FALL 2001
COURSE SYLLABUS
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Study of the literature of the English Renaissance in the context of intellectual,
historical, and cultural developments in England and elsewhere in Europe. The
course will emphasize the study of Shakespeare as well as the perspectives and
methodologies of the New Historicism, Cultural Materialism, and Cultural Studies.
TEXTBOOKS
OTHER RESOURCES
Reinert Alumni Library: http://reinert.creighton.edu/
Voice of the Shuttle: Web Pages for Research in the Humanities: http://vos.ucsb.edu
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND POLICIES
1) Paper (Draft, Presentation, and Final Copy) (50%)
Students in this course will be required to write a 10-20 page paper offering
both personal analysis and research focused on one of Shakespeare's plays. The
paper should include close reading and analysis of the text as well as discussion
of relevant scholarship. All papers will be required to adopt/explore/acknowledge
the methodologies of the New Historicism, Cultural Materialism, or Cultural
Studies. Papers must therefore place the discussion of the text within an appropriate
context and must strive to explain the ways in which the text issues from and
participates in a specific historical/cultural situation. Students must observe
the MLA guidelines in all their written work (see Gibaldi's MLA Handbook
for Writers of Research Papers).
3) Participation, In-Class Writing, and Other Performance (50%)
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. This grade will also assess the quality of any in-class writing assigned
by the instructor. In-class essay exercises may ask students to comment on the
significance of a particular passage from one of the critical or literary texts
studied and/or develop and comment on a theme/issue related to the readings,
lectures, or class discussions.
4) Other Policies
All aspects of the course will be graded on a 100-point scale where 90-100
= A, 80-89 = B, 70-79 = C, and 0-69 = F
Make-ups/extensions for a missed deadline will only be given in cases of documented serious illness or other valid, non-frivolous excuses such as documented participation in official University sports or academic/service events (it will be up to the instructors to determine and decide on the acceptability of an excuse).
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.
All students in the class are expected to observe the University's guidelines
on student conduct as described in Creighton University's Student Handbook (see
"Code of Conduct," and especially the section on "Academic Misconduct"
dealing with problems of plagiarism, cheating, etc.).
SCHEDULE
Tue Aug 28
Tue Sep 04
Tue Sep 11
Tue Sep 18
Tue Sep 25
Tue Oct 02
Tue Oct 09
Tue Oct 16
Tue Oct 23
Tue Oct 30
Tue Nov 06
Tue Nov 13
Tue Nov 20
William Shakespeare, Othello
Tue Nov 27
Tue Dec 04
Tue Dec 11