English 3, "Orientalism"
This syllabus is still undressed; details will be filled in as we get
closer to January. I invite comments to jlynch@english.upenn.edu.
- Office: 898-6331; 310 Bennett Hall. Hours: (pending) and
by
appointment.
- Home: (609) 482-5867 (before 11 p.m.!).
- E-mail: jlynch@english.upenn.edu
(the best way to reach me).
- Listserv: lynch3@english.upenn.edu
- URL: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/
Be sure to read the following closely:
Much of this course takes advantage of computers. If you have computer
trouble, send a message to
english-help@english.upenn.edu
and you'll receive a response within a day.
Schedule of Class Meetings
Introduction. Extracts from Herodotus and Marco Polo.
18 January
Mandeville's Travels, pp. ???.
23 January
Mandeville's Travels, pp. ???.
25 January
Mandeville's Travels, pp. ???. Writing Workshop:
Finding a
Thesis.
30 January
Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine, Acts I-III. Two-page
paper
due: Mandeville's Travels.
Marlowe, Tamburlaine, Acts IV-V. Grammar and Style Guide: clarity, precision, and grace.
6 February
Marlowe, Tamburlaine. Writing Workshop: Developing an
Argument.
8 February
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu; William Collins, Persian Eclogues
(both
on-line). Two-page paper due: Tamburlaine.
13 February
Samuel Johnson, Rasselas.
Grammar and Style Guide: audience, economy, vocabulary, and obfuscation.
15 February
Johnson, Rasselas.
First Paper Due: 4-5 pages on the works of Mandeville,
Marlowe,
Montagu, Collins, or Johnson.
20 February
William Beckford, Vathek.
22 February
Beckford, Vathek. Two-page paper due: Johnson or
Beckford.
Writing Workshop: Polishing Prose.
27 February
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla
Khan;
Lord Byron, The Giaour. Grammar and Style Guide: emphasis and sexist language.
29 February
Byron, The Giaour. Writing Workshop: Revising.
Rudyard Kipling, selections from Plain Tales from the Hills.
Revision exercise due: assigned in class, 29 February.
7 March
Kipling, selections from Plain Tales from the Hills.
12 March
No Class -- Spring Break.
14 March
No Class -- Spring Break.
19 March
E. M. Forster, Passage to India. Grammar and Style Guide: concrete language, wasted words, long words, and bugbears.
21 March
Forster, Passage to India. Second Paper Due: 5-6 pages
on
the works of Beckford, Byron, or Kipling.
26 March
Forster, Passage to India.
28 March
Forster, Passage to India. Writing Workshop: Using
Research
Tools.
David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia. Research assignment
due.
Presentations on final projects. Grammar and Style Guide: citation, fonts, justification, punctuation around quotation
marks,
and titles.
4 April
Lean, Lawrence of Arabia; selections from T. E. Lawrence,
The
Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Presentations on final projects.
9 April
George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant," "Burmese Days," ???.
Presentations
on final projects.
11 April
Salman Rushdie, ???. Presentations on final projects.
16 April
Maxine Hong Kingston, "White Tigers."
18 April
Orientalism in popular culture. Third Paper Due:
either 6-8
pages on the works of Forster, Lean, Lawrence, Orwell, Rushdie, or
Kingston; or an extension of one of your previous papers to
8-10
pages.
23 April
Orientalism in popular culture.
25 April
Conclusion.