This introduction is divided into two parts; the first part is on literature. The second part contains instructions and advice on the online portion of the course.
After reading this introduction, go to the Discussion Board, and begin answering the introductory questions.
Online Instructions | Course Guidelines | Course
Organization | Managing Your Time
Course Navigation | Emails | Discussion Boards | Groups | General Tips
Introduction to Studying World Literature
For the next five weeks we'll be studying the literature of the Enlightment through (roughly) now. We'll romp through the earliest pre-history narratives on through to everyone's favorite -- the medieval period. In the process, you'll be exposed to great literature, participate in seriously fun discussions, and get a chance to express your thinking through a variety of different writing assignments.
As you know, the only drawback to taking summer literature course is time. You will have quite a bit of reading to enjoy in the following weeks, so begin carving time out of your busy schedules now.
Good question.
In short, this course is designed to reacquaint you with the rigors and rewards of reading. First, the rigors. Reading closely means paying attention to not only the plot – or what happens in a story – it means paying even more attention to why it happened. This digging deeper, paying attention not just to the surface of the story but the implications behind a word, phrase, or image – what is suggested by "a garden"? Why an apple? Why kill the messenger? – is what reading well is all about. And this is where the rewards come in. As you learn to attune your eye/ear to the more subtle gradations of thought and feeling in literature, you’re learning to look more closely at the world around you – and I don’t only mean the printed word. The kind of reading that this class fosters will be used both as you interpret a marketing report in your career as Assistant VP to the VP for Marketing at Widget© Inc., and as you see through the spin of a political advertisement that presents a candidate whose father and grandfather were both members of the senate (and whose father was a president) yet who proclaims that he’s “not from Warshington.”
Although most people think only of books when they hear “reading,” the activity takes many different forms. You read a movie, making connections between the girl in the red dress and the man with the revolver who appears in the car chase scene; you read the road from behind the wheel of your car, carefully avoiding skunks, pieces of wooden pallets, and orange cones; you read a teacher’s demeanor on the first day of class wondering, “Is she a hard grader?” “Can I catch up on my sleep in this class?” All of these kinds of reading involve a studied, concentrated look at a particular event, landscape, or person in an effort to extract some kind of meaning. I bring up these different forms of readings only to show that even if you aren’t used to reading books, you’re used to reading. For this course, you’ll use these same skills and apply them to the written word.
Now of course you’re thinking “Like, I already know how to read – thanks.” But the kind of close, analytical reading required to fully appreciate literature (and to fully appreciate any written work) is a skill that’s faded in our media saturated age. Consider your computer for instance. Years ago we had to memorize a few text-based DOS commands such as COPY, MOVE, etc to make our computers work. Now? Move the mouse and point on a . . . picture. And think of the internet. What draws you to a web page – the eye-candy graphics or the rich and in-depth text which stimulates deep thought? I thought so. . . . In fact, reading any text over a screen length online is a cumbersome chore entailing much eye squinting and scrolling down of screens.
Yet we’re still awash in a sea of words (the internet holds more text than any library), and the skills you’ll learn in this class – paying attention to the connotations of words, an awareness of how irony and point of view can affect meaning, understanding how figurative language can express complex and abstract ideas – will give you that edge you need to succeed in your careers – and be the life of the party. More importantly, learning to read analytically gives shape to that endeavor we call life. It clarifies the world around us, providing the language (and thus the thinking) we need to move from grunting, mewling automatons ruled by the latest marketing gimmick beamed to us via satellite from WeOwnTheWorld Inc., to thoughtful, skeptical, reasoning – and above all alive and kicking individuals. That “kick” is important because modern life, with its consumerist, let’s-satisfy-my-basic-urges-first attitude, results in complacency and apathy. Reading allows you to get to the essentials of life, to cut through the mental static of the McJobs you suffer through to pay your car note, the fleeting satisfaction of the great shoes you bought at Nine West, and the empty sensations of screaming at the villain of the month on the idiot box, be it the behemoth with makeup on WWF or the latest ruler of a small nation that dares to disagree with us. Reading allows us to, as Jay Pirani suggests, swing “a lantern ahead of us in the fog of our lives.” I’ll supply the lantern – great literature – you bring the matches (more prosaically known as your brain and your interest).
"How should I read this material?"
I'll start with my own approach to reading. First, I read and enjoy the work, willingly suspending disbelief and entering the world created by the author. Later, and on a more analytical basis, I work at a basic understanding of the mechanics – plot, character, point of view, theme, symbolism – but what I always come back to is the vision of life offered by the text. Just what are the prominent features of this fictive world, and how does it comment on or reflect the human condition? Thus, you'll find me continually turning to examples from everyday life – in other words, from history, psychology, anthropology, art, sociology, etc. – to explain the beauty, relevance, or meaning of a particular text.
On a different note, we – students of literature (and for the rest of the semester, you’re included in this definition) – look at these works closely because any text worth reading closely is worth the same intellectual effort that goes into any critical examination of a topic. Looking for connections and meanings in a given work of literature is similar to figuring out the causes of the Civil War – or the effects of El Niño on world climate. By that I mean it is an intellectual exercise designed to get you to closely examine one particular aspect of life, and then derive some solace, moral, or understanding of the vast and complex web of human relations we call life. Thus the kind of thoughtful, reflective reading this course demands is meant to reshape your perceptions of the world around you, allowing you to see vicissitudes of so called "candid" man in 18th century Europe, and honor of a supposed "savage" in turn of the century Africa. And more importantly, how such thoughtful, reflective reading comments on life in contemporary (sub)urban America: I'm a firm believer in the relativist theory of literature -- "what's it got to do with me?"
To foster this kind of attentive reading, you should read each work at least twice: if you're like me, the first time you read to see what happens and the second time around, you read to see why it happened. Remember, as well, to read with a pen or pencil in hand and mark up your book copiously. Jot down questions to yourself, note where odd lines of dialogue or description, recurring images, or tell-tale character descriptions/dialogue occur. Use a 3x5 index card as a bookmark to keep track of these interesting/important quotes.
In short, it means on-site on-line, which means that classes with this suffix offer a mixture of both face to face class meetings and a course site which can include email, discussion board, assignments, and chats. You'll be submitting most of your work via the course web-site, which will allow you to get feedback even on days you're not in class.
You'll also be responding to questions on a bulletin board and have the chance to view my lesson plans, both of which will help prepare you for class.
Help, in the form of your friendly professor, online tutors, and OCC's Writing Center, is readily available. The key is to take advantage of this help before you get back a final grade you're unsatisfied with.
More specifically, in formal writing, particularly in essays, you have to organize your thoughts and communicate them clearly to the reader. This means that instead of just pouring everything you know about a story or poem or play into your essay or body paragraph and saying “there – that oughta’ do it,” you have to form your thoughts into an organized piece of writing. Granted, in the early stage of writing, you do need to let it all out – put all of your thoughts down on paper, whether in lists, diagrams, or short paragraphs. But as you begin crafting your essay, you need to look over all of your brilliant insights and say “I like the quote about the rage of Achilles, but it doesn’t fit in my argument” – and then take it out.
As you draft your essay, keep in mind two common maladies in writing about literature: quote bloat and development deficit. To cure quote bloat, remember that it’s not the number or length of quotes that makes a good essay – it’s how well you explain them. Two short quotes in a paragraph, explained in detail, are better than four long ones that are merely glossed over. The remedy for development deficit is to get the reader to “see” and “read” a text the way you do. Without letting them get inside your head – in other words, writing your thinking down – the reader will be blind: and you’re not writing in Braille. While you may think “any blockhead can see what I mean by this quote,” you need to realize that I am the mother of all blockheads. Your job is to show the reader that you know how a particular quote – which is merely a string of words – supports your argument. Even something as patently obvious as the color red suggesting anger needs to be clarified. Instead of anger, red could mean love. So you must explain how, in general, red is associated with anger – or love. For instance, as a reader, every time I come across a quote in an essay I ask myself “Now how does this support the topic sentence?” or “Hmmm, why this quote? What’s its connection to the rest of the paragraph?” The key is to anticipate and answer questions an ignorant reader may have with your thinking on a particular literary work. And since I cannot read your mind, I come to your essay as an ignorant reader: it's your job to make it as easy as possible for me to follow your thinking.
We’ll be working together on your out-of-class essays, and while I encourage you to let others read and offer suggestions on your work, I strongly suggest you use myself, a classmate, or a tutor from the Writing Skills Workshop (R144) or Smarthinking.com as your primary readers/reviewers. If you use anyone else, be sure that they do not correct your essay; let them read it and ask you questions about words, grammar, focus, but under no circumstances should you let them write out corrections: that’s your job. In any case, be sure to save all drafts – especially those with questions from other readers.
Well, how does that sound? You ready? Good, cuz' it's time to finish this introduction and then go back in time to the Ancient greeks.
See you in class
Since much of this class is conducted through writing, you need to read ALL parts of the instructions – a quick once-over usually means you've left out an important detail. I've tried to include all of the information you'll need to complete the work on the site or in the packet (which is also on the site), so if you have any questions, the course site and packet are good places to start looking for answers. The next best place is, of course, me.
Repeat for emphasis time: READ AND FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS
Set up a file folder on your hard drive entitled "World Lit I" or some other name and keep ALL of your work (notes, homework, etc.) in that folder. It may be a good idea to create additional sub-folders (Homework, Essays, etc.) to help keep track of files.
Note
: in order to prevent a loss of data due to electronic glitches, enter ALL work in a word processing program and then copy and paste to the appropriate area on the web site or email message. In addition, save ALL work and BACK UP ALL WORK TO A FLOPPY OR ZIP DISK. While I can sympathize with a hard drive crash (I too have experienced the thrill of reformatting), the first thing I'll say is "bring in your disk to school or go to a friend’s house." In other words, computer problems are not an excuse for unfinished or late work. If you run into problems, call me ASAP – and remember, there's always snail mail.If you don’t know how to copy files from your hard drive to a floppy, use the help function of your computer – or ask a friend in the know.
I will include detailed instructions for submitting each assignment online. Pay particular attention to what to put into the subject box. I will be using filters to screen my messages – and you don't want to get filtered out.
If you ask a question and I feel the answer would benefit the class as a whole, please understand that I will share it with the entire class.
Before class you should
After class you should
I opened up this introduction by noting the time constraints placed on a five week course. Be prepared to be busy.
Students who do well in the course tell me they set aside certain days/times to complete course work. And be prepared to work through several revisions of the writing you complete for this course.
You’ll always enter the course through My WebCT, which is how the college’s software allows convenient access to all your distance learning courses.
The first place you reach when you click on our course is the Home Page. This is our online classroom, and the route to the other course pages (such as Communication Tools, Course Materials). You should check it regularly for announcements.
Remember the "back" button of your browser: it is your friend. If you ever get lost, click on it until you reach familiar territory.
Don’t try to take in all the course at once. I’ve included all the information you need to complete all the assignments and you will get a brain-ache if you try to read it all at once.
Most of the course work will be conducted with emails and via the discussion boards and chats, so be sure you’re familiar with the way they operate. The course has its own email service, thus when you send email to me or to a classmate, you shouldn’t use your regular AOL, Yahoo, or other account – instead, use the internal mail service.
There are two basic components to the course emailer: an "Inbox" to file email sent to you, and an "Outbox" to file messages you’ve sent to others, and their features are outlined below.
To send email to someone in the course, follow the steps below:
To read your email,
These are the basic commands. As you get more familiar (and thus more confidant) working with the course, you’ll find there are several other features of the course emailer.
While I check my email pretty often, give me at least 2-3 days to respond to a message from you.
If you have a specific question be sure to type in "question" in the subject line and I’ll try to get to it quicker.
Back to topIn general, electronic discussion boards are a way to post and answer questions on the internet. For this course, you’ll be working with two different boards, which are detailed below.
To encourage more active learning and to allow more interaction between your classmates, I've divided the class into groups (see below). Your responsibility is simple: go to your group discussion board (accessed via the Discussion Board icon), post a question of your own on the readings that are due that week, and then answer your groupmates's questions.
Dates: Post questions for the story by class time; and yes, you can answer them after the class the work is discussed.
| Group 1
Bolish, Kristine L. |
Group 2
Gelnaw, Jeseaca L. |
Group 3
Spada, Tracy |
The Discussion Boards are a place for you to consider, reflect, and write on the literature we're reading.
The Group board is the place where you post a question of your own and answer your group mate's questions on the works in that week’s assignment.
The Open Door is a separate discussion board that anyone can post messages to. These messages can be a general question on an essay or assignment, or an observation you’d like to share with the class as a whole.
The different discussion boards are accessed through the Discussion Boards icon.
To view a message:
From the Home Page
) to access the question you want to read.
To reply to a posted question:
To post a question:
To see your posted message
Pace yourself – don't wait until 11:01 PM on a Tuesday to complete all the assignments for the week. The course is designed to be accessed at any time – take advantage of this and begin work earlier (and often). I am strict with all deadlines.
Remember that even though this class has an online component, you should feel free to stop by my office as well.
That’s all for now – look forward to working with you.