T h e   N o v e l

English 26-01     David Wilson-Okamura     Macalester College     Autumn 2000

Sept. 6

W

Introduction

8

F

George Eliot, Adam Bede, ch. 17; Oscar Wilde, "The Decay of Lying" (online)

11

M

Stendhal, The Red and the Black, bk. 1, chs. 1-15 (pp. 1-69)

13

W

RB, bk. 1, chs. 16-23 (pp. 70-129); view Queen Margot at 7:00 pm, in Humanities 402

15

F

RB, bk. 1, chs. 24-30 (pp. 129-82)

18

M

RB, bk. 2, chs. 1-15 (pp. 183-273)

20

W

RB, bk. 2, chs. 16-32 (pp. 273-346)

22

F

RB, bk. 2, chs. 33-45 (pp. 346-408); "France in 1830" (411-18)

25

M

Feodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, pt. 1, chs. 1-7 (pp. 1-74)

27

W

CP, pt. 2, chs. 1-6 (pp. 75-149)

29

F

CP, pt. 2, ch. 7-pt. 3, ch. 4 (pp. 149-209)

Oct. 2

M

CP, pt. 3, ch. 5-pt. 4, ch.6 (pp. 210-303)

4

W

CP, pt. 5 (pp. 304-69)

6

F

CP, pt. 6 and epilogues (370-465)

9

M

George Eliot, Middlemarch, prelude and book 1 (pp. 1-112)

11

W

First paper due; Middlemarch, book 2 (pp. 113-211)

13

F

Middlemarch, book 3 (pp. 213-99)

16

M

Middlemarch, book 4 (pp. 301-401)

18

W

Middlemarch, book 5 (pp. 403-99)

20

F

Middlemarch, book 6 (pp. 501-98)

23

M

Middlemarch, book 7 (pp. 599-687)

25

W

Middlemarch, book 8 (pp. 689-785)

27

F

Fall Midterm Break

30

M

Henry James, "The Art of Fiction" (online)

Nov. 1

W

James, Portrait of a Lady, chs. 1-11 (pp. 19-120); save author's preface for end of book

3

F

Portrait, chs. 12-19 (pp. 121-227)

6

M

Portrait, chs. 20-27 (pp. 228-322)

8

W

Portrait, chs. 28-38 (pp. 323-417)

10

F

Portrait, chs. 39-46 (pp. 418-516)

13

M

Portrait, chs. 47-55 (pp. 517-628)

15

W

James, preface to Portrait (pp. 3-18); start reading Lighthouse (note that there's a longish assignment for Friday but a very short one for the weekend)

17

F

Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, pt. 1: "The Window" (pp. 3-124)

20

M

Second paper due; Lighthouse, pt. 2: "Time Passes" (pp. 125-43)

22

W

Lighthouse, pt. 3: "The Lighthouse" (pp. 145-209)

24

F

Thanksgiving Break

27

M

Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea, pt. 1 (pp. 9-37)

29

W

WSS, pt. 2 (pp. 38-104)

Dec. 1

F

WSS, pt. 3 (pp. 105-12); selections from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (pp. 119-32)

4

M

Carson, [The Sargasso Sea] (Norton WSS, pp. 117-19); Rhys, selected letters (pp. 132-45); Rhys, selections from Smile Please (pp. 149-55); Rhys, selection from the Black Exercise Book (pp. 155-56); Drake, "Race and Caribbean Culture" (pp. 193-206)

6

W

Morrison, Song of Solomon, pt. 1, chs. 1-3 (pp. 1-89)

8

F

SS, pt. 1, chs. 4-6 (pp. 90-161)

11

M

SS, pt. 1, chs. 7-9 (pp. 162-216)

13

W

SS, pt. 2, chs. 10-12 (pp. 218-85)

15

F

SS, pt. 2, chs. 13-15 (pp. 286-337)

18

M

Third paper due in Old Main 210 by 4:00 pm.

 

Required Texts

Dostoevsky, Feodor. Crime and Punishment. Tr. Jessie Coulson. Ed. George Gibian. Norton Critical Editions. 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 1989.
Eliot, George. Middlemarch. Ed. David Carroll. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
James, Henry. Portrait of a Lady. Ed. Nicola Bradbury. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Lunsford, Andrea, and Robert Connors. EasyWriter: A Pocket Guide. St. Martin's, 1998.
Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: Dutton-Signet, 1987.
Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. Ed. Judith L. Raiskin. Norton Critical Editions. New York: Norton, 1999.
Stendahl. Red and Black: A New Translation, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism. Tr. and ed. Robert Adams. Norton Critical Editions. New York: Norton, 1969.
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1989.
NOTE: Ordinarily I am not picky about whether or not you purchase the assigned edition of any given text. In this case, however, it is important to do so: we will be referring to specific passages in the text by page number every day, as well as to background materials in the Norton editions of Stendahl, Dostoevsky, and Rhys.

Requirements

Printed copies of all assignments are due at the beginning of the class period. Assignments delivered after that will receive a lower grade. (For instance, an A- essay that is delivered up to 24 hours late will receive a B+, an A- essay that is delivered between 24 and 48 hours late will receive a B, and so on.)

Essays. Over the course of the semester you will submit three essays of app. 1,800-2,000 words each on topics of your choice.

Midterm and Final Exams. There will be no midterm or final exams in this course.

Class Discussion. Over the course of the semester, you and a partner of your choosing will be responsible for class discussion on two occasions. To prepare for the discussion, you and your partner will meet together before class and select six passages from the day's reading. Your job will not be to present these passages to the class in any formal way. Instead, you will come to class with three or four questions about each passage. You need not know the answer to these questions yourself, and you may not (probably will not) get to pose each question you have prepared for each passage. The ultimate goal of the questions is to direct our attention to the details of the text; apart from this goal, getting through a list of questions about a given piece of text has no intrinsic value. Pick questions, therefore, that can sustain an intelligent conversation about the passage in question for five to ten minutes--and have back-ups. Sometimes good questions go nowhere for no good reason.

After you and your partner have decided on a plan for the class, each of you will write up a 300-word rationale for picking the six passages you and your partner selected. (How do these passages relate to the novel as a whole? How do they relate to one another?) This document is due at the beginning of class on the day you are leading discussion. It doesn't need to be fancy, though it does need to be typed. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation count here, too, just as they do in the world of business and public policy.

Email. Announcements and changes to the syllabus will be delivered by email.

Attendance and Reading. There is one more requirement for this course: you have to come to class and you have to do the reading. If you don't, you'll get a no credit (nc) for the semester, even if you hand in all of the graded assignments. Not coming to class = missing nine or more class meetings. Not doing the reading = failing more random reading quizzes than you pass. Note: these quizzes are impossible to fail if you have done the reading; if you haven't done the reading, or you aren't in class to take them, you may find them something of a challenge.

 

Extensions

Everyone gets a two-day extension on one paper over the course of the semester. You choose which one. You don't need to ask me ahead of time: just hand in a sheet of paper with your name on it that says "I'm taking my extension on this paper." In the interests of fairness, however, no one will be granted a second extension.

 

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else's words or ideas in such a way that a reader cannot distinguish them from your own work. As such, it is a form of cheating. If you have questions about plagiarism, please ask me about it before your paper is due; after a paper is handed in it's too late to claim ignorance. This is important: the standard penalty for a first cheating offense at Macalester College is an F on the assignment.

 

Important times, phone numbers, addresses

Office: Old Main 205 (phone 651.696.6643)
Email: wilson-okamura@virgil.org
Office hours: mwf 3:30-4:30. Extra hours as needed and by appointment. If you'd like to schedule an appointment--and I encourage you to do so if these hours don't work for you--just grab me after class or give me a phone call and we'll set up a time. If you call my office and I'm not there, do try me at home, though not after 9:00 pm, please; the phone number there is 651.699.3577.
Email discussion group for this course: novel@virgil.org.
Course materials on the web: http://www.virgil.org/dswo/courses/novel/

 

Reference These items may be found online or in the reference section on the first floor of the library.

Cambridge History of English and American Literature, The. 18 vols. New York: Putnam, 1907-1921. Online: http://www.bartleby.com/cambridge/
Catholic Encyclopedia, The. 15 vols. New York: Encyclopedia Press, 1913.
Online: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2nd ed. London: Oxford UP, 1974. BR95.O8.1974.
Harner, James L. Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies. 3rd ed. New York: MLA, 1998. Z2011.H34.1998.
Langer, William L. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972. D21.L27.1972.
MLA International Bibliography. New York: Modern Language Association, 1967-.
Online: http://www-minitex.lib.umn.edu/erl-bin/macalstr/webspirs.cgi
Oxford English Dictionary, The. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon, 1989. PE1625.O87.1989.
Online: http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl
Preminger, Alex, and T. V. F. Brogan, eds. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993. PN1021.N39.1993.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sir Sidney Lee, eds. The Dictionary of National Biography. 24 vols. plus supplements. London: Oxford UP, 1921-. DA28.D48.