Weekly Calendar

Week 1 (1/27, 29)

Day 1: Introduction to course

Day 2: Start Prose/Fiction Unit
Read: p. 1-10, Introduction to book
p. 12-21, fiction, Brewer’s “20/20”

Week 2 (2/3, 5)

Day 1: Read: p. 21-36, 

Carver’s “Cathedral” and Paley’s “A Conversation With My Father”
Due: Response Paper #1


Day 2: Read p. 37-51, Alexie’s “Flight Pattern”

Week 3 (2/10, 12)

focus on Plot:
Day 1: Read: p. 57-81, Cheever
Day 2: Read p. 81-106, Baldwin

Week 4 (2/17, 19)

Day 1: focus on character
Read: p. 119-133, Welty
Due: Response Paper #2

Day 2: focus on narration/p.o.v.
Read p. 106-118, Hemingway and Poe

Week 5 (2/24, 26)

Day 1: focus on setting
Read: p. 165-194, Amy Tan, Anton Chekhov

Day 2: focus on Symbol
Read p. 207-214, Kafka
Due: Response Paper #3

Week 6 (3/3, 5)

Day 1: Read p. 224-236, Mukherjee; p. 332-347,
DH Lawrence
Due: Mimicking the Artist (Fiction)

Day 2: Read p. 356-363, Faulkner; p. 369-380, O’Connor

Week 7 (3/10, 12)

Day 1: Read p. 363-369, 

WC Williams and Kawabata; p. 385-386, Kincaid

Day 2: Reading: TBA
Due: Lit Crit Essay 1: Prose/Fiction

Week 8 (3/17, 19)

Day 1: Drama
Read: p. 676, Sophocles Oedipus the King

Day 2: Midterm Exam (150 points), In-class

Spring Break (3/24, 26)

Happy Week Off! 

Make sure to read, as the plays are thicker, and take longer . . .

Week 9 (3/31, 4/2)

Day 1: Read: August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Act I
Day 2: Read: The Piano Lesson, Act II
Due: Response Paper #4

Week 10 (4/7, 9)

Day 1: Read: Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, Act I and II
Day 2: Read: Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, Act III
Recommended: Read: Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Act I, page 923-955

Week 11 (4/14, 16)

Day 1: Poetry
Read: 398-415
Lecture: Cultural history and Poetry
Due: Mimicking the Artist (Drama)

Day 2: Listening to Poetry – the various rhythms
Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” (p. 470), 

ee cummings, Christina Rossetti, Yusef Komunyakaa

Week 12 (4/21, 23)

Day 1: Dickinson and Whitman – American Poetry!
(Their affect on ‘The line’)
Due: Response Paper #5

Day 2: Tone in Poetry: Kinnell, Ali, 

Atwood, Browning, etc.

Week 13 (4/28, 30)

Day 1: Form and Poetry
Dylan Thomas, Elizabeth Bishop, Seamus Haney, 

Richard Siken, Nick Flynn, Juliana Spahr, etc.

Day 2: Focused Metaphor: 

Keats, Yeats and Wordsworth; James Wright, Joe Bolton,

Week 14 (5/5, 7)

Day 1: Precision v. Ambiguity; p.o.v.
Due: Mimicking the Artist (Poetry)

Day 2: Further Readings, TBA
Presentations of Final Creative Project

Week 15 (5/12, 14)

Day 1: Presentations of Final Creative Project

Day 2: Presentations
Due: Lit Crit Essay 2: Drama/Poetry

Syllabus, Spring 2009

Introduction to Literature

Spring 2009 – 52-1600-13
T, R 12:30 – 1:45pm
Room: ACC 703

If literature isn't everything, it's not worth a single hour of someone's trouble
                – Jean-Paul Sartre

Christopher Ankney
cankney@colum.edu
office hours: T, R, 11am - 12:15pm,
office: Congress 527 (or by appointment)


Course Objectives: "Students will 1) become familiar with one or more of the major forms of literature (poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction) and 2) be able to demonstrate that familiarity by being able to read and write critically about one of those forms (genres)."

Specific intended student learning outcomes:
- The ability to demonstrate a critical understanding of and appreciation for literature when analyzing stories, poems, and plays.
- The ability to understand and appreciate figurative language (metaphors, similes, and the like) in poetry, fiction, and drama.
- The ability to understand, appreciate, and apply knowledge of plot, character, point of view, imagery, theme, setting, irony, tone, symbols and language when reading fiction, poetry, or drama.
- The ability to develop a reasonable interpretation of a literary text and to support that interpretation with evidence.
- The ability to identify common or culturally specific themes in literature by writers of different races, genders and ethnic backgrounds.
- The ability to identify similarities between works of literature and other works of art or forms of communication.

Course Description: Introduction to Literature (course number 52-1600) introduces students to the genres of fiction, drama, and poetry. By studying important works by writers of culturally diverse backgrounds, students gain experience reading, analyzing, and interpreting literature. The course establishes connections between literature and other areas of arts and communications; students are better prepared for their majors in these fields. Prerequisite: Writing and Rhetoric I (formerly known as: Composition I).

Required Texts:
1) Booth, Hunter and Mays, eds. The Norton Introduction to Literature, portable edition. New York: Norton, 2006.
2) access to course blog: http://columbialiterature.blogspot.com/
3) notebook for lecture notes and in-class exercises

E-mailing Papers: All required major papers are to be handed in via e-mail, unless otherwise notified. For each paper, you will be given printed guidelines with more detailed requirements. When sending assignments by e-mail, name your file this way: your last name_first name_assignment name_literature

For example, if your name is John Smith and you are handing in Response Paper 1, name your file as such: smith_john_response paper 1_literature

*And very importantly, save your file as a .doc or .rtf file, otherwise your paper cannot be opened and graded!

Coursework and Grading (1000 total possible points):
Intellectual Assignments:
1) Lit Crit Unit Essays (400 pts= 2 x 200 pts each) – The course will be divided into two general units: Prose/Fiction and Drama/Poetry. For each unit you will write a 3-page literary analysis paper, with further guidelines handed out ahead of time.

2) Response Papers (250 pts= 5 x 50 pts each) – These 1-page papers are to be concise and focused argumentations on literary conventions/devices found within specified texts.

3) Midterm Exam (150 pts) – This multiple choice/ identification exam is meant to measure your understanding of literary terms and engagement with individual authors and their writing, both in definition and in use.

Creative Assignments:
4) Mimicking the Artist (90 pts=3 x 30pts each) – For each genre (fiction, drama and poetry) you will write a brief creative piece which imitates a canonical author of your choice.

5) Final Creative Project (110pts) – You are to create a visual/oral/ performance piece that can be interpreted as a real-world application of literature. You will choose one of the authors/texts and create a piece that connects literature to another discipline. You will present this piece towards the end of the semester to your course-mates, with a 1-page companion explanation handed in at the time of presentation. Photography, graphic design, painting, instrumental performances, dance – these are just a few of the possible talents that may help you complete this project. A short film, a well-designed advertisement – something of quality and high creative output is expected!

Grading Scale*: 1000 – 895 points A; 894 – 795 B; 794 – 695 C; 695 – 600 D; 599 – below F
*Note that a +/- scale will be used. Other factors will be used to determine “close calls.”


Academic Integrity: Cheating results in automatic failure of assignment, at minimum; possibly failure for the course. Also, you may be reported to the department for further penalization. Intentionally passing off another’s work, words, ideas as your own without giving credit is inexcusable and unethical.

Class Participation: I expect EVERY student to come to class prepared. The class will only be as strong as the students want it to be. The course’s success depends on healthy discussion of the texts, and your ability to ask questions to further your own learning.

Attendance: You have four absences during the semester, excused or un-excused. After that, you either fail the course or your final grade will be reduced at least one letter grade. Also note, every four tardies will equal one absence.

Weekly Calendar: The general guide for due dates and reading assignments is posted on the course blog (http://columbialiterature.blogspot.com/) and will be updated and revised (and announced) as the professor sees fit. There is a clear rationale with multiple reasons and benefits, in doing so. Among the benefits: 1) indicates the usefulness of the course blog, 2)forces us to use course blog, 3) allows for more adaptability in reading assignments, if necessary, and 4) saves the environment by saving some trees!