CORE HUMANITIES SEMINAR

1001-017 TR 1.30 SAC 410

1001-018 TR 3.00 SAC 410

Prof. Hugh Ormsby-Lennon Dept of English, SAC 466; Phone/ Voice-mail ext. 94655.

Office hours: Tuesday 4.30-6.00 p.m. and by appointment.

Home Phone/ Voice-mail 215.592.8102. E-mail: Hugh.Ormsby-Lennon@villanova.edu

Home fax: 215.238.1187

Home Page: URL:http://www60.homepage.villanova.edu/hugh.ormsby-lennon/ (also accessible via the Villanova Faculty telephone directory on Villanova's web site).

Theme: "Modernity, Postmodernity, and Some Augustinian Interrogations."

Seminar Description: In this seminar we shall review some of the Augustinian themes that many students will already have encountered in CHS 1000--such as the dream of progress, the delusions of spiritual pride, the problem of evil, and the snares of postlapsarian language--and we shall explore their continuing pertinence in a world that we have come to think of as "modern" (or even as "postmodern"). We shall pay particular (but not exclusive) attention to the Enlightenment, a complex swirl of ideas from which the United States emerged. Hence we shall examine some of the French and English (or British) influences on Philadelphia and shall sift some versions of the American Dream that our city helped engender.

Does the human realm "change"? Has it ever changed? In what sense do we (or can we) move "forward"? What is the promise of the new millennium?

Reading List:

Dave Robinson and Chris Garratt, Introducing Descartes (Totem)

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (Penguin)

William Rankin, Introducing Newton (Totem)

Voltaire, Letters Concerning the English Nation (Oxford)

Samuel Beckett, Endgame

Jonathan Swift, Works (Norton)

Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography (Norton)

Voltaire, Candide (Dover)

U. S. Constitution (Oak Hill)

T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land and Other Poems (Penguin)

Xeroxed texts and other materials to be downloaded from my home page

Brief Holt Handbook (latest ed.)

***Students must bring a dictionary to each class***

Writing assignments: All papers must be typed, except for those completed in the classroom. Late essays will be penalized. Students must retain a printed copy of their papers; the assumption that a copy of an essay will continue to reside on a diskette or a hard drive does not remain an acceptable substitute. In the event that a paper goes unaccountably astray, it is the student's responsibility to have a replacement. Ideally papers should be handed to me in the classroom; but, in certain circumstances, they can be handed to a secretary in the English Department or slipped under my office door. Because of viruses, essays cannot, unfortunately, be accepted as e-mail. On occasion, papers may be faxed.

Formal essays should have a title and an epigraph. For further advice about my criteria for a successful essay, please see the link to "Tips on Writing" on my home page. Those tips will be further updated with links to comparable advice provided by fellow instructors in the Core Humanities Program and in the English Department.

For journals, in-class assignments, and the final examination, please see the next two sections.

CHS 1001: A Writing Intensive Course. This seminar is designated "Writing Intensive" by the University and thus requires 6,000 words from each student in the course of the semester. This adds up to some thirty pages @ roughly 200 words per page; some students write more words per page, others less, but I keep a tally of each student's productivity in my file on her.

There will be four formal papers (3-6 pp, of increasing length) and each student will rewrite at least one paper (for details of revisions please see the next section). During the course of the semester students will be required to complete a short set of essay assignments in the classroom (ample notice will be given of their dates). For details of the final examination, please see the next section.

Journals: Journals will enable undergraduates to complete some of their writing in more informal circumstances; these are designed to promote confidence and fluency. (Handwritten journals will be accepted, but my experience is that many students now compose upon the screen.) Hitherto I have not mandated the subjects upon which students write in their journals--some undergraduates choose to reflect upon their individual experiences at Villanova, many of them cultural--but in CHS 1001, I shall expect to see some significant exploration of themes we have discussed in class. In their journals students will thus be required to write an account of a significant excursion to Philadelphia and a brief review of at least one of the films screened during "Changes and Choices," Villanova's semester-long Cultural Film and Lecture Series. Journals will be at least fifteen pages long; entries will be dated. The journals will be collected twice, first at mid-term, and again towards the end of the semester.

Classroom discussion: This is a discussion class and it will thrive only if students contribute to our joint enterprise of opening Augustinian perspectives on modernity. Once the class has got under way, there will be a regular schedule of reports and of student responses to them; a roster will be posted on a link on my home page, and students will be responsible for knowing the dates and subjects of their reports or responses. These reports and responses will not, however, represent an opportunity for other students to abstain from debate. I shall keep a record of individual student contributions in my files.

Grades: Final grades will be based primarily (but by no means exclusively) upon the performance of undergraduates as writers in the formal writing exercises (the "essays" or "papers"). All students are encouraged to revise every paper (but every student must revise one). The new grade will not replace the old one, but improvements will be registered in a new grade which will improve the undergraduate's overall grade. Please note that a revision will NOT be accepted as a revision UNLESS it is accompanied by a copy of the original paper with my suggestions and corrections upon it. Undergraduates are encouraged to visit the Writing Center; I shall keep a copy of the peer counselor's report in each student's individual file.

Student journals will not be graded, but I shall keep an informal record of student performance.

E-mail has become an important part of all our lives; I shall keep a printed record of each undergraduate's communications with me. E-mails are not "shopping lists" or other scribbles designed "for your eyes only." Grammar, spelling, and general literacy will thus be scrutinized.

The final examination is open-book: bring notes, syllabi, and whatever else you wish (except laptops) to the examination room. This final is important insofar as a student's performance on the identification (and commentary) question will reflect her familiarity with crucial passages of the works that we have discussed during the semester. Student essays will provide further indications of such familiarity.

This is a seminar that requires student participation so contributions to classroom discussion, as well as performance in reports, will also comprise an important factor in the assignment of final grades. "Speaking" no less than "writing" has again been deemed a crucial component of undergraduate education in universities across America.

A variety of other "imponderables" also enters into the assignment of a final grade. Improvement (particularly in writing) can prove a major consideration. Come to conferences with something to say; don't stare at me like a fish. Don't fall asleep in the classroom; don't stare blankly out the window; or don't endeavor, surreptitiously, to catch up with work for other classes. Don't chatter with, or pass clandestine notes to, your colleagues. Read the newspaper at home, please. A student's overall attitude is important, and it will be noted. Please remember, too, that grades in every class must display some "curving."

Conferences: At least two conferences will be scheduled with each student. You are expected not only to be on time but to have something to say about your work. "Blowing off" a conference will adversely affect a student's grade. If circumstances prevent you from keeping an appointment on the day of our conference, call me promptly at the office; I do not have e-mail facilities in my office so an e-mail will not reach me there.

Class Communication: Students are expected to read my e-mails to them. If you arrive in class and find yourself in a minority of one (or two or even three) as regards a missive from me, there is clearly something wrong with your communication system!

Academic Honesty: You are required to familiarize yourself with the latest statements of the university's policies on academic honesty. You will also read "Documenting Sources, MLA Style," Brief Holt Handbook, pp. 307-343 and "Avoiding Plagiarism, Brief Holt Handbook, pp. 299-303. Read this material in the Handbook with particular attention to problems of using work not your own. Paper topics will be designed to discourage any temptation to plagiarism.

You should be aware that I have reported students for plagiarism in the past and that I shall not hesitate to do so again. You should also be aware that there are powerful engines for detecting any plagiarism downloaded from the web.

Etiquette: Gentlemen may wear hats. Undergraduates are requested to eschew the use of bubble-gum in the classroom and during conferences. Unexplained absences, as well as late arrivals to class, will be recorded by the instructor. Please familiarize yourself with university policy on unexplained absences. Students, alas, can encounter sudden crises in their lives--I am always sympathetic--but please do not wait until the end of the semester to explain why you haven't attended class or submitted papers; I am not nosey, but a call from the University's Counseling Center or a doctor's note will help substantiate explanations.

Conference appointments will be faithfully observed (and grades will suffer from any cavalier disregard on the part of undergraduates). Students who neglect to bring their books invite summary extrusion. Students (such as those who have been absent from class) are expected to remain familiar with the syllabus and with fresh postings on my home page.

SYLLABUS

Jan 11 Introduction to the Course.

Jan 13 (Post-)Modernism and its Augustinian Discontents. Introducing Descartes, 1-60 (chiefly pictures) Hobbes, Leviathan, "The Introduction," pp 81-3.  HO-L's Comments on Descartes.

Jan 18 Introducing Newton, 8-17, 37-70, 71-79 (ancient, Renaissance, and Cartesian science: more pictures); Introducing Descartes, 1-60 (reprise). Hobbes, Leviathan, 85-99 (sense and imagination). Swift, A Tale of a Tub, Writings, 345-355 (sheer madness!)   HO-L's Comments on Introducing Descartes and Introducing Newton.

Jan 20 Introducing Descartes, 61-103. Hobbes, Leviathan, 100-130 (speech, reason and science, the passions). 

Jan 25 Introducing Newton, 5, 18-36, 80-118, 138-158, 174-176 (Newton's biography). Voltaire, Letters, 9-32, 49-53, 61-66, 116-121 (On the Quakers, On the Church of England, On the Presbyterians, Socinians etc., On the Lord Bacon, On the Royal Society). [See also Swift on Quakerism and fanaticism, Tale of a Tub, Writings, 340-345, 360-367.]  HO-L's Comments on Voltaire.

Jan 27 Continue with the previous readings. Hobbes, Leviathan, 130-151 (Discourse, Intellectual Virtues and Defects, Knowledge). First Paper Due.

Feb 1 Discussion Day.

Feb 3 Introducing Descartes, 104-171. Hobbes, Leviathan, 150-160 (Power &c)

Feb 8 Continue with the previous readings. Hobbes, Leviathan, 160-168. Voltaire, Letters, 61-86 (On Descartes and Newton, On Attraction, On Newton's Opticks, On Infinities and Newton's Chronology). Introducing Newton, 120-137, 159-171 (Newtonian physics and thereafter).

Feb 10 Continue with previous readings. Hobbes, Leviathan, 168-183 (religion) Hobbes, Leviathan, 183-201 (Man's Natural Condition, Natural Laws and Contracts). Voltaire, Letters, 33-41, 54-60 (Parliament, Government, Locke).  HO-L's Comments on Hobbes.

Feb 15 Discussion Day

Feb 17 Hobbes, Leviathan, 189-222 (Natural Laws, Contracts, Persons, Authors, Rights). Swift, Tale of a Tub, Writings, 345-359 (Madness).

Feb 22 Beckett, Endgame. On this date, the class will attend the production of Beckett's Endgame at Villanova Theatre at 8:00 p.m.

Feb 24 No class (I'm delivering a paper at a conference).

*** Spring Vacation ***

Feb 28-March 3 Hobbes, Leviathan, 704-715 (Kingdoms of Darkness). Swift, Tale of a Tub, Writings, 318-326.

March 9 Swift, Gulliver's Travels: Letter to Sympson, Publisher to the Reader, Voyage to Lilliput, Writings, i-viii, 3-59. Swift, "Strephon and Chloe," Writings, 540-547. Second Paper Due.

March 14 Swift, Gulliver's Travels: A Voyage to Brobdingnag, Writings, 63-124; Swift, "A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed," Writings, 538-540; "The Lady's Dressing Room," Writings, 535-538

March 16 Swift, Gulliver's Travels: A Voyage to Laputa &c, Writings, 127-187. Review readings on Descartes and Newton. Introduction to Franklin.

March 21 Franklin I, Autobiography, 1-76 (esp. pp. 1-29, 32-40, 45-51, 64-76). [Browse in Swift's "Partridge Papers," Writings, 436-441; Franklin imitated these writings when establishing his reputation as the author of Poor Richard's Almanac.]

March 23 Conclude Franklin I. Swift, Gulliver's Travels: A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms, Writings, 191-260. Swift, "The Lady's Dressing Room," "Cassinus and Peter," Writings, 535-538, 547-550.

March 28 Conclude previous readings.

March 30 Franklin II, Autobiography, 77-146 (esp. pp. 77-82, 87-89, 97-107, 131-134, 140-141).  Third Paper Due.

April 4 Voltaire, Candide.

April 6 Declaration of Independence, The American Constitution, The U. S. Constitution, pp. 45-48, 17-43. Swift, Tale of a Tub, Writings, 301-310.

April 11 Discussion Day.

April 13 Declaration and Constitution. Poems by William Blake and William Wordsworth, xeroxed.

April 18 T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Poems, 3-8. 81-82

*** April 19: Easter Recess ***

April 25 T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, Poems, 55-69, 96-108. Fourth Paper Due (see below).

Please note that several classes have been designated as "discussion days." At least one of these will be devoted to a workshop discussion of extracts from student essays. Another will be devoted to student conferences.

PAPER TOPICS (AND DUE DATES)

Topics will be fully discussed in class; student suggestions are actively encouraged.

First paper: due January 27, 3-4 pages.

Compare some of the different ways in which philosophers and scientists like Descartes, Hobbes, and Newton (not to mention their predecessors) have "begun" or "instituted" new fields of study. Are these men (some would find their gender significant) discovering what "really" exists in "nature" or are they merely projecting materials from their own imaginations? Does Swift's radical skepticism (which the satirist himself diagnoses as another form of madness) call their projects into question?

Second paper: due March 9, 3-5 pages.

In Samuel Beckett's play Endgame (1958) the blind and paralyzed Hamm is nursed by his ambulatory servant Clov. Meanwhile, his legless parents Nagg and Nell survive in trashcans. After much joking, harsh language, and the exchange of memories, a character dies. "Dependent on each other," writes a contributor to The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature,

These characters question an existence where meaning is unlikely to emerge and there is nothing to be done. The play is an endgame of language, theatricality, and savage humour, deriving metaphoric power from the game of chess, the threat of atomic war, and fear of social and familial breakdown.

Compare your reading of the text with the director's interpretation on the Villanova stage.

The director, Johanna Rotte, is organizing a "talk back" for the date you attend (Feb 22) in which she and members of the cast will answer questions from the audience. So be sure to bring your questions!

Did you enjoy the play? In what sense can it be construed as "Augustinian"? What light does it cast upon the readings for this class? You need not attempt to answer all of these questions and you should not be afraid of posing some of your own. Your essay should be well-illustrated with quotations from the text and with allusions to directorial interpretation.

Third paper: due March 30, 4-6 pages.

This paper will involve trips to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to the Benjamin Franklin Museum, and to other sites. Students will be assigned certain artifacts and works of art to compare. These have been chosen to shed light on transitions from the early modern period to the nineteenth century and to "modernity."

More precise details will be forthcoming promptly.

Fourth paper: due date to be set, 5-7 pages.

Discuss the ways in which "creative" artists like Swift, Beckett, Voltaire, Blake, and Eliot qualify the visions of progress unveiled by Descartes, Newton, Voltaire, Franklin, and by the founders of this nation. Where do you situate Hobbes? Is he a creative artist too? Indeed are Descartes, Newton, and Franklin? And Voltaire? This represents a spacious topic that we shall discuss carefully in class. You may wish to endorse (or rebut) Augustinian skepticism about progress.

Reports: Once class is in full swing, we shall work out a schedule of in-class presentations and student critiques.

Pizza Party: keep your ears peeled.