English 180:
Introduction to Literature
Fall Semester 2014
Stephen C. Behrendt
319 Andrews Hall
phone: 472-1806
office: 12:30-2:00 TR
and by appointment
James Gillray, Humphrey's Shop
Course Information
Required Texts:
Literature: A Portable Anthology. Third Edition. Eds. Gardner, Lawn, Ridl and Schakel.
Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol. Suggested edition: “Dover Thrift Edition”
Aims of this course:
The primary aim is to help you gain greater confidence and self-awareness with reading in general — and with reading “literature” in particular — so that you will become a more effective reader, no matter what sort of writing you are reading. In order to accomplish this objective, we will read and discuss a broad variety of texts.
In fact, one aim will be to help you get a better sense of just what it is that we mean by the term “literature.” “Literature” has probably never meant exactly the same thing to everyone at any given point in history, even within a relatively small social group of readers. Like any form of art, literature is always the subject of controversy and disagreement, precisely because it is made up of a dynamic and continually evolving body of materials.
Indeed, about two hundred years ago, during what literary historians usually call the “Romantic” period in Western culture, many writers and thinkers argued that “literature” was not a body of writings at all but, rather, an interactive process that involved not just individuals but whole communities of readers, all of whom were expected to be familiar with many “texts” and also to be actively involved in interpreting them within the broad parameters of social and cultural activity. In that sort of a cultural community, literature and the other arts occupied a central place in the society, rather than being relegated to the periphery, as they often are today. The “hottest” ideas were debated energetically not just in the streets but also in all the various forms of writing (and other artistic media) — and both the artists and their audiences were almost always able to assume that every member of this group activity was familiar with the issues and with the ways in which the various literary and non-literary artistic forms “worked.”
Within the last twenty years or so there has been a great deal of new interest in the ways in which the various forms of writing function within cultural communities. These “forms of writing” range widely, and they can include everything from familiar conventional literary works like formal poems or deliberately intellectual novels to song lyrics, graffiti, and even forms that are not written down at all (like “poetry slams”). They also include other types of formal writing like religious texts, history writing, journalism, editorials, and the drama, to name only a few.
So one more aim of this course is to help you better to appreciate that while reading is necessarily a very private activity (most of us read alone, silently, just as you are doing as you read this sentence), that reading activity is never entirely separated from the community to which you belong and to another community to which the author belongs (or belonged). Moreover, if you think about it, you will realize that a very great deal of this private reading that we do is actually closely involved with group activities and group identities: when you read your Bible or Koran, your family history, your fraternity or sorority information, your horoscope, you are participating in various types of communities in which all the other members understand the “language.” Those communities to which we belong, and whose values and cultural practices have shaped each of us, are also the communities to which we take back the results of our private reading, where we may choose to “try them out” on others. In other words, all texts are surrounded both by other “texts” and by a variety of contexts that result from who each of us is and from the experiences that have made each of us what we are.
The Bottom Line
Throughout this course we will be concerned with different approaches that we can take to texts. We will begin with the idea that we are all “general readers” — members of an academic community but not a highly specialized group of “literature specialists.” The questions we will explore are those that readers have often explored, and it is no exaggeration to say that most of those questions do not have what we might think of as “answers.” The study of art is not rocket science —— it is harder! We will try to remember in our work that what we do as readers is often affected by factors that lie outside each of us. Imagine trying to discuss Shakespeare’s sonnets (or Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein) on September 11, 2001, for example, and you may begin to appreciate the point. We have all learned to read in different ways and at different times and in different places. So each of us brings to our reading a whole lifetime of intellectual, cultural, moral, political, economic, and gender conditioning. No wonder that we may disagree on what any text (ANY text) “means.” Discovering the “meaning” of any text — or of any cultural phenomenon — is often a matter of narrowing down the possibilities by deciding among ourselves what it is NOT and then settling for the fact that we are left with a constellation of various, possible “meanings” that incorporate and represent our differing approaches and experiences as readers.
A Word about Procedures
Since our class is a relatively large one, there will necessarily be some lectures. But I will try to keep these reasonably informal, and I will be open to discussion and questions at any point, in any and all of our meetings. Indeed, I strongly encourage you to be vocal as well as simply attentive, and to engage with the course and me through in-class dialogue and conversation. While I hope to keep our class sessions relatively informal and not intimidating, I expect each of you to take very seriously the work that we will be doing, and to treat both the assigned readings and one another with respect at all times.
And Another about Grades
On your course handouts — and on the course website at the “Course Writing Assignments” page — you will find information about the writing assignments and the grading standards for the course.
There will be two examinations, one at about the middle of the semester (and covering Fiction; 25% of your course grade) and another at the end (covering the entire course; 25% of your course grade). The examinations will be heavily grounded in the assigned readings and in our discussions about them, so if you fail to attend classes you will very likely fail the examinations – and probably the course.
You will write two brief papers, one each on the Short Story and on Poetry. Each paper will be worth 25% of your course grade. I will provide detailed instructions for both papers.
Some people do better on relatively objective examinations than on "papers," while others do just the opposite. And many people fall somewhere in the middle. By balancing the examinations and the papers as I have done, I am hoping to level the playing field for everyone.
I use the following 10-point grade distribution on a 100-point scale:
97+ A+
94-96 A
90-93 A-
87-89 B+
84-86 B
80-83 B-
77-79 C+
74-76 C
70-73 C-
67-69 D+
64-66 D
60-63 D-
0-59 FCourse grades are based on the following requirements:
1. Regular attendance (see English Department attendance policy, which follows below)
2. In-class activities and exercises, including daily index cards as described below
3. 2 examinations, worth 25% percent of course grade each
4. 2 brief papers, worth 25% of course grade each
The Index Card Requirement
Every day of class, you are to turn in a 3x5 note card with these three required pieces of data:
1. Your name;
2. The date of the class meeting; and
3.Your brief explanation of some one thing you found particularly interesting in one of the day's assigned readings.These cards are your responsibility. I will use them for several purposes:
1. To track attendance. Excessive absences (above 3) will result in lowered course grades.
2. To get a sense of how – and how effectively – you are reading the assignments.
3. To help me prepare examination materials.I will return your cards at the end of the semester.
Cards are accepted only on the dates on which they are due, and in class. NO LATE CARDS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
Department of English Policy on Class Attendance
“The Department of English expects students registered for English classes to attend all scheduled class meetings and to have a reasonable excuse for any absence. Instructors are expected to lower the grades of students who miss classes without reasonable excuses and to penalize any work turned in late because of such absences. Students who miss more than twenty percent of the scheduled class meetings of any course will ordinarily fail the course for that reason alone, except that (1) if absences occur before the Withdrawal Passing period ends, the student may receive a “W” grade, and (2) if the absences are excused by the instructor or approved UNL policy and a large majority of them occur after the work of the course has been substantially completed, the student may receive an Incomplete (“I”) grade. In both of these cases, it is assumed that the student meets the eligibility requirement stated in the Schedule of Classes. Members of the teaching staff may have more restrictive attendance policies than are here stated.”
You should know that I support this attendance policy. I believe that, especially in a class like this one, the in-class work is a vital part of the overall course. Because of its interactive and unscripted nature, the in-class work cannot be “made up,” and if you choose to “blow off” the class attendance requirement, you will fail the course.
Achievement Centered Education
By passing this course, you will fulfill ACE Learning Outcome 5: “Use knowledge, historical perspectives, analysis, interpretation, critical evaluation, and the standards of evidence appropriate to the humanities to address problems and issues.” Your work will be evaluated by the instructor according to the specifications described in this syllabus. At the end of the term, you may be asked to provide samples of your work for ACE assessment as well.Opportunities to achieve this outcome:
Students will read, learn about, and discuss a series of texts by a wide range of authors in multiple genres and literary traditions. Through lectures, discussion, and in-class exercises, students will explore a variety of interpretative approaches, considering the major theoretical questions inhering in different schools of literary interpretation. They will consider their own reading practices in detail, reflecting upon the assumptions they hold regarding the nature of literature and texts, of interpretation, and of the reading process in general. Students will assimilate, explore, and challenge various interpretative methodologies, considering what standards of evidence are deployed in each interpretative tradition, and how logically they are applied in any given instance.
Opportunities to demonstrate achievement of this outcome:
Multiple writing assignments in both informal and formal formats will require students to engage with the interpretative questions central to the course and enable students to explore several of the methods of analysis presented in the class, including historical/contextual approaches and close reading of texts. Essay exams and/or assignments will require students to engage with other examples of literary analysis as well as to display an awareness of their own interpretive choices.
Students with Disabilities:
Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) provides individualized academic support for students with documented disabilities. Support services can include extended test time, textbooks and handouts in alternative formats (electronic texts, Braille, taped texts, etc), classroom notes, sign language interpreters, and transcriptionists. SSD not only accommodates students that have visible disabilities, but students with other varying types of disabilities that impact college life. If you have a documented disability that is impacting your academic progress, please call SSD at 472-3787 and schedule an appointment. If you do not have a documented disability but you are having difficulties with your coursework (such as receiving low grades even though you study more than your classmates or find you run out of time for test questions when the majority of your peers finish their exams in the allotted time), you may schedule an appointment to discuss the challenges you are experiencing.
NOTE:
Your enrollment in this course constitutes your acceptance of these course requirements and grading expectations.