SYLLABUS

THE ESSAY AS LITERATURE (ENGL. 321W)
Dr. William Conlogue

Required texts:

  • Best American Essays, 2003, Anne Fadiman, editor Brown, Richard Rodriguez
  • Dispatches, Michael Herr
  • Five Thousand Days Like This One, Jane Brox
  • In the Presence of Fear, Wendell Berry
  • Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich
  • The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
  • course packet (handout)
  • various other handouts

Core Curriculum Skills:

  1. Enhance one's critical thinking (broadly defined)
  2. Enhance one's information literacy skills
  3. Enhance one's writing ability

Course Goals:

  1. To sharpen one's critical thinking skills
  2. To explore a variety of literary nonfiction texts
  3. To sharpen one's writing and information literacy skills
  4. To examine basic human questions in the context of literary nonfiction
  5. To appreciate literature as a powerful way of knowing
Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. recite the names of the several types of literary nonfiction
  2. identify a text as a work of literary nonfiction
  3. recite the characteristics of literary nonfiction
  4. point to the formal aspects of a work of literary nonfiction
  5. defend orally and in writing his/her understanding of a work of literary nonfiction, with reference to its formal aspects
  6. write his/her own research-based work of literary nonfiction
  7. compare and contrast how the writers of the course's texts answer questions about being and knowing, truth and beauty, and moral ethical questions about the conduct of one's life

Our mission in this writing-intensive course is to develop a critical understanding and an informed appreciation of selected pieces of literary nonfiction. To do so, we will study these works' rhetorical and literary techniques, their historical and cultural contexts, and their active engagement in the public concerns of our day. The selections offer excellent opportunities to study nonfiction from various angles: autobiography, literary journalism, and personal and narrative essay. Superb writing, fearless engagement with issues, and extraordinary insight into the human condition mark these pieces as outstanding examples of the genre.

You will be expected to read carefully, to think critically, and to respond intelligently to each work. Our goal, after all, is to understand what these people are saying and how they're saying it so that we can enter the conversations in which they participate-conversations that touch each of us in profound ways. As we discuss/debate each selection, we will sharpen our reading, writing, and critical thinking skills.

Requirements:

Reading the assigned work, thinking about it, and reacting to it are givens.

Several short essays and two longer essays are required. You will receive handouts describing the requirements for each. Various other written exercises (group projects or library research work, for example) may be required. All assignments must be handed in on time. Late assignments will be penalized one letter grade per day. No rewrites. No extra credit work.

Yes, there is a final exam, which is cumulative. Anything from class discussions, lectures, and assigned readings is fair game for the final. We will discuss the content of the exam in more detail just before you take it. Quizzes will be unannounced.

Absences. Yes, you must show up-absences affect your final grade. For every absence after your first three, your final grade will be lowered. Being late for class (i.e., coming after class has started) is frowned on. Coming late twice counts as one absence.

The classroom is a community. The other members of the class are your colleagues. Be as attentive and as responsive as you can be. Remember that intelligent class participation drives this course.

Grades

Grades are meant to reflect the quality of your work. Adjustments will be made for extraordinary work in any one of the above requirements.

 Final grades will be computed as follows:

class participation/quizzes

100 points

essay #1

100 points

essay #2

200 points

four reaction papers

100 points (25/paper)

TOTAL:

500 points

Points to letter grades:

A: 480-500

C: 360-379

A-: 460-479

C-: 340-359

B+: 440-459

D+: 320-339

B: 420-439

D: 300-319

B-: 400-419

F: 0-299

C+: 380-399


Office hours
I view my office as an extension of the classroom. Please drop by with your questions. If you're having a problem with something in the course, or if you don't understand something, come and see me immediately.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism will not happen. If you knowingly pass off someone else's work as your own, expect no mercy. See Marywood's Academic Honesty Policy.

Note well

  1. The syllabus may change due to day-to-day classroom dynamics. If you're absent, it's your responsibility to be aware of changes.
  2. All written work must conform to the standards of good English.
    The classroom is a formal environment dedicated to learning. Students are expected to behave in a courteous and respectful manner.
    A student with a disability may request an adjustment in meeting the requirements of this class. Please see Mr. Christopher Moy, Coordinator of Disability Services, LAC 220.

WEEK 1

  1. introduction to the course
  2. Best American Essays: "Foreword," "Introduction," and Antrim
  3. Best American Essays: Gopnik and Morton

WEEK 2

  1. Best American Essays: Gawande
    Essay #2 proposal due
  2. Best American Essays: Flanagan and Frazier
  3. Kingston: "No Name Woman" and "White Tigers"

WEEK 3

  1. Kingston: "Shaman"
  2. Kingston: "At the Western Palace"
  3. Kingston: "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe"

WEEK 4

  1. Best American Essays: Metcalf
  2. Best American Essays: Pollan
  3. Brox: chaps. 1-7
    1st draft of paper #2

WEEK 5

  1. Brox: chaps. 8-10
  2. Brox: chaps. 11-14
  3. Brox: chaps. 15-end

WEEK 6

  1. Best American Essays: Sontag
    Essay #1 due
  2. Best American Essays: Scarry and Wideman
  3. Berry, In the Presence of Fear

WEEK 7

  1. Berry, "Why I Won't Buy a Computer"
  2. Best American Essays: Spufford
  3. Best American Essays: Strayed
    2nd draft of paper #2

Spring Break, March 1-5

WEEK 8

  1. Rodriguez, chaps. 1-2
  2. Rodriguez, chaps. 3-4
  3. Rodriguez, chaps. 5-6

WEEK 9

  1. Rodriguez, chaps. 7-8
  2. Rodriguez, chap. 9
  3. Essay #2 rough draft workshop

WEEK 10

  1. Herr, "Breathing In"
  2. Herr, "Hell Sucks"
  3. Herr, "Khe Sanh"

WEEK 11

  1. Herr, "Illumination Rounds"
  2. Herr, "Colleagues"
  3. Herr, "Breathing Out"

WEEK 12

  1. King, "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
  2. King, "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and "I Have a Dream"
  3. no class: Easter

WEEK 13

  1. no class: Easter
  2. Essay #2 rough draft workshop
  3. Ehrenreich, "Introduction" and "Serving in Florida"

WEEK 14

  1. Ehrenreich, "Scrubbing in Maine"
  2. Ehrenreich, "Selling in Minnesota"
  3. Ehrenreich, "Evaluation"

WEEK 15

  1. review and course evaluations
    Essay #2 due

The Registrar's Office will assign the date of the final exam.

EACH SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

Contact the English Department at: 570-348-6219. E-mail: English@marywood.edu.

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Last update July 18, 2007
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