GENERAL INFORMATION AND CLASS SYLLABUS

Fall 2001

English 167: Introduction to Literature

 

Instructor: Dean Karpowicz

Office: Comm Arts 251

Phone: 595-2672

Email: dean.karpowicz@uwp.edu

 

Course Objectives: English 167 offers a survey of the three major areas of literature: fiction, poetry, and drama. Within each of these areas of study, students will be exposed to a variety of different authors with a view toward offering a general understanding of literary analysis. We will approach our texts from both a writer’s perspective as well as a reader’s, glimpsing authorial technique, literary terminology, and reader appreciation. We will delve our texts for meaning—social, philosophical, experimental, nonsensical. Some instruction will be given in literary schools and movements; however, this instruction will not be central to the course. Our focus will remain on a basic understanding of literary study.

 

Course Work: Homework will consist of several reading assignments and some short writings. However, three major exams will weigh heavily on final grades. These exams will consist of two parts—a take-home essay and an in-class exam. I will try to give out essay questions about a week before the in-class exam, and those essays will be due at the beginning of our in-class exam. In-class exams will consist of short answer questions and a few identifications. I strongly urge students to read the assigned material; answering the identifications is nearly impossible without doing so. I tend not to lecture straight from the text; you get bored and so do I. Therefore, attendance is crucial. No journal is required, no portfolio, no memorizing birth, death, or marriage dates. We may look at film during our discussion of drama, and we may even put on our acting caps. Students will note that the syllabus outlines several assigned readings; however, the class will allow adequate time to evaluate each work, and if we don’t discuss it in class it won’t be on the test.

 

Required Texts:

A Good Man is Hard to Find

Wineburg, Ohio

Heart of Darkness

The Crying of Lot 49

Death of a Salesman

 

Class Policies and Procedures:

·         Attendance

--More than three absences will affect your overall grade

--Students who miss more than six classes should not expect to pass the course

·         Late Work and Make-up Work

--Missed exams cannot be made up without my consent, and my consent will only be given in the case of an extreme emergency.

--Late homework will be penalized

·         Grading Breakdown

75% Exam Grades (15% for each take-home essay; 10% for each in-class exam)

15% Homework Grades

10% Class Participation

****The Final exam will NOT be cumulative

 

Syllabus

Weeks 1-2

                The Basics of Narrative: plot, point of view, Character, Setting

                --A Good Man is Hard to Find

 

Weeks 3-4

                A Deeper Look at Narrative: Convention, Symbol, Theme, Story and Novel

                --Winesburg, Ohio

 

Weeks 5-6

                The Novel: Basics and Interpretation; The Novel and Film

                --Heart Of Darkness (The Text)

                --Apocalypse Now

 

EXAM 1

 

Weeks 7-8

                Contemporary Fiction: Meaning and Narrative

                --The Crying of Lot 49

 

Weeks 9-11

                Poetry: Tone and Speaker; Form and Language; Context and Interpretation

                --Poetry Packet

 

EXAM 2

 

Weeks 12-13

                Drama: the tragic form; tragic hero; Drama and Interpretation

                --Death of a Salesman (The Text)

                --A Look at the Film

 

Weeks 13-16

                The Other Side of Drama: Comedic Form, The Actors

               

 

FINAL EXAM