English 351: Satire
University of Portland
Fall 2008 2:40-3:35 MWF BC 106
Dr.
Herman Asarnow
Office: BC 235 Tele: (503) 943-7244
Office Hrs: MWF—1:15-2:15 &
by appt.
TEXTS: (Please try to use the same editions as those available
in the bookstore to facilitate class discussions.)
Course Book: Theoretical Essays on Satire& Some
Satirical Texts
(Note: Please buy this at the print
shop in the basement of Buckley Center.) The Course Book has a snarky, lime-green cover, with
18th-century illustrations.
Utopia
: A Revised Translation Backgrounds Criticism (Norton Critical Edition) by Robert M. Adams
(Editor), Sir
Thomas More , 2nd
edition (December 1991) W.W. Norton
& Company; ISBN: 0393961451
Gulliver's
Travels : Norton Critical Edition) by
Jonathan Swift, Rivero, Albert J., Editor (2002) W.W. Norton & Company;
ISBN: 0393957241
Candide
by Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire - 122
pages (May 1, 1984) Bantam Classics; ISBN: 0553211668
Miss
Lonelyhearts & the Day of the Locust by
Nathanael West (January 1975) W.W.
Norton & Company; ISBN:
0811202151
Catch-22 by Joseph L. Heller 463
pages Reprint edition (September 1996) Scribner; ISBN: 0684833395
1984 by George Orwell, Erich Fromm (Afterword) 268 pages Reissue
edition (May 1990) New Amer Library
Classics;
ISBN: 0451524934
The
Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Eleanor Atwood - 325 pages
(April 1998) Anchor Books; ISBN: 038549081X
The
Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq, Frank Wynne
(trans.), 2001, Vintage Books ISBN: 0375727019
Additional works not from bookstore:
Bananas, a film by Woody Allen, to be shown to the class, and
Dr.
Strangelove, a film by Stanley Kubrick, to be shown
to class
SYLLABUS
WEEK 1‑‑Aug. 25
Introduction. What is satire? Dryden
on satire; New Yorker Obama cover,
etc.
27 Kernan, "A Theory of Satire" CB
(Coursebook), 96 (read to page 100).
29 Kernan, "A Theory of Satire,"
complete for today (through page 124). Also
read
Lord Rochester, CB 22-23, and his poem “A Satyre on Charles II” CB 22.
WEEK 2‑‑ Sept.
1 1984,
Orwell (Part I)
3 1984,
Orwell (Part II)
5 1984, Orwell (Part III)
WEEK 3‑‑ Sept. 8 Utopia,
More (Part I)
10 Utopia,
More (Part II)
12 Selections
from Roman poets Horace and Juvenal, CB 1-11. First see the Lexicon for these poems on CB 11,
following the poems. Look up both poets online, too. Also read Paulson's “The
Fictions of Satire,” CB 160-170—“Relationship: The Fool and the Knave”
WEEK 4‑‑ Sept.
15 Mack,
“The Muse of Satire,” CB 134-145; J.P.
Hunter, “The Heroic Couplet,” CB 17-
21,
and Alexander Pope, CB 24, and Epistle
to Dr. Arbuthnot, CB 25, lines 1-172.
17 Complete To Arbuthnot,
and read the excerpts from Clark’s “Vapid Voices and
Sleazy
Styles,” CB 125-133.
19 Read Alexander Pope’s Epilogue
to the Satires: Written in 1738, CB 36-43.
WEEK 5—Sept. 22 Macflecknoe, John Dryden, CB 12, and CB 13ff. (See
notes at end of poem 1st.)
24 Swift,
CB 44-67: Bickerstaff papers, "A Modest Proposal," "The Lady's
Dressing-Room."
26 Gulliver's
Travels, Book I and Book II.
WEEK 6—Sept. 29 Gulliver's Travels, Book III
Oct. 1 Gulliver's Travels, Book IV
3 Candide, Voltaire Take home mid-term exam
distributed
WEEK 7—Oct. 6 Candide,
Voltaire
8 In
class, Woody Allen’s film Bananas. Be
sure to take notes while watching.
10
Finish Bananas, and discussion
of the film Mid-term
exam DUE, by 6 p.m. via e-mail.
WEEK 8—Oct. 13-17 Fall
Break!
WEEK 9—Oct. 20 Christian Thorne, "Thumbing Our Nose
at the Public Sphere: Satire, the Market,
and
the Invention of Literature," CB
130 ff.
22 Lecture:
New theories of satire (Bahktin & the dialogic, etc.) Read Paulson, CB
144-153
(“The Central Symbol of Violence”); --New
Checklist Distributed.
24 The
Rake's Progress, A Harlot’s Progress,
William Hogarth (engravings plus commentary by Sean Shesgreen, photocopies,
also see class website for the source paintings), CB 56-78.
WEEK 10—Oct. 27 The
Day of the Locust, Nathanael West
29 The Day of the Locust, Nathanael
West
31 Catch
22, Joseph Heller
WEEK 11—Nov. 3 Catch-22, Joseph Heller
5 Catch-22, Joseph Heller
7 Catch-22, Joseph Heller
WEEK 12—Nov. 10 "Some
Reflections on Satire," P.M. Spacks, CB 120-138.
12 The
Elementary Particles, Michel Houellebecq
14 The Elementary Particles, Michel
Houellebecq
WEEK 13--Nov. 17 The Elementary Particles, Michel
Houellebecq
19
The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood
21 The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood
WEEK 14—Nov. 24 The
Handmaid's Tale, Atwood
26 The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood **(TAKE-HOME
FINAL DISTRIBUTED TODAY.)**
28 THANKSGIVING
HOLIDAY, no class.
WEEK 15—Dec. 1 Dr.
Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick, shown in class
3 Dr. Strangelove, in class, and discussion.
5 Open for Overflow
WEEK 16‑‑FINAL EXAM DUE: Tuesday, December 9, Noon.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
·
To provide training, practice, and context
for the close reading of rhetorically complex poetic and prose satires (and
films)
·
To introduce and demonstrate for the class
the power of literary criticism and theory to illuminate and deepen our
readings of canonical and non-canonical texts; to introduce several theories of
satire
·
To offer practice situations and testing
situations--exercises and more formal writing--allowing the class writing
opportunities to present ideas and well supported arguments about our readings
·
To offer each student time in class to
discuss his or her developing ideas about satire and about our readings--and
thus contribute to his or her oral presentation skills
·
To read examples of satire from the
distant past, the past, the recent present, and the immediate present to
provide students with a context for understanding and intelligently evaluating
satire from all times and places
·
To create a learning community in the
classroom and so demonstrate the advantages of cooperative learning and the
need for fellowship in intellectual work
·
To never forget that reading and
discussing books is irreplaceable, inimitable fun—sometimes hard-earned,
sometimes pure pleasure
Our success in achieving these goals will be evaluated by your
work on our checklists, any other short
writing assignments, our exams, and in your contributions to class discussion.
WRITTEN WORK
For most readings you will be asked to complete a short, but
thoughtful written response. Some will
be based on theories of satire we study for class. Some will be focused on other issues.
Note: For any assignment, all borrowed ideas as well as borrowed words must be cited using the MLA
format for the kind of source being cited.
This includes borrowings from the Web.
No exceptions.
Checklists: For 6
of our readings, you must complete in paragraph form a checklist to help
us analyze the work in our class discussions. For some readings, I will require
all students to do a checklist. For others, doing a checklist will be optional.
However, you must complete 6 checklists by the end of the term. Each
completed checklist should be about one-to-two pages, typed, single-spaced.
Be concise. Distill your answers. Provide specific examples from the texts
to support your claims!
·
Each checklist will consist of answers to 3
of 9 questions about each reading based upon various theories of
satire.
·
Your reply should be a thoughtful
application of the question to the reading‑‑or an explanation of
why the question doesn't apply.
·
The answers should be numbered. The questions do not have to be re-typed each
time.
·
The questions on the first checklist have
been derived mostly from Alvin Kernan's essay, "A Theory of
Satire." You will be given a copy,
and we will discuss the essay in class.
Consult that article if you have trouble with terms on the
checklist. And ask questions in class! The questions on the second checklist (to be
distributed later in the term) have been derived mostly from Dustin Griffin’s
book Satire: A Critical Reintroduction.
Exams
There will be two take-home exams, each requiring two or
three lengthy, argumentative essays in response to a choice of questions. Each essay/answer should be a clearly
organized argument offering specific examples from the texts to support its
claims about the texts. Essays should show evidence of understanding of the
satiric theory we have studied, as well as of the literary texts or films. You
will be given more than a week to complete each exam. The essays on the exams will be graded on how
well they show you applying the ideas presented and worked on in class, on how
much knowledge they show of the texts and criticism we have read, on how well
they support their arguments, and on their grace and clarity of
expression. The writing on the
checklists and other short responses should also be clear and correct, with
well-supported assertions--but, as they will be brief, they will naturally be
less formal.
Official University of Portland Plagiarism
& Academic Cheating Statement (By
taking this class you implicitly acknowledge and agree to its premises.)
The University Bulletin clearly states that any instance of
cheating “must be reported to the dean of the college or school in which the
student is currently enrolled.” Academic
cheating ranges from unintentional plagiarism to copying someone’s work on an
exam to obtaining material from the web without attributing the source when
including it in your paper. Students caught cheating will at the minimum
receive no credit for the assignment and being referred to the Dean’s office,
but further penalties such as failing the class or being expelled from the
University are also possibilities.
Relevant statement from the University of Portland’s Code of
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity
is openness and honesty in all scholarly endeavors. The University of Portland
is a scholarly community dedicated to the discovery, investigation, and
dissemination of truth, and to the development of the whole person. Membership in this community is a privilege,
requiring each person to practice academic integrity at its highest level,
while expecting and promoting the same in others. Breaches of academic integrity will not be
tolerated and will be addressed by the community with all due gravity (taken from the University of Portland’s Code of Academic
Integrity).
(The complete Code of Academic Integrity may be found in the
2008-09 University of Portland Student
Handbook and as well the Guidelines for
Implementation. It is each student’s responsibility to inform
himself or herself of the Code and Guidelines.)
TURNITIN:
A Requirement for All Exams and Checklists:
Besides being submitted to me directly (either as an
e-mail attachment or on paper—I’ll let you know), all exams and
checklists (no exceptions) written for this course must be submitted by the due
date to Turnitin, using the following instructions. This site checks papers for signs of
plagiarism. (See UP’s statement on
plagiarism, above.) If you do not have a Turnitin “user profile” yet,
please go to www.up.edu/turnitin and
click on the link to directions for students using Turnitin. (There are links to
this page on the English Department website and on the Writing Center
website.) Here is the information you
will need to login at www.turnitin.com and then be able to submit papers for each of
our assignments in Satire
ENG
351 Satire 2008 Class ID: ask in class, or see
printed syllabus Enrollment
Password: ask in class, or see printed syllabus
E-Mail & Attendance:
Class attendance
is mandatory. You are also required to check
your UP e-mail address daily. I often make important announcements this
way. Absences for illness, participation in official university
extra-curricular activities and serious familial obligations may be excused if
you notify me in advance. Missing
any part of class for a university appointment is unexcused. Other missed classes will reduce your
attendance/participation grade significantly.
If you miss class, it is your responsibility to learn the nature
of any assignment you might miss.
Regarding
Disabilities
If you have a disability and require an accommodation to fully
participate in this class, contact the Office for Students with Disabilities
(OSWD), located in the University Health Center (503-943-7134), as soon as
possible. If you have an OSWD Accommodation Plan, you should make an
appointment to meet with me to discuss your accommodations. Also, you
should meet with me if you wish to discuss emergency medical information or
special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated.
Grading
Checklists, short ass’ts....25% of
grade
Take-home mid-term…..30% of grade
Take-home final………...35% of grade
Participation/recitation..10% of grade
English Department Paper
Evaluation Standards
A: The A paper is excellent. It expresses a significant idea in a
superior manner. Its thesis is clear,
consistent, and well-argued, and the evidence, well-analyzed, strongly
supports the thesis. The organization is
logical, and the writing is inventive, precise, and grammatically sound.
From its compelling introduction to its
provocative conclusion, the paper fully considers and engages the reader
in the expression of its argument.
B: The B paper is good. It expresses a sound idea in a functional manner.
Its thesis is generally relevant,
clear, and well-supported, though evidence and analysis of that evidence
may be lacking in places. The paper is
logically organized, although it may lack coherence in structure.
Stylistically and mechanically, the writing is
sound but may contain some minor distractions or errors.
C: The C paper is fair. It expresses a merely adequate idea in an
ordinary manner. Its thesis is vague or
undeveloped, and it frequently contains lapses in reason or support.
Often the expression of the idea is weak
because the writer has not completely thought through the argument, and
the paper’s structure, which is
typically confused and lacking clear transitions, reflects this weakness.
The writing may contain major
grammatical and stylistic problems.
D: The D paper is poor. It expresses an unclear point in a weak manner.
It may fail to address the
assignment. Its thesis is
extremely vague, unclear, or illogical; it suffers from major problems in
organization,
and its evidence, if present, does
not clearly connect to the thesis. The writing is error-ridden and
demonstrates little consciousness of audience.
F: The F paper is unintelligible. It contains no point or its point is
plagiarized.
Welcome to Satire Class!
