to the schedule of readings and assignments
prerequisites: ENGL 1301 and 1302
required texts: Wilson, Fences (Samuel French) ISBN : 9780573619052; Hammett, Maltese Falcon (Random House) ISBN : 9780679722649; Miller, Batman: Dark Knight Returns (DC Comics) ISBN : 9781563893421; Seuss, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (Random House) ISBN : 9780394800134; Burnett, A Little Princess (Digireads) ISBN: 9781420925296; Curtiz, Casablanca (DVD) ISBN: 9781419895180
grading: There will be five in-class essays, as listed in the schedule below. Essays One and Two ask you to connect two of the texts we've studied; Essays Three and Four ask you to draw connections among three texts. Essay Five, offered during the Final Exam period, asks you to tell us everything you've learned this semester. Essays One through Four are open-book, open-note, but no electronics are allowed. Essay Five is closed-book, no electronics.
The essays will be graded on the standard 100-point scale. Essays One and Two each count 15% of your total grade; Essays Three and Four each count 20% of your total grade; Essay Five counts 30% of your total grade. An overall average of 90 or greater is an A for the semester; 80 or greater but less than 90 is a B; 70 or greater but less than 80 is a C; 60 or greater but less than 70 is a D; less than 60 is an F. There is no provision for make-up essays. You must be in class on the day of an essay to earn a grade.
academic dishonesty policy: It is the philosophy of The University of Texas at Arlington that academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University. "Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts." [Regents' Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter Vi, Section 3, Subsection 3.2, Subdivision 3.22]
disability policy: The University of Texas at Arlington is on record as being committed to both the spirit and letter of federal equal opportunity legislation; reference Public Law 93112—The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. With the passage of new federal legislation entitled Americans with Disabilities Act – (ADA), pursuant to section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, there is renewed focus on providing this population with the same opportunities enjoyed by all citizens. As a faculty member, I am required by law to provide "reasonable accommodation" to students with disabilities, so as not to discriminate on the basis of that disability. Student responsibility primarily rests with informing faculty at the beginning of the semester and in providing authorized documentation through designated administrative channels.
schedule of assignments and readings:
19 Jan: Syllabus, introductions, policies
21 Jan: Overview
24 Jan: Edgar Allan Poe, "The Purloined Letter"
26 Jan: Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Wakefield"
28 Jan: Walt Whitman, "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"
31 Jan: Herman Melville, "The Whiteness of the Whale" (from Moby-Dick)
2 Feb: ICE DAY
4 Feb: ICE DAY
7 Feb: Emily Dickinson, "There came a Day at Summer's Full", "Alone and in a Circumstance", "Delight is as the Flight", "After great pain, a formal feeling comes", "I had not minded Walls", "There is a June when Corn is cut", "I heard a Fly buzz when I died", "A narrow fellow in the grass"
9 Feb: ICE DAY
11 Feb: FIRST MIDTERM ESSAY
14 Feb: Lew Wallace, the chariot race (Book Fifth, chs. 13 & 14, from Ben-Hur; search for "vomitoria")
16 Feb: Mark Twain, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
18 Feb: Henry James, "Broken Wings"
21 Feb: introduction to children's literature
23 Feb: Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess
25 Feb: Robert Frost, "Desert Places", "Never Again Would Birds' Song Be The Same", "Gathering Leaves", "The Oven Bird", "The Need of Being Versed in Country Things", "Two Tramps in Mud Time", "Acquainted with the Night"
28 Feb: Edith Wharton, "Souls Belated"
2 March: Langston Hughes, "Theme for English B", "I, Too, Sing America", "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", "The Weary Blues", "Morning After", "Madam's Past History", "The Ballad of the Landlord"
4 March: SECOND MIDTERM ESSAY
7 March: Ernest Hemingway, "The Killers"
9 March: William Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily"
11 March: F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Babylon Revisited"
14, 16, 18 March: SPRING BREAK
21 March: Susan Glaspell, "A Jury of Her Peers"
23 March: introduction to detective fiction
25 March: Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon
28 March: introduction to film
30 March: Casablanca
1 Apr: THIRD MIDTERM ESSAY
4 Apr: Ray Bradbury, "The Town Where No One Got Off" [.pdf on Blackboard] (Mike Brittain lectures)
6 Apr: Vladimir Nabokov, "That in Aleppo Once..."
8 Apr: Cole Porter, "At Long Last Love", "Begin the Beguine", "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye", "I'm Always True to You in My Fashion", "It's All Right with Me", "I've Got You under My Skin", "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)", "Night and Day", "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To", "You're the Top"
11 April: introduction to theater
13 April: August Wilson, Fences
15 April: introduction to picture books
18 April: Dr Seuss, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
20 April: FOURTH MIDTERM ESSAY
22 April: Elizabeth Bishop, "One Art", "Over 2,000 Illustrations and a Complete Concordance", "The Moose", "In the Waiting Room"
25 April: Tim O'Brien, from The Things They Carried [.pdf on Blackboard] (Bethany Shaffer lectures)
27 April: Hisaye Yamamoto, "The Legend of Miss Sasagawara" [.pdf on Blackboard]
29 April: Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
2, 4, 6 May: Final Review Week (no new material; review as needed)
9 May: FINAL ESSAY (0800-1030)