E 316K: Masterworks of Literature: World
Instructor: Brian Doherty
Parlin 326
471-8798
Office Hours: Tuesday, 12-3
Texts/Readings:
The Longman Anthology of World Literature: Vols. D, E, F.
Grading Policy, Assignments:
Test # 1
Essay Test (take home)
Final Exam
TA Section Participation
Live World Literary Culture Review
20%
25%
35%
15%
5%
Extra Credit. In the course of the semester, there will be 7 quizzes given on the reading for the day. Four
of these will be posted the day before the reading, and will have to be turned in on the day of the class
(these will be collected before 1:03 on the day of that reading—no late submissions accepted). Three will
be given on an impromptu basis—either in lecture or in TA section.
Over 45 points total= 3 points added to cumulative grade.
40-44.5 points total = 2 points added to cumulative grade.
35-39.5 points total = 1 point added to cumulative grade total.
Less than 35 points= good practice for future tests.
Plus and minus grades will be used in the class. A = 93-100; A- = 90-92.9; B + = 8889.9; B = 83=87.9; B- = 80-82.9; C+ = 78-79.9; C = 73-77.9; C- = 70-72.9; D = 65-69.9.
Below 65 = F.
Attendance is required in discussion sections. Students may miss up to 3 sessions with
no grade penalty. For each class missed beyond 3, there will be a 30 point deduction
from your grade for the discussion section.
Please be aware of University policies and services for students with disabilities:
http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/
Please be aware of the University Standard for Academic Integrity:
http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acint_student.php
Course Policies, Protocol, and Etiquette:
No open laptops in class unless you have a note from student services that verifies you need to
take notes on a computer.
Cell phones turned off during class. Students who are found texting or doing web-searches
during class will be asked to leave.
Please do not hold conversations during lecture or discussion, unless it is with the professor, or
part of the public discussion. This kind of behavior is very distracting.
Please do not use the auditorium as a lunch room. Dine prior to class or afterwards, or fast.
Please arrive on time and leave only when class is over. Students who leave class early on the
day of a quiz will have their quiz grade discounted from their total.
Please do not begin packing your belongings until after the lecturer has stopped speaking. It
takes only a few seconds to “pack up” and doing so during even the final remarks can be very
distracting, and is quite disrespectful.
If there are occasions when you need to communicate with the professor or a TA during the
semester, realize that it is a formal communication, and not a text message. Begin by
acknowledging the person you are addressing, and end with a salutation and by identifying
yourself. Any emails that do not follow these conventions will be deleted without being read.
Schedule of Reading:
January 20: Introduction. Go over syllabus, grading policy, reading program.
22: Background to Voltaire. “The Age of the Enlightenment,” (191-203).
25: Voltaire, Candide. To chapter 13. (464-85).
27: Voltaire, Candide. To chapter 27.
29: Voltaire, Candide. To conclusion. Also, “Resonances.”
February 1: Olaudah Equiano. From The Interesting narrative of the Life of Olaudah
Equiano (441-51).
3: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, (172-83). Evliya Çelebi, from The Book of
Travels (396-406)
5: Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children. Introduction and Acts
1-3 (pp. 329-55).
8: Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children. To conclusion.
10: Introduction to Romanticism. “Romantic Nature” (47-49). William
Wordsworth intro., “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern
Abbey” and “Nutting” (19-24), “What is a Poet?” and “Emotion
Recollected in Tranquility” (29-30.
12: John Keats, (59-63). Giacomo Leopardi, “The Infinite” (66).
15: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau (70-84).
17: Ghalib (217-338)
19: Test # 1. Terms, Literary historical aspects of the works, author biographies,
plot points.
22:
Baudelaire.
24:
26:
Romance, Love, and (sometimes twisted) Variations on the Theme.
Introduction, and poems (515-28).
Baudelaire. From Paris Spleen and “Resonances.”
Anton Chekhov, “The Lady with the Dog.”
March 1: China. Cao Xueqin. From The Story of the Stone. Introduction and to
Chapter 23, (71-103).
3: From The Story of the Stone. To Chapter 94 (103-30).
5: From The Story of the Stone, and Shen Fu, from Six Records of a Floating Life.
(130-60).
8: Rabindranath Tagore, “The Conclusion,” and “The Postmaster” (on electronic
reserves).
10: Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House. Introduction, Acts 1 and 2 (838-74).
12: Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House. (To conclusion).
22:
24:
25.
26:
Higuchi Ichiyu, “Separate Ways.” “Zhang Ailing, “Stalemates.”
Akutagawa Ryunosuke (207-220).
Screening of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashoman. Time and place tba.
Discuss the film Rashoman.
29: Clarice Lispecter, “Preciousness.” (718-25)
31: The Self in Crisis. Leo Tolstoy, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” (intro to
Chaper VII (542-67).
April 2: Leo Tolstoy, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” To conclusion. Official Essay
prompts for essay delivered.
5: The Crisis of the Self becomes weirder. Franz Kafka, “The
Metamorphosis.” Introduction and Part One.
7: Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis.” To conclusion.
9: No reading. In-class film introduction to Jorge Luis Borges. Essay due on a
topic from the list of essay prompts. Due at classtime.
12: Jorge Luis Borges, introduction, readings, and resonance. 494-513)
14: Haruki Murakami, “TV People.”
16: The Self in Crisis (scaling back the weirdness). James Baldwin, “Sonny’s
Blues.”
19: Introduction to Literature in Africa. Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart.
Introduction and Chapters 1-6 (pp. 765-87).
21: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart to Part 2 (787-820).
23: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart to conclusion.
26: Chimimanda Ngozie Adichie, “The Headstrong Historian.” (on electronic
reserves).
28: Wole Soyinka. Death and the King’s Horseman. Introduction and act one ()
30: Wole Soyinka. Death and the King’s Horseman. To conclusion.
May
3: Ama Ata Aidoo, “No Sweetness Here.”
5: Nadine Gordimer, “The Defeated.”
7: Last Thoughts. Student performances (musical, poetic, dramatic). Sermon on
the lectern—what we missed, what we hope to take with us.