Dr. Kristi Siegel
English Department
Mount Mary College
2900 North Menomonee River Parkway
Milwaukee, WI  53222
(414) 258-4810, #461
siegelkr@mtmary.edu
ENG 203sb - Introduction to Literature
Spring 2002
M & W: 2:30 - 4:20 pm, NDH
Office: Fidelis 223, ext. 461
Office Hours: M & W:  1:30-2:20 and by appointment
When the Day of Judgment dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards- their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble- the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy when he sees us coming with our books under our arms, "Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading."      -Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
Required texts:

Beaty, Jerome, et al. The Norton Introduction to Literature, 8th ed. New York:
       Norton, 2001.
Tsukiyama, Gail. Women of the Silk.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983.

Course Objectives:
~to understand basic literary terms and concepts
~to appreciate different literary genres (forms)
~to be exposed to writers of diverse ethnicity and culture
~to learn to write and speak articulately about literature
~to contemplate how literature relates to one's life, thoughts, and values
~to appreciate the artistry of language
Course Requirements:

Attendance: Students are expected to be in class. Four absences without serious cause may result in an "F" for the course.

Participation: Your participation in class discussion will count for 15% of your grade, so be prepared to talk. We will respect and consider all viewpoints in this class; your ideas are valued. If you find it difficult to make in-class comments, prepare questions to ask instead. Usually what confuses you, also confuses others in the class.

Assignments:
2 exams (the midterm exam will include a focus on poetry and the short story; the final exam will include a focus on drama)
1 essay (on a directed topic)
1 oral presentation
(Detailed explanations and assignment sheets will be provided on the assignments.)
Jan 23

  • Introduction to course; introduction to each other.  Pictures and data sheets.

  • Impromptu essay.

Thematic Unit I 
Literature and Gender  "He Said, She Said"
  • Emphasis: The Short Story
Jan 28

  • Discussion:  What is literature?  What are the qualities of a classic?

  • Handout: Composite of a Romance Tip Sheet

  • Handout: "A Secret Sorrow"  Karen VanDerZee

  • Handout: "A Sorrowful Woman"  Gail Godwin

Jan 30

  • Discussion of handout.  Other types of formula fiction.

  • Introduction to the short story and its terminology (website)

  • Video excerpts.  Discussion on gender.

Feb 4
  • "Babylon Revisited"   F. Scott Fitzgerald (website)
Feb 6

  • "She Unnames Them"  Ursula K. Le Guin (website)

  • "The Story of an Hour"   Kate Chopin (website)

  • Video

Feb 11
  • "The Lady with the Pet Dog"  Anton Chekhov (website)
Feb 13
  • "A Rose for Emily"   William Faulkner (website)
Feb 18

  • "Wedding-Ring"  Denise Levertov

  • "Married Love"  Liz Rosenberg

  • "Dover Beach"  Matthew Arnold

  • "Dover Bitch"  Anthony Hecht

Feb 20
  • "The Canonization"  John Donne
  • "Let me not to the marriage of true minds"  William Shakespeare
  • "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love" Christopher Marlowe
  • "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd"  Sir Walter Raleigh
  • "To His Coy Mistress"  Andrew Marvell
Feb 25

  • Trifles   Susan Glaspell

  • Video

Feb 27
  • A Doll House  Henrik Ibsen
 
  • A Doll House (cont.)   video
Thematic Unit II  
Literature and Diversity: "To see oursels as others see us!"
  • Emphasis: Poetry
Mar 6
  • "The Management of Grief"   Bharati Mukherjee
  • "Interpreter of Maladies"  Jhumpa Lahiri
Mar 11

  • "Once Upon a Time"  Nadine Gordimer (handout)

  • "Flowering Judas"  Katherine Anne Porter

Mar 13

  • "Everything that Rises Must Converge"  Flannery O?Connor

  • Video

Mar 18
  • "To A Louse"  Robert Burns
  • "The Mirror"  Sylvia Plath
  • "Eve Names the Animals"  Susan Donnelly
  • "Marks"  Linda Pastan
  • "Sonrisas"  Pat Mora
Mar 20
  • "The White House"  Claude McKay
  • "The Harlem Dancer"  Claude McKay
  • "Sympathy"  Paul Laurence Dunbar
  • "Theme for English B"  Langston Hughes
Mar 25
  • Women of the Silk  Gail Tsukiyama
Apr 8
  • Women of the Silk (cont.)
Apr 10
  • Women of the Silk (cont.)
Apr 15
  • Midterm Exam
Thematic Unit III 
Literature and the Nature of Evil  " ... Zero at the Bone"

  • Emphasis: Drama

Apr 17

  • "Young Goodman Brown"   Nathaniel Hawthorne (website)

  • "The Rocking Horse Winner"  D. H. Lawrence (website)

  • Video

Apr 22

  • "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"  Flannery O'Connor (website)

  • "The Lottery" (handout)   Shirley Jackson (website)

  • Video

Apr 24
  • "Auto Wreck"  Karl Shapiro
  • "Musee des Beaux Arts"  W. H. Auden
  • "Welcome to Hiroshima"  Mary Jo Salter
  • "Dulce et Decorum Est"  Winfred Owen
Apr 29

  • "My Last Duchess"   Robert Browning

  • "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass"   Emily Dickinson

  • "Punishment"  Seamus Heaney 

  • "Design"  Robert Frost

May 1

  • Drama and terminology

  • The Children's Hour   Lillian Hellman
May 6
  • The Children's Hour   Lillian Hellman (cont.)
  • Video
May 8

  • Short-answer exam

  • Essay take-home exam distributed

  • Course evaluations
Exam week