Learning Outcomes

Over the course of the semester, the students in this class should learn:

  • How to read texts (literary, philosophical, visual and others), analyze their content and write clearly and meaningfully about those readings

  • To learn a basic cultural and literary history of the West, particularly large scale cultural and philosophical shifts that are driven by material (often technical and scientific) changes

  • To identify, appreciate and discuss how contemporary culture is related to cultural events in the past

  • To understand what constitutes good, clear writing, what strategies students can use to write well, and to understand the vital role that multiple drafts (called ‘iteration’ in the design world) play in the creation of good writing.

Books

You will need to purchase a total of 10 books for this class. Click on the ISBN number to be taken directly to Amazon.com, or feel free to order from other online or "brick and mortar" retailers.

The Cherry Orchard, by Chekhov; ISBN: 0486266826

The Turn of the Screw, by James; ISBN: 0486266842

Pride & Prejudice, by Austen; ISBN: 0486284735

The Metamorphosis and other stories, by Kafka; ISBN: 0486290301

Candide, by Voltaire; ISBN: 0486266893

Frankenstein, by Shelley; ISBN: 0486282112

Invisible Cities, by Calvino; ISBN: 0156453800

Notes from the Underground, by Dostoevsky; ISBN: 048627053X

Passing, by Larsen; ISBN: 1434407632

The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Goethe; ISBN: 0486424553

Grades

Your final grade consists of the 4 papers (50%), the final exam (25%) and attendance and participation (25%).

Rough Drafts, Papers and Final Exam

This course strongly emphasizes writing; you will be required to write four rough drafts (3 pages each), which are then used as the basis of four formal papers (4-5 pages in length) during the semester), for a total of approximately 28-32 pages of writing.

Your TAs can provide you with possible topics for the paper. Your rough drafts are a chance for you to start developing ideas; your TA will make suggestions and corrections, but will not give them a letter grade (they do, however, count toward your participation grade, and they are required in order to receive a grade in the class).  

You will hand your rough drafts to your TAs at the beginning or end of lecture on certain Mondays (see Schedule); your TAs will return the marked drafts to you in section that Friday. You will then make corrections, additions, and polish your papers to hand in the rough draft to your TA in section the next Friday. Your final paper should make use of the feedback you received from your teaching assistant. Please note that turning in a rough draft late can make it difficult or impossible for your TA to get it back to with useful suggestions about how to improve your grade. If you turn the rough draft in late, you may receive suggestions before you have to hand in the final paper, but you may not. Be considerate—your TAs teach multiple sections, and have classes of their own.

You will not get a grade on your paper until you have also handed in your rough draft—they are not optional, but part of the process.

There will also be a final exam, emphasizing writing, in four parts:  part one is short answers on “large topics” (what parts of classical antiquity seem familiar to us? What seems alien? How is our sense of individuality rooted in the Middle Ages); part two is short answers on specific writers and texts that we have read over the course of the semester (What are some of Dante’s main poetic techniques and what do they mean?); part three is a series of identifications in which students must identify the author and title of a short excerpt from one of the works read during the semester (easier than you think); and part four is a longer (1-2 pp). in class essay (how did our sense of self change from the classical era to the Renaissance?).

Readings and Viewings

This course has a great deal of reading to do—it is the nature of this kind of course (the large lecture, survey course).  We would all love to spend more time on the details of these books, rather than tearing through 3000 years in a semester, but the goal here is to give you a taste of everything and put it into a semblance of order, so you can start to make some connections with the world you see around you, and our cultural past. I’ve compromised by mostly assigning whole books and poems, realizing that we can't get through all of them. You won’t love every book we’ll read, but you will like quite a few of them—and remember, all of the writers we’ll be reading were enormously important and influential; they left a mark on Western culture that we still feel after thousands of years. How many of us will be able to say the same? So, read them with a critical and attentive eye, but also with a healthy respect for their genius.

If you’re having trouble keeping up with the reading, you might want some helpful advice.

In addition to the readings, I will discuss films, television series and the like in lecture from time to time. When I can, I'll link to YouTube for such occasions, and I hope you'll be interested enough to see what's there.  

Honors

Students taking this course for honors credit will do some extra writing (at least 4-5 pp.) and reading on a topic relevant to the materials in the class; they do, however, have some leeway to address the class material in new ways (in other words, it does not need to be “just another paper,” but may involve original research by the student, or less traditional topics, or less traditional forms). Honors students should contact their TA at the beginning of the semester and discuss with him or her possible directions for their extra work. TAs, in turn, will forward the proposed topic to me for final approval.