Criticism," pp. 117-150. Take a look at Elements of Poetry, Elements of Fiction, Critical Approaches (a summary), and Definition of Formalism.
(Click here for EXTRA CREDIT poetry survey. Complete survey only if you haven't done it during a previous semester. If you have completed it previously, see for an alternative extra credit option. Quiz on CTT and Gatsby. Open discussion of Gatsby. Extract perspectives from diagnostic samples; review perspectives cone/broad overview of critical frameworks. Brief discussion of earliest critical perspectives, and sources for further exploration. Review 19th century, then outline central tenents of New Crit. Formal elements of fiction and poetry. Outline or summarize hypothetical essay on Gatsby.)
Thurs. Sept. 7—Groups of 2-4 should sign out and view White Oleander (1 hr. 49 min.) by class time. Create and post an outline or summary for a potential New Crit. essay on film to Blackboard Discussion Forum by noon on Wed. 6th.
For help with reviewing OUTLINES, click here. For some additional help with reviewing ELEMENTS of literature, see GaleNet's Glossary of Terms.
Also, in Blackboard under Course Documents, print out and read: 1) "To His Coy Mistress" and "Formalist Essay on Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress'," as well as 2) "To Autumn," and "Formalist Essay on Keats' 'To Autumn'."
(Continue work with elements of fiction and poetry, formalism, and New Crit. View segments of Oleander and discuss. Look at sample outlines/summaries. Review research strategies and the annotated bib.)
"they f**k you up, your mum and dad" |
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Thurs. Sept. 14—Read CTT, Chap. 2, "Psychoanalytic Criticism," pp. 13-47. Also read Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown and Faulkner, Barn Burning. Print out poems by Ai. (Begin work with Psychoanalytic theory. Freud's couch! Basics, then analyze Oleander and Ai.) |
Thurs. Sept. 21—Read Jungian Essay on Harry Potter. Also read Hawthorne, The Birthmark and O'Connor, "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Review Gatsby from perspective of myth criticism. (Continue work with Psychoanalytic and myth criticism.) http://www.usd.edu/~tgannon/crit.html#arch
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Thurs. Sept. 28—Read CTT, Chap. 3, "Marxist Criticism," pp. 49-79. (Begin work with Marxist theory. Watch Modern Times, 1 hr. 23 min. ) Thurs. Oct. 5 — Read CTT, Chap. 4, "Feminist Criticism," pp. 81-115. Also read Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”: A Feminist Reading (Continue work with Marxism. Begin discussion of Feminist criticism.) |
Thurs. Oct. 12—Skim Chap. 7, Structural Criticism," then read carefully Chap. 8, "Deconstructive Criticism," pp. 241-276. (Finish work with Feminist Crit. Begin Deconstruction.) Thurs. Oct. 19 —(Finish work with Deconstruction.) Thurs. Oct. 26—Read CTT, Chap. 9, "New Historical and Cultural Criticism," pp. 277-315. Print out (but don't complete) Cultural Criticism Worksheet on O'Connor. Review "A Good Man is Hard to Find." "We are estranged from that with which we are most familiar" —Heracleitus (c. 540-480 B.C.) (New Historicism and Culturalist Crit.) Thurs. Nov. 2 — Read all of Fight Club. (Discuss special instructions for next week. Conclusions drawn from last week's historical accounts. New Historicist views of those accounts. Do Culturalist discussion of O'Connor story and go over group worksheet from last week. Begin work with Fight Club. Fundamental formal elements. Come prepared to talk about the book from a New Critical perspective. Review all types of criticism to date and their methods. Assign theories to groups. Quescussion. ) |
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Thurs. Nov. 9 —Print out Basic Conventions for Writing About Literature. (SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR TODAY. I'll be out of town at an academic conference. Groups meet to write up Fight Club hypothetical essay summaries. Click here for group instructions. Turn in this Fight Club group work as a Microsoft Word email attachment by 6pm, Mon., Nov. 13th. You should also begin drafting your Critical Essay. Click here for Essay assignment.) Thurs. Nov. 16—Before class, read over your classmates' group summaries of possible essays on Fight Club. I'll post these online: click here for your classmates' summaries. For the same summaries including instructor comments, click here. (MEET IN IACC 128. Go over group interpretations of Fight Club, discussing possible improvements and alternative interpretations. Discuss Critical Essay assignment. Basic conventions of the critical/interpretive essay. Strategies and outlining. Resources for further exploration of selected theory. Work on essay in IACC reserved cluster. EXAM: this will be emailed as a Word document to everyone shortly before today's class. ) Thurs. Nov. 23—Thanksgiving Holiday. Thurs. Nov. 30 —(Completed Exam due during classtime. None will be accepted after 6pm . Draft of Critical Essay due. Bring 2 copies of your draft. Peer critiques. I will skim-read and critique your work as well. Click here for Poetry Exit survey.) Thurs. Dec. 7—(Final class. Bring a new draft of your essay, 1 copy. Go over exam results. Additional peer critiques. Course evaluations. Extra credit opportunity. Mini conferences.) Mon. Dec. 11—Critical Essay final version due in box outside of SE 318 no later than 5pm. Essays which are turned in more than 2 days late will result in a 2-pts. per day deduction from your semester score, starting with the 3rd day late and including every day after that. No work will be accepted after 5pm on Dec. 15th. If you would like your graded essay returned to you, enclose it in a self-addressed and self-stamped manila envelope. It will be sent to whatever address you've put on the front. (Your semester grade will also be calculated on the essay.) Essays turned in without an envelope will be held for a couple weeks into Spring semester, then used to make a bonfire in the hallway for roasting weenies. Early turn-ins are welcome! |
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