Dr. Margaret E. Mitchell

ENGL 4188: Virginia Woolf

M-F 10-12:15, HUM 208

Office: TLC 2235

Email: mmitchel@westga.edu

Website: http: //www.westga.edu/~mmitchel

Phone: 678.877.4852

Office Hours: TTH Mon-Thurs, 12:30-2; also by appt.

Description

Description: “The writer of fiction,” Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) suggested in 1925, “seems constrained, not by his own free will but by some powerful and unscrupulous tyrant who has him in thrall.” But if “the art of fiction” were “come alive and standing in our midst,” she argues, “she would undoubtedly bid us break her and bully her, as well as honor and love her, for so her youth is renewed and her sovereignty assured.” These few vivid lines from Woolf’s famous essay “Modern Fiction” (1925) not only encapsulate her theory of fiction but, perhaps even more provocatively, invite us to imagine the art of fiction in terms of politics, gender, and violence. Woolf’s language casts literary convention as a tyrant, the writer as a prisoner and a slave, and the art of fiction itself as a female sovereign who is at once broken and renewed by violence. It is a shifting metaphor, its vocabulary at once fanciful and lurid. This course will adopt these terms as a framework for reading Woolf’s own fiction, for exploring her radical aesthetics in relation to ideology.

Assigned Texts

The Voyage Out, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves, Orlando, A Writer’s Diary, A Haunted House and Other Stories. (All texts are Harvest editions; try to use the correct editions to avoid disparities in pagination, introductory material, etc.) Selected critical essays, excerpts from Woolf’s prose.

Requirements: Active participation and careful preparation, sometimes measured by quizzes or short in-class writing assignments; short (1-2 page) weekly response papers, oral presentation, exam, research paper.

v     You will often have, at the beginning of class, a short reading quiz sometimes accompanied by a brief in-class writing assignment, designed to show that you have done your reading and can reflect meaningfully upon it.

v     Once a week (see syllabus; usually Mondays) you will turn in a one to two page response paper on the novel we are currently reading, incorporating relevant material from the Writer’s Diary as a springboard for analysis of some key aspect of the text. I will provide more detailed instructions later, and may give you specific instructions for each assignment.

v     You will be responsible for on short oral presentation in which you seek to ground Woolf in the real world by illuminating some aspect of social or political history—wars, movements, legislation, science, etc.—relevant to the text you choose (you’ll sign up for these the first full week of class). These will be thesis driven mini-essays that propose a way of understanding the text in light of the background material you choose to explore. You’ll speak for 8 to 10 minutes (about 4 pages). You may use this material as a springboard for your research paper, if you want to.

v     You will produce an 8-10 page research paper incorporating at least 5 outside sources; details on expectations for the paper and stages of the writing process will follow.

v     You will take a short final exam in which you must correctly identify key passages (you’ll have choices) and discuss them in terms of some of the central ideas and concerns that emerge in the course of the session.

Reading Schedule

• I will break down the reading assignment as the session goes along, in cases where page numbers do not yet appear.
• Although I have not structured reading assignments for A Writer’s Diary, it will be your responsibility to read around in that book on your own, focusing on what strikes you as most interesting or relevant and feeling free to skim what seems, for your purposes, less important. You’ll use this in your weekly responses.

June 29 Introduction. Modern Fiction.

July 2 Mrs. Dalloway (1925). Response #1 due (1-2 pages.)

July 3 Mrs. Dalloway

July 4 No class

July 5 A Haunted House and other stories (1944)

July 6 The Voyage Out (1915).

July 9 The Voyage Out. Response #2 due (1-2 pages)

July 10 To the Lighthouse (1927)

July 11 To the Lighthouse

July 12 To the Lighthouse (last day to withdraw with a W). Presentations.

July 13 A Room of One’s Own (1929). Presentations.

July 16 The Waves (1931). Short prospectus due (details on format, etc. will be supplied).

July 17 The Waves. Response #3 due.

July 18 The Waves. Presentations.

July 19 Orlando (1928)

July 20 Orlando

July 23 Orlando. Response #4 due. Presentations.

July 24 Conclusion, optional conferences.

July 26 Exam; Research Papers due

Policies and Procedures

Attendance

Your active presence is essential to the success of the class; keep in mind that one class is the equivalent of an entire week of class in an ordinary semester. Quizzes and in-class writings cannot be made up regardless of the reason for your absence unless you notify me in advance that you will need to miss a class, contact me and arrange to make up the quiz or assignment for that day.) Assignments will drop a third of a letter grade for each day they are late (from a B to a B-, for instance)—including weekends. You may miss two classes without penalty (although, unless you’ve made prior arrangements, you won’t receive credit for anything that happens in class that day). There is no such thing as an excused absence. I assume that illness or other pressing circumstances—summer is often complicated, after all--may legitimately cause you to miss two classes in the course of the session; I don’t need to know your reasons, although I am certainly willing to listen. Beyond that, however, absences will affect your grade, regardless of your reasons. I will deduct half a letter grade for your third absence, and a full letter grade for your fourth. Beyond that you will automatically fail the course. If you do miss class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed and arrange to obtain handouts, notes, or information. (If you have truly extraordinary circumstances documented by the university, please meet with me to discuss your options.)

Other Guidelines

Please come to class on time. If you are late three times it will count as an absence; lateness will also affect your ability to complete quizzes or in-class writings within the amount of time allowed. If you arrive late, it is your responsibility to speak to me at the end of class so that I can mark you late, rather than absent; I won’t interrupt class to do this, and might otherwise not remember. Please turn off cell phones and other potential sources of electronic disturbance before you enter class and remove them from sight. If such a device does go off during class, or if I see you checking messages, etc., I will mark you late.

 Assignments and information relevant to the class will be posted regularly on my website. It is your responsibility to check this.

I check my email regularly; this is always a good way to contact me. Please note that, for legal and confidentiality reasons, I am not permitted respond to emails from any non-westga accounts. Make sure to use your My Westga account when you write to me.

If you have special needs of which I should be aware, please meet with me as soon as possible to discuss satisfactory arrangements.

I expect you to preserve an atmosphere of courtesy, respect, and intellectual maturity in the classroom, to take your own work and that of the other students seriously. Very little is less respectful than napping: if you fall asleep, you will receive one warning; the second time you will be asked to leave and counted as absent.

Academic Honesty

Presenting the language or ideas of someone else as your own constitutes plagiarism--whether your source is a friend, a relative, or a critic; whether the uncredited material is a phrase, a paragraph, or an entire paper; whether it is a formal or an informal assignment; whether the language is exact or paraphrased. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the class; will be reported to the English Department, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Student Judicial Officer; and may have consequences at the university level. There will be no exceptions, no negotiations. “Accidental” plagiarism is plagiarism nevertheless. If you are ever concerned about what constitutes plagiarism, please consult me. You may also see the English Department website for more details and resources (see the link on my website).

Grading

20% Quizzes, in-class writing.

            Graded on a 10 point scale; bonus points available.

20% Response papers.

            Graded on a 10-point scale.

5%   Participation

(Based on frequency and thoughtfulness of your contributions to discussion you’ll receive between 0 and 5 points)

10% Oral presentation

(Based on the complexity and originality of your analysis and the effectiveness of your presentation)

30% Essay #2 (research paper)

Essay grades will be based upon the strength of your thesis and analysis and the quality of your writing as outlined in the English department’s grading rubric; also factored into this grade will be your timely and thoughtful completion of your prospectus and any other process-based assignments.

15% Final Exam

            Cumulative.