ENGLISH 5W: Sections 20 and 21

Literature and Concepts of “Reality”

Dr. Lisa Gerrard Mailbox: 146 Humanities Building

Office: 126A Humanities Building Phone: (310) 825-2286

Office Hrs.: TTh 1:45-2:45 E-mail: gerrard@ucla.edu

http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/people/gerrard/

Course Description

Subject: English 5W is a course in analyzing and writing about literature. This section of the course will use literature to explore some of the ways “reality” is defined in Western thinking. It will focus on the literary devices through which readers arrive at belief or disbelief, the struggle of literary characters to determine what is real in their worlds, and the philosophical stance underlying each work as a whole.

As a framework for this analysis, the course will explore definitions of “reality” by the philosophers Plato, Locke, Nietzsche, and Derrida, and consider how different approaches to experiencing and defining “reality” play out in non-literary media, such as documentary film, “reality TV,” and virtual environments. Portions of the course will take place in a chat room and in the virtual world Second Life.

Format: This is a workshop rather than lecture course. Much of your work will take place during our class meetings, so be sure to come to class on time, and to bring your books and papers-in-progress (in hardcopy or on a flash drive) with you. You cannot make up a missed class.

In addition, the course relies heavily on teamwork. Please be prepared to work closely on projects with other students both in and outside of class.

Reading/Materials

Shakespeare, Hamlet

Toni Morrison, Beloved

David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly

Reader and Rhetoric for English 5W (APS)

Kelley Griffith, Writing Essays about Literature (Thomson)

Bruin Online account (you can get your BOL password at 4328 Math Sciences)

USB (flash) drive

Requirements

• 3 papers, 3 drafts of each

• short writing assignments

• full contribution to collaborative projects and online class discussions

Grading

Paper #1: 25%

Paper #2: 25%

Paper #3: 25%

Work grade: 25% (attending all classes, on time and prepared; timely completion of all in- and out-of-class assignments; full contribution to collaborative projects)

Guidelines

• Refer to this syllabus often. It is your guide to the course.

• Allow time to read the literary works several times so that you can focus on more than the plot.

• Get to know your classmates; you’ll have a lot more fun when you do. If you are absent for all or part of a class, turn to each other for information on what happened in your absence.

• When you work on a project with a classmate, stay in touch with him/her. Do not leave your partner wondering where you are or shouldering your share of the work.

Paper Format

Draft 1 (peer draft): submit in hardcopy in class

Draft 2 (instructor draft): submit as an email attachment before class

Draft 3 (final draft): submit in hardcopy in class

All drafts must be double-spaced, but you may use any font color, font style, or margin size you like, as long as I can read the paper easily. The indicated length for each paper assumes a 12-point font and 1-inch margins all around; if your format is noticeably different from that, your paper will be correspondingly longer or shorter. Please email draft 2 as a Word attachment in .doc format or copy/paste your draft into a message.

SCHEDULE

UNIT 1: Introduction to Literary Analysis; Hamlet

Week 1

T 1/8 Class: Introduction to course; write ending to “The Story of an Hour”

Home: Griffith, Chapter 3, “Interpreting Fiction”; Paper 1, Preparation 1: Analyzing “The Story of an Hour”

Th 1/10 Class: Discuss Griffith and Chopin; Paper 1, Preparation 1, oral reports

Home: Hamlet, Acts I, II, and III; Paper 1, Preparation 2 (Hamlet, Acts I, II and III)

Week 2

T 1/15 Class: Hamlet, Acts I, II, and III

Home: Hamlet, Acts IV and V; APS: Plato, excerpt from The Republic; APS: Locke, excerpt from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding; Paper 1, Preparation 3

Th 1/17 Class: Hamlet, Acts IV and V; Plato, excerpt from The Republic; Locke, excerpt from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding; writing about literature

Home: Paper 1, draft 1; APS 5 (thesis), 13-14 (organization); bring 3 copies of Paper 1 to class T 1/22; Griffith 247-260 (rules of usage for literature papers)

Week 3

T 1/22 Class: Paper 1, draft 1 (peer draft) due; discuss Paper 1, revising techniques (thesis/organization); edit groups

Home: APS 6-12 (development)

Th 1/24 Class: Paper 1, draft 2 (instructor draft) due; Paper 1, revising techniques (using detail); using quotation

Home: APS 73-94 (student papers)

Week 4

T 1/29 Class: Grading standards/rank papers; sentence revision

Home: APS 21-27 (conciseness) bring Paper 1 to class in hardcopy Th 1/31

Th 1/31 Class: Discuss Paper 1, revising techniques (conciseness)

Home: Paper 1, final draft; start Beloved

UNIT 2: Beloved

Week 5

T 2/5 Class: Paper 1, draft 3 (final draft) due; “reality” and “virtual reality”; introduction to Second Life

Home: Paper 2, preparation 1; Beloved, 3-158

Th 2/7 Class: Paper 2, preparation 1; Beloved, 3-158

Home: Paper 2, preparation 2; Beloved, 158-275; APS: Nietzsche, excerpt from On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense

Week 6

T 2/12 Class: Paper 2, preparation 2; Beloved, 158-275; Nietzsche reading

Home: Paper 2, draft 1; bring 3 copies of Paper 1 to class Th 2/14; APS 14-16 (introductions/conclusions)

Th 2/14 Class: Paper 2, draft 1 (peer draft) due; introductions/conclusions; edit groups

Home: Paper 2, draft 2 (instructor draft);

Week 7

T 2/19 Class: Paper 2, draft 2 (instructor draft) due; review

Home: APS 33-34 (punctuation and style); APS 30-31 (voice and style)

Th 2/21 Class: Punctuation/style; voice and style

Home: APS: Hardy, “Bowling for Columbine: Documentary or Fiction?”; Paper 2, draft 3

UNIT 3: M. Butterfly

Week 8

T 2/26 Class: Paper 2, draft 3 (final draft) due; Hardy, documentary film

Home: M. Butterfly and Afterward; Paper 3, preparation 1

Th 2/28 Class: M. Butterfly

Home: Skloot, “Breaking the Butterfly: The Politics of David Henry Hwang”; “Living a Second Life,” economist.com; Dremann, “Real Life After Reality TV”; APS: Dibbell, “A Rape in Cyberspace,” Derrida, “Signature Event Context”; Griffith, “Deconstruction,” pp. 172-174

Week 9

T 3/4 Class: M. Butterfly; Skloot, Dibbell, Derrida

Home: Paper 3, draft 1 (peer draft); bring 3 copies of Paper 3 to class, Th 3/6

Th 3/6 Class: Paper 3, draft 1 (peer draft) due; edit groups

Home: Paper 3 draft 2 (instructor draft); APS 44-45 (sentence types)

Week 10

T 3/11 Class: Paper 3, draft 2 (instructor draft) due; sentence types

Home: Revise Paper 3

Th 3/13 Class: Discuss Paper 3, revising strategies

Home: Paper 3, draft 3 (final draft)

Finals Week

M 3/17/08 Paper 3, draft 3 due