English 145.01

Instructor: W. Motooka

English 145.02

Spring 1999

Rice 111 Ext. 6584

Spring 1999

T Th 9:30-10:45

Office hrs: M 1:30-2:30;

T Th 1:30-2:45

King 339

T Th 11:00-12:00 & by appt.

King 339

wendy.motooka@oberlin.edu

Writing Tutor:

Writing Tutor:

Joseph Bradley

Alison Gothelf

Phone: 775-7603

Phone: 776-2075

sjab1606@oberlin.edu

sarg4074@oberlin.edu

Writing Lives: Biography, Autobiography, Elegy, Epitaph

How do we organize our life stories and the life stories of others? What shapes do we give to peopleís lives when we depict them? Where should the story begin? Where should it end? What is the purpose of narrating a life? What kinds of events do we identify as significant in a life story, and why? Do we experience our own lives through literary models? In this first-year colloquium, we will read several different genres of life writing in order to consider potential answers to these sorts of questions. The conclusions we reach will be less important than the means used to get there. The primary purpose of this course is to offer students an enjoyable opportunity to exercise and improve their skills in discussion, critical analysis, and argumentation at the college level. The course will not ask you to absorb vast quantities of information. It will ask you to think about familiar things in new ways.

This course will be discussion-centered. Students should come to class each day ready to talk with each other about the assigned readings. Class participation will count toward the final grade. First-year colloquia is a writing intensive course. Students will write a 3-4 pp. paper and two 5 pp. papers. The first two of these essays will be group workshopped in draft form before their final revision and submission. Due dates for the drafts and papers are indicated on the syllabus. *** dates indicate days on which work is due, though the class does not meet. Late papers may be penalized with grade reductions. Students will also write four brief response papers (1-2 pp.). These response papers must be submitted in class on the day on which they are due; I will not accept late response papers, nor will I accept early response papers from students who then do not show up for class.

Required Texts (available at the Co-op Bookstore):

Bunyan, John. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.
Freud, Sigmund. Three Case Studies.
Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior.
Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
Kincaid, Jamaica. My Brother.
Nicolson, Nigel and Vita Sackville-West. Portrait of a Marriage.
photocopied coursepack (available at Rice 130)

Schedule of Readings

Feb. 9 (T):

introduction

Feb. 11 (Th):

selected lives from The Golden Legend (CP)

Caxtonís introduction

"S. Dorothy"

"S. Gregory the Great"

"S. Ives"

"S. Clare"

DUE: 1-2 pp. response paper

Feb. 16 (T):

Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, pp. 7-60 (through end of sec. 232)

DUE: 1-2 pp. response paper

Feb. 18 (Th):

Grace Abounding, pp. 60 (from sec. 233) - 84

Feb. 23 (T):

Franklin, Autobiography, Pt. I & II

DUE: 1-2 pp. response paper

Feb. 25 (Th):

Autobiography, Pt. III & IV

Mar. 2 (T):

Milton, "Lycidas" (CP)

DUE - draft of Paper I (3-4 pp.). Bring _____ extra copies.

Mar. 5 (Th):

small-group workshops of draft essays

Mar. 9 (T):

Johnson, Rambler no. 60; "Earl of Rochester"; "Thomas Gray" (CP)

Mar. 11 (Th):

Gray, "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" (CP)

Pope, "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady" (CP)

***Mar. 12 (F):

DUE - Paper I (3-4 pp.), by 5 pm.

Mar. 16 (T):

Johnson, "Pope's epitaphs"

Wordsworth, "Essay Upon Epitaphs I"; "Essay Upon Epitaphs II"

Mar. 18 (Th):

Wordsworth, "Essay Upon Epitaphs III"

Mann and Greene, selections from Sudden and Awful

Spring Break

Mar. 30 (T):

Freud, "Notes Upon a Case of Obsessional Neurosis"

DUE: 1-2 pp. response paper

Apr. 1 (Th):

Freud, "From the History of an Infantile Neurosis," pp. 161-218

Apr. 6 (T):

Freud, "From the History of an Infantile Neurosis," pp. 219-80

DUE - draft of Paper II (5 pp.). Bring ______ extra copies.

Apr. 8 (Th):

small group workshops

Apr. 13 (T):

Sackville-West and Nicolson, Portrait of a Marriage, Pt. I

Apr. 15 (Th):

Portrait of a Marriage, Pt. II & III

***Apr. 16 (F):

DUE - Paper II (5pp.), by 5 pm.

Apr. 20 (T):

Portrait of a Marriage, Pt. IV & V

Apr. 22 (Th):

Kincaid, My Brother, pp. 3-83

Apr. 27 (T):

My Brother, pp. 87-137

Apr. 29 (Th):

My Brother, pp. 137-98

May 4 (T):

The Woman Warrior, "Shaman" and "At the Western Palace"

May 6 (Th):

The Woman Warrior, "Shaman" and "At the Western Palace"

May 11 (T):

The Woman Warrior, "Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe"

May 13 (Th):

Chin, "This Is Not An Autobiography"

fill out course evaluations

***May 17 (M):

DUE - Final Paper (5 pp.)

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