English 105-10

Introduction to Narrative

Fall 2002

Class: TTh, 3:30–4:45, 135 McIver                                                                                                     E-mail: jlfunder@uncg.edu

Instructor: Julie Funderburk                                                                                                                          Office: 136-F McIver

Phone: 334-5837 (sorry, no voice mail)                                                                                    Hours: By appointment; W 11–1

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Overview:

 

This class will enhance your understanding and appreciation of the narrative form and help you become a better reader. Through close readings of texts, we will analyze and discuss the elements of narrative, including character, plot, theme, and structure, and we will explore how writers’ choices serve their stories’ concerns. We will discuss numerous short stories, two novels, and poems that employ narratives. This will be a lecture and discussion-based class.

 

Student Learning Goals:

 

At the end of the course, you should be able to:

Identify and understand varied characteristics of narratives (short stories, novels, and narrative poems), apply techniques of literary analysis to texts, and use literary study to develop skills in careful reading and clear writing. This course will be broad and foundational in nature; it will not assume extensive previous knowledge of literature.

 

Texts:

 

Do not try to substitute other editions of the text. Please inform me if the bookstores do not have sufficient stock.

 

The Story and Its Writer, 5th Edition, Ann Charters, ed.

Stones for Ibarra, Harriet Doerr, Penguin.

Wolf Whistle, Lewis Nordan, Algonquin.

Assignments on E-reserve at the UNCG Library.

 

Attendance:

 

Attendance is required. You are ‘forgiven’ two  absences. After that, each absence effects your grade, even if your reasons for missing the class are legitimate. After a third absence, any additional absence lowers your final grade one letter. Missing more than five classes will make it almost impossible to pass the course; logic will necessitate that you be dropped. If you are absent, you are responsible for obtaining any materials and completing any assignments prior to the next class meeting. You are responsible for information covered in your absence and for any deadlines, regardless of an absence. Tardiness will lower your grade.

 

Requirements:

 

You are required to come to class having read the material, ready to participate in class discussion. This is time-consuming, as I expect you read actively (annotating your text, reading prose carefully, reading poems at lease twice) so that you understand the text before we begin to uncover it further. Have comments, responses, and questions ready. You should always bring the

appropriate book and E-reserve assignments with you. In addition to reading assignments, there will one take-home assignment, one midterm, one 3-page paper, and one final. There will be periodic quizzes.

 

Grading:

 

Participation (contribution to class discussion, attendance, attentiveness, quizzes) = 15%

                (Please note: you cannot make up a missed quiz)

Take-Home assignment: 20%

Midterm: 20%

Paper: 20%

Final: 25%

 

Late work policy: You must make prior arrangements to hand in an assignment one day late, and you lose a letter grade. After that, I will not accept the work. No exceptions. All writing assignments must be typed or computer generated.

 

Writing Center:

 

This course requires that you write about literature, but it is not a writing course. For help with written assignments, note that the Writing Center is located in 101 McIver and is open Monday–Thursday, 9:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m., and Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. You may make an appointment for individualized instruction by calling 334-3125, or you can simply drop in, bringing your work-in-progress with you. Consultants in the writing center are a valuable resource. By bringing drafts and questions to the Writing Center, you gain access to consultants who can offer a perspective, an audience, a “listening eye.”