English 180 Syllabus (Spring 2005)

Here you will find the syllabus for my Spring 2005 section of Canadian lit.

English 180
(Canadian Literature)

Course Description

This course is a broad survey of the literatures of Canada, from early exploration narratives right through to recent fiction and poetry. We will cover prose and poetry from Canada’s three founding peoples (English, French, and First Nations), but our primary focus will be on texts originally written in English. Although we will read a wide variety of texts written over the last 350 years, we will pay particular attention to works written in the 20th century.

Throughout the course, we will also interrogate the connection between literature, place, and identity. By covering a wide range of texts from different language and cultural communities and from different regions of Canada, we will gain some perspective of the diversity of Canada, its peoples, and its literatures. At the same time, we will also question the assumptions we inevitably make about any country and its people through reading its literature.

As with any survey course covering such a large period of time and variety of literary expression, the selections of readings is not meant to be comprehensive, but rather provides you with a wide sampling of periods, genres, and authors. There will also be opportunities for you to do work on authors whose works I have not included in the reading list.

Required Texts

• D. Bennett & R. Brown (editors) A New Anthology of Canadian Literature (Oxford UP Canada)
• Gabrielle Roy, The Tin Flute
• Hubert Aquin, Next Episode
• Margaret Laurence, The Diviners
• Daphne Marlatt, Ana Historic
• Richard Harrison, Hero of the Play
• Guy Vanderhaeghe, The Englishman’s Boy
• David Adams Richards, Mercy Among the Children

Assignments

• First essay – 20% (1500 words), due March 14
• Second essay – 30% (2000 words) due April 25
• Blog contributions – 10%
• Participation and attendance 10%
• Final exam 30%

N.B. Late assignments will be penalized one grade increment per day past the assigned deadline, unless accompanied by a doctor's note outlining medical reasons for the delay. Extensions are available, but must be requested in writing one week in advance of the original due date.

Tentative Schedule

Jan. 19 - 21: Introduction; Canadian literary history

Jan. 24 - 28: Early Canadian literature, Anthology pages xiii - 122

Jan 31 – Feb. 4: 19th Century poetry, Anthology 124-189; Grove “Snow” 252-72;

Feb. 7 - 11: Realism: Gabrielle Roy, The Tin Flute

Feb 18: 20th Century poetry part I: E.J. Pratt (everything, but focus on "Towards the Last Spike"); F.R. Scott (all)

Feb 23: Poetry cont. Earle Birney and Dorothy Livesay (all)

Feb 25: Hubert Aquin, Next Episode

Feb 28 – March 2: Next Episode

Mar. 4: Margaret Laurence, The Diviners

March 7 – 11: Margaret Laurence, The Diviners

March 14 - 18: Daphne Marlatt, Ana Historic

March 21 - 25: Spring break

March 28 – April 1: Short fiction: Gallant, Munro, MacLeod, Hodgins

April 4 - 8: Guy Vanderhaeghe, The Englishman’s Boy

April 11 - 15: Native literature, readings TBA (NO CLASS on April 15)

April 18 - 23: Richard Harrison, Hero of the Play (18 – 20), David Adams Richards, Mercy Among the Children

April 25 - 29: Mercy Among Children,

May 2 – 4: 20th Century poetry part II (Atwood, Kroetsch, Ondaatje, Wallace, Lane); review

Discussion Question: Class introductions

Hi everyone,

Let's get our blog rolling with some introductions. Tell us a little bit about yourself and why you're here.

Discussion Question: Canada and Canadian literature

Have you ever read any Canadian literature so far? Any thoughts or questions on Canada? There are no dumb questions, so here's a great place to ask away.

Welcome to our blog

As you can see, the blog for English 180 is now up and running. I'll be posting things here regularly, so make sure to check back often.

I've posted a couple of topics for discussion on the Discussion section of the blog (the furthest tab to the right). To post comments, you will need to register with TypeKey to get a userid and password. This will help a lot to keep the blog spam-free. To register, go to www.typekey.com and follow the instructions.