ENGL 153-001 Introduction to Women Writers A Survey of Literature in Britain and America, 1688-1925 Spring 2010

Instructor: Shannon Sears Office: 9 Morrill Hall Meeting days/times: Mondays & Wednesdays, 12:40-2:30pm Meeting place: 113 Bessey Email: searssha@msu.edu Office Hours: MW, 11am-Noon

Course Description: This course will introduce students to a range of women writers spanning from the late 17th century to the early 20th century. The authors and texts have been chosen to reflect a variety of genres, literary movements, and themes, including Gothic fiction, realism, sensation fiction, and poetry, as well as concepts like the bluestocking, and stream-of-consciousness narration. These texts are meant to provide an idea of the great variety of ways in which women have contributed to culture and literature in English, as well as to familiarize students with some of the figures that forged the way for todays women writers. Course Goals: This course is intended to provide basic strategies for encountering literary texts and discussing them analytically, both verbally in class and textually in essays. By the end of this course you should be able to: * Read a text actively * Perform close readings of literary texts * Write a focused and thoughtful response to a text * Construct a cogent argument advocating a particular interpretation of a text, supported by well-selected textual evidence * Compose an analytical essay as a vehicle for your argument, adhering to the genre conventions of an analytical essay * Engage with classmates in discussing the themes, style, patterns, and interpretations of various texts as part of a productive dialogue Required Texts: Aphra Behn, Oroonoko (1688) Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1817) Charlotte Bront, Jane Eyre (1847) Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audleys Secret (1862) Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899) Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (1925) A course pack with shorter selections is available at Budget Printing in Trowbridge Plaza. Selections from the course pack are indicated by [CP] in the reading schedule. Assignments: There will be two 3-5 page papers assigned, with specifications to follow. Two close readings will serve as stepping stones to the papers, but will be graded separately, as their own assignments. Writing activities will include SQuIPs (see below), and may also include in-class individual and group activities. I reserve the right to give reading quizzes if it seems that the class is regularly unprepared; if this occurs, quizzes will be part of the Writing Activities weight. However, if it seems that most of the class is prepared on a regular basis, I will not give any quizzes. 1

SQuIPs: SQuIP is an acronym for Surprise, Question, Intriguing Passage. Please see the course schedule for the days on which a SQuIP will be due. You will have two practice SQuIPs to start off the semester to get an idea of what is required by the assignment before I begin grading them officially. Well talk more in detail about this assignment in class. SQuIPs are part of the Writing Activities weight. Each SQuIP will be worth 5 points, and will be graded as follows: 1: Completed 2: Observational and cursory/unclear 3: Reflective and fairly explained 4: Reflective and thorough 5: Reflective; analytical and perceptive; thorough *If you are absent on a day that a SQuIP is due, you may turn it in at the next class meeting. After that, I will not accept late or make-up SQuIPs. Late Paper Policy: Late papers will incur a 0.20 reduction for each day they are late. You may forestall a late penalty by pasting the text of your paper into the body of an e-mail to me (no attachments), but you must bring a hard copy to hand in at the next class meeting. Grading: Paper 1: 15% Paper 2: 20% Participation: 15% Close Reading 1: 15% Close Reading 2: 20% Writing Activities: 15%

Participation: While I am here to provide historical context, guide discussions, and answer questions, I would like for this course to be as discussion-based as possible. Fiction and poetry are always open to multiple interpretations, and the course will be most productive if as many opinions as possible are offered to the group. Therefore, a portion of your final grade will be based on your participation. This means that you attend class regularly, keep up with the reading, and come to class with questions and comments on what you have read and on what the rest of the class has to say. You should also have a physical copy of the text we are discussing each day in class with you. If you are repeatedly tardy and/or unprepared, or if you regularly exclude yourself from class discussions, your participation grade will be lowered. Attendance: You are allowed 2 absences for the semester (this amounts to a full week of class). You may accrue these 2 absences without any grade penalty. I advise you to save these for the unexpected: illness, family emergencies, funerals, etc. For every absence after 2, your overall grade will be lowered by 0.15. Classroom Policies: Laptops and cell phones: Please turn off/silence and stow both types of devices while class is in session. They are distracting to the students around you and to the instructor. If I see you texting during class, I will make a notation in my daily records and your participation grade will be lowered. E-mailing: I will e-mail the class quite often, so you need to check your school e-mail regularly. Please allow 24 hours for me to respond to your e-mails. Respect: A variety of opinions will be expressed over the course of this semester, and you will not always agree with the ideas of others. This is to be expected, and characterizes English as a field of academic study. So long as you offer a 2

differing opinion tactfully and respectfully, our discussion will continue to be productive. However, if you become disruptive and/or disrespectful, your participation grade will be lowered, and you may be asked to leave. Academic Dishonesty: Academic honesty entails, among other things, that students will not plagiarize. This means (1) students will not submit someone elses work as their own (e.g. they will not submit another students paper etc., nor will they hand in a paper copied from the web or another published source). Academic honesty also means students (2) will not knowingly permit another student to copy and submit their work as that students own and (3) will not use unacknowledged quotations or paraphrases as part of their work. As provided by university policy, such academic dishonesty or plagiarism may be penalized by a failing grade on the assignment or for the course. Failure in a course as a result of academic dishonesty will also result in written notification to the students academic dean of the circumstances. Additional discussion of cheating or academic dishonesty is available on the Ombudsmans webpage: http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/dishonestystud.html Students with disabilities: If you have a documented disability that will affect your performance in this course, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can talk about accommodations. You should also contact the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities. You can contact them in person, in 120 Bessey, or by phone at 353-9642 (voice) or 355-1293 (TTY). Resources for Students: The Writing Center: 300 Bessey Hall. Website: http://writing.msu.edu/ ESL Writing Lab: In the English Language Center in A714 Wells Hall. Website: http://elc.msu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=171&Itemid=27 Learning Resource Center: 202 Bessey Hall. Website: http://www.msu.edu/user/lrc/ Schedule Reading Due None Introductions Haywood, Fantomina [CP] Poems of Phillis Wheatley [CP] No Class MLK Day Behn, Oroonoko Radcliffe, excerpts from Mysteries of Udolpho [CP] Austen, Northanger Abbey (Chapters 1-9) Austen, Northanger Abbey (Chapters 10-23) Austen, Northanger Abbey (Chapters 24-31) Bront, Jane Eyre (Chapters I-XI) Bront, Jane Eyre (Chapters XII-XV) Bront, Jane Eyre (Chapters XVI-XXIII) Bront, Jane Eyre (Chapters XXIV-XXVI)

Date Monday, 1/11 Wednesday, 1/13 Monday, 1/18 Wednesday, 1/20 Monday, 1/25 Wednesday, 1/27 Monday, 2/1 Wednesday, 2/3 Monday, 2/8 Wednesday, 2/10 Monday, 2/15 Wednesday, 2/17

Writing Due

Practice SQuIP #1 Practice SQuIP #2 SQuIP SQuIP Close Reading 1 SQuIP SQuIP SQuIP SQuIP

Monday, 2/22 Wednesday, 2/24 Monday, 3/1 Wednesday, 3/3 Monday, 3/8 Wednesday, 3/10 Monday, 3/15 Wednesday, 3/17 Monday, 3/22 Wednesday, 3/24 Monday, 3/29 Wednesday, 3/31 Monday, 4/5

Bront, Jane Eyre (Chapters XXVII-XXXIV) Bront, Jane Eyre (Chapters XXXV-XXXVIII) Articles by Fanny Fern [CP] Braddon, Lady Audleys Secret (Volume I, Chapters I-V) No Class Spring Break Braddon, Lady Audleys Secret (Volume I, Chapters VI-XV) Braddon, Lady Audleys Secret (Volume I, Chapter XVI-Volume II, Chapter II) Braddon, Lady Audleys Secret (Volume II, Chapters III-XI) Braddon, Lady Audleys Secret (Volume II, Chapter XII-Volume III, Chapter II) Braddon, Lady Audleys Secret (Volume III, Chapters III-X) FILM: Braddon, Lady Audleys Secret Bonnin, Impressions of an Indian Childhood [CP] Dickinson, selected poems [CP] Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper [CP] Chopin, The Awakening (Chaps. I-XVIII) Chopin, The Awakening (Chaps. XIX-XXXIX) Stein, selections from Tender Buttons [CP] Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (pp. 195-244) Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (pp. 244-371)

SQuIP

Paper 1 No Class Spring Break SQuIP SQuIP SQuIP SQuIP SQuIP

Wednesday, 4/7 Monday, 4/12 Wednesday, 4/14 Monday, 4/19 Wednesday, 4/20 Monday, 4/26 Wednesday, 4/28 Wednesday, 5/5

SQuIP Close Reading 2 SQuIP

Patriarchy Scavenger Hunt

Draft of final paper Writing Workshop Paper 2 Due by 5:00pm