• Professor: Fidel Fajardo-Acosta
• Course: ENG 121-Q, Call No. 1823
• Class Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:00-12:15
• Classroom: Business Administration (BA) 109
• Course Dates: Thursday, January 13-Tuesday, May 2, 2000
• Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:00-2:15 & Thursdays 2:00-3:45 and by appointment (notice that posted office hours are subject to cancellation without previous notice, call to be sure)
• Office: Hitchcock Communication Arts Building (CA) Room 304 C
• Office Telephone: (402) 280-2522
• email: fajardo@creighton.edu
• Web Home Page: http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/english/fajardo/

COURSE DESCRIPTION

A study of representative works of world literature from the seventeenth century to the present. The course emphasizes the study and consideration of the literary, cultural, and human significance of selected great works of the Western and non-Western literary traditions, including women's, minority, and ethnic literature from around the world. An important goal of the class is to promote an understanding of the works in their cultural/historical contexts and of the enduring human values which unite the different literary traditions. Readings include fiction, drama, and poetry.

• The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, Volume 2, Expanded Edition, ed. Maynard Mack.
• Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, trans. Francis Steegmuller (Vintage/Random House, 1992).

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1) Term Project & Project Presentation (15%)
All students will be required to undertake and complete a project which may be an original paper or a creative work such as a short story, play, or set of poems (5-10 written pages or equivalent). Also acceptable are substantial and original art works (painting, drawing, music, film, web sites, etc.). All creative options must be clearly relevant and related to the class materials. All works must be created during and for the specific purposes of this course. Students will be asked to make a 5-10 minute presentation in class describing and/or performing their projects(see Schedule below). All projects must be approved by the instructor in advance (see Schedule below). Students choosing to write a paper must follow the guidelines provided by the instructor. For further information on the writing and grading of essays see Grading Standards and Procedures, and Grading of Essays and Other Written Work. See also Guidelines for Presentations. ALL PROJECTS IN FINAL FORM ARE DUE ON THE LAST DAY OF CLASS.

2) Midterm Exam (20%), Final Exam (25%), and Two Quizzes ( 15 %)
Both exams will feature essay sections as well as objective questions dealing with literary texts, their features, authors, and history. Quizzes will involve objective, short answer questions of various formats. Quizzes and exams will cover both texts read in the class as well as those discussed in the student presentations. The essay portions of the exams will ask students to read closely, analyze, and interpret a particular passage from one of the texts studied and/or develop a theme/issue related to the readings, lectures, and class discussions. The same criteria which apply to papers will be used in the grading of exams (see "Grading of Essays and Other Written Work."). Students should expect to do a substantial amount of writing (4-6 handwritten pages) during an exam and must bring paper and pens to each examination (no pencils please). All handwriting in an exam must be neat and easily legible. No credit will be given for illegible exams.

3) Group Presentations (15%)
Students will be divided into groups which will take turns making presentations about selected texts and authors (the instructor will make specific group and topic assignments on the first day of class). Students will be responsible for carefully reading and researching the substance and background of the assigned texts and presenting them to the class. Presentations should offer a combination of factual information and personal commentary by the presenters. Strongly encouraged is the use of audiovisual materials (web pages, pictures, slides, videotapes, audio recordings, live or recorded performance pieces, multimedia computer presentations, etc.) which may in any way enhance the content and appeal of the presentations. See Guidelines for Presentations for further details.

4) Participation and Other Performance (10%)
In addition to other grades, the instructor will assess and grade each student's overall accomplishment, development, and involvement in the course. This grade will take into account aspects of a student's performance such as class participation, preparation, contributions, effort, attentiveness, interest, improvement, responsibility, etc.

5) Grading Scale, Attendance, and Other Policies
An attendance measurement will be calculated equal to the percentage of total class time attended. The course grade may not exceed that percentage (i.e. if a student attended only 75% of the total class time, the course grade may not be higher than 75 or C). Notice also that, at the discretion of the instructor, any student missing more than 30% of the total class time may fail the course.

6) Out-of-Class Event
All students in the course are required to attend at least one out-of-class event such as a lecture, poetry/fiction reading, film, play, exhibit, or live performance relevant to the understanding and appreciation of the course materials. Satisfaction of this requirement will be taken into account in the "Attendance" and "Participation and Other Performance" grade categories. Special events arranged for this semester are the following (students attending any of these two events do not need to write a report but must sign the instructor's attendance sheet on the day of the event):

• Lecture, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Thursday, March the 23rd at 3:30pm, Rigge Science Room 120.

• Film Screening & Lecture, Mweze Ngangura, Pieces d'Identités (Identity Card), Tuesday, April 18th, 3:30 PM, Ballroom West Skutt Student Center.

Students unable to attend the events listed above can satisfy the requirement by attending the alternative events listed in the document "World Literature Program Special Events" or by using the videotapes on reserve at the library for the World Literature courses. Special efforts by students attending more than two events will be taken into consideration in the "Participation and Other Performance" grade category. Notice that students using alternative or videotaped events must write a one-page report/analysis for each event.

See documents entitled "Grading Standards and Procedures" and "Grading of Essays and Other Written Work." for further information on grading. At the discretion of the instructor, a normative curve may be applied to the grades at the end of the term. The course grade will be calculated according to the following formula:

All reading is due on the date indicated. Read the introductions and texts for all assignments, as well as any materials linked through the course's on-line syllabus.

• Literature: Reading, Writing, and Interpretation

• Presentation: Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere, Tartuffe (Group # 1)

• Presentation: Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire, Candide (Group #2)

• Presentation: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust (Group #3)

• T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land

• Presentation: Virginia Woolf, "An Unwritten Novel" (Group #1)

Thu Apr 13

• Presentation: Jorge Luis Borges, "The Garden of Forking Paths" (Group #6)

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