| What
is Literature? Spring 2005 |
Professor Alisse Portnoy Grader: Joe Kilduff
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Course Information |
Welcome to English 239. This course has as its title a deceptively simple question: "What is literature?". That question invites discussion, both serious and playful, and it also invites more questions. What is "literature"? What do we "do" with it? Who gets to say what counts as "good" or "representative" literatures? Do plays count? What about music? All of the texts for this section of the course are Pulitzer-prize winners--which means texts "authored" by "American" citizens and "judged" to be especially "distinguished" (so many ideas that invite more questions!). And by the way, what power do literary prizes have, and how do they influence the ways people read? For me, the very idea that we are beginning with a question implies activity: critical reading, collaborative discussion, analytical writing. Given this course's status as a gateway to the English concentration, we'll attend especially to ways that literary critics "use" texts: the ways we think critically about what literature is, means, and does, for example, and the ways that we read closely, write about, and compare texts across genres, topics, periods, and cultures. We will be reading, watching, and listening to some really great texts this semester. Please be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to read, watch, and listen outside of class--some of these texts are long. Here's the list: Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex (Picador, 2002; Pulitzer, 2003) Everything but the movie is available at Shaman Drum Bookshop, which is located at 313 South State Street. Their phone number is 662-7407, and their website is <www.shamandrum.com>. Please be sure to get the editions ordered for the class, and bring relevant text(s) to each class meeting. I will hold office hours on Mondays from 5:00 - 6:00 pm. Office hours are an extension of the classroom. You are welcome to come by with questions, comments, and concerns. If you are enjoying a reading and would like to discuss it further, if you are having a problem with something in the course, if you don’t understand something, if you want to talk about a quiz or an exam, if you're thinking about concentrating in English or just want to chat about the field, please come and see me. The best way to get in touch with me outside of class time and office hours is email. Although I have an answering machine in my office, I only check messages on Mondays and Wednesdays. Email really is the way to go. I’ll use email to contact you in case class is canceled because of an emergency, or if I want to pass on information about the course. Be sure to check your University of Michigan email account regularly. Also, I am quick to delete emails from people I do not recognize, so be sure when you email me that you email me from your "umich" account. Your classmates are an integral part of your English 239 experience. I recommend that you introduce yourself to people in this class, and that you exchange email addresses with several classmates so that you can form discussion and study groups, and so that you can find out what you missed in case of an absence. I’m happy to make appropriate accommodations for any sort of disability. If you think you may need special accommodations, please contact Services for Students with Disabilities (G-625 Haven Hall, 763-3000, <www.umich.edu/~sswd/ssd>) and see me during office hours within the first week of the semester. Attendance and participation in this course are important, and amount to 15% of your final grade. Your grade also is based on regular quizzes (15% total) and two take-home exams (35% each). Quizzes typically will happen at the start of class and, given that they engage readings due on a particular day, they may not be "made up." You may, however, drop your lowest quiz grade. You are allowed just one absence--after all, we only meet fourteen times--and I highly, highly recommend that you save that one absence in case you get sick or have an emergency. Those are the sorts of events that the one permitted absence is designed to cover. Your final grade will drop by 1/3 for each absence after that first one. Two late arrivals or early departures of less than fiftenn minutes convert to one absence. Your first take-home exam is due at the start of class on May 30, and your second take-home exam is due no later than 1:00 pm on June 22. Exams will not be accepted late. Please note two special events: a screening of Angels in America on May 16 from 7 - 10 pm in G115 Angell Hall, and a visit from professor of musicology Mark Clague during class on June 1. Be sure that you don't miss these terrific happenings. And now, the formal stuff. First, academic dishonesty, including plagiarizing, cheating, aiding and abetting dishonesty, and collaborating on the take-home exams will not be tolerated. Second, the collection, recounting, promulgation, or selling of materials based on this course, including its websites, lectures, discussions, compiled readings, handouts, or other activities and documents is prohibited. Third, course policies and the schedule of assignment are subject to change. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out about changes. |