English 683 Zacharias
The Structure of Fiction Fall 2002
SYLLABUS
About This Course
English 683 will use fiction
(novels and novellas) as its primary text.
We will begin by reviewing several definitions of structure, form, and related
terms in order to clarify a basis for looking at the frameworks of the thirteen
primary texts, which have been selected for the variety they represent in
narrative treatment of time. No matter
how fragmented, wrenched, or submerged, time is a common denominator of
narrative: Time passes. There are two ways to approach time, of
course, by the clock or by man's intuitive (imaginative) sense of duration
(Bergsonian time). Traditionally
fiction has derived its plot structure from some sense of the former, even as
its authors, narrators, and characters sometimes rebel in affirmation of the
latter; less traditionally plotted fiction has tended to privilege the latter,
though in such fictons it is often the excruciating irreconciliability of the
two that gives the work tension.
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of
this course, students will be fluent in a critical vocabulary pertaining to
structure and familiar with both theoretical approaches to structure and a
variety of fictional structures/substructures authors choose to order and give
meaning to their texts.
Instructor
Lee Zacharias
Office Hours: 1:30-2 T; 3:30-4:45 TR
131 McIver
334-4695
Texts
Edward Hoagland, "The Final
Fate of the Alligators"*
Gustave Flaubert, Three
Stories (we are reading A Simple Heart)
Saul Bellow, Seize the Day
Virginia Woolf, To the
Lighthouse
Richard Yates, Revolutionary
Road
Robert Stone, Dog Soldiers
Paula Fox, Desperate
Characters
Charles Baxter, First
Light
Alice Mc Dermott, That
Night
Alain Robbe-Grillet, Two
Novels (we are reading Jealousy)
Vladimir Nabokov, Pale
Fire
Joan Chase, During the
Reign of the Queen of Persia**
Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
Tim O'Brien, The Things
They Carried
*Available on e-reserve at
the library
**Chase's novel has just gone
out of print. The UNCG Bookstore has 6
used copies; additional reasonably priced used copies are available from Amazon
and Powell's.
Requirements and Grading
Reading and Discussion: This is a
course that requires a serious commitment of time spent reading and thinking
about what you read. It is not a
lecture course; therefore it is essential that you keep up with the reading
schedule in order to participate in the classroom dialogue. Twenty percent of your grade will be
determined by the quality of your contribution to this dialogue.
Reports: Each of you
will sign up to report orally to the class on the structure of one of the
novels (or novellas) read for class.
These 15-20 minute reports should include a general observation of the
structure plus some evaluation based on criteria obtained from a supplemental
theoretical and/or critical source.
This source might be a general work on an aspect of fiction relating to
structure (I will prove a nonrestrictive bibliography; I have also placed a
number of essays/chapters you may find useful in a photocopy file on reserve at
the library) or a criticl work (essay, book) pertaining more specifically to
your novel (or novella). It is not necessary
that you agree with the criteria of your source—you may choose to report on
your disagreement as long as you can make a significant connection between the
two texts. A written document must be
submitted in conjunction with your report.
This should be a brief document that cites your source and states
your basic points; it is not an essay or paper; it can be an outline and or
even your notes as long as I can follow them.
(Essentially the purpose of this document is to aid my memory of your
presentation and fill in anything the dreadful acoustics of the McIver Building
might cause me to miss.) Reports will
count 30% of your final grade.
Paper: A
15-page term paper pertaining to structure in one of the novels (or novellas)
read for class or some combination of them is due November 20. The novel you choose may not be the novel
you report on, though that novel may serve as a point of comparison if you
treat more than one of the primary texts.
One of your sources may be the supplemental source you used for you
report, but the paper should address your subject in a more specific and
detailed way. The paper will count 50%
of your final grade.
Course Organization
Time Writ Large and Small
(Summary and
Scene)
Edward Hoagland, "The
Final Fate of the Alligators"
Gustave Flaubert, A Simple
Heart
Saul Bellow, Seize the Day
Virginia Woolf, To the
Lighthouse
Time Marches On
(The Well-Plotted Novel)
Richard Yates, Revolutionary
Road
Robert Stone, Dog Soldiers
Paula Fox, Desperate
Characters
Turning Back the Clock
(A Structure That Disallows the Question What Happens
Next)
Charles Baxter, First
Light
Around and Around and Around We Go
(Circular Structures)
Alice McDermott, That
Night
Alain Robbe-Grillet, Jealousy
The Future in the Past/Past in the Future
(Memory, Imagination, and Time)
Vladimir Nabokov, Pale
Fire
Joan Chase, During the
Reign of the Queen of Persia
Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
Tim O'Brien, The Things
They Carried
Discussion Schedule
Aug.
28 Edward Hoagland,
"The Final Fate of the Alligators"
Gustave
Flaubert, A Simple Heart
Sept.
4 Saul Bellow, Seize
the Day
Sept.
11 Virginia Woolf, To
the Lighthouse
Sept.
18 Richard Yates, Revolutionary
Road
Sept.
25 Robert Stone, Dog
Soldiers
Oct.
2 Paula Fox, Desperate
Characters
Oct.
9 Charles Baxter, First
Light
Oct.
16 Alice McDermott, That
Night
Oct.
23 Alain Robbe-Grillet, Jealousy
Oct. 30 Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire
Nov. 6 Joan Chase, During the Reign of the Queen of Persia
Nov. 13 Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
Nov. 20 Papers Due
Class will assemble to turn in papers
and then attend Will Read for
Food, the annual literary benefit
reading for the Greensboro Food Bank.
Dec. 4 Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried