blake ENGL 2202 Masterpieces of World Literature II


David Buck, English Instructor
 Fairleigh Dickinson University
E-mail: dbuck@bcc.edu Webpage: http://www.davidbuckenglish.com
Office: Parker 319 R Telephone: 609-894-9311 OR 856-222-9311 EXT.1322

Texts:  In order to avoid high textbook prices, I have located e-texts for the scheduled readings for ENGL 2202. You should be able to access each of the literary texts from the direct links found on my webpage, and it is advisable that you acquire printouts of each text early in the semester.  In order to assure continuity of analysis and discussion, it is expected that you possess the appropriate text printout for the class session for which it is assigned.  Since you will be allotted a large amount of preparation time, no excuses of a technical nature (broken printer, crashed hardrive) will be accepted.  If you are solicited to read or discuss a particular text, you should have a hard copy of the literary text in front of you.  Please notify me immediately if any of the links malfunction during the semester. If you do not wish to use the e-texts that I have located, I would suggest purchasing the course texts online (www.half.com or amazon.com), especially the longer texts.  Camus' The Stranger MUST be purchased since no e-text of the novel exists.  If you do not wish to print ANY of my e-texts, many of the works can be found in The Norton Anthology of World Literature (Vol. 2).

Course Description:
ENGL 2202 is designed to introduce the student to the rich selection of world literary texts spanning from medieval, renaissance, and modern masterpieces. Each student will employ critical thinking and analysis to determine the political, historical, and religious significance of the literary works, while developing an awareness of the literary elements that contribute to the texts' transcendent quality.

Reading List and Session Numbers:

                                  Session Number                                                                                                                Literary Text
#1 Date:
(or Saturday #1)
 Course description and syllabus explanation
#2 Date:
(or Saturday #1)
 Jonathan Swift: "A Modest Proposal"
#3 Date:
(or Saturday #2)
 Alexander Pope: "An Essay on Man"
#4 Date:
(or Saturday #2)
 William Wordsworth: "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey" AND William Blake: "Mock On, Mock On, Voltaire, Rousseau"
#5 Date:
(or Saturday #3)
 Jean Baptiste Poquelin Moliere's Tartuffe or the Hypocrite
#6 Date:
(or Saturday #3)
  Moliere's Tartuffe or the Hypocrite (continued)
#7 Date:
(or Saturday #4)
 Leo Tolstoy: "The Death of Ivan Ilyich"
#8 Date:
(or Saturday #4)
 Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (continued)
#9 Date:
(or Saturday #5)
 Midterm Exam
#10 Date:
(or Saturday #5)
 Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis
#11 Date:
(or Saturday #6)
 Kafka's The Metamorphosis (continued)
#12 Date:
(or Saturday #6)
 Albert Camus: The Stranger  
#13 Date:
(or Saturday #6)
 Camus' The Stranger (continued)  Analysis Essay Due
#14 Date:
(or Saturday #7)
 Chinua Achebe: "Vengeful Creditor" 
#15 Date:
(or Saturday #7)
 Final Exam

Assessments:
1.  Discussion Questions:  During the first class session, each student will be assigned a session number and literary text for which class discussion questions/themes shall be created.  The student will then be expected to initiate/facilitate the discussion for that particular class session.  Biographical and thematic handouts for everyone in the class are REQUIRED for this assessment component.   This may be performed within a group setting, per the instructor's decision.  Blackboard Contributions shall also be a factor in the student's final grade; it is expected that each student participate in each Discussion Board session.
2.  Midterm Exam and Final Exam comprised of objective questions.
3.  One Analysis Essay of any of the literary texts on the course syllabus.  The essay should be typed in 12-point Times New Roman font, be double-spaced, be MLA formatted, be 1200-1500 words in length (about 4 typed pages), contain at least 2 outside critical sources (I suggest Norton Critical Editions) that are not from the Internet, contain a Word Count on the essay's last page, and contain a correctly formatted Works Cited page.  I would suggest perusing Diana Hacker's website for proper essay formatting and documentation: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/.  Attempt to focus your analysis on one literary element that is relevant to the theme of the text.  Please feel free to email with any topic ideas or requests for direction.
4.  Class Participation: since ENGL 2202 will be considered a student-centered, participative course, it is your responsibility to read the assigned texts and come prepared for each class session to contribute to the ongoing discussion or writing. This means that you should be prepared to make substantive oral comments during EACH and EVERY onsite class session.  This participation may also involve a presentation component.  Active, motivated, and engaged behavior will be expected!  A student who attends every class but does not engage in any of the class discussions can expect to earn no higher than a C grade for class participation.

Grading:
 
Blackboard Contributions
 30%
Discussion Questions/Facilitation 5%
Midterm Exam 15%
Final Exam
 15%
Analysis Essay
25%
Class Participation/Attendance 10%

92-100=A 78-79=C+
90-91=A- 75-77=C
88-89=B+ 70-74=C-
82-87=B 65-69=D
80-81=B- 64-below=F

Attendance Policy:
It is expected that you will attend every class session during the seven-and-a-half-week semester.  However, if an absence is unaviodable, it is your responsibility to notify the instructor of your absence and obtain any necessary information/materials that have been missed from a fellow classmate.  Excused absences will consist of documented illness, death in the family, or a university-sponsored event.  More than one unexcused absence and/or lateness will result in the instructor's consideration of a grade reduction.

NOTE: ALL cell phones, pagers, and electronic devices must be turned OFF during class time.  Please be considerate of your instructor and fellow classmates!  If a problem continues to exist, a grade reduction may be considered by the instructor.

Academic Integrity:  Please note the university's policy on cheating, plagiarism, and other violations of integrity in its policy for Academic Integrity. 

University Education:  "By a crude mathematical formula, it can be suggested that what students teach students should be one-third of an undergraduate education, what professors teach students should be another third, and what each student does alone in the library, the laboratory, and the study should be the remaining third."
From Jeroslav Pelikan, The Idea of the University: A Reexamination(New Haven: Yale UP, 1992): 61.