LITERATURE 099S: GREAT BOOKS OF THE WESTERN TRADITION

ENGLISH MODERNISM



Spring 2000





Professor Kenneth Surin

114 Art Museum Building, East Campus

Tel# 684-4364

e-mail: kenneth.surin@duke.edu

http://www.duke.edu/~ksurin/

Office Hours: please sign up on sheets on my office door or arrange a time



OBJECTIVES

The class will be run as a seminar, though in the first part of each class the instructor will speak of the salient features of the topic(s) set for that particular day. There is relatively little reading for each class. This is so that we can work slowly and thoroughly. A lot of emphasis is placed on discussing the details and intricacies of the readings, so they must be done. As in every subject, there is some terminology to be learned. It may take you a week or so to become familiar with most of it, so be patient with yourself. You must always see me if you have any concerns. The books for this course can be purchased from the Textbook Store in the Bryan Center (tel: 684-6793). There are numerous editions of the works we shall read. To ensure that we are (literally) on the same page, please use the editions stocked in the Textbook Store.



READINGS



The following novels will be read:

Joseph Conrad: Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness, Nostromo

Henry James: The Portrait of a Lady, Daisy Miller

D.H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers, Women in Love

John Cowper Powys: Wolf Solent

Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse





REQUIREMENTS:



One 8-9 page paper in which you compare and contrast Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola's movie Apocalypse Now. Do not make simple factual comparisons. Concentrate on differences in plot, themes and subthemes, character depictions, symbolism and imagery, etc. (Apocalypse Now is in the Lilly Library and you should view it in your own free time.) This paper is due on February 2nd, 2000, and should be double spaced. It will constitute 20% of the final grade.



One 15-page research paper chosen from a set of topics to be specified by the professor when the class gets underway. You must discuss at least two different authors (this includes Conrad, though Heart of Darkness may not be used for the final paper). This paper should involve library research, and contain at least 15 different secondary sources. The paper should be documented with footnotes in the appropriate manner. This will constitute 70% of the final grade.



This will begin immediately, when the professor will collect email addresses from all students and make up a group list (this list will include my email address). When I make my first mailing, save the list in your address book, and mail your discussion contributions to each member of the class along the lines specified below:

Before each class meeting, i.e. Monday midnight (latest) for the Tuesday class, Wednesday midnight (latest) for the Thursday class, all students have to mail to the class list a 12-15 sentence email document (no attachments!) containing their comments and observations on the reading for the next day, questions they think are posed by that reading, positions they want to take on one or more of the issues posed by that reading, etc. This will constitute 10% of the final grade. Failure to turn in a piece by the required time will be penalized by a deduction of 1% from the final grade for each piece not turned in.



CLASS SCHEDULE

Jan 13 Introductions

Jan 18 Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Jan 20 Conrad, Lord Jim, Chs. 1-15

Jan 25 Conrad, Lord Jim, Chs. 16-30

Jan 27 Conrad, Lord Jim, Ch. 30-end

Feb 1 Conrad, Nostromo, Part 1



Feb 3 Conrad, Nostromo, Part 2

Feb 8 Conrad, Nostromo, Part 3

Feb 10 Henry James, Daisy Miller

Feb 15 Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, Chs. I-X

Feb 17 Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, Chs. XI-XX

Feb 22 Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, Chs. XXI-XXX

Feb 24 No Class

Feb 29 Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, Ch. XXXI-end

March 2 Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, pp. 3-82

March 7 Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, pp. 82-end

March 9 D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love, Chs. I-V

March 14 No Class- Spring Break

March 16 No Class- Spring Break

March 21 D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love, Chs. VI-X

March 23 D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love, Ch. XI-end

March 28 D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Chs. I-VII

March 30 D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Chs. VIII-XVIII

April 4 D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Chs. XIX-end

April 6 No Class

April 11 J.C. Powys, Wolf Solent, Chs. 1-16

April 13 J.C. Powys, Wolf Solent, Ch. 16-end

April 18 Presentation of paper drafts

April 20 Presentation of paper drafts

April 25 Class Wrap-up



LINKS



GENERAL

Voice of the Shuttle http://www.vos.ucsb.edu



SPECIFIC AUTHORS

Joseph Conrad Foundation http://members.tripod.com/~JTKNK/

The Henry James Scholars Guide to Web Sites http://www.newpaltz.edu/~hathaway

The Ranamin Society (D.H. Lawrence) http://clik.to/ranamin/

The Powys Society http://www.iaehv.nl/users/tklijn/pws/powys.htm

Joe Boulter's Powys Web Page http://users.ox.ac.uk/~boulter/powysnext.htm

Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain http://orlando.jp.org/VWSGB

International Virginia Woolf Society http://www.utoronto.ca/IVWS



Duke University Online Catalogue http://www.lib.duke.edu