HONP 101 (Great Books/Ideas II): Nature, Sensibility, and Revolution


Spring 2013: Tuesdays & Thursdays 1-2:15 in College Hall 121
http://chss.montclair.edu/~nielsenw/101s13.html

Prof. Wendy Nielsen
Office Hours: drop in Tuesdays 3:30-5:30, Thursdays 10:30-11:30, & by appt. in Dickson Hall 352.
Email: nielsenw@mail . . . 

Texts available at University Bookstore (please use translations selected here):
Additional Texts Available on Blackboard (Bb):
Course description:  The theme of this seminar is "Nature, Sensibility, and Revolution." We will read five European and British texts from the eighteenth century and the Romantic era: Rousseau's Second Discourse; Voltaire's Candide;  Goethe's Sufferings of Young Werther and Faust; and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Discussion topics include but are not limited to: utopia and political idealism; colonialism; the noble savage; the rise of sensibility and the middle class; satire; suicide; and the promise and dangers of genius in an age that produced the American and French Revolutions and popularized the republic as a form of government.   

Requirements: Click here to get an explanation of my shorthand on Style issues, and my criteria for grading:
http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~nielsenw/correction.html

#1: The Spirit of a Democratic Classroom: Respect, Collegiality, and Integrity

#2: Participation (10%): Incl. regular attendance, contribution to class discussion, discussion questions, peer review, in-class and online writing assignments that occur in a timely manner.

#3: Research Synopsis (RS)--15%: Each student will write one synopsis (similar to an annotated bibliographical entry) on a critical, scholarly article. The purpose of this assignment is to provide yourself and other students with authoritative information about these books. Therefore, we will post this material on Blackboard, and you must present your synopsis in class on the assigned day (or have 2 points deducted from the final total); please bring a hard copy for the instructor to evaluate. After reading, digesting, and thinking critically about your assigned essay, answer the following questions, in about 1 to 2 pages: 1) What is the author’s argument? 2) How does the author support this argument? What kinds of evidence does she use? 3) What does the author hope to accomplish by writing this piece? What kind of bias might the author have? 4) Who is the author’s audience? To what kind of scholarly debate is she contributing? 5) How does this research change your perspective on the primary work?

IMPORTANT EVALUATION NOTE: You must distinguish between your ideas and those of the authors you are reporting on. You must cite every time you report an author's ideas, not only by citing page numbers, but also by indicating through words and phrasing ("According to Smith's book Literature . . . "; "The author of this article argues . . . ") that you are reporting second-hand information. Failure to do so could result in a 0 on this paper, because pretending another's ideas are your own constitutes plagiarism. The synopsis should conclude with a Works Cited, of both the article you summarize, and the primary text to which it refers. If you turn the synopsis in on time, then I usually give the option of revising it for a new grade in a week's time.

#4: 3 Essay Exams--60% total (top 2 scores = 30% each): At the end of each unit, students will write an an essay exam on the two primary texts read for that unit. These exams are open-book, the exam questions are given ahead of time, and you may have one page of notes (outline-form only). I will drop your lowest score and only count the 2 top exam scores.

#5: Final Essay is a 3-5 page rewrite of one of the Essay Exams as a Close Reading of literary elements in 1 or more texts--15%

Policies: Tentative schedule subject to change; please check your Montclair email and <http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~nielsenw/101s13.html> for updates
Date
Class Activities Homework Due
T 1/22
Course + student intro.; MLA citation; Close Reading Ex.: Blake; What is Romanticism? Romantic Art Acquire your books, please! Thursday's reading assignment is in the cell below
Unit I: Children of Nature and Sentiment
R 1/24
French Revolution; Women & Revolution; In-class writing; Research Synopsis group assignment
Read T. Jefferson, Declaration of Independence (1776); Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789); Gouges, Rights of Woman and Citizen (1791; online) & bring copies to class please; videos: Coppola's Marie Antoinette, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Marie Antoinette: the Last Queen of France (optional); Time Line of the French Revolution by Marxists.org
T 1/29
Review; Rousseau's DiscourseResearch Synopsis article assignment
Read Rousseau, Discourse, 1-44 (Pt. I); look over your options for your Research Synopsis and rate your top 3 choices
R 1/31
Your Ques about Rousseau's Discourse; Synopsis; Exam #1: Children of Nature and Sentiment (2/14)
Read Rousseau, Discourse, 45-end (Pt. II, perusing ftn. recommended); DQ #1 (Discourse): Post 1 or more discussion questions (DQ) about Rousseau on Blackboard > Discussion Forum > Rousseau, Discourse (click Add Thread). These questions might include ones you would pose as an instructor of the class, things you are confused about in the reading, or a mix between the two. The purpose of discussion questions is to open a dialogue between you and me; to make this a student-centered classroom; and to help students become better writers by becoming critical thinkers, or people who question what they read. Discussion questions are not evaluated,  are not mandatory, but are taken into consideration for your Participation Grade.  Please feel free to respond to other students' queries if you feel inspired to answer; I will take such responses as extra credit for your Participation Grade (and enjoy reading them, of course).
T 2/5
Review; Romantic Art; Goethe, Werther; Close Analysis Read Goethe 1-61
R 2/7
Free Write; Werther; Irony Read Goethe 61-96 + pick a suppl. reading from back; DQ #2 (Werther): Post 1 or more discussion questions about the reading on Blackboard
T 2/12
Review for Exam  Bring books to class: Research Synopses #1 for Discourse (Moran, Sorenson) & Werther (Bennett, Schiffman, Siebers, Sondrup: see separate Werther folder under Readings)
R 2/14
Essay Exam #1: Children of Nature and Sentiment (no make-up dates)
Bring Rousseau, Goethe, and one page of notes (written on back of exam) to class.
Unit II: The Dangers of Nature
T 2/19
TriviaCandide
Read Voltaire, 1-46
R 2/21  Review; Candide
Read Voltaire, 47-75; DQ #3 (Candide): post 1 or more discussion questions about the reading on Blackboard
T 2/26
Party Game for "The Chilean Earthquake"
Read Kleist (scroll down to pg. 18 in pdf, 312 in text for short story)
R 2/28 Review for Exam Research Synopses #2 for Candide (Kjørholt, Scherr, at least 15 pages from one or more of the interpretive essays at the back [list each item separately in the Works Cited]), Kleist (Holm, Norton), & the earthquake (Hamblyn)
T 3/5
Essay Exam #2: Nature & Revolutions
Bring Voltaire, Kleist, and one page of notes (written on back of exam) to class.
Unit III: Sentiment & Scientific Revolution
R 3/7 Faust I Read Goethe 9-49 (245/"Prologue in Heaven" through 1850/Study, up to where M. speaks w/the Student)
Spring Break
T 3/19
Faust I Read Goethe 49-101 (1850/Study - 3585/thr. "At the Well")
R 3/21
Review; Faust I
Read Goethe 102-19 & 126-35 (3590-4220 & Dreary Day - 4610/end Pt. I but skip Walp. Night Dream)
T 3/26 Gretchen; Faust II, Act I; Performance 135 (4615/first few lines of Faust II, "Charming Landscape"), 142-46 (4895-5000/Imp. Res.), 170-79 (5970/end of Spac. Hall + Pleasance - 6305/Dark Gallery), and 182-86 (6380-6565/Hall)
R 3/28 Free write; Faust II, some of Act II; Student Ques.; Final Essays
Read Goethe 194-213 + 219-227 (6570-7490 + 7695-8030/Upper Peneios); DQ #4 (Faust): Post 1 or more discussion questions about the reading on Blackboard
T 4/2 Faust II, Act II, sc. 1 of Act III
Read Goethe 228-258 (8035/Rocky - 9125/Palace); Hamlin, "Faust in Performance" (Bb) (bring a copy to class if possible)
R 4/4 Faust II, Act III; Faust Game Read Goethe 259-71 (9130/Courtyard - 9575) + 275-85 (9695-10035/end of Act III)
T 4/9
Review; Faust II, Act V Read Goethe 313-344 (11045-12110/all of Act V)
R 4/11
Human? Frankenstein Read Shelley, 1-60/vol. I
T 4/16 
Faustian? Frankenstein: Family; De Laceys; the Sublime, Werther; Close Reading ex.
Read Shelley, 61-105/vol. II;  and P. B. Shelley, "Mont Blanc" (295-99); DQ #5 (Frankenstein)
R 4/18 Questions; Frankenstein Read Shelley, 107-61/vol. III
T 4/23 
Review for Essay Exam #3: Political & Scientific Revolutions
Bring any questions about Shelley or Goethe to class; Research Synopses #3 for Faust (Brown, Hoezel, at least 15 pages from one or more of the interpretive essays at the back [list each item separately in the Works Cited]) & Frankenstein (Bewell, Reese, at least 15 pages from one or more of the interpretive essays at the back [list each item separately in the Works Cited])
R 4/25
Essay Exam #3 (no make-up dates) Bring Faust, Shelley, and one page of notes (written on back of exam) to class.
T 4/30 Exams returned; Disc. of Final Essay

 
R 5/2
Peer Review

T 5/14
Final Essay due on Safe Assign by 5:15pm Instructions TBA

Bibliography

Bennett, B. "Goethe's Werther: Double Perspective and the Game of Life." GLQ 53.1 (Jan. 1980): 64-81.

Bewell, Alan. "An Issue of Monstrous Desire: Frankenstein and Obstetrics." Yale Journal of Criticism 2.1 (Fall 1988): 105-28.

Brown, Jane K. Goethe's Faust: The German Tragedy. Cornell University Press, 1986. Print.

Fetzer, John Francis. "Romantic Irony." European Romanticism: Literary Cross-Currents, Modes, and Models. Ed. Gerhart Hoffmeister. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1990. 19-36.

Hamblyn, Richard. “Notes from Underground: Lisbon After the Earthquake.” Romanticism 14.2 (2008): 108–118. Print.

Hamlin, C. "Faust in Performance." Theater 32.1 (2002): 117-36. Web.

Holm, Isak Winkel. “Earthquake in Haiti: Kleist and the Birth of Modern Disaster Discourse.” New German Critique 115 (2012): 49–66. Print.

Kjørholt, Ingvild Hagen. “Cosmopolitans, Slaves, and the Global Market in Voltaire’s Candide, Ou L’optimisme.” Eighteenth Century Fiction 25.1 (2012): 61–84. Print.

McLane, Maureen N. “Literate Species: Populations, ‘Humanities,’ and Frankenstein.” ELH 63.4 (1996): 959–988. Web. 29 Sept. 2012.

Moran, Francis. “Of Pongos and Men: Orangs-Outang' in Rousseau's 'Discourse on Inequality'.” The Review of Politics 57.4 (1995): 641-664. Print.

Norton, Amanda. “Another Meditation on Das Erdbeben in Chili: Heinrich von Kleist and the Work of the Reader.” German Quarterly 81.2 (2008): 137–151. Print.

Reese, Diana. “A Troubled Legacy: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Inheritance of Human Rights.” Representations 96.1 (2006): 48–72. Print.

Scherr, Arthur. “Jews in Voltaire’s Candide.” Romance Notes 46.3 (2006): 297–308. Print.

Schiffman, Robyn L. "A Concert of Werthers." Eighteenth Century Studies. 43.2 (2010): 207-22.

Siebers, Tobin. “The Werther Effect: The Esthetics of Suicide.” Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 26.1 (Winter 1993): 15-34.

Sondrup, Steven. "Wertherism and Die Leiden des jungen Werthers." European Romanticism: Literary Cross-Currents, Modes, and Models. Ed. Gerhart Hoffmeister. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1990. 163-79.

Sorenson, Leonard. “Natural Inequality and Rousseau's Political Philosophy in His Discourse on Inequality.” The Western Political Quarterly 43.4 (1990): 763-788. Print.