"HAUNTED"
English 104.04 - Thought and Expression - Fall 2007
Mares - Fletcher 313 x6238
< http://mares.english.sbc.edu >
Office Hours: MTh 4-5 p.m. & by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES
"One reads, acts, and writes with one's own ghosts, even when one goes after the ghosts of the other." Students in this course will have ample opportunities to investigate this claim proposed by French philosopher, Jacques Derrida, and to test out its truth. We will be concerned less with traditional or Gothic treatments of the course's theme than with more recent treatments of "cultural hauntings," those associated with historical traumas, collective and/or personal. Readings include fiction by prominent writers from various countries and essays by historians and cultural theorists.
The primary purpose of the course is to engage students in learning how to read more carefully, imaginatively, and critically; how to express their ideas more clearly, coherently, and persuasively; how to build, summarize, and evaluate arguments; and how to effectively edit and revise their own work.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye
Seamus Deane, Reading in the Dark
Don DeLillo, Falling Man
Various essays and short stories
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
American Heritage Dictionary (or other good dictionary)
HELPFUL WRITING WEBSITES
MLA Style (via UNC Library)
"Papers: Expectations, Guidelines, Advice, and Grading"
J. DeLombard and Dan White
Citation Machine
Writing Center Handouts: UNC Chapel Hill
Purdue Online Writing Lab (award-winning online writing lab)
The Elements of Style, William Strunk, Jr.
George Orwell's Handy Word Choice Hints
REQUIREMENTS
•Regular attendance and careful preparation for class
•Contributions to class discussions, including active and thoughtful oral participation as well as 1-2pp. typed responses to the readings, as assigned. Responses are to be submitted as a portfolio at end of term, along with a final 2-3pp. (typed) retrospective response.
•One 3-4 page paper; one 4-5 page paper; and one 6-8 page paper requiring research and documentation (multiple drafts may be required).
•Various other writing assignments, including peer reviews, a research paper proposal, and an abstract of the research paper
EVALUATION
•Approximate breakdown of the final grade, if all work is submitted*: 1st paper = 15%; 2nd paper = 20%; research paper = 25%; research proposal and abstract = 10%; portfolio & final retrospective response = 15%; class participation (oral contributions to discussions, informal in-class writing assignments, library workshop, quizzes, peer reviews, etc.) = 15%. Note that to qualify for a passing grade in this course you have to turn in all of the required drafts and revisions of the papers and your portfolio. (Attendance is also crucial. See Policies.) If you fail the course, you must retake it in the spring.
•Grades on revised papers will be averaged with grades on the originals, but will be weighted more heavily if the revisions are extensive and effective.
•If you are not clear about how to improve your work after carefully reading my comments on your papers, please stop by during my office hours or make an appointment to see me.
•Students are expected to adhere to the Honor Code in all their work. Plagiarism, whether accidental or intentional, is a violation of the Honor Code and will be treated with the utmost seriousness. If you have any questions about how plagiarism is defined, review the relevant sections on pp.25-26 and pp.51-52 in your Student Handbook. Also, please note that work you completed for other courses, here or elsewhere, may not be submitted for credit in this course. See me if you want further clarification. We will discuss plagiarism in some detail in class early on in the semester.
CALENDAR
Aug.
23 - Brief introduction. In-class writing.
[Friday, Aug. 24 - Due in my office by 5 p.m.: revised and typed version of in-class writing assignment. ATTACH original version.]
[Note: Please do NOT e-mail or fax me papers or other assignments unless I ask you to do so.]
28 - Emily Dickinson, "One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted" + "Ghosts" (excerpts) from Jonathan Culler's Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction; Gerald Stern, "Soap" + excerpts from Cultural Haunting, by Kathleen Brogan (xeroxes). Be prepared to talk about connections between Dickinson's poem and Culler's remarks in "Ghosts" and about Stern's poem and Brogan's remarks in Cultural Haunting. In a 1-2 pp. typed Reading Response (RR), write about a line (or cluster of lines) in Stern's poem that caught your attention.
30 - Workshop
Sept.
4 - Maxine Hong Kingston, "No Name Woman" (xerox). (RR)
[5 - Email instructor the first paragraph of your 1st paper and/or a reverse outline of your draft by 5 p.m.]
6 - Workshop.
[Fri., Sept. 7 - 1st PAPER (3-4pp.) DUE in my mailbox by 5 p.m.]
11 - Workshop
13 - Patricia Limerick, "Haunted America" (xerox). (RR)
18 - "Haunted America" (cont.) (RR)
20 - Seamus Deane, Reading in the Dark. (RR)
25 - Reading in the Dark (cont.). [No class. Instructor in NY for a reading.]
Wed., Sept. 26 - Revised 1st PAPER DUE by 5 p.m. Attach previous draft with my comments + 'focus' sheet.]
[27 & 28 - Reading Days]
0ct.
2 - Reading in the Dark (cont.). (RR)
4 - Reading in the Dark (cont.).
[Fri., Oct. 5 - Research PROPOSALS (1p.) DUE in my mailbox by 5 p.m.]
9 - Reading in the Dark (cont.) (RR)
11 - Don DeLillo, Falling Man
[Mon., Oct. 15 - 2nd PAPER (4-5pp.) DUE in my mailbox by 5 p.m.]
16 - Library Session with Joe Malloy, Associate Professor; Bibliographic Instruction & Reference Librarian
18 - Falling Man (cont.). Workshop.
[Mon., Oct. 22 - Second Revision of 1st PAPER DUE in my mailbox by 5 p.m.]
23 - Falling Man (cont.).
25 - Falling Man (cont.). (RR)
30 - Falling Man
Nov.
1 - Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye. (RR)
6 - Workshop
8 - Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye. (RR)
13 - Cat's Eye (cont.). Writing an Abstract.
15 - Research PAPER DUE in class. IN CLASS PEER REVIEWS.
[Nov. 16-26 - Thanksgiving Break begins at 5:30 p.m., Nov. 16]
27 - Cat's Eye (cont.). Research papers revised on basis of 11/15 in-class peer reviews are due in class. Attach previous version and peer reviews.
29 - Cat's Eye (cont.). (RR)
Dec.
4 - Cat's Eye (cont.). (RR)
6 -Course Evaluations. PORTFOLIOS DUE in class, along with final 2-3pp. (typed) retrospective response.
[Revised research PAPER + 1p. ABSTRACT DUE no later than noon on DEC. 14, the last day of exams.
Attach previous draft with my comments. Please do not email or fax me your papers or abstracts.]
[8 - Reading Day; 9-14 - Exams]
LAST UPDATED: 4 December 2007