ENGL 320/344/349 British Short Fiction - Messiah College Personal ...

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2 Lawrence, “Love Among the Haystacks” and “Odor of. Chrysanthemums”. Tues. ... 9 Lawrence, “The Last Straw” and “The Man Who Loved. Islands”. Tues.
ENGL 320/360/344/349 British Short Fiction: Modern to Postmodern Messiah College, Spring 2012, TR 0800-0930 Samuel Smith, Professor of English Boyer 216, x7052, [email protected]

Course Description We will have two primary points of focus in this course: first, to study the development of British fiction from the high modern period (Lawrence, Woolf, Joyce) to the postmodern era (Carter, Barnes, Rushdie), paying special attention to shifts in storytelling technique and representations of human nature and behavior—to determine if there is any qualitative shift in the purpose of fiction, any common answers to the question “what is storytelling for?” Second, we will pay special attention to the genre of short fiction; while short fiction shares many characteristics of the novel, it is markedly different, and not just in its length. Can we identify these differences and determine what particular features make short fiction effective as short fiction? This aspect of the course should interest creative writers as well as students interested in literary criticism. While these provide our primary concerns, we will also hopefully learn much about British culture and history in the twentieth century, and much about what it means to be human in the wake of a century that saw some of the most stupendous changes and events in human history.

Course Objectives 1. To deepen and extend our understanding of the traditions and methods of literary study, especially British short fiction and its trajectory in the twentieth century. 2. To provide us with the opportunity to become engaged with the texts of significant writers—Lawrence, Joyce, Woolf, Carter, Barnes, Rushdie, and others. 3. To foster in you the ability to read with sensitivity and care, and to pay critical attention to your reading responses. 4. To help you understand our cultural heritage, and to understand the extent to which our cultural heritage—especially that reflected in British fiction during the twentieth century—shapes us as both readers and human beings. 5. To encourage you to encounter significant questions of meaning and identity—it would not be unfair to say that much of what we will do is philosophical (often theological at times): literature as philosophy, philosophy as literature. 6. To sum it up: we aim to improve our reading skills, to become aware of what is involved in reading texts, to strengthen our own written expression, to understand ourselves both as individuals and as a culture—in other words, to engage in the process of soul-making and answering the question, what is living for?

Course Texts D.H. Lawrence. Selected Stories. Penguin Classics, 2007. James Joyce. Dubliners. Longman Cultural Edition, 2011. The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf/ Harvest Book, 1989. The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories. Malcolm Bradbury, ed. 1987. Angela Carter. Saints and Strangers. Penguin, 1985. Julian Barnes. A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters. Vintage Books, 1989. Salman Rushdie. East, West. Vintage Books, 1994.

Course Requirements 1. Class attendance and discussion: this is not a lecture course, so your participation is imperative. You are permitted two unexcused absences; any other absences must be cleared with me before the class absence. Your participation will be graded as a plus, nil, or minus on the final semester grade for the course. 2. This will be a contract-graded course. If you wish to earn a C for this course, you must submit a single-page, single-spaced response paper to an assigned story or stories each Tuesday (the quality of this essay must be at least C- to get credit). If you wish to earn a B for this course, you must submit an additional single-page, single-spaced response paper on the following Tuesday which either follows up on your initial response paper or on class discussion of a story or stories from the previous week (the quality of this essay must be at least C+ to get credit). In other words, if you are contracting for B, after our initial week of response papers, you will be writing TWO response papers for each Tuesday class. If you wish to earn an A for this class, you must submit a 15 page, double-spaced research essay whose topic is developed from your response papers or in conversation with me (I must approve the essay topic—you must submit a prospectus for this essay no later than the Thursday after Spring Recess, March 22. This essay will be due on the final exam day, May 3 (the quality of this essay must be at least high B). Note: I reserve the right to +/- this grade based on consistency of quality (for example, students choosing the B option who consistently write A quality papers will receive a B+ for the course).

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT: Any student whose disability falls within ADA guidelines should inform the instructor at the beginning of the semester of any special accommodations or equipment needs necessary to complete the requirements for this course. Students must register documentation with the Office of Disabililty Services (Hoffman 101). If you have questions, call extension 5382. Review Academic Integrity Policy: http://www.messiah.edu/academics/advising_handbook/academic_policies/integrity.pdf

NOTE: Since the course instructor is easily distracted, this class includes a NO LAP-TOP computers or electronic NOTEBOOKS policy, as these are not necessary to the work we are doing in this class. Turn off or to complete silence all cell-phones, smart-phones, iphones, ipods, etc. Consider this class your hour of freedom from the ubiquitous tentacles of electronic media!

Course Schedule (Note: this is a draft and subject to change)

Day Mon.

Date January

Tues.

Assignment 30 31

Classes Begin – 8:00 a.m. Introduction to Course, Short Fiction, and Twentieth-Century Britain

Thurs.

February

2 Lawrence, “Love Among the Haystacks” and “Odor of Chrysanthemums”

Tues.

7 Lawrence, “The Prussian Officer,” “England, My England,” and “The Blind Man”

Thurs.

9 Lawrence, “The Last Straw” and “The Man Who Loved Islands”

Tues.

14 Joyce, Dubliners 2-56

Thurs.

16 Joyce, Dubliners 57-89

Day

Date

Assignment

Tues.

21 Joyce, Dubliners 90-151

Thurs.

23 Joyce, Dubliners 152-92

Tues.

February

Thurs.

March

28 Woolf, 170-210 (Mrs. Dalloway’s Party)

1 Woolf, “Kew Gardens,” “An Unwritten Novel,” and “A Society”

Tues.

6

Thurs.

8 Elizabeth Bowen, “Mysterious Kor” and Kingsley Amis, “My Enemy’s Enemy”

Tues.

13

Thurs.

15

Tues.

20

Woolf, “Moments of Being: Slater’s Pins Have No Points,” Lappin and Lapinova,” “Gypsy, the Mongrel” and “The Symbol”

March 10-18, 2012 Spring Recess No Classes Angus Wilson, “More Friend Than Lodger” and Alan Sillitoe, “The Fishing-boat Picture”

Day

Date

Assignment

Thurs.

22 Doris Lessing, “To Room 19” and Fay Weldon, “Weekend”

Tues.

27 John Fowles, “The Enigma” and story TBD

Thurs.

29 Carter, 7-37

Tues.

Thurs.

April

3 Carter, 39-82

5 Carter, 83-126

April 6-9, 2012 Easter Break Tues.

Classes Resume – 8:00 a.m.

10 Barnes, 1-111

Thurs.

12 Barnes, 113-88

Tues.

17 Barnes, 189-307

Day

Date

Assignment

Thurs.

19

Tues.

24 Rushdie, “East”

Thurs.

26 Rushdie, “West”

Service Day

No Classes

Tues.

May

1 Rushdie, “East, West”

May 2 – Reading Day May 3 – Final Exam at 10.30 a.m.