Fall Semester 2005
Juda Bennett
Office: Bliss 239
Office Hours: M & R, 9:50-11:20
Phone: 771-2380
http://socs.tcnj.edu

LIT 288-01 Contemporary Literature

(T & F at 10-11:20 in Bliss 148)

Required Texts:

Toni Morrison, Beloved
Jonathon Safran Foer, Everything Is Illuminated 
Michael Cunningham, Specimen Days
Paul Auster, City of Glass: The Graphic Novel
Anne Carson, The Autobiography of Red 
Ai, Vice and Selected Poems
Alice Nutley, Descent of Alette 
Sherman Alexie, The Business of Fancydancing
Sudden Fiction International

Aug 30 (T): Introduction

Sep 2 (F): The Business of Fancydancing (13-36); SOCS (“The New Criticism and Formalist Analysis”—Hall and “New Criticism”—Bressler)

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Sep 6 (T): Memorial Day

Sep 9 (F): Specimen Days (1-93)

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Sep 13 (T): The Business of Fancydancing (39-84); SOCS (“Deconstruction”—Bressler)

Sep 16 (F): Vice; SOCS (“Deconstruction and Post-Structuralist Analysis—Hall)

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Sep 20 (T): Paper #1; Sudden Fiction International (Colette, Malamud, Beattie)

Sep 23 (F): Sudden Fiction International (Dinesen, Brautigan, Kincaid, Atwood)

Sep 27 (T): Autobiography of Red (3-75)

Sep 30 (T): Autobiography of Red (76-149)

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Oct 4 (T): Vice; SOCS (“Cultural Poetics or New Historicism”—Hall and “The New Historicism and Pluralistic Cultural Analysis”—Hall)

Oct 7 (F): Everything Is Illuminated (1-99)
 
Oct 11 (T): Everything Is Illuminated (100-180)

Oct 14 (F): Everything Is Illuminated (181-276)

Oct 18 (T): Essay #1; Sudden Fiction International (Bernard, Mrozek, Barthelme)

Oct 21 (F): Poetry on SOCS

Oct 25 (T): Fall Break

Oct 28 (F): Descent of Alette (1-82)

Nov 1(T): Descent of Alette (85-148)

Nov 4(F): City of Glass

Nov 8 (T): Essay #2

Nov 11(F): Beloved (1-85)

Nov 15 (T): Beloved (86-165)

Nov 18 (F): Beloved (169-275)

Nov 22 (T): Sudden Fiction stories: “On Hope,” “The Other Wife,” “Disappearing,” “All at One Point,” and The Model”

Nov 25, (F): Thanksgiving Holiday

 
Nov 29 (T): Specimen Days  (97-196)
Dec 2 (F): Specimen Days (199-308); PAPER #3 (This Paper Must Analyze or Explicate Specimen Days; you may examine one section (novella) or work across the novellas to examine some focused aspect of the entire novel.)
 
Dec 6 (T): Read the Thomas Lux poems found at poemhunter.com: http://www.poemhunter.com/thomas-lux/poet-8306/
 

Dec 9 (F): Last Class

Paper #1 (3-5 pages): Explicate a short text or part of a text. 20% of final grade

Quizzes and Class Participation: There will be pop quizzes throughout the semester. Sometimes these quizzes will merely test your reading comprehension or your familiarity with terms and issues discussed in previous classes and other times the questions will focus on more analytical concerns. Although I will not grade each individual quiz, I will discuss the possible answers during class and I will gather all of your quizzes and evaluate them alongside the record of your class participation. In addition to the quizzes, the class participation portion of your grade will be determined based on your engagement in the class. While the pop quizzes provide a tangible record of your engagement with the issues, vocabulary, and concepts, your daily participation is of equal importance. In missing three or more classes, you are in danger of receiving zero out of twenty points toward the final grade. 20% of final grade

Essays 2, 3, and 4 (5-9 pages for each paper): There are three opportunities to write two papers that will each count 30% of final grade; you may choose to write all three papers and I will ignore the lowest and count the two highest grades. If these three essays are stronger than the first shorter paper (Paper #1) than I will even replace Paper #1 with a subsequent effort, though this shorter paper will continue to count as 20% of your grade.

Policy on Late Essays: Essays received after the due date and even after the class time will be penalized by five points for the first 24 hours and ten points for the first week. Essays will not be accepted any later than a week after the due date. Remember, you have four opportunities to make three deadlines (if we consider Paper #1 and Essays 1-3 together), and so I will not be particularly interested in hearing excuses for being late.

Excuses: Although I believe the system above is fair for all students, occasionally students experience real hardship, loss, or illness. Do not hesitate to inform me of any special situations, but I ask that you provide documentation when asking for an exception from the rules above.

ESSAY FORMAT:

Be professional!  Paper submissions (versus SOCS drop-box submissions) must use dark ink printed on standard-sized white paper (8.5”x11”). Do not play with margins, colored fonts, or other distracting features.  There should be 1” margins all around and the text should be justified to the left and unjustified to the right.  You should use a font that results in approximately 300 words per page. (Times New Roman 12 pt. yields about 300 words per page while Courier 12 pt. yields approximately 200 words per page). 

You may use a cover page.  If you do not, you should place the following information in the upper, left side of the first page:  Juda Bennett, Course Title and Number, Your Name, Date, Word Count.  If you choose to use a cover page, you should place this same information somewhere on that page and not to be duplicated on the first page of the essay. 

Every essay must have a title.  Do not vary the font, color, or pitch of the text or title.  Keep copies of your work! Failure to do any of the above may result in a lower grade.

ESSAY GRADE:

Papers will receive the following points for:

a) Technical Form (10 points):  Students should follow the guidelines for “Essay Format” as stated above.  They should also attend to proper form when quoting or providing citations.  

(b) Writing Style (15 points): The successful paper will use proper grammar and spelling, but will also engage the reader by varying sentence length and structure, attending to diction and word choice, and employing active verbs and rich language.  Redundancies and undeveloped passages are both problems of organization and writing style.

(c) Organization (15 points): Essays must feel cohesive and planned, or the reader will distrust the work and thought that went into the paper.  Develop your ideas, and provide guide-posts to that development.  Organization is not simply a question of transitions.  Consider writing an outline.  Consider writing the introduction after you have written the rest of the paper.