EN 110: Good Books

1. Introduction: Good Great Books

This course introduces students to works from several historical periods and in several genres: short story, novel, frame narrative, tragedy, comedy, and lyric. The course’s primary objective is to develop students’ latent critical skills through communal engagement with writing that itself engages critically with the world.

2. Bulletin Description

“An exploration of a variety of books from the past and present for the general reader. Reading and discussing ideas from books with insights into human experiences are emphasized.”

3. Objectives

Students (1) will learn to think and write cogently about a variety of human issues and problems as embodied by a modest selection of literary works; and (2) be able to distinguish among the generic features, themes, characters, titles, and authors of six major works of literature. The primary objective, however, is (3) to spend as much time as possible in the company of great writers.

Evaluation of progress toward fulfillment of objectives one and three, as well as partial fulfillment of objective two, is based on extensive and sustained participation in discussion forums, across six phases, as follows:

• Phase one: responding to three discussion prompts, which address a variety of human issues and questions about central characters in three Alice Munro stories, students will demonstrate their engagement with the same by writing a minimum of 600 words (200 per prompt). In addition, students will demonstrate their ability to process and constructively comment on other students’ views by responding to at least two students per prompt (100 words per student for an additional 600 words).
• Phase two: responding to a lecture and four discussion prompts, which address a variety of human issues and questions about central characters in Beloved, a novel by Toni Morrison, students will demonstrate their engagement with the same by writing a minimum of 800 words (200 per prompt). In addition, students will demonstrate their ability to process and constructively comment on other students’ views by responding to at least two students per prompt (100 words per student for an additional 800 words).
• Phase three: responding to a lecture and four discussion prompts, which address a variety of human issues as well as questions about narrative reliability and conflicting perspectives in two of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, students will demonstrate their engagement with the same by writing a minimum of 800 words (200 per prompt). In addition, students will demonstrate their ability to process and constructively comment on other students’ views by responding to at least two students per prompt (100 words per student for an additional 800 words).
• Phase four: responding to a lecture and four discussion prompts, which address a variety of human issues as presented in Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy, King Lear—including but not limited to the meaning and value of suffering and the role of patriarchy in familial and political institutions—students will demonstrate their engagement with the same by writing a minimum of 800 words (200 per prompt). In addition, students will demonstrate their ability to process and constructively comment on other students’ views by responding to at least two students per prompt (100 words per student for an additional 800 words).
• Phase five: responding to a lecture and four discussion prompts, which address a variety of human issues as presented in Aphra Behn’s entertaining and disturbing “problem-comedy,” The Rover—focusing especially on the intersection of marriage, money, sex, and patriarchy, but also the conventions and limitations of romantic comedy—students will demonstrate their engagement with the same by writing a minimum of 800 words (200 per prompt). In addition, students will demonstrate their ability to process and constructively comment on other students’ views by responding to at least two students per prompt (100 words per student for an additional 800 words).
• Phase six: responding to a lecture and three discussion prompts, students will engage in detail with poetry and poetics (imagery, metaphor, forms of repetition and other sound effects), as well as the human experiences and physical descriptions as imagined by one of our greatest living poets, Alice Oswald. Students will write a minimum of 600 words (200 per prompt). In addition, students will demonstrate their ability to process and constructively comment on other students’ views by responding to at least two students per prompt (100 words per student for an additional 600 words).

Evaluation of progress toward additional fulfillment of objective two is based on a final exam (see below). Progress toward fulfillment of objective three is measured by participation frequency: failure to participate in a discussion forum will result in a grade of zero for that forum.

4. Class Participation

This is an asynchronous web class, meaning that the class does not meet at some scheduled time. However, there are deadlines (every Tuesday and Thursday), and regular and fully engaged participation is required. But you may submit your work at any time prior to the deadline.

Each of the 22 discussion forums, spread over fourteen weeks, is worth 3% of the final grade, for a total of 66%.

See Discussion Forum Guidelines for a detailed scheme and the course Schedule for deadlines.

5. Final Exam

The final exam, worth 34% of the final grade, consists of two parts:

1. a multiple choice and true/false quiz, testing students’ ability to distinguish among the titles, authors, characters, themes, and generic features of the various works (16%)
2. a brief essay response to one of several options, testing each student’s ability to think and write about a human concern or issue, related to the course material, that they find most salient or compelling (18%)

6. Required Texts

Students must acquire these texts. No exceptions. This will ensure that reference to the readings is consistent and understood by all. All titles, excepting Chaucer, are available through the NMU Bookstore.

• Munro, Alice. Friend of My Youth. Vintage/Random House, 1991. (ISBN 13: 9780679729570)
• Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Vintage, 2004. (ISBN 13: 9781400033416)
• Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales (available for free here).
• Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Ed. Grace Ioppola. New York: Norton, 2025. (ISBN 13: 9780393926644)
• Behn, Aphra. The Rover. 2nd ed. Ed. Anne Russell. Peterborough, ON: Broadview P, 1999. (ISBN 13: 9781551112145)
• Oswald, Alice. Falling Awake. New York: Norton, 2016. (ISBN 13: 9780393355451)

7. Grading Scheme

The total course grade consists of participation in discussion forums as specified in the Guidelines, and the final exam as described above:

In evaluating student work, I will use the following system:

8. Plagiarism

2.2.3: Academic Dishonesty (penalty: not less than disciplinary probation; not more than expulsion). This regulation does not preclude an academic penalty imposed by an instructor as provided for in Student Rights and Responsibilities, Section 1.2.3.

.02: No students shall submit as their own to an instructor any work which contains ideas or materials taken from another without full acknowledgement of the author and the source.

.03: No students shall submit as their own any work or assignment which contains content falsified by the student or content the student knows to be false.

.06: No students shall knowingly participate in, or otherwise facilitate, the academic dishonesty, as described above, of another student.

9. Americans with Disabilities (ADA)

If you have a need for disability-related accommodations or services, please inform the Coordinator of Disability Services in the Disability Services office by: coming into the office at 2001 C.B. Hedgecock; calling 227-1700, or emailing disserv@nmu.edu. Reasonable and effective accommodations and services will be provided to students if requests are made in a timely manner, with appropriate documentation, in accordance with federal, state and University guidelines.