(Erika Lin, English 6.302 Syllabus, Spring 1998, U. of Pennsylvania)

ENGLISH 6, Section 302--
Writing About Fiction: Identity and Literature


Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 - 10:30 AM
Room 327 Bennett Hall
Instructor: Erika Lin
Email: elin@english.upenn.edu
Office: 4th floor Bennett Hall, cubicle A5
Office Hours: Wed. 1:45 - 2:45 PM, Thurs. 10:30 - 11:30 AM, & by
appointment
Course listserv: lin6@english.upenn.edu
Course home page: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~elin/eng6.html

Last updated: 4/1/98


Course Description

Who are we?  What is a "self"?  How can we tell who someone else "really"
is?  In this course we will be thinking about how identity has been
constructed in different historical periods, including our own.  In
addition, we will consider the ways in which genre interacts with
identity.  How does seeing a play performed, instead of reading it, change
the way we think about identity?  What is an autobiography as opposed to a
memoir?  How do writers create or fail to create themselves in their
writing?  In addition to these questions, we will think about how race,
gender, class, and sexuality relate to issue of identity.  We will explore
these concerns in class discussion and written assignments but also in
relation to  your own writing.  What does it mean for you to be a writer?
How does it change, affect, or relate to who you are?


Requirements, Policies, and Grading

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.  Attendence is also
required at five individual conferences with the instructor scheduled
outside of regular class times.  Individual conferences will be 15 minutes
each (except for the first initial meeting of 10 minutes).  To compensate
for this extra time, a couple of the regular class sessions will be
cancelled.  Students with 1 unexcused absence will be graded a third of a
grade lower for the course; students with 2 unexcused absences will be
graded two-thirds of a grade lower for the course; students with 3
unexcused absences will be graded a full grade lower for the course;
students with more than 3 unexcused absences will fail the course.
Frequent tardiness will also affect your grade.

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.  Feel free to experiment with ideas, to ask questions, and to
challenge your peerse.  Commit yourself to speaking regularly in class,
but bear in mind that the occasional helpful comment can be better than
constant empty chatter.  If you find it difficult to speak up in class,
consider jotting down questions and ideas as you read and tehn referring
to them in class.  You may find that organizing your thoughts ahead of
time gives you the confidence to raise your hand and get into the game.
Responsive and thoughtful listserv postings are an alternate method for
making yourself an active member of this class.  A third of your final
grade will be based on the quality of your preparation and participation.

Written Work:  Since this is primarily a writing class, you will be
writing often--at least one assignment each week.  The required written
work for this class takes several forms, all of which are important
(though only some will be given a letter grade):

Listserv Posts -- Listservs are a way for us to continue discussion
outside of our limited class time.  Therefore, frequent thoughtful and
responsive listservs are an essential element in class participation.  I
expect you to participate in these electronic discussions regularly by
responding to your classmatesÕ postings, questioning or adding to what
they wrote, or bringing up other examples or issues you think relavent.
Our course listserv is also a forum for you to bring up issues which we
didnÕt discuss in class but which you feel are important.  Everyone is
required to read all of the listserv postings and to think about them and
be ready to respond to them via email or in class.  You should each post
something to the listserv at least once a week.  Listserv postings will be
considered part of your participation grade, but they will also be
archived in individual email folders and included in your final portfolio
grade.

Peer Reviews -- At times you will be asked to evaluate and comment on
another student's work.  Your comments should be carefully written and
thoughtful.  I will not be grading these individually, but your grade will
be affected if you donÕt do them or have clearly not put in the effort.

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 writing for this class will fall into several
different genres.  In addition to several argumentative essays, we may try
our hand at opinion columns, parodies, letters, personal essays, and other
forms of ÒcreativeÓ writing.  Some of these I will grade, some will be
graded only insofar as they are included in your final portfolio.  Since
this class will focus much on rewriting, I will try to indicate in my
comments how I think 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.

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  listserv postings, in-class
writing, and other ungraded writing assignments and review the entire
portfolio.  You can improve your final grade for the course considerably
by working hard on your portfolio and by 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: One-third of your final grade will be based on preparation and
participation, and two-thirds will be based on your 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
documentable medical excuse or family crisis.  Extensions will only be
considered if requested at least one class meeting in advance of the due
date.  Papers that are submitted at the first class meeting after the due
date will be marked down one-third grade.  Papers submitted later than
that will be marked down one-third 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.  Work that is your own work but has been submitted to more
than one class for credit is also considered plagiarism unless you have
obtained the permission of all course instructors involved prior to
handing in the work.  For more detailed information, see the College of
Arts and Sciences' pages on academic integrity at
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/college/rules/academic_integrity.html.


Books, Films

Books: Books have been ordered through House of Our Own Bookstore at 3920
Spruce Street.  It is important that we all use the same editions of these
texts.  Do not purchase these texts through the Penn Bookstore!  If you
already have a copy of one of these texts, please check with me before
reading from that edition.  The following are the required texts for this
class:

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (selections)
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
Robert Browning, selected poetry (xeroxes)
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Virginia Woolf, Orlando
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
Audre Lorde, Zami

Films:  ÒThe Wedding BanquetÓ will be shown on ResNet in early to mid
April (see http://www.upenn.edu/video for more information).  The film
will be shown more than once, but it may come on at strange times!  Plan
ahead to make sure youÕll be able to view the film at least once before
our scheduled class discussions.  Locations where you can view ResNet
movies are available on the  Web at
http://www.upenn.edu/video/html_g/locations.html.


Resources for Writers

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

The Writing Center
(http://www.english.upenn.edu/Writing/WATU/center.html) -- all kinds of
writing help and advice provided by grad students from various
departments, located on the 4th floor of Bennett Hall.  Make an
appointment by calling 898-8525.

Writing Advisors
(http://www.english.upenn.edu/Writing/WATU/advisors.html) -- peer advising
in-person at the Writers House, Hill House, and McClelland Hall, or online
at writeme@english.upenn.edu.

Writing Program Home Page
(http://www.english.upenn.edu/Writing) -- general guide to writing
resources at Penn.

Jack Lynch's Grammar and Style Guide
(http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/Grammar) -- style advice from Penn's
world-famous website designer, Jack Lynch: faster to use and more reliable
than most style handbooks.

Writers House
(http://www.english.upenn.edu/~wh) -- Writers House hosts many fun events
for readers and writers.  For more info, check out their website or call
573-WRIT.




SCHEDULE

Initial meetings (10 mins. each) will be scheduled for the week of 1/13 -
1/15.

Tu 1/13	Introduction to the course


Unit 1 -- Historical Difference: Language and Identity

Th 1/15	Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (Preface and General Prologue)

Tu 1/20	Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (Preface and General Prologue),
contÕd
	Middle English reading practice (9:00 - 9:40 AM: Group 1; 9:40 -
10:20 AM: Group 2)

Th 1/22	Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales  (Wife of BathÕs Prologue and Tale)
	Middle English reading practice, contÕd (9:00 - 9:40 AM: Group 3)
	9:40 AM - 10:20 AM: Entire class meets

	WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1 due: 1) 20-minute freewriting 2) 1.5-2 pages
typed. double-spaced: write a newspaper column on your experience
of reading Chaucer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
	ESSAY #1 Assignment: (due Tues., 2/3)

1) Brainstorm: Start by jotting down some thoughts on what you think the
text is saying, some themes that interest you, etc.  Don't edit yourself.
Just write down everything you can think of.

2) Pick ONE word in _The Canterbury Tales_, and look up your word in the
Oxford English Dictionary (http://oed.library.upenn.edu or Van Pelt
reference section PE 1625 M7).  Read all the various definitions of the
word, but also look at the etymology and the examples.  The dates will
tell you when a certain usage of the word first became popular.

3) Freewriting: Spend 20 minutes writing continuously without stopping.
If you have to write "blah blah blah," then write "blah, blah, blah" over
and over again, but don't let your pen stop moving!  Use the freewriting
to help generate ideas for your paper.  Think about what you've discovered
by looking up the word in the OED and how that relates to some of your
initial thoughts on the text (and, in particular, how it changes your
thoughts).

4) Write a 2-3 page (typed, double-spaced) essay talking about how what
you discover about your word relates to certain issues in the text, how it
changes how we might understand those issues.

TURN IN YOUR BRAINSTORMING, YOUR FREEWRITING, AND TWO COPIES OF YOUR ESSAY
(one for me, one for your peer reviewer).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tu 1/27	Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales  (Wife of BathÕs Prologue and Tale),
contÕd

Th 1/29	Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (Wife of Bath's Prologue and 
Tale), cont'd
	Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, Acts I and II

Tu 2/3	Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, Acts III, IV, and V
	Essay #1 DUE (2-3 pages): TURN IN TWO COPIES!

Th 2/5	Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, contÕd
	Peer Review Workshop on THESIS

Unit 2 -- Style and Self

Individual conferences (round #1) will be scheduled for the week of 2/10 -
2/12.

Tu 2/10	Browning's "My Last Duchess" and "The Bishop Orders His Tomb..."
	Ungraded Writing Assignment #2 due: 2-3 page close reading of a
passage in Duchess of Malfi.  Really focus on moving from the very broad
assignment to your paper topic to your very specific thesis statement.

	Listserv: if you didn't post last time, you should post this
time.  By Mon., 5 PM, either respond to someone else's post (as Titi did)
or ask a question of your own (and try to answer it) about either _Duchess
of Malfi_ or the Browning poetry.

	In-class peer review thesis exercise: if you didn't hand this in on
paper on Thurs., please email me (elin@english.upenn.edu) by today with 
the original thesis statement from your paper and a better one that you've
worked out with your peer review partner.

Th 2/12	Browning's "Fra Lippo Lippi"

	(Provisional thesis statement for Essay #2 due via email by
	sometime on Fri., 2/13.  See below.)

Tu 2/17	Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chaps. 1-5 (plus preface)

Th 2/19	Cancelled

Tu 2/24	Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chaps. 6-11
	Essay #2 due (3 pages)
-----
Essay #2:

Provisional thesis statement due Fri., 2/13 via email
Paper and Freewriting due Tues., 2/24 in class

        1) Do a 20-minute freewriting exercise trying to figure out what
you want to say.  You might want to do this BEFORE writing a provisional
thesis statement.
        2) Write a thesis statement and email it to me.  (You can alter
your thesis statement after you write your paper to make it fit what you
just wrote, but come up with some sort of provisional thesis statement to
start out with.)
        3) Write a 3 page (typed, double-spaced) critical essay (close
reading) on either _Duchess of Malfi_ or one of the Browning poems.
-----

Th 2/26	Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chaps. 12-20

Individual conferences (round #2) will be scheduled for the week of 3/3 -
3/5.

Tu 3/3	Woolf, Orlando, Chaps. 1 & 2

	Peer Review Workshop	

	Try to turn in revisions for Essay #1 by today, if you haven't
	already.

	ESSAY # 3 assigned.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ESSAY # 3

due Thurs., 3/19

1) By Wed., 3/4 around 5 or 6 PM, post some question, thesis, idea, etc.
to the listserv as this week's listserv posting.

2) Freewriting, as usual....

3) Write a 3-4 page (typed, double-spaced) critical essay (i.e. close
reading) on _Orlando_ or _Dorian Gray_.  You will need to pick a SPECIFIC
DETAIL, SPECIFIC IMAGE, SPECIFIC THREAD, or SPECIFIC ASPECT of the text
and come up with a thesis about it.  Refer to the handout "Five Ways of
Looking at a Thesis" or email me if you have questions about your thesis.
I'll be available over email during Spring Break (and I'll check my mail
at least every other day).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Th 3/5	Woolf, Orlando, Chap. 3

	Informal writing assignment due today: Write a 1-1.5 page
	typed, double-spaced parody about anything in the style of either
	_Orlando_ or _Dorian Gray_.

Tu 3/10	Spring Break

Th 3/12	Spring Break

Tu 3/17	Woolf, Orlando, Chaps. 4 & 5

Th 3/19	Woolf, Orlando, Chap. 6
	Essay #3 due (3-4 pages)


Unit 3 -- Identity Politics: Race, Gender, Class, and Sexuality

Individual conferences (round #3) will be scheduled for the week of 3/24 -
3/26.

Tu 3/24	Kingston, The Woman Warrior, pp. 1-53
Essay #4 assigned
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Essay #4

Due Thurs., 4/9
4-5 pages
Choose one:
        a.) a critical essay on _Woman Warrior_ or _Zami_
        b.) a personal essay on the issue of writing and identity

With regard to "b," you might want to think about
        1) what we've read this semester (how does self come out in
           writing?)
        2) your own formal and informal writing this semester (how does
           writing relate to who _you_ are?)
Remember that for option "b" you still have to have a thesis, a specific
and narrowly-defined point you want to make.  You also have to have
specific details and examples.  However, your organizational structure
might be different--for example, you might think of it more as a narrative
(a story) that you're telling that leads up to your point (your thesis).
This is the kind of thing that you might turn in for a college application
essay or to apply to med school or something, but it should be on the
issue of writing and identity.

A preliminary thesis is due on Th 4/2.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Th 3/26	Kingston, The Woman Warrior, pp. 57-109

Tu 3/31	Kingston, The Woman Warrior, pp. 113-209

Th 4/2	Lorde, Zami, Chaps. 1-11
	Preliminary thesis due for Essay #4

Tu 4/7	Lorde, Zami, Chaps. 12-22

Th 4/9	Lorde, Zami, Chaps. 23-end
	Essay #4 due (4-5 pages)

Individual conferences (round #4) will be scheduled for the week of 4/14 -
4/16.

Tu 4/14	Cancelled

Th 4/16	ÒThe Wedding BanquetÓ

Tu 4/21	ÒThe Wedding BanquetÓ

Th 4/23	Final wrap-up, course evaluations, etc.

F 5/1	Final Portfolios due