ENG 2060     WORLD LITERATURE AFTER 1660      syllabus                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Dr. Monika Brown

monika.brown@uncp.edu                               UNC Pembroke                          Dial Humanities 110

web  uncp.edu/home/monika                                                                          phone  910-521-6257

                 

    Humanity does not pass through phases as a train through stations:  being alive, it [is] always moving yet

     never leaving anything behind. Whatever we have been, in some sense we still are. –C.S. Lewis, Narnia author

    

    The world is big. . . . Diversity is not an abnormality but the very reality of our planet.  The human world celebrates

    itself in the magnificence of its endless varieties.  Civility is a sensible attribute in this kind of world we have;

    narrowness of heart and mind is not.–-Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist, Bates College Address, 27 May 1996     

 

Course Links

Course Schedule: Readings and Assignments
Course Schedule (online course):  Readings and Assignments

Web Sites: Literature, Arts, Media
Literature Guide:  Interpreting Literature, Art, and Film
Cultural Contexts for World Literature and Humanities

 

Course description, main goals, and philosophy

                   ENG 2060 is "A survey of western and non-western literatures from the 17th through the 20th century

considered within the cultural epochs of their creation, including the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, Modernism, and the
contemporary world.”  We study Western Great Books and modern texts from world cultures.  Rooted in complex cultures,
these texts appeal to many cultures, and inspire new creative works.   

             You are invited into a community that critically reads and interprets literature.  Each text is
transformed by its readers, taking on new meanings as we experience it, talk about it, or adapt it to
other media and situations.  Many interpretations are valid, if based on evidence from the text. 
Your own interpretations-- shaped by who you are, what you have experienced, and what you know–
will be enriched by awareness of contexts and literary terms. 

  As a Humanities class, ENG 2060 cultivates knowledge, skills, and habits of mind for meaningful living and
wise choices.  Literature and arts, through artistic forms, insist that "attention must be paid," in playwright
Arthur Miller's words, to particular individuals and creative works.  Enduring works of art involve us in
experiences, express the complexity and diversity of our world, and interpret and question cultures and values. 
They engage our emotions and our intellects, deepen our self-awareness, connect us with artists and creation,
stimulate our sense of beauty and wonder, and challenge us to think critically, to question, to respect others, to care, and to act.

 

    

texts and supplies  (buy the edition specified; use a ring binder to organize class materials)

    The Norton Anthology of World Literature, 2nd Edition, Part 2, vol. D, E. & F  0-393-92454-8

      *NAWL includes the 2 class novels:  Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary;  Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart

 

assignments and grading for on-Campus class                                                                  

       Unit 1 & 2 Tests on readings & class topics: matching, short answer, short essay                           35%

      Final Exam: Unit 3 test and comprehensive section                                                                      25%     

      Critical Essay: 4-5 page essay using 3-5 sources (models & some sources provided)                          25%

       Class work (quizzes, attendance, participation, group work)                                                          10%

      Discussion Forum Posts (blended class allows shorter class meetings)                                            10%

      Connection Report (extra credit) Legacy, Context, Web Site, Play Performance, etc.                        + 1-3

                                                                                                                                                  100%

     grade values: A 95, A- 91, B+ 88, B 85 etc course average:  A+  97-99  A 92-96   A- 90-91    B+ 87-89 (etc)

 


course outline  see
Course Schedule and Blackboard Course Materials for each unit and assignment

 

   Unit 1    Baroque & Enlightement in Europe (1650-1760): Reason and Social Roles     Drama, Satire  

      Baroque/Neoclassical Drama: Comedy-Moliere, Tartuffe; Tragedy-Racine, Phaedra         

     Enlightenment Satire/Novel: Voltaire, Candide ; World Context: China Story-Stone          Test 1

Unit 2   Romanticism and Realism (1770-1850):  Emotion, Imagination, Realism           Poetry, Novel, Play       
Romantic Poetry:  Blake, Wordsworth; Poetic Drama:  Goethe, Faust                              Critical Essay Draft

    Realist Novel:  Flaubert Madame Bovary  &Tragedy: Hedda Gabler  or Tolstoy story            Test 2  

  Unit 3 Modernism and the Modern World (1890-2000): Cultures &Conflicts (Poems, Fiction, Film; tentative) 

      Europe/Americas:  upheaval  (Yeats, Akhmatova), alienation (Kafka); magic realism             Critical Essay

     Africa: Achebe Things Fall Apart;  Middle East/N.Africa: Camus, Mahfouz;  Women: Devi, Desai, Silko 

                                                   Exam 

 

 

Expectations and Class Procedures

       *Reading a literary text is a form of life experience, with challenges and rewards, like visiting a monument. 
Study guides (like sparknotes) are like guidebooks or postcards: they are valuable for guidance and review but it is
the experience itself that you learn from and remember.   

         In ENG 2060, students engage with great books and course activities, applying critical reading, argument writing,
and discussion strategies from freshman composition.  You also apply knowledge about history, cultures, your academic discipline,
 and literary criticism.  You are expected to learn actively both in and out of class:  to read, write, and research, to talk and
listen. to interpret and connect, to state and defend critical insights and value judgments, to examine your responses, to question and care.

      The course design, textbooks, Literature Guide, guided reading and writing schedules and test study guides provide a
"road map" structure, directions, and models for success.  Unit Schedules include written “mini-lectures” and demonstrations.  
Video and audio clips, images, powerpoints, and web links, some contributed by students, are posted on Blackboard and used in class.     

      Our critical reading strategies include:  interpreting content and insights into experience (characters, actions, settings, themes);
analyzing genres and formal features; relating works to biographical, historical, and cultural contexts; examining effects, responses,
and adaptations; and evaluating quality.  Historical/cultural contexts, literary terms, and critical approaches are integrated
with literary texts.
        

 

Assignments   

Tests and Exams (See Study Guides):  Matching/ID on content, context, and literary terms; 
short answers based on readings and class discussions; short essays.

Critical Essay:  5-6 page guided argument, in process stages, about a novel, novella, or play studied in Unit 2;

   the essay refers to 4-5 critical sources (some provided, others you include) and documents them as works cited.

Online Discussion Posts   Each week designated students contribute short  posts & all students print them out:
answers to study questions, reflections on class, definitions of terms, new ideas not covered in class, connections.

Optional Connection Report (1-2 pts extra credit; NOT in  Gradebook): submit at any time, by e-mail (in Word)
a 2-page report (w/works cited) about something you find & study on your own and can connect to a text we study.
Report on extra readings in our book, a major web site, a film, a campus/local cultural event or performance,
or a concept in your discipline (social work, education, psychology, business...).  Selected reports will be posted.

 

course objectives   Through class assignments, students meet 2000-level literature guidelines and objectives:   

1.1  describe and interpret multiple works of literature that vary in genre and in historical and/or cultural context 

1.2  recognize and refer to features of various literary genres and selected literary and cultural terms

2.1   describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate features of literary texts in several genres, applying appropriate literary and cultural terms

2.2  critically analyze and interpret relations of a literary text with other texts and with historical and cultural contexts

3.1  plan, write, and revise short critical essays about literature with good insights and suitable argument, organization, evidence, and analysis

3.2  write short critical essays about literature that integrate appropriate primary and secondary sources, correct documentation, and
standard written English

4.1 develop habits of mind such as taking responsibility for work, confidence, cooperation, and reflection   

4.2  experience literature as an extension of life experience and appreciate literary study as a means for intellectual, aesthetic,
and personal growth and for fostering creativity and social awareness

 

UNCP Teaching Standard addressed by the course:  Standard 1. The teacher candidate commands essential knowledge and understandings
of the academic discipline(s) from which school subject matter is derived and integrates that knowledge into personally meaningful frameworks.

 

Class Policies for Literature Courses

-Submit in your best work, on time. If a paper or report must be turned in late, ask in advance.  You may submit

  a paper/post up to a week late with ½ grade off; 1-2 weeks late loses a letter grade; after 2 weeks grade is O. 

-Proofread & let others check : errors or unclear writing that interfere with meaning may lower a grade  to D.

-Get help with an assignment-before its due date-from instructor, class members, friends, the writing center.

-You may turn in revision of a graded paper/test section, original attached; new grade averages with original. 

-Observe the Academic Honor Code, whose principles are strongly endorsed by the ETL department : 

   *All tests and papers are integrated with course content, so you must do your own work to receive credit.

   *As in ENG 106, give credit for all notes correctly/MLA form & use “quotation marks” when you copy. 

   *Any plagiarism that is fraud, knowingly presenting another’s work as your own, means F in the course. 

  -ADA Policy: A student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments should quickly notify Disability Support Services
     (Mary Helen Walker, 6270) and the instructor.  All discussions are confidential.