ENG 120: Transformations
Professor L. Cole, Spring 2006
It is sometimes argued that all literature is about one of two themes, love or death. Yet a case might be made for a third, that of transformation or metamorphosis, which, like the themes of love and death, is deeply related to the problem of individual and group identity. In this course, beginning with selections from Ovid’s Metamorphosis, we shall focus on some of the more extreme cases of transformations in Western Literature, cases in which women change into swans, men into donkeys, priests into demons, scientists into flies. Our goal throughout is to place literary texts back into the philosophical and historical contexts from which they emerged; it is, in other words, to examine individual “transformation narratives” with knowledge of and sensitivity to the issues facing different writers at different cultural moments. To write about literature at the college level also requires familiarity with the basic terminology of literary analysis. To that end, we shall spend some time talking about literary essays, a project in which you will have considerable practice by semester’s end.
Required Texts:
M.H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms.
Diane Hacker, Writing About Literature.
Ovid, Metamorphosis. Tr. Mary Innes. (Penguin).
Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oxford School Edition) .
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Norton Critical Edition)
Matthew Lewis, The Monk (
Bram Stoker Dracula (Norton Critical)
Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil
Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (
Other essays or poems will be available online or distributed in class.
Course Goals:
The student successfully completing this course will be able to demonstrate:
--The ability to read a work of literature within a given historical and cultural context
--The ability to use works of literature from different historical periods to discuss cultural change
--The ability to write a college-level essay about a literary work, using correct citation and consistent bibliographical format
--The ability to use both the internet and the USM library to locate sources and to conduct research
Grading: All of the above skills are required to pass this course. Students who demonstrate a better-than-average ability to execute them will receive a B. Students whose papers are decidedly more informed and accomplished than those of the majority of their classmates will receive an A.
A note on plagiarism: The emergence of internet sites devoted to
literary analysis has brought with it the rise of plagiarism in college
courses, particularly in lower-division course like ENG 120. When I’m in a
generous mood, I assume the increase of plagiarism in ENG 120 can be partially attributed
to beginning writers sometimes feeling overwhelmed or insecure. Writing in
college is simply different from the kind of writing most people have done in
high school. So if you experience anxiety or frustration in writing your papers
please contact me for help; do not be tempted to take some other writer’s words
or ideas and try to pass them off as your own. Plagiarism is an offense that,
at best, will result in your failing this course; at worst, it could result in
your expulsion from the university.
Course Requirements
and Policies:
Essays: Your grade will be based mostly upon three assigned essays of 4-6 pages, each of them designed to provide practice in different analytical or interpretive skills. Topic sheets will be distributed one week before an assignment is due. If you are absent the day a sheet is distributed, you may pick it up from the Department of English. Final essays must be typed in 11-or 12-pont font with a 1.5 inch margin. They must conform to Chicago or MLA style. (On this, see Diane Hacker, Writing About Literature.)
In-class and impromptu writing assignments: On the theory that students should receive frequent feedback, you will sometimes be asked to write short responses which will then serve as the basis of classroom discussion. Such papers will be checked rather than graded.
Extra credit project: Students may choose to research and report on some aspect of contemporary popular culture whose rhetoric seems to be in line with those of our semester’s theme, “Transformations.” See me by March 2 if you are interested in this option.
Revisions: Revision is an essential part of the writing process and is built into the structure of this course. When you turn in a revised paper, you must include the original.
Late papers: This class is organized so as to minimize the possibility of late papers. Papers will be marked down half a letter grade for every day they are overdue. Papers postmarked on the due date will not be penalized. Nor will papers emailed to me before class begins. I will need a hard copy of that paper, however, to grade. You may drop the finished essay by 311 Luther Bonney.
Attendance, Withdrawal, Incompletes: Students are expected to attend every class meeting. Should you find your absence is unavoidable, please contact a classmate—not your professor—for notes and any handouts or syllabi changes. No student missing more than five classes may pass this course. Also, please note the university policy regarding withdrawals. I cannot issue you a withdrawal after the posted date. Finally, except under the most unusual, unavoidable, and well-documented of circumstances, I no longer gives “Incompletes.” Please take this into account as you are planning your semester.
Office Hours and Contact Information: I will announce my office hours after the first week of class, and hope to meet with each of you at least once during the semester. My office phone number is 780-4093, but I am more easily reached through email. My email address is lcole@maine.rr.com.
Working Syllabus
Please note that the
syllabus is subject to change.
January
Tuesday 17 Introduction and The Fly (film)
Thursday 19 The Fly, continued
Tuesday 24 From Ovid: Introduction, Book Three
Thursday 26 From Ovid: Books Four and Nine
Tuesday 31 From Ovid: Books Ten and Fifteen
February
Thursday 2 From Abrams, “Renaissance”; Shakespeare Introduction and Act I
Tuesday 7 Shakespeare Acts II and III
Thursday 9 Shakespeare Acts IV and V
Tuesday 14 Hacker, “Writing About Literature”; Draft of First Essay Due
Thursday 16 First Essay Due; From Abrams, “Neoclasssic and Romantic,” “Enlightenment,” “Satire”; Gulliver’s Travels “Introduction”
Tuesday 21 Winter Break
Thursday 23 Winter Break
Tuesday 28 Gulliver’s Travels Books One and Two
March
Thursday 2 Gulliver’s Travels Book Three
Tuesday 7 From Abrams, “Great Chain of Being”
Thursday 9 Gulliver’s Travels Book Four
Tuesday 14 From Abrams, “Gothic novel”; The Monk “Introduction” and Volume I
Thursday 16 The Monk Volume Two
Tuesday 21 The Monk Volume Three
Thursday 23 The Monk continued
Tuesday 28 Spring Break
Thursday 30 Spring Break
April
Tuesday 4 Second Essay Due. Film: The Company of Wolves
Thursday 6 The Company of Wolves, cont.
Tuesday 11 From Abrams; “Victorian and Victorianism”; Machen, “The Great God Pan”. Note: This text is not in the bookstore but is available online
Thursday 13 Dracula
Tuesday 18 Dracula
Thursday 20 Dracula
Tuesday 25 From Abrams, “Aestheticism,”
“Decadence”; The Flowers of Evil “Introduction”
and selections, TBA
Thursday 27 The Flowers of Evil selections, continued
May
Tuesday 2 Kafka, “The Metamorphosis”
Thursday 4 Open
Final Paper due date to be announced