23130 ENGL 2112.02 R 2-4:30p PSC-153 Second Session

Introduction

This section of World Literature, ENGL 2112, explores the genesis and maturity of modern thought and literary expression from the latter-seventeenth century until the present.

World Literature 2 examines national literatures other than those of Britain and America from the Renaissance to the present. Particular emphasis is placed on western literature, especially continental, Russian, and Latin American fiction of the 19th and 20th centuries.

World Literature 2 explores texts — poems, novels, novellas, plays, and short stories — in their historical and cultural contexts (particularly the scientific and intellectual movements of Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Modernism) as well as consider how those texts still inform our views of ourselves today. Since we have only a limited time in this survey, we will concentrate on both diversity of texts explored and the detail of that exploration. Authors include Voltaire, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Ibsen, Mann, Borges, Kundera, and Calvino, among others.

Required Materials

Textbook
There is one required textbook in this class: The Norton Anthology of Western Literature, Volume 2. (Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005). This book should always accompany you to class, as we will make heavy use of it in our daily discussions. Please do not come to class without it: we need the book for class activities, in-class writing, and all aspects of our study. If you do not have your book in-class, you will be counted absent.

Computer
Since this is an online course, you must have access to a newer computer with a reliable Internet access. As a part of this requirement, your computer should have a current web browser, like Chrome, Safari, or Firefox (I do not recommend Internet Explorer), and Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. There are computers available for open-use on campus, but you should not rely on these. The work for this course is too much for you to accomplish in the ARC. You should also be aware of the particular challenges for this online class; please take these seriously.

Supplementary Documents
At several points throughout the semester, your reading assignments will entail short stories that are not in the above text. These additional readings will be made available to you as PDFs. You will need to download them, print them, and bring them to class with you on the day we are covering them in class. Failure to do so will earn you an absence.

Humanities Online
You are required to have an account on Humanities Online, the server that will support all of your work in this class. You should login to the server at least once a day to receive any announcements or changes that are made to the class.

Rated R
Please note that this class will cover mature subject matter: if you are easily offended by discussions of religion, politics, sex, and other adult concerns, you might not enjoy the study of literature at the college level.

Course Policies

Students are held accountable for knowing and practicing each of the course policies. Consider them like the law: the excuse “I didn’t know” will carry no weight. Since these policies are applicable to every course I teach, they are available on a separate page. Obviously, some policies will not be applicable to online sections.

As a Macon State College student and as a student in any of my classes, it is your responsibility to read, understand, and abide by the MSC Student Code of Conduct from the MSC Student Handbook (PDF).

Course Requirements

There are three major requirements for World Literature 2, each of which must be successfully completed to pass the course. Assignments are weighed on a point system, depending on their importance. For example, a reading quiz might have 10 points while the final exam might have 200.

Forum Responses
For all of the major works we study in this class, you are required to respond informally in writing. These responses will be posted in an online forum on Humanities Online, so the entire class can benefit from reading your thoughts. The forum will also give you a chance to respond to others’ ideas. Your writing in the forum should total at least 350 words per week. See: Some Notes on Forums, Blog/Forum, Forum Top 5, Online World Lit Reminders, and Commenting Online for more explanation and insight on this requirement.

Exams
A midterm and a final exam will be given that will test your knowledge of the subject matter (texts, lecture material, and vocabulary), your ability to synthesize this material, and your creativity in going beyond the discussion and lecture materials. The final exam will include vocabulary, identification, and interpretation. All exam grades will be based upon objective knowledge of the material, thoroughness, depth of insight, precision, and originality. Both the midterm and the final will be completed online.

Daily Work
Online participation, effort, and attitude will count significantly in this course. Reading quizzes and other assignments not explicitly outlined above will be considered daily work.

Course Procedure

Every week will follow a similar procedure for your work and reading. Be sure you keep up with the syllabus and turn your work in regularly and on-time. All of your coursework will be done on Humanities Online.

Primary Reading
Each week you will have assigned reading that you should complete before doing anything else. As you read, take thorough reading notes; be sure you are familiar with the plot, characters, and major concerns of the text.

Reading Quiz
After finishing your reading, you should take a brief reading quiz. These quizzes will test you on the facts of the text, like characters, plot details, and other obvious aspects of the narrative. These are just to test your literal knowledge of the text(s). There will not always be a quiz assigned.

Secondary Reading
Since you do not have the benefit of class lecture, I will assign additional reading for you to do each week that concerns the primary text. This criticism will give you background information and assist you in getting your head around the various interpretations of the text.

Forum Discussion
Finally, you should put what you learned together into a forum discussion with your classmates. Your total word count for the forum should add up to a minimum of 350 words, including threads started and responded to. Each forum discussion will be worth 10 or 20 points. Each post (whether beginning a thread or responding to one) is only worth a maximum of 5 points. Therefore, you should make at least two strong posts or comments (or more) to assure that you earn the maximum credit.

Finally, as a bonus, consider making an account on eNotes and posting a question to be answered in their public forums.

Schedule

Your reading and assignment schedule is detailed on Humanities Online. You must login to your account and join the class before you will have access to it.

All weekly work is due at 2pm on the Thursday of the assignment. Forum entries and quizzes submitted after 2pm will be late and therefore not be counted. Please be sure to work ahead and have your assignments submitted on-time.

The following is a general outline of reading. Specific assignments are on Humanities Online.

3/4/10 — Course Introduction

3/18/10 — Molière Tartuffe

3/25/10 — Voltaire Candide

4/1/10 — Goethe Faust

4/8/10 — Russian Short Stories: Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, Checkhov

4/15/10 — Kafka The Metamorphosis

4/22/10 — Contemporary Short Stories: Borges, Fuentes, Kundera, Calvino, Silko

4/29/10 — Final Exam Due