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HC 222 -- Literature, history, modernity, Winter '13small logo

Course description We will consider representations of modern history in literature and, to some degree, in the arts more broadly. We will interrogate the words "modern," "history," and "literature" quite closely. We will also consider the generic constraints affecting poetic, prose, and dramatic (stage and screen) representations of historical events. What makes historical representation interesting? Compelling? Accurate? Meaningful? Truthful? Real? Readings: the novel Princess of Cleves (1678) by Madame de Lafayette (originally published anonymously), which re-imagines the court of Henry II of France in the mid-sixteenth century; Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities (1859), his novel based on Carlyle's contemporary The French Revolution; Virginia Woolf's Orlando (1928), providing (among other things) a history of English letters from the reign of Queen Elizabeth to the 1920s; the play Arcadia by Tom Stoppard which re-imagines the life of Lord Byron and also portrays his (fictional) modern biographers; Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen, which re-imagines the meeting between Nils Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in 1940's Denmark; and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, which re-imagines the Naxalite political movement in 1960s Kerala, the most southern state in India, and the only state in the world with a freely-elected Communist government.

Requirements
  • Response papers. You'll write three response papers this term, between 250 and 500 words each. These papers, and the formal papers, will be thematically- as well as textually-oriented. These are formal papers in the sense that spelling, grammar, and thinking count--all papers must be neat, typed, revised, finished, and proofread. At the same time, these are papers in which to try out ideas, to experiment and challenge yourself intellectually. I will read these papers, comment on them, and grade them pass/no pass. A passing paper requires a strong thesis, cogent evidence, and grammatical accuracy (natch). No-pass response papers may be rewritten and handed back to me within a week. Three passing papers will count as a 4.0, two as a 2.0, one paper as a 1.0.
  • Article summary and response. You will read and then, using our class's Blackboard discussion board, summarize and comment on three critical essays. The summary will be the result of collaboration among those treating each article.The first sentence of the summary will be the thesis of the article. The summary should be at least 5 or 6 sentences long (about a paragraph); longer is acceptable. Following the summary, the group will respond to the article in a second paragraph: how did reading the article enrich each group member's understanding of the text? How did it shift the members' ideas about literary criticism or literature? What further questions does the group now have of the text? One group member (the amanuensis) will post the summary on Blackboard. These summary responses will be graded. See the schedule for summary response due dates: summaries are to be posted on the appropriate Blackboard discussion board before 2:00 pm on the date due.
  • Graded formal papers. Two 1250-1500 word essays, each of which will treat a course theme and may use observations originally explored in response (and/or article summary) papers. Paper 1, which will treat The Princess of Cleves, is due Monday, January 30. Paper 2, which can treat any of our other texts, is due Monday, March 5. Note paper due dates: papers must be turned in on the date specified. Plan ahead.
  • Final exam. Cumulative, essay, take-home exam due no later than Thursday, March 22, at 3:00 pm.

Opportunities

  • International Poetry Night is Thursday, February 16, 6 pm, Mills International Center (EMU).
  • We have two filmed versions of our texts: Orlando, scheduled for Tuesday, January 31, at 7:00 pm in 303 Chapman, and Copenhagen, on Tuesday, February 28, at 7:00 pm in 303 Chapman.
  • Beginning Week 7 and concluding at the end of Week 10, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art will host an exhibit of archival photographs and video footage from the Nixon Library to accompany posters and set designs of John Adams' opera Nixon in China. As mentioned above, Nixon in China will be performed at the Hult Center on Friday evening, March 16, along with a matinee performance on Sunday, March 18. Let's plan to see the JSMA show on Sunday, March 4, at 2:00 pm.

Grading

The response papers constitute 15% of your grade; the two formal papers, 25% each; the article summaries, 15%; participation, 5%, and the final exam will constitute 15% of your grade. Please note the University's "grade point value" system effective 9/90, as I will be using this system (unless otherwise noted):

A+ = 4.3

B+ = 3.3

C+ = 2.3

D+ = 1.3

A = 4.0

B = 3.0

C = 2.0

D = 1.0

A- = 3.7

B- = 2.7

C- = 1.7

D- = 0.7

Note that a grade of "C" is, according to academic regulations, "satisfactory," while a "B" is "good." That means that a "B" is better than average, better than satisfactory, better than adequate. The average grade, then, is a "C"; a grade of "B" requires effort and accomplishment.

WEEK 1

Monday, January 9
Course intro: modern, history, literature

Wednesday, January 11
Princess of Cleves, Parts 1 and 2, pp. 3-56: "If you judge from appearances. . . " (page 19)

WEEK 2

Monday, January 16 MLK Day -- No class

Wednesday, January 18 Response paper, Princess of Cleves
Parts 3 and 4, pp. 56-108 -- sexual and other politics
-- and "Editor's afterword," pp. 109-117, on "history"

WEEK 3

Monday, January 23 Article summaries and responses
Princess of Cleves articles: Kaps (pp. 164-78), Kamuf (pp. 206-230), Gregorio (pp. 269-283)

Wednesday, January 25
Tennyson, "Tales of a Wayside Inn," on Blackboard

WEEK 4
Orlando film on Tuesday 7 pm

Monday, January 30 First formal paper
Orlando, chapters 1-2 (pp. 13-118): modernity visits the early modern; biography, literature, and transformation (melancholy, pp 72-77; Sasha, Nick Greene; poetry; biography; p.90: Glawr; p. 98: Time; p. 99: Love, friendship, truth; p.113: “The Oak Tree, A Poem”)

Wednesday, February 1
Orlando, chapters 3 and 4 (pp. 119-226): Truth, candor, honesty, and the 18th century: p. 134, transformation; p. 153, "gipsy women differ very little from gipsy men"; the Archduke; p. 188: clothes; the eighteenth century

WEEK 5

Monday, February 6 Response paper
Orlando, chapters 5 and 6 (pp. 227-329), the miasma of the nineteenth century; the commercial modern (cf p. 295)

Wednesday, February 8 Article summaries and responses
Orlando articles: Smith on missing goods, deGay on historiography, Gonzalez on parody of gender

WEEK 6

Monday, February 13
Arcadia, Act 1: carnal embrace

Wednesday, February 15 Response paper,
Arcadia
, Act 2: the attraction that Newton left out

WEEK 7

Monday, February 20 Article summaries and responses
Arcadia: Dance and time, Playing with time, Chaos theory, and Science on the stage

Wednesday, February 22
Copenhagen, Act 1

Skiing and uncertainty

WEEK 8
Copenhagen film on Tuesday at 7 pm

Monday, February 27 Response paper
Copenhagen, Act 2
The deaths of thousands

Wednesday, February 29 Article summaries and responses
Copenhagen: Uncertainty principle; the Byronic hero; Memory play as history

WEEK 9
Nixon in China show at JSMA Sunday 4/4 2pm tour

Monday, March 5 Second formal paper
God of Small Things, pp. 1-89
The Ayemenem house


Wednesday, March 7
God of Small Things, pp. 90-177 Things can change in a day

WEEK 10

Monday, March 12
God of Small Things, pp. 178-309
Time

Wednesday, March 14 Article summaries and responses
God of Small Things, pp. 310-321: comfort
Articles: Lost mother, Trauma and temporality, Betrayal and loyalty