Dr. Margaret E. Mitchell

Office: TLC 2235

Email: mmitchel@westga.edu

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

Phone: 678.839.4852

Office Hours: Tues. 11-1 and 3:30-5; Thurs. 11-12; Wed. by appointment.

 

ENGL 2120-26H: British Literature-Honors, Dr. Margaret E. Mitchell
A Monstrous Tradition
TR 2:00pm-3:15pm, TLC 1204

Description: This course will provide a sweeping history of British literature, touching down in all major periods and genres. We will pay particular attention to representations of monstrosity in the British literary tradition, a condition that raises questions about identity and exile, self-invention and destruction, fear and desire.

Texts: The Tempest, Shakespeare; Frankenstein, Mary Shelley; Great Expectations, Charles Dickens; Mrs. Warren’s Profession, George Bernard Shaw; Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro. Additional texts will be available on electronic reserve.

Requirements: Quizzes, response papers, research paper, midterm, final exam, class participation.

Schedule of reading and Assignments

--This schedule is subject to adjustment; any changes will be announced in class and on my website. Additional short readings or visual texts may be introduced in class.

--Note that I have listed 6 response paper deadlines. You must write 3 of these; it is up to you which ones you choose. You must, however, submit at least one before the midterm.

Jan 7 Intro.

 

Jan 12 “Judith”: Old English Poem, Author unknown. Most likely dates from the 9th or 10th century (though some argue that it’s much older). Electronic reserve.

Jan 14 Excerpts from Beowulf. Anon.; est. 8th-10th century. Electronic reserve.

 

Jan 19  The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer. 14th century. General Prologue, selected tales. Electronic reserve.

Jan 21 Access reading via the link below. Be sure to print it out.

http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/

Click “Canterbury Tales,” then (Under the heading Fragment III) “Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale”, the “interlinear translation.” Print out.

[Response Paper deadline 1]

 

Jan 26  The Tempest, Shakespeare, early 1600s.

Jan 28 cont’d

 

Feb 2 Peter Hulme, “Prospero and Caliban” (233); Leah Marcus, “The Blue-Eyed Witch” (286) (From the Norton Critical edition)

Feb 4 cont’d [RP deadline 2]

 

Feb 9 17th C poetry, selections TBA. Electronic reserve.

Feb 11 Gulliver’s Travels, Part 2, Jonathan Swift. 1726. http://www.online-literature.com/swift/gulliver/  (chapter 1; chapters 9-16)

 

Feb 16 Cont’d. Also Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” (ER) [RP deadline 3]

Feb 18 Thesis-driven response papers on any of the three Swift texts. Due via email by NOON today. We will use them for the basis of an intensive writing class. Make sure your analysis and your thesis are carfully grounded in the language of the text.

 

Feb 23  William Blake, selected poetry TBA.. Start Frankenstein. (1818)

Feb 25 Midterm

 

[Mar 1 Last day to withdraw with grade of W ]

Mar 2 Frankenstein

Mar 4 Frankenstein cont’d. [RP deadline 4]

 

Mar 9 Byron’s “Darkness.” Additional Romantic poetry tba. ER.

Mar 11 Vic poetry—Goblin Market, My Last Duchess, Porphyria

 

Mar 16 Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (1860-61)

Mar 18 cont’d

 

Spring break

 

Mar 30 cont’d [RP deadline 5]

Apr1 cont’d. Paper assigned. Virginia Woolf, “Modern Fiction.” (ER)

 

Apr 6 Ishiguro

Apr 8 cont’d

 

Apr 13 cont’d [RP deadline6]

Apr 15 rough draft workshop

 

Apr 20 Modern poetry.

Apr 22 Modern Poetry.

 

Apr 27 Last day: review, conclusion. Papers due.

Final Exam.

 

Requirements

It will be crucial that you keep up with the reading for this class. Frequent quizzes (with a writing component) will make it worth your while to come prepared. In a small class like this, you owe it to your fellow students to come to class ready to contribute informed, thoughtful insights to our discussions. I strongly encourage you to take notes on the reading, and I will expect you to take notes during class dicussion. I’ll also expect you to be ready to bring specific passages to the attention of the class in order to focus and deepen our discussions. You must bring the text(s) under discussion to each class; if you accessed the text through electronic reserve, you must print it out. Because participation counts toward your grade, you should make a point of speaking at least once during each class. There will also be occasional short in- or out-of-class assignments designed to develop your analytical prowess and work on writing strategies; I won’t accept these late. You will be responsible for three formal response papers in the course of the semester; deadlines will be assigned on a rotating basis, and full details will be provided. You will write one longer (8 page) critical essay with a research component near the end of the semester for which you will receive a list of possible topics in advance (you’ll also have the option of developing your own topics). A rough draft will be required, along with various other process-based assignments designed to help you develop, organize, and refine your ideas. These will be graded as homework assignments, so failure to complete them (on time) will lower your overall grade. The midterm and the final will include identification and short answer questions, and will test your understanding of the texts and historical periods we have covered as well as your familiarity with various critical terms and concepts that have structured our discussions.

Policies and Procedures

Your active presence is essential to the success of the class. Quizzes and in-class workcannot be made up regardless of the reason for your absence. (Exception: if you know in advance that you will need to miss a class, contact me and we can arrange for you to make up the quiz or assignment for that day.) Essays will drop a third of a letter grade for each day they are late (from a B to a B-, for instance). Papers will be accepted only in class; please don’t email them to me or leave them in my mailbox unless you’re specifically instructed to. You may miss three classes without penalty. There is no such thing as an excused absence. I assume that illness or other pressing circumstances may legitimately cause you to miss three classes in the course of the semester; I don’t need to know your reasons. Beyond that, however, absences will affect your grade, regardless of your reasons. I will deduct half a letter grade for your fourth absence, another half for your fifth, and another half for your sixth. If you miss more than six classes 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, of course, please meet with me to discuss your options.)

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. University policy dictates that we correspond via your westga email account rather than any email accounts you might have—unless this proves impractical, in which case we will make alternative 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. (Should it happen a third time, we’ll meet to discuss whether you should remain in the class.)

 

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

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, or a so-called study resource online; 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).

 

One way of avoiding plagiarism is to avoid consulting such websites as Sparknotes, Cliff’s Notes, or any of the other sites advertising themselves as study aids for any reason, even as a casual supplement to your understanding of a difficult text. They will not help you: they tend to be reductive, formulaic, even downright misleading. You will produce far more interesting interpretations if you rely on your own ability to read, think, and analyze. Trust me.

 

Grading:

Quizzes, miscellaneous assignments: 10%

Active presence : 10%

Response papers: 15%

Midterm: 20%

Critical Essay: 25%

Final Exam: 20%