Posted: January 6th, 2014
Describe your personal relationship to literature and to reading
Discussion 1
Describe your personal relationship to literature and to reading. Begin by considering the meaning of literature. What does the term literature mean to you? What makes something literary in your own mind? If literature means different things to different people, who defines what is and what is not literature?
Next, reflect on your relationship to reading and literature. What kind of reading engages/interests you? What about that writing draws you in? Do you find meaning in reading certain writing? If so, describe the satisfaction you draw from this process. Also consider how you read. Do you, for example, take notes or mark text as you read, or do you simply absorb the material on a page?
There are no right or wrong answers to your response. This discussion is an opportunity to reflect on what literature is to you, as well as to consider the many meanings that literature may have for others in the class.
Initial posts must be 200 to 300 words in length and posted by Day 3. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts. In your response, indicate what you have learned from your classmates’ answers and share how their responses have improved your understanding of the importance of editing as you work through your final drafts this week. Be specific in your responses. Response posts must be 125 to 200 words in length and posted by Day 7.
Discussion 2
Review the key literary terms and concepts presented throughout Chapters 1 and 2. (See the end of each chapter for a glossary of terms.) Choose at least four of these terms to discuss in your post. Then, find examples of these concepts in the readings from this week. Explain how these examples demonstrate each literary concept as well as the effect which the given technique or form has on a reading of the respective text.
Initial posts must be 200 to 300 words in length and posted by Day 3. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts. In your response, indicate what you have learned from your classmates’ answers and share how their responses have improved your understanding of the importance of editing as you work through your final drafts this week. Be specific in your responses. Response posts must be 125 to 200 words in length and posted by Day 7.
Assignment
In two to four double-spaced pages (excluding title and reference page), analyze one of the literary works from this week’s readings, by completing the following:
- Explain why the literary work captured your interest, using terms and concepts from the text to support your explanation.
- Describe one of the analytical approaches outlined in Chapter 16, using details from the text to support your interpretations.
- Evaluate the meaning of the selected literary work, using the analytical approach you described.
Your paper should be organized around a thesis statement about the selected literary work and the approach you are using to analyze the work. All sources must be properly cited. The paper must include a separate title and reference page, and be formatted to APA (6th edition) style.
The paper must be two to four pages in length (excluding the title and reference page), and formatted according to APA style. You must use at least two scholarly resources (at least one of which can be found in the Ashford Online Library) other than the textbook to support your claims and subclaims. Cite your resources in text and on the reference page. For information regarding APA samples and tutorials, visit the Ashford Writing Center, within the Learning Resources tab on the left navigation toolbar, in your online course.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment
Review the key literary terms and concepts presented throughout Chapters 1 and 2. (See the end of each chapter for a glossary of terms.) Choose at least four of these terms to discuss in your post. Then, find examples of these concepts in the readings from this week. Explain how these examples demonstrate each literary concept as well as the effect which the given technique or form has on a reading of the respective text.
Initial posts must be 200 to 300 words in length and posted by Day 3. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts. In your response, indicate what you have learned from your classmates’ answers and share how their responses have improved your understanding of the importance of editing as you work through your final drafts this week. Be specific in your responses. Response posts must be 125 to 200 words in length and posted by Day 7.
Welcome to Introduction to Literature (ENG 125)
Hopefully you’ve read my instructor’s introduction which covers my background and how I view this course. In this document, I will discuss the books you will be using over the next five weeks (textbook, dictionary, and writer’s guide(s)) before moving on to some comments on literature, and ending with some recommended reading.
[0. ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW
In two to four double-spaced pages (excluding title and reference page), analyze one of the literary works from this week’s readings, by completing the following:
- Explain why the literary work captured your interest, using terms and concepts from the text to support your explanation.
- Describe one of the analytical approaches outlined in Chapter 16, using details from the text to support your interpretations.
- Evaluate the meaning of the selected literary work, using the analytical approach you described. ]
I. THE BOOKS
Your Textbook: (or, Every decision matters: how much is up to you.)
As your textbook is going to be with you long after you finish this class, it’s important to understand how to get the most of it, and exactly what went into it. Literature textbooks are different in that even while striving for some semblance of objectivity, authors’ and editors’ tastes have a far greater influence on the final product than in other subjects.
For example, in a basic geometry book, the author must start with points and lines lest theorems and postulates about triangles have no foundation; and without triangles, there is no trigonometry, etc. A reordering or omission of certain of materials is not an option. Literature is different: do you subdivide by form (i.e. poetry, drama, and prose), approach it chronologically (Gilgamesh, Homer, Sophocles, Dante, Milton…), within a specific tradition (for which we will use the common but outdated terms occidental and oriental), according to–often overlapping–purpose (religious, nationalist, political, purely “aesthetic”)…? You will see that the book’s author mixes them up, dividing the book mostly according to format, but sprinkling in works of other genres as appropriate. And then of course, there is the daunting task of selecting authors and works within those subdivisions. Consider this: in his landmark Lectures on Russian Literature, Vladimir Nabokov writes:
I calculated once that the acknowledged best in the way of Russian fiction and poetry which had been produced since the beginning of the last century runs to about 23,000 pages of ordinary print. It is evident that neither French nor English literature can be so completely handled. (p.1)
One country. Fewer than 200 years. 23,000 pages. We’re covering more physical and chronological territory in five weeks and far fewer pages.
Selection matters.
Unlike some anthologies, written and edited by committee, we have a single name, R. Wayne Clugston and a purpose: this volume was specifically designed to provide an introduction to literature for students of courses similar to the one you are in. Clugston, after all, is a founder of Bridgepoint Education, Inc. the parent of Ashford U. In a laudable and uncommon act of transparency in an anthology, Clugston provides a “The Summary and Selections” section appearing at the end of most units reemphasizing why a particular work appears. Even so, if there’s one thing beyond the core lessons I want you to take away from this class it’s this:
Professor Moskowitz’s Rule of 2+
It is extremely rare that one work of an author is the most representative, best-known, most-respected, and most useful (as in a classroom setting).
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