ENG 150Y THE LITERARY TRADITION 2012-2013 PROF. W.

ROBINS UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO COURSE SYLLABUS Lectures: Tutorials: MW 10:00-11:00, at the Isabel Bader Theatre L0101: F 10:00-11:00 / L0201: F 11:00-12:00, locations TBA M 11:30-12:30 and by appointment at NF 226

Professor Robinss Office Hours:

Teaching Assistants: E. Martin / L. Beard / S. Goodhand / T. Harrison / J. Lockhart / J. Peters / S. Reader / T. Samuk / S. Taylor / A. Wetmore / D. Yarow Our course offers one way to trace a path through four thousand years of the poetry and prose that lie behind the literature of our own time. Our readings begin with impressive epic traditions from ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, India, and Rome, after which we explore key scriptural texts from the Bible and the Quran. During the Spring term we turn to major works produced in the dynamic cultural context of medieval and early modern Europe, then tackle some of the most influential novels of all time, before concluding with a look at how modern poetry has worked to reshape our multifaceted literary tradition. You should emerge from the course with an appreciation of how rich and varied are the literary traditions of the past, and an understanding of the way cultural expectations have been handed down and transformed from antiquity to the twentieth century. REQUIRED TEXTS The following books are required for the course. It is important to use the same translations, as there can be significant differences among translations of literary text. All assignments and the final exam will use the assigned translations of the texts as their points of reference. The books are available at the University of Toronto Bookstore. The bookstore has put together packages of texts for each term, with considerable savings for students who purchase them. The selections from the Quran (trans. Abdel-Haleem), and poems by Arthur Rimbaud and Pablo Neruda will be available on Blackboard as pdf files. Some short supplementary texts will also occasionally be provided via Blackboard. The Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. George (Penguin) Homer, The Odyssey, trans. Fagles (Penguin) The Ramayana, adapted by Ramesh Menon (Macmillan/North Point) Virgil, The Aeneid, trans. Fitzgerald (Vintage) The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha (Oxford) Chretien de Troyes, Eric and Enide, trans. Raffel (Yale) Dante, Inferno, trans. Hollander & Hollander (Random House/Anchor) Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (Signet) Cervantes, Don Quixote, trans. Lathrop (Signet) Madame de Lafayette, The Princess of Cleves, trans. Cave (Oxford) Voltaire, Candide, trans. Frame (Signet) Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment, trans. Pevear & Volokhonsky (Random House/Vintage) Whitman, Song of Myself (Dover)

ENG 150Y Syllabus (Revised 1 Sept 2012), p. 1

COURSE SCHEDULE Week Dates Monday Wednesday FALL TERM Before Writing Friday Tutorial

Sept. 10, 12, (14)

Introduction

(no tutorial)

ANCIENT EPICS 2 Sept. 17, 19, (21) 3 Sept. 24, 26, 28 4 Oct. 1, 3, 5 Oct. (8), 10, 12 6 Oct. 15, 17, 19 7 Oct. 22, 24, 26 8 Oct. 29, 31, Nov. 2 SCRIPTURES 9 Nov. 5, 7, (9) 10 Nov. (12), 14, 16 11 Nov. 19, 21, (23) 12 Nov. 26, 28, 30 13 Dec. 3, 5

Gilgamesh Gilgamesh Homer (no class) Ramayana Virgil Virgil

Gilgamesh Homer Homer Ramayana Ramayana Virgil Virgil

(no tutorial) Gilgamesh Homer Ramayana Ramayana Virgil Virgil

Comment Comment Comment Comment

Bible: Exodus (no class) Bible: Job Bible: Mark Quran

Bible: Genesis Bible: Genesis Bible: Job Bible: Mark Quran

(no tutorial) Bible: Genesis (no tutorial) Bible: Mark (no tutorial)

Essay Due Comment Comment

SPRING TERM EARLY EUROPEAN HORIZONS 1 Jan. 7, 9, 11 Chretien 2 Jan. 14, 16, 18 Dante 3 Jan. 21, 23, 25 Dante 4 Jan. 28, 30, Feb. 1 Shakespeare THE EUROPEAN NOVEL 5 Feb. 4, 6, 8 6 Feb. 11, 13, (15) (Feb. 18, 20, 22) 7 Feb. 25, 27, Mar. 1 8 Mar. 4, 6, 8 9 Mar. 11, 13, 15 10 Mar. 18, 20, 22

Chretien Dante Dante Shakespeare

Chretien Dante Dante Shakespeare

Comment Comment

Cervantes Cervantes Cervantes Cervantes (Reading Weekno classes) Lafayette Lafayette Voltaire Voltaire Dostoyevsky Dostoyevsky Dostoyevsky Dostoyevsky

Cervantes (no tutorial) Lafayette Voltaire Dostoyevsky Dostoyevsky

Comment Essay Due Comment Comment

POETRY FOR NEW WORLDS 11 Mar. 25, 27, (29) Whitman 12 Apr. 1, 3, (5) Neruda

Rimbaud Review

(no tutorial) (no tutorial)

Comment*

The Comment on March 29th is to be submitted on Blackboard. Further details about each of the assigned readings will be communicated by e-mail via Blackboard.

ENG 150Y Syllabus (Revised 1 Sept 2012), p. 2

COURSE REQUIREMENTS Reading Comments (best 10 of 12) Two Essays Tutorial Work and Participation 3-hour Final Exam 25% 30% 10% 35%

READING COMMENTS During many of the tutorial sessions the first five or ten minutes will be spent writing a brief Reading Comment in answer to a question about the text assigned for that day. The questions will be posed by your Teaching Assistant, and so the topics covered will not be the same for all tutorial sections. These Reading Comments are short quizzes, and the purposes of them are: to draw your attention to some things to look for when reading literary works; to get you comfortable with writing down ideas quickly and succinctly; and to facilitate tutorial discussion about the texts in the course. Each Reading Comment is a short paragraph, with a maximum length of a single side of a page. They are to be written out by hand, unless you have an accommodation arranged through Accessibility Services. The Reading Comments must be legible, and they must be written in full sentences (no point form). The final Reading Comment (on texts of modern poetry) will not be handwritten in tutorial but instead will be submitted on Blackboard. There will be no opportunities to reschedule missed Reading Comments. Your Teaching Assistant will wait until you have completed a batch of three Reading Comments and then will mark all three at once, commenting upon them as a batch; this will allow your TA to assess how you tend to approach the task. Each Comment will be given a mark out of 10: 4 points for completing the Reading Comment in class, on time, and legibly; 3 points for demonstrating that you are familiar with the assigned text; and 3 points for the insights you present in response to the question. Points may be deducted if faulty grammar or bad mechanics of writing make it difficult to figure out what you are saying in your Comment. Of the 12 Reading Comments, only your best 10 will be used to calculate your grade. Batch 1: Epic of Gilgamesh / Homer, Odyssey / Ramayana Batch 2: Virgil, Aeneid / Genesis / Gospel according to Mark Batch 3: Chretien, Eric and Enide / Dante, Inferno / Cervantes, Don Quixote Batch 4: Lafayette, Princess of Cleves / Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment / Poetry

ENG 150Y Syllabus (Revised 1 Sept 2012), p. 3

ESSAYS There are two short essays, of 1000-1250 words each. The Fall Term essay is due on Friday, November 9th; the Spring Term essay is due Friday, February 15th. A hard copy of your essay (not an electronic file) must be handed in before noon at Professor Robinss office (Northrop Frye Hall 226). Alternatively, your essay can be handed in at the end of the preceding Wednesday lecture (Nov. 7th, Feb. 13th). Late essays may be submitted up to a week late, penalized one percentage point per day. Essays can be accepted more than one week after the due date only with written permission from Prof. Robins. The UofT Writing website is <www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice>. Please familiarize yourself with the short essay, How Not to Plagiarize in the section on Using Sources; as well as the guidelines about grammar and style in the section on Style and Editing. The essays will receive a percentage grade using the scale and criteria for the course: 90-100 85-89 80-84 77-79 73-76 70-72 67-69 63-66 60-62 57-59 53-56 50-52 A+ A AB+ B BC+ C CD+ D D4.0 4.0 3.7 3.3 3.0 2.7 2.3 2.0 1.7 1.3 1.0 0.7 Marginal 0-49 F 0.0 Adequate Good Outstanding Excellent A: Strong evidence of original thinking; good organization, capacity to analyze and synthesize; superior grasp of subject matter with sound critical evaluations; evidence of extensive knowledge base. Few writing errors. B: Evidence of grasp of subject matter; some evidence of critical capacity and analytic ability; reasonable understanding of relevant issues; evidence of familiarity with the literature. Good organization and writing. C: Student who is profiting from her or his university experience; understanding of the subject matter; ability to develop solutions to simple problems in the material. D: Some evidence of familiarity with subject matter and some evidence that critical and analytic skills have been developed. F: Little evidence of even superficial understanding of the subject matter; weakness in critical, analytic, and/or writing skills; limited or irrelevant use of the literature.

ENG 150Y Syllabus (Revised 1 Sept 2012), p. 4