ENGLISH 3 -- Writing About Literature and Society

Cultural Controversy in Contemporary America

Master Syllabus -- Mon/Wed Schedule

[if you need a T-TH schedule, it's here
if you need a M-W-F schedule, it's here]

[plug in your own info as specified between the asterisks, below.
Be sure to delete the asterisks and instructions, including these instructions and the 'p' code that follows them]

*Days, Time, Room Number*
Instructor: *Your Name*
Office: 4th floor Bennett Hall
Hours: *your office hours*
Phone: *your phone number*
Course listserve:*your last name*3@english.upenn.edu
Course home page: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~*your email ID*/eng3.html

Course Description | Schedule

Requirements and Grading | Books, Films, Bulkpack

Useful Resources for Writers

Course Description

This is a course on cultural controversies--controversies over art, film, fiction, music, photography--in contemporary America. We will study some of the texts on which recent controversies have been centered as well as the journalistic and academic commentary on those texts. Our aim will be not just to come to a better understanding of these kinds of cultural outbursts and of the social situations that produce them, but to learn how to write effectively about cultural matters without simply taking sides in simplistic evaluative debates. How does one write a good arts column or editorial, and how does that differ from simply expressing one's personal opinions (e.g. in a diary)? What is the difference between a book or movie review and a critical essay written for an English class or a scholarly journal? What does it mean to write in a "natural" or "authentic" as opposed to an "artificial" or even a "fraudulent" voice? How closely do different forms of writing correspond to different types of audience, and what audience should we think of as properly ours when we write about literature or other arts? These are the kinds of questions that will be taken up, both implicitly and explicitly, in English 3. You will be writing every week for this course, discussing and evaluating each other's writing on a regular basis, and meeting individually with me to discuss your writing. By the end of the semester you should all be much better writers than you are now, able to deal more readily with the various kinds of writing assignments you will be facing at Penn.

Requirements, Policies, and Grading

The requirements for this class fall into three categories: Attendance, Preparation and Participation, and Written Work.

Attendance: This is a discussion/workshop based class and will only succeed if everyone is a fully involved participant. You may miss one class meeting without penalty, but attendance is required at all other class meetings unless you have obtained my permission in advance or can document a medical or family crisis after the event. Students with 1, 2, or 3 unexcused absences will be graded 3, 6, or 9 percentage points lower for the course; students with more than 3 unexcused absences will fail the course.

Preparation and Participation: You should read all of the assigned texts, or view an assigned film, at least once before the corresponding class meeting, and come to class ready to participate in our discussions or workshops. It is alright if you are naturally shy or quiet; good listening and the occasional helpful comment can be a better form of participation than constant chatter. But I expect you all to keep up with assignments and to make yourselves productive participants in whatever way suits you. A third of your final grade will be based on the quality of your preparation and participation.

Written Work:The required written work for this class takes several forms, all of which are important though not all will be evaluated by me.

Listserve Posts -- At each class meeting I will announce a topic or question to be discussed on the listserve prior to the next class meeting. Part of the class will then be responsible for sending email postings of no more than 300 words to the class listserve by 5PM the evening before the next class meeting. These are not meant to be formal or finished essays, of course, but they should be coherent and grammatical; please proofread and edit them before posting to the group. I will not be grading your listserve posts, but I will be archiving them in individual folders, and these will become part of your final (graded) portfolio for the course.
Peer Evaluations -- At times you will be asked to evaluate and comment on another student's work. Your comments should be carefully written in the form of a one- or two-paragraph essay that captures the main strengths and weaknesses of the paper. I may look briefly at these evaluations, but I will not be grading them.
In-Class Writing -- We will be doing some writing in class. This work will not be graded except as it reflects your preparation and participation, as discussed above.
Essays -- The formal essays for this class include an opinion column, a movie review, a parody or pastiche, and several argumentative essays. I will grade these, and I will try to indicate in my comments how the work might be improved. You may then revise the essays once or more (with continued guidance and feedback from me) before submitting them (along with the original) in your final portfolio. Your final grade for an essay will be the average of your grades on the original version and the portfolio version. Note that a revision of the first essay is required; revision of subsequent essays is optional but encouraged.
Portfolio -- At the end of the semester you will submit all the formal written work you did for the course: original essays, interim revisions, and final revisions. I will add to this your listserve postings and review the entire portfolio. You can improve your final grade for the course considerably by working hard on your portfolio, revising your papers to make them as fine as possible by the end of the term. But keep in mind that your original grade on an essay will always be factored in; the portfolio should not be seen as an invitation to do shoddy work throughout the term and then work frantically in the final days or weeks.

Grading: Your final grade will be based on the following percentages: 30% for preparation and participation, 70% for portfolio of written work. Any penalty for missed classes will be deducted from this total.

Policy on Late Papers: You will be penalized for submitting work after the due date unless I have given you an extension in advance or you have a medical excuse. Papers that are submitted at the first class meeting after the due date will be marked down 1/3 grade (3 points). Papers submitted later than that will be marked down 1/3 grade for every subsequent class meeting.

Policy on Plagiarism: The work you submit to this class is expected to be your own. If you submit work that has been copied without attribution from some published or unpublished source, or that has been prepared by someone other than you, or that in any other way misrepresents somebody else's work as your own, you will face severe discipline by the University. For more detailed information, see the College of Arts and Sciences' pages on academic integrity.

Books, Films, Bulkpack

BOOKS have been ordered through the Penn Book Center. You should purchase copies of all the following:

Bolton, Richard. Culture Wars. New Press.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Norton.
Newman, Leslie. Heather Has Two Mommies. Alyson.
Pinney, Thomas. A Short Handbook. Harcourt Brace.
Rushdie, Salman. Satanic Verses. Holt.
Santiago, Danny. Famous All Over Town. NAL/Dutton.

FILMS for English 3 will be shown on ResNet:
- Kids
- Do the Right Thing
Here is a list of all the locations where you can view ResNet movies.
THE COURSE BULKPACK is available from Wharton Reprographics, in the basement of Steinberg-Deitrich Hall.

Resources for Writers

Penn provides a number of useful resources to help you improve your writing. Check these out:

The Writing Center -- tutors, advisers, all kinds of advice ad assistance.
Writers House -- this is where the Writing Center is located. Writers House hosts many events for readers and writers.
Writing Advisers -- information on working with a peer adviser at Writers House.
Writing Program Home Page -- general guide to writing resources at Penn.
Jack Lynch's Grammar and Style Guide -- style advice from Penn's world-famous website designer, Jack Lynch: faster to use and more reliable than most style handbooks.

Schedule

You can take shortcuts to: unit 1, weeks 2-3 (Conrad) | unit 2, weeks 4-6 (Heather, Culture Wars) | unit 3, weeks 7-8 (Kids, Right Thing) | unit 4, weeks 9-10 (Santiago) | unit 5, weeks 11-13 (Rushdie)

Sept 3

We will use this first class to introduce each other and to go over such things as the syllabus, grading and attendance policies, course goals and expectations, email/listserve/web basics, and so forth. The class will be divided into groups; each group will be responsible for posting to the listserve by 5PM the day before one of our weekly class meetings. I will announce the topic for the first listserve postings. We will also devote about 15-20 minutes to in-class writing for introductory and diagnostic purposes. The in-class assigment will be to describe, in about one page, your background in and attitudes toward "culture." What kinds of art, film, literature, or music do you especially like or dislike? What particular background do you have in any of these fields?

Unit 1: Classic Literature and its Discontents -- Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Sept 8

Reading:: Heart of Darkness (all)
Discussion:: Heart of Darkness--first reactions. What makes this a "classic"?; Brief discussion of your in-class writing. How and why to use the handbook.
Writing:: In-class writing will be returned, ungraded, but with recommendations to read certain pages of the Pinney Short Handbook. First essay will be assigned, 2 pages answering the question: Why should English professors assign (or avoid assigning) Heart of Darkness in their classes? These short essays are due on Sept 10, and you should submit them in two copies, one for me and one for peer review.

Sept 10

Reading:: none
Discussion:: Literary study and the function of criticism. Description versus evaluation. Objectivity versus subjectivity. Questions of relevance. Some types of critical argument.
Writing:: Submit two copies of essay #1. You will be paired with another student and will peer-review each other's papers for Sept 15.

Sept 15

Reading:: Achebe, "Image of Africa" and Sarvan, "Racism in Heart of Darkness" (both in the Norton Heart of Darkness); Denby, "Jungle Fever" (bulkpack)
Discussion:: Contemporary attitudes and the literature of the past. Does it matter whether long-dead authors were racist? What do we accomplish by recasting them in this light?; Peer-review workshop.
Writing:: Have your written comments and suggestions ready for the student whose paper you are peer reviewing. Based on the feedback you receive about your own essay, from your peer reviewer and from me (I will be handing back your paper today), you should revise it for Sept 17. Don't just edit the original paper; use what you have learned and discussed in the meantime to produce something new and better.

Sept 17

Reading:: none
Discussion:: Conclusion of discussion about classic literature, criticism, and contemporary social attitudes.; Discussion of writing and revision: lessons learned? problems run into?
Writing:: Revised Essay #1 due. Individual Conferences to discuss your first essay and revision will be scheduled for next week.

Unit 2: Culture, Sexuality, and the Public Sphere: Heather Has Two Mommies, Mapplethorpe, and the NEA debates

Sept 22

Reading:: Heather Has Two Mommies; John Barbarel, "Under 'Rainbow,' a War: When Politics, Morals, and Learning Mix," and other Heather readings (bulkpack).
Discussion:: The Heather controversy; art and family values; art and audience; educational art.
Writing:: Assignment for essay #2 will be presented: 3-4-page editorial or opinion column on culture and school curriculums or on culture and taxpayer rights. These essays are due Oct 6. A draft of your thesis paragraph is due next class. The thesis can be very provisional at this point, but prepare a sufficiently polished paragraph that it will be worth discussing in workshop.

Sept 24

Reading:
Discussion:: Thesis Workshop. Pair off for work on thesis paragraphs. Then open discussion of argument (paragraph level: topic sentences, logical units, evidence and support).
Writing:: Thesis paragraphs for essay #2 due today. Complete essay due next week.

Sept 29

Reading:: Culture Wars: Illustrations (309-328, and esp. 321-328) and Chronology (331-363), D'Amato and Helms statements (28-30); Buchanan (31 and 137-8), Kramer (51 and 259). On Mapplethorpe: Brenson, 68-70), Vorhees (173-75), Krauthammer (183-85).
Discussion:: The rhetoric of arts-bashing and the stakes of art. Why do people care, and what is it that they care about, when they get angry about the arts?
Writing:: Keep working on your second essay.

Oct 1

[Rosh Hashanah begins sundown tonight]

Reading:: Havel (156), Finley (210, and 282-83), Danto (96-7), Guerrilla Girls poster (313) -- all in Culture Wars
Discussion:: Ways of defending culture: the genre of the "defense of art."
Writing:: Keep working on your second essay.

Oct 6

Reading:: Goldstein (288-90) and Will (88-89) in Culture Wars; Pollitt, "Honk if you Like Art" (bulkpack)
Discussion:: Taxes, public vs private, cultural autonomy, social purpose. Attention to argumentative logic, e.g. Will and Pollitt pieces.; Mini-workshop, with students reading aloud the first paragraphs of their finished essays.
Writing:: Essay #2, 3-4-page opinion column, due today.

Unit 3: Suburban Fears, Urban "Realities": Kids, Do the Right Thing, Gangsta Rap

Oct 8

Reading:

Oct 13

FALL BREAK

Oct 15

Reading:: Movie reviews. Look for these in magazines, newspapers, or online, and bring in what you would take to be a model movie review.
Discussion:: Brief continued discussion of Kids and the Kids controversy. Are there important dimensions of the film that get lost in the controversy?; Workshop on movie review as a genre. Be prepared to present your model review, to read parts of it aloud, and to explain why you think it is a good review.
Writing:: No writing this week except listserve posts.

Oct 20

Reading:: View Do the Right Thing at least once. Read Micah Morrison, "The World According to Spike Lee" and any other Right Thing readings in the bulkpack.
Discussion:: Initial reactions to Do the Right Thing. Is this film more/less realistic than Kids? Was it controversial because it is realistic, or because it's not? If there were more visible crack use, gang presence, and so forth, would that make the film less upsetting to conservative white viewers, or more? Does the film advocate black-on-white violence?
Writing:: Essay #3, movie review, due (2 copies: one for me, one for peer review). Individual Conferences to discuss your movie review will be scheduled for next week.

Oct 21

Reading:: None
Discussion:: Conclude discussion of Do the Right Thing; Begin discussion of Rap
Writing:: Essay #3, movie review, due (2 copies; one for me, one for peer review). Individual Conferences to discuss your movie review will be scheduled for next week.

Oct 27

Reading:: Essays on rap: Morgan, "Nigga Ya Hate to Love"; Ice Cube, "Bum Rap"; Gates, "Two Live Crew Decoded"; Harrison, "Lewd Music". Possible in-class or ResNet video viewings, and/or MMETS audio tapes.
Discussion:: Rap, popular music, and misogynistic violence. Are we meant to take gangsta rap seriously, or is it an ironic form? Why is any music of adolescent male rebellion controversial, since its understood function is to be disreputable and irritating to adults?
Writing:: None

Oct 29

Reading:: Lanham, Style: An Anti-textbook (in bulkpack); Jack Lynch's Grammar and Style Guide (link)
Discussion:: Workshop on style. Students should bring in a one-page style commentary (enough copies for the whole class), consisting of: a short passage from the movie review they peer-reviewed; a sentence or two saying why this passage is flawed stylistically; and their own improved version of the passage.
Writing:: One-page style commentary, as described above. Return the essay (movie review) you peer reviewed with your summary comments and suggestions for revision.

Unit 4: Culture and the Scandal of Inauthenticity: Danny Santiago's Famous All Over Town

Nov 3

Reading:: Santiago, Famous All Over Town, chaps 1-12
Discussion:: Initial reactions to Famous. Ethnic literature and "voice." Parody and pastiche
Writing:: Assignment for Nov 5 workshop on voice and imitation: write a 1-2-page account of a recent day (or part of a day) in your life, imitating the voice and manner of Chato. The class will be divided into two groups, a group that writes these as parody and a group that writes them as pastiche. These will be eer-reviewed and some will be read aloud to the class, but they will not be evaluated by me.

Nov 5

Reading:: Continue reading Famous; read Dunne, "The Secret of Danny Santiago" (bulkpack)
Discussion:: Workshop on voice and imitation. Pair off for peer review of imitations, then general discussion of voice, parody vs. pastiche, mockery vs. flattery, etc. A few imitations will be read aloud.
Writing:: 1-2 page imitations due today. Assignment will be presented for essay #4, due Nov 12: 3-4 page essay on race and authenticity in contemporary art, centering on Do the Right Thing, rap music, or Famous All Over Town.

Nov 10

Reading:: Finish reading Famous
Discussion:: Further discussion of creativity, imitation, authenticity and their relation to race or ethnicity.; 20-minute discussin of plagiarism in both its academic and non-academiforms.
Writing:: None

Nov 12

Reading:: None
Discussion:: Conclude discussion of authenticity and scandals of inauthenticity in contemporary culture. Final remarks on Famous All Over Town and its value as literature.
Writing:: Essay # 4 on race and authenticity is due today.

Unit 5: Culture and the Sacred: Satanic Verses for American Readers

Nov 17

Reading:: Satanic Verses parts I and II
Discussion:: First reactions to Satanic Verses: is it "unreadably difficult"? Discussion of Rushdie's style, voice, implicit audience.
Writing:: We will discuss the final essay assignment, schedule of composition, due date, and date for submission of final portfolios. You should also schedule your final Individual Conference at this time.

Nov 19

Reading:: Satanic Verses part III
Discussion:: Further discussion of the novel. Form: the relation of dream sections to London sections. More on voice and tone. If Verses is satire, what are the objects of that satire?
Writing:

Nov 24

Reading:: Satanic Verses parts IV and V (if possible, finish the novel before Thanksgiving); bulkpack readings on the Rushdie Affair
Discussion:: Art and the sacred. Is art a secular sphere in America today? Has art become a kind of religion in itself? Why is the Rushdie affair even an issue in American culture, given how many writers are being persecuted for their writing all over the world? Is the controversy over Serrano's Piss Christ at all analogous to the Rushdie affair?
Writing:: To be announced. Some draft portion of the final essay is likely to be due today.

Nov 26

THANKSGIVING
[Keep reading Verses. If enough of us
are going to be around today, we will meet and continue
our discussion from Monday.]

Dec 1

Reading:: Finish Reading Satanic Verses
Discussion:: Return to our starting point: cultural controversy and the function of criticism. If the Rushdie Affair has nothing to do with interpretation or criticism of Satanic Verses, and almost none of the participants in this controversy have ever read the novel, then what is the function of people like us, who have read it carefully and discussed it in detail? What is the critic's role in moments of violent controversy?
Writing:: To be announced

Dec 3

Reading:: None
Discussion:: Final, open discussion of culture and the nature of cultural controversies in contemporary America.
Writing:: To be announced

Dec 8

Reading:: None
Discussion:: Review of course, its strengths and weaknesses, especially as regards improvement of your writing. You will fill out evaluation forms. Wild, exuberant party (well, maybe some cookies and soda).
Writing:: To be announced. Final papers probably due no later than today.

Final Portfolios Will Probably Be Due
No Later Than Dec 12