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LITR
5733: Seminar in American Culture Fall,
1995-96, UHCL
"American
Utopias, Dystopias, and Parallel Worlds"
Bayou 1435 Instructor:
Craig White Office:
1529-4 Bayou
E-mail: WHITE2@CL4.uhcl.edu Caveat:
Data stated and contracts implied in this syllabus may change with minimal
notice in fair hearings at class meetings. Course
Objectives: 1.
To read classic and contemporary utopian
fiction written in the United States of America; to mark sub-genres
of "dystopia" and "parallel world"; to examine texts
as products and representations of American
culture and history. 2.
To isolate literary features of
utopian texts. 3.
To observe manifestations of literature
and literacy in utopian or dystopian
cultures. 4.
To defamiliarize and explore
alternatives to continuing problems
or ideas in American culture: equality; race, class, gender; individual,
family, community, and nation; religion and state; science, technology, and
violence; capitalism as consumerism and humane economies; overpopulation,
economies of scale, and sustainable limits. 5.
To develop the seminar as a microcosm of
or alternative to American culture. Texts: Nathaniel
Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance (1852) Edward
Bellamy, Looking Backward: 2000-1887 (1888) Charlotte
Perkins Gilman, Herland (1915) Ursula
K. LeGuin, The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia (1974) Marge
Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) Margaret
Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985) Leslie
Marmon Silko, Almanac of the Dead (1991) Neal
Stephenson, Snow Crash (1992) Grades: Literature
interprets and promotes signs and values of quality, leading people to speak and
write in broadly constructive, non-reductive ways not limited to numbers.
Students earn grades by reading well, by discussing helpfully, and above
all by writing essays that relate and interpret texts provocatively and
intelligently. Percentages
in the following disposition indicate the assignments' approximate, relative
weight, and are not to be construed mathematically: Take-home
midterm exam;
5-7 pages; due 25 September (30%) Essay
proposal (ungraded,
hand in 30 October) Final
Essay; 12-15
pages; due 4 December (60%) Class
participation, presentation, and attendance
(10%) Only
letter grades are given; pluses
and minuses may appear on component and final grades. GRADED
ASSIGNMENTS Take-home
midterm exam
(due 25 September; length: 5-7 pages typed or printed-out, or equivalent length
in hand-printing). Write a unified,
thesis-driven essay comparing and contrasting Looking Backward, Herland,
and Blithedale Romance as utopian novels.
Construct your own thesis, but some possible considerations might include
the following: *
How successfully
do these texts (or their utopian communites) represent or promote alternative
economies and lifestyles? *
What problems or themes of human or American life do these texts repeatedly deal
with, and how successfully? What
elements of human life can or cannot be controlled? *
One example of a problem that all these novels deal with or represent is that of
labor, especially its division according to class and gender, but you could also
narrow your topic by focusing on other issues mentioned or implied in the course
objectives. Essay
proposal
(to be handed in 30 October):
Length is half a page to a page, handwritten or typed.
This is your opportunity to start thinking, to explore an idea, and to
get a response to your essay topic (see below). You can change your topic at any time simply by handing in
another proposal. Indicate
which text(s) you
are considering as the basis for your paper.
What kind of overall point or
thesis would you like to consider regarding these texts?
In concluding your proposal, ask a
question or questions about the direction you're choosing. Final
Essay
(due 4 December; no late submissions). Length
is approximately 12-15 pages typed or printed-out.
The subject is your choice, but please follow these guidelines. Use
at least two texts in your analysis; at least one text should be from the
course; one text may receive primary attention, with the other(s) serving as
background or comparison; you may combine two or more primary texts or a primary
text with a critical text(s).
The subject should relate to this course in such a way that a member of
this class could appreciate the point that it's making; furthermore, make your
topic and thesis matter to a person living and thinking at our moment in
history--what problem or issue in literature or American culture do these texts
and your essay present, and what can one learn by reading these texts in the way
you suggest? Regarding
critical or secondary sources, I do not have any absolute requirements, but you
should read background sources and critical articles on your subject.
Even if you do not use these articles directly in your essay, doing
secondary reading tends to sharpen your critical vocabulary and raise your
awareness of the issues involved. At
the least, bring in some factual or background material from a source outside
the primary text. Honor
Code:
Plagiarism shouldn't be a problem; confer if you face doubts or
questions. I prefer to look at
troubles in this area first as technical difficulties.
However, straight copying without proper introduction and documentation
looks bad in all respects and may be severely downgraded, even to no credit.
Copying someone else's test leads to heavy losses of credit for the test
and the course in general. Refer to
the UHCL catalogue for further details regarding expectations and potential
penalties. Warning
about Standards:
In reading and grading your writing, I cannot separate your ideas from their
expression. That is, your quality
of thought is determined by the quality of your writing. "It has to happen on the page."
Grades you receive and criticisms I make usually concern writing as much
as content-- literary studies teach critical thinking skills as much or more
than any particular content. This
can be intellectually liberating for you: your writing is read less for
"the right answer" than for an intelligent interpretation of texts,
issues, and contexts.
Advice
on writing: *
Feature your thesis--your overall, climactic point--strongly in your
introduction and in your paragraphs' topic sentences, plus or minus summarizing
sentences at ends of paragraphs. *
Draft more than you need, then condense and rewrite before printing out.
(The more you repeat this process, the more it helps.) *
Best advice for rewriting or revising: move your strongest material up to
the tops of paragraphs or introductory materials.
As far as this proves sensible, this approach forces you to maintain a
high level of quality as you develop, extend, or support these leading points. *
Next best advice in rewriting: unify your rhetoric, especially metaphors and
other figures of speech. Look for
models of this in your critical reading. *
No or few long quotes. Mix your and
their language. Quote the very best
words and match them with yours. *
Consulting your primary text, ask yourself what you remember and why.
Read from scene to scene or page to page.
Compare scenes, pages, and language (shared and differing) from other
texts, or from other voices within the text. *
Consulting secondary texts, look for conclusive material and useful figures of
speech. *
Take chances! Follow your heart! Harken to your muse! Push your ideas as far as
they'll go, then rest, return, and rethink--lift and carry. Rewrite until your risks pay off or become safe. Class
participation My
leadership of the class usually mixes lecture and "Socratic"
discussion; that is, the instructor offers readings and asks questions of the
students. Students' participation
will be judged less on quantity than on appropriateness to the topic under
discussion and the point being pursued. In
borderline grading situations, the quality of a student's classroom
participation can raise or lower the final grade. When
called on to speak, try to make one point per turn. Avoid having a list of remarks on several topics.
Too much at once tends to confuse the response of your classmates or
instructor. Emphasize the most
important point you're making at that given moment. Class
presentations For
purposes of training students and varying class leadership, each student will
prepare and give at least one 5-10 minute presentation.
Students have one of two options, which will be determined by student
choice and scheduling demands. Selection
reader option:
The student selects a passage (or two or three brief, related passages)
from the assigned reading for the class meeting and relates it to one of the
course objectives (or another significant point the course has developed).
In the presentation, which will take place in the first half of the class
meeting, the student will identify the
course objective that is under consideration, locate the passage for the
rest of the class, read the passage aloud, then comment on it.
The student should conclude the formal presentation and commentary by summarizing
the overall point her or his reading intended to make in relation to the
objective and the text.
The student may then invite further comments from other students or the
instructor. Outside
reader:
In this option, the student shares a reading (bring enough photocopies
for the class) of an outside text or plays an electronic text from outside the
course's readings and relates the text to one of the course objectives (or
another significant point the course has developed). examples:
a page or two of a novel, speech, or
document; a lyric poem; a tape or cd; a video--or combine these; or suggest
alternatives. Outside reader
presentations will take place at the end of class (i. e., in the final ten
minutes of each class meeting; in case of two presentations in one night, one
will take place before the break).
The format is much like that of the selection-reader presentation.
The student will hand out the photocopies or set up the electronic text, identify
the course objective that is Class
participation and presentations (continued) under
consideration, read the passage aloud or play the electronic text, then comment
on it. The student should conclude
the formal presentation and commentary by summarizing
the overall point her or his reading intended to make in relation to the
objective and the text.
The student may then invite further comments from other students or the
instructor. Requirements
for student presentation: 1.
Limit five to ten minutes.
After ten minutes, the instructor will stand to signal that students may
leave, though they may stay for informal discussion. 2.
Your presentation should prominently feature an overall point relating to a course objective (or to some other point
the course develops). Announce this
point (or objective) in your introductory remarks and repeat it in your closing
remarks. 3.
By the end of the class prior to your presentation, outside readers should confer with the instructor regarding your
chosen objective text and medium (to provide necessary equipment and avoid
overlap). 4.
Selection readers should call the
instructor by the afternoon of the class meeting to tell him what pages of the
text s/he will be reading and what objective is under consideration. Attendance
policy:
You are permitted one absence without remark or penalty.
On a second absence, your standing in the course and your grade begin
slowly but definitely to deteriorate. Repeated
absences cause a significantly lower grade and even failure, even with medically
excused absences. You're always
welcome to confer and ask help or discuss your standing in the course. Reading
and Presentation Schedule 21
August: introduction; Plato's Republic; Augustine's City of God;
More's Utopia; Genesis; and others. 28
August: Looking Backward (complete) selection
reader: Peggy
Chalastaras outside
reader: Carla
Griffin 4
September: Labor Day 11
September: Herland (complete) selection
reader: Jenny
Vassberg outside
reader: Kathy
Crawford 18
September: Blithedale Romance (through ch. 18, p. 147; change, plus
Emerson, "Historical Notes on New England, pp. 258-65) selection
reader: Prathima
Maramraj outside
reader: Rick
Faulkner 25
September: Blithedale Romance (complete); take-home midterm exam due 2
October: The Dispossessed (through ch. 7, p. 232) selection
reader: Rebecca
Shaddix outside
reader: Margie
Ward 9
October: The Dispossessed (complete); The Handmaid's Tale (through
ch. 5, p. 98) selection
reader: Cathy
Moore outside
reader: Larry
Crouch 16
October: The Handmaid's Tale (complete) selection
reader: Karen
Tatum outside
reader: Lillian
Langston 23
October: Woman on the Edge of Time (through ch. 11, p. 237) selection
reader: Madeleine
Pardo outside
reader: Joanie
Glendenning 30
October: Woman on the Edge of Time (complete) (essay proposal due) selection
reader: Carol
Juneau outside
reader: Kwang
Yeon Cho (Joe) 6
November: Almanac of the Dead (through Part One, to page 253) selection
reader:
R. Annie Kirschke-Cole outside
reader: Amy
Hopson 13
November: Almanac of the Dead (groups of students will be assigned Parts
Two, Three, Four, and Five; all students read Part Six, pp. 707-763. 20
November: Snow Crash (through ch. 31, p. 241) (class meeting may be
shared with FUTR 5131, "Introduction to Future Studies) selection
reader: Suzette
Chapman outside
reader: Amy
Slaney 27
November: Snow Crash (complete) (class meeting may be shared with FUTR
5131, "Introduction to Future Studies) (Readers
for this day may be shifted from 20 November, depending on scheduling.) 4
December: final essays due (Hand in
with SASE with adequate postage if you want me to mail your essay and my remarks
to you.) |