Modern British Literature
Course Guidelines
“‘It is as if loneliness were a hard and absolute condition of existence" (109).
Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim (1900)
the basics / course overview / path
1 / path 2 /
THE
BASICS
English 512: Modern British Literature
thematic touchstone: Between Death and Disillusionment
sections:
section 01 (room 022.218, M/W 6:10-8:00 p.m.)
instructor: Dr. Paul Marchbanks
email: pmarchba@calpoly.edu
office: 805-756-2159 / building 47 (the "maze"), hallway 35,
office A / available
hours
home: 805-593-0192 (9 a.m. to 9 p.m.)
COURSE GOALS
- deepened comfort with discussion and debate
- increased familiarity with research materials and methods
- elaboration of core knowledge concerning literary forms, periods, and figures
- refinement of organizational and rhetorical skills necessary to sustain an extended, written argument
- readiness to think on your feet--to use evidence to defend and attack positions/theses w/ minimal time to prepare
PATH 1: In-Class
Discussion and Exams
Materials (purchase
these editions)
- The Longman
Anthology of British Literature. Volume 2C. Editors: David Damrosch, Kevin
Dettmar, Jennifer Wicke. Third
Edition, 2006. ISBN: 032110580X
- Conrad, Joseph. The
Secret Agent. 1907. New York: Oxford World's Classics, 2004. ISBN: 0192801692
- Samuel Beckett. Murphy. 1938. Grove Press. 1994. ISBN: 0802150373
- McDonagh, Martin. The Pillowman. 2003. Dramatist's Play Service. 2006. ISBN: 0822221004
Assignments
- participation & class
discussion (18%--6 grades of 3% each, awarded at 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 weeks. Grades will be determined by: 1) frequency and quality of participation during class discussion and group activities, 2) apparent familiarity
with Path 1 assigned readings, 3) attendance
- midterm exam
(25%): an in-class essay exam complemented by some short answer questions
PATH 2: Outside
Research and Writing
Materials
- Group 1: Joseph
Conrad
- Almayer's
Folly (1895).
Dover Thrift, 2003. ISBN: 0486426777
- Heart of Darkness (1899). Norton Critical Edition. 2005. ISBN: 0393926362 (or version in Longman Anthology)
- Group 2: Joseph Conrad
- Lord Jim. (1899-1900). Norton Critical Edition. 1996. ISBN: 0393963357
- critical essays
- Group
3: Joseph Conrad
- Nostromo (1904). Penguin, 2001. ISBN: 0141183098
- Group 4: Virginia Woolf
- Night and Day (1919). Oxford World's Classics, 1999. ISBN: 0192837842. (the sometimes incompetent bookstore will instead have the following edition: Penguin, 1992 or 1996. ISBN: 0140185682)
- Group 5: Virginia Woolf
- Jacob's
Room (1922). Norton Critical Edition, 2006. ISBN: 039392632X
- To the Lighthouse (1927). Harvest, 1989. ISBN: 0156907399
- Group 6: James Joyce
- Dubliners (1914): "An Encounter," "The
Boarding House," "A Mother" and "The Dead" (in Longman)
- A
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). Penguin (Viking
Critical Ed.), 1977. ISBN: 0140155031
Assignments
- short
essay responses (12% of grade, 6% each): each student will belong
to a group of 2-3 individuals assigned to a list of weekly Path 2 readings.
Students in a given group will engage their touchstone text(s) and related secondary materials through short essays of 400-500 words. Multiple
prompts will be provided each of the first six weeks, and students
will respond by creating a total of two essays. These compact
essays should be creative, focused, highly structured, and supported
by appropriately detailed evidence. Essay responses are due on Blackboard by 11:59
p.m. the Saturday after an essay prompt has been assigned. Students must complete their first
essay during Wk 1, Wk 2, or Wk 3. A second essay will be completed during Wk 4, Wk 5, or Wk 6. Please turn in essays the day they are due: late essays will lose 1 pt/day. You may not complete a Path 2 short essay the same week your group meets with me (see below), so plan accordingly.
- small
group
office
visits (10%
of grade, 5% each): each student will participate in two half-hour,
small group sessions during my office hours, one during Wks 1-3, a second during Wks 4-6. Each such session will be attended by all members of your Path 2 group. Please go here to
choose a block of time which works, then email me with your selection. A full 5 pts will be
earned by those students who demonstrate intimate familiarity with the Path 2 reading for the week in which they meet with me (complete the reading for the week in question--even if you meet with me early in the week--and bring your text filled with helpful marginalia). You may not meet with me the same week you complete a Path 2 short essay, so plan accordingly.
- term paper (35%): students will construct a 14-15 page argument that engages their Path 2
text(s) and demonstrates relevant research. Presentation of a segment or abridged version of this term paper towards quarter's end will constitute a portion of one's term paper score. Due Friday, 5 December, at midnight.
"Weeping Nude" (1913)
Edvard Munch
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu
