M,W
Instructor: Dr. Micheal Crafton
Office: TLC 2-225
(770-836-6512) Office hours: M - 1-3 TLC 225
W – 1-3 TLC 225; F 9- 11, 1-4 Bonner House
And
by appointment
Phone:
TLC 770-836-6512
Bonner
House: 770-836-6423
Current
Schedule
Email: mcrafton@westga.edu
Home page: http://www.westga.edu/~mcrafton/
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students
will develop the ability to recognize and identify significant achievements in
world literature.
Students
will understand the relevant social, historical, and aesthetic contexts of
these literary works.
Students will appreciate the implications of theoretical and critical
approaches to such literature.
Students will develop enhanced cultural awareness and analytical skills.
Students will demonstrate their command of academic English and of the tenets
of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.
The purpose of this course is to survey
literary and cultural documents from around the world, starting with the
earliest extant materials and working our way by leaps and bounds up to the
modern period. Although we shall try our best to view these documents in a
historical and political context, we will be hard pressed to be very detailed
due to the astonishing breadth of this survey. Given the fact that we will be
moving quickly through a lot of cultures, we shall hold to two constants: one,
mythology as a grammar for comparative analysis; two, literacy as the
fundamental skill of skills that we shall practice.
EVALUATION AND GRADING PROCEDURES
The processes for assessing student
performance in this class are four-fold: exams, papers, student presentations,
and participation.
The in-class exams will consist of a
mixture of quotations from the literature studied and some analytical questions
relevant to class discussion. For more information on taking these exams, how
to prepare for them, and how to write them, go
to this web page.
Each out of class essay will consist
of a two- to three-page typed essay (one-inch margins, 12 pt font) that allows
the student to respond to a selection or selections of literature in a personal
and analytical fashion.For topics and advice on writing this essay, including a
sample essay, go to this web page.
The student presentations will consist
of a three- to five -minute presentation in which the student makes a link
between some of the material in the class to some aspect of contemporary
culture. The connection can be creative but it must be supported by
reasoned analysis of the literature in the class. Connections can be made
to contemporary artifacts such as movies, television shows, musical bands, art,
video games, and performances.
Participation in class is more that just passive attendance,
especially in an honors seminar; participation should be understood as an
active or productive process. Students should come to class not only
awake, dressed, and having read the material, but also they should during the
course of the class reveal their live enactment of the material and the
discussion through questions, answers, or at the very least non-verbal cues.
ASSIGNMENTS AND THEIR GRADE WEIGHTS
1.
Two
essays
40%
2. Two
Exams
40%
3. Daily
discussion
10%
4.
Student Presentation 10%
Texts:
Mack, Maynard, et al eds. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces.
Daily Assignments for English 2110 Honors, Spring 2004
--------- week 1 ----------
W 7 First day of
class: Introductions, overview, defining literature, myth, culture,
history
--------- week 2----------
M 12 View videotape of The Power
of Myth (on the hero)
W 14 Readings from Campbell, Paglia:
Prehistoric art: Descent of Inanna (You can find this text at this
address: http://www.piney.com/InanasDescNetherKram.html
-------- week 3----------
M 19 MLK, Jr.
W 21 Gilgamesh
--------- week 4----------
M 26 Gilgamesh
W 28 Egyptian Poetry; Old Testament
--------- week 5----------
M 2 Homer, Odyssey
books IX, X, XI
W 4 Homer, Odyssey books
VI, VII, VIII
--------- week 6----------
M 9 Plato and Aristotle
(Essay # 1 due)
W 11 Virgil, Aeneid books I, IV, VI
--------- week 7----------
M 16 Bhahavad-Gita pp. 612-623
W 18
--------- week 8----------
M 23 Test # 1
W 25 Confucius, Chuang Chou:
--------- week 9----------
M 1 New Testament
W 3 Augustine 723-736:
Evolution of Church and Medieval Christian Orthodox Theology
--------- week 10----------
M 8 Koran, suras 1,4,19,
62,71,76; 1001 Arabian Nights
W 10 Marie de France, Eliduc;
Videotape from The Power of Myth (on love)
--------- week 11----------
M 15 Dante cantos 1,2,3,4
W 17 Dante cantos 5,6,7,28,34
--------- week 12----------
M 22 Spring Break
W 24 Spring Break
--------- week 13----------
M 29 Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale
of Genji chapter 2
W 31 Hamlet
--------- week 14----------
M 5 Field Trip to Emory
W 7 Honors Day: Classes
cancelled.
--------- week 15----------
M 12 Hamlet
W 14 Basho; Wordsworth
--------- week 16----------
M 19 Baudelaire (Selections from Flowers
of Evil); T.S. Eliot, The
W 21 Achebe, Things
Fall Apart (Selections) pages 2936-2964, 2992-3006, 3012-3030
--------- week 17----------
M 26 Student Presentations
(Paper # 2 due): Topics online
here.
T 27 Last Day of Class:
Student Presentations
W 28 Reading Day
Final Exam Period: Monday, May 3rd: