213 Course Calendar

Schedule Online Presentations Questions for Reading & Writing Term Paper List

How To Use The Course Calendar
Using all of this information requires a bit of organization, so follow these general instructions. The works themselves, will be provided by individuals in the class, the first provided by me. You may bring in any medium you like, but you must provide materials for everyone in the class the week prior to your presentation. Read the online presentation of the format strategy for the week (Org & Outline, Quoting Your Sources, How To Take A Test, etc.). You are also required to read the thematic presentation for that week in Online Presentations (Character, Theme, Irony, etc.). Finally, read Questions for Reading and Writing. This will allow you to follow the schedule and be topical in the classroom. Read the directions. Assignments and due dates for papers and tests are announced in class. Most of this syllabus is self-explanatory. The following is a plan for the semester.

Tentative Schedule

WEEK I. Introduction to Horror Fiction

• Writing strategies/Format
  • Writing About Literature
  • Objectivity in Analysis
  • What I Expect on Out of Class Papers
  • MLA Formatting
• Critical theory overview
  • Formalist/New Criticism
  • Roots of Horror: Gothic
• Primary Source
  • King. "Night Surf"
  • King. "Why We Crave Horror Movies"

WEEK 2. Literary Theory and Criticism/Point of View

• Conflict
• Writing strategies/Format
  • The Literature Research Paper Process
  • Research Essay
• Critical perspective
  • Historical Criticism
• Roots of Horror: Psychological Horror
• Primary Source
  • F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu

WEEK 3. Lust

• Writing strategies/Format
  • Secondary Sources
• Critical perspective
  • Cultural Criticism
  • Feminist Criticism
  • Psychoanalytical Criticism
• Literary forms
  • Personification
  • Apostrophe
  • Metaphor
• Roots of Horror: Sex and Violence
• Primary Source
  • Oates. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
• TERM PAPER TOPIC DUE

WEEK 4. The House

• Format
  • Critical Perspective
    • Mythological Criticism
  • Roots of Horror: The Trap
• Primary Source
  • Poe. "Masque of the Red Death"

WEEK 5. Good and Evil

• Marxist Criticism
• The Folktale: La Llorona

WEEK 6. Time to Write

• Cultural Criticism
• Primary Source
  • DyE.
    • "Fantasy" (Vimeo)
    • "Fantasy" (YouTube)
• Annotated Works Cited/Note Cards for Term Paper Due

WEEK 7. The Folktale:

• Supernatural Nature
• Nature Rebels
• Critical Perspective
  • Gender Criticism
• Primary Source
  • Poe. "The Tell-Tale Heart"
    
  • Christian Simmons' "Pencil Face"
• OUTLINE DUE

WEEK 8. Fear

• Man (person) vs Society
• Primary Source
  • Alistair McBroom's The Little Witch

WEEK 9. Psychosis/Insanity

• Plot
• Critical Perspective
  • Feminist Criticism
• Primary Source
  • Amandla Stenberg's "The Yellow Wallpaper"
• Paper Draft Due

WEEK 10. Plague and Pestilence

• Irony
• Plague and Pestilence

WEEK 11. Time and Setting

• Setting

WEEK 12. The worst Horror of All: The Blank Page

• Paper peer edit Due

WEEK 13. Hate/Racism and Sloth

• Symbolism

WEEK 14.How It all Fits Together

• Presentations

WEEK 15.

• Term Paper due

WEEK 16. Finals Week

Return to page content list

---

Questions for Reading and Writing

Something to keep in mind in your essays for this class:

Be able to answer these four questions somewhere in the context of your essay. Please don't merely list the answers... make them part of your general discussion of the work.

1. What is the message? Clearly state it and support your response from the text itself. There can be more than one answer.
2. What is the prespective of the message? Be as specific as you can. Authors will create characters or "voices" to tell a story or give a viewpoint. In drama, that is all you get... all characters, no narrator.
3. Who is the audience of the message? There can be more than one, often linked to the message...or a single message may have different audiences with different expected results. Again, be specific and use text for support.
4. What methods does author use? Be specific, using terms from ENGL 101 -- irony, symbolism, theme, conflict -- and new terms from this course.
   • In poetry, the use of meter and rhyme and condensation of ideas into brief images is common.
   • In drama, the use of character, dialogue and setting are often important.
   • In literature, all of these aspects may be factors.

Once you've gotten this information into your paper, then we apply the critical approaches to discuss HOW EFFECTIVELY the message was delivered by author.

Return to page content list

© T. T. Eiland,2008-2016
Last modified: August 30, 2017