English 1102: Composition II

Artifice
Spring 2006

Contact Information:

Jonathan Goodwin
School of Literature, Communication & Culture
Office: Skiles 307
Office Hours: TR 11:00 AM - 12:00 noon (and by appointment)
Office Phone: 404.894.7626 (use email)
Email: jonathan.goodwin@lcc.gatech.edu
Course Web Site: http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~goodwin/s06/1102.html

Course Description:

Departmental Description

English 1102 is a writing-intensive composition course that aims to develop students'

1. written and oral communication skills through a variety of formal and informal writing and presentation assignments
2. critical reading of literary and film texts, practices, and material objects through a cultural studies perspective
3. expertise in conducting research through sustained semester-long research projects
4. proficiency in electronic writing environments

Artifice

"Making," yes, but also "human skill as opposed to what is natural" and "an ingenious expedient, a maneuver, stratagem, device, contrivance, trick" (OED). We will see how writers maneuver, devise, contrive, and trick their readers and speculate about the inherent desire to change life through narrative artifice. Prospero's and Conchis's magical godgames will begin and end our study, while we thread our way through Borges's labyrinths in the middle. The technological promise and nightmare of virtual world-creation is the subject of Cronenberg's eXistenZ, and we'll consider the film as an extension of Borges's fictive experiments. As the course serves as an introduction to analysis and interpretation, you will be required to write two papers and create a digital group project. There will also be informal weekly writing online.

Required Texts:

• Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. ISBN: 00393978192
• Borges, Jorge. Collected Fictions. ISBN: 0140286802
• Cronenberg, David (dir). eXistenZ.
• Fowles, John. The Magus. ISBN: 0316296198
• Handouts (to be distributed)
• Handbook (from your 1101 class)

The books will be available from the Engineers' Bookstore. You should purchase a copy of eXistenZ on your own. We will not screen it in class.

Assignments Overview and Grading Distribution:

• Analytic Essay 25%
"Analysis" means to break something down into its constituent elements and describe them and how they interrelate in order to make a claim about the whole. I will ask you to write an analytic paper on The Tempest that considers one aspect of it in detail and argues how this aspect is important for the interpretation of the text. The Norton Critical Edition we'll be reading has numerous example analyses, and we will talk about some important passages and critical debates that you might choose to write about. The target length is approximately 1200 words, and the paper is due on 2/9.
• Research Essay 35%
This semester-long project will ask you to identify a topic that is suggested by the course (but does not have to be limited entirely to the course texts) about artifice and narrative production. You will submit a proposal to me by 2/27. After you have identified a suitable topic, you will investigate what has been written about it, summarize that research, and offer your own interpretation of the given issue. Sample topics might include an investigation of the concept of the narrator and paradox in Borges' short fiction, how levels of reality are mediated in eXistenZ, and how Fowles' meditation on artifice relates to The Tempest and Borges. We will spend considerable class time on research procedures and ways to choose a suitable topic for this paper. This brief description will be supplemented with more specific information as the class continues. It will be due on the final day of class. A working estimate for length is approximately 3000 words.
• Group Oral Presentation 15%
You will work in groups of approximately five to present an electronic collaborative project using tools that you will choose in consultation with me (conventional HTML, MOO, web log, Flash, Inform, inter alia) that will outline either a working or a potential game that explores some of the problems and paradoxes of interpretation. More specific guidelines for the group project will follow. They will be presented to the class on 3/14 and 3/16.
• Class Participation 15%
You are expected to come to class prepared and willing to contribute to class discussions. You should have something substantive to add to every class discussion. Contributing little or nothing to the class discussions will result in a very low class participation grade. Questions are just as useful as comments. If quizzes are given, as is entirely possible, they will be grouped under this portion of your grade. Collaborative exercises such as peer review will also fall under class participation. Excessive absences and/or tardiness will cause your class participation grade to suffer.
• WebCT postings and Responses 10%
We will use the WebCT software for threaded discussions on various topics and the occasional chat. The threaded discussions will allow us to extend and refine our class discussions, and your thoughtful and consistent participation in them is required.

Software/Computing Resources and Requirements:

You will be expected to have internet access for on-line discussions and to retrieve assignments.

Attendance:

I expect you to come to every class on time with your reading, written, and online assignments completed and prepared to participate in class discussions and group work. If a reading is available on-line, you must print it out and bring it with you (any exceptions I will let you know about beforehand). You are allowed up to three unexcused absences over the course of the semester. After that, each absence will lower your participation grade considerably. Every three tardies will count as an unexcused absence. Legitimate emergencies should be discussed with me on a case-by-case basis.

Office Hours and Communication:

Office hours are for you. Please do not hesitate to come and talk with me about whatever is on your mind about the course. Students who come to office hours regularly are uniformly more successful than those who do not (this is also true of most college courses, I believe). If you cannot make my regular hours, please see me after class or send me an email to make an appointment. I am most easily reached via email, and I will make every effort to respond to your emails with alacrity.

Guidelines

• Be civil in class and electronic discussions.
• Pay close attention to the attendance policy.
• Avoid disrupting the class by turning off any noise-making devices before class and staying alert and focused during.
• Keep materials that I return to you as well as copies on disk.

Academic Honesty:

All work you turn in for this class must be your own work, with all outside reference sources properly cited and acknowledged. All written assignments for this course will be turned in through the anti-plagiarism program "Turn It In."

The "Student Conduct Code of the Rules and Regulations" (Georgia Institute of Technology General Catalog, Section XIX) states that "academic misconduct is an act that does or could improperly distort student grades or other student academic records" and offers the following descriptive list:

• Possessing, using, or exchanging improperly acquired written or verbal information in the preparation of any essay, laboratory report, examination, or other assignment included in an academic course;
• Substitution for, or unauthorized collaboration with, a student in the commission of academic requirements;
• Submission of material that is wholly or substantially identical to that created or published by another person or persons, without adequate credit notations indicating authorship (plagiarism);
• False claims of performance or work that has been submitted by the claimant;
• Alteration or insertion of any academic grade or rating so as to obtain unearned academic credit;
• Forgery, alteration, or misuse of any institute document relating to the academic status of the student.

Students with Disabilities:

Any student who feels that he/she may need an accommodation for any sort of disability, please make an appointment to see the instructor during office hours. Students with disabilities should also contact Access Disabled Assistance Program for Tech Students (ADAPTS) to discuss reasonable accommodations. For an appointment with a counselor call (404) 894-2564 (voice) / (404) 894-1664 (voice/TDD) or visit Suite 210 in the Smithgall Student Services Building. For more information visit the following website: http://www.adapts.gatech.edu.

SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Prospero's Island

Week One
T: 1/10: Course Introduction
R: 1/12: "A Solar Labyrinth" (Handout)

Week Two
T: 1/17: The Tempest
R: 1/19: The Tempest (cont.)

Week Three
T: 1/24: The Tempest (cont.)
R: 1/26: The Tempest (cont.)

Week Four
T: 1/31: Research Procedures
R: 2/2: Research Procedures (cont.)

Week Five
T: 2/7: Peer Review
R: 2/9: Analytic Paper Due; Introduction to Borges

Labyrinths

Week Six
T: 2/14: "Tlön Uqbar, Orbis Tertius"
R: 2/16: "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote," "The Circular Ruins"

Week Seven
T: 2/21: "The Library of Babel," "The Garden of Forking Paths"
R: 2/27: "The Theme of the Traitor and the Hero," "Death and the Compass"

Week Eight
T 2/28: "Ibn-Hakam al Bokhari, Murdered in his Labyrinth," "The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths"
R 3/2: "The Aleph"

Week Nine
T: 3/7: eXistenZ
R: 3/9: eXistenZ (cont.)

Week Ten
T: 3/14: Group Presentations
R: 3/16: Group Presentations (cont.)

Godgame

Week Eleven
T: 3/20: Spring Break (Read Fowles)
R: 3/22: Spring Break: (Read Fowles, seriously!)

Week Twelve
T: 3/27: Fowles
R: 3/29: Fowles (cont.)

Week Thirteen
T: 4/4: Fowles (cont.)
R: 4/6: Work Day

Week Fourteen
T: 4/11: Fowles
R: 4/13: Fowles

Week Fifteen
T: 4/18: Final Paper Discussion
R: 4/20: Peer Review

Week Sixteen
T: 4/25: Peer Review
R: 4/27: Final Paper Due