Schedule of Classes (subject to change): Readings and assignments are due by the beginning of class on the dates shown. Additional readings may be assigned as appropriate.
M 1/28: Introductions: to Introduction to Fiction, to the OpenLab, and to each other. Be sure to create an account on the OpenLab, add an avatar and bio in your profile, and join our course before our next class.
W 1/30: Ann Charters, “Elements of Fiction”—including all the sub-pages identified on the left-side menu: “Plot,” “Character,” “Setting,” “Point of View,” “Style, Tone, and Language,” “Theme,” and “Symbolism, Allegory, and Image“; and Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”
M 2/4: Susan Glaspell, “A Jury of Her Peers”
W 2/6: Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”
M 2/11: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Cottagette” (scroll down a little bit to get to this story), “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” (we’ll use this .pdf version) and Chapter XIV from Women and Economics
W 2/13: Gilman, continued
M 2/18: President’s Day—College is closed
W 2/20: Monday Schedule: William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”
M 2/25: “A Rose for Emily”
W 2/27: Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis”
M 3/4: “The Metamorphosis”; Essay #1 due drafts due: writing workshop
W 3/6: Thomas Wolfe, “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn”; Visit to Brooklyn Historical Society;
M 3/11: [recommended: Junot Diaz, “Ysrael“]; Essay #1 due
W 3/13: Review for Midterm Exam
M 3/18: Review for Midterm Exam
W 3/20: Midterm Exam
M 3/25: Spring Recess
W 3/27: Spring Recess
M 4/1: Spring Recess
W 4/3: Beloved by Toni Morrison, through p. 64
[you can read an online copy here, but I expect you to have a copy of the book that you can mark up in class]
M 4/8: Beloved through p. 100
W 4/10: Beloved; “Profile of a Runaway” in Franklin and Schweninger’s Runaway Slaves (here)
M 4/15: Beloved; Brooklyn Historical Society
W 4/17: Beloved, “Beloved”—film clips
M 4/22: Beloved; Brooklyn Historical Society
W 4/24: Beloved
M 4/29: Final discussion of Beloved
W 5/1: [optional reading: Cynthia Ozick, “The Shawl”]
M 5/6: Sherman Alexie, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem; thesis statement workshop
W 5/8: “What You Pawn I Will Redeem; ”Writing workshop: Essay #2 drafts due
M 5/13: Louise Erdrich, “The Shawl,” Essay #2 due
W 5/15: Review for Final Exam
M 5/20: Final Exam
W 5/22: Conclusions
