THE PRACTICE OF CRITICISM | Fall 2008
REQUIREMENTS
Texts
M.H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 9th ed.
L. Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (e-texts)
M. Cunningham, The Hours
G. Lakoff and M. Johnson, Metaphors We Live By
O. Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (e-text)
V. Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Other electronic texts as indicated on the course schedule.
Papers and Exams
Two 4-5 page papers, (35% each)
Final Exam (15%)
Blog (5%)
Wiki (10%)
Online Writing
For this course, you must maintain a weblog. The purpose of your blog will be to record thoughts and experiences related to the material of the course. For this purpose, please do not use a blog that you already maintain; instead, start a new one devoted exclusively to this class. You may keep your blog on your own website, on the Geneseo wiki, or on a hosted site such as Blogger. I will post your blog address on our course website so that others may visit it. (See "Blogs" in the navigation menu at right.) Your blog is worth 5% of your final grade. You must post to your blog at least once a week.
Finally, you must participate in collaborative writing at the Collaborative Writing Project. At a minimum, you must contribute three definitions or examples to the CWP's Dictionary of Literary Terms. Definitions must be written in students' own words, sources for definitions must be provided in each article, and examples may not be drawn from Abrams.
You must complete all assignments to receive a passing grade in this course.
Optional Project
You may permit 50% of your final exam grade (i.e., 10% of your course grade) to be determined by an optional project that explores, examines, or illuminates one or more of the semester's texts using means other than the conventional literary essay. Examples of such a project might be:
- a video trailer for a film version of one of the texts;
- a musical interpretation of a character, situation, or theme from one of the texts;
- voice-over narration for a segment of an existing film or video version of one of the texts;
- an audio or video interview with a character from one of the texts.
- a substantial contribution to Genetically Modified Literature.
This is not an exhaustive list; you are welcome to propose other kinds of unconventional project. However, bear in mind the following constraints:
- The project will be judged by the degree to which it genuinely sheds light or offers meaningful commentary on the text(s) in question. (You may, if you like, provide a written explanation of how it does so.)
- The project must be approved by me in advance. Proposals may be submitted no later than November 13.
- So that others in the class may enjoy the project, the project must be submitted no later than December 4.
- For team projects, all team members must be listed in the original proposal.
Students with Disabilities
SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented physical, emotional or learning disabilities. Contact Tabitha Buggie-Hunt, Director of Disability Services to discuss needed accommodations as early as possible in the semester.