E 316K: Masterworks of Literature: World
Instructor: Brian Doherty Parlin 326
471-8798
Office Hours: Tuesday, 12-3
Texts/Readings:
The Longman Anthology of World Literature: Vols. D, E, F.
Grading Policy, Assignments:
| Test # 1 | 20% |
| Essay Test (take home) | 25% |
| Final Exam | 35% |
| TA Section Participation | 15% |
| Live World Literary Culture Review | 5% |
| Extra Credit.
In the course of the semester, there will be 7 quizzes given on the reading
for the day. Four of these will be posted the day before the reading,
and will have to be turned in on the day of the class (these will be collected
before 1:03 on the day of that reading—no late submissions accepted).
Three will be given on an impromptu basis—either in lecture or in
TA section. Over 45 points total= 3 points added to cumulative grade. 40-44.5 points total = 2 points added to cumulative grade. 35-39.5 points total = 1 point added to cumulative grade total. Less than 35 points= good practice for future tests. Plus and minus grades will be used in the class. A = 93-100; A- = 90-92.9; B + = 88-89.9; B = 83=87.9; B- = 80-82.9; C+ = 78-79.9; C = 73-77.9; C- = 70-72.9; D = 65-69.9. Below 65 = F. |
Attendance is required in discussion sections.
Students may miss up to 3 sessions with no grade penalty. For each class missed
beyond 3, there will be a 30 point deduction from your grade for the discussion
section.
Please be aware of University policies and services for students with disabilities:
http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/
Please be aware of the University Standard for Academic Integrity:
http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acint_student.php
Course Policies, Protocol, and Etiquette:
No open laptops in class unless you have a note from student services that
verifies you need to take notes on a computer.
Cell phones turned off during class. Students who are found texting or doing
web-searches during class will be asked to leave.
Please do not hold conversations during lecture or discussion, unless it is
with the professor, or part of the public discussion. This kind of behavior
is very distracting.
Please do not use the auditorium as a lunch room. Dine prior to class or afterwards,
or fast.
Please arrive on time and leave only when class is over. Students who leave
class early on the day of a quiz will have their quiz grade discounted from
their total.
Please do not begin packing your belongings until after the lecturer has stopped
speaking. It takes only a few seconds to “pack up” and doing so
during even the final remarks can be very distracting, and is quite disrespectful.
If there are occasions when you need to communicate with the professor or
a TA during the semester, realize that it is a formal communication, and not
a text message. Begin by acknowledging the person you are addressing, and
end with a salutation and by identifying yourself. Any emails that do not
follow these conventions will be deleted without being read.
Schedule of Reading:
January 20: Introduction. Go over syllabus, grading policy,
reading program.
22: Background to Voltaire. “The Age of
the Enlightenment,” (191-203).
25: Voltaire, Candide. To chapter 13. (464-85).
27: Voltaire, Candide. To chapter 27.
29: Voltaire, Candide. To conclusion.
Also, “Resonances.”
February 1: Olaudah Equiano. From The Interesting narrative
of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (441-51).
3: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, (172-83). Evliya
Çelebi, from The Book of Travels (396-406)
*5: Bertolt Brecht,
Mother Courage and Her Children. Introduction and Acts 1-3 (pp. 329-55).
8: Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children.
To conclusion.
10: Introduction to
Romanticism. “Romantic Nature” (47-49). William
Wordsworth intro., “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above TinternAbbey”
and “Nutting” (19-24), “What
is a Poet?” and “Emotion Recollected in Tranquility” (29-30.
12: John Keats, (59-63). Giacomo Leopardi, “The
Infinite” (66).
15: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
(70-84).
17: Ghalib (217-338)
19: Test # 1.
Terms, Literary historical aspects of the works, author biographies, plot
points.
22: Romance, Love, and
(sometimes twisted) Variations on the Theme. Baudelaire. Introduction,
and poems (515-28).
24: Baudelaire. From Paris Spleen and
“Resonances” (528-42).
26: Anton Chekhov, “The Lady with the
Dog” (895-906)
March 1: China. Cao
Xueqin. From The Story of the Stone. Introduction and to Chapter
23, (71-103).
*3: From The
Story of the Stone. To Chapter 94 (103-30).
5: From The Story of the Stone, and
Shen Fu, from Six Records of a Floating Life. (130-60).
8: Rabindranath Tagore, “The Conclusion,”
and “The Postmaster” (on electronic reserves).
10: Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House.
Introduction, Acts 1 and 2 (838-74).
12: Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House.
(To conclusion).
22: Higuchi Ichiyu, “Separate Ways”
(888-95 E). “Zhang Ailing, “Stale Mates”
(693-98 F).
24: Akutagawa Ryunosuke (207-220).
25. Screening of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashoman.
Time and place tba.
26: Discuss the film Rashoman.
29: Clarice Lispecter, “Preciousness.”
(718-25)
31: The Self in Crisis.
Leo Tolstoy, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” (intro to Chaper VII
(542-67).
April 2: Leo Tolstoy, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.”
To conclusion. Official Essay prompts for essay delivered.
5: The Crisis of the
Self becomes weirder. Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis.”
Introduction and Part One.
7: Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis.”
To conclusion.
9: No reading. In-class film introduction to
Jorge Luis Borges. Essay due on a topic from
the list of essay prompts. Due at classtime.
*12: Jorge Luis
Borges, introduction, readings, and resonance. (494-513)
14: Haruki Murakami, “TV People.”
16: The Self in Crisis
(scaling back the weirdness). James Baldwin, “Sonny’s
Blues.”
19: Introduction to
Literature in Africa. Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart.
Introduction and Chapters 1-6 (pp. 765-87).
21: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
to Part 2 (787-820).
23: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
to conclusion.
26: Chimimanda Ngozie Adichie, “The Headstrong
Historian.” (on electronic reserves).
28: Wole Soyinka. Death and the King’s
Horseman. Introduction and act one.
*30: Wole Soyinka.
Death and the King’s Horseman. To conclusion.
May 3: Ama Ata Aidoo, “No Sweetness Here.”
5: Nadine Gordimer, “The Defeated.”
7: Last Thoughts. Student performances (musical,
poetic, dramatic). Sermon on the lectern—what we missed, what we hope
to take with us.