English 200 B: Reading Literary Forms
“Other Lives, Other Minds”
Autumn 2024 Instructor: Julian Suhr
Location: Smith 305 Office: Padelford B-410
Class Time: M/T/W/Th 10:30-11:20 am Office Hours: M/W 12-2 pm
Email: jrsuhr@uw.edu
Course Description:
Perhaps you are familiar with the thrilling disassociation that comes from picking up a book or turning on a movie and feeling that you have stepped into somebody else’s life. Indeed, we could go so far as to say that the allure of vicarious experience, the ability to imagine ourselves into different worlds, is one of the key features of literature as an art form. But if we step back and think about the work involved in producing such a feeling, these acts of literary voyeurism start to raise some interesting questions: what does it mean to encounter somebody’s life as an aesthetic experience? What does an author need to do to translate something unfamiliar into a recognizable set of concepts and images, without making the unfamiliar feel too commonplace? How do the “shapes” of books or movies, their artistic forms, influence the way in which a life is encountered and understood? And what, ultimately, is so enjoyable about the illusion of escapism—and is it enjoyable precisely because we are aware, somehow, that it is illusionary? In this course, we will think through all of these questions—and more!—as we examine the possibilities that hide beneath the surface of a text.
Learning objectives:
- Students will develop proficiency in close reading and related critical reading skills, as well as the investments, contexts, and effects of using these skills.
- Students will improve their writing skills generally, and with regard to writing about literature and culture.
- Students will develop both an appreciation of literature and a lifelong habit of reading.
Required texts:
We will be reading the following books this quarter:
- Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko (978-0143104919)
- The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston (978-0679721888)
- Splitting an Order by Ted Kooser (978-1556594700)
- Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (978-0593311295)
I’ve listed the appropriate ISBN number so you can be sure to get the same edition as the rest of the class (so we can all be on the same page!). Please note that if you obtain a different edition, such as an e-book, you may need to scramble to find the page we’re talking about.
We’ll also be watching two movies: “À la folie… pas du tout” and “Sweetgrass.” I will screen “À la folie” for us in class, but if you’d like to write on it for one of your essays you will need to find a way to access it (it’s widely available on streaming sites). We all have free access to “Sweetgrass” via the UW library (huzzah!).
Assignments and Grading:
- First Essay Rough Draft: 5%
- First Essay Final Draft: 20%
- Second Essay Rough Draft: 5%
- Second Essay Final Draft: 20%
- Weekly Response Posts: 20%
- Participation: 15%
- Writing Exercises: 10%
- Discussion Question: 5%
First and Second Essays:
As this is a writing-intensive “W” class, you will write two essays of 5-7 pages each (1,500-2,100 words, with normal fonts and margins). In order to help develop and refine your writing skills, you will also complete and submit rough (but full) drafts of your essay. I will give you feedback on these drafts, and we will workshop them together in class. The rough draft will be graded on completion, and the final draft will receive a conventional letter grade. I will post my grading rubric to Canvas before the rough draft is due.
Weekly Response Posts:
Once per week, you will submit a 200-300 word post to Canvas in which you reflect upon an idea you’ve encountered in our discussions or readings. What I’m looking for is written evidence of your thought process as you think critically about your subject. These responses don’t need to conclude or build to a point; instead, think of them as an articulation of a problem, the seed of a potential essay topic. I will provide brief responses to these posts, and they will be graded on completion. Please refer to the guidelines posted with the Canvas assignment for more details.
Participation:
This is a discussion-based class, and your participation in our conversations is essential for both your own learning and the success of the class as a whole. Here’s how I will grade participation: at the beginning of each class, we will have small group discussions about that day’s reading. At the end of this discussion, I will ask you summarize the ideas your group discussed in a brief Canvas survey. My hope is that, after thinking about some discussion questions and writing down your ideas, you’ll be primed to speak up in our whole-class discussion!
Writing Exercises:
Every so often we will take some class time to focus on the nuts and bolts of academic writing. There will be various minor assignments associated with this process: brainstorming, practicing quote integration, even some peer review. These will also be graded on completion.
Discussion Question:
Once this quarter everyone will present a discussion question to the class. This will involve preparing a roughly one-minute explanation of how you arrived at this question: what specific quotes or passages from the reading inspired you? What bigger ideas from our course are you engaging with? What was your thought process in coming up with this question? Everyone will sign up to present during the first week of class, and this task will also be graded on completion. Please refer to the guidelines posted with the Canvas assignment for more details.
Late Work:
Please submit all assignments to the appropriate Canvas portal by the posted deadline. In the event that you are unable to submit an assignment on time, please reach out to me via email, 24 hours before the assignment is due. I can be flexible with these deadlines, within reason. However, bear in mind that significantly late work will receive much less detailed attention from me, and that it will be your responsibility to inform me when you have submitted your work so I know to give you feedback. Unexcused late work will be marked down 1/3rd of a letter grade per day, or will receive no credit for assignments graded upon completion.
Course Policies:
On Reading:
The knowledge that you gain from this course will come from discussions with your peers, not from me summarizing the readings in a lecture. It should go without saying, but in order to fully participate in our conversations you must do the readings. This does not mean that you must master the readings--it is more than OK to be confused, or even frustrated. But in order to know what the rest of us are talking about you need to have at least encountered everything that we’re discussing. I recommend taking notes on your subjective response to what you’re reading, particularly framed in relation to specific quotes or ideas: what’s intriguing? What connects to other readings or ideas? What’s aggravating? Why?
On Silence:
I have heard of this mythical beast, the “awkward silence,” that has been known to enter a discussion-based class and produce a negative spiral, in which the silence that follows an instructor’s question lingers and builds until nobody feels they can speak. I want to dispel that feeling from the outset. As one of my professors in grad school once said, I don’t believe in awkward silences. I simply hear it as the sound of students thinking. I know that if we’re asking complicated questions, it may take some time for you to think about how you’d like to respond. Please don’t feel pressure to immediately “know” an answer—take the time that you need to gather your thoughts, feel free to answer partially, etc. We’re trying to keep a conversation going, and silences are a necessary component of this work!
On Critical Generosity:
You could think of this as the “yes, and…” theory of academic discourse: the idea that our goal in discussions is to think with one another, to build upon others’ ideas in good faith in order to collectively guide our conversation towards richer observations. Implicitly, it stands against a more traditional form of criticism that seeks to identify the limits or weaknesses of an idea in order to prove that it is “wrong.” I request—and expect—that all of us will engage in critical generosity with each other during the course of this class. Our readings address a variety of upsetting topics, and it would stifle our discussions if we felt that we could not attempt to think through an idea out loud for fear of being criticized. Further, I want to extend the concept of critical generosity to our interactions with each other, human to human. Please be considerate of your classmates, who are your colleagues in this intellectual endeavor: refrain from personal attacks, and be aware of the effect that topics or specific words within these texts can have when spoken of lightly or aloud. If you are ever made to feel uncomfortable in our class, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Communication:
I can be reached at my UW email address (jrsuhr@uw.edu), which I check frequently. Please note that I typically do not check my email after 9 pm or on weekends, and please send me a reminder email if you haven’t heard back from me in 48 hours. Additionally, I will send messages to the class via Canvas, so please make sure that you are receiving those messages. I am more than happy to answer any questions or concerns that you have—if you are in doubt, please reach out! This includes assistance navigating student resources and other concerns that may help you as a human navigate the stresses of academic work and life broadly.
Technology:
I recognize that it would be unrealistic for me, in 2024, to ask my students not to use their laptops to take notes in class. So instead I’ll make a general statement of accountability: please refrain from engaging in non-class activity during class, as distractions like (but not limited to) texting and social media scrolling detract from your own ability to learn and participate in our discussions, not to mention anyone else who can see your screen. If you would like to go so far as to take notes on paper and only use your devices when we’re doing in-class work, I would be delighted. Please do keep your phones away, though, as they are difficult to work on and easy to play on. I reserve the right to deduct points from your participation grade in the event that you use devices irresponsibly.
Academic Integrity:
As a member of the academic community, you are expected to respect the intellectual labor of other scholars, and to produce your own work through honest hard thought. If you have any questions about whether you are unintentionally plagiarizing, or if you are feeling desperate to the point of needing to copy somebody else’s work, please contact me for assistance. I would much rather work with a student to help avoid academically dishonest practices than report a student after the fact. The University of Washington Student Conduct Code (WAC 478-121) defines prohibited academic and behavioral conduct and describes how the University holds students accountable as they pursue their academic goals. Allegations of misconduct by students may be referred to the appropriate campus office for investigation and resolution. More information can be found online at https://www.washington.edu/cssc/.
As for the other AI, all work submitted for this course must be your own. Any use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, when working on assignments is forbidden. Use of generative AI will be considered academic misconduct and subject to investigation The assignments in this class have been designed to challenge you to develop creativity, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills. Using AI technology will limit your capacity to develop these skills and to meet the learning goals of this course. If you have any questions about what constitutes academic integrity in this course or at the University of Washington, please feel free to contact me to discuss your concerns.
Accommodation/Accessibility:
Your experience in this class is important to me. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course.
If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at disability.uw.edu.
Religious Accommodations:
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 the Registrar’s website: https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form found here: https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/.
University Resources:
Counseling Center
Collegiate life (and life in general) can become overwhelming at times, and I sincerely encourage you to take care of your mental health this quarter. UW Counseling Center workshops include a wide range of issues including study skills, thinking about coming out, international students and culture shock, and much more. Visiting the Counseling Center can have an extremely positive impact on your success and well-being at the University of Washington. Check out available resources and workshops at: https://wellbeing.uw.edu/unit/counseling-center/.
Odegaard Writing & Research Center
The Odegaard Writing and Research Center (OWRC) offers free, one-to-one, 45-minute tutoring sessions for undergraduate, graduate, and professional writers in all fields at the UW. They will work with writers on any writing or research project, as well as personal projects such as applications or personal statements. Their tutors and librarians collaborate with writers at any stage of the writing and research process, from brainstorming and identifying sources to drafting and making final revisions. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please see their website (http://depts.washington.edu/owrc), or come visit them on the first floor of Odegaard Undergraduate Library.
CLUE Writing Center
The CLUE is a drop-in writing and tutoring center open from 7pm-midnight all days except Friday and Saturday throughout the quarter. For more info, check out their website: https://academicsupport.uw.edu/clue/.
wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House
Intellectual House is a longhouse-style facility on the UW Seattle campus. It provides a multi-service learning and gathering space for American Indian and Alaska Native students, faculty, and staff, as well as others from various cultures and communities to come together in a welcoming environment to share knowledge. https://www.washington.edu/omad/intellectual-house/. (wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ is pronounced “wah-sheb-altuh.”)
Q Center
The University of Washington Q Center builds and facilitates queer (gay, lesbian, bisexual, two-spirit, trans, intersex, questioning, same-gender-loving, asexual, aromantic) academic and social community through education, advocacy, and support services to achieve a socially-just campus in which all people are valued. For more information, visit https://sites.uw.edu/qcenter/.
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Schedule of Course Meetings (Course Schedule, Calendar):
Week 0
Wednesday 9/25: Introductions, syllabus review
Thursday 9/26: Finish syllabus review, narrative forms and information (the joke and the anecdote)
Due: Respond to the Welcome Questionnaire!
Week 1
Monday 9/30: Ceremony p. 1-128
Tuesday 10/1: Ceremony p. 1-128
Wednesday 10/2: Ceremony p. 1-128
Thursday 10/3: Writing workshop: figuring out what to write about
Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 2
Monday 10/7: Ceremony p. 129-244
Tuesday 10/8: [Class cancelled]
Wednesday 10/9: Ceremony p. 129-244
Thursday 10/10: Ceremony p. 129-244
Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 3
Monday 10/14: Writing workshop: building an argument, selecting support
Tuesday 10/15: The Woman Warrior: “No Name Woman,” “White Tigers,” and “Shaman”
Wednesday 10/16: The Woman Warrior: “No Name Woman,” “White Tigers,” and “Shaman”
Thursday 10/17: The Woman Warrior: “No Name Woman,” “White Tigers,” and “Shaman”
Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 4
Monday 10/21: Writing workshop: linguistic clarity, incorporating quotes
Tuesday 10/22: The Woman Warrior: “At the Western Palace” and “A Song for Barbarian Reed Pipe”
Wednesday 10/23: The Woman Warrior: “At the Western Palace” and “A Song for Barbarian Reed Pipe”
Thursday 10/24: The Woman Warrior: “At the Western Palace” and “A Song for Barbarian Reed Pipe”
Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 5
Monday 10/28: Screening “À la folie… pas du tout”
Tuesday 10/29 : Finish screening “À la folie”
Wednesday 10/30: Discuss “À la folie”
Thursday 10/31: Finish discussing “À la folie”
Due: First Essay Rough Draft (no weekly response post)
Week 6
Monday 11/4: Writing workshop: revisions
Tuesday 11/5: Splitting an Order
Wednesday 11/6: Splitting an Order
Thursday 11/7: Splitting an Order
Due: Weekly Response Post
Saturday 11/9: Due: First Essay Final Draft
Week 7
Monday 11/11 University Holiday, no class
Tuesday 11/12: Klara and the Sun, Parts One and Two
Wednesday 11/13: Klara and the Sun, Parts One and Two
Thursday 11/14: Klara and the Sun, Parts One and Two
Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 8
Monday 11/18: Writing workshop: learning from feedback
Tuesday 11/19: Klara and the Sun, Parts Three and Four
Wednesday 11/20: Klara and the Sun, Parts Three and Four
Thursday 11/21: Klara and the Sun, Parts Three and Four
Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 9
Monday 11/25: Klara and the Sun, Parts Five and Six
Tuesday 11/26: Klara and the Sun, Parts Five and Six
Wednesday 11/27: No class
Thursday 11/28: University Holiday, no class
(No response post this week due to holiday)
Week 10
Monday 12/2: Writing workshop: conclusions
Due: Second Essay Rough Draft
Tuesday 12/3: “Sweetgrass”
Wednesday 12/4: “Sweetgrass”
Thursday 12/5: Course evaluations, parting thoughts
Finals Week
Monday 12/9: Due: Second Essay Final Draft
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Please note that this syllabus is subject to revision. I will notify you of any revisions via email.