SUNY Fredonia
Division of Arts and Humanities
ENGL 209: Novels and Tales
How to Do Things with Ghosts
Fall 2008
Sections 3 and 4: MWF 11:00-11:50, Jewett 220
Sections 5 and 6: MWF 2:00-2:50, Fenton 180
Office: Fenton 265; MWF 1-2, Th 3-5, and by appointment; 673-3856
E-mail: simon@fredonia.edu, brucesimon18@yahoo.com
Web Page: www.fredonia.edu/department/english/simon/
ANGEL space: https://angel.fredonia.edu/

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 what reading and writing assignments are due and when, how you will be graded, how to use the course ANGEL space, and how to use the world-wide web for research. Please take the time during and 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:

• Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano, Sandman: The Dream Hunters
• Patricia Grace, Potiki
• Kyoka Izumi, Japanese Gothic Tales
• Henry James, The Turn of the Screw
• Nora Okja Keller, Comfort Woman
• Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
• Amos Tutuola, The Palm-Wine Drinkard and My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

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

• read, think about, and generate observations and questions about the assigned readings;
• share and discuss their observations and questions on the course ANGEL space and in the classroom;
• write a critical essay that hones their analytic and persuasive skils;
• research and write a final project that integrates what they have learned in the course.

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/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 three unexcused absences will hurt your preparation/participation grade and each non-emergency absence after the fourth will lower your final course grade by a full grade (e.g., with five 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

• post a specific question about one of the readings--or respond to someone else's previously-posted question;
• pick up and develop a topic of conversation from our in-class discussions--or respond to someone else's previously-posted idea;
• share an insight from a small-group discussion or activity that those outside your team didn't have the chance to hear--or respond to someone else's previously-posted idea;
• introduce a new topic of conversation that you feel is relevant to the course--or respond to someone else's previously-posted topic.

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/htdtwg6/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/htdtwg6/frp.htm.

Your grade for this segment of the course will be based on the coherence and validity of the project's arguments, the effectiveness of its medium, structure, and form in conveying your ideas and convincing your audience, and the quality of its prose (including grammar, syntax, and punctuation) and any other relevant aesthetic or design properties.

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.

A. Contemporary References

• Renee Bergland, The National Uncanny; Indian Ghosts and American Subjects
• Kathleen Brogan, Cultural Haunting: Ghosts and Ethnicity in Recent American Literature
• Peter Buse and Andrew Stott, eds., Ghosts: Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, History
• Cathy Caruth, ed., Trauma: Explorations in Memory
• Avery Gordon, Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination
• Jeffrey Weinstock, ed., Spectral America: Phantoms and the National Imagination

B. Classic References

• Lynette Carpenter and Wendy Kolmar, eds., Haunting the House of Fiction: Feminist Perspectives on Ghost Stories by American Women
• Laura Skandera-Trombley, ed., Critical Essays on Maxine Hong Kingston
• Sau-ling Cynthia Wong, ed., Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior: A Casebook

C. Key Journals

• College English
• Critical Inquiry
• diacritics
• Narrative
• PMLA
• Studies in Short Fiction

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.

M 8/25 Introductions and Course Overview
W 8/27 Course Requirements, Expectations, Processes; brainstorming "how to do things with ghosts"
F 8/29 Analyzing Ghosts; Emily Dickinson, Poem #670 [passed out in Wednesday's classes and available at my office]

M 9/1 NO CLASS: Labor Day.
W 9/3 Henry James, The Turn of the Screw, to Ch. III (1-17 in Dover edition)
F 9/5 James, The Turn of the Screw, Ch. IV-VIII (17-36)

M 9/8 James, The Turn of the Screw, Ch. IX-XIII (37-53)
W 9/10 James, The Turn of the Screw, Ch. XIV-XX (53-73)
F 9/12 James, The Turn of the Screw, Ch. XXI-XXIV (73-87)

M 9/15 Laura Bohannon, "Shakespeare in the Bush"*; Amos Tutuola, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (17-42)
W 9/17 Tutuola, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (43-88)
F 9/19 Tutuola, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (89-111)

M 9/22 Tutuola, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (112-143)
W 9/24 Tutuola, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (144-160)
F 9/26 Tutuola, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (161-174)

M 9/29 Patricia Grace, Potiki, Prologue-Ch. 4 (7-36)
W 10/1 Grace, Potiki, Ch. 5-12 (37-84)
F 10/3 Grace, Potiki, Ch. 13-15 (85-109)

M 10/6 Grace, Potiki, Ch. 16-24 (110-155)
W 10/8 Grace, Potiki, Ch. 25-29 (156-185)
F 10/10 NO CLASS: FALL BREAK

M 10/13 Mahasweta Devi, "The Children"*
W 10/15 Bharati Mukherjee, "The Management of Grief"*
Th 10/16 CRITICAL ESSAY due in ANGEL drop box by 11:30 pm
F 10/17 Robert Olen Butler, "A Ghost Story"*

M 10/20 Kyoka Izumi, "The Holy Man of Mount Koya," Japanese Gothic Tales (21-72)
W 10/22 Izumi, "One Day in Spring," Japanese Gothic Tales (73-140)
F 10/24 Izumi, "One Day in Spring," Japanese Gothic Tales (73-140)

M 10/27 Lafcadio Hearn, "Of Ghosts and Goblins"*
W 10/29 Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano, Sandman: The Dream Hunters
F 10/31 Gaiman and Amano, Sandman: The Dream Hunters

M 11/3 Maxine Hong Kingston, "No Name Woman," The Woman Warrior (1-16)
W 11/5 Kingston, "White Tigers," The Woman Warrior (17-53)
F 11/7 "The Ballad of Mulan" (several versions)*

M 11/10 Kingston, "Shaman," The Woman Warrior (54-109)
W 11/12 Pu Songling, "Ghost-Girl Xiaoxie"*;
F 11/14 Yuan Mei, "Butterfingered Scholar Wu"*

M 11/17 Kingston, "At the Western Palace," The Woman Warrior (110-160)
W 11/19 "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe," The Woman Warrior (161-182)
Th 11/20 PROPOSAL for FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT due on ANGEL discussion board by 11:30 pm [consider turning it in much earlier in the semester, however]
F 11/21 "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe," The Woman Warrior (182-209)

M 11/24-F 11/28 NO CLASSES: THANKSGIVING BREAK

M 12/1 Nora Okja Keller, Comfort Woman, Ch. 1-4 (1-41)
W 12/3 Keller, Comfort Woman, Ch. 5-8 (42-89)
F 12/5 Keller, Comfort Woman, Ch. 9-11 (90-120)

M 12/8 Keller, Comfort Woman, Ch. 12-15 (121-173)
W 12/10 Keller, Comfort Woman, Ch. 16-18 (174-213)
F 12/12 Wrapping Up

F 12/19 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" (Undergraduate 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" (Undergraduate Catalog 2007-2009, pp. 236-239, see also p. 222) and check with your instructor if you have any questions about it.

5. Cell Phones. Please turn them off before you enter the class. If you forget and your phone rings, I'll be holding it the rest of the class.