Lectures in Literature 0505
Lectures in Literature
2009 – 2010 Theme: Adaptations
ENGLIT 505 (CRN: 14638)
Lectures: Mondays from 3:00 to 4:15 in CL 332
Recitations: Wednesdays from 3:00 to 4:15 or from 4:30 to 5:45
Course Faculty
Professor Jennifer Waldron
CL 617G; jwaldron@pitt.edu
Julie Beaulieu
Office 617F; jrb107@pitt.edu
Joanna Collins
Office: 517W; jkc21@pitt.edu
Undergraduate Teaching Assistants
Katie Filous (klf40@pitt.edu)
Sheila Hubbard (sjh29@pitt.edu)
Guest Lecturers
Irina Reyn, Cathy Day, Steve Carr
Course Description
Designed as an introduction to literary study, Lectures in Literature explores a broad array of literary texts, concepts, and approaches to interpretation. We’ll consider such questions as what counts as literature; how literature shapes and gets shaped by culture, society, and politics; the ways in which literature makes (or refrains from making) arguments; and how literature produces a wide range of effects among readers. As is generally the case with study in the Humanities, none of these questions has answers that are absolute—though that’s not the same as saying that any answer is as good as any other. This course will focus on how to make a strong argument about a literary text: how to identify its project; analyze its structure and language; recognize its relationship to historical contexts; and, ultimately, how to assess its value as a work of art. Faculty and guest lecturers will model such arguments in our class meetings, and you’ll be asked craft your own arguments in relation to those made both by faculty and by your fellow students.
The theme for 2009-2010 will be “Adaptations”: how do more recent writers adapt classics such as fairy tales, Shakespeare, or stories from the Bible? How were great writers like Shakespeare and Milton themselves preoccupied with adapting sources such as chronicles, myths, fairy tales, and even the Bible? Weekly lectures will offer a critical introduction to problems of adaptation in various historical periods. Several guest lecturers from the English Department will provide alternative perspectives on literary history and will address questions about how literary and cultural values translate (or are lost in translation) as a story is adapted to a different time period, genre, or artistic medium. In recitation seminars, students will have the opportunity to discuss the course reading in detail and to explore in small groups the issues and arguments raised in the lectures.
Reading and Assignment Schedule:
NOTES:
1) There will be a short reading quiz at the beginning of each recitation, starting on 9/9
2) Please print out CourseWeb readings and bring them to lectures AND recitations for the week they are listed: we will refer to specific passages in class.
3) There may be some short additions to this reading list: check the CourseWeb announcements and Course Documents each week.
DATE |
READINGS (to be completed before the date for which they are listed) |
OTHER ASSIGNMENTS |
8-31 |
Introduction: Adaptation |
|
9-2 |
FAIRY TALES: Versions of Sleeping Beauty (print from CourseWeb): |
|
9-7 |
NO LECTURE: LABOR DAY |
|
9-9 |
Start Jane Yolen, Briar Rose (chaps 1 - 14)
|
First weekly reading quiz: practice |
9-14 |
Finish Jane Yolen, Briar Rose |
First discussion board post due: BOTH GROUPS |
9-16 |
Russian Fairy Tales: “The Wolf,” and “Baba Yaga” |
Optional UTA Round Tables for essay help. These will be held on the ground floor of the library: |
9-21 |
IRINA REYN GUEST LECTURE |
PAPER 1 DUE |
9-23 |
Wrap up discussion of Russian fairy tales |
|
9-28 |
KING LEAR: Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 1 |
Second discussion board post due: GROUP A |
9-30 |
King Lear, Act 2 |
|
10-5 |
King Lear, Act 3 |
Second discussion board post due: GROUP B |
10-7 |
King Lear, Act 4 |
|
*TUES 10-13 |
FALL BREAK MAKEUP DAY: TUESDAY LECTURE (3:00) |
Third discussion board post due: GROUP A |
10-15 |
Read ending of True Chronicle History |
Extra-credit student readings/ performances in class (GROUP A) |
10-19 |
Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres, parts 1 & 2 |
Third discussion board post due: GROUP B |
10-21 |
Smiley, A Thousand Acres, part 3 |
Extra-credit student readings/ performances in class (GROUP B) |
10-26 |
Smiley, A Thousand Acres, parts 4 – 6 |
Fourth discussion board post due: BOTH GROUPS |
10-28 |
Smiley, A Thousand Acres wrap-up |
|
11-2 |
ADAM AND EVE: Genesis, chaps 1 – 10 (King James version) |
Quiz during lecture |
11-4 |
Discuss Genesis stories & cycle plays |
PAPER 2 DUE |
11-9 |
Margaret Atwood, “Happy Endings” CATHY DAY GUEST LECTURE |
|
11-11 |
Wrap up discussion of Atwood and Day Read Milton Book 4: EDEN (lines 1 - 538) |
|
11-16 |
Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4 (lines 539 – end) |
|
11-18 |
Book 4: discuss passages |
Creative adaptation project due in class |
11-23 |
Finish Milton Book 9 (lines 532 – end) |
Quiz during lecture |
11-25 |
NO RECITATION: THANKSGIVING |
|
11-30 |
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
STEVE CARR GUEST LECTURE |
Fifth discussion board postdue: |
12-2 |
Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell |
|
12-7 |
Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell |
Fifth discussion board post due:
|
12-9 |
Wrap up Milton/ Blake/ Adaptation |
Optional revision of one of your essays due: include cover letter. |
12-14 |
Final exam: in-class essay questions |
|
Logistics
There’ll be a lecture on Monday of each week from 3:00 – 4:15, with a recitation seminar on Wednesday. Lectures will be given either by members of the course faculty or by guest lecturers from the English Department—an arrangement that will introduce you to faculty from whom you may wish to take courses and literary fields you may want to study further should you decide to pursue a major in English. Though there are no prerequisites, this course is required for English majors, who are encouraged to take it early in their coursework. (The course is offered every semester, and the theme changes each year.)
Recitation seminars will consist of weekly meetings of approximately 20 - 25 students. Each seminar will be conducted by a Teaching Fellow (TF) from the English Department, who will lead discussion of the assigned texts and corresponding lectures. Your TF will also evaluate all of your written work and exams, and she’ll determine your final grade at the end of the semester. In other words, while Jen Waldron is responsible for the design of the course and its requirements, your primary instructor is the Teaching Fellow who leads your recitation seminar. You should turn in your work to her, contact her (in advance) if you have to miss class, and so on.
Two Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (UTAs), both of whom are senior English majors, have been assigned to this course to provide further assistance. UTAs will join—and sometimes lead—discussion in recitation seminars; participate in the on-line discussion board at the course website; and occasionally hold roundtable sessions in the Cathedral lobby to help students prepare for exams or papers. UTAs are also a valuable resource if you’d like to speak with a peer about a part of the course you’re finding difficult or if you have a suggestion for improving the lectures or seminars
Texts
Available at the Book Center:
Jane Yolen, Briar Rose (Tor Teen, 2002)
ISBN: 978-0765342300
William Shakespeare, King Lear (Simon and Shuster, 2004).
ISBN: 978-0743482769
The Book of Job (Grove, 1999). Introduction by Charles Frazier.
ISBN: 978-0802136121
Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres (Anchor, 2003)
ISBN: 978-1400033836
John Milton, Paradise Lost (Norton, 2004).
ISBN: 978-0393924282
Available on CourseWeb:
Versions of Sleeping Beauty
- Basile, “Sun, Moon, and Talia”
- Perrault, “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”
- Brothers Grimm, “Sleeping Beauty”
- Angela Carter, “The Lady of the House of Love”
Russian Fairy Tales
- “The Wolf,” and “Baba Yaga”
- Irina Reyn: “Wolf Story” and “Baba Yaga”
Sources and adaptations of the Lear story
- “Cap o’ Rushes” (fairy tale that Lear draws on)
- Lamb’s version of Lear, pages 1 - 9
- Anonymous, True Chronicle History of King Leir
- Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles
- Mirror for Magistrates
- King James’ writings on kingship
Genesis and adaptations
- Genesis (King James version)
- Medieval cycle plays: Wakefield and York
- Margaret Atwood, “Happy Endings”
- Cathy Day, “Genesis”
Romantic adaptation of Milton
- William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Excerpts from defenses of Eve
- Aemilia Lanyer, Excerpts from “Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum”
- Joseph Swetnam, “Arraignment of Lewd, Froward, and Idle Women”
- Esther Sowernam, “Esther hath Hanged Haman”
- Rachel Speght, “A Muzzle . . .
Requirements
Attendance
Lecture courses are sometimes treated as if attendance were not important. This isn’t that kind of course. In this course, you’re expected to attend the lectures as well as the recitation seminars each week. At the Monday lectures you’ll need to sign the attendance sheet, and on Wednesdays your TF will keep track of recitation attendance. If you have more than two unexcused absences (whether from lecture or from recitation), your final grade will drop by two points for each missed class; five absences will mean that you fail the course. (If tardiness becomes a problem, two tardy arrivals will be considered an absence.) In the case of absence due to illness of other extenuating circumstances, you’ll need to present documentation (e.g., a doctor’s note).
Please note: In order to promote an atmosphere of conducive to learning, we would like you to turn off laptop computers and cell phones during class. No texting!
Reading Quizzes
There’ll be a multiple-choice quiz on the reading each week at the beginning of your recitation seminar. Past experience has shown that these quizzes help ensure that students read the assigned texts and thus engage in more productive class discussion. (You must arrive at the beginning of class in order to take the quiz, as there will be no make-up quizzes except in the case of an excused illness. Contact your TF by email before class if you’re ill.)
Discussion Board
On five occasions during the term, you’ll be required to post a comment on the Discussion Board at the course website. These comments will be due Tuesdays by midnight (the night before your recitation seminar), and on certain occasions you’ll be required to present your comments in class in order to help lead discussion. Please print out your comments and bring them to recitation that week. (Guidelines for writing comments have been posted on the course website under “Assignments.”) Since late comments don’t arrive in time to be read before class, comments that miss the deadline will be penalized, and no comment will be accepted after your recitation meets. These postings will be graded check-plus (95%), check (85%), or check-minus (75%).
Essays
You’ll write two essays this semester, and both assignments will be posted on the course website. The first will be 3 – 5 pages and the second will be 5 – 7 pages. You’ll also have the opportunity to revise one of these essays at the end of the term if you choose. (Late essays will receive a one-grade penalty for each day that they are late, so be sure to submit them at the beginning of class on the day they’re due. Leave extra time for printing.)
Creative Adaptation Project
This project gives you an opportunity to be imaginative and to test out ways in which adaptations offer implicit and explicit interpretations of the original. Working with a group or by yourself, you may select a fairy tale, Bible story, or Shakespeare scene to adapt as you wish. You might choose a new setting, time period, medium, genre, or add a lost scene or new ending.
Extra Credit
During our Shakespeare unit, you will have a chance to read aloud and/or perform one of your adaptations for the class. You might build on this for the final creative adaptation project or you might work on a new idea. The extra credit will add one to two percentage points to your final grade, depending on the quality of your performance. (See point system below.)
Final Exam
The final exam will consist of a series of short essays on the lectures and texts discussed during the course of the term. In order to be well-prepared for the exam, it’s strongly recommended that you take thorough notes on the lectures and on the discussion of the texts in recitation seminars. You should also take clear notes as you read: underline important passages or passages that you don’t understand. Any passage that we discuss in lecture or in recitation should be marked, and you might write a note next to it about what was said. If you are concerned about writing in your books, use pencil or Post-it notes.
Evaluation
Participation Reading quizzes Discussion Board First essay Second essay Creative Adaptation Final Exam |
10% 10% 10% 18% 22% 10% 20% |
|---|
Grades will be posted on the course website so that you can keep track of them. (98% = A+; 95% = A; 92% = A-; 88% = B+; 85% = B; 82% = B-; 78% = C+; 75% = C; 72% = C-; etc.) If you have questions about your grade, be sure to speak first with your TF.
Please note: Some students appear to expect that, because this is an introductory course in large-lecture format, making a high grade will be easier than in other English courses. We want to be clear from the start that this is not the case. 70% of your grade for this course will be determined by how you perform on two essay assignments and a final exam composed of short essays. Strong writing, in other words, is essential to doing well, and the faculty in this course set high standards when it comes to written work. So be prepared to attend all classes; keep up with the reading; remember to post your contributions to the Discussion Board on time; and work hard on your writing. You’ll need to be vigilant with all of these in order to earn a “B” or higher in this course.
Academic Integrity Policy
Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. If a paper or assignment is plagiarized, you will receive a zero on that assignment and you will most likely fail the course as well. These offenses demean you as a person and as a member of the university community. Even when you paraphrase someone else’s ideas, you must state your sources. For further details on the university’s policy, visit http://www.pitt.edu/~provost/ai1.html. Also look at the page entitled “Avoiding Plagiarism” on the Literature Program’s website at http://www.pitt.edu/~englit/.
Writing Center
The Writing Center, located in M2 Thaw Hall, is an excellent resource for working on your writing with an experienced consultant. Although you should not expect consultants to “correct” your paper for you, they can assist you in learning to organize, edit, and revise your papers. Consultants can work with you on a one-time basis, or they can work with you throughout the term. Their services are free, but you should call ahead at 412-624-6556 or make an appointment on-line at http://www.rich36.com/pitt/.
Additional Assistance
Pitt offers a number of services to help students who are struggling either academically or personally. If you are a student with a disability, you may wish to contact Disability Resources and Services in 216 William Pitt Union or at 412-648-7890. Pitt also offers free counseling for students who are experiencing personal or emotional difficulties. The Counseling Center, located in 334 William Pitt Union, offers Psychological Services (412-648-7930) and Sexual Assault Services (412-648-7856).
Problems with the Course
If you’re having difficulty with the course, you should contact your TF to discuss the problem. We’d like to help make your experience of the course a good one, and if you’re having trouble, it’s best to address the issue as early as possible. The UTA assigned to your recitation seminar is also meant to be a resource if you’re struggling with the course material or lectures. Finally, Jen Waldron will be happy to meet with you after class or by appointment; however, if you want to make a complaint about your recitation she’ll advise you to meet with your TF first to see if the problem can be resolved.
