SYLLABUS Eng. CCG2A/Fall 1994
English Composition II: Writing and Literature
Instructor: David A. Goldfarb
T-Th 2:00-3:15, Office Hours: T 12:00-1:00
- 8/30 Introduction, Diagnostic test: "What is the mind?"
- 9/1 Discussion of diagnostic
- 9/8 Plato, Phaedo. Journal: Write a short summary of Plato's arguments.
- 9/13 Journal: Write a short response to one of the arguments presented in the Phaedo.
- 9/20 Descartes, Meditations. Journal: Write a short outline of Descartes' arguments.
- 9/22 Journal: Outline a short response to one of the arguments presented in the "Sixth Meditation."
- 9/27 Discussion of reading, outlining and preparation for timed essay.
- 9/29 TIMED WRITING ASSIGNMENT
- 10/4 The Epic of Gilgamesh. Journal assignments for the remainder of the semester will be set as we go, based on the needs of the class.
- 10/6 Journal: Select a passage that you think contains an important aspect of the meaning of the entire text, and explain why in 1 or 2 pages.
- 10/11 Soyinka, Death and the King's Horseman.
- 10/13 Journal: Select a passage that you think contains an important aspect of the meaning of the entire text, and explain why in 1 or 2 pages.
- 10/18 Baudelaire, selections
- 10/20 Journal: Explicate one entire poem from the handout.
- 10/25 Bring a draft of your 5 page reading to class for discussion.
- 10/27 Jo Spence, "The Picture of Health? 1982 Onwards." 5 PAGE READING DUE
- 11/1 Discussion of reading.
- 11/3 Jane Gallop, "Thinking Through the Body"
- 11/8 Gallop continued. Journal: What is Baudelaire's conception of the body? How does it differ from those offered by Gallop and Spence and why?
- 11/10 Delany, The Motion of Light in Water, selections.
- 11/15 Delany continued.
- 11/17 Daniel C. Dennett, Consciousness Explained, ch. 5.
- 11/22 Discuss bibliographies and research for final paper.
- 11/29 Derek Jarman, Caravaggio (film screening).
- 12/1 Jarman continued. PROPOSALS DUE.
- 12/6 Overspill, RESEARCH PAPER DRAFT DUE.
- 12/8 Discussion of drafts.
- 12/13 Conclusion, RESEARCH PAPER DUE
Grades will be weighted as follows:
Timed Writing Assignment | 15%
|
5 p. reading | 20%
|
Research Paper Proposal | 5%
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5 p. Research Paper | 25%
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Journal & Daily Assignments | 20%
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Participation | 15%
|
The class will be structured as a workshop. Class participation will be taken very seriously in the determination of your final grade. You are expected to do all the reading carefully and to make arguments on the basis of it in class and in your assignments.
JOURNALS: Good papers start with good preparation. Too often instructors spend a great deal of time attempting to correct problems in student papers without considering what went into them. Often when we read books for a class or project, we do not know exactly what we are looking for, what to underline, or what to take notes on. In this class, we will work specifically on those skills by keeping journals that will be collected periodically and evaluated. You should take notes on the reading and class discussion in the journal. The journal will also be a place for daily assignments. All this preliminary material may be of value to you when you write your papers.
The journal may be in any form comfortable to you and your writing process. If you are not sure what to use, I recommend sewn, hardbound notebooks, because these are the most durable. If you write on a computer, you may consider taking notes on a computer.
All papers should be typed, double spaced, and properly annotated, following the format of the MLA Handbook, 3rd ed. If you do not own the MLA Handbook, you are strongly advised to purchase it at the bookstore. Daily assignments and journals may be handwritten unless otherwise indicated.
You are encouraged to consult secondary materials. We learn to make good arguments by analyzing the good arguments of others. However, you will be writing about the works on the reading list, and you must substantiate your arguments with evidence from the texts themselves. If secondary sources figure into your paper, appropriate citations must be provided. FAILURE TO PROVIDE PROPER CITATIONS IS A COMMON FORM OF INADVERTANT PLAGIARISM. All your assignments will be graded primarily on the basis of evidence and argument, with special emphasis on form, grammar and documentation, since this is a writing course. We will discuss each assignment in greater detail in class.
BOOKLIST English 120/Fall 1994
English Composition II: Writing and Literature
REQUIRED READING (campus bookstore):*
- Descartes, Rene. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, 3rd ed. Trans. Donald A. Cress. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1993.
- The Epic of Gilgamesh. Tr. Maureen Gallery Kovacs. Stanford: Stanford U. Pr., 1989.
- Plato. Five Dialogues. Trans. G. M. A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1981.
- Soyinka, Wole. Death and the King's Horseman. New York: Hill and Wang, 1987.
PHOTOCOPIED MATERIALS:
- Baudelaire, Selected poems.
- Delany, Samuel R. The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village, 1957-1965. New York: NAL/Plume, 1988.
- Dennett, Daniel Clement. Consciousness Explained. Illust. Paul Weiner. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1991.
- Gallop, Jane. "Thinking Through the Body." Thinking Through the Body. New York: Columbia U. Pr., 1988.
- Spence, Jo. "The Picture of Health? 1982 Onwards." Putting Myself in the Picture: A Political, Personal, and Photographic Autobiography. London: Camden Pr., 1986.
FILM (in class screening)
- Derek Jarman, Caravaggio. [If you want to rent this yourself, you can find it at Kim's Video on St. Marks Pl. and at The Movie Place at 105th and Broadway.]
RECOMMENDED READINGS:
- Caws, Mary Ann. Introduction. Women of Bloomsbury: Virginia, Vanessa and Carrington. New York: Routledge, 1990.
- Delany, Samuel R. Babel-17 (1966). New York: Ace Books, 1973.
- Miller, Nancy K. "Facts, Pacts, Acts." Profession (1992): 10-14.
- ---. Getting Personal: Feminist Occasions and Other Autobiographical Acts. New York: Routledge, 1991.
- Shoemaker, Sydney. "Persons and Their Pasts." Identity, Cause,and Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Pr., 1984. 19-48.
- Starobinski, Jean. "The Style of Autobiography." Trans. Seymour Chatman. Autobiography: Essays Theoretical and Critical. Ed. James Olney. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1980. 73-83.
* N.B.: This is the form that your bibliography entries should take, when you write your papers. See MLA Handbook, 3rd edition for more details.
You are generally discouraged from using other editions. Even if you have read some of the works already in another version, it is wise to acquire the assigned texts so that you can follow along in class. Abridgements are unacceptable. Some of these books may be offered in other classes. Make sure you use the editions listed for this class. Other versions of Gilgamesh are outdated and not acceptable, though the Gardner/Maier version has some useful introductory material. You are welcome and encouraged to read in the original language, if you can, but standards are the same no abridgements or "modernized" versions.
You are making a substantial investment of money and time to attend Queens College. Do not squander them by skimping on books or by failing to bring them to class.
8 September 1995
dag@cunyvms1.gc.cuny.edu