English 202-03: European Literary Classics, Enlightenment to Modern

TR 9:30-10:45, Gram 424

H. Hodgkins                                                                             Office hours: TR 11-12

Spring 2003                                                                             W 9:30-10:30, & by appt.

Email: hhhodgki@uncg.edu                                                       MCVR 136-D, (o) 4-5837

                                                                                                (h) 316-0463

 

Course description: This course involves extensive and intensive reading of European literature in translation.  These texts are foundational in Western cultural heritage.

 

Course goals:  The student successfully completing this course will be able to:

            --read the texts thoroughly and examine their literary characteristics;

--understand these texts in light of their interconnecting cultural, historical, and intellectual contexts;

            --begin to grasp why these literary works still matter today;

            --enjoy some of the most wonderful literature ever written.

 

Your texts: Do not try to substitute other editions of these books.

Molière, Tartuffe (1669), Dramatists Play Service or HBJ

Voltaire, Candide (1759), Dover

Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1787), Signet

Flaubert, Madame Bovary (1856), Penguin (trans. Wall)

Baudelaire, Flowers of Evil (1857), Dover

Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych (1886), Signet

Mann, Death in Venice (1912), Dover

Kafka, “The Metamorphosis” (1915), Dover

Camus, The Fall (1956), Vintage

Beckett, Waiting for Godot (1954), Grove/Atlantic

Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Harper Collins

Modern poetry (on-line reserve)

 

Your responsibilities:

A.     To read each assignment carefully and come to class prepared to discuss it.

B.     To come to class with texts and to follow along in large and small-group discussions.

C.     To take reading quizzes and write impromptu responses as required.

D.     To take four tests (essay and identification) on the days scheduled.

 

Your attendance:  I will take roll regularly, and I expect regular, prompt attendance.  After three absences, you will be dropped from the class; this rule does apply to students who added late.  Late-coming and early leave-taking demonstrate your indifference, and such practices will affect your participation and quiz scores.

 

Your grades:

Written responses, group and class participation                                    10%

Reading quizzes                                                                                    10%

Three tests and one final exam (20% each)                                            80%

Your honor:  All work in this class should be governed by the UNCG Academic Honor Policy.  I consider the use of Cliffs Notes or any crib resource a violation of this policy.  Any work submitted as your own will receive an F if I find you have used others’ ideas.  A second violation will result in an F for the course and subject you to University disciplinary procedures.

 

Schedule of readings  (subject to revision):

*Unless otherwise stated, read the complete text before our first day’s discussion on it.

1/14         Intro; Tartuffe                             Enlightenment, Neoclassicism, Rationalism

1/16         Tartuffe (quiz)

 

1/21         Candide (quiz)                            Rationalism

1/23              “

 

1/28         Werther (quiz)                             Romanticism

1/30               "

 

2/4           Werther

2/6           Test 1

 

2/11         Flowers of Evil (quiz)            Aestheticism, Symbolism

2/13         Bovary  pp. 1-162 (quiz)        Aestheticism, Realism

 

2/18              "

2/20         Bovary  pp. 163-end (quiz)

 

2/25              "

2/27         Ivan Ilych (quiz)                     Realism, Anticapitalism

 

3/4               "

3/6           Test 2

SPRING BREAK

3/18         Death in Venice  (quiz)         Modernism

3/20                     "                                          {3/19: Last day to drop without penalty.}

 

3/25         “The Metamorphosis” (quiz)    Modernism, Surrealism

3/27         Modern poetry (quiz)

 

4/1           Poetry cont.

4/3           The Fall (quiz)                              Existentialism

 

4/8              "

4/10         Test 3

 

4/15         Waiting for Godot (quiz)            Absurdism, Postmodernism

4/17                   "

 

4/22         Unbearable Lightness pp. 1-164 (quiz)               Postmodernism, Post-Communism

4/24                   "              "

 

4/29         Unbearable Lightness pp. 165-end (quiz)

5/1                   "              "

 

Test 4 / Final Examination: Thurs. 5/8, 8-11 a.m.