English 200: Critical Issues
Spring, 1998
Kathie Linehan, Rice 10
Ext. 8578; email flinehan
Office hours: Mon & Weds 3:30-4:30
.
MWF 2:30 in King 321
Mon evening classes in King 306
(NOT King 106 as in Reg. Supplmt)
..
.
Texts for this course:
- English 200 Reader (staff), $8 in English Dept. Office
- Gilman, Yellow Wallpaper (Feminist Press)
- Bronte, Wuthering Heights (Bedford Case Studies ed.)
- film: Hitchcock's Vertigo
- Shakespeare, Henry V (Cambridge Univ. Press)
- films: the Olivier Henry V; the Branagh Henry V
- Morrison, Sula (NAL/Dutton)
Schedule:
W 2/4 Intro; assign Prep #1 (over); distrib.
xeroxes
F 2/6 Discuss prep papers and "Miching Mallecho"
(xerox) / Prep #1 due (Reading)
\
M 2/9 Levine, "Realism Reconsidered"
(Reader)
W 2/11 Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher"
(Reader)
F 2/13 Wordsworth "Intimations" ode
(xerox distributed in advance)
.
M 2/16 Brooke, "The Heresy of Paraphrase"
(Reader)
W 2/18 Keats ode (xerox); Ashbery, "These
Lacustrine--" (Reader) / Prep #2 due(Rom Po)
F 2/20 The Yellow Wallpaper
.
M2/23 "What is criticism" discussion
M 2/23 Evening class (7 pm, K 306) Nick
Jones on Romantic Poetry
W 2/25 Yellow Wallpaper criticism / Prep
#3 due (Criticism)
F 2/27 Wuthering Heights, ch. 1-11 (to
p. 117 in Bedford ed.)
.
M 3/2 WHts, ch. 12-24 (to p. 221 in Bedford
ed)
W 3/4 Finish novel (to p. 285) plus biog/ed material
pp. 15-24
F 3/6 WHts Crit: Taylor, "Holy Ghosts"
(10 pp in Reader) / Midterm paper proposal due
.
M 3/9 Evening class ONLY (7 pm, K 306)
K. Linehan on fem crit WHts
W 3/11 WHts crit: Deconstructn/Miller,
pp. 359-384 in Bedford ed
F 3/13 WHts crit: Cultrl Crit/Armstrong,
pp. 415-449 in Bedford / Drafts for all non-WHts midterm papers due
.
M 3/16 Midterm retrospective; written evals.
plus discussion / Drafts WHts midtrm papers due
W 3/18 Follow-up to retrospective or conferences
on papers
F 3/20 No class; finish papers / Midterm papers
due by 5 pm 3/20
.
SPRING BREAK
.
M 3/30 Benjamin, "Work of Art in Age of Mech. Repro." (Reader)
M 3/30 Evening class (7 pm, K 306): showing of Vertigo
W 4/1 Discussion of Vertigo Prep #4 due (Vertigo)
F 4/3 "Up and Down" by Brill on Vertigo (Reader)
..
M 4/6 West, "Concept of the Fantastic in Vertigo"
(Reader)
M 4/6 Evening class (7 pm, K 306) Pat Day on Vertigo
W 4/8 Foucault, "What is an Author?" (Reader)
Th 4/9 Special evening class (7 pm, K 306): showing of Branagh
Henry V
F 4/10 NO CLASS
.
M 4/13 Henry V, Acts 1 & 2
M 4/13 Evening class (7 pm, K 306): showing of Olivier Henry
V
W 4/15 "Claiming from the Female" and "Branagh &
the Prince" (Reader)
F 4/17 Henry V, Acts 3 & 4 / Prep #5 due (staging
Henry)
.
M 4/20 Henry, Act V; discuss "staging" preps
M 4/20 Evening class (7 pm, K 306) Phyllis Gorfain on Henry
V
W 4/22 Sula, have read first one-third of novel
F 4/24 Sula, second one-third of novel / Proposals for final
papers due
.
M 4/27 finish Sula
W 4/29 McDowell, "Sula and the Black Female Text"
(Reader)
F 5/1 Course evaluations; discussion groups on final papers / Drafts
non-Sula papers due
.
M 4/4 No class; conferences on non-Sula papers / Drafts Sula
papers due
W 4/6 No class; conferences on Sula papers
F 4/8 No class; finish papers / Final papers due by 5 pm 4/11
Course requirements:
- Regular attendance and participation. Your course grade will be affected
by more than four absences. I ask you to monitor yourself accordingly on
the basis of the Honor System.
- Five 2-4 page typed Cr (Cr/Cr+/Cr-)/NE prep papers brought to
class on due date.
- Two 8-page typed graded papers, due at the end of each half of the
semester (Assignments for both prep and graded papers to be distributed
during semester)
Assignment for Prep #1, due in class Friday, February 6 (2-4
typed pages)
What do we do when we read? What kind of reader are you?
Read the distributed short xerox ("To be born again") selection.
As you read, pay close attention to what you are actually doing as you
read. You may have to slow down your usual way of doing things a good deal
to do this. You may even want to take notes.
I'd like you to pay attention to how you go about making sense of the
selection. What kinds of assumptions do you make? What do you react to?
The style? the characters? the tone? the theme?
Think about what examining this process tells you about reading in general
as well as what it tells you about how you are making sense of this particular
selection.
Write up an account of exactly what you did when you were reading: what
you paid attention to, what kind of mental processes you went through (visualize,
anticipate, etc.)
In the final page or so, try to write about how reading works and what
you know about the things that focus your attention as a reader.
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