ENGL 200 B: Reading Literary Forms

ENGL 200 B

Reading Literary Forms:
Inheritance

Autumn 2022

Instructor: Alex McCauley, apmccau@uw.edu
Class Location: LOW 206, MTWTh 10:30 – 11:20 am

Office hours / Office location: PDL B31, MW, 1 – 2 pm

Course Description

Inheritance. The first thing to come to mind might be personal wealth, passed from one individual to another. A good start, but limited. Along with money, there’s also heredity – biological and genetic inheritance from parents to children. Even more broad: the weight of history passed from one generation to another. Think climate change, or infrastructure, or the financial crash. Political problems – and collective benefits, in some cases. We all use things we never paid for, and pay for things we’ll never be able to use. That’s life!

Tradition might be a different word for inheritance, including literary traditions. This class explores literary history through three novels that grapple with questions of inheritance. Sometimes these types of narrative are described as “rags to riches.” Descriptive enough but, I don’t know, sort of a spoiler. No promises that any of these novels end in riches, or that you will learn how to get rich through reading them.

That all might seem very abstract. Part of the value of reading prose fiction (or narrative in general) is the ability to bring together specifics and abstraction. That’s also the task of interpretation – your task!

Reading itself is work, and there will be plenty of it here. But the work you'll be graded on will largely be your writing. There are no quizzes or exams.

Texts

• Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist (ISBN: 9780199536269; Oxford World's Classics)
• Esi Edugyan - Washington Black (ISBN: 9780525563242)
• Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger (ISBN: 9781982167660)

Course Assignments and Assessment

Paragraph Essay: At the end of the second week, you’ll submit a one-paragraph essay on one of the first four readings.

Interpretive Essays: You’ll write interpretive essays in response to each of the three novels. Interpretation can look like a lot of different things, but the point is to work with detail, analyze carefully, and risk being wrong.

These essays will not necessarily be strict literary analysis from start to finish, but we’ll talk about that more when the time comes.

Response Papers: In the weeks that essays aren’t due, you’ll submit brief papers in response to the week’s reading. There’s six weeks total, with one entry per week on a day of your choice. Responses should be submitted prior to the class period in which the reading is assigned. You can skip two, or do 5-6 for extra credit (.04-0.1 added to final grade). These response papers are graded purely on completion.

You’ll have a chance to revise the Edugyan and Adiga essays, if you want, and the revised grade replaces the original grade.

Grading criteria will be described in each assignment prompt, but all grades will be on a 4.0 scale.

Grading breakdown:          Dickens essay                                               24%
                                             Edugyan essay                                              20%
                                             Adiga essay                                                    20%
                                             Response Papers                                          16%
                                             Paragraph essay                                           10%
                                             Participation                                                  10%

Not all of us care to speak to a room full of strangers, no matter how friendly they are, and there are other ways to contribute. Participation for this course means things like turning assignments in on time, peer review sessions, and small-group discussion.

Extra Credit

There is an open invitation to forward me notes from our daily discussion to receive extra credit. The purpose is to create a resource for anyone who can’t make it to class that day. Sometimes there’s good reasons to skip, like if you’re sick. It’s good to help each other out in those situations. For one day of notes, I’ll add 0.04 to your final grade; for two days, 0.1. You don’t need to let me know ahead of time, although that makes it easier. Please submit the notes in a file either through Canvas message or directly to my e-mail so that I can post them under the weekly module for everyone to access. You can include your name or leave it anonymous, and your individual extra credit for note-taking maxes out at two submissions. 

Course Policies

Please don’t come to class if you feel sick. It’s helpful to let me know, but sometimes drafting a message is more work than it’s worth when you’re sick. But it would help to let me know if being sick means missing multiple class sessions.

Students are required to follow the University’s COVID-19 Face Covering Policy at all times when on-site at the University, including any posted requirements in specific buildings or spaces. If a student refuses to comply with the policy, the student can be sent home (to an on or off-campus residence). Student Conduct offices are available for consultations on potential violations of student conduct if needed. University personnel who have concerns that a student or group of students are not complying with this policy should speak with their supervisor, a representative of the academic unit, or report it to the Environmental Health & Safety Department.

You have a life, other classes, hobbies, jobs, pandemonium, and various external obligations. Sometimes, even after hard work, a paper doesn’t come together in time. In acknowledgement of these realities, I will accept one late essay per student over of the course of the quarter. If you plan to make use of this policy, mail me prior to the time the assignment is due. This automatically shifts the due date by three days (including weekends)—no questions asked, no explanations necessary. All other assignments must be turned in on time. Turning in more than one assignment late will result in deductions to your participation grade.

Plagiarism, or academic dishonesty, is presenting someone else's ideas or writing as your own. In your writing for this class, you are encouraged to refer to other people's thoughts and writing--as long as you cite them. As a matter of policy, any student found to have plagiarized any piece of writing in this class will be immediately reported to the College of Arts and Sciences for review.

If you find yourself tempted by plagiarism, save us all a headache and send me a message instead.

If you have any concerns about the course or your instructor, please see the instructor about these concerns as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking with the instructor or not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies: Jesse Oak Taylor, jot8@uw.edu. If, after speaking with the Director, you are still not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact English Department Chair Anis Bawarshi, (206) 543-2690.

If you need accommodation of any sort, please let me know so that I can work with the UW Disability Resources for Students Office (DRS) to provide what you require. This syllabus is available in large print, as are other class materials. More information about accommodation may be found at http://www.washington.edu/students/drs/ (Links to an external site.).

In other words, if you have a relationship to learning that I should be aware of – let me know.

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Faculty Syllabus Guidelines and Resources. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form available at https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/ (Links to an external site.).

Assignment Schedule

Weeks 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10:                    Short Responses                                                          Prior to Class

Week 2:                                                 Paragraph                                                                      10/7

Week 6:                                                 Edugyan Essay                                                             11/4

Week 9:                                                 Adiga Essay                                                                   11/23

Finals Week:                                       Dickens Essay                                                               12/14

Note: Oliver Twist was serialized from 1837-1839 in 24 installments. Breaks in our reading reflect breaks between monthly numbers, although some days of reading contain multiple installments.

Reading Schedule

Week 1 - NO CLASS - McCauley at Conference

Week 2
10/3 – Viet Than Nguyen, “Book Banning”
10/4 – Dickens, Ch. 1-4 (1-31)
10/5 – Dickens, Ch. 5-8 (31- 63)
10/6 – Edugyan, Pt. 1, 1-4 (1-34)

Week 3
10/10 – Dickens, Ch. 9-13 (64-100)
10/11 – Edugyan, Pt. 1, 5-8 (35-73)
10/12 – Dickens, Ch. 14-15 (101-118)
10/13 – Edugyan, Pt. 1, 9-12 (74-119)

Week 4
10/17 – Edugyan, Pt. 2, 1-3 (120-153)
10/18 – Edugyan, Pt. 2, 4-5 (154-178)
10/19 – Dickens, Ch. 16-19 (118-155)
10/20 – Edugyan, Pt. 2, 6-7 (179-199)

Week 
10/24 – Edugyan, Pt. 3, 1-5 (200-231)
10/25 – Edugyan, Pt. 3, 6-10 (232-270)
10/26 – Dickens, Ch. 20-27 (155-215)
10/27 – Edugyan, Pt. 3, 11-12 (271-285)

Week 6
10/31 – Edugyan, Pt. 4, 1-5 (286 -318)
11/1 – Edugyan, Pt. 4, 6-12 (319-355)
11/2 – Edugyan, Pt. 4, 13-17 (356-384)
11/3 – Essay Planning

Week 7
11/7 – Adiga, First Night (1-36)
11/8 – Adiga, Second Night (37-77)
11/9 – Dickens, Ch. 28-32 (216-255)
11/10 – Adiga, Fourth Morning (78-95)

Week 8
11/14 – Adiga, Fourth Night, (96-145)
11/15 – Dickens, Ch. 33-34 (255-272), Preface
11/16 – Adiga, Fifth Night (146-166)
11/17 – Adiga, Sixth Morning (167-189)

Week 9
11/21 – Adiga, Sixth Night (190-247)
11/22 – Adiga, Seventh Night (248-276)
11/23 – Sorry to Bother You
11/24 - Thanksgiving

Week 10
11/28 – Dickens, Ch. 35-37 (272-295)
11/29 – Dickens, Ch. 38-41 (295-336)
11/30 – Dickens, Ch. 42-43 (336-357)
12/1- Dickens, Ch. 44-46 (357-377)

Week 11
12/5 – Dickens, Ch. 47-50 (377-415)
12/6 – Dickens, Ch. 51-53 (415-440)
12/7 – Essay Prep
12/8 – Final Things