BARUCH COLLEGE
English 2850: Great Works of Literature II
HTRA
Classroom: 17 Lex 714
TR 9:55 – 11:35 am
Prof. Phillip Griffith
Office:
Office Hours: T 11:35-12:35, or by appointment
Website URL: https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/greatworks2htra/
Required Texts (for purchase)
Djuna Barnes Nightwood (ISBN 0811216713)
Aimé Césaire Notebook of a Return to a Native Land (ISBN 0819564524)
Clarice Lispector Água viva (ISBN 9780811219907)
Voltaire Candide (ISBN 0143039423)
Please make sure to purchase the edition listed by ISBN. It is essential that we share the same edition/translation for class discussion.
Other Course Materials
This class uses web-based platforms, including a class blog hosted by Blogs@Baruch and the online annotation system Hypothes.is. Students will receive instructions on how to create accounts for these platforms. Additional required readings will be posted on the class website as PDFs.
Course Objectives
English 2850 will introduce you to a selection of literature from 1650 to the present, covering a number of major literary genres and examining works from around the world. The class will begin with the Baroque period in Mexico before focusing on 17th and 18th-century Japan, Enlightenment France, and modernity and Modernism in Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil. The class will also account for the relationship of translation and images to the texts we read. You will study the historical and cultural contexts of the pieces we read and learn about literary themes, techniques, and terminology. In the process, English 2850 will help you develop advanced reading and analytical capabilities. You will also hone your creative thinking and writing skills. This is a communication-intensive course that requires active class participation, oral presentations, frequent writing, group work, and peer review. Through these activities you will be able to:
- interpret meaning in literary texts by paying close attention to authors’ choices of detail, vocabulary, and style
- discuss the relationship between different genres of literary texts and the multicultural environments from which they spring
- articulate a critical evaluation and appreciation of a literary work’s strengths and limitations
- present your ideas orally
- write critical essays employing a strong thesis statement; appropriate textual citations; contextual and intertextual evidence for your ideas.
Course Requirements
- Blog posts 15% — Each student will post 3 blog posts during the semester. These are 250-word paragraph responses to a topic related to the class reading. Specific prompts will be given to students, and responses must be posted by 9 pm the evening before the due date. Additionally, students must reply to at least 3 posts by their colleagues during the semester.
- Close reading essay 15% — For this essay, students will carefully analyze a passage of a text and connect their analysis to an interpretation of a theme relevant to the text. Specific instructions will be distributed closer to the due date.
- Midterm translation essay 15% — Students will translate a passage of a text and compose an essay reflecting on the process of translation. Specific instructions will be distributed closer to the due date.
- Final project 35% — For the final project, students will assemble an anthology of passages from the texts on the schedule of readings to explore the course theme of “voyage and displacement” through a specific theoretical or thematic lens. The project will include an essay, a creative piece of writing by the student, and a final presentation. Further details will be distributed later in the semester.
- Reading quizzes 10% — These short quizzes are designed to assess completion of the assigned reading. Quizzes will be unannounced and take place in the first 5 minutes of class. Quizzes cannot be made up, but the lowest quiz grade will be dropped.
- Participation 10% — Students are expected to attend each class meeting having completed the required reading and with a copy of the required text(s). Students may use tablet or laptop computers but may not use cell phones in class.
Attendance
Students with more than 4 absences will be subject to a WU grade assigned by the instructor.
More than 3 late arrivals will result in loss of participation points. A late arrival or an early departure of more than 30 minutes will result in an absence.
NO CELL PHONES. No meals/disruptive food.
Late Assignments
Late assignments will be subject to a reduction in grade of 1 letter grade for every class session they are late. If you foresee a problem, speak to me well in advance of the due date.
Grade Scale
This course follows the college-wide grading scale posted on the College website:
Academic Honesty
All students are expected to present original work. Anyone caught plagiarizing or cheating on a quiz, test or any assignment will receive an F on the assignment and be referred to the college for further disciplinary action. Please familiarize yourself with the policy by visiting:
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html
Accommodations Policy
Baruch College is committed to making individuals with disabilities full participants in its programs, services, and activities through compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. It is the policy of Baruch College that no otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall be denied access to or participation in any program, service, or activity offered by the university. Individuals with disabilities have a right to request accommodations. If you require any special assistance or accommodation, please let me know as soon as you can, ideally during the first three weeks of the semester.