Week 1

Jun. 6

Introduction

Escape and Interpretive Literature

Mapping the Action

Reading

• W. Somerset Maugham, "The Colonel's Lady" (pages 53-73 in the photocopy packet that you ordered at BRK Copy Center; alternatively, you can read online: pages 5-25)

  • W(illiam) Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) (biography with pictures)

  • W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) (biography from The British Library)

  • Maugham, William Somerset (biography from The Columbia Encyclopedia on Bartleby)

Discussion: plot: exposition, conflict, protagonist, antagonist, suspense, mystery, dilemma, surprise

Mapping the Emotion

Reading

• Plot (pages 1-2 in coursebook)

Discussion: plot: endings, artistic unity, time sequence, complication/rising action, crisis, climax, conclusion, resolution/denouement

Student-led Discussion 1:

Handout: Sample Student Reading Response and Study Guide

Actors on the Page

Reading

• Character (pages 2-3 in coursebook)

• Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, to page 17

Discussion: presentation of characters: direct and indirect presentation; show v. tell

Student-led Discussion 2: Papaporn and Panjaporn

Student-led Discussion 3: 

Actors after Freud: Characters with an Inner Life

Reading

• Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, 18-26

Discussion: character: static and developing characters, flat and round characters

Student-led Discussion 4:

Actors after Reader Response: Believable but Unreal

Reading

• Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, 29-50

• Edith Wharton, "Roman Fever"; study guide

  • Edith Wharton: A Life in Pictures and Text

  • Edith Wharton, 1862-1937 (biography at the Yale Edith Wharton Collection)

  • Edith Wharton's World: Portraits of People and Places (National Portrait Gallery exhibition)

  • Edith Wharton Selected Bibliography

  • More Wharton Links

  • Roman Fever (text of story)

  • Critical Responses to "Roman Fever" (summaries of several articles on the short story)

Discussion: character: consistency, motivation, plausibility

Student-led Discussion 5: Pritzana and Pleowadee

Student-led Discussion 6: Pochamarn and Patcharanan

Actors Here and Now

Reading

• Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, 51-57

Discussion: characterization now

Student-led Discussion 7: Plyor and Tanyalak

Point of View: Knowledge

Reading

• Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, 61-90

• Frank O'Connor, "First Confession"; study guide

  • Frank O'Connor (brief bio)

  • First Confession narrated by Frank O'Connor (13:05 minutes)

  • "First Confession" (Word file)

  • "The Artist at Home" by James Alexander (literary criticism on O'Connor; accessible from Chula campus computers)

  • Review of Steinman's book Frank O'Connor at Work (1990) (discusses O'Connor's writing habits and methods; accessible from Chula campus computers)

  • "Grappling with the World" by K. Murphy (criticism of O'Connor's fiction; accessible from Chula campus computers)

Discussion: point of view: omniscient, limited omniscient, first-person

Student-led Discussion 8: Navanat and Porncharas

Point of View: Tone, Style

Reading

• Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, 93-104

Discussion: point of view: second-person, third-person, objective or dramatic point of view, stream of consciousness

Student-led Discussion 9: Nawaporn M. and Nawaporn P.

Student-led Discussion 10: Papawarin and Tanadcha

Handout: Writing Practice Topics (Word document)

Things and Meaning I

Reading

• Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, 105-30

Discussion: symbolism

Student-led Discussion 11: 

Handout: Writing Workshop Sheet (Word document)

Things and Meaning II

Reading

• Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, 133-44

Discussion: irony

• Irony (classical rhetoric)

• Literary Devices: Irony (verbal, dramatic, situational)

• Irony (verbal irony, dramatic irony, irony of situation)

• Irony (dramatic, structural, verbal)

• Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Irony

Student-led Discussion 12: Pancharle and Piyawan

Things and Feeling I

Reading

• T. F. Powys, "Lie Thee Down, Oddity" (Notes and Study Guide)

  • Theodore Francis Powys 1875-1953 (brief bio at The Powys Society)

  • "John Gray on T F Powys" (profiles writer Theodore Powys, retreat of Powys from the modern world, setting of his tales, literary influences of Powys; accessible from Chula campus computers)

  • Net Prophet: The brothers Powys (interview on the Powys brothers)

  • "Modernity and Medievalism in T. F. Powys's Mature Fiction" by Marius Buning

  • "John Gray on T F Powys" (short article on Powys's work)

• Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, 145-69

  • Ian McEwan's Homepage

  • Contemporary Writers: Ian McEwan (biography, bibliography, critical perspective, author statement)

Discussion: imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia

Student-led Discussion 13: Neeranuch and Naruporn

Student-led Discussion 14: Pawinrat and Nasawan

Things and Feeling II

Reading

• Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, 170-78

• Ha Jin, "Saboteur"

  • Work of Heart (Washington Post 2005 story by Marcia Davis)

  • Ha Jin Interview (audio of New York Times interview on Ha Jin's experience in the Chinese Army and his novel War Trash)

  • View from the Prison Camp (review of Ha Jin's War Trash)

  • The Yale Review of Books: Ha Jin (2004 interview; Ha Jin on China, the craft of storytelling, and writing in a second language.)

  • The Connection: Ha Jin (audio of WBUR public radio show, 47:50 minutes; 2002)

  • Ha Jin Lets It Go (Powell's interview by Dave Weich, Feb. 2, 2000)

  • Across an Ocean of Words (profile in Emory Magazine 1998)

  • The Writer as Migrant (abstract of lecture series by Ha Jin, Oct. 2007)

  • Ha Jin Links

Discussion: setting

Student Project Preview 1: 

Test I and II (in class during our usual class time: BRK 313, 10-12; Test I will be on the short story "Saboteur" by Ha Jin, and Test II will be on the novel Amsterdam by Ian McEwan; each test, covering plot and character, is an hour and worth 25 points; read through the tests and budget your time well)

No Class (Midterm Week July 23-27, 2007)

No Class (Buddhist Lent)

Theme

Reading

• T. F. Powys, "Lie Thee Down, Oddity" (Notes and Study Guide)

  • "John Gray on T F Powys" (2001 article in New Statesman; profiles writer Theodore Powys, retreat of Powys from the modern world, setting of his tales, literary influences of Powys)

• Genesis chapter 1-3 (read closely especially Chapter 1 verses 2, 6-7, 11-12; Chapter 2: 5, 7-8, 15, 18; Chapter 3: 1, 23 for connections to the short story)

• The Pilgrim's Progress excerpts (the part where the Giant Despair and his fits are mentioned are in Excerpt 5 toward the end; for the full text of the book, go to Bartleby)

Discussion: themes: modernity, change, nature, people, freedom

Student-Led Discussion 15: Pleowadee and Pritzana

Theme

Reading

• T. F. Powys, "Lie Thee Down, Oddity" (Notes and Study Guide)

  • "John Gray on T F Powys" (2001 article in New Statesman; profiles writer Theodore Powys, retreat of Powys from the modern world, setting of his tales, literary influences of Powys)

• Genesis chapter 1-3 (read closely especially Chapter 1 verses 2, 6-7, 11-12; Chapter 2: 5, 7-8, 15, 18; Chapter 3: 1, 23 for connections to the short story)

• The Pilgrim's Progress excerpts (the part where the Giant Despair and his fits are mentioned are in Excerpt 5 toward the end; for the full text of the book, go to Bartleby)

Discussion: themes: pride, human emotions

Final paper consultation sign-up

No Class (Universiade Opening Ceremony)

No Class (Mother's Day Observed)

Novel

Reading: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam

Student Project Preview 3: 

No Class (official holiday)

Novel

Reading: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam

• Amsterdam (reviews and criticism, reading group guide)

• The Man Booker Prize (the current debate about this year's Booker potential)

Student Project Preview 4: Plyor and Tanyalak

Student Project Preview 5: Papaporn and Panjaporn

Student Project Preview 6: Navanat and Porncharas

Novel

Reading: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam

Student Project Preview 2: Pleowadee and Pritzana

Student Project Preview 7: Pancharle and Piyawan

Student Project Preview 8: Papawarin and Tanadcha

Novel

Reading: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam

Novel

Reading: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam

Student Project Preview 9: Pochamarn and Patcharanan

Student Project Preview 10: Nasawan and Pawinrat

Student Project Preview 11: Nawaporn M. and Nawaporn P.

Student Project Preview 12: 

Test III (in class during our usual class time: BRK 313, 8-9 a.m. It will be on the short story "The Doll's House" by Katherine Mansfield. The story is ready for you to order at the BRK Photocopy Center)

Novel

Reading: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam

Student Project Preview 13: Neeranuch and Naruporn

Final Paper/Project Presentation

Final project or paper due, 7-10 pages (see some sample papers below)

• "The Value of Restraint" by Amy Skerry (on Raymond Carver's short story "Cathedral"; Word file)

Final Paper/Project Presentation

Final Paper/Project Presentation

Final Exam (8:30-10:30 a.m.)