"Love, Desire, Marriage"
| Spring Term 2000
Professor Kenneth McNeil Office phone: 5-4578 e-mail: mcneilk@ecsuc.ctstateu.edu Office: Webb Hall 243 http://nutmeg.ctstateu.edu/personal/faculty/mcneilk/ |
Office Hours:
Monday, 9:00-10:00, 4:00-5:00 Wednesday, Friday 9:00-10:00 And by appointment |
Course Description
Given the broadness of the subject of this course (600 years of "Western
literature") I am going to focus our exploration of the topic by looking
at themes of romantic love and desire in the literature we will read.
We will be exploring a variety of topics centered around love, desire,
and marriage, as depicted in the literature. What is love?
What is the definition of "true love"? Can love be eternal?
Is it truly better "to have loved and lost" than "to have never loved at
all"? What is the difference between love and desire? Can love
exist without desire? What is the nature of desire? Which is
more powerful, love or desire? Do men love and desire differently
than women? Why do people marry? Are there reasons to marry
besides love? Can love survive in marriage? What are the motives
for infidelity? We will be looking at these questions and others
as we explore the themes of love, desire, and marriage in selected examples
of Western literature. We will also be looking at the ways in which
societal notions of class, gender, and sexuality reflect and determine
attitudes of love, desire, and marriage as depicted in the literature.
Course Requirements
Response papers 35%
Midterm 20%
Final 20%
Quizzes 10%
Participation 15%
Response Papers
Response
One
Response
Two
Response
Three
Response
Four
There are also four response papers, one due about three weeks.
About every two weeks you will receive a response question handout with
questions taken from the upcoming reading assignments. You are to respond
to any one day’s questions from the list. Response questions must be typed,
double-spaced and turned in on the day that you have selected. For
example, answers to questions from March 2nd's reading must be turned in
class on that day.
There will also be a mid-term exam and a final, and four surprise quizzes.
Regular attendance of classes is absolutely expected for this course. One or more unexcused absences will lower your participation grade significantly. Papers are due in class on the assigned date. Late papers will be subject to a reduction in grade. If you feel you have a good reason for requiring an extension, please come talk to me about it beforehand. However, after-due date extensions, except in the case of emergencies, will be difficult to obtain.
Avoid plagiarism (stealing the exact words or ideas of another) like the plague. In this class acts of plagiarism incur a zero and could also result in course failure.
Calendar
January 26: Francis Petrarch, Sonnets
January 28: Jonathan Swift "The Lady's Dressing Room"; Andrew Marvell "To His Coy Mistress"
Week 2
January 31: William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (read to pg.
43, Act 2 Scene 3)
February 2: Romeo and Juliet
February 3: Romeo and Juliet
Week 3
February 7: Romeo and Juliet
February 9: Romeo and Juliet
February 11: Romeo and Juliet
Week 4
February 14: Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnets from the Portuguese
February 16: Dante Gabriel Rossetti "The Blessed Damozel"; Matthew Arnold "The Buried Life"
February 18: Lincoln's Birthday
Week 5
February 21: Washington's Birthday
February 23: John Keats "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" 602-603
February 25: Aphra Behn "To Lysander on Some Verses"
Week 6
February 28: Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
March 1: The Sun Also Rises
March 3: The Sun Also Rises
Week 7
March 6: The Sun Also Rises
March 8: The Sun Also Rises
March 10: The Sun Also Rises
Student
Response: Jake And Brett's Relationship at the End of The Sun
Also Rises
March 15: Charles Baudelaire "Her Hair," "A Carcass" 1147-1150
March 17: Mid-term
Week 9
Spring Break
Week 10
March 27: Robert Burns "A Red Red Rose," "Why Should Na Poor
Folk Mowe";
March 29: Edgar Allen Poe "Annabel Lee"
March 31: Reading Day
Week 11
April 3: Marguerite Duras, The Lover
April 5: The Lover
April 7: The Lover
Week 12
April 10: The Lover
April 12: The Lover
April 14: The Lover
Student
Response: Love and the Ending of The Lover
MARRIAGE
April 19: Robert Browning "My Last Duchess," 684-685
April 21: Good Friday
Week 14
April 24: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovery, 850-1063
April 26: Madame Bovery
April 28: Madame Bovery
Week 15
May 1: Madame Bovery
May 3: Madame Bovery
May 5: Madame Bovery
Week 16
May 8: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Death Constant Beyond Love," 2055-2060
Week 17
Final Exam