Carleton University
Department of English
Winter 2010
ENGL 4608A: Studies in Twentieth-Century British Literature
Literature and Urban Experience
When: T 2:35-5:25pm
Where: A204 Loeb
Please confirm location on Carleton Central
Instructor: Sarah Brouillette
Office: 1904 DT
Office Hours: TBA
Email: [email protected]
Alienation, overcrowding, sensory overload, homelessness, criminality, violence,
loneliness, sprawl, blight…How have the realities of city living influenced literature’s
formal and thematic techniques? How useful is it to think of literature as its own
kind of map of urban space? Are cities too grand, heterogeneous, and shifting to be
captured by writers? In this seminar we will seek answers to these questions in key
city literature from the UK, and in theoretical works that attempt to comprehend
and explain the culture of cities.
Texts to Purchase (at Haven Books, 43 Seneca Street):
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Sam Selvon, The Lonely Londoners
Ciaran Carson, Belfast Confetti
Robert McLiam Wilson, Ripley Bogle
Bernadine Evaristo, Lara
*** Materials not listed here are available via WebCT.
EVALUATION
5-7 page essay and revision
12-15 page research essay
Discussion Leadership and Participation
35%
35%
30%
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Essays:
Essays are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Late papers lose 1% per
day (of the course total 100%), and receive little or no written commentary. If one
week has passed since the due date they will not be graded.
Place your late paper in the English Department’s drop box on the 18th floor of
Dunton Tower, and then check with me to ensure I’ve received it. A paper has not
been submitted until I’ve acknowledged receipt. Keep back up copies of all work.
I consider granting extensions only in unusual circumstances, and only if you talk to
me no later than 48 hours before the due date. Having a lot of work due in other
classes is not an unusual circumstance.
If you plagiarize (by passing off something you’ve heard or read as your own, or by
submitting the same work on more than one occasion), you will face the Dean and
the University Senate. To avoid plagiarism, provide citations for all ideas,
arguments, and statements taken from someone else. These must be clearly
marked as distinct from your own work. For further guidance, talk to me or see the
statement on Instructional Offenses in the Undergraduate Calendar.
Attendance and Participation:
This is a student-driven seminar. Attendance is required. You will be allowed two
excused absences, after which you will lose 1% (of the course total 100%) for each
incident. If you miss more than 6 classes you will not pass.
High standard participation entails coming to every class with the text in hand,
having all scheduled readings completed and fresh in your mind, ready to engage in
debate and discussion.
Discussion Leadership:
On one occasion you will be responsible for leading class discussion. You will
present contextual materials and questions appropriate to one or more of the
readings for that day, and you will have the opportunity to take us in the direction
you think best, after which, if and when discretion dictates, I may take over. Some
pointers are available on webCT.
General:
You must complete all assignments in order to pass this course.
Do not bring food, mobile phones or your laptop to class. Exceptions: you are using
your laptop for a presentation, or you have a special reason why you cannot use a
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pen and paper to take notes (if this is the case, please see me to explain your
situation).
If you need to make special arrangements to meet your academic obligations this
year, follow these processes:
If you are pregnant, write to me with any requests for academic accommodation
during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as the need for accommodation
arises. For details contact Equity Services: ext. 5622 and http://www.carleton.ca
/equity/.
If you anticipate missing a class or exam due to religious observance, write to me
with your request for accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon
as the need for accommodation arises. See the equity services website for a list of
holy days and Carleton’s policies about them (www.carleton.ca/equity), and contact
Equity Services at ext. 5622.
If you have a disability, register with the Paul Menton Centre (PMC) for a formal
evaluation (ext. 6608). Registered PMC students are required to contact the PMC
every term to ensure I receive your Letter of Accommodation, no later than two
weeks before the first assignment is due or the first in-class test/exam requiring
accommodations. If you only require accommodations for formally scheduled
exam(s), please submit your request to PMC by the last official day to withdraw
from classes in each term. For more details visit the PMC website at
http://www.carleton.ca/pmc/students/acad_accom.html.
SCHEDULE
01.05
Introduction
01.12
- W. Wordsworth, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” (webCT)
- S.T. Coleridge, “Frost at Midnight” (webCT)
- Selection from W. Wordsworth, The Prelude (webCT)
01.19
- G. Simmel, “The Metropolis and Modern Life” (webCT)
- R. Williams, “When Was Modernism?” (webCT)
- R. Williams, “Metropolitan Perceptions and the Emergence of Modernism” (webCT)
[Suggested background reading: “Modernity” and “Modernism” (webCT)]
01.26
- T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
- T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
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02.02
- Selection from W. Benjamin, The Arcades Project (Convolute A: [Arcades,
Magasins de Nouveautés, Sales Clerks]) (webCT)
- V. Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
02.09
- Le Corbusier, from “The City of Tomorrow and its Planning” (webCT)
- V. Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
- Essay writing workshop: Essay #1 Due
02.23
- K. Lynch, from “The Image of the City” (webCT)
- S. Selvon, The Lonely Londoners
03.02
- S. Selvon, The Lonely Londoners
- J. Raban, from Soft City (webCT)
- Revised essay Due
03.09
- “Stuart”
- B. Evaristo, Lara
03.16
- B. Evaristo, Lara
- F. Jameson, “The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” (to p. 45) (webCT)
[Suggested background reading: “Postmodern Culture” (webCT)]
03.23
- Selections from C. Carson, Belfast Confetti
- R.M. Wilson, Ripley Bogle
03.30
- M. Davis, “Fortress L.A.” (webCT)
- R.M. Wilson, Ripley Bogle
- Final essay due
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