Ethical rules for this class blog:
- Do not do unto others unless you want others do onto you. 己所不欲，勿施于人。
- Remember individual and cultural differences!
- Do onto others what others do onto you!
Spring 2009, BRNG B255
MWF 12:30-1:20
Xianfeng Mou imfeng@purdue.edu
Office Heavilon 210, 496-1076
Office hours: Wednesdays and Fridays 2:00-3:00 pm or by appt
Course description
This course is designed so that you will become comfortable reading, understanding, appreciating, and writing about literature analytically. It is also intended to familiarize you with the various fascinating literary and cultural traditions around the world based on what you know about your own cultural and literary traditions. You will get to know several intellectual and artistic concepts prevalent after 17,00 such as The Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism, and Modernism.
Course objectives
It is hoped that you will be able to see clearly how these varying intellectual and artistic concepts influenced literary practices both within and without the Euro-American sphere. The peripheral practices, in return, also adjusted, extended, and enriched the Euro-American literary landscapes by adding diversity. By the end of the course, it is hoped that you will learn to appreciate the unique values brought by comparing and contrasting works from different historical periods or traditions, that you will develop a global perspective when approaching world cultures, that you will be able to appreciate how different observers present different realities through their fantastic, specially-designed narrative techniques, and that you will discover how literary reading facilitates and impacts your own self-improvement.
Reading assignments
You are expected to finish the reading assignments designated for each class and think critically about them so that you can participate actively in class discussions. Without reading the texts, it is extremely difficult for you to take anything meaningful away from the class. One simple reminder is to always read the primary text yourself, savor it, and never depend on notes you google up or on book cover introductions. Oftentimes you will find such sources unsatisfying and sometimes rather misleading.
Class projects
1) Two short papers
The first one is on an assigned topic, 5 pages long, and worth 20%.
It is aimed to show your personal interpretation of certain literary or multimedia texts.
The second paper focuses on a topic of your own choice, with the instructor’s consent, 7 pages long and worth 25%.
This is a formal research paper. It should be argumentative in nature. Students must get the instructor’s consent before they start writing.
(Both papers should be double-spaced, one-inch margined, in 12 sized Times New Roman. Detailed instructions will be provided later.)
2) Mid-term exam, 15%
3) One class presentation about a major author, 15%
4) Final exam, 20%
5) Performance, progress, and attendance 5%
Attendance
You are required to attend each class on time, having read the designated assignments and thought carefully about the texts. You are allowed three absences without penalty. Absences beyond that limit have to be supported by a physician’s note or a letter from the Dean of Students to be excused. You are counted late 10 minutes after class starts. And chronic lateness will seriously affect your performance grade. If you are committed to a sports training program or similar University-related programs, you are required to provide documents signed by appropriate authorities when the semester starts.
Excessive absences policy
Each student is allowed three absences without penalty. After three absences, each new absence must be supported with written documentation from people with competent authority to be excused. Chronic illness must be discussed especially with the instructor. After the quota of three absences are met, each new absence will lower your final course grade by 10%. After six absences, the course grade automatically becomes a failure.
Paper submission
On the exact due date, bring a physical copy of your paper, stapled or clipped together, or put in a folder and hand it in at the beginning of the class. As a rule, no late work is accepted. No extension is allowed unless under unpredictable circumstances. If your paper is indeed late, 10 percent will automatically be deducted if it is one day late. If your paper reaches the D category, you can stop counting how late it has become. Generally, no make-up exam is allowed, either. Therefore, please plan ahead.
Academic honesty
Everyone is aware of how significant it is to conduct your academic study and research in an honest and ethical manner. Academic dishonesty has serious consequences with me and in this University. I particularly abhor such disgusting acts as plagiarizing, impeding, or sabotaging your peers’ work since I myself have had been a victim. I will not even give a first warning. A student will automatically fail in this class if I detect plagiarism.
Classroom etiquette
The classroom is an academic environment where ideas can be freely exchanged or discussed for greater and better-informed understanding. Therefore, no discriminatory rhetoric regarding class, gender, economic status, sexual orientation, ethnicity, cultural or national background is allowed in the classroom. Everyone is equal in the classroom and shall enjoy equal rights and receive equal treatment based on academic merits.
Class reserves
Occasionally, I might put some materials or books on class reserve in Hicks undergrad library. You can check them up either by class number or by instructor’s name. More materials will come in later.
ADA Statement
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), all qualified students enrolled in this course are entitled to “reasonable accommodations.” It is the student’s responsibility to inform the instructor of any special needs before the end of the second week of class.
Required textbooks
Sarah Newall et al. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed., vols. D-F. New York and London: Norton, 2002.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Stories. Edited by Sandra M. Gilbert. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.
(Note: The anthology is available at Von’s Bookstore. Formerly titled The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, it has been expanded for the second edition. It is strongly recommended that you buy the exact edition, used or new.)
Copyright declarations:
On August 26, 2009, long after I have finished teaching the course, I realized that I need to hold Creative Commons Sharefile for this page. I have adapted two syllabi from my two professors into this one. Therefore, the majority of the copyright for this page belongs to my two professors. The rest belongs to me.
Anybody that wishes to cite or take information from this page shall need to contact my two professors–Professor Shaun Hughes and Professor Charles Ross–at the Department of English, Purdue University as well as informing me of their use.
For this blog, except the syllabus and the schedule for which I share Creative Commons Sharefile rights with my two professors, the copyright of all the other web pages solely belongs to me. All rights reserved.
This declaration is added on 08/26/09.
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