English 397 – Modernism and Modern Fiction
Fall 2005
Mares - Fletcher 313 x6238
Office Hours: T/Th 1:15-2:30 & by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION
| In this seminar, we focus on certain texts that have helped to define modern literature as well as our sense of what it means to be 'modern.' Why have these works been so important? What about them now draws the most critical attention? What might we find of value in them in relation to our own lives at this point in time? What can we learn from them about larger historical and cultural developments to which they are responding? How do they reflect the rise of mass culture and new technologies, crises of war and empire, changing representations of the self, the unconscious, gender, and sexuality? These are some of the questions we will be exploring in our discussions. |
REQUIRED TEXTS
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Marcel Proust, Swann's Way Franz Kafka, Complete Stories James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse Katherine Mansfield, Selected Stories (xerox) Selected historical, biographical, and critical materials |
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REQUIREMENTS
Regular attendance; careful preparation for class; active and thoughtful participation, including typed questions or brief typed comments for class discussions; a 1-page précis of a selected critical essay; a 5-7 page paper; a 1-page proposal for a 10-12pp. paper; a 10-12pp. paper requiring the use of secondary sources and MLA style of documentation; a 1-page abstract of the 10-12pp. paper; in lieu of a final exam, an oral presentation based on your abstract. |
EVALUATION
| If all requirements are met, this will be the approximate breakdown of the final grade: class participation [questions and comments for discussion, in-class writing assignments (including précis of critical article), and, if needed, reading quizzes] = 30%; 5-7 page paper = 20%; 10-12pp. paper =30%; paper proposal, abstract, and presentation = 20%. Students are expected to adhere to the Honor Code in all of their work for this course. Plagiarism is a violation of the Honor Code and will be treated with the utmost seriousness. Please ask me if you have any questions about the different forms of plagiarism. |
CALENDAR
Main deadlines: Oct. 21 – 1st Paper due;
Nov. 3 – 2nd Paper proposals due in class;
Nov. 29 – 2nd Paper due in class;
Dec. 6 – Abstracts of 2nd paper due;
Dec. 8 – Oral presentations in class
Aug 25 - Introduction
30 – Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man
+ "Cultural Forces Driving Modernism"
and "Some Aspects of Literary Modernism" (John Lye)
SEPT. 1 – Joyce + recorded excerpts from Portrait of the Artist…
6 - Joyce ("Modernism"/"Postmodernism," M.H. Abrams)
8 – Joyce + selected criticism
13 - Joyce
15 - Joyce
20 - Joyce + recorded excerpts from Ulysses
and Finnegans Wake (including reading by Joyce himself!)
22 - Proust, Swann's Way
27 – Proust – Marcel Proust: A Writer's Life (film)
[29 – READING DAYS Sept. 29 -30]
OCT. 4 – Proust
6 – Proust
11 – Proust – Guest lecture by Professor Killiam
+ recorded excerpts from Swann's Way
13 – Proust + selected criticism
18 – Proust
20 – Woolf, To The Lighthouse
[21 – PAPER due by 5:00 p.m.]
25 - Woolf
27 – Woolf
NOV. 1 - Woolf + selected criticism
3 - Woolf. Paper proposals due in class.
8 – Kafka, "Before the Law," "An Imperial Message,"
"The Judgement," "A Common Confusion"
10 – Kafka - Guest lecture by Professor Horwege
"The Metamorphosis," "A Country Doctor"
15 – Kafka, "A Report to the Academy," "The Hunger Artist," "Give It Up"
17 – Mansfield, "At the Bay," "Bliss," "Je Ne Parle Pas Francais" (Approx. 77 pp. total)
[THANKSGIVING BREAK – 5:30 p.m., Nov. 18 - Nov.27]
29 – Workshop. 10-12pp. paper due in class.
DEC. 1 – Mansfield, "Daughters of the Late Colonel," "Life of Ma Parker,"
"The Garden-Party" (Approx. 43 pp. total)
6 – Abstracts due. Senior Exercise: Oral Presentation.
Mansfield, "The Doll's House," "The Fly." (Approx. 14 pp. total)
8 – Course evaluations. Oral presentations.
[READING DAY- Dec. 10; EXAMS - Dec. 11–16]
Last updated: 15 November 2005