Spring 2013
Comp Lit 101
Comparative Literature 101
Introduction to World Literature
(Section 04 | T/Th 3:55-5:15 PM | Hickman Hall 211)
Instructor:
Jinhwa Lee
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00-3:30 PM (Douglass Campus Center cafeteria) and by appointment.
Sakai:
https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal (01:195:101:04 Sp13 accessed with NetID/Password)
Email:
[email protected]
(Contact me via this email address when you have any queries and emergencies in regard with
the course, and I will respond you as soon as I can. Give me 24 hours to get back to you on
weekdays and 48 hours on weekend and holidays. Feel free to let me know if you have not
gotten my reply in that time.)
Course Description
This course aims to introduce students to the variety of literary works of fiction, play, and poetry
from different corners of the world. The readings feature the texts from diverse geographical and
historical context such as the ancient Greek play, modern East Asian fictions, Soviet poetry, and
contemporary European and North American literature. Throughout the semester, we will
particularly ask how and why love and desire, dispossession and resilience, violence and resistance of
people are weaved into certain forms of narrative and image in the texts we read. By searching for
the answers to it, we will be able to discuss in what different ways literary practice bears political
implications and in what ways political voice opens up new realm of aesthetics in literature. Students
will develop their skills in close reading, critical thinking, and analytic writing. They will also learn to
appreciate different genres and styles of literature. All texts will be read in English translation.
Learning Goals and Fulfillments
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We will practice close and critical reading of the assigned literary
texts.
We will learn how to contextualize our appreciation of literature.
We will consider how translation affects our understanding of
literature.
We will gain theoretical tools for literary analysis.
We will train ourselves to write critical comparative paper responding to plural texts making
meaningful connection among them.
We will engage in a collaborative intellectual community by actively and respectfully
participating in class discussion.
By achieving these goals the course (listed as fulfilling 3p AHp) will give you the skills required to
meet the SAS Core Curriculum requirement that Arts and Humanities Courses:
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Examine critically philosophical and other theoretical issues concerning the nature of reality,
human experience, knowledge, value, and/or cultural production;
Analyze arts and/or literatures in themselves and in relation to specific histories, values,
languages, cultures, and technologies (p);
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Comp Lit 101
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Engage critically in the process of creative self-expression.
Further, this course employs the learning goals that have been developed by the Program in
Comparative Literature for its respective majors, minors, and for non-majors who take these
courses as electives:
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Students will demonstrate familiarity with a variety of world literatures as well as methods of
studying literature and culture across national and linguistic boundaries and evaluate the
nature, function and value of literature from a global perspective;
Students will demonstrate critical reasoning and research skills; design and conduct research
in an individual field of concentration (such as literary theory, women’s literature, post
colonial studies, literature and film, etc); analyze a specific body of research and write a clear
and well-developed paper or project about a topic related to more than one literary and
cultural tradition.
Grading Policy
Frequent Pop Quizzes
Short Writing Assignments
Two 3-5 Pages Papers (25% x 2)
One 5-7 Pages Paper (Final)
Sum
10%
10%
50%
30%
100%
*Poor attendance will result in lowering the final percentage.
Grading Rubric
A
B+
B
C+
C
D
F
90-100%
87-89%
80-86%
75-79%
70-74%
60-69%
59 and below%
No curved grading. Everybody will get the final letter grade according to each one’s own
accumulated percentage. Grading rubric for each assignment will be announced as class progresses.
Course Requirements
Attendance and Participation: Attendance and in-class participation is mandatory. Please be
punctual and be prepared. Arriving more than 20 minutes late will be counted as one absence.
Up to two unexcused absences are allowed; in this case please use the University absence
reporting system (https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/) to indicate the date and reason for your
absence. An email is automatically sent to me. More than two unexcused absences will result in
lowered final grade. *Note: From your third unexcused absence, I will subtract 1% per one
unexcused absence. For example, if person who has earned 90% as her/his total percentage at
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Comp Lit 101
the end of the semester carries three unexcused absences, her/his final percentage for the course
will be 89%, which is in letter grade B+.
Excused absences will be granted for the observance of religious holidays, doctor’s
appointments, family emergencies, athletic practices/games, natural-social disaster, problem of
public transportation, etc. Please make sure to let me know as soon as you get to know your
inability to attend class for these reasons.
Class is your time to share thoughts and ideas of relevant issues of the week’s readings—be
ready to listen to others and be eager to contribute to discussion. Reading the assigned text
before each class is one of the basic efforts to be respectful both to yourself and to your fellow
classmates. I believe everybody has something they want to talk about after reading the texts.
For the engaging atmosphere, all electronic devices including laptops, tablet pcs, ipads, and cell
phones, should not be used during class. Please print out your readings before you come to class
so that you do not have to open your laptop to look at the text we discuss.
Frequent Pop Quizzes (10%): There will be quizzes at the beginning of the class occasionally.
You will be asked to answer very simple questions as to the contents of that particular day’s
assigned reading. You cannot make up for the missed quiz.
Short Writing Assignments (10%): You will either be asked to write something in class or to
do some homework. The writing for this assignment will mostly be no longer than 500 words in
length.
Two 3-5 Pages Papers (25% x 2=50%): You will write a 3-5 pages paper at the end of Unit I
of the course (fiction) and another at the end of Unit II of the course (play). You will choose any
one work from each unit’s reading list and write an analytic/expository essay based on the close
reading of the selected text.
One 5-7 Pages Paper (30%): You will write a 5-7 pages paper for the final. Note that this time
you will write a comparative essay analyzing two works of different writers selected from
throughout the all three units (fiction, play, poetry).
* All three papers are formal analytic/expository papers and must have a clear thesis, your direct
response to the texts selected (using quotations), and critical questions and answers to them. The
papers do not require outside research so keep your focus on thorough examination of the very
text in hand. It does not require you to research secondary materials.
The papers should be written on US letter sized paper (8.5” x 11”), double-spaced, with 1”
margin on all four sides and typed in 12-point Times New Roman. Do not justify the margins.
For more directions for formatting, style, and citation, please consult Purdue OWL website’s
MLA guide: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/.
Late assignments are not accepted. If you anticipate a problem turning in any one of the
assignments on time, please talk to me in advance via email and/or in person. All assignments
except for in-class writing should be submitted electronically via the Sakai site under the folder
of each assignment (Click on “Assignments 2” folder first). Please remember, Sakai shuts down
the assignment folder after deadline.
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Comp Lit 101
More detailed guideline for the papers will be discussed/distributed in class well ahead of the
deadline.
Required Readings
The following books for the course are available for purchase at the Barnes and Noble Rutgers
University Bookstore (http://rutgers.bncollege.com/) next to the New Brunswick train station. Go
down to the basement textbook floor and you will easily find the Comparative Literature shelf:
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Sandra Cisneros, House On Mango Street (ISBN: 9780679734772)
Jean Genet, The Maids and Deathwatch: Two Plays (ISBN: 9780802150561)
Caryl Churchill, Cloud 9 (ISBN: 9781559360999)
Leonard Cohen, Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs (ISBN: 9780679755418)
If you will buy these individually elsewhere make sure the book carries the same ISBN noted above.
We need to have same edition of the books for the sake of convenience in making reference in our
discussion.
All other required readings will be found on our Sakai site under the folder entitled “Resources.”
Please print out, read, and bring each assigned texts to class.
Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
Plagiarism is any form of unauthorized use of other person’s ideas without acknowledging the
source in due manner. It includes quoting, paraphrasing, and imitating without referring to the
original source, act of copy-and-paste without quotation marks and reference, downloading other
person’s work and submitting it as your own, among the other. To avoid plagiarism, it is your
responsibility to check out the specific details regarding what constitutes plagiarism and how not to
do it. Students who violate the University Academic Integrity Policy by committing plagiarism will
fail the course and face the University disciplinary action. Please learn the contents of the webpages
below:
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Take a tutorial on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity (Camden Plagiarism Tutorial):
http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/EducationalModule/Plagiarism/
Visit Rutgers Writing Program’s guideline against plagiarism:
http://wp.rutgers.edu/courses/plagiarism
Consult “Don’t Plagiarize: Document Your Research!” for tips about how to take notes so
that you don’t plagiarize by accident:
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_instruct/instruct_document.shtml
For more information on Rutgers’ policy on academic integrity, see the document below:
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/files/documents/AI_Policy_9_01_2011.pdf
* Refresh the URL if you see the broken words when you click on the link.
Students with Disabilities
Students with disabilities requesting accommodations must follow the procedures outlined at:
http://disabilityservices.rutgers.edu/request.html
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Comp Lit 101
Course Schedule
Unit I | Fiction
Week 1
1/22 Introduction
1/24 Akutagawa Ryunosuke (芥川龍之介), “In a Grove,” “Rashomon”
Week 2
1/29 Anton Chekhov (Анто́н Па́влович Че́хов), “Vanka,” “The Darling”
1/31 Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”
Week 3
2/5
Eileen Chang (張愛玲), “Love In a Fallen City”
2/7
Dazai Osamu (太宰 治), “Merry Christmas”
Week 4
2/12 Annie Proulx, “Brokeback Mountain”
2/14 Shani Mootoo, “Out on Main Street”
Week 5
2/19 Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
2/21 Cisneros continued
Paper #1 Due: 2/24 Sunday 11:59 PM
Unit II | Play
Week 6
2/26 Sophocles, Antigone
2/28 Sophocles continued
Week 7
3/5
Henrik Ibsen, A Doll House
3/7
Ibsen continued
Week 8
3/12 Jean Genet, The Maids
3/14 Genet continued
Week 9 _ Spring Break
3/19 No Class
3/21 No Class
Week 10
3/26 Tennessee Williams, Suddenly Last Summer
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Comp Lit 101
3/28
Williams continued
Week 11
4/2
Caryl Churchill, Cloud 9
4/4
Churchill continued
Paper #2 Due: 4/7 Sunday 11:59 PM
Unit III | Poetry
Week 12
4/9
Vladimir Mayakovsky (Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский) from Listen! Early Poems and
other collections.
4/11 Sylvia Plath, from The Collected Poems
Week 13
4/16 Audre Lorde, from The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde
4/18 Wisława Szymborska, from View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems
Week 14
4/23 Bei Dao (北島), poems from The Rose of Time: New and Selected Poems
4/25 Suheir Hammad, from Born Palestinian, Born Black and other collections
Week 15
4/30 Leonard Cohen, poems/lyrics from Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs
5/2
Last class/Wrap-up discussion
Paper #3 Due: 5/9 Thursday 11:59 PM
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