English 200 A: Reading Literary Forms
The Narrative Machine
Fall 2025 Instructor: Julian Suhr
Location: SAV 131 Office: Padelford B-410
Class Time: M/W 9:30 -11:20 am Office Hours: W 12-2 pm
Email: jrsuhr@uw.edu
Course Description:
We live lives steeped in narrative, from political messaging to the stories we entertain ourselves at the end of the day. And while I would contend that we, as citizens of the 21st century, are remarkably adept at navigating the products of narrative, celebrating certain messages and condemning others, we spend little time thinking about the mysterious processes that imbue narration with meaning. This course invites us to consider the magical arithmetic that turns a certain sequence of facts into something more significant than the sum of its parts, a new way of perceiving, thinking about, and feeling the world. In this sense, we might conceptualize narratives as little story-machines designed to reorient their readers to the world; our task is to identify the invisible components of the narrative machine, to practice seeing the literary techniques that shape our perceptions, and to consider the different ways in which the “shapes” of books, poems, stories, and movies, their artistic forms and attendant commitments, influence the ways in which we are made to understand their subjects. In undertaking this intellectual project, what we’re really doing is sneaking into some meaty philosophical questions through an aesthetic back door: what is it about a text that makes us think and feel the things we think and feel? How do we know what the bases of our thoughts are? And how are these concerns connected?
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 one movie: “À la folie… pas du tout.” 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). Please don’t look up “À la folie” before you watch it, as I want you to encounter that movie without any preconceptions!
Assignments and Grading:
4.0 Grading Conversion Scale:
I will use the following scale to calculate your grade on a 4.0 scale. My policy is to round up: 95.5 and above would count as a 4.0, for example. Remember that Canvas does not weight your grade, so please refer to the grading percentage breakdown listed below to calculate your percentage in our class.
|
Number |
Percentage |
Letter grade |
|
4.0 |
100 |
A+ |
|
3.9 |
95 |
A |
|
3.8 |
92 |
A- |
|
3.4 |
88 |
B+ |
|
3.1 |
85 |
B |
|
2.8 |
82 |
B - |
|
2.4 |
78 |
C + |
|
2.1 |
75 |
C |
|
1.8 |
72 |
C - |
|
1.4 |
68 |
D + |
|
1.1 |
65 |
D |
Assignments:
- Participation: 15%
- Discussion Question: 5%
- Weekly Response Posts: 20%
- Writing Exercises: 10%
- First Essay Rough Draft: 5%
- First Essay Final Draft: 20%
- Second Essay Rough Draft: 5%
- Second Essay Final Draft: 20%
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! It is not possible to make up missed participation points, as they reflect being present for a specific conversation at a specific point in time, but I will excuse two missed days of participation per student. These surveys will be graded pass/fail; responses that demonstrate an engagement with the discussion questions and the readings will receive credit, while responses that are overly brief or don’t mention concepts from the question and/or reading won’t receive credit.
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. This presentation will be graded on completion; students who do not submit their discussion question on time, or who do not respond to my feedback, will receive only partial credit. Please refer to the guidelines posted with the Canvas assignment for more details.
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. These responses will be graded on a 3 point scale: 3 points for thoughtful inquiry and curiosity, 2 points for responses that simply identify issues but aren’t actively exploring the significance of these issues, 1 point for responses that just summarize the reading or otherwise don’t express much engagement, and 0 points for responses that indicate a student is not engaging with the reading. (I will also assign half grades, i.e. 2.5 points for work that’s in between a 2 and a 3.) Please refer to the guidelines posted with the Canvas assignment for more details.
Writing Exercises:
Every week or so 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, which will also be graded on completion. It will be possible to make up missed writing exercises.
First and Second Essays:
As this is a writing-intensive “W” class, you will write two essays of 1,500-2,100 words each (5-7 pages, with normal fonts and margins). In order to help develop and refine your writing skills, you will also complete and submit rough drafts for each essay. I will give you feedback on these drafts. The rough draft will be graded on completion, and the final draft will receive a conventional letter grade. I will post my grading guidelines to Canvas as a part of your first essay prompt.
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 to request an extension. I can be flexible with these deadlines, within reason, and am typically happy to grant extensions. However, bear in mind that late work will receive much less attention from me, and that I cannot provide feedback on assignments after the posted due date. Unexcused late essays will be marked down 1/3rd of a letter grade per 48 hour period; late assignments that are graded on completion (everything else) will be marked down 25% per week.
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. 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, and recognize that there will typically be no “right” answers to the questions I’m asking. 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 2025, to prohibit my students from using laptops, tablets, etc. to take notes and access course materials in class. So I’ll just make a general statement of accountability: please refrain from using your devices for non-class purposes during class. The alluring glow of things like (but not limited to) texting and social media scrolling detract not just from your own ability to learn and participate in our discussions, but are a distraction for 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/.
Artificial Intelligence:
As for the other AI… well, we’re all still figuring this out, aren’t we? In the abstract, my policy is that all work submitted for this course must be your own, and that any use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, when working on assignments will be considered academic misconduct and subject to investigation. This is because the assignments in this class have been designed to challenge you to develop creativity, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills, and using AI technology will limit your capacity to develop these skills and to meet the learning goals of this course. However, I also recognize that we are living through a paradigm shift, and that my students will have much more to teach me about how AI is used in an academic context. As such, we will devote a writing workshop to ironing out the specifics of our course’s AI use policy, which I will then summarize and post on Canvas.
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 and Assignments:
Week 0
Wednesday 9/24: • Introductions
- Syllabus review
- Introducing narrative forms: the Joke and the Anecdote
Friday 9/26: Due: Respond to the Welcome Questionnaire!
Week 1
Monday 9/29: • Writing workshop: thought, written expression, and AI
- Ceremony p. 1-128
Wednesday 10/1: • Ceremony p. 1-128
Friday 10/3: Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 2
Monday 10/6: • Writing workshop: essays and the expectations of an academic reader
- Ceremony p. 129-244
Wednesday 10/8: • Ceremony p. 129-244
Friday 10/10: Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 3
Monday 10/13: • Writing workshop: prompt appropriation and topic brainstorming
- The Woman Warrior: “No Name Woman,” “White Tigers,” and “Shaman”
Wednesday 10/15: • The Woman Warrior: “No Name Woman,” “White Tigers,” and “Shaman”
Friday 10/17: Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 4
Monday 10/20: • Writing workshop: argumentation, or crafting provable theses
- The Woman Warrior: “At the Western Palace” and “A Song for Barbarian Reed Pipe”
Wednesday 10/22: • The Woman Warrior: “At the Western Palace” and “A Song for Barbarian Reed Pipe”
Friday 10/24: Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 5
Monday 10/27: • Writing workshop: rough planning
- “À la folie… pas du tout”
Wednesday 10/29: • “À la folie… pas du tout”
Friday 10/31: Due: First Essay Rough Draft (no weekly response post)
Week 6
Monday 11/3: • Writing workshop: rough draft peer review
- Splitting an Order
Wednesday 11/5: • Splitting an Order
Friday 11/7: Due: First Essay Final Draft (no weekly response post)
Week 7
Monday 11/10: • Writing workshop: specific language
- Klara and the Sun, Parts One and Two
Wednesday 11/12: • Klara and the Sun, Parts One and Two
Friday 11/14: Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 8
Monday 11/17: • Writing workshop: appropriate and sufficient evidence
- Klara and the Sun, Parts Three and Four
Wednesday 11/19: • Klara and the Sun, Parts Three and Four
Friday 11/21: Due: Weekly Response Post
Week 9
Monday 11/24: -Klara and the Sun, Parts Five and Six
Wednesday 11/26: No class—happy Thanksgiving!
Friday 11/28: Due: Second Essay Rough Draft (no weekly response post)
Week 10
Monday 12/1: • Writing workshop: rough draft peer review, or TBD based on requests
- Graphic novel TBD
Wednesday 12/3: • Graphic novel TBD
- Course evaluations
- Parting thoughts!
Finals Week
Monday 12/8: 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.