Dr. Jo Koster
228 Bancroft
323-4557 (o)
kosterj@winthrop.edu
http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj
Office Hours:  Weds. 10-12; Tuesday 9:30-11:30 and 2-4 pm; and by appointment.
 

ENGL 618 Home

Syllabus

Calendar

Resources

Assignments

Bibliography

Reserve List

[Texts] [Goals] [Grading] [Reading] [Writing] [Speaking] [Nuts and Bolts]

• Heliodorus, An Ethopian Romance, ed. Moses Hadas- (Penn) ISBN 0-812-21672-5
• Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances (Yvain and Lancelot) transl. Kibler (Penguin) ISBN 0-140-44521-8
• Guillaume de Loris & Jean De Meun, The Romance of the Rose Transl. Horgan (Oxford Classics) ISBN 0-192-83948-9
• Murasaki Shikabu, The Tale of Genji, transl. Suematsu (Tuttle) ISBN 0-804-83823-2
• Cervantes, Don Quixote, Norton Critical Edition) ISBN 0-393-97281-X
• Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther , transl. Clemens and Hutter (Signet) ISBN 0-451-52962-6
• Brontë. Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Edition) ISBN 0-393-97542-8
• Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance (Norton Critical Edition) ISBN 0-393-09150-3
• Georgette Heyer, Sylvester or the Wicked Uncle any available edition*
• A. S. Byatt, Possession (Random House) ISBN 0-679-73590-8
• Ruth Prawer-Jhabvala, Heat and Dust (Counterpoint) ISBN 1-582-43015-2
• Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera (Vintage) ISBN 0-307-38973-1

1. To study the development of the genre of romance and identify some of the forces that have shaped the genre and responses to it
2. To understand how cultural expectations, especially non-Western ones, act as a shaping force on the genre
3. To develop confidence in participating in scholarly conversations, both oral and written
4. To meet MA  Goals for Content Knowledge #s 1-7 and MA  Goals for Analysis, Writing, and Communication #1-4
5. To read, write, say, and learn more and to have more fun than any other ENGL or WRIT seminar does this semester (hey, medievalists have a reputation to uphold!)

Reading: Yes, there’s a lot of it. I’ve tried to keep the cost down to a reasonable amount by ordering the most inexpensive decent editions I could find. I’ll also put a  number of works on three-day reserve at Dacus Library for your reference and make essays available as .pdf files on the class website. While I prefer we all use the same editions of the books, you may use other editions if you happen to already own copies. However, in citing these works in your papers, please use page/chapter references to the class edition--borrow a classmate's copy to make sure the numbers match.  In class I’ll be referring to the editions (and page #s) in the books I’ve ordered, while, of course, citing chapter numbers or other markers that might help. If this doesn’t present a problem for you, it won’t be one for me.

Since this is a seminar class, you will be expected to produce graduate quality writing--that is, polished, well-edited, precisely-documented academic prose. I am happy to read drafts and discuss them with you, and can cheerfully recommend both the Winthrop Writing Center and Richard Lanham's Analyzing Prose to those of you who wish to improve your writing style. Please see the Assignments page for a description of the three major kinds of writing assignments you will do this semester. I have a Literary Analysis Rubric that I use to guide my grading; please feel to discuss it with me.

This is a seminar, not a lecture class; therefore, discussion among all of us is expected; think of it as a semester-long conversation. It's not meant to be a lecture class. The class will succeed or fail in large measure because of the quality of that conversation, in which I expect you to take an active part and for which I expect you to be well-prepared each week. (Evidence of preparation means not only showing that you have read the text and critical works for the week, but bringing your notes to class, taking notes in class, demonstrating that you've done secondary research, etc.) Each of you will be expected to share leadership for two classes during the semester; you and your partner will need to prepare questions and "provocations" of discussion that will occupy at least an hour's time of the 2.5 hour seminar. Students using this course to meet "non-Western" requirements for coursework must participate as leaders in the discussion of at least one non-Western work.

Goals: Goals for all courses in the Department of English, including those that meet requirements for NCATE certification, are described at http://www.winthrop.edu/english/goals.htm.  

Resources: The English Department’s home page is http://www.winthrop.edu/english.   Resources for many of our courses can be found at http://www.winthrop.edu/english/core.htm.  

Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability and need classroom accommodations, please contact Gena Smith, Coordinator, Services for Students with Disabilities, at 323-2233, as soon as possible. Once you have your professor notification letter, please notify me so that I am aware of your accommodations well before you need them.

Safe Zones Statement: The professor considers this classroom to be a place where you will be treated with respect as a human being – regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, political beliefs, age, or ability. Additionally, diversity of thoughts is appreciated and encouraged, provided you can agree to disagree. It is the professor’s expectation that ALL students consider the classroom a safe environment.

Duplicate Submission of Papers: You may not submit a paper for a grade in this class that already has been (or will be) submitted for a grade in another course, unless you obtain the explicit written permission of me and the other instructor involved in advance. This is to conform to the Student Code of Conduct, §V, which states: "Academic misconduct includes but is not limited to … presenting the same or substantially the same papers or projects in two or more courses without the explicit permission of the professors involved." (Student Code of Conduct §V: http://www.winthrop.edu/studentaffairs/Judicial/judcode.htm  )

Class Listserv: The class will have a listserv set up by Information Management using your Winthrop POBox e-mail addresses. If you do not use your POBox e-mail, you must either forward your POBox mail to your preferred e-mail address or subscribe manually to the class list from your preferred e-mail address by going to http://www.winthrop.edu/acc/classlist.htm and following the instructions to log onto our class list. The listserv address is engl618001@class.winthrop.edu. You must subscribe by January 18, 2008.

Writing Center: The Writing Center provides support for all students in all Winthrop classes free of charge. It is located in 242 Bancroft (x-2138). Check its web page (http://www.winthrop.edu/wcenter) for current hours.

Things That Will Get You Sent to the Dungeon (or Worse): failure to prepare for class, failure to meet deadlines, failure to return reserve material in a timely fashion or to return the instructor’s personal and kindly book loans in a very timely manner (and in pristine condition), interrupting class with your cell phone or beeper, and suchlike. Such things make your kindly instructor wonderly wroth and will submit you to the wallops of Sir Bruce sans Pité or quite conceivably worse.