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COURSE

TERM SECTIONSPRING 2015

WORLD LITERATURE: HORROR1650-PRESENT

Mary Shelley

R.L. Stevenson

Edgar Allan Poe Alfred Hitchcock

Nuts and Bolts

YOUR BOOKS

Monsters

Madness

Your Movies

Dystopias

Supernatural

Your InstructorLaura Govia

Her minions

Le Chapeau

Areas of “expertise”: diction,

style, literary terms

Hobbies: reading the dictionary,

diagramming sentences,

correcting public signs, showing

people how “smart” he is

Her minions

Magpie

Areas of “expertise”: MLA

format and citation,

organizing an

argument/interpretation,

clarity, time management

Hobbies: putting things in

alphabetical order, cleaning,

alerting others to areas in

need of cleaning, planning

ahead, reminding others to

plan ahead

Her minions

Monk

Areas of “expertise”: critical

reading, research

Hobbies: reading between the

lines, browsing on Google

Scholar, going to the library,

highlighting, annotating

Her minions

Big, Green

Head

Areas of “expertise”: logic,

rhetoric, argumentation,

grammar

Hobbies: thinking, identifying

logical fallacies, solving

differential equations,

contemplating the

multiverse, string theory

Her minions

The minions will show up from time-to-time in slideshows,

blogs,

and videos designed to review the following:

• Grammar, Style, and Voice

• Developing a thesis

• Organizing an argument

• Critical reading

• The research process

• Rhetoric and logic

• MLA format and citation

COURSE STRUCTURE

Traditional

Post-

Colonialism

Post-

modernismModernism

Romantic

Period

Victorian

Age

Postmodernism

This course

Postmodernism Post-Colonialism

Supernatural

Traditional Blah blah blah

blah blah

wa wa wa wa wa

wa

It contrasts with the Romantic

writings in that Gothic literature

does not treat apocalypse as a

means to a ‘new beginning.” It

is just and end.

Gothic literature was a

response to the horrors

of the failed French

Revolution.This course

Participation=Attendance

You must complete at least ONE assignment each week to be

counted as “present.”

Please email me if you are the victim of an extenuating circumstance

(i.e., illness, death in the family, writer’s block, a really amazing

episode of Real Housewives);

Your grade is your responsibility; HOWEVER,

I will drop you from the course if

you have not completed any assignments for TWO

consecutive weeks AND

have not emailed me with a reasonable (but I will settle for

original and/or amusing) explanation of your failure to do any

work;

Regardless of the originality or humor of the “reason,” I will drop you

if you have completed NO assignments for FOUR consecutive

weeks (it’s for your own good).

HOW TO PASS THIS CLASS

Read carefully

Work together

Discuss

thoughtfully

Be creative with

your journals and

blogsAnd most important of all:

THINK CRITICALLY

“The past is never dead…Actually,

it’s never past”

—William Faulkner, Requiem for a

Nun

“What we learn from

history is that we

never learn from

history”

—David Hume

“Only Connect…”

—E.M. Forster, Howard’s End

Objectives:

Identify cultural and individual assumptions in the assigned texts;

Explain these assumptions within cultural and historical contexts;

Connect these or similar assumptions and their consequences to

contemporary American culture.

GRADING

Assignments Weight Criteria

Discussions 20%

• Write a well-written, thoughtful, and original response to each week’s discussion topic with examples and

explanations of why you chose those particular examples;

• Respond to at least three of your classmates’ post by the specified due date;

• These responses must demonstrate the following:

• You have read the posts and thought about them;

• In other words, “Hey! Loved your post” ain’t gonna cut it;

• Responses should encourage continued dialogue about the topic beyond the week it is assigned.

Reading

Quizzes10%

• Correctly answer multiple choice questions related to the content of the reading assignments;

• All short answer (one paragraph) questions should demonstrate that you have accomplished the following:

• Fully comprehended the assigned reading;

• Thought about it in long enough to situate it within a cultural and historical context.

Journals,

blogs, and

wikis

50%

• All wikis should address the topic/theme of the week;

• They should be organized according to a thesis;

• Points/sections should be organized logically and clearly labeled;

• There should be no errors in grammar, mechanics, or usage that interfere with the clarity of your argument;

• Make it pretty with pictures, slide shows, embedded videos, etc.

• Provide at least TWO links to web sources related to your argument;

• Must be at least 1200 words, and you must prove your thesis by the end of the wiki;

• Work/sections should be divided equitably among members of the group when creating wikis;

• Each week, I will review your progress via the group discussion board and Google docs;

• All references to academic sources must be cited according to MLA guidelines.

Literary

Analysis20%

• Must be at least 2000 words;

• Must address a work of literature we have covered this semester or falls within the purview of the course (any English

literature written between 1780 and the present);

• You may write a comparative analysis of two works of literature;

• The analysis must include six secondary sources retrieved from academic sources (academic journals or book-length

studies)

• You must organize your analysis according to a thesis;

• All references to the primary and secondary sources must be formatted and cited according to MLA guidelines;

• There should be no errors in grammar, mechanics, or usage that interfere with the clarity of your argument;

• The paper must have a works cited page that lists the primary source(s) and all secondary sources;

• The paper itself must be formatted according to MLA guidelines;

• The paper must demonstrate the following:

• Complexity of thought, an ability to imagine the culture in which it is written, effective argumentation, and

understanding of certain concepts and conventions related to the history of ideas and literature.

Yeah…umm…don’t do this; it will be ok.

First day

of class…

She got some

pretty good

reviews. I think she’ll

be nice as long as we

do our work.I’m a little

nervous.

I hope she’s

nice.

This class will be a piece

of gateau. I have always

excelled in English

because

of my stupendously

extensive vocabulary.

How much wood could a

woodchuck chuck if a

woodchuck could chuck

wood?

Midterm…That was the best story

EVER! I had no idea how

scary something could be if

you really thought about it.

I haven’t

slept in

eight

weeks.

I really should have

paid attention when

she said this was a

LITERATURE course

Sacre bleu! My teachers

anglaises have always

appreciated my grasp of la

symbolisme. The creature

is a satanic figure. I do not

care what she says…

Finals’

Week

…

I think I’ll join the Peace

Corps or Teach America

once I graduate with my

bachelor’s in history.Man! I’m SO

gonna major in

political science!

I can’t believe I have been such

a pretentious ass all these

years. If I’m going to be a

successful business owner, I

gotta learn how to write and talk

so my clients can understand

me.

I think I will ask Magpie out on a date. I

may only be a head, but I’m an interesting

head.

We can talk about all sorts of

things…current events, books we’ve been

reading, how all episodes of Duck

Dynasty are the same and only

encourage Southern stereotypes…Should

I ask her out for coffee, or should I dream

big and actually suggest dinner?

Questions? Comments?

Concerns?

Don’t hesitate to email or call.