CurrMap-2

English 4/4h--Ideas and the World (Dwight Raulston)

Content

• Short stories by Kafka (“In the Penal Colony,” “A Hunger Artist,” “Before the Law,” “Judgment,” “The Refusal”)
• The Fall by Albert Camus
• Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
• All in the Timing by David Ives
• Art by Yasmine Reza
• The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir (extracts)
• Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean Paul Sartre
• A selection of modernist paintings
• A student-generated selection of modernist poetry

Skills

Critical reading skills

• observing textual detail
• making inferences
• recognizing tone
• synthesizing ideas
• recognizing intertextuality
• recognizing and analyzing style
• recognizing implications of structure and narration

Analytical writing skills

• formulation of compelling thesis
• construction of a logical argument
• selection, presentation, and analysis of appropriate literary evidence
• distinction of subtleties in diction

Creative writing skills

• presentation of a point through specific writing styles and techniques

Poetic reading skills

• reinforcement of oral reading skills

Synthesis of material over multiple works and many months using a persuasive argument and quoted support; writing a longer paper

Assessments

• Class/group discussions
• In-class writings--English 4/4H Ideas
• 1000+ word, analytical and creative out-of-class papers
• Individual student tutorials
• Student journals
• Responses to study questions--English 4/4H Ideas
• 2000+ word Synthesis Paper as cumulative experience of semester (counts as semester examination) Synthesis paper--English 4/4H Ideas

Honors project The major guideline is a project related to the course topic (philosophy and literature in the 20th century) that’s approved by me in advance. If a paper, it should be of about 2000 words. You may also choose a presentation, which must include a powerpoint, an oral presentation (on CD unless you want to talk to me about doing it to the class), and a written summary/justification of your assumptions and decisions in making your presentation.

Here are some possibilities:

• Art
  • A presentation (along the lines of “Art in the time of Kafka”) for another major time period (existentialism, for instance, or postmodernism) that includes
  • A slide show of about 10-12 pieces of art
  • An oral presentation/explanation of the art and how it’s emblematic of the period
  • A written justification of why you made the selections (of artists and pieces) you did.

• Philosophy
  • A paper or presentation on a major philosopher of (or connected with) one of the time periods that briefly explicates his/her major theses and ties these to the literature of the time

• Post-postmodernism
  • A hypothesis about what “post-“ postmodernism will look like when people come to review the period in another 20 or 50 years along with explanations of how the literature will reflect the major trends you identify and a justification for your choices.

• Traditional topics
  • Read another work and discuss it in terms of the appropriate philosophical/literary movement and the emblematic work of the same period in the course. Ex. “The Stranger” for existentialism

--Draulston 07:00, 19 August 2008 (CDT)