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English 101W: Introduction to Fiction
Web Address for this course:
http://connect.mcgraw-hill.com/class/s_mccall_fall_2013_mw
Instructor: Professor Sophie McCall
Email: [email protected]
Office: AQ 6112
Telephone: 778-782-4866
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 2-3 pm
or by appointment
Jamaica Kincaid has said that “I sometimes think I became a writer really to have the opportunity
to read some more.” The interrelationship between reading and writing, as well as listening and
speaking, is a theme that writers repeatedly emphasize in interviews and other critical statements
related to their practice. Through an interactive anthology that brings writers to readers and
readers to writing, this course will introduce students to a range of short stories by 19th and 20th
century writers. These include classic texts by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Franz Kafka, and Ralph Ellison, among others, as well as contemporary work by writers such as
Lorrie Moore, Amy Tan, Alice Munro, Richard Ford, Junot Diaz, and Madeleine Thien. Many of
the contemporary texts will be supplemented with author interviews in video format.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Delbanco, Nicholas and Alan Cheuse. Literature: Craft and Voice. 2nd edition. McGraw Hill.
Madeleine Thien. Simple Recipes. Emblem. 978-0771085123
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
10%
10%
20%
5%
15%
15%
25%
Participation
Oral Presentation (in pairs)
Essay 1 (1000 words)
Revision
Online Personalized Learning Plan &
Mid Term Test
Essay 2 (1200 words)
Revision
Final examination
please sign up in tutorial
Week 5 in Tutorials (Sep 30 & Oct 2)
Week 6 in Lecture (W Oct 9)
Week 9 (W Oct 30)
Week 10 in Lecture (M Nov 4)
Week 14 in Lecture (M Dec 2)
Friday Dec 13, 12-3pm
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENTS
10%
Participation
This grade will be based on tutorial attendance, participation, and in-class writing exercises.
Attendance is mandatory; please inform your tutorial leader in advance if you know you will miss
class. If personal circumstances such as illness or family issues are affecting your attendance,
please talk to your tutorial leader. Tutorial participation requires that you come to class having
done the reading, and prepared to contribute to class discussion. You must also bring a hard
copy of the assigned reading to class. Contribution involves listening as well as speaking, and
being willing to ask questions as well as to respond to them. You will be also asked to complete
various short writing exercises throughout the semester. These are “low-stakes” writing
assignments, for which you will not receive an individual grade. However, your tutorial leader
will collect them and keep them on file.
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5%
Personalized Learning Plan and Mid Term Test
The Personalized Learning Plan is a series of questions online focusing on common grammatical
problems such as sentence construction, punctuation, quotation, parts of speech etc. In total it
should take you about 3.5 hours. You can complete at your own pace between now and October
30. The Mid Term test is a series of multiple-choice questions that test your comprehension of the
readings up to October 30 (but not including Thien’s Simple Recipes). While the Personalized
Learning Plan is available now, the multiple-choice questions will only be available on October
30. The test will close at 4pm on October 30. Lecture is cancelled on this day but tutorials are not
cancelled.
10%
10-minute oral presentation (in pairs)
Working in pairs, you will select a passage (1 or 2 paragraphs) from the reading assigned that week
and offer your interpretation. The purpose of the assignment is to develop your skills in “close
reading”: that is, reading and communicating your interpretation of literary texts. The presentation
should conclude with a question for the class that opens up debate and discussion. Presentations will
be graded for effectiveness in generating discussion, oral delivery, and organization of material. Your
ability to work with others effectively will also be an important part of the assessment.
25%
Essay 1 and Revision
Essay 1 is a “close reading” of a text that we have discussed up to Week 5. You will focus on a
particular passage (1 or 2 paragraphs) in the text. Close readings involve the analysis of
characterization, setting, mood, images, metaphors and use of language (etc) in the passage. You will
also be expected to forge an effective argument. The purpose is to set the passage in context, to engage
with the language of the text and to construct an argument or interpretation of the passage. The first
draft will be peer-edited in tutorial: attendance is mandatory. Please contact your tutorial leader as
soon as possible if you are ill. Both drafts and peer comments should be handed in to your tutorial
leader. To receive full grades for this assignment you must complete both drafts of the essay and the
peer editing sheet. More detailed information about this assignment will be distributed in week 2.
Essay 2 (15%) and Revision (15%)
Essay topics will be distributed in class. The essay will compare/contrast 2 texts from the course. As
a whole the assignment is worth 30%: 15% for the first draft and 15% for the second draft. Your
ability to take into consideration your tutorial leader’s suggestions will be an important part of the
assessment. In addition, your paper should be well-organized and clearly written, articulate a clear
thesis, and provide convincing evidence.
25%
Final Examination
The purpose of the exam is to think about the course as a whole, to synthesize its main
themes/issues/questions and to ensure that you have kept up with the readings. An important part
of the exam will involve close textual analysis of passages.
POLICIES REGARDING THE ASSIGNMENTS
Extensions
Extensions to the assignment dates may be negotiated in cases of emergency; please see your
tutorial leader to discuss this BEFORE the due date. Essays handed in late without an extension
will be subject to a late penalty of 5% per day.
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Honesty and Plagiarism
Please read the department’s policy on academic honesty and plagiarism, available online:
http://www.sfu.ca/english/resources/honesty.html. See also Chapter 5: “Writing the Research
Paper, Avoiding Plagiarism, and Documenting Sources” in your textbook (96-107).
Electronic communication in Lecture and Tutorials
Absolutely no emailing, texting, tweeting, facebooking, netflixing or other distracting electronic
communication on laptops, phones, or any other electronic device is permitted in the lecture hall
or in the tutorials. Students will be asked to leave the class if they are engaged in such activity
and risk losing participation grades if the problem persists.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Week 1:
Wed Sept 4: Introduction
Week 2:
M Sept 9: Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places
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John Updike, “A & P” (141-44)
Alice Munro, “An Ounce of Cure” (153-58)
W Sept 11: Fake It Till You Make It
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Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl” (163)
Guidelines on How to Write an Essay (164-181)
Week 3: Truth and Reconciliation Week:
N.B.: Material from Week 3 will not be included in tests or exams as per Senate policy.
M Sept 16: How and Why
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Margaret Atwood, “Happy Endings” (514-15)
Lorrie Moore, “How to Become a Writer Or, Have you Earned this Cliché?” – in
Instructor’s files on connect.mcgraw-hill.com
Film viewing: The 8th Fire: Indigenous in the City (full film available online)
trailer for We Were Children (full film available online)
W Sept 18:
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Sherman Alexie, “Indian Education”
Discussion of The 8th Fire and We Were Children
Week 4:
M Sept 23: Cultural Dissonances
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Amy Tan, “Two Kinds” (377-82)
Gish Jen, “Who’s Irish?” (227-33)
W Sept 25: Violence and Counter-violence
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T Coraghessan Boyle, “Greasy Lake” (189-94)
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“MLA Documentation Style Guide” in the Handbook section at the back of your
textbook (1591-1609)
Week 5:
M Sept 30: Legacies of War
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Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried” (427-37)
Louise Erdrich, “The Red Convertible” (442-7)
Essay 1 due: Peer editing in tutorials (attendance is mandatory)
W Oct 2: Transformations
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Aimee Bender, “The Rememberer” (339-41)
Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis” (online: Masters of Craft: Fiction)
Recommended short film: Franz Kafka: It’s a Wonderful Life (on youtube)
Essay 1 due: Peer editing in tutorials (attendance is mandatory)
Week 6:
M Oct 7: Adaptations
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F Scott Fitzgerald, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (online in the Multimedia
Casebook: Fiction into Film)
Revised Essay 1 due in Lecture (or Wednesday tutorials)
W Oct 9:
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Film Adaptation of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Guidelines on how to write a compare/contrast paper (p. 81-88)
Week 7:
M Oct 14: Thanksgiving: No Class
W Oct 16:
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Annie Proulx, “Broke Back Mountain” (online under Instructor’s files)
Ang Lee (dir), Broke Back Mountain
Week 8:
M Oct 21: Cooking it up and boiling it down
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Madeleine Thien, “Simple Recipes” and “Four Days from Oregon” in Simple Recipes
Chapter 5: “Writing the Research Paper, Avoiding Plagiarism, and Documenting
Sources” (96-107)
W Oct 23
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Madeleine Thien, “Alchemy” and “House” in Simple Recipes
Author visit
Week 9:
M Oct 28
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Madeleine Thien, “Bullet Train” and “A Map of the City”
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W Oct 30:
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Mid Term test: Lecture is cancelled (tutorials are not cancelled)
Personalized Learning Plan (about 3.5hours; available now)
Multiple Choice Comprehension questions (available online 8am - 4pm)
Week 10:
M Nov 4: The N Word
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ZZ Packer, “Brownies” (301-13)
Ralph Ellison, “Battle Royal” (503-10)
First Draft of Essay 2 Due in lecture (or Monday tutorials)
W Nov 6: Cultural Displacements
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Junot Diaz, “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfe” (319-21)
Jhumpa Lahiri, “Interpreter of Maladies” (409-19)
Week 11:
M Nov 11: Remembrance Day: No Class
W Nov 13: Angels in the House
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Joyce Carole Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (205-13)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown” (449-55)
Week 12:
M Nov 18: Freedom and Imprisonment
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Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (364-71)
Raymond Carver, “Cathedral” (520-527)
Essay 2 is returned this week
W Nov 20: The Storyteller’s Legacy
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Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” (477-80)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” (535-8)
Week 13:
M Nov 25: Be careful what you wish for…
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Edgar Allan Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” (291-5)
DH Lawrence, “The Rocking Horse Winner” (544-50)
W Nov 27: Love is a Battlefield
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Anton Chekhov, “The Lady with the Pet Dog” (527-34)
Dagoberto Gilb, “Love in L.A.” (468-70)
Week 14:
M Dec 7: Review for exam
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Revised Essay 2 Due in Lecture (or Monday tutorials)