| LIT 499-05 1 course unit (4 credits) Term: Fall 2022 Time: 5:30-8:20pm T Place: Bliss Hall 114 Prerequisites: LIT 102 (formerly LIT 201) |
Prof. G. Steinberg Office: Bliss Hall 216 Office Phone: 609-771-2106 Office Hours: 1:30-4:30pm T Email: gsteinbe@tcnj.edu |
REQUIRED 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 https://dante.princeton.edu/.
COURSE DESCRIPTION. The official catalogue description of the course is available in PAWS.
In this particular section of LIT 499, we read the entire Divine Comedy and examine Dante’s poem in the light of current literary theory (including Louis Althusser, Judith Butler, and Jacques Derrida). Themes explored in the course include the text’s role in reassuring (or challenging) its readers as subjects within a particular ideology (particularly in terms of gender politics) and the nature 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. By the end of the 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.
More officially, this course contributes to the following 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
#17 Analyze how creative texts, artworks, or performances reflect, shape, exalt, or challenge the values of a culture
REQUIREMENTS. For this course, you must complete the following graded assignments:
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- eight two-page response papers (altogether worth 15% of your final grade),
- two research assignments (15% and 20% of your final grade),
- a seminar paper (30%), and
- a comprehensive take-home exam (20%).
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+.
PROFESSOR’S AVAILABILITY. My office is Bliss Hall 216. My office hours this term are 1:30-4:30pm on Tuesdays and by appointment. You may contact me by email (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu) or by calling my office phone (609-771-2106) and leaving a message (if I do not answer), but email is usually the best way to get in touch with me. You may also leave a written message for me in my box at the English Department offices in Bliss Hall 124.
LANGUAGES ACROSS THE CURRICULUM. 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 Latin or 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 no later than Tuesday, September 6, 2022.
ATTENDANCE. Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of this class. Class discussion constitutes 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 information for 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. For more 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 class. 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 a hostile environment related to your identity outside of class, please don’t hesitate to talk to me. If something is said or posted in class (by anyone, including me) that makes you feel that your identity is being targeted, misunderstood, or disparaged, please talk to me about it. I will expect our whole class (including me) to strive always to honor every form of diversity. To see TCNJ’s official diversity statement, please go to https://diversity.tcnj.edu/campus-diversity-statement/.
CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND COMMITMENT TO STUDENT SUCCESS, SAFETY, AND WELL-BEING. The TCNJ community is dedicated to the success, safety and well-being of each student. TCNJ strictly follows key policies that govern all TCNJ community members’ rights and responsibilities in and out of the classroom. In addition, TCNJ has established several student support offices that can provide the support and resources to help students achieve their personal and professional goals and to promote health and well-being. You can find more information about these policies and resources at the “TCNJ Student Support Resources and Classroom Policies” webpage here: https://academicaffairs.tcnj.edu/tcnj-syllabus-resources/.
Students who anticipate and/or experience barriers in this course are encouraged to contact the instructor as early in the semester as possible. The Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) is available to facilitate the removal of barriers and to ensure reasonable accommodations. For more information about ARC, please visit: https://arc.tcnj.edu/.
RESPONSE PAPERS. In the course of the term, you are required to write eight short, informal papers (about 2 pages each) on the readings from Dante for class. You may choose for which days you want to write a response paper, as long as you have completed eight response papers by the end of the term. For each response paper, choose one of the following topics and analyze the reading assignment for the day with respect to the topic you’ve chosen:
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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 recruit)? 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 and material 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 or 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 différance defer and destabilize meaning? Where does Dante’s language deconstruct his attempts to stabilize it? What does Dante try to hide through his language?
Please note that, when you do a response paper, you are writing about the reading from Dante assigned for the day on which you’re submitting the paper. So, you’re writing about the reading before we discuss it in class and submitting the paper on the day for which that reading is assigned. You can’t submit a response paper about a past day’s reading assignment. You should submit each response paper by “sharing” it with me as a Google Doc before class on the reading’s assigned day. Be sure to grant me “editing” or “suggesting” status when you share the Google Doc with me (so that I can comment directly on the paper).
Response papers will be graded Pass/Fail, so they need not be a perfect, polished product. Rather, response papers should be just what their name says – a response. Think about one of the topics above that I have asked you to consider; then write a response. Don’t worry about typos or comma splices or organization. Don’t worry about answering every question I ask under the topic. In fact, focus on the one question that seems most interesting to you, and 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. But don’t focus too narrowly on just one scene or passage from the text. Try to generalize about the whole of the day’s reading assignment and then look at specific examples from all over to support your generalization.
Normally, as long as you submit a response paper of suitable length, detail, and thoughtfulness (and as long as you submit it before class on the assigned day), you will receive all the points that the response paper is worth. The purpose of the response papers is
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- to help you in your preparation for class discussion,
- to help me see where you’re struggling with the theories and readings for class,
- to help you develop your intellectual independence and your confidence as a reader of Dante,
- to serve as a safe space for you to generate and experiment with potential ideas for your seminar paper, and
- to help you broaden and enrich your understanding of the literary theories that we are exploring in relation to Dante’s text.
You may submit more than eight response papers in the course of the semester (to make up for any response papers that do not pass), but no matter how many extra response papers you turn in, you will not receive credit for more than eight total. 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. (NOTE: Even if you do not submit a response paper on a particular day, you should still come to class prepared to discuss the response paper topics in relation to the reading assignment, since we will focus on these topics in our in-class discussions all semester; in other words, the response paper topics above are a great guide for your class prep every day – not just when you write a response paper.)
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT 1. Choose one figure from the Inferno (other than Dante, Virgil, 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 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?
- 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?
- Is the “conversation” among the sources significant? Does the conversation include important, interesting perspectives on the highlighted figure from the Inferno?
- Does the paper have unified, well-developed, and coherent paragraphs?
- 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?
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT 2. Do the exact same assignment as Research Assignment 1 again, but this time choose a figure from the Purgatorio (other than Dante, Virgil, or Beatrice). Your paper will be assessed based on the same criteria as Research Assignment 1.
SEMINAR PAPER. Write a seminar paper of 15-20 pages that argues 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 approach 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 approach and provocative without being gimmicky or offensive?
- Does the paper use a body 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 at least one in-person conference as you work on your seminar paper (in my office in Bliss Hall 216). At the conference, 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). I will not, however, read an 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 all 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 phone, 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, you will sign up for a date to give a very brief presentation (5 or 6 minutes) to class about your topic. These presentations are intended to be relatively relaxed and informal but are good practice for you in terms of public speaking 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 do not submit your topic paragraph, miss a conference, or skip your presentation of your topic to class (or do your presentation very poorly), your seminar paper’s grade may suffer by as much as one letter grade.
COURSE SCHEDULE. This schedule is subject to revision at the discretion of the professor. Changes in the schedule made after the first day of class will be shown in red.
| Date | Assignment |
| T Aug 30 | Introductions Althusser (available in Canvas under “Files”) Inferno, Canto I |
| T Sep 6 | NO CLASS (Monday schedule instead) |
| T Sep 13 | Butler (available in Canvas under “Files”) Lakoff and Johnson (available in Canvas under “Files”) Inferno, Canto II-III |
| T Sep 20 | Derrida (available in Canvas under “Files”) Inferno, Canto IV-VII |
| T Sep 27 | Inferno, Cantos VIII-XVI Gaipa, “Breaking into the Conversation,” pp. 419-425 (available under “Files” in Canvas) Tison Pugh, “Dante’s Poetics of Corruption: Cantos XV and XVI of the Inferno,” Romance Notes 40 (1999), 3-12 (available under “Files” in Canvas) James T. Chiampi, “Ser Brunetto, Scriba and Litterato,” Rivista di Studi Italiani 18 (2000), 1-25 (available under “Files” in Canvas) |
| T Oct 4 | Inferno, Cantos XVII-XXIII Gregory B. Stone, “Sodomy, Diversity, Cosmopolitanism: Dante and the Limits of the Polis,” Dante Studies 123 (2005), 89-132 (available under “Files” in Canvas) Steven Stowell, “Visualizing the Sodomites in Dante’s Commedia,” Dante Studies 126 (2008), 143-174 (available under “Files” in Canvas) |
| T Oct 11 | NO CLASS (Fall Break) |
| T Oct 18 | Inferno, Cantos XXIV-XXXIV |
| T Oct 25 | Purgatorio, Cantos I-XII |
| F Oct 28 | |
| T Nov 1 | Purgatorio, Cantos XIII-XXVII Gaipa, “Breaking into the Conversation,” pp. 425-437 (available under “Files” in Canvas) Last day to withdraw from class with a W |
| F Nov 4 | RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT 1 DUE in Canvas by midnight TOPIC PARAGRAPH for SEMINAR PAPER DUE in Canvas by midnight |
| T Nov 8 | Purgatorio, Cantos XXVIII-XXXIII Paradiso, Cantos I-VIII |
| T Nov 15 | Paradiso, Cantos IX-XXII TOPIC PARAGRAPH for SEMINAR PAPER DUE in Canvas by midnight |
M Nov 21 |
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT 2 DUE in Canvas by midnight |
| T Nov 22 | Paradiso, Cantos XXIII-XXXIII ORAL PRESENTATIONS SIGNUP FOR CONFERENCES |
| T Nov 29 | NO CLASS (individual conferences) |
| F Dec 2 | COMPREHENSIVE TAKE-HOME EXAM DUE in Google Drive by midnight |
| T Dec 6 | NO CLASS (individual conferences) |
| Finals Period |
SEMINAR PAPER DUE in Canvas by the end of final exams |