Louise Bishop's teaching pages Home page

Paper format instructions | What is an A paper?
subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link
subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link
subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link
subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link
subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link
subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link
subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link
subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link

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 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, a re-imagination of the life of Lord Byron layered with 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, set during 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.

Texts

Texts for the course have been ordered at the Duck Store. Do check for the correct edition.

Requirements

  • Response papers. You'll write three response papers this term of approximately 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 blogs, 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 blog before 2:00 pm on the date due.
  • Graded formal papers. Two essays of approximately 1500 words each. Each essay 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 and/or Tale of Two Cities, is due Monday, February 4. 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 Tuesday, March 19, at 5:15 pm

Opportunities

  • International Poetry Night is Friday, March 8, 7 to 9 pm, Mills International Center (EMU).
  • We have two filmed versions of our texts: Orlando, scheduled for Monday, February 4, at 6:00 pm in 117 Global Scholars Hall, and Copenhagen, on Monday, February 25, at 6:00 pm in 117 Global Scholars Hall.

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 7
Course intro: modern, history, literature

Read Virginia Woolf's father, Leslie Stephen, on English literature in the eighteenth century (on Blackboard) and also "History's habits of the mind" (also on Blackboard)

Wednesday, January 9
Princess of Cleves, Parts 1 and 2, pp. 3-56: "If you judge from appearances. . . " (page 19)

See the Blackboard site for two study guides for Princess

The Blackboard site also had a link to a download site for video

WEEK 2

Monday, January 14
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"

Wednesday, January 16
Article summaries and responses

Princess of Cleves articles: Kaps (pp. 164-78), Kamuf (pp. 206-230), Gregorio (pp. 269-283)

WEEK 3

Monday, January 21
MLK Day -- No class
READ TALE OF TWO CITIES

Wednesday, January 23
Tale of Two Cities, Introduction and the first and second books: "better to be a rational creature and accept your destiny"

WEEK 4

Monday, January 28
Tale of Two Cities, third book: "tis a far, far better thing. . ."

Wednesday, January 30
History: read Appendix III in our text

WEEK 5 Orlando film on Monday, Feb 4, 6 pm, room 117 Global Scholars Hall

Monday, February 4
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 6
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 6

Monday, February 11
Response paper

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

Wednesday, February 13
Article summaries and responses

Orlando articles: Smith on missing goods, deGay on historiography, Gonzalez on parody of gender

WEEK 7

Monday, February 18

Arcadia
, Act 1: carnal embrace; literature, history, Romanticism, postmodernity

See powerpoint show on Blackboard for opening remarks

Wednesday, February 20
Article summaries and responses
Arcadia: Act 2: the attraction that Newton left out; Dance and time, Playing with time, Chaos theory, and Science on the stage

WEEK 8
Copenhagen film on Monday, Feb 25, 6 pm, room 117 Global Scholars Hall

Monday, February 25
Response paper

Copenhagen, Act 1, Skiing and uncertainty

Read Heisenberg's own account in Physics and Beyond, on Blackboard; read the history of quantum from Scientific American (on Blackboard)

Wednesday, February 27
Article summaries and responses
Copenhagen: Act 2
The deaths of thousands,
Uncertainty principle; the Byronic hero; Memory play as history


WEEK 9

Monday, March 4

God of Small Things, pp. 1-89
The Ayemenem house

Political action in Kerala (powerpoint, on Blackboard)

See the study questions on the Blackboard site; also links to other introductory materials

Wednesday, March 6
Second formal paper

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

Read the precis of Said's Orientalism (on Blackboard)

WEEK 10

Monday, March 11
God of Small Things, pp. 178-309
Time


Wednesday, March 12
Article summaries and responses

God of Small Things, pp. 310-321: comfort
Articles: Lost mother, Trauma and temporality, Betrayal and loyalty