English 2111: World Literature I

TR 3:55-5:20; Dunlap 307

Fall 2008

Section: A

Instructor: Dr. Laura Getty

Office location: 314B Dunlap Hall

Office phone: 864-1772 (please call during office hours)

Office hours: TR 2:30-3:30; W 1:00-4:00

Email: lgetty@ngcsu.edu

 

*It is the student’s responsibility to read this syllabus and follow the policies of the class.

 

Course Description: (3 hours)

            This course presents a chronological survey of world literature from the beginnings through the 17th century. The literature will be explored as individual works on their own merit and as part of their historical and cultural context. In other words, this class will move far beyond simple plot summary to an understanding of why these works are important, both to their original audiences and to us.

 

Prerequisite: ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102, with a “C” or better

 

Texts: The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Vols. A-C. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2002.

PACKET (Iliad, Neo-Taoist, and Neo-Confucian readings) [available at Print Services in Hoag]

 

Class Meetings: If a student’s absences exceed 14% of the scheduled classes, the instructor may drop the student from the class with a “WF.” In this class, the student is allowed four (4) unexcused absences and is dropped from the course on the fifth (5th) absence. NOTE: an excused absence is defined as a documented absence ONLY, such as a University-approved absence (with advanced notice). Illness without documentation is not an excused absence, nor are family emergencies. Excused absences apply only for the day(s) listed on the documentation; classes missed for days not listed on the documentation will be unexcused.

At the discretion of the professor, a student is allowed a make-up examination or essay only for valid and documented reasons (e.g. sickness). If a student misses an essay or examination without a documented excuse, the student will receive a grade penalty (usually a “0”). Foreseeable problems must be discussed with the instructor before the absence.

 

Classroom Behavior: Use basic courtesy and common sense in the classroom. Do not speak to your friends and neighbors during class; it is both rude and distracting, and I consider it to be one example of “anti-participation.” Do not bring food to class; you may bring something to drink. If you fall asleep in class, I will mark it down as an absence for the day, which will count toward your absences for the semester. Do not come to the class tardy; it disrupts the class in progress. I reserve the right to count two tardies as an absence, especially when you miss a significant amount of class time. Do not leave early without permission, or I may count it as an absence or a partial absence. No laptop computers allowed in class; turn off cell phones (no text messaging).

            Any behavior that is “anti-participation” may result in a number of penalties, including but not limited to a zero for the participation grade, being asked to leave the classroom (which would count as an official absence for that day), and referral to the Discipline Committee.

 

Evaluation: There will be three exams during the semester, quizzes, and a final during exam week. Exams will be based upon the readings, class lectures, discussions, and any additional presentations or materials (such as videos). Exams may use a variety of formats, such as identification, short essays, and longer essays. You will be responsible for general background on the historical periods, basic biographical information about the authors when included in the textbook or as discussed during lectures, and for the literary works themselves as given in the text. When responding to essay questions, you will be expected to be able to make comparisons and contrasts with other works previously read in this course.

 

Honor Code: The Honor Code states that "I will not lie, cheat, steal, plagiarize, evade the truth or tolerate those who do." Violation of this code constitutes grounds for suspension or expulsion from the university. Please recognize that violations include such actions as lying about an absence, allowing a friend to copy your homework, and looking the other way when you see cheating or other illegal activities happening around you (“tolerating those who do”).

 

Quizzes: There will be twenty-five short (usually 3-4 questions) scheduled quizzes during the semester, five of which will be dropped when determining your quiz grade. THERE IS NO MAKE-UP FOR THE QUIZZES (if you miss a day when we have a quiz, that quiz will be one of your “drops”). DO NOT ASK ME TO MAKE ONE UP. Students with university-approved absences ONLY will have those quizzes dropped from the overall total (they will not affect the quiz grade). Each quiz will be given at the beginning of the class and will last approximately 5 minutes. Quiz format may include identifications and short responses. These reading quizzes are meant to cover material we have not yet discussed, or details that we did not cover in class. The introductions to each work are included in the readings. Major information in the introduction may be included on the reading quizzes.

            Please do your own reading; just as it would be cheating to give a friend answers during a quiz, it is cheating to tell other students about the reading when they haven’t read.

 

Participation: I define participation as SPEAKING in class discussions. Since the point of this class is to analyze the literature and discuss (debate?) the meaning and relevance of the works, I am very interested in hearing your ideas and opinions—what do YOU think about the literature that we are reading? Ask questions; offer opinions; be prepared to talk about the works. If you are shy, make sure you still find ways to participate vocally, such as volunteering to read passages in class or answering plot-based questions. Make sure I am familiar with the sound of your voice by the end of the semester, since students who come to class prepared but don’t speak more than a few times will receive a “D” or lower for participation. Disruptive behavior (and “mental absence”) can result in a zero.

 

Exam Make-Up Policy: Make-up exams will be given only to students with legitimate and documented reasons.  Please contact me as soon as possible if you are going to/have missed an exam, and be prepared to make-up the test when you return. If you miss an exam without an excuse, you will receive an “F” for that exam.

 

Semester grades will be determined as follows:                                Grading Scale:

            EXAM #1                                            15%

            EXAM #2                                            15%                             A+   =  98%

            EXAM #3                                            15%                             A     =  95%

            FINAL                                                 15%                             A-    =   90%

            20 of 25 QUIZZES                              30%                             B+   =   88%

Midterm Class Participation                 4%                              B     =   85%

            Final Class Participation                       6%                              B-    = 80%

                                                TOTAL:        100%                              C+   =   78%

                                                                                                            C     =   75%

                                                                                                            C-    = 70%

Plagiarism: You are responsible for reading and following the guidelines            D+   = 68%

on plagiarism presented in the North Georgia College & State University          D     = 65%

Undergraduate Bulletin: “Academic Integrity Policy” (64-68).                                    D-    = 60%

                                                                                                            F     = 59-0%

 

NCTE: This course meets NCTE standards 2-6 and 12. (2) Students will read works from different periods and genres;  (3) they will apply various strategies of comprehension; (4) they will practice active and effective communication; (5) they will employ a range of writing strategies; (6) they will apply detailed knowledge of language conventions; (12) they will use language to accomplish their own purposes.

 

NCATE: This course meets NCATE ELA Standards 3.5.1 and 3.5.2.

 

Early Alert/Early Intervention Program: Designed to alert students when certain indicators of academic difficulty in a given course are being exhibited, the program’s purpose is to direct students to additional assistance needed to overcome difficulty and successfully complete the course.  Through this program, when certain indicators are being displayed, instructors may refer students to their advisors to develop a plan for improvement. The development of this plan is a collaborative effort between students and advisors. Referrals are made via NGCSU email and require student action within three days. It is the expectation of faculty and administrators that students will read their NGCSU email regularly and follow instructions promptly.

 

Expectations for Reading Assignments: Just as you would expect to learn and use equations in a mathematics course, you should expect to learn and use the literature we are reading. Not everyone reads at the same level and/or speed, so if you have difficulty with the readings, SLOW DOWN and take more time. You could try taking notes or highlighting the text. For poetry and epic poetry, read it aloud for easier comprehension. Find a quiet place to do your reading; distractions while reading tend to lead to low quiz scores. If you don’t know a certain word, look it up! In the end, the more you read, the better your reading skills will become (and reading skills will help you in all areas of life). The minimum expectation for a literature course is to do the reading, so do not be surprised if certain quizzes/exams require information from the readings that was not covered in class.

 

Progress Report Guidelines: For this class, all grades through 9/26 will be included in the progress report, for a total of 30% of the overall grade. The grade will include exam #1 (15%), a participation grade (4%), and 9 out of 9 quizzes (11%). The exam grade and the midterm participation grade will stay the same for your overall grade, while the final quiz grade will reflect all 25 quizzes, with the lowest five dropped.

 

Schedule: The following is a proposed outline. Some changes may be made as the semester progresses. Please bring your text to class every day, since we will be looking at some passages in more detail (and you may be asked to read). Scheduled quiz days are marked [*] below. Do not read summaries of these works. I am testing only on the selections below, so if a student mentions an episode that we did not read in a longer work (or an episode mentioned only in the introduction), I will assume that the student has not done the reading and drop the grade accordingly.

            If there is a snow day/cancelled day, keep reading! Any quiz scheduled for a snow day will be given during the next class period, in addition to any quiz for that day.

           

8/21     R          Introduction and Overview

 

THE ANCIENT WORLD

8/26*   T          Epic of Gilgamesh [ca. 2500-1500 B.C.]                                             pp. 10-24

8/28*   R          Epic of Gilgamesh                                                                               pp. 24-41

 

9/2*     T          The Iliad (+ “The Trojan War”) [8th century B.C.]       pp. 114-116; 120-146 (plus PACKET)

9/4*     R          The Iliad                                                                                              pp. 166-192

 

9/9*     T          The Iliad (+ “The Fall of Troy”  )                                               pp. 192-225 (plus PACKET)

9/11*   R          Classic of Poetry AND Confucius, Analects [1000-400 B.C.] pp. 812-831

 

9/16*   T          Ssu-Ma Ch’ien – Letter, Historical Records [ca. 145-85 B.C.]            pp. 858-879

9/18     R         EXAM #1: bring paper and a pen

 

9/23*   T          The Mahabharata [ca. 400 B.C.—400 A.D.]                                      pp. 953-966

9/25*   R          The Mahabharata                                                                                pp. 967-983

 

9/30*   T          The Mahabharata (from the Bhagavad-Gita)                                      pp. 1010-1020

10/2*   R          The Mahabharata                                                                                pp. 983-1001

 

10/7*   T          Virgil – The Aeneid [ca. 19 B.C.]                                                         pp. 1052-1085

10/9*   R          Virgil – The Aeneid                                                                              pp. 1085-1125

 

10/14   T          EXAM #2: bring paper and a pen

 

THE MIDDLE AGES

10/16* R          Li Po’s poetry AND Yüan Chen’s Ying-ying   [8th cent.]     pp. 1379-1384 AND 1398-1408

 

10/21* T          Rumi’s poetry AND Sa’di’s Golestan [13th cent.]                                pp. 1541-1558

10/23* R          Dante – Inferno (cantos 1-6) [ca. 1307]                                   pp. 1826-1832; 1836-1854

 

10/28* T          Dante – Inferno (cantos 10-15, 18, 19)                                    pp. 1863-1882; 1888-1894

10/30* R          Dante – Inferno (cantos 26-34)                                                            pp. 1913-1942

 

11/4*   T          Dante – Purgatorio and Paradiso (selections)                         pp. 1942-1962

11/6*   R          The Kokinshu [905] AND Tale of the Heike [1371]           pp. 2160-2167 AND 2300-2319

 

11/11   T          EXAM #3: bring paper and a pen

 

THE RENAISSANCE

11/13* R          Neo-Taoist and Neo-Confucian Readings                                            PACKET

 

11/18* T          Machiavelli – The Prince [ca. 1513]                                                    pp. 2517-2534

11/20* R          Rabelais – Gargantua and Pantagruel [ca. 1534-1551]                      pp. 2591-2631

 

11/25* T          Cervantes – Don Quixote [ca. 1604-1615]                                          pp. 2671-2701

11/26-11/28     THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

 

12/2*   T          Cervantes – Don Quixote                                                                     pp. 2701-2731

 

FINAL EXAM: Thursday, Dec. 4, from 3:30-5:30

 

 

Class Evaluations: Class evaluations at NGCSU are now conducted online through Banner. Evaluation of the class is considered a component of the course, and students will not be permitted to access their course grade until the evaluation has been completed. The evaluations will be accessible beginning one week prior to Final Exam week. Specific instructions will be made available when the surveys are activated.