ENGL
4106-01W, Studies in Genre
Summer,
2005
Humanities
208
Dr.
Angela Insenga
Office:
TLC 2238
Office
Hours: M, W 12-1:30 p.m. and T, R 7-8
a.m.
E-mail:
ainsenga@westga.edu
Website:
http://www.westga.edu/~ainsenga/
Office
phone: 678 639 4864
Home
phone: 770 378 2387 (you may call up
until 8 p.m.)
Course
Description:
At
the beginning of American Beauty (1999), Carolyn Burnham laments
that she wishes the now-absent “Lomans” had hired her as their real-estate
agent before they vacated the neighborhood. With one striking allusion,
screenwriter Alan Ball suffuses the film with the themes, characters, and even
a structure akin to Arthur Miller’s classic drama Death of a Salesman
(1949). Studying such overt connections between the genres of drama and
film helps to frame questions about how each—the dramatic and
cinematic—informs, presupposes, or even reconceives the other. Our course
will focus primarily on reading play texts from antiquity to the present,
though we will also view a film re-presentation that recycles or re-visions
each play. Such examination will create a sustained dialogue between the
genres that will help us theorize links and divergences as we explore the page,
the stage, and beyond.
Writing
Across the Curriculum (WAC) Delineation:
Students
are required to take two WAC courses for an undergraduate degree in the
Course
activities include both “Writing to Learn” and “Writing to Communicate”
assignments. Your specific WTL
assignments include your seven Reading Responses, annotated bibliography, and
elements of your oral presentation. Your WTC assignments, specific to this
discipline, are the major research paper and elements of your oral
presentation. See specific descriptions
of these assignments under “Major Assignments” below.
Course
Objectives:
Required
Texts (in reading order):
William
Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus
Christopher
Marlowe, Dr. Faustus
Moises
Kaufman, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
George
Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion
Arthur
Miller, Death of a Salesman
Tony
Kushner, Angels in
Margaret
Edson, Wit
Film
texts (in viewing order):
Julie
Taymor, dir. Titus
Ernst
Gossner, Jan Svankmajer, dirs. Faust
Brian
Gilbert, dir. Wilde
George
Cukor, dir. My Fair Lady
Sam
Mendes, dir. American Beauty
Moises
Kaufman, dir. The
Mike
Nichols, dir. Angels in
Mike
Nichols, dir. Wit
*Students
carry the responsibility for viewing films by specific class dates set down in
the daily syllabus. The department owns two copies of each film and
portable DVD players available for student check-out. I will give you
specific directions for checking out films. All films can also be acquired
through an online movie service like Netflix or Blockbuster, and some are
available from local rental establishments.
Major
Assignments/Percentage Breakdown/WAC correlation:
35%
Seven, two-page reading responses in MLA
format (WTL)
15%
One
fifteen-twenty minute presentation with corresponding handouts and Works Cited
page in MLA format
(WTL and WTC)
40%
12-15 page research paper (WTC)
10%
Annotated bibliography (5 source
minimum)
(WTL)
Description
of Major Assignments:
·
Reading Responses:
for each two-page reading response, you will need to choose a theme,
idea, passage, or genre element and create a cogent, two-page response that
illuminates a major point/thesis you wish to make. I will leave the ideas for each of your
responses up to you, but I suggest that you write about narrowed topics that
can be analyzed using textual references.
You may find it productive to compare films to texts, though I ask that
you focus on proving a main point/argument in your response. When I grade, I look for your
purpose/argument in the first paragraph of your response and discussion/support
in the body of the response. MLA format
is required, and the rules of current standard English apply. Responses that go beyond the minimum length
requirement are not a problem, but responses that don’t meet minimum length
requirements will receive lowered grades.
·
In-class, oral presentation: You will first sign up for a play or film of
your choice (the sign up sheet is available beginning today, June 7th). You may work in pairs or on your own. If you work with another person, know that
each of you is responsible for presenting, and each will receive the same
grade. For your presentation, you should research and then share with the class
your findings. A handout packet with
Works Cited for your classmates is required.
If you simply cannot afford to copy on your own, see me. If you present
on a play, the following information is pertinent: original staging conditions, historical
background of the work, famous productions of the play, actors whose
performance made a lasting impression, an overview of reviews, both
contemporary to the play and more recent, and a discussion of at least one
major reading/interpretation of the play. You may focus on a specific scene/
symbol/play element as you present. If
you choose to present on a film, the following information is pertinent: major changes and the way said changes
affect/enrich/detract from other interpretations of the play text, filming
conditions, historical background, an overview of the director and actors, a
discussion of how the film genre has interpreted the play genre, and a
discussion of a major reading or interpretation of the film.
·
Annotated Bibliography: you can find
information about this assignment at this URL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_annotatedbib.html
Your annotated bibliography is due with your final
paper, and you must annotate a minimum of five sources. You can use more than
five sources for your research paper, but at least five must be annotated. Please see the examples at the site above. I
suggest annotating articles and/or book chapters, as they will be easier for
those of you who are writing an annotated bibliography for the first time.
·
Research Paper: as with the reading responses, I leave
the topic of your research paper up to you. You may find that one of your
reading responses gives birth to your large research project. The base requirements for this essay include
a clear guiding argument, critical analysis of both secondary and primary
source materials, and MLA format. If you
wish, you may draft this assignment before the due date, and I can look over it
for you. Some suggestions for topics
include, but are not limited to, a critical examination of an interpretation of
one of our plays over time. You may also
choose to interpret a text using a specific theoretical lens (i.e. —an
examination of Angels in America using Queer theory or a rhetorical analysis of Titus Andronicus).
Writing about a play and the corresponding film is a way to address the core
concerns of genre and can yield an excellent analysis. The key is to ask good
questions of the texts, to consider
these questions as you research, and to present an argument that answers the
questions you initially posed.
Plagiarism/Collusion
From
the English Department’s website: “The
Department of English and Philosophy defines plagiarism as taking personal
credit for the words and ideas of others as they are presented in electronic,
print, and verbal sources. The Department expects that students will accurately
credit sources in all assignments. An equally dishonest practice is fabricating
sources or facts; it is another form of misrepresenting the truth. Plagiarism
is grounds for failing the course. The
University policies for handling Academic Dishonesty are found at the following
internet URLs:
·
The
Faculty Handbook http://www.westga.edu/~vpaa/handrev/
·
Student
Uncatalogue: "Rights and Responsibilities" http://www.westga.edu/handbook/”
Attendance/Workload
Summer
classes can present challenges. Our
course meets 15 times in eight weeks, and the university requires us to
accomplish a semester’s worth of work in this time period. Because of this requirement and time
constraints, the rules for attendance are strict.
One
absence is equivalent to missing a week’s worth of work. For this reason, if you miss more than two
class periods you will be dropped from the course or fail because of
absences. Each class lasts 2 ½ hours,
and we will take a fifteen minute break during each class. Leaving or arriving at the break will
count as an absence.
Late
Work/Make-Up Work:
As
a general rule, I do not accept late work.
If you feel you have an extenuating circumstance, you must see me to
discuss. I also ask that you do not
place work outside my office door or under my office door unless we have
spoken. I will not accept work in this
manner.
The
workload will be rigorous as we move through our goals this summer. You can expect 50-65 pages of reading per
class period, and the heaviest reading/viewing loads will be assigned on
Thursdays for Tuesday classes since you have five nights to read/view. I’ve attempted to mitigate some of the stress
by focusing largely on active reading and analytical writing instead of testing
or quizzing, and I hope that this class structure helps you focus on the
primary texts and the tasks at hand rather than mere memorization and
regurgitation of facts.
Daily
Syllabus:
June
7
Course
introduction
·
For
next class:
Read Titus Andronicus,
introduction to text (xxix-xlix), Acts I and II
June
9
Discuss
Titus Andronicus
·
For
next class:
Finish reading Titus Andronicus
View Titus
Reading Response #1 due
June
14
Turn
in RR1
Discuss
Titus Andronicus and Titus
~One
presentation on Titus
·
For
next class:
Read Faustus, choral opening and scenes 1-7
June
16
Discuss
Faustus
~One
presentation on Faustus
·
For
next class:
Finish Faustus
View Faust
Reading Response #2 due
June
21
Turn
in RR2
Discuss
Faustus and Faust
~One
presentation on Faust
·
For
next class:
Read Gross Indencency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Act I
June
23
Discuss
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of
Oscar Wilde
~One
presentation on Gross Indecency: The
Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
·
For
next class:
Finish Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of
Oscar Wilde and read the afterword by Tony
Kushner
Watch Wilde
Reading Response #3 due
June
28
Turn
in RR3
Discuss
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of
Oscar Wilde and Wilde
~One
presentation on Wilde
·
For
next class:
Read Pygmalion, Acts I and II
June
30
Discuss
Pygmalion
~One
presentation on Pygmalion
·
For
next class:
Finish Pygmalion
Watch My Fair Lady
Reading Response #4 due
July
5
Turn
in RR4
Discuss
Pygmalion and My Fair Lady
~One
presentation on My Fair Lady
·
For
next class:
Read Death of a Salesman, Act I
July
7
Discuss
Death of a Salesman
~One
presentation on Death of a Salesman
·
For
next class:
Finish Death of a Salesman
Watch American Beauty
Reading Response #5 due
Begin reading Angels in America
(I suggest reading “Part One: The
Millennium Approaches.”
This is your longest play; take extra
time to read it)
July
12
Turn
in RR5
Discuss
Death of a Salesman and American Beauty
~One
presentation on American Beauty
·
For
next class:
Read Angels in America, through
Part II, Act One; begin viewing either Angels in America
or The
July
14
Discuss
Angels in
~One
presentation on Angels in
~One
presentation on The Laramie Project
·
For
next class:
Finish Angels in America;
finish viewing either Angels in America or The Laramie Project
Reading Response #6 due
July
19
Turn
in RR6
Discuss
Angels in America text/film and The Laramie Project
~One
presentation on Angels in
~One
presentation on Angels in
·
For
next class:
Read Wit, 5-34 (to the line
break)
July
21
Discuss
Wit
~One
presentation on Wit
·
For
next class:
Finish Wit
View Wit
Reading Response #7 due
July
25
Turn
in RR7
~One
presentation on Wit (film)
Discuss
Wit, both text and film
July
28
Research
paper and annotated bibliography due at my office by 9:30 a.m.