SUNY Fredonia
Division of Arts and Humanities
ENGL 209-09, -10: Novels and Tales
How to Do Things with Ghosts
Fall 2007
Dods 101, TTh 3:30-4:50
Office: Fenton 279; MW 10:30-12, TTh 9:30-11, and by appointment; 673-3125
E-mail: simon@fredonia.edu, brucesimon18@yahoo.com
Web Page: www.fredonia.edu/department/english/simon/
ANGEL space: https://angel.fredonia.edu/frames.aspx
About the Course Web Site
This web site is designed to help you get as much out of this course as possible--you can use it to find out how you will be graded, how to join and use the course ANGEL space, what reading and writing assignments are due and when, what books are on reserve for your use in Reed Library, and how to use the world-wide web for research. Please take the time over the weekend after the first week of classes to read this page carefully and to familiarize yourself with the other pages for this course. Please get in the habit of checking back to this web site to keep track of changes to the tentative schedule (see below) and to find advice on papers and projects, as well as to surf the ever-expanding list of links to interesting web pages related to the course. And please contact me any time (see above for my coordinates) if you have ideas about how to improve these pages or the course as a whole. I hope you enjoy taking this course as much as I enjoy teaching it!
I. Course Description
Study of long and short fiction of several kinds, including myth, fable, and realistic narrative, from a variety of places and times, and their relation to their different cultures. How and to what ends do writers and storytellers use ghosts in their narratives? In these sections of ENGL 209, we will seek to answer these and related questions by reading and comparing works from a variety of literary genres, cultural traditions, and historical periods that employ haunting or spirit possession as a central motif.
ENGL 209 is a core course for students in the English and English Adolescence Education majors; it also satisfies Part V of the College Core Curriculum (CCC).
II. Rationale
In ENGL 209, as in most courses offered by the English Department, students from a range of majors, minors, and concentrations interact, and the goals of the professional programs are integrated with specific course goals. Achieving these goals (described in Section IV, below) will require us to foster academic skills and intellectual habits of reading closely and attentively, thinking critically and creatively, listening actively and carefully, speaking thoughtfully and concisely, and writing clearly and analytically--skills and habits of importance to everyone, including English Adolescence Education majors and other future teachers.
III. Textbooks. The textbooks adopted for this course are:
IV. Course Objectives and Outcomes.
Courses in Part V of the CCC are designed to present general ideas and ethical principles basic to the humanities and to foster critical thinking and critical literacy. These sections of ENGL 209 set out to reach these goals by helping students (1) to appreciate and understand a variety of narratives and narrative strategies in world literature, (2) to appreciate and understand a variety of modes of analysis of narrative, and (3) to appreciate and understand the act and art of storytelling in different cultures and time periods. To achieve these goals, students will
V. Instructional Methods and Activities
The methods used in the classroom will include lecture, in-class writing, guided discovery, open discussion, cooperative group work, and other discussion-oriented activities.
VI. Evaluation and Grade Assignment
Attendance/Preparation/In-class Participation (20%). Regular attendance to and thoughtful participation in class are crucial to your enjoyment of and success in this course. If there is absolutely no way for you to avoid missing a class, you must contact me ahead of time or soon after your absence, preferably by email. Even more important than showing up on time, of course, is coming to class prepared and focused. I expect you to read what has been assigned for a given date at least once (and some texts preferably more than that!) by the time we begin to discuss it in class. This is a discussion rather than a lecture course, after all; although I will provide some context and background for our reading, the bulk of class time will be spent in small- or large-group discussions and activities. Since it's difficult to make good contributions to discussions about a text if you haven't read it carefully or thought about it extensively, how well you budget your time outside of class will to a large degree determine how well you do in this class in general and how well you do on this portion of your course grade in particular.
Your grade for this segment of the course will be based on a combination of your attendance, the quality of your participation in class and on the course ANGEL space (described below), and your preparation, effort, and improvement over the course of the semester. As there is no final exam in this course, think of my evaluation of your preparation/participation as a different but equally important method of assessing your overall performance in the course. Due to the importance of attendance and participation, more than two unexcused absences will hurt your preparation/participation grade and each non-emergency absence after the third will lower your final course grade by a full grade (e.g., with four absences a B+ will become a C+; with seven, it will become an F). Please see Section VIIIB, below, for definitions of excused and emergency absences.
Online Participation (20%). To supplement and prepare for our class discussions and activities, I have created a discussion board on our course ANGEL space. You should use it to develop your writing and critical thinking skills, demonstrate your engagement with the course material, and consider and respond to others' ideas and readings. For instance, you can
Critical Essay (25%). The assignment sheet and advice for the 4-to-6-page critical essay can be found at http://www.fredonia.edu/department/english/simon/mw6/ce.htm.
Your grade for this segment of the course will be determined by the coherence and validity of your paper's arguments, the effectiveness of its structures in conveying your ideas and convincing your audience, and the quality of its prose (including grammar, syntax, and punctuation).
Final Research Project (35%). The topic and format for your 7-to-10-page final project is open. Further information and advice on it can be found on the course web site at http://www.fredonia.edu/department/english/simon/mw6/frp.htm.
Your grade for this segment of the course will be based on the coherence and validity of the paper's arguments, the effectiveness of its structure in conveying your ideas and convincing your audience, and the quality of its prose (including grammar, syntax, and punctuation).
B. Grading. All work during the semester will be graded on a letter basis (A=outstanding, B=good, C=average, D=bad, F=awful) and converted into a number for purposes of calculating final grades. I use the following conversion system (the number in parentheses is the "typical" or "normal" conversion, but any number in the range may be assigned to a given letter grade):
A+=97-100 (98); A=93-96.99 (95); A-=90-92.99 (91); B+=87-89.99 (88); B=83-86.99 (85); B-=80-82.99 (81); C+=77-79.99 (78); C=73-76.99 (75); C-=70-72.99 (71); D+=67-69.99 (68); D=63-66.99 (65); D-=60-62.99 (61); F=0-59.99 (55)
Your final grade is determined by converting the weighted numerical average of the above assignments into a letter grade, according to the above scale.
C. Portfolio. English majors should be aware of the English Department's guidelines for ongoing portfolio submissions; it is highly recommended that a paper or other writing from this course be included in your portfolio.
VII. Bibliography. See the list of reserve readings for a fuller bibliography.
A. Contemporary References
B. Classic References
C. Key Journals
VIII. Course Schedule and Policies
A. Tentative Course Schedule. The following course schedule is subject to revision--please refer here regularly for updates to this schedule, notes on the texts, and suggestions for further reading. If a reading is starred (*), it can be found in the Readings folder in the Lessons area on the course ANGEL space.
T 8/28 Introductions and Course Overview
Th 8/30 Course Goals, Expectations, Processes; Emily Dickinson, Poem #670
T 9/4 Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo, ch. 1-8 (3-21); Harriet Beecher Stowe, "The Stratagem" and "An Authentic Ghost Story," chapters 39 and 42 from Uncle Tom's Cabin*
Th 9/6 Mumbo Jumbo, ch. 9-13 (21-55)
T 9/11 Mumbo Jumbo, ch. 14-22 (55-82); Charles Chesnutt, "Po' Sandy"*
Th 9/13 Mumbo Jumbo, ch. 23-42 (82-139)
T 9/18 Mumbo Jumbo, ch. 43-53 (139-195); Zora Neale Hurston Hurston, "Spunk"*
Th 9/20 Mumbo Jumbo, ch. 54-Partial Bibliography (195-223)
T 9/25 Amos Tutuola, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts 17-64; Ralph Ellison, Prologue, Invisible Man*
Th 9/27 My Life in the Bush of Ghosts 65-95; Edwidge Danticat, "Night Women" (handed out in previous class; extra copies available in my mailbox in Fenton 277)
T 10/2 My Life in the Bush of Ghosts 96-133; Laura Bohannon, "Shakespeare in the Bush"*
Th 10/4 My Life in the Bush of Ghosts 134-174; Nalo Hopkinson, "Something to Hitch Meat To"*
T 10/9 Patricia Grace, Prologue and Part One, Potiki 7-84; Leslie Marmon Silko, "Yellow Woman"*
Th 10/11 NO CLASS: FALL BREAK
T 10/16 Part Two, Potiki 85-155
Th 10/18 Part Three, Potiki 156-185; Joseph Bruchac, "Bone Girl"*
M 10/22 CRITICAL ESSAY due no later than 11 pm in dropbox on course ANGEL site
T 10/23 Bharati Mukherjee, "The Management of Grief"*; Mahasweta Devi, "The Children"*
Th 10/25 Robert Olen Butler, "A Ghost Story"*
T 10/30 Kyoka Izumi, "The Holy Man of Mount Koya," Japanese Gothic Tales 21-72
Th 11/1 "One Day in Spring," Japanese Gothic Tales 73-140
T 11/6 "One Day in Spring," Japanese Gothic Tales 73-140
Th 11/8 Lafcadio Hearn, "Of Ghosts and Goblins"*
T 11/13 Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano, Sandman: The Dream Hunters
Th 11/15 Sandman: The Dream Hunters
M 11/19-F 11/23 NO CLASSES: THANKSGIVING BREAK
T 11/27 Maxine Hong Kingston, "No Name Woman," The Woman Warrior 1-16; PROPOSAL for FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT due in class [consider turning it in much earlier in the semester, however]
Th 11/29 "White Tigers," The Woman Warrior 17-53; "The Ballad of Mulan" (several versions)*
T 12/4 "Shaman," The Woman Warrior 54-109
Th 12/6 Pu Songling, "Ghost-Girl Xiaoxie"*; Yuan Mei, "Butterfingered Scholar Wu"*
T 12/11 "At the Western Palace," The Woman Warrior 110-160
Th 12/13 "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe," The Woman Warrior 161-209
F 12/21 FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT due no later than 11 pm in dropbox on course ANGEL space
B. Class Policies
1. Attendance. As stated in Section VI above, barring emergencies each absence after the fourth will lower your final course grade by a full grade. Be aware that absences due to emergencies are the only absences that will not be counted toward your total for the semester. Emergencies include but are not limited to death in the family, hospitalization or serious illness, and natural disasters; scheduled and unavoidable school-sponsored events (games, meets, performances, etc.) are also counted as emergencies for the purpose of this attendance policy. Besides emergencies, the only other absences that won't affect your participation/preparation grade are excused absences. Please notify the instructor over email, in advance if possible and, if not, as soon after the absence as possible, if you wish an absence to be considered as an emergency or excused absence; the decision will be made at the instructor's discretion.
2. Online Participation. Please familiarize yourself with the college's "Computer and Network Usage Policy" (College Catalog 2007-2009, pp. 240-247) and check with your instructor first before posting something to the course ANGEL space that is not directly related to the course.
3. Late Assignments. Online posts that are not well-timed with the course material and fail to spark other students' interest and responses will not count the same as well-timed posts or posts that do inspire further discussion. Late critical essays and final research projects will not be accepted or graded. Only students who ask for an extension at least two days before the due date of any written project will be granted an extension; asking for an extension on the final project means that your final grade for the semester will be an incomplete (I), and that you must turn in your final project before the end of the following semester so that the I becomes a grade other than an F.
4. Plagiarism and Academic Integrity. To plagiarize is "to steal and pass off as one's own the ideas or words of another" (Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary). SUNY Fredonia strongly condemns plagiarism and takes severe action against those who plagiarize. Disciplinary action may extend to suspension from privileges or expulsion from college. Please familiarize yourself with the college's "Academic Integrity Policy" (College Catalog 2007-2009, pp. 236-239, see also p. 222) and check with your instructor if you have any questions about it.