Syllabus from English 180 (Spring 2009)

English 180: Topics in Canadian Literature:

Women Writers from Canada

ENGS 180 A: 0100-0215pm, T/R, TERRIL 308

ENGS 180 Z1: 4:05-7:05 PM, Weds., A303 Old Mill Annex

From the beginnings of Canada’s literary history, women writers have played a key role in the development of that nation’s rich and distinct literary voice. Especially over the last 50 years, it is safe to say that women writers are at the heart of the Canadian literary canon. Writers such as Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Gabrielle Roy, and Margaret Laurence are some of the greatest (and best known) Canada has ever produced. At the same time, writers such as Nicole Brossard, Daphne Marlatt, and Sheila Watson have been on the front lines of innovative writing in Canada. In this course, we’ll look at women writers from across Canada who have paved new ground for the literatures of Canada both in terms of stylistic innovation and Canada’s international literary reputation.

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. Throughout the course, we will interrogate the connection between literature, place, gender, and identity, while also paying attention to 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.

Finally, I also encourage you to purchase your books from the campus bookstore. A number of the books I've chosen are not normally available in the United States and the UVM bookstore has gone to great efforts to track them down for us. You will find it easier and not likely much more expensive -- if at all -- to buy these books on campus rather than online.

Required Texts:

Montgomery, LM. Anne of Green Gables. (Please purchase the Norton Critical Edition only). (1908)

Gabrielle Roy, Street of Riches and The Road Past Altamont (I got a sweet deal on copies of these books, so you'll be able to purchase them directly from the Canadian Studies program for $2 each).

Watson, Sheila. The Double Hook. (1959)

Laurence, Margaret. The Stone Angel .

Munro, Alice. Carried Away: Selected Stories .

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale.

Brossard, Nicole. Mauve Desert .

Robinson, Eden. Monkey Beach (2002)

Brand, Dionne. What We All Long For (2005).

Assignments:

Poem analysis and presentation: 20% (1500 words), Paper is due one week after your presentation
Term Paper: 30% (2000 words) due April 16
Blog contributions (minimum of one per blog prompt): 10%
Participation and attendance: 10% (surprise reading quizzes will be used from time to time to measure preparedness)
Final exam: 30% (The final exam will cover every book we have read in the course)

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. Due to the many requests for extensions due to laptop thefts and hard drive failures, these requests will only be accepted with a copy of the police report number or computer repair service number. Extensions are available when you have too many things due on the same day, but they must be requested in writing no later than one week in advance of the original due date. There are no exceptions.

Poetry assignment:

Although I've not assigned any poetry texts for our course, over the course of the semester we are going to examine works by as many female poets as there are students in our class. That is because each of you is going to give a ten minute presentation on a poem by a Canadian poet. One week later (or earlier if you wish), you will hand in an essay analyzing the poem.

At least one week prior to your presentation, you will also need to give me a copy of the poem so that I can distribute a copy of it to the class prior to your presentation. We will only do one presentation per class, so you'll need to pick a date that's good for you before all the dates get snapped up.

You'll notice that I've not given you a list of poets from which to choose. Part of this assignment is for you to go out an explore some of the remarkable poetry written by women in Canada. Our goal here, too, is to try to read works by as many different poets as we can, so I encourage you to chose someone whose work one of your fellow students has not already chosen.

Find a poet whose work you find interesting and a poem that impresses you and that you'd like to explore in an essay. Your aim in your short presentation will not be to present a full-blown analysis of every aspect of the poem. What you want to do, though, is point out some of what you find to be the most interesting aspects of the poem and share with the class a bit about the poet and her work.

By the time we are done with our course, we will all have had the chance to explore briefly at least one work by one of the many interesting women poets from Canada.

Tentative Schedule:

HAVE BOOKS READ IN THEIR ENTIRETY BY THE FIRST DAY WE START DISCUSSING THEM IN CLASS

Section A:

Jan 13: Introduction; geography and history of Canada
Jan 15: Literary histories of Canada
Jan 20: L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
Jan 22: Anne of Green Gables
Jan 27: Anne of Green Gables
Jan 29: Gabrielle Roy, Street of Riches
Feb 3: Street of Riches
Feb 5: Sheila Watson, The Double Hook
Feb 10: The Double Hook; Presentation by Liz P.
Feb 12: The Double Hook; Presentation by Peter N.
Feb 17: Laurence, The Stone Angel; Presentation by Marietta S.
Feb 19: The Stone Angel; Presentation by Allie B.
Feb 24: The Stone Angel; Presentations by Calder Q. and Mandy F
Feb 26: he Stone Angel Presentation by Jeff V.

Mar 3: No class (Town Meeting Day)
Mar 5: ;Alice Munro, Carried Away; (NO CLASS, but online assignment)
Mar 9 - 13: Spring Recess
Mar 17: Carried Away; Presentation by Peter G.; Presentation by Kate S.
Mar 19: Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale; Presentation by Elizabeth K.
Mar 24: The Handmaid's Tale; Presentations by Elise M. & Duncan M

ENGS 180 A Final exam: 08:00 AM - 11:00 AM, Monday May, 04 2009; TERRIL 308

Section Z1:

Jan 14: Introduction; geography and history of Canada; Literary histories of Canada
Jan 21: L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
Jan 28: Gabrielle Roy, Street of Riches
Feb 4: Sheila Watson, The Double Hook
Feb 11: The Double Hook; Laurence, The Stone Angel
Feb 18: The Stone Angel
Feb 25: The Stone Angel
Mar 5: Alice Munro, Carried Away; Presentation by Steve R.
Mar 9 - 13: Spring Recess
Mar 18: Carried Away; Presentation by Elizabeth A.
Mar 25: Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale; Presentation by Eric S.
April 1: The Handmaid's Tale; Presentation by Sally W. and Janell S.
Apr 8: Nicole Brossard, Mauve Desert; Presentation by Gabe
Apr 15: Eden Robinson, Monkey Beach Presentation by Caylin
Term paper due Apr 22: Monkey Beach
Apr 29: What We All Long For, Last day of class

ENGS 180 Z1 Final exam: 03:30 PM - 06:30 PM, Thursday May, 07 2009; ROWELL 102

Participation and blog grades:

Here's the rubric for how I determine grades for your participation and for blog assignments (if applicable)

Participation

A: Nearly 100% attendance, unless due to illness or family emergency AND active participation in class. Clearly on top of the reading and regularly speaks in class. Always engaged in the discussion, whether vocally contributing or not.

B: Missed very few classes (2 or 3 max), unless due to illness or family emergency. Participated in class vocally on a fairly regular basis, but, more importantly, is always listening and attentive to the ongoing discussion. Unprepared for class occasionally, but usually caught up on the reading and willing to contribute.

C: Misses more than three classes for reasons other than illness or family emergency. Clearly behind in the reading on at least several occasions. Mostly attentive and speaks in class several times over the course of the semester. Makes a good effort to stay involved in class discussion and appears interested.

D: Regularly missing from class and/or frequently appears disinterested. Routinely behind on reading and fails to bring books to class. Leaves class from time to time to take phone calls thinking that the professor thinks they are using the restroom, continually passes notes back and forth with someone else, works on other homework or reads the newspaper during class, checks e-mail or text messages while instructor or classmates are speaking, all of which, I should add, are apparent to the instructor and your classmates and immediately qualify you for a D.

F: Attendance and participation not worthy of a D or higher. Failure to attend most classes and/or to participate in any meaningful way.

Blogs

A: To earn an A on the blog component of the course all assignments must have been completed and comments posted by the assigned deadline (in this case, within one week of the date of the blog posting). Comments are thoughtful, fully answer the question asked, and, if specified, take into account the comments of other students.

B: All assignments completed, mostly on time. Thoughtful comments, though perhaps briefer and less engaging than those that merit an A.

C: Most assignments completed, primarily at the end of the semester and/or comments are short, perfunctory answers to the blog prompt with little consideration of the comments of others.

D: Only partial completion of the assignments and comments show little commitment to making a contribution to the discussion.

F: Failure to complete more than 50% of the assigned blog questions.

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 no later than one week in advance of the original due date. There are no exceptions.

Academic integrity

Offenses against the Code of Academic Integrity are deemed serious and insult the integrity of the entire academic community. Any suspected violations of the code are taken very seriously and will be forwarded to the Center for Student Ethics & Standards for further investigation.