Friday, January 29, 2010

Contemporary Lit.

Here are your links for the Dickinson reading.
Bio and all Dickinson poems. (Most are short, all read through very fluidly.)http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Syllabus
Fiction Workshop Weeks One-Two

T & W 01/19 & 20 In-class Writing
H & F 01/21 & 22 Assignment of Workshop Groups. Discussion about workshopping.

Weekend homework assignment. Read Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper
Discussion of Hemingway to be led by Group One.
Gilman: Group Two.
http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Stories/WhiteElephants.html http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Stories/YellowPaper.html Come in with copious notes, comments, ideas about the stories. Be ready to be to engage in a lively interesting discussion about the work, the writing, the literary strategies. What works best for the story? What is not working as well?

HOMEWORK: EVERYONE. You all write a 200 word minimum letter to the writer. In it you address strengths, weaknesses, what worked, confused you, specific lines or images which you found arresting, lovely, awkward or interesting and why.

T & W 01/26 & 27 Workshops of Hemingway: GROUP ONE.

H & F 01/28 Workshop of Gilman: GROUP TWO.

WEEK TWO:

T & W 02/03 & 04 GROUP THREE WORKSHOPS
Tuesday: Poe Story
Wednesday: Oates

Homework: Read Group Four stories Ray Bradbury piece for both classes

H & F 02/04 & 05 GROUP FOUR (Bradbury both)
Homework: Read GROUP FIVE STORIES for next week
For Tues: Carver
For Wed.: Poe



Homework: THE STORY BANK IS HERE--HOW EXCITING!!!!
The next several stories will all need to be read. As the groups select their stories, I'll assign the dates to them.

Joyce Carol Oates: Where are You Going....

Edgar Allan Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart

Lorrie Moore: People Like That....

Raymond Carver: A Small Good Thing
" " : Cathedral

Ray Bradbury: There Will Come Soft Rains
(as Group 4 opted for it in one class, if it's okay with Group 4 in both to do this one, I'd prefer that.)





Contemporary Literature Syllabus Weeks One & Two
T 01/19 In-class Writing
H 01/21 Discussion of literature. What makes it, what doesn't. Who decides.

Weekend homework assignment. (Make sure your books are ordered or located in the library. I'll check with the bookstore to see if and when copies will be coming there.)
Read Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Stories/WhiteElephants.html http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Stories/YellowPaper.html Come in with copious notes, comments, ideas about the stories. Be ready to be quizzed on any aspect of the stories and barring that, to engage in a lively interesting discussion about the work, the writing, the social commentaries.
T 01/26 Discussion of Gilman

H 01/28 Discussion Hemingway.
(links or page numbers forthcoming.
Homework: Emily Dickinson
Walt Whitman
Course Policy
Instructor: Sophia Kartsonis
Courses: Writing Fiction
Contemporary Literature
Email: skartsonis@ccad.edu

Textbook: Fiction Workshop: This document and its updates

Contemporary Literature: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/061853301X/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
This should direct you to a number of inexpensive options. Be sure to order one that will ship immediatly. You are looking at around $15-20 with shipping included. (Around half of the new copies.)
I would like for everyone to have the anthology as close to February 1 as possible.

Amazon has them (used) for very little and if you order them now, you should be good to go shortly.

For now, I will post links.

Attendance: will be crucial. We will be reading a lot and dealing with that reading in class with writing assignments and activities. You will be afforded one absence for reasons I will not need to know. I do not excuse any absence after that first one and if you accrue two absences or more, I reserve the right to suggest that you drop the course.
Tardies: After two you have an absence.
Grades: You will be graded heavily on class participation and attendance. Your written work also will comprise a large percentage of your total grade. I expect lively discussions and real engagement with the topics.
For those of you in my literature course or in workshops with a reading assignment please note: I hate to resort to pop quizzes, but if during discussion it becomes apparent that a few of us have done the reading and the rest are coasting, I will administer a quiz. Assignments are due (copies, typed, all aspects of the requirements that constitute the assignment) on time at the beginning of class. Class time is not an opportunity to run around or ask me to make copies or to staple etc. We are now grown-ups. We are now grown-ups. Repeat as necessary.
YOU MUST BE HERE ON THE DAY OF YOUR HAND-OUTS, PRESENTATIONS or WORKSHOP. I cannot convey to you what it does to my mood and my soul when you are not. I usually console myself with a long session with the gradebook... I will not accept late workshop pieces. It is unfair to your group and the other groups and it makes a mess of our schedule.

The bulk of your work in my courses cannot be made-up simply by "getting the assignment." You learn from discussion. What you miss is truly lost money and effort on my part and yours. Try to remember that you're here to self-edify as well as to receive a service.
Cell Phones: Please turn them off. Brain surgery can wait.
Conferences: I am available to conference with you at any time throughout the course. Please contact me in class or through the email address and we can set a time to meet. I am required to post office hours and so I do. My preferred method of meeting with students is to know I will be meeting and to meet in a setting that resembles my idea of college: ideas exchanged over some hot beverage.

Also, if you feel confused about an assignment, let me know that before the day it is due. Come talk to me or better still, raise your hand and ask about it during class. If you miss something and then tell me you didn't understand what you were to do, you will still lose the grade. It is your responsibility to find a way to understand by letting me know that you don't.

You can email me if that is easier for you but I cannot guarantee a reply if the email is last minute. It is your responsibility to discuss any difficulties you are having or foresee well before the assignment is due.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Contemporary Literature Crowd

The Heath Anthology of American Literature
Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 5 edition (January 24, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 061853301X
ISBN-13: 978-0618533015

This will be our textbook. I will let you know when they will be available or you can order a used copy now and save yourself some pennies. In either case, we'll begin working from it by February 1 or so.

Thanks and see you soon.
s

Monday, January 18, 2010

Books and the Like to be Discussed in Class

Welcome 2010 Writing Fiction and Contemporary Literature Students.

First day writing samples will be the day's activity.