COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
NEIL HARTLEN
January 1997 Comp. Lit, South College
M-F 9-11:30 Dept.: 545-0929
Herter 118 Home: 584-9026

Texts:

• The Story and its Writer. Anne Charters, ed. (Available at Jeffrey Amherst College Store)
• Numerous Handouts 

Goals:

• To read, think about, and understand a wide variety of fiction.
• To get a sense of the short story as a genre.
• To work on your critical writing skills.
• To express yourself verbally in an articulate and verbose manner.
• To learn and to be able to use basic rhetorical terms

Requirements:

• Daily Attendance
• Loudmouthed participation
• Reading aloud
• Daily Question/Comment paragraph: This is due every morning, will be collected, and will form part of your discussion grade. It should consist of several sentences of questions, thoughts, ruminations, speculations or arguments which you are to bring up in class. You will occasionally be called upon to read your paragraph aloud. You should jot it down while you are reading; it is to treated as class preparation, not as formal writing.
• Seven 1-2 page "responses", typed, to be written on the stories of your choice. They are due without exception on the day those stories are being discussed. Potential topics will be provided; you may also choose to respond to a question on the "Story Response Suggestions" handout, or choose a topic of your own. They should be more organized than your paragraphs, and must address a particular argument or question (i.e. they must have a thesis). Use evidence from the story (citing where necessary). They are not plot summaries; they are brief expository essays. At least three must be written by the end of week two (Jan. 10); another two by the end of week three (Jan. 17). They will be graded. You may, if you wish, substitute an oral report for one or two of these responses (see instructor).
• One final paper (3-5 pp.), on the subject of your choice (once again, suggestions will be provided.) This will go through two revisions. The first draft will be subjected to "peer review", the second draft will be corrected by the instructor, the third will be graded.
• All writing for the class is to be re-submitted in class on Thursday, Jan. 23rd, in a 9" by 12" manila envelope. If you wish to have your work returned to you, please self-address and stamp (with sufficient postage!) the envelope.

Grade:

• 50% Writing (final paper, "responses")
• 50% Talking (class discussion, question/comment paragraphs)

  Jan 2 Introduction
  Carter (England), "The Snow Child" (C)
  Atwood (Canada), "A Travel Piece" (C)

  3 de Maupassant (France), "The Necklace" (B)
  Poe (U.S.A.), "The Black Cat" (C), "The Tell-Tale Heart" (B) [these two too similar]

  6 Gogol (Russia), "The Overcoat" (B)
  Chekhov (Russia), "The Lady with the Pet Dog" (B)

  7 Gilman (U.S.), "The Yellow Wallpaper" (B)
  Chopin (U.S.), "Désiréeís Baby" (B)
  Colette (France), "The Hidden Woman" (C)

  8 Joyce (Ireland), "The Boarding House" (C)
  Mansfield (England), "The Garden Party" (B)
  Woolf (England), "Kew Gardens" (B)

  9 Conrad (Poland/England), "Heart of Darkness" (B)

  10 Achebe (Nigeria), "Civil Peace" (B)
  Okri (Nigeria), "In the Shadow of War" (B)
  Ngugi, "A Meeting in the Dark" (C)

  13 Kafka (Germany/Czechoslovakia), "The Metamorphosis" (B)

  14 Kundera (Czechoslovakia), "The Hitchhiking Game" (B)
  Wolf (Germany), "Exchanging Glances" (B)

  15 Borges (Argentina), "The Garden of Forking Paths" (B)
  Garcia Marquez (Columbia), "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" (B)
  Somers (Uruguay), "The Fall"
  Final Paper Draft #1 DUE. Bring three copies to class!

  16 Hébert (Canada), "The House on the Esplanade" (C)
  Munro (Canada), "Simonís Luck" (C)
  Peer Review Sheets DUE

  17 Walker (U.S.), "Roselily" (B)
  Baldwin (U.S.), "Sonnyís Blues" (B)
  Final Paper Draft #2 DUE

  21 Lu Xun (China), "Diary of a Madman" (C)
  Tanizaki Junichiro (Japan), "The Thief" (C)
  Yukio Mishima (Japan), "Fountains in the Rain" (B)
  Final Paper Draft #2 Returned

  22 Tagore (India), "The Postmaster" (C), "The Cabuliwallah" (C)
  Rushdie (India/U.K.), "Good Advice is Rarer than Rubies" (C)

  23 Mukherjee (India/U.S.), "The Management of Grief" (B)
  Calvino (Italy), "All at One Point" (C)
  Barthelme, "The Indian Uprising" (B)
  Final Paper Draft #3 Due

B): The Story and its Writer

(C): Photocopied handout