ENGL
2307-160: Introduction to Fiction
TR 11:00 – 12:20
Spring 2018
Dr. Kvande
English 432
Email: marta.kvande
Spring 2018 office hours: TR 1:30 - 3:00 pm, and by appointment
Course Description
Who gets to speak in fiction? Whose stories get told? How do short stories and
novels frame those stories to make us think? What effect does it have when
Frankenstein has many narrators or when Jane Eyre has only one narrator? How do
those voices shape how we respond to these fictions? In this course, we’ll study
the basic elements of fiction, like characters, plot, settings, and so on, and
we’ll think about how those elements work together to create meaning.
THECB and TTU Core information
Required Texts and Materials
Note:
AddAll and
BookFinder are good ways to find used copies.
Required Work
| 1. Exam 1 | 25% of course grade |
| 2. Exam 2 | 25% of course grade |
| 3. Exam 3 | 20% of course grade |
| 4. Reading quizzes in Acadly |
20% of course grade |
| 5. Participation | 10% of course grade |
Schedule of Readings and Assignments (subject to change)
| Week 1 | R1/18 | Introduction to the course |
| Week 2 | T 1/23 | Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” |
| R 1/25 | Frank O’Connor, “Guests of the Nation” |
|
| Week 3 | T 1/30 | Chinua Achebe, “Marriage Is a Private Affair” |
| R 2/1 |
Behn,
Oroonoko 34-66
If you are using the online text, read through the paragraph ending “the ruin of the colony." |
|
| Week 4 | T 2/6 | Behn, Oroonoko through end of novel (p. 100) |
| R 2/8 | Exam 1 | |
| Week 5 | T 2/13 | Shelley, Frankenstein through end of vol. I |
| R 2/15 |
Shelley, Frankenstein through vol. II, ch. VII |
|
| Week 6 | T 2/20 | Shelley, Frankenstein through vol. III, ch. VI |
| R 2/22 | Shelley, Frankenstein through end | |
| Week 7 | T 2/27 | Brontë, Jane Eyre through end of vol. I |
| R 3/1 | Brontë, Jane Eyre through vol. II, ch. IV | |
| Week 8 | T 3/6 | Brontë, Jane Eyre through end of vol. II |
| R 3/8 | Brontë, Jane Eyre through vol. III, ch. III | |
| Spring Break | ||
| Week 9 | T 3/20 | Brontë, Jane Eyre through end |
| R 3/22 | No class; professor at conference | |
| Week 10 | T 3/27 | Conrad, Heart of Darkness ch. I |
| R 3/29 | Conrad, Heart of Darkness ch. II | |
| Week 11 | T 4/3 | Conrad, Heart of Darkness through end |
| R 4/5 | Exam 2 | |
| Week 12 | T 4/10 |
Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, “Pacific Journal”
|
| R 4/12 | Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, “Letters from Zedelghem" | |
| Week 13 | T 4/17 | Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, “Half-Lives” |
| R 4/19 | Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, “The Ghastly Ordeal” | |
| Week 14 | T 4/24 | Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, “An Orison” |
| R 4/26 | Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, “Sloosha's Crossing” | |
| Week 15 | T 5/1 | Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, “An Orison” and“Ghastly Ordeal” |
| R 5/3 | Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, “Half-Lives” | |
| Week 16 | T 5/8 | Mitchell, Cloud Atlas through end |
| Final | Sat 5/12 | 1:30pm to 4:00 pm, in 001 |