| English 410-01 |
CONTEMPORARY
LITERATURE |
SPRING
2008 |
| Kevin Brown |
|
Lee University |
HOW TO GET IN
TOUCH WITH ME
Office: Vest
Building 101C
Office Hours: MWF 10-11, 1:30-2; TTh 1-2
Phone: 8232
E-mail: kbrown@leeuniversity.edu
UNIVERSITY MISSION
STATEMENT
Lee University seeks to
provide education that integrates biblical truth as revealed in the
Holy
Scriptures with truth discovered through the study of the arts and
sciences and
in the practice of various professions. A personal commitment to
Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior is the controlling perspective from which the
educational
enterprise is carried out. The foundational purpose of all
educational
programs is to develop within the students knowledge, appreciation,
understanding, ability and skills which will prepare them for
responsible
living in the modern world.
TEXTBOOKS
Coupland,
Douglas. Generation X. New York: St. Martin’s,
1991.
DeLillo,
Don. White
Noise. 1985. New York: Penguin,
1986.
Fowles,
John. The French Lieutenant’s
Woman.
New York: Back Bay
Books, 1969.
Morrison,
Toni. The Bluest Eye. 1970. New York:
Plume, 1994.
Stoppard,
Tom. Rosencrantz
& Guildenstern Are Dead.
1967. New York: Grove Press, 1991.
Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary
Creative Nonfiction. Eds. Lex
Williford and Michael Martone. New York: Touchstone, 2007.
GRADING PROCEDURE
| Exams (2) |
40% |
Response Papers |
15% |
| Proposal and Bibliography |
5% |
Rough Draft |
5% |
| Paper |
20% |
Research Journal |
5% |
| Presentation |
10% |
Attendance at one of the Writers Series
events |
mandatory |
There will not be any reading quizzes unless I get the
impression that people aren’t doing the reading. If
that occurs, regular reading quizzes will
begin. They would count for 5% of the
final grade, and the paper would switch to 15%.
The grading scale is as follows:
| A = |
92% or above |
C+ = |
78 - 79% |
| A- = |
90 - 91% |
C = |
72 - 77% |
| B+ = |
88 - 89% |
C- = |
70 - 71% |
| B = |
82 - 87% |
D = |
60 - 69% |
| B- = |
80 - 81% |
F = |
59% or below |
·
You must complete all major
assignments in
order to pass this course.
LATE WORK
Because all of the assignments in this class are related to
the work we are doing at a specific time, it is important that work be
turned
in on time. Otherwise, the connection between what we are doing
in class
and the out-of-class assignment is lost. If work is late, the
penalty is
5 points per class day. If you have a major life crisis, talk to
me about
it, and we’ll work something out; otherwise, all work is due at the beginning
of the class on the assigned date. If you know you are going
to
absent on a day when an assignment is due, please turn it in ahead of
time. I will not accept any papers later than 2 weeks
after the
due date. Also, no papers will be accepted after the last
day of
class.
ACADEMIC
INTEGRITY/PLAGIARISM
The Lee University
Catalog states, “As a Christian
community of scholarship, we at Lee University
are committed
to the principles of truth and honesty in the academic endeavor. As
faculty and
students in this Christian community, we are called to present our
academic
work as an honest reflection of our abilities; we do not need to
defraud
members of the community by presenting others’ work as our own. Therefore, academic dishonesty is handled
with serious consequences for two fundamental reasons: it is stealing –
taking
something that is not ours; it is also lying – pretending to be
something it is
not. In a Christian community, such pretense is not only unnecessary,
it is
also harmful to the individual and community as a whole.
Cheating should have no place at a campus
where Christ is King because God desires us to be truthful with each
other
concerning our academic abilities. Only with a truthful presentation of
our
knowledge can there be an honest evaluation of our abilities. To such
integrity, we as a Christian academic community are called” (60).
Pages
60 and 61 further define academic dishonesty and plagiarism, and we
will talk
about it further in class. If you have
any questions at any time, please ask them, as this issue is one of the
most serious
in higher education. The penalties are
severe, as the catalog states: “The
faculty member may determine an appropriate course of action ranging
from
giving the student an F on the assignment or exam to awarding an F for
the
course” (61). Please treat this issue
with the gravity it requires.
STUDENTS WITH
DISABILITIES
Lee University
is committed to the provision of reasonable accommodations for students
with
disabilities as defined in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973.
Students who think they may qualify for these accommodations should
notify
their instructor immediately. Special services are provided
through the
Academic Support Program.
TECHNOLOGY
Cell Phones --
Against all of my efforts, cell phones have become a part of almost all
college
students’ lives. They should not,
however, be a part of this class. All
cell phones should be out of sight
and off (not on vibrate) during
class. This ban applies to all uses of
cell phones, whether that be text messaging or checking the time.
E-Mail -- I
communicate with my classes frequently via e-mail, and I check it quite
often. Thus, this avenue is one of the
best ways to get in touch with me. That
said, remember that you are writing an e-mail to a professor, not one
of your
friends. Thus, words should be spelled
correctly and capitalized, and the tone should be appropriate to your
audience. I would suggest this approach
for communicating with any of your professors.
Laptops -- Since
more and more students have laptops, many are bringing them to class to
use
them to take notes. If using a laptop in
class helps your performance in class, then I encourage you to use one. However, since we have wireless on campus,
the temptation is always there to instant message friends or surf the
web (not
to mention simply playing solitaire).
Resist these temptations.
Printers -- The
printers on campus are notorious for running out of toner and/or paper,
and
they often simply don’t work, usually at times you desperately need
them
to. Thus, do not rely on a campus
printer (or even your own) at the last minute.
You will end up late for class, missing the quiz, and, often,
the paper
still won’t have printed. Print your
papers
out the night before they are due. While
I have sympathy with your struggles with the printers, advance planning
can
help tremendously here.
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES
- This class works best as a discussion
class. Read your assignments carefully and come to class prepared to
ask questions, challenge, and explore ideas in depth with your
class members and professor.
- I expect you to attend class every day
it is held. There may be times, though, when an absence might be
unavoidable. You are responsible for what is on the
syllabus and for what goes on in class, whether you attend or not,
including changes to the syllabus.
- Participate in class discussions, but
do not dominate. Often, students believe
that they have to speak more than anyone else to show their
contributions to the class. Instead, that
type of behavior usually shows a lack of maturity on the student’s part
and a lack of understanding of how to truly contribute to academic
discussions. Understanding when to speak
is often as important as knowing what to say.
PROFESSOR RESPONSIBILITIES
- I will come to class prepared, with a
clear goal or goals for that class meeting.
- I will clearly explain all assignments
and answer questions to make certain that assignments are clear.
- I will return assignments promptly
with appropriate feedback.
- I will clearly lay out and explain
grading criteria for all major assignments.
- I will be available outside of class
and via e-mail to answer questions and provide additional help and
guidance.
COURSE GOALS
At the end of
this course, the successful student should be able to:
- Discuss, both in writing and in
presentations, the movements within contemporary literature, showing
that he or she understands the major developments and authors in each
genre.
- Demonstrate both analytic and
synthetic skills in oral and written discourse regarding the literature
assigned.
- Find and evaluate sources on
contemporary literature.
- Express his or her understanding of
the underlying philosophy found in the literature assigned
- Demonstrate his or her knowledge of a
critical vocabulary for discussion of the literature assigned.
- Demonstrate an awareness of the
diversity of literary artists who have created contemporary literary
works, including women and minority writers.
WHY ARE YOU TAKING THIS COURSE?
If you are
taking this course, then the assumption is that you are either an
English major
or minor, you are considering becoming one, or you simply enjoy reading
great
literature. The purpose of this course
is to introduce you to major authors and movements in literature from
approximately
1960 to the present. As this scope is
rather large, we will focus on American and British authors, though we
may
venture outside of those areas, as well.
This course serves different purposes for different tracks
within the
English major, as well. If you are in
the literature emphasis, this course should expose you to writers you
will probably not read in the rest of your courses here.
If you are in the teaching emphasis,
this course should also expose you to writers you will not read in
other
courses, but with the idea that you will be teaching many of these
authors, as
there is a movement in English education to teach contemporary
literature. If you are in the writing
emphasis,
these writers should serve as models for your writing, as you are
attempting to
become a contemporary writer yourself.
Since this course is a writing-emphasis course, we will focus on
your
writing and attempt to help you become a better reader and writer of
literature, as well.
THE WRITING CENTER
The Writing Center
is located on the second floor of the Vest Building. It is staffed by students who are either
English majors or who have done well in their Freshman writing courses. You can sign up for a 30-minute session with
them, where they will look at any aspect of your paper you believe
needs
work. You can go in at any point in the
process of writing your paper, from brainstorming a topic to final,
grammatical
proofreading. Always remember to take
your assignment sheet and grading rubric with you, as this information
will
help them tremendously. When you sign up
for an appointment, please do not skip it, as you have taken a spot
from
someone else, if you do. You can use the
Writing Center for papers for any course
at any
level, not just for this course, and I encourage you to do so. The one warning is that the Writing Center
employees are students, and they are not perfect. Remember
that your paper is your paper. Thus,
if they make a suggestion, and you
disagree with them, ignore their suggestion.
You are responsible for the final paper you turn in, not them;
thus,
every decision is yours.
All course
information, including this syllabus and schedule, can be found at
http://faculty.leeu.edu/~kbrown/.