Instructor: Mr. Christopher Andrews
Contact Information:
Email: andrewsc@mcm.edu
Office: Cooke 106a, 793-3892
Skype: cdmandrews
Office Hours: TBA
Course Overview
Catalog Description: Topics will vary and may include British, American, or world literary figures who have had an impact on English-language literature. May be repeated for credit as author varies.
Overview: Nobel laureate William Faulkner continues to be numbered among the most important writers in American letters and one of the most original authors of the twentieth century. This course will focus on Faulkner’s prestigious and fertile “long decade” of 1929-1942. As well as surveying a number of his short stories, we will read The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary, Absalom! Absalom! and selections from Go Down, Moses. The course will be collaboratively taught, with each member of the English department bringing their different area of interest and expertise to Faulkner’s work. We will explore his narrative technique; his grasp of myth and allusion; his attention to family, place, and past; his constru(i)ctions of gender roles; his evaluation of the complex racial and social relationships of the deep South; and his significance in and contributions to American culture. This course will be writing intensive.
Pre-requisites: At least one junior-level English course or permission of instructor.
Course Objectives/Student Learning Outcomes:
- Understand the major thematic, aesthetic, historic, social, and cultural concerns of the writing of William Faulkner.
- Respond to and interpret intellectually and emotionally challenging works of literature
- Develop skills associated with close and critical reading
- Develop skills associated with creating, presenting, and defending critical judgments against the informed opinions of others
- Develop research skills with print and digital media
- Use MLA standards for manuscript preparation and documentation.
Optional or Recommended Course Materials: Faulkner is a master of the lexicon. I strongly recommend either purchasing a good, unabridged dictionary or downloading a free dictionary app on your mobile device for quick access.
Course Policies:
Attendance: I fully expect you to come to class for every class meeting. I also realize that things occasionally happen that may keep you from coming. I will excuse absences for illness, for personal emergency, and for University-related business, provided you furnish some documentation. I reserve the right to administratively drop you from the course if you amass more than two unexcused absences. Arrangements for make-up work for excused absences must be made prior to your absence.
Late Work: Assignments are due on the dates listed on the syllabus unless for some reason I announce a change or unless you have made special arrangements with me. Work turned in after that time will be penalized 10 % per day. I will not accept major assignments more than five days late. Hard drive crashes and other computer problems will not be accepted as excuses for late work
Academic Dishonesty: Plagiarism is absolutely unacceptable in a college course of any kind, and is far more so in an upper-level course in one’s major or minor course of study. I reserve the right to fail for the course any student who intentionally plagiarizes (or otherwise commits academic dishonesty).
Special Needs: McMurry University abides by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which stipulates that no otherwise qualified student shall be denied the benefits of an education “solely by reason of a handicap”. If you have a documented disability that may impact your performance in this class and for which you may be requesting accommodation, you must be registered with and provide documentation of your disability to the Disability Services Office, located in President Residence Hall.
Major Projects, Required Activities, and Assignments:
Projects: Each of the following major assignments will be described in fuller detail on our course blog.
- A 5+ page critical analysis of a Faulkner text and topic of your choice, due Friday, 2/8
- A narrative written in the voice of and from the point of view of a character from The Sound and the Fury or As I Lay Dying, due Friday, 2/29
- An annotated bibliography; individuals will prepare annotations for 10+ scholarly secondary sources, due Friday, 3/29
- A substantial final project of your own design dealing with a particular Faulkner text, topic, or problem, due 4/29
Course Blog: Low-stakes analytical, reflective, and responsive writing is going to be an important part of your learning experience this semester. In order to help you grapple with course texts and concepts, you will participate in writing for our course blog. Beginning the first week of class, each week you will prepare a short, thoughtful, informal response to the readings or topics we’ve discussed and post it to our class blog. Sometimes these will be prompted; others will be open, exploratory responses to whatever you’d like to write about that has to do with Faulkner. Your goal is to grapple with and explain to yourself and others in the class the texts and problems we’ve dealt with that week. Include a question at the end of each post that you'd like to see someone else respond to—either in another post or in class meetings.
For full credit on this assignment, you’ll need to write one response for each week of the course: that’s fifteen responses; except in rare cases, these should be no shorter than 300 words. These may be posted before or after we discuss a particular text, but each week’s response is due no later than 5:00 pm on Friday. You’ll also need to respond to at least two of your peers’ posts within a week. As with most things, I am open to a certain amount of collaboration and experimentation.
Exams: In order to demonstrate your mastery of course concepts, you will take two exams. Both will contain a combination of short- and long-answer questions over the works, processes, and concepts we've covered in class.
Reading, Discussion, and Other Expectations: One thing a collaborative teaching experiment affords is the opportunity for you to experience a variety of approaches to literature, to ideas, and to the classroom. Expect a variety of teaching styles, incorporating a mixture of lecture, discussion, and experiential modalities. Because of the writing and discussion load in this class, it is essential that you not fall behind in your reading.
While I will often briefly lecture on certain works or topics and can sometimes be compelled to rant or hold forth on particular topics for an extended period of time—and many of my colleagues can and will lecture longer than I will—you should assume that our default daily activity will be seminar-style discussion and analysis of the assigned literary works. This necessitates a high level of preparation on your part—taking notes over what you read, flagging key passages, preparing discussion questions, etcetera. I expect you to be prepared to discuss and ask questions about the literature at hand. (And I do expect said literature to be quite literally at hand. Coming to a 4000-level literature class without the appropriate text is a severe breach in participation.)
I’ll be leading class with the following assumptions in mind: Open and equitable discussion and critique is the soul of a literature course. Everyone participates. Everyone should strive to be respectful of others' thoughts. Students don't put the burden on particular outspoken individuals to originate or maintain discussion. Disagreements happen, and those are a good thing in a class such as this – if you have a differing point of view, make that point! You’re doing yourself and your classmates a disservice by holding it in.
The same goes for confusion—Faulkner is the kind of writer who produces questions rather than resolving them. I can assure you that you will not be the only person in the room confused by something we read this semester. If you have a question about something that one of your instructors or colleagues may have taken for granted as obvious or understood, you’re doing yourself and your classmates a disservice by holding it in.
