Instructor: Marissa Sabbath
[email protected]
CRN: 21846
World Literature II: COLI 111, Spring 2014
T/Th 8:30-9:55am Nelson A. Rockefeller 121
Course Description:
This course is designed to survey world literatures from the enlightenment through contemporary periods. Our
class centers in canonical modern authors and the myriad historical and cultural phenomena that influence the form
and content of their literary works. This class provides an approach for better understanding these authors and how
they fit into a “World-Literature”. The course explores major literary themes, the commonalities and dissimilarities,
of different literatures across geo-political boarders and over historical time. Lastly, this class derives from its focus
some important questions regarding language and communication. In other words, this course culminates in a
discussion of World-Literature as a whole, and how any one author may or may not represent that whole. The goal
of our comparative discussions of world literatures is to engage in the complex issues of representation and location
within a World-Literature.
Course Requirements:
As a discussion based course, this class requires: readership, attendance, and class participation. You are expected to
read and be a present and active part of class. Additionally, this course fulfills the “C” general education
requirement, which promotes the critical thinking and writing skills of students. This is a writing intensive course
where you have the opportunity to write then revise your work for a better outcome.
Attendance & Participation (10%): Each student is allowed 3 absences; each absence to follow lowers your
mark by half a grade (i.e. from a B to a B-). Participation is vital for the production of the course, so each student
is expected to speak up and exchange ideas with their peers.
Reading Response Papers (15%): Response papers are designed to ensure students are reading and actively
engaged in the texts of the course before coming to class. You are responsible for 10 Reader Response papers
throughout the semester, typically there will be one due every week, but they are not required during weeks
where larger assignments are due. Your responses should show you have read and be more than a textual
summary. These are opportunities to approach texts critically without the pressure of a full paper, cultivate ideas
for essays, and to improve your reading and writing skills with continuous practice. During weeks where
responses are due, you may choose to write on the reading(s) from either class session. Reader response papers
should be 1 p. double-spaced and turned in at the beginning of the class session chosen for response.
Essays (25% ea.): There are 3 essays due in this course; the due dates are on the course calendar and each essay
is revisable. Essay one is a 3-5 pp. paper and an extension of a response paper. The mid-term essay is a 3-5 pp.
position paper and requires a secondary source. The final essay is a 6-8 pp. paper and requires secondary sources.
All papers should be double-spaced and in MLA format. I will provide details and rubrics for each essay at least a
week prior to their due dates.
*Academic Honesty is required and any case of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Students. For
more information on avoiding plagiarism and making the most of your source materials, see the
following library webpage: http://libraryguides.binghamton.edu/honesty
Learning Outcomes:
Developing your reading and writing skills enables critical thinking. Because this course fulfills the “C” general
education requirement, it is designed to cultivate your reading and writing skills and provide an outlet to better
articulate critical thought in approaching literature to further your learning as a whole. Additionally, this gen. ed.
requirement enables students to rewrite and revise their papers to improve both form and content.
Instructor: Marissa Sabbath
[email protected]
CRN: 21846
Required Texts:
*Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Lloyd Alexander. Publisher: New Directions ISBN: 978-0-8112-1700-2
*All other texts are posted to Blackboard. Its your responsibility to bring a form of the texts to class, whether
printed or electronically.
Weekly Schedule
Week 1: Response Paper
Jan. 28—Review of the syllabus; introduction to the class and the main objectives of the course
Jan. 30—What is World-Literature and how do we talk about it?
Week 2: Response Paper
Feb. 4—William Blake; Selections from “Songs of Innocence” & “Songs of Experience”
Feb. 6—Giacomo Leopardi; Selections from Zibaldone di pensieri & Selected Poems
*Feb. 7—Last day to drop spring semester courses
Week 3: Response Paper
Feb. 11—Walt Whitman; “Song of Myself”
Feb. 13— Ruben Darío; Selected Poems
Week 4: Response Paper
Feb. 18—Lu Xun; “Diary of a Madman”
Feb. 20—Charlotte Perkins Gilman; “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Week 5:
Feb. 25—D.H. Lawrence; “The Prussian Officer”
Feb. 27 [Paper 1 Due]—George Orwell; “Shooting an Elephant”
Week 6: Response Paper
Mar. 4—Virginia Woolf; Selected essays from “Monday or Tuesday”
Mar. 6—T.S. Eliot; “The Wasteland” & “Burnt Norton”
Week 7: Response Paper
Mar. 11—Langston Hughes; “Thank You Ma’am” & Selected Poems
Mar. 13—Jean Rhys; “Let them call it Jazz”
Week 8: Response Paper
Mar. 18—H.G. Wells; “The Star”
Mar. 20—W.B. Yeats; Selected Poems from The Tower
Week 9:
Mar. 25 [Prepare Draft]—Extra preparation for midterm papers; peer review and discussion
Mar. 27 [Midterm Paper Due]—Aimé Césaire; Selected Poems
*Mar. 28—Last day to withdraw from spring semester courses; Last day for
Week 10: Response Paper
Apr. 1— Jean-Paul Sartre; Nausea
Apr. 3—Jean-Paul Sartre; Nausea
Week 11: Response Paper
Apr. 8—Jean-Paul Sartre; Nausea
Apr. 10—Jean-Paul Sartre; Nausea
Week 12:
Apr. 15—Spring Break; No Class
Apr. 17— Spring Break; No Class
Instructor: Marissa Sabbath
[email protected]
CRN: 21846
Week 13: Response Paper
Apr. 22— J.D. Salinger; from Nine Stories “A Perfect Day for a Banana Fish” & “Teddy”
Apr. 24—Tim O’Brien; “The Things They Carried” & Bharati Mukherjee; “The Management of Greif”
Week 14:
Apr. 29 [Final Paper Draft Due]—Contemporary works TBA
May 1—Contemporary works TBA
Week 15:
May 6—Individual Conferences for Final Papers
May 8—Individual Conferences for Final Papers
*Final Papers Due: May 13 by 5pm*