ClassInfo

What is literature? Look up the word in an English dictionary, and you will find that it once referred to knowledge--in the broadest sense--gleaned from reading. (And before literature arrived on the scene, poetry and its kin--not literature--were the dominant terms for imaginative making, imaginative expression.) Today the term literature embraces all things printed, from fiction to nonfiction to advertising (yes, even your junk mail), from highbrow to low. Visit a U.S. bookstore, however, and you are likely to find a section called "fiction and literature"--a banner that at once narrows literature to fiction and excludes literature from fiction, styling the former "high" culture. Leave the Western world and one confronts other words often taken to translate literature, like the Arabic adab or the Sanskrit kavya. Are these "literature"? This course will take a comparative view of the term literature as well as its ideas, practices, and forms. Reading texts by a variety of writers from different times and places, we will ask ourselves whether, how, and why notions of the literary translate--or don't--across the languages, cultures, and times of the world. We will look at familiar forms of literary expression (epic, novel, lyric) and others that defy conventional Western understandings of genre. Finally, we will explore the relations of literature to orature (oral texts), to other media, and to the Internet. Given that literature historically has been tied to writing, to print, or to the book, what does it mean to study literature today--in an age when the book (and possibly print itself) may be vanishing? This course satisfies the Council on Liberal Education (CLE) Literature Core and Writing-Intensive requirements.

This course is open to undergraduate majors and non-majors; there are no prerequisites.

1) to understand how and why the term "literature" does and does not translate across different times, places, languages, and cultural contexts--and to explore its relationship to "orature"

2) to understand definitions of "epic," "novel," and "lyric"; the fluid boundaries between these; and why such ways of classifying "literature" may or may not hold within and beyond the West

3) to develop foundational skills in textual close reading and in academic writing about "literary" texts

20% Class Participation (includes mandatory attendance, in-class assignments/posts to Canvas discussions [at least 10 posts required during the term], and five Canvas reflection quizzes)

10% Online Plagiarism Tutorial and Certification Test

15% Paper #1 (500 words)

30% Paper #2 (1,000 words; to be revised per TA feedback and resubmitted for a final grade)

25% Paper #3 (1,000 words; final paper, will take the place of the final exam)

There will be no final examination; the final paper will take its place.

55% Lecture

10% Video/Audio

35% Discussion and Group Work

See Grading, above. Per the University policy Instructional Time Per Course Credit and the associated FAQ, one credit hour equals 50 minutes of scheduled instructional time (i.e., time actually spent in direct contact in class). Accordingly, CSCL 1101W, a 3-credit course, meets for 150 minutes per week over 15 weeks. The University policy Expected Student Academic Work per Credit, in turn, estimates the amount of work time needed to earn an average grade (C) in an undergraduate course. Per that policy, each credit requires approximately 3 hours of student work time per week, including instructional time (again, an "hour" here is a credit hour, defined as 50 minutes). Thus this 3-credit course will require approximately 450 minutes of student work per week, *including* the 150 minutes spent each week in class. To attain an average grade (C), students should budget at least 300 minutes of independent (i.e., outside-class) work time each week for reading and writing. Some weeks may demand more (e.g., when a paper is due), some less; 300 minutes per week is the average commitment. Above-average performance may require up to 450 minutes of outside-class work time per week.