| LIT 499 1 course unit Term: Spring 2020 Time: 3:30-4:50 p.m. TF Room: Bliss Annex 235 Prerequisites: LIT 201 and 202 |
Prof. G. Steinberg Office: Bliss Hall 216 Office Phone: 771-2106 E-mail: gsteinbe@tcnj.edu |
TEXTBOOKS:
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- Dante, Inferno, trans. Mark Musa (Penguin, 2002), ISBN 9780142437223,
- Dante, Purgatory, trans. Mark Musa (Penguin, 1985), ISBN 9780140444421,
- Dante, Paradiso, trans. Mark Musa (Penguin, 1986), ISBN 9780140444438.
The Italian text of Dante’s poem (with an English translation by Robert and Jean Hollander) is available online for free at http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp/.
COURSE DESCRIPTION and PURPOSE. Small classes that focus on specific topics in literary or linguistic research and theory. Formal seminar presentations and several papers, including completion of a major research essay. To be taken twice by English majors – once in the junior, and once in the senior year.
In this particular section, we read the entire Divine Comedy and examine Dante’s poem in the light of current literary theory. Themes explored in the course include Dante’s role in reassuring (or challenging) his readers as subjects within a particular ideology (particularly in terms of gender politics) and the nature, use, and limits of language (particularly in relation to metaphor).
When the College went through a curriculum revision several years ago, the vast majority of undergraduate courses were “transformed” from 3-credit to 4-credit (1-unit) learning experiences. While most of the classes continued to meet for only 3 academic hours per week (typically 150 minutes on the TCNJ schedule grid), it was understood that the “transformed” courses offered a depth of learning with additional learning tasks unfolding in the equivalent of a fourth hour, including, sometimes, an actual additional hour of class interaction. As the equivalent of the fourth hour in this course,
F) The students are assigned additional learning tasks that make the semester’s learning experience more deeply engaged and rigorous, and no other additional classroom space is needed.
GOALS. In terms of my goals for this course, I want you to
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- become comfortable reading Dante,
- enjoy the wit, logic, and artistry of Dante’s writing,
- appreciate the accomplishment that the Divine Comedy represents in the history of Western literature,
- conduct advanced research in the humanities by building upon the basic research skills first introduced in Approaches to Literature,
- demonstrate the kind of intellectual independence and sustained, critical thought required for the production of high-quality literary, linguistic, textual and/or rhetorical scholarship,
- discover, assert and insert your own critical “voice” into the ongoing dialogues, critiques, and debates that characterize the humanities,
- apply a range of critical theories – linguistic, literary, rhetorical and/or cultural – to texts and their contexts in order to elucidate complex issues and suggest additional avenues of critical inquiry,
- think theoretically, moving beyond issues of textual analysis into more abstract modes of thinking, and
- communicate your ideas and your findings with precision, appropriateness, and clarity.
This course also contributes to the following Middle States goals for the School of Humanities & Social Sciences and the English Department:
#1 Written Communication
#2 Oral Communication
#5 Critical Analysis and Reasoning: Ability to critique the arguments of others in the discipline and the construction of one’s own arguments in the discipline, using data/evidence are a focus of instruction and/or the ability to analyze linguistic and cultural patterns
#6 Information Literacy: Evaluating the validity and/or reliability of a source
#7 Interpret Language and Symbol
#12 Students will be able to demonstrate familiarity with a range of critical, generic, and literary traditions (including recent theoretical approaches) that shape – and are shaped by – literary discourses and texts of particular periods or movements
#15 Students will be able to read a literary work and characterize its main aesthetic, structural, and rhetorical strategies in an argumentative, thesis-driven essay or in a writing workshop
#16 Students will be able to write a substantial essay of literary scholarship that is theoretically informed and engages with current research and criticism in relevant fields of study, asserting their own critical voice in ongoing dialogues and debates
REQUIREMENTS. This course has the following graded assignments:
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- eight two-page response papers (together worth 20% of your final grade),,
- a research assignment (20% of your final grade),
- a seminar paper (35%), and
- a comprehensive exam (25%).
Your final grade will be based on the following scale: A = 93%-100%, A- = 90%-92%, B+ = 87%-89%, B = 83%-86%, B- = 80%-82%, C+ = 77%-79%, C = 73%-76%, C- = 70%-72%, D+ = 67%-69%, D = 60%-66%, and F = below 60%. This scale is absolute. Because the response papers are in a sense a form of extra credit built into this course from the start, I do not give extra credit at the end of the semester to help students raise their grade even a whisker. So, even if, at the end of the semester, you are just .0001 points away from an A-, your final grade will be a B+.
OFFICE HOURS. My office is Bliss Hall 216, and my office hours this term are 2:00-3:30pm on Tuesdays and Fridays. If you cannot see me during these hours, feel free as needed to call my office (771-2106) or talk to me before or after class to arrange an appointment at another time. You may also contact me by email (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu), or you may leave a message for me in my box at the English department offices in Bliss 124. Email is generally the fastest way to contact me.
LANGUAGES ACROSS THE CURRICULUM. A ¼ unit (one credit) Languages Across the Curriculum independent study (LAC 391) may be added to this course for those students who have intermediate level proficiency in Italian and who wish to complement the work in this course by utilizing their language skills. LAC 391 (P/U grading only) will be noted on the student’s transcript. Please contact Dr. Deborah Compte at dcompte@tcnj.edu for more information. Students must contact Dr. Compte to enroll in the LAC independent study before the end of the Drop/Add period.
ATTENDANCE. Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of this class. Class activities constitute important, useful preparation for your graded work. If you miss a class, you will essentially lose out on that day’s contribution to your preparation, since it is never really possible to reproduce or recapture the dynamics and flow of a missed class meeting (even if you get notes from someone). If, however, you positively must miss a class, I expect you to find out what you missed and to come fully prepared – without excuses – to the next class meeting. If you must miss an exam or other in-class graded work due to a religious holiday, let me know ahead of time, and we will arrange a way for you to make up the work. For information on the College’s attendance policy, please go to https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=77.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY. Academic dishonesty is any attempt by a student to gain academic advantage through dishonest means, to submit, as his or her own, work which has not been done by him/her or to give improper aid to another student in the completion of an assignment. Such dishonesty would include, but is not limited to, submitting as his/her own a project, paper, report, test, or speech copied from, partially copied, or paraphrased from the work of another (whether the source is printed, under copyright, or in manuscript form). Credit must be given for words quoted or paraphrased. The rules apply to any academic dishonesty, whether the work is graded or ungraded, group or individual, written or oral. TCNJ’s academic integrity policy is available on the web at https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=130.
ACCOMMODATIONS. The College of New Jersey prohibits discrimination against any student on the basis of physical or mental disability or perceived disability. The College will also provide reasonable and appropriate accommodations to enable students with disabilities to participate in the life of the campus community. If you require special accommodations, I will make every reasonable effort to accommodate your needs and to create an environment where your special abilities are respected. For more information, please go to https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=145 and https://arc.tcnj.edu/.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION. We are all enriched by greater diversity, and we all bring different perspectives to this classroom. I want to create a learning environment that supports diversity and honors your identities and perspectives (including your race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, mental and physical health, differing abilities, politics, etc.). If you go by a name and/or set of pronouns that differ from those that appear in your official records, please let me know. If you feel that your performance in class is being impacted by experiences related to your identity outside of class, please don’t hesitate to come and talk to me. If something is said in class (by anyone, including me) that makes you feel uncomfortable, targeted, misunderstood, or disparaged as a person, please talk to me about it. I will expect our whole class (including me) to strive always to honor every form of diversity in our classroom. To see TCNJ’s official diversity statement, please go to https://diversity.tcnj.edu/campus-diversity-statement/.
FINAL EVALUATION. As required by the College’s Final Exam/Evaluation Policy (https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=266), this course has a seminar paper as its final evaluation; the paper is comprehensive and integrative in nature and counts for at least 15% and not more than 50% of your final grade.
RESPONSE PAPERS. You are required to write 8 short, informal papers (about 2 pages each) on the readings from Dante for class. You may only submit a response paper on a day for which we have a reading assignment from Dante, although you may choose which of those days you want to submit a paper (as long as you have completed 8 total by the last day that we have a Dante reading). You should write each response paper before the class meeting at which we discuss the reading assignment covered in the paper and submit it in hard copy in class during that class meeting. Your response papers should focus on one (or more) of the following topics:
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- Interpellation. How does the reading assignment from Dante interpellate its reader as a subject? What kind of subject does the reading hail (and create)? What clues exist in the reading assignment about the type of subject Dante is hailing? What are the reading assignment’s assumptions about its audience’s characteristics, beliefs, desires, self-image? How does the reading hail/appeal to/recruit that audience? Into what kind of ideology does the reading hail (or recruit) Dante’s audience? What world view or behavior does the reading assignment expect/demand of the reader? In what rituals, practices, or ideological apparatuses does the reading hail its reader to participate?
- Gender Performance. How does the reading assignment from Dante portray the performance of gender? In what ways is gender portrayed as natural and essential rather than performative and socially determined? Where is gender fluid and performative in nature? How do the characters “do” their gender? How much room for individual interpretation is allowed in gender performances? How are characters punished (or rewarded) for doing their gender wrong (or right)?
- Metaphor. What metaphors structure Dante’s conceptual system in the reading assignment? Are there certain words, phrases, or images in the reading that consistently invoke a conventional way of metaphorical thinking? Does Dante use any new metaphors to create a novel and unexpected way of understanding? Does he use any conventional metaphors in a new and unexpected way? What is highlighted and what is suppressed in Dante’s metaphors? What actions, inferences, and goals are dictated by the metaphors? What are some of the entailments implied in them?
- Deconstruction. Where does Dante’s poem seem to intentionally deconstruct itself? Where does it seem to unintentionally deconstruct? How is meaning deferred by Dante’s language? What traces of differance destabilize meaning? Where does Dante’s language deconstruct his attempts to stabilize it? What does Dante try to hide through his language?
Response papers will be graded Pass/Fail. I ask you to type them (so that they are easier for me to read), but they need not be a perfect, polished product. Rather, response papers should be just what their name says – a response. Don’t worry about answering every question under the topics above. Think about the day’s reading assignment in relation to one or two of the questions; then, write a response. Be as specific as you can, getting down as much as you can, as quickly as you can. Treat response papers more like a journal entry than like a formal paper. I don’t want a five-paragraph theme. Rather, I want an exploration – as detailed and specific as possible – of the reading assignment for the day. Normally, as long as you submit a response paper of suitable length, detail, and thoughtfulness (and as long as you submit it in class on the proper day), you will receive all the credit that the response paper is worth (i.e., 100% = A++).
The purpose of the response papers is
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- to verify that you are doing the readings for class,
- to help you in your preparation for class discussion,
- to help me see where you’re struggling with the readings for class,
- to help you to develop your intellectual independence and your confidence as a reader of Dante, and
- to serve as a safe space for you to generate and try out potential ideas for your seminar paper.
You may submit more than 8 response papers in the course of the semester (to make up for any response papers that do not receive a grade of “Pass”), but no matter how many extra response papers you submit, you will not receive credit for more than 8. You may NOT submit more than one response paper on a single day, NOR may you submit a response paper for a day that you are absent from class.
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT. Choose one figure from the Inferno (other than Dante or Brunetto Latini). Find at least six scholarly sources (articles or book chapters) relevant to this figure. As much as possible, these sources should be recent (published within the last 30 years) and should be the best, most significant sources that you can find – not simply the first six available. If there is an older article that seems to have had significant influence on everything since, you should include it among your six, even if it was published more than 30 years ago. If there has been very little (or nothing) published on your chosen figure in the last 30 years, you may go further back in time, but if I do a superficial search and find tons of more recent sources, your older sources will not suffice. Once you have chosen your sources, compose a brief description (maximum of 1 page, not including your “Works Cited”) that situates the sources in relation to one another. What is the “conversation” in which these sources are engaged (literally or figuratively)? What are the various positions that the participants take in that conversation? Do not simply summarize one source after the other. Put the sources in relation to one another within a larger narrative of an unfolding conversation about your chosen figure from the Inferno. Your paper will be assessed based on the following criteria:
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- Does the description of the sources have a clear logic of its own? Rather than summarizing one source after another after another, does the description situate the sources in relation to one another in an interesting and accurate way?
- Is the “conversation” among the sources significant? Does the conversation include important, interesting perspectives on the highlighted figure from the Inferno?
- How many sources does the paper use and how recent and important are they? Are the sources that are used the most significant and authoritative sources available (e.g., published in the most important journals, written by important scholars, cited by other sources)?
- Is the description of the sources and their relation to one another accurate and fair? Are characterizations of each individual source clear and accurate enough to give a proper understanding of the main point of the source to someone who is unfamiliar with it?
- Does the paper have unified, well-developed, and coherent paragraphs throughout?
- Does the paper use proper MLA documentation format, including a correct and complete “Works Cited” page?
- Is the writing in the paper clear, effective, and appropriate to an academic setting?
SEMINAR PAPER. In a seminar paper of 15-20 pages, argue a clear, specific, original thesis on a Dante topic of your choice (approved by me). I expect you to show sophistication in terms of your theoretical thinking and to enter into the critical conversation going on in scholarly articles and books on your topic, saying something new while also responding to what others have said before you.
Your seminar paper will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
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- Does the paper have a clear, specific, original thesis? Does the thesis offer an interesting perspective or “hook” that is sophisticated in its theoretical thinking and provocative without being gimmicky or offensive?
- Does the paper use a variety of sources (rather than rely heavily on a single source)? Does the paper synthesize its sources, characterizing the critical conversation on its topic and entering into that conversation in a meaningful way? Does the paper summarize information and arguments from its sources and from the critical conversation accurately and fairly? Does the paper respond to its sources critically and thoughtfully (rather than simply cite sources to lend authority to its own pronouncements)?
- Does the paper engender confidence that its research is reasonably authoritative and complete? As much as possible, are the paper’s sources recent (i.e., published within the last 30 years)? Are all the paper’s sources scholarly?
- Does the paper’s organization progress logically? Does the paper have a clear and consistent overall organization that relates all the ideas of the paper together in support of the thesis (rather than simply list random observations without relation to one another or to the thesis)? Does the paper have appropriate transitions to aid the reader in following the paper’s logic (rather than weak transitions, such as “The first…,” “Another…,” and “…also…”)?
- Does the paper provide relevant, concrete evidence and logically persuasive reasons for every assertion? Is factual information in the paper accurate?
- Does the paper show sensitivity to the concrete historicity of the text(s) under consideration (rather than treat texts as timeless museum pieces or reflect on them anachronistically)?
- Does the paper exhibit confidence and insight when analyzing passages, texts, and scholars not discussed in class?
- Does the introduction to the paper offer an interesting, helpful preview of the content, logic, and organization of the paper?
- Is the writing in the paper clear, effective, and appropriate to an academic setting?
You are required to submit a topic paragraph leading up to your seminar paper. This topic paragraph is simply a paragraph in which you describe the topic that you’re planning to write about in your paper. You are also required to attend two in-person conferences about two weeks apart (in my office in Bliss 216). At these conferences, you should be prepared to summarize the progress that you have made on your seminar paper up to that point and your plans for the future. You should also bring to the conference all notes, sources, and drafts that you have accumulated so far (because I may ask you at the conference to show me a particular source that you’ve mentioned or a section of the draft of your paper that we’re discussing). I will not, however, read the entire draft of your paper for you. I want you to become more self-reflective and self-sufficient when it comes to your own writing, and so, I want you to identify the weaknesses in your paper on your own (and ask me about them) rather than have me read your entire draft and identify the weaknesses for you. The notes, sources, and drafts that you bring to the conference may be electronic documents that you show me on a laptop, or they may be printed copies. The due date for the topic paragraph and the dates for the conferences are noted in the course schedule below.
After you submit your topic paragraph, I will assign you a date to give a brief presentation (5-10 minutes) to class about your topic. These presentations are intended to be relatively relaxed and informal but are good practice for you and should be taken seriously. In your presentation, you should describe your topic for your classmates and give at least one concrete example of what you’re going to talk about in your paper, pointing to (and reading out) a relevant passage in Dante’s text. You should not read from notes during the presentation but rather talk to us casually about your paper.
If you fail to submit your topic paragraph, miss a conference, or skip your presentation of your topic to class, your seminar paper’s grade may suffer.
COURSE SCHEDULE. This schedule is subject to change at the discretion of the professor. Changes in the schedule made after the start of the semester will be in red.
| Date | Assignment |
| T Jan 28 | Introductions |
| F Jan 31 | Althusser (available in Canvas under “Files”) Inferno, Canto I |
| T Feb 4 | Butler (available in Canvas under “Files”) Inferno, Canto II |
| F Feb 7 | Lakoff and Johnson (available in Canvas under “Files”) Inferno, Canto III |
| T Feb 11 | Derrida (available in Canvas under “Files”) Inferno, Canto IV |
| F Feb 14 | Inferno, Cantos V-VII |
| T Feb 18 | Inferno, Cantos VIII-XVI |
| F Feb 21 | Tison Pugh, “Dante’s Poetics of Corruption: Cantos XV and XVI of the Inferno,” Romance Notes 40 (1999), 3-12, and James T. Chiampi, “Ser Brunetto, Scriba and Litterato,” Rivista di Studi Italiani 18 (2000), 1-25 (both available under “Files” in Canvas) |
| T Feb 25 | Gregory B. Stone, “Sodomy, Diversity, Cosmopolitanism: Dante and the Limits of the Polis,” Dante Studies 123 (2005), 89-132, and Steven Stowell, “Visualizing the Sodomites in Dante’s Commedia,” Dante Studies 126 (2008), 143-174 (both available under “Files” in Canvas) |
| F Feb 28 | Inferno, Cantos XVII-XXIII |
| T Mar 3 | Inferno, Cantos XXIV-XXX |
| F Mar 6 | Inferno, Cantos XXXI-XXXIV |
| T Mar 10 | Purgatorio, Cantos I-V |
| F Mar 13 | Purgatorio, Cantos VI-XII |
| T Mar 17 | NO CLASS (SPRING BREAK) RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT DUE in Canvas by midnight |
| F Mar 20 | NO CLASS (SPRING BREAK) |
| T Mar 24 | Purgatorio, Cantos XIII-XX |
| F Mar 27 | Purgatorio, Cantos XXI-XXVII |
| T Mar 31 | Purgatorio, Cantos XXVIII-XXXIII |
| F Apr 3 | Paradiso, Cantos I-VIII |
| T Apr 7 | Paradiso, Cantos IX-XIII |
| F Apr 10 | NO CLASS (Good Friday) TOPIC PARAGRAPH for SEMINAR PAPER DUE via email by midnight |
| T Apr 14 | Paradiso, Cantos XIV-XXII ORAL PRESENTATIONS |
| F Apr 17 | NO CLASS (CONFERENCES) |
| T Apr 21 | NO CLASS (CONFERENCES) |
| F Apr 24 | Paradiso, Cantos XXIII-XXIX ORAL PRESENTATIONS |
| T Apr 28 | Paradiso, Cantos XXX-XXXIII ORAL PRESENTATIONS |
| F May 1 | COMPREHENSIVE EXAM |
| T May 5 | NO CLASS (CONFERENCES) |
| F May 8 | NO CLASS (CONFERENCES) |
| FINAL EXAM PERIOD | SEMINAR PAPER DUE in Canvas by the end of our assigned final exam time |