Dr. Karen U. Fulton, Professor

E-mail: fulton@griffon.mwsc.edu

Office: Beit Quad

Required Texts

English 420 objectives

1. Identify the major effects of the "English experience" on the American writer.
2. Analyze the desgree of interrelatedness and multicultural crossover between the two cultures.
3. Appreciate textual connections between the two cultures.
4. Formulate coherent written critical arguments about texts and their geographical and historical contexts and subtexts.
5. Understand the ethical and cultural question that underpin the creation and reception of literature.

English 420 means

1. Oral discussion of the assigned texts (10% of grade)
2. Journal done in response to prompts; kept and submitted at the end of the semester (25% of grade).
3. Attendance at British Life and Culture activities and field trips associated with class (10% of grade)
4. Two four page papers on assigned topics (40% of grade)
5. Final reflective paper submitted at the end of class (15% of grade)

Class attendance is critical. Ten percent of your final grade will be based upon being in class, prepared to discuss the text of the day, and participating in class discussion. Attendance will be taken at class and at the British Life and Culture activities (which will also figure as 10% of the final grade.)

Students must submit their own work. Students who are guilty of plagiarism or cheating in any form will automatically receive a zero for the assignment involved and will place themselves in jeopardy of failing the course.

Students who have a disability that might prevent their maximum performance in the class should make this known to the instructor immediately so that provisions may be made for any assistance needed.

All drafts of papers must be word processed. A paper which is not word processed will be returned unread and ungraded. The journal may be word processed (I will certainly look favorably upon that); however, a handwritten journal will not be penalized in grade.

It is your responsibility to have material by deadlines assigned.

Calendar

May 16 Arrival in London

May 18 Mini-class: syllabus distributed, procedures discussed

May 19 and 20 Week-end free

May 21 Reading Mark Twain "The L 1,000,000 Bank Note"; evening lecture – (BLC) Introduction to Britain

May 22 Reading Poe "Ms. Found in a Bottle"; afternoon (BLC) Museum of London

May 23 Class excursion (all day) to Rye and Lamb House (home of Henry James)

May 24 Reading Poe "The Mystery of Marie Roget"; afternoon (class) visit to 21 Baker Street

May 25 Reading Mark Twain "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg"; afternoon (BLC) lecture and tour of the Globe Theater

May 26 and May 27 Week-end free

May 28 Paper on Twain/Poe due. Class will meet and tour the Chelsea neighborhood that served as home for Twain, for James, and for many other American artists. Those who wish may accompany instructor on a tour of the house of Thomas Carlyle (which is virtually unchanged since his death). It gives the viewer a sense of what the house Twain lived in would have been like.

May 29 All day (BLC) excursion to Warwick and Stratford

May 30 Reading Wharton "The Age of Innocence"; evening (BLC) lecture on the British Class System

May 31 Reading Wharton "The Age of Innocence"; afternoon (BLC) "Blood Brothers"

June 1 Reading James "The Beast in the Jungle"

June 2 and June 3 Week-end free

June 4 Paper #2 on the British class system as shown in the texts we have worked with this week; Reading Eliot "The Waste Land"

June 5 Continue reading Eliot "The Waste Land"; afternoon walk to Eliot’s house and visit sites of The Waste Land.

June 6 Reading James "The Turn of the Screw"; exploration of the Gothic, possible trip to Strawberry Hill

June 7 Make arrangements for final submissions. Possible afternoon trip to Highgate Cemetary (for sense of Gothic)

June 8 Leave London