EN 110: Good Books

1. Introduction

This section of EN110 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 literature in a variety of genres.

Activities include daily discussion in response to lectures and prompts devised by the instructor, and composition of two formal essays.

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 participate extensively in discussion about a variety of human issues and problems as embodied by a modest selection of literary works; and (2) learn to think and write cogently about the issues they find most interesting. The primary objective is to spend as much time as possible in the company of great writers.

Evaluation of progress toward fulfillment of objective one and partial fulfillment of objective two will be based on participation in daily discussion forums, as follows:

• Week one: responding to a lecture and four daily prompts, which address a variety of human issues and questions about central characters, 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 day (100 words per student for an additional 800 words).
• Week two: responding to three daily 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 day (100 words per student for an additional 600 words).
• Week three: responding to a lecture and four daily prompts, which address a variety of human issues as well as questions about narrative reliability and conflicting perspectives, 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 day (100 words per student for an additional 800 words).
• Week four: responding to a lecture and four daily prompts, which address a variety of human issues (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 day (100 words per student for an additional 800 words).
• Week five: responding to a lecture and four daily prompts, which address a variety of human issues (focusing especially on the intersection of marriage, money, sex, and patriarchy) as well as 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 day (100 words per student for an additional 800 words).
• Week six: responding to a lecture and three daily 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 day (100 words per student for an additional 600 words).

Evaluation of progress toward additional fulfillment of objective two will be based on two 1500-word formal essays.

4. Class Participation

This is an asynchronous web class, meaning that the class does not meet at some scheduled time. However, daily participation is required. Students will have until 11:55pm each day, Monday through Thursday, to post at least one 200-word response to the assigned discussion prompt, and until 11:55pm the following day (Tuesday through Friday) to post two additional 100-word responses to other students’ initial posts. Each discussion assignment, then, consists of two parts:

• Day 1: respond to prompt, 200 words

• Day 2: respond to one student’s first contribution, 100 words; respond to a second student’s first contribution, 100 words

This means that by the end of the first day of a typical week you must post a 200-word response to that day’s prompt (1a). By the end of the second day you must post your two 100-word responses to the previous day’s student contributions (1b) and your 200-word response to the new prompt (2a), etc.:

These are minimum requirements. Students are encouraged to participate in multiple exchanges with multiple students at any time during the week. The more you participate, the richer will be your engagement with the books. Bear in mind, however, that credit for participation is contingent upon meeting the minimum requirements and deadlines; there is no “catching up” once a deadline has passed.

Each of the 23 discussion assignments is worth 2% of the final grade, for a total of 46% (i.e., 23 x 2).

Students are strongly advised to read the assigned books over the weekends. This is a full-semester course crammed into little more than a third of the usual time, so expect to be busy.

5. Essays

Students will write two essays, one at the end of week three, one at the end of week six. Each essay is worth 27% of the final grade. See the essays links for additional details.

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 are available through the NMU Bookstore.

• Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Vintage, 2004. (ISBN 13: 9781400033416)
• Munro, Alice. Friend of My Youth. Vintage/Random House, 1991. (ISBN 13: 9780679729570)
• Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales (available for free here).
• Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Ed. Grace Ioppola. New York: Norton, 2026. (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 (46%), and two essays (54%):

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.