ENGLISH 270-273 Courses
Spring 2008

Introduction to Literature

The following set of descriptions will help you choose a section of English 270: Literary History, English 271: Genre, English 272: Literature and Culture, or English 273: Creative Writing and Literature in an informed manner. All these classes emphasize the perceptive reading of imaginative literature and the development of your writing skills. The courses are considerably varied in terms of content and approach.

Please note that English 270, 271, 272, and 273 have replaced English 250-257. Both sets of courses, English 250-257 and English 270-273, fulfill the Diversification in Literature (DL) requirement. Upper-division 300- and 400-level English courses require one or two “English DL courses” as prerequisites; you may use either English 250-257 or English 270-273 courses to fulfill these prerequisites for upper-division English courses. English 250-257 courses are still offered at the Community Colleges.

Since these courses are meant to be sequels to English 100, all English 270-273 classes require a substantial amount of writing and all sections are now designated as Writing Intensive (W). In compliance with the Focus Hallmarks for Writing Intensive classes, you will produce a least 16 pages or 4,000 words, usually divided among three to six papers, in addition to the final exam and to other assignments such as journals, quizzes, or reaction papers that instructors may require. Essays are held to high standards of good writing, both in the presentation of arguments and in the use of evidence, style, grammar, mechanics, and spelling. Courses designated W will partially fulfill the Writing Intensive graduation requirements.

English 270-273 courses are considered non-introductory and count towards the Arts and Sciences non-introductory credit requirements, but they do not fulfill the upper-division credit requirements for the English Major or English Minor.

ENGLISH 270: LITERARY HISTORY

English 270 (01 & 02) (W): INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY HISTORY (01) (MWF 8:30-9:20); (02) (MWF 9:30-10:20) - Robert McHenry
This course will survey some of the most important novels and plays from the neoclassical to modern eras of literature will be assigned; authors will include Moliere, Voltaire, Ichiyo, Lu Xun, Kafka, Beckett, Al-Hakim, and Rushdie.

This course is both an introduction to some of the greatest works of literature written during the past 300 years or so. Including a wide range of literary traditions.. The historical and intellectual contexts of these works will receive some attention, but the main focus is upon the reading and analytical skills needed to understand and interpret these individual works. Writing critically about these rich and often controversial masterpieces will be an important part of the course.

TEXT: THE BEDFORD ANTHOLOGY OF WORLD LITERATURE: PACKAGE B. New York: Bedford/St. Martin, 2003.

ENGLISH 270 (03 & 04) (W): THE CLASSICS IN TRANSLATION (03)(MWF 11:30-12:20); (04) (MWF 12:30-1:20) - Robert Onopa
These sections of English 270 are fairly straightforward courses in the classics in translation, focusing on ancient Greek literature (particularly THE ODYSSEY and Greek Tragedy), the origins of Hebraic culture (via THE BIBLE), and a great narrative poem of the Middle Ages, Dante's DIVINE COMEDY. We'll also study work from Ancient and 'Middle Period' China and from the European Renaissance -- but by way of spending long enough on one subject to make full sense of it, we'll spend most of our time on Greek and Western Medieval 'classics.' There’s a fair amount of reading, and, as a writing intensive course, a fair amount of writing, some of it in class.

Two hour exams (each 25% of the grade), a set of micro-essays (30%), some reading quizzes and participation in class discussions (10%), and a final exam (10%). We'll probably handle the final as a take-home essay -- each class will make this decision around week 12.

Since we're historically so far downstream from the work we'll be reading, there'll be some lecturing on each topic. But we’ll also have classes devoted to discussion in small groups, ample time set aside for student questions, and we’ll address class material in the written work..

TEXTS: Homer, THE ODYSSEY; THE BIBLE (King James trans.); Grene and Lattimore, eds., GREEK TRAGEDY; Dante, THE DIVINE COMEDY; Rabelais, GARGANTUA AND PANTAGRUEL; other material in handout.

ENGLISH 270 (05 & 06) (W): BRITISH LITERATURE AFTER 1800 (05)(MWF 1:30-2:20); (06)(MWF 2:30-3:20) - Joseph Lew
In this course, we will read and view some representative and some off-beat British works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Major works will include the ORIGINAL version of FRANKENSTEIN written by Mary Shelley when she was eighteen; Brontë’s JANE EYRE, Oscar Wilde’s psychological thriller/fantasy THE PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GRAY, and the sometimes hilarious, sometimes frightening autobiography of Quentin Crisp, THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT.

Students will be asked to write three short papers, engage in collaborative work, write one short ‘review’ of a film based upon a British work, and take a final, cumulative exam on course content; class participation will also be important in determining the grade.

There will be a SERVICE LEARNING option in this course for those interested in ‘giving back to the community’ by participating as mentors in the Teen Literacy program. Books will be ordered through UH Bookstore; public domain material is also readily available on the web.

We will participate in the “Page to Stage” program run by Kennedy Theatre on campus, part of which will include a mandatory attendance at one of the April 10-20 main-stage performances of THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS.

In addition, students will take a midterm and final exam, and write three essays.

ENGLISH 270 (07) (W): AMERICAN LITERATURE – (MWF 8:30-9:20) – Gay Sibley
Students approaching this course with enthusiasm will gain an appreciation for American literature through studying some of the short stories, plays, poems, and novels that have made their mark on the world, along with a few works that have not yet “stood the test of time.” What is it about enduring literature that has made it memorable? Relevant? Universal? What ingredients are likely to ensure that a work endures? We will also be concerned with the development of each student’s critical writing skills.

Writing assignments will include three short outside papers (roughly 5 pages each), several in-class essays, a midterm and a final examination.

TEXTS: Kate Chopin, THE AWAKENING AND SELECTED STORIES (Penguin); William Faulkner, AS I LAY DYING (Vintage); F. Scott Fitzgerald, THE GREAT GATSBY (Scribner); Nathaniel Hawthorne, THE SCARLET LETTER (Penguin); Ernest Hemingway, THE SUN ALSO RISES (Scribner); Arthur Miller, THE CRUCIBLE (Penguin); Eugene O’Neill, LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT; Mark Twain, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (Penguin). Oscar Williams and Edwin Honig, eds. THE MENTOR BOOK OF MAJOR AMERICAN POETS (New American Library); Sue Miller, ed. THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, 2002 (Mariner Books). Additional poetry on handout.

ENGLISH 270 (08 & 09) (W): BRITISH LIT 1800 TO PRESENT (08) (MWF 10:30-11:20); (09) (MWF 11:30-12:20) - Joan Peters
This course is designed to introduce students to selected British literature from the 19th, century to the present. The primary goal of the class is twofold: 1) to familiarize students with important works of British Literature from the Romantics through the present, exploring the cultural, social, and literary issues that the works elicit in the scheme of literary history, and 2) to help students develop confidence, ease, and skill in reading analytically and in articulating reasoned interpretive arguments about the material that is read.

This is a Writing Intensive course. There will be two drafts of three 5-6 page papers along with a Final Exam.

Assigned readings include selected poems of Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Barrett-Browning, Yeats, Eliot, Auden, Larkin, Hughs, Heaney, Smith, and Boland, selected non-fiction prose of Carlyle, Mill, Arnold; Wilde, Woolf, Lawrence and Conrad; short stories by Joyce, plays by Shaw, Pinter, and Stoppard; and the novels JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte, GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens, MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf, and ATONEMENT by Ian Ewan.

ENGLISH 270 (10) (W) MODERNIST/POSTMODERNIST FICTION (TR 10:30 – 11:45) – M. Thomas Gammarino
In this course we’ll survey the two major “movements” in twentieth-century fiction: modernism and postmodernism. We’ll begin with some short stories by Chekhov and Flaubert to ground ourselves in the conventions of nineteenth-century realism so that we’ll have some sense of what the modernists were reacting against. We’ll then spend roughly half the semester reading and discussing novels and stories by some of the writers who have come to emblematize “high modernism”: Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, James Joyce. We’ll also look at works by Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett, key figures in the change of dominant to postmodernism. Around the middle of the semester we’ll brave the porthole that was the 1960’s—looking at works by Jorge Luis Borges, Kurt Vonnegut, Donald Barthelme, John Barth, Robert Coover, Angela Carter—and then we’ll come out on the other side where we’ll consider postmodern novels and stories by such writers as Italo Calvino and Julian Barnes. We’ll look at a film (“The Hours”) and finally, briefly, consider some of the directions the vanguard literature of the future might take (graphic novels, hypertexts, “post-postmodernism,” “avant-pop,” etc.). Evaluation will be based on participation and several essays—which should amount to roughly twenty pages of finished writing. Each student will also be required to give at least one presentation during the semester, likely on a key theorist (e.g. Baudrillard, Derrida), historical or cultural event (e.g. the atom bomb, Vietnam), scientific discovery (e.g. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, Freud’s unconscious), or literary sub-movement (e.g. surrealism, expressionism).

TEXTS (available at Revolution Books): Ernest Hemingway, IN OUR TIME; Virginia Woolf, MRS. DALLOWAY; William Faulkner, AS I LAY DYING; Kurt Vonnegut, SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE; Italo Calvino, IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER; Julian Barnes, FLAUBERT’S PARROT; Chris Ware, JIMMY CORRIGAN: THE SMARTEST KID ON EARTH.

We will also read from a course packet of stories and essays, to be available at Professional Image (right across the street from Revolution).

ENGLISH 270 (11) (W): INTRODUCTION TO THE COMIC NOVEL AS A LITERARY TRADITION (TTH 1:30-2:45) – DAVID N. ODHIAMBO
The reading list is made up of a selection of novels that showcase different examples of the comic novel since the eighteenth century. Its aim is to provide a literary context for reading these works, and to place them within an evolving literary tradition. We will look at novels from early modern, modern, contemporary and postcolonial literature in English. Emphasis will be placed on a discussion of their place within these literary categories, ideas that focus on the narrative dynamics of these texts, and inquiries that relate how their form and structure function to produce specific comedic effects. Consequently, a number of questions will be explored. What is the comic novel? What formal techniques do the texts use, and why? How do parody, irony and satire work to critique and destabilize iconic representations from the past? What contribution does the comic novel make to the larger literary tradition?

The class will be conducted in a discussion format, including online discussions. Course work will consist of three take home essays of 1200 words each, one final exam, a short presentation, and other less formal assignments. The class is a writing intensive.

TEXTS (available at Revolution Books):
Laurence Sterne, THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN (Selection); Jane Austen, MANSFIELD PARK (Selection); Joseph Heller, CATCH 22; V.S. Naipaul, THE MYSTIC MASSEUR; Vladimir Nabokov, PALE FIRE; Chinua Achebe, ARROW OF GOD; Martin Amis, THE RACHEL PAPERS; Hanif Kureshi, THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA

ENGLISH 270 (12 & 13) (W): MODERN AMERICAN WRITING (12)(MWF 8:30-9:20); (13)(MWF 11:30-12:20) – Barry Menikoff
COUNTESS Ellen Olenska, Nick Adams, Julian English, the Glass siblings, Thomas Ripley, Holly Golightly—who ARE these people? For starters, they are among the characters that populate the books written by a number of classic American authors who are also MODERN writers (and no, that is not an oxymoron). Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, John O’Hara, J. D. Salinger, Patricia Highsmith, Truman Capote, Mary McCarthy, and Raymond Carver—these are the artists who made the characters who filled the books that told the stories (or SOME of the stories) of American life in the first half of the twentieth century. At least four of the books have been filmed, placing their stories even more completely into the interstices of American cultural life, and one of those films has become iconic, perhaps even mythic. The course is designed for those who approach reading as a pleasure, rather than a chore, and who would hope to find themselves rewarded, to borrow a phrase from a very old writer, with a glimpse into a part of “God’s plenty.”

ENGLISH 271 (01 & 02) (W): COMIC SPECTACLES (MWF 8:30 - 9:20); (MWF 9:30 - 10:20) - Jim Caron
Description and Organization: This course has two broad goals: first, to develop skills in argumentative writing by addressing issues connected with the complex topics of comic art and comic laughter; second, to explore how cultural artifacts that make us laugh are also social and cultural phenomena. We will focus on craft, the tactics and strategies used to create successful plays, films, and short stories.

Ten weekly reaction papers (1 page maximum); four essays (3- 4 pp.); mid-term test; final test; faithful attendance; a sense of humor (optional but helpful).

(Possible) TEXTS: Shakespeare: TWELFTH NIGHT; Moliere: THE MISER ; THE FLYING DOCTOR; Wilde: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST: Beckett: MERCIER AND CAMIER; Stoppard: TRAVESTIES; Keaton: THE NEIGHBORS; Chaplin: THE PAWNSHOP; One A. M.; Laurel and Hardy: THE MUSIC BOX; Coen Brothers: THE HUDSUCKER PROXY; Cleese: FAWLTY TOWERS; Mark Twain: [selected short pieces].

ENGLISH 271 (05) (W): Genre: MYTH IN LITERATURE (MWF 7:30 – 8:20) - Melanie Ried
This course will look at the pervasiveness of myth in literature. We will examine how myths are told and retold throughout time, focusing on notions of translation and adaptation. We will examine myth as a
universal concept, and we will also look at how myths are rewritten and reworked for socio-political reasons at specific moments in history.

This course will begin by looking at ancient Greek and Roman myths and will then trace mythic adaptations and references throughout western literature: in the Renaissance, in Romantic poetry, in Modernism, in contemporary literature. The course will also examine Hawaiian mo‘olelo and its relationship to writing, colonization, and translation.

POSSIBLE TEXTS: Homer: ODYSSEY; Ovid: METAMORPHOSES; Shakespeare: TITUS ANDRONICUS; Shaw: PYGMALIAN; Kalakaua: LEGENDS AND MYTHS OF HAWAI‘I; Gaiman: AMERICAN GODS; a course packet of poetry and shorter readings

FILMS: O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU; MY FAIR LADY

ENGLISH 271 (06) (W): DRAMA (MWF 1:30-2:20) – Frank Ardolino
The course will consist of four essays of three to five pages, an essay final exam, eight video responses, and numerous in-class reaction papers. The focus will be on comparing the plays as written texts with the videos as visual texts. Attendance will count.

In this course we will read OTHELLO, BETRAYAL, ‘NITE MOTHER, THE BAD SEED, OUR TOWN, THE CRUCIBLE, AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, and ARSENIC AND OLD LACE.

ENGLISH 271 (07) (W): THE ROMANCE (TR 12:00-1:15) -- Valerie Wayne
The romance is a literary genre that may include a love relationship between the characters, but in its earliest forms it identifies a large gathering of stories about knights and ladies, heroes and heroines, quests and their complications, discoveries of identity, and some elements of the supernatural. These stories go back to the medieval period and extend to popular films like THE LORD OF THE RINGS and HARRY POTTER. In this course we will read romances from the Middle Ages to the present, beginning with a poem by a medieval woman and ending with Witi Ihimaera’s THE WHALE RIDER, which was made into a successful Maori film. Our focus will be on the elements in these stories that identify them as romances as well as the ways in which they play with and vary the form. Romances have traditionally appealed to both men and women, but their audiences have often been associated with women, and the course will explore the ways in which the texts repeatedly evoke issues of gender.

Students will be required to write three papers, take two exams, and give one oral presentation. By the end of the course students should have a fuller appreciation of the characteristics of a literary genre and romance in particular, how romances relate to and vary over time and place, how they explore issues concerning gender and power, how they appeal to diverse audiences, and how to write about literature.

ALL BOOKS FOR THIS COURSE WILL BE AVAILABLE AT REVOLUTION BOOKS ON KING STREET.

The reading list will include the following texts: Barbara Fuchs, ROMANCE; Marie de France, LANVAL, SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT; Robert Greene, PANDOSTO; William Shakespeare, THE WINTER’S TALE; Cervantes’ DON QUIXOTE, excerpts; Mary Worth, URANIA, excerpts; John Keats, “La Belle Dame Sans Mercie”; Alfred Lord Tennyson, “The Lady of Shallot”; Jane Austen, NORTHANGER ABBEY; Nathaniel Hawthorn, THE SCARLET LETTER; Maxine Hong Kingston, THE WOMAN WARRIOR; Witi Ihimaera, THE WHALE RIDER

ENGLISH 271 (08) (W): LOVE STORIES IN WORLD LITERATURE (TR 12:00 – 1:15) – Edith Suyama
The course samples a variety of literary genres, such as poetry, drama, and the novel. Our primary focus will be a close reading of the texts themselves, but we will also touch upon cultural, political, historical, and social contexts as well as modern film versions of works to enrich our reading experiences. In our writings, we will explore some of the conventions of literary analysis (or literary criticism). We will analyze and write about features such as narrative voice, characterization, theme, style, tone, and symbolism, to name just a few. There will be a mid-term, a final exam, and two longer essays (4 pages each). Informal writing assignments will include journal entries, quizzes (weekly), and responses to study questions, as well as a group project. The goal is to read widely and to respond to the readings in diverse ways.

TEXTS: Tolstoy’s ANNA KARENINA, Shakespeare’s MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Kawabata’s THOUSAND CRANES, Blake’s SONGS OF INNOCENCE and SONGS OF EXPERIENCE, 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS

ENGLISH 271 (09): INTRODUCTION TO DRAMA (MWF 9:30-10:20) – Joseph O’Mealy
Drama is the representation of life as our most gifted writers have pictured it. The picture differs according to historical time, geographical place, and social culture, but the common thread among all these differences is strong: the author wants to speak through his/her characters about a compelling issue to an audience present in a theatre.

This course will offer students an opportunity to read some of the most important dramatic works of the past as well as some exciting contemporary plays. We will examine the foundations of drama, its historical development, and its lasting appeal.

We will read and discuss tragedies (OEDIPUS REX and HAMLET), comedies (TARTUFFE and The SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS), domestic dramas (A DOLL’S HOUSE AND HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE), and contemporary experimental and ethnic theatre (HAPPY DAYS and MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM).

We will participate in the “Page to Stage” program run by Kennedy Theatre on campus, part of which will include a mandatory attendance at one of the April 10-20 main-stage performances of THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS.

In addition, students will take a midterm and final exam, and write three essays.

ENGLISH 272 (01) (W): POLITICAL SPEECHES (TR 7:30-8:45) –Holly Bruland
Although sound bites, bullet points, and digital images are becoming the primary persuasive tools of this generation, the political speech continues to play a prominent role in contemporary American culture, particularly in an election year. In this Writing-Intensive course, we will examine political speeches as a form of literature. While the course will address various speakers' styles of delivery, we will focus primarily on their uses of language to define and disrupt cultural norms.

We will begin with a study of classical persuasion as theorized by figures such as Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero. From there, we will examine a handful of scenes from the plays of William Shakespeare, exploring the ways in which Shakespeare's speeches illustrate and complicate the tenets of classical rhetoric and continue to influence our culture today. With this foundation, we will enter into the realm of American political discourse, analyzing speeches ranging from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, to Queen Liliuokalani's protests against the annexation of Hawai'i, to Martin Luther King Jr.'s calls for the end of racial discrimination, to George W. Bush's oratory following 9/11, to the 2008 presidential candidates' debates.

Assignments will include weekly short papers (of approximately 500 words each) posted to our online discussion forum, a formal written essay (5-7 pages), a creative address and accompanying self-analysis (5-7 pages), a group oral presentation on the rhetorical strategies employed by a current presidential candidate, and a final exam.
Student Learning Outcomes: As a result of successfully completing this course, you can expect to be able to analyze a speech for its literary, cultural, and rhetorical properties; write a formal essay according to the conventions of English studies; explain and give examples of the cultural functions of literature; collaborate successfully with peers in the preparation and delivery of a substantial oral presentation; participate in public discourse with enhanced awareness and effectiveness.

TEXTS: ANCIENT RHETORICS FOR CONTEMPORARY STUDENTS, 3rd EDITION by Sharon Crowley and Deborah Hawhee; FIGURES OF SPEECH: 60 WAYS TO TURN A PHRASE by Arthur Quinn; LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG: THE WORDS THAT REMADE AMERICA by Gary Wills;

In addition, a READER of speeches and supplementary materials that will be available at Professional Image at 2633 S. King St.

ENGLISH 272 (03 & 04) (W): MAORI SHORT STORY AND NOVEL (03)(MWF 11:30 – 12:20); (04) (MWF 12:30 – 1:20) – Reina Whaitiri
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the indigenous culture and literature of Aotearoa/NewZealand through short stories and novels written in English by Maori. The course will explore the history, culture, society, political, and economic situations as experienced by Maori over the past one hundred years. Some of the literature will also connect Aotearoa/New Zealand with the rest of the Pacific and show how the experiences of Maori and other Pacific peoples are very similar. We will also look briefly at the mythological basis of the culture and how Maori writers draw on these stories to inform and provide depth for their work. Through short stories and novels, the course will reveal a people who have struggled through hard times but who are growing stronger culturally and politically and who now face the future with new energy and vitality. Students will be expected to read widely and critically evaluate texts written by the indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Students will be asked to complete: three formal essays, six quizzes based on the set texts and class discussions, and reports/reviews on relevant literary events. There will also be a two-hour examination at the end of the semester.

Students will be required to purchase a course Reader which will include a wide range of short stories as well as essays and articles relevant to the course.

TEXTS: George, James. HUMMINGBIRD. Wellington: Huia Publishers, 2003. ISBN: 1-877283-66-5 (pbk); Grace, Patricia. BABY NO EYES. Honolulu, Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press, c1998. ISBN: 0824821610 (pbk); Hulme, Keri. THE BONE PEOPLE. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2005. ISBN: 0807130729; Ihimaera, Witi. THE MATRIARCH. Auckland: Secker & Warburg, 1996, c1986. ISBN: 0790005131 (pbk)

ENGLISH 272 (05) (W): PLAYS AND FILM ON HAWAI'I (MWF 3:30-4:20) – Ruth Hsu
Paris, New York, Disneyland . . . Waimanalo . . . How do people from different cultures perceive Hawai'i? What do people born and raised in Hawai'i or long-time residents see of their island home? Popular forms of self-representation and the representations of others impact our understanding of ourselves, of others and of communities in the present and the past. This course focuses on the cultural texts of film and drama (plays) about Hawai'i, by playwrights and filmmakers who call Hawai'i home and by other such artists who see Hawai'i through different cultural lenses. Do the different Hawaii’s resemble your experiences of this archipelago?

The class is Writing Intensive. At a minimum: 4 response papers (1-page, single-spaced each); 2 essays (5-pages, double-spaced, each); in-class quizzes; a class presentation; a final exam; participation in class discussion.

TEXTS may include (books ordered through UHM Bookstore):
• Handouts on different methods of reading films and plays;
• Attending performances of two plays at Kumu Kahua Theater -- PELE MA AND MAGNO RUBIO;
• Plays in print form may be selected from HAWAI'I NEI: ISLAND PLAYS; ALOHA LAS VEGAS AND OTHER PLAYS; THINK OF A GARDEN AND OTHER PLAYS;
• Films (screenings conducted outside of scheduled class sessions) may include HAWAIIAN ISLANDS (1901); CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU (1938); FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953); HAWAI'I: THE 50TH STATE (1959); BLUE HAWAI'I (1961); HAWAI'I ON SCREEN (documentary; 1992); PICTURE BRIDE (1995); PEARL HARBOR (2002); LILO & STITCH 2 (2005); MASSIE AFFAIR (documentary; 2005); ALOHA QUEST (documentary; 2006).

ENGLISH 272 (07 & 08) (W): LITERATURE & CULTURE: LITERATURE OF WAR (07)(MWF 11:30-12:20); (08) (MWF 12:30-1:20) – Kathy Phillips
Pose questions to the ancient gods of war who come right down to the battlefield in Homer’s THE ILIAD and the Indian BHAGAVAD GITA. Compare medieval notions of chivalry in Marie de France’s “Eliduc” and Japanese tales of “Atsumori.” Wince through World War I poems by Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. (We may possibly read a WWI novel.) Analyze WWII stories “Bombardier,” “Shannon Ain’t So Tough,” and “The Lovely Leave.” Put together Tim O’Brien’s fragmented stories from the Vietnam War in THE THINGS THEY CARRIED. Finally, consider the differences between the poetry and the official rhetoric of the war in Iraq.

Students will write four 3-5-page papers, two or three 2-page papers, a midterm, and a final. Discussion counts.

ENGLISH 273 (01)(W): POETRY AND FORM (MWF 8:30-9:20) – Frederika Bain

This course will be a combination workshop/seminar, in which you will both read and discuss the works of published poets and write and workshop your own poems. The focus will be on form: that is, on technical elements such as rhyme, meter, repetition, assonance, and others. You will become acquainted with such poetic forms as the sonnet, the sestina, the blues, the haiku, and the villanelle, both exploring the ways in which form changes and creates meaning, and writing your own poems in these and other forms.

Students will turn in 1 poem a week, do the assigned reading, participate in weekly workshops, provide written critiques of peers' poems, and write a final paper of 8-10 pages.

TEXT: Fussell, Paul. POETIC METER AND POETIC FORM. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979. A course reader will also be available.

ENGLISH 273 (02) (W): MAGICAL WORLDS (TR 9:00-10:15) – B. Ross
From the supernatural of myths, the hero/heroines of legends, the wonder of fairy tales, and the whimsical delights of fantasy to the reconfiguring of these and other narratives of marvel into new narratives and forms, we will embark on a journey into the realm of “magical worlds” and their influences on real worlds. Our journey will include those things we traditionally associate with the magical worlds of folklore and fantasy, as well as alternative terms to describe these and other worlds both literal and figurative and the nontraditional ways magical worlds play out in narratives in other genres. Magical worlds should not be viewed in terms of escapism from reality as much as a liberating act into serious study of the world through the imagination—a deliberate and conscious venture into the unreal to better understand the real.

The course is a combination of literary analysis and creative writing. Therefore, we will read for pleasure and for serious scholarship and application—to enjoy the process of reading; to interpret and analyze texts to see how the unreal can reflect and transform the real; and to determine how we, as literary artists, can use folklore and fantasy elements to inform our creative works. Therefore, we will look back to oral storytelling as well as some literary classics—like BEOWULF, THE MABINOGION, SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, Chaucer’s THE CANTERBURY TALES, Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER’S NIGHT DREAM, Swift’s GULLIVER’S TRAVELS, Carroll’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND, and Lewis’ CHRONICLES OF NARNIA—to briefly explore an oral and literary history of magical worlds before spending time in literary fairy tales and ending in fantasy. Two vital outcomes of this course are that students gain an appreciation and understanding of the importance and influence of folklore and fantasy and that they realize creative writing is a rabbit-hole, a portal into endless magical worlds, where it joins the imaginary with the real, the external with the internal.

As we read and study narrative form and content, students will work toward inventing their own narrative using literary conventions of fiction writing. The course is writing intensive, and weekly small writing assignments, critical and creative, will be required. I will require a ten-page (minimum) of polished fiction writing, a two-page film response, and a four-page critical essay on an image, poem, short story, or novel from the major texts or course packet. Writing, both informal and formal, will constitute 70% of the grade for this course. Class participation, attendance, and individual/group presentations of the reading will make up the remaining 30%.

(With Children’s Literature Hawaii hosting its fourteenth biennial conference on literature and Hawaii’s children in June, I have selected some readings that will coincide with this event in hopes that students will take advantage of this future opportunity.)

TEXTS: The following texts will be available at Revolution Books: Neil Gaiman, STARDUST/TBA; J.K. Rowling, HARRY POTTER/TBA; Salman Rushdie, HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES: A NOVEL; Maria Tatar, CLASSIC FAIRY TALES; J.R.R. Tolkien, THE HOBBIT; and Jeanette Winterson, SEXING THE CHERRY.

POEMS, SHORT STORIES, GRAPHIC NOVELS, IMAGES, AND CRITICAL ARTICLES: A course packet will be available at Professional Image.

FILMS: CHOCOLAT, GULLIVER TRAVELS BEYOND THE MOON, HARRY POTTER films, HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY, MINORITY REPORT, PAN’S LABYRINTH, SHREK TRILOGY, SPIRITED AWAY, STARDUST, THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, THE MATRIX, andTHE WIZARD OF OZ. (The reading and film lists are subject to change.)

ENGLISH 273 (03)(W): AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN CREATIVE NONFICTION (TR 9:00-10:15) – Marie Hara
In this course students will follow the autobiographical spark in numerous ways. Forms such as the traditional personal essay will be compared to experimental elements that further explore the inner journey of self-discovery. As a group we will try our hand at the memoir, the nature essay, the collage/segmented/braided essay, and the critical essay as well as literary journalism. Always returning to the key elements of narrative writing, we will establish an active writing workshop designed to foster communication and shared insights. Each student will keep a journal, complete daily writing exercises and finish 15 to 20 pages of edited work for a portfolio. While practicing editing techniques, students must discuss their own writing and the work of others in our classroom writers’ circle. Discussions will also address genre issues and publication goals. In addition we will respond to the autobiographical work of well-known essayists, memoirists, cultural observers, and novelists who readily make use of the flexibility of creative nonfiction.

TEXTS: Maxine Hong Kingston, THE WOMAN WARRIOR; Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola (ed.), TELL IT SLANT: WRITING, SHAPING CREATIVE NON-FICTION; Albert Saijo, OUTSPEAKS: A RHAPSODY; Joe Tsujimoto, MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS

ENGLISH 273 (04): CREATIVE NONFICTION: READING & WRITING THE WORLD (TR 10:30-11:15) – Caroline Sinavaiana
So, you may be wondering, what is creative nonfiction anyway? How is it different from regular, old “nonfiction”? One writer puts it this way: “Creative nonfiction gives the writer more artistic freedom—not in regard to the truth but in constructing the story. Ultimately, the primary goal of the creative nonfiction writer is to communicate information, just like a reporter, but to shape it in such a way that it reads like fiction. Creative nonfiction writers tell stories, utilizing dialogue, description, characterization, point of view, while at the same time remaining true to the facts” (Lee Gutkind, 2007).

In this course we will read and write lots of prose that is ‘true to the facts’ while being alive and quirky, fun and gripping, compelling and lyrical. In order to warm up and stoke our own writing fires, we will read some of the best work there is, excerpts and short pieces with titles such as “One Liar’s Beginnings” (Brady Udall), “Angela’s Ashes” (Frank McCourt), “e-mail” (Janice Best), “At Last, Her Laundry’s Done” (Kathleen Norris), “Garden of Envy” (Jamaica Kincaid), “How to Tell One Bird from the Next” (Cecile Goding), “Crabs Dig Holes According to the Size of Their Shells” (James Alan PcPherson), “The Indian Dog” (N. Scott Momaday), “Desire” (David Shields), “On Seat Belts, Cocaine Addiction, and the Germ Theory of Disease” (Diana Hume George), “Calving Heifers in a March Blizzard” (Ann Daum), “Nearing 90” (William Maxwell), “The Pain Scale” (Eula Bliss), “Pimp” (Olivia Chia-Lin Lee), “North Pole, South Pole, the Sea of Carcinoma” (Dev Hathaway), “Like a Complete Unknown” (miminewyork.blogspot.com), “66 Signs That the Former Student Who Invited Your to Dinner Is Trying to Seduce You” (Lori Soderlind), and “Tell Me Again Who Are You?” (Heather Sellers).

Class time will be highly interactive: lots of conversation about the readings, as well as listening and responding, in small groups, to drafts of each other’s writing. In addition to the actual reading, homework will entail more dialogue vis a vis online postings of responses to the reading, as well as extensive revisions to your written work.

By the end of the semester, you will have a portfolio of ‘finished’ work (25 pages or so) that you have written, revised many times, and polished to a high gleam, thanks to our excellent conversation, sustained effort, and the fearless writing I will encourage you to do in this course.

TEXTS: Karen Elizabeth Gordon, THE TRANSITIVE VAMPIRE; Lee Gutkind, Ed., THE BEST CREATIVE NONFICTION, Vol.1, 2007; Judith Kitchen & Mary Paumier Jones, Eds., IN BRIEF: SHORT TAKES ON THE PERSONAL; Dinty W. Moore, THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER: ART AND CRAFT IN CREATIVE NONFICTION; William Strunk & E.B.White, THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

ENGLISH 273 (05): (TR 10:30-11:45) – Steven Curry
...will be added soon