| W 9/5 | Introduction |
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WORDS IN PROCESS
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| F 9/7 |
Emily Dickinson, "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers"* |
| M 9/10 | Emily Dickinson, "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers,"
cont. Journal 2: Choose one difference between the version of 1859 and that of 1861 to discuss, and explain the effect of Dickinson's choice. |
| W 9/12 | Walt Whitman: "I Saw in Louisiana a LIve-Oak Growing"* Journal 3: Select a repetition (of word or sound) or revision and speculate on its function for Whitman's meaning. |
| F 9/14 | Robert Frost, "The Silken Tent"* Journal 4: Pick some aspect of Frost's image to explicate in greater detail. Note how the image develops throughout the sonnet, and try to limit your discussion to a particular stage in that development. |
| M 9/17 | Holiday |
| W 9/19 | Herman Melville, "Art"* Journal 5: Write a paragraph on the relevance of Melville's reference to Genesis 32 in his poem "Art" |
| F 9/21 | Close Reading/First Draft 3-5 pages—Workshop |
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WORDS IN PERFORMANCE
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| M 9/24 | William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act I Journal 6: Pick a character to track throughout the play. Observe your chosen character's behavior in Act I (if your character does not appear in this part of the play, read ahead to his or her first entrance), starting with his or her opening lines. What do they tell you about the character? Is he or she "acting" or not? How do you know? |
| W 9/26 | Twelfth Night, Acts II-III Journal 7: As the play progresses, at what moment do you see your character experiencing the greatest tension? How does he or she speak at this moment? How does Shakespeare use language to suggest the character's emotion? |
| F 9/28 | Close Reading/Essay 5 pages—Workshop |
| M 10/1 | Twelfth Night, Acts IV-V Journal 8: Brainstorm the essay topic. How does your character "act" as the play moves to its conclusion? Choose a moment when your character's performance is most severely tested; or, if your character does not perform, is his or her identity tested in some way? Explain the implications of this moment for the development of the character. |
| T 10/2 | Conference Day—Discuss essay topics |
| W 10/4 | Conclude Twelfth Night |
| F 10/6 | Analysis of a Scene/First Draft 5 pages—Workshop Add Date |
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TELLING STORIES
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| M 10/8 | Holiday |
| W 10/10 | Margaret Atwood, "Happy Endings," Grace Paley, "A
Conversation With My Father" Journal 9: Read the opening paragraphs of one of these stories aloud (preferably to an audience!). What do you notice about the character's voice? How would you (building on what you've observed of performance in Twelfth Night) perform this opening? |
| F 10/12 | Analysis of a Scene/Essay 5 pages—Workshop |
| M 10/15 | Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper,"
Jamaica Kincaid, "Girl" Journal 10: In both these stories, a character is castigated for the kind of girl/woman she is being. How does the ending of one story bring that problem into focus? |
| W 10/17 | Eudora Welty, "A Worn Path" Journal 11: Each event in Phoenix's journey seems to have monumental significance. Choose one and explain how Welty gives it its meaning. Did you think it was important the first time you read the story? Is this moment a turning point? |
| F 10/19 | Guy de Maupassant, "The Necklace," Henry James,
"Paste" Journal 12: Both these stories have surprise endings that change the way we view the characters. See if you can identify the mechanism the authors used to produce the surprise, or, if that's not possible, to explain the effect it has on a reader. |
| M 10/22 | Leo Tolstoy, "The Death of Ivan Ilych" Journal 13: Free write in response to Tolstoy's sentence beginning section II: "Ivan Illych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible" (706). |
| W 10/24 | Tolstoy, continued Journal 14: What do you make of Ivan Illych's discovery: "There is one bright spot at the back, at the beginning of life, and afterwards all becomes blacker and blacker and proceeds more rapidly—in inverse ratio to the square of the distance from death" (737)? |
| F 10/26 |
Structure and Theme/First Draft |
| M 10/29 | Anton Chekhov, "The Lady With the Pet Dog" Journal 15: How would you compare Chekhov's story to Tolstoy's in its treatment of lives that are "most simple and most ordinary"? Choose one element in the story to discuss: perhaps the ending, or a moment of revelation, or a moment when a character is aware of the falsity of social life. |
| W 10/31 | Flannery O'Connor, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
Journal 16: Like Welty's story, O'Connor's shows characters on a journey, one that brings them in contact with frightening violence (see O'Connor's essays at the back of the Charters anthology for further insight on this point). Compare some common theme in these two stories: perhaps the way these two authors use the motif of the journey, or the theme of violence or the treatment of family. |
| F 11/2 | William Carlos Williams, "The Use of Force," Joyce
Carol Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Journal 17: As in "The Yellow Wallpaper," violence in these stories appears in close proximity with kindness and/or love. What do you make of this connection? |
| M 11/5 | Zora Neale Hurston, "Sweat," Richard Wright, "The
Man Who Was Almost A Man" Journal 18: What is the role of animals in both these stories? How are they used symbolically? What do you remember about the presence of animals in previous stories you read? |
| W 11/7 | Jorge Luis Borges, "The Garden of the Forking Paths" Journal 19: This story, like "Happy Endings" and "A Conversation with My Father," plays with the idea of fiction itself. What have you learned about fiction from these stories? |
| F 11/9 | Comparison Essay 5 pages—Workshop |
| M 11/12 | Holiday |
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A TEXT, A TEST
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| W 11/14 | Herman Melville, Billy Budd: History of the Text Journal 20: Read "John Marr" and as much of Billy Budd as you can. Make a character list and plot outline, and begin looking for an allusion or image you'd like to pursue. |
| F 11/16 | Billy Budd: Plot Journal 21: Finish Billy Budd and continue with your character list, plot outline, and image study. Note passages that gave you difficulty or that you'd like to discuss. |
| M 11/19 | Billy Budd: Character Journal 22: Choose one of the three main characters and write a monologue in that character's voice. |
| W 11/21 | Billy Budd as Literary Genre Journal 23: Find at least one allusion in each of three areas: the classical world, Christian theology, and political history. Look them up, write down what you find out, and be ready to discuss in class. |
| F 11/23 | Holiday |
| M 11/26 | Billy Budd and History Journal 24: Prepare a 2-minute in-class report on an historical allusion (not necessarily the one you're writing your essay about). Write a paragraph and make copies to distribute to the class. |
| T 11/27 | Conference Day: Bring the allusion you want to write about.
Be prepared to discuss its meaning, its place in the text, and the language
Melville uses in the passage (This material counts as Journal 25). |
| W 11/28 | Religious Issues in Billy Budd Journal 26: If you're working on a religious or mythological allusion, use this day to brainstorm your essay topic. If your allusion comes from elsewhere, write about one of the story's religious or mythological sources. In class we'll examine the framing plots for the story in Greek and Christian mythology. |
| F 11/30 | Allusion/Image Study/Essay 5 pages—Workshop |
| M 12/3 | Political and Ethical Issues Journal 27: Looking closely at the trial scene and Melville's use of language there, speculate on the role of Vere at this pont in the story. What does this scene do to highlight the signficance of law, ethics, and society? |
| W 12/5 | Theme: Gender and Sexuality Journal 28: This story about men at sea contains no women but there are nevertheless many references to women and femininity. Locate one or more of these and comment on their significance. |
| F 12/7 | Workshop: A day to discuss the issues and problems
of revision. |
| M 12/10 | Billy Budd: Parts or Whole? Journal 29: What have you learned from reading this text? What kind of reader do you think Melville was hoping for? |
| W 12/12 | Conclusion Literary Argument/Revision 5 pages |