Senior
Seminar: The Holy Grail
Tentative
Syllabus
ENGL
4384.01
TLC 2237
T,
Th
Instructor:
Dr Micheal Crafton
Office
hours: M 4-5; T,
Office
location:
TLC 2225; Bonner House
Email
and web:
mcrafton@westga.edu http://www.westga.edu/~mcrafton
Catalogue
course description:
A capstone seminar designed to assess students' learning in the program.
The course will integrate literature, theory and writing, centering on an Idea,
a theoretical issue or critical concern in literary studies. Required
for the English major. Cannot be taken until ENGL
1101, 1102 and core area F have been completed with a minimum-passing grade of
C. A minimum of 18 hours of upper level classes must also have been
completed. Requires permission of the department chair.
Not offered during the summer session.
Course
Description: The
outrageously successful recent novel The Da Vinci
Code is only the latest example of the appeal of the Holy Grail (or the holy grail, depening on your
religious orientation). The class uses this text and its central metaphor
as a point of departure for taking a longer look at the grail and its mythical
and historical genealogy, its various literary and film manifestations and then
finally as an opportunity for students to find their own “holy grails” in the
texts of their interest.
Required
Texts and other readings/materials:
Barber, Richard.
The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief.
Brown, Dan. The Da Vinci Code.
Chrétien de Troyes. Perceval. Trans. Burton Raffel.
Coupe,
Laurence.
Myth. The New Critical Idiom.
The
Quest of the Holy Grail. Trans. P.M. Matarasso.
Learning
Outcomes:
Students will understand and apply select
theoretical and practical issues in the discipline of literary studies.
Students will become conversant with
representative texts and a selected issue in literary history that allows for
integration of the aims of the discipline.
Students will develop the ability to work both
independently and collaboratively toward the publication of an anthology of
essays by class members.
Students will propose, research, and execute a
substantive literary argument appropriate to the seminar topic.
Students will be able to make effective oral
presentations, both individual and collaborative.
Students will participate in an
end-of-semester exit interview to assess how the course and the major have
served their professional goals.
Relationship
to Program Goals:
|
This course fulfills one of departmental
requirements for the completion of the English major. |
|
The course will contribute to the larger
goal of equipping students with a foundation in literary history and the
issues surrounding literary study in contemporary culture. |
|
Students will develop the analytical, oral
and written skills to pursue graduate study or careers in teaching, writing,
business and a variety of other fields. |
|
Students will be able to define and pursue
independent research agendas. |
|
Courses seek to broaden students' desire and
ability to take pleasure in their encounter with literature. |
Tests
and other assessment activities:
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.
<!--[endif]-->Two Response Papers = 20 %
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.
<!--[endif]-->Group Oral Report = 10%
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.
<!--[endif]-->Individual Oral Report = 10%
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.
<!--[endif]-->Participation = 10 %
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.
<!--[endif]-->Research Essay = 50 %
Class
Project: The
research paper that will be edited and anthologized at the end of the term is
the class project of projects. It is intended to represent your best work
as an undergraduate English major.
What
is it on?
What
should be the theory and method?
What
are the requirements?
Class
Policies:
Attendance: Since this class
meets only twice a week, attendance is all the more important. Attendance
should be understood as more than merely occupying space in a passive manner;
rather, it should be understand as a productive act. In fact, it should be
considered a production in the way that creating a paper or report is
considered as a production. In order to get full credit, your presence must be
known, and it must be known as that of a prepared student working to make the
class an event of learning, of intellectual and artistic exchange.
Late
Work:
Generally, my policy for unexcused late work is that it loses a letter grade
for every day it is late. There are, of course, extenuating circumstances, but
these need to be made and made well.
Plagiarism: Intentional
plagiarism, that is, the conscious adoption of someone else's writing or ideas
as your own is a profanation to everything I hold important. If a student is
clearly guilty of this, the result will be an F for the class and a report to
the disciplinary officials of the University.
Daily
Assignments:
All
chapter references and page number references are to the texts listed above.
Week
1:
T
24 Introduction to class;
review of critical theory.
R 26 Myth
1-20; see also web site on semiotics.
-------------------------------
Week
2:
T
31 Myth
21-42; T. S. Eliot, The
R 2
Myth 43-89; film Apocalypse now; Jim Morrison “The End”
-------------------------------
Week
3:
T
7 Opening discussion of Da Vinci Code:
R 9 No
class – Out of town for a conference
-------------------------------
Week
4:
T
14 Da
Vinci Code: Group Report
R
16 Da
Vinci Code: Group Report
------------------------------
Week
5:
T
21 Perceval and Barber,
relevant chapter; Group Report
R
23 Perceval and Barber,
relevant chapter; Group Report
-------------------------------
Week
6:
T
28 Quest and Barber,
relevant chapter; essay # 1
R
30 Quest and Barber, relevant
chapter
-------------------------------
Week
7:
T 5
Quest; continuations of
Perceval from Barber
R 7 Quest
-------------------------------
Week
8:
T
12 Barber on Wolfram; handouts
R
14 No class: Out of town for a
conference.
-------------------------------
Week
9:
T
19 Myth chapters 4 and 6
R
21 Myth chapters 4 and 6
-------------------------------
Week
10:
T
26 Barber: begin discussion of
individual projects; Excalibur ; Essay # 2 due
R
28 Barber; continue discussion of
individual projects; Excalibur
-------------------------------
Week
11:
T 2
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
R 4
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
-------------------------------
Week
12:
T
9 Individual Reports – abstracts,
outlines, rough bibliographies.
R 11 Individual
Reports – abstracts, outlines, rough bibliographies.
-------------------------------
Week
13:
T
16 Formatting issues and colloquium
preparation
R
18 Partner Critique: 2
Copies of Draft 2 due in class.
-------------------------------
Week
14:
T
23 Draft 3 due: Prepare for
Colloquium
R
25 Thanksgiving
-------------------------------
Week
15:
T 30 Colloquium
|
Presenter |
Critic |
|
Josh |
Zac |
|
Sanniya |
Scott |
|
Kris |
Garrett |
|
Amy |
DeAnna |
R 2
Colloquium; Final draft due by the end of the week.
|
Presenter |
Critic |
|
Zac |
Josh |
|
Scott |
Sanniya |
|
Garrett |
Kris |
|
DeAnna |
Amy |
-------------------------------
Week
15: Final Things
T 7
Last minute edits for the anthology; course evaluation; exit
interview.
1.
Last edits on the paper: in class workshop.
2.
Come up with a title for the Anthology -- start thinking now. (Here is
one: "That
Obscure Object of Desire: Iterations of the Grail Quest in
World
Literature")
3.
Course evaluation.
4.
Sign up for exit interview.
After class -- before the exit interview. Turn in a final hard copy and
an e-copy of your paper.
The
final exam period will be used for the exit interviews. These should
be about 30 minutes each -- give or take 10. And will be scheduled
throughout
exam week, well except for when I am giving an exam.
-------------------------------
Final
Exam
Course
Requirements:
SEMINAR
PROJECT: The seminar project will be a
10-12 page essay on a subject of your choice, in consultation with the
instructor of the seminar, on a subject or using a method that is consistent
with the class theme.
COLLOQUIUM:
The penultimate stage of the research paper process will be the colloquium
presentation. Half the class will
present one day and the other half the next; the half not presenting will be
involved in critiquing.
Each presenter will meet with the instructor
to discuss the rough draft of the paper and will provide a peer reviewer with a
rough draft.
The student will also provide the class with a
solid abstract of the paper. This
abstract could be two pages long or more, but you want to minimize your
Xeroxing.
During the presentation, the student will read
the abstract to the class and will amplify parts of the abstract by reading
from the larger paper for certain parts.
This should take about 10 minutes.
Remember you want to convey the major movements of your project.
The reviewer then will then provide the class
a written critique of the paper – strengths and weaknesses – of one page and
will talk for five minutes. The critique
of the paper should highlight such things as major transitions in the paper,
use of evidence, use of sources.
The class will then hold questions until all
presentations are complete.
We will have to work by the clock to move
through four presentations per class meeting.
1.
Because this course is a seminar, student participation (needless to say,
attendance) is mandatory. Each assignment will receive an individual
grade but will then be merged into one grade for each category (for example, grades
on all three response papers will be averaged to
compute one single grade for the response paper).
2.
Late work will NOT be accepted unless under dire emergency situation.
Because the process of this seminar and the collaborative nature of the work,
you will receive a zero on any work not submitted on time. Presentations
may not be made up.
3.
As a senior major engaged in a serious endeavor, you should know that I
expect you to come to each class prepared and willing to participate and to
treat all peers with interest and respect. In such a course, it is
not enough simply to read the assigned materials but to engage them, apply them
to your own experience in this discipline, question them, and be able to use
them in forming
your own projects.
4.
The seminar paper is the primary demonstration of your achievement in this
course. Conception of a project, drafting, researching, and editing will
be taken much more seriously than in any other course.
5.
Editing others' work, including making comments about revision of grammar,
style, organization, and content, is a requirement that takes serous the notion
of collaboration. Your editing remarks will be graded in terms of serious
and thoughtful assistance balanced with respect for other individual's ideas.
6.
The class project of an anthology requires that you submit your final seminar
paper in an electronic format, MS Word being the preferred program.
Publication of your essay in this anthology requires that you fully
complete each step in the process of writing the paper. In
order for your paper to be included in this collection, you must successfully
complete all steps in this process and meet minimum criteria for the paper.
Seminar
Paper (including drafts) 50%
Presentations
20%
Response
Papers
20%
Editing
and Participation 10%