9          Larkin, “Dockery and Son,” 152-3; “Aubade,” 208-9

            11        Larkin, “The Whitsun Weddings,” 114-116; “Cut Grass,” 183.

Fourth Paper: The Achievement of Maus (3pp)

            16        David Lodge, Nice Work

            18        David Lodge, Nice Work

            23        David Lodge, Nice Work

Thanksgiving

Nov     30        Larkin, “Ambulances,” 132-3; “Dear CHARLES,” 217-8

Dec      2         Trevor, “The Ballroom of Romance,” 189-204

             7          Trevor, “Office Romances,” 718-733

             9          Trevor, “Autumn Sunshine,” 836-852; Larkin, “New Eyes,” 212

Final Papers (at least 6pp) due, by the latest, Monday December 20 3 p.m.                       

Paper Topics

            In your second paper (due October 7; 4-5 pp) you should discuss what Lodge’s Small World owes to Eliot’s “Waste Land” in the course of a discussion of the novel. In the course of this paper you should show how comparable themes of romance function in Trevor’s “Lovers of their Time.” In your third paper (due October 28: 3 pp) you will examine themes in Art and the ways in which they were staged. In your fourth paper (due Nov 11; 3 pp) you will explore the success of Maus, particularly Spiegelman’s rejection of the romance plot. The fifth paper will consist of two parts (one of which will serve as a take home final): in part one (3 pp+) you will examine why Small World conforms to romance archetypes in ways that Nice Work does not; in part two (3 pp+) you will examine a poem by Larkin or a short story by Trevor (to be assigned): due, by the latest, 3 p.m. Monday December 20. A full range of suggestions as to how to approach and write these papers will be broached in class discussion and by email.

            Please note that the Writing Center has an excellent pamphlet on writing papers. Students are exhorted to make use of the Writing Center’s peer counselors for help with writing their papers.

Writing assignments

             All papers must be typed, except for those completed in the classroom. The arrival of late essays will be noted and the student’s final grade will be penalized accordingly. 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 (please make sure that she has noted the time and date the essay was submitted. Papers can also be slipped under my office door (but this is the least desirable mode of submission).

            Because of viruses NO essays will be accepted as attachments to e-mail. With the instructor’s prior approval, papers may be faxed on certain occasions.

            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.

Classroom discussion

             Lively discussion is required and your contributions will be reflected in your final grade. “Speaking across the curriculum” has again been recognized as an important component of education in American universities.

Grades

            Final grades will be based primarily (but by no means exclusively: this is a discussion class) upon the performance of undergraduates in their essays. Students must revise at least one paper and are encouraged to revise each paper after we have discussed it in conference. (The new grade will not replace the old one, but improvements will be registered in a new grade which should 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.

            Email has become an important part of all our lives; I shall keep a printed record of each undergraduate’s communications with me. E-mails sent during the course should not be treated as “shopping lists” or as other scribbles designed “for your eyes only.” Grammar, spelling, and general literacy will thus be scrutinized.

                        A variety of other “imponderables” also enters into the assignment of a final grade. Improvement (particularly in writing) can prove a major consideration. Remember to bring your books to class; remember to take your books out of your book-bag; remember to open your books to the pages we are discussing. Students who neglect to bring their books invite summary extrusion from the classroom. 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.”

            Grading is an art not a science. I refrain from assigning “cut and dried” percentages for written work, for classroom discussion, for the final examination, and for other components of the semester’s grade. I do, however, expect contributions to class discussion and a competent performance on the final examination. (A rule of thumb for percentages might be: 70% writing; 35% class discussion.) Rest assured that I try to be scrupulously fair and, all things being equal, invoke mercy as well as justice.

Class communication

            Students are expected to read their e-mails (since the e-classroom becomes more of a reality each year). Remember that I shall be sending you sets of questions about the works we are reading. 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! Often I make significant remarks in e-mails about the works we have discussed. The serious student will keep a record of these. Students (particularly those who have been absent from class, for whatever reason) are required to remain familiar with the syllabus and with fresh postings about the class.

Academic honesty

            Given the enticements of the Web (schoolsucks.com &c), plagiarism seems to have gone high tech. You should realize, however, that your instructors’ search engines are awesomely powerful . . . At a more old-fashioned level, professors pass students papers around and I may well have already read “that paper you borrowed from a friend who submitted it to another class.”

            You are required to familiarize yourself with the latest statements of the university’s policies on academic honesty. You will also read the sections on plagiarism in the primer assigned by the university Read this material 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. The university protocols for dealing with my reports protect the interests of both professor and student, but they are, necessarily, time-consuming and labor-intensive. Far better that you should avoid, scrupulously, any suspicion of plagiarism on your part. Students should also be aware that powerful search-engines have been devised for detecting any plagiarism from materials on the www; the resources of the web may seem to make it easier to pull of plagiarism, but they make academic dishonesty far more detectable.

            Please make use of the Writing Center. Its guidebook, How to Write a College Paper, is excellent and is highly recommended.

Etiquette

            Gentlemen may wear hats. Undergraduates are requested to eschew the use of bubble-gum in the classroom and during conferences. (Chewing gum, by contrast, is permissible.) Unexplained absences, as well as late arrivals to class, will be recorded by the instructor. If you arrive late for class or turn in a late paper, please confirm that I have made the appropriate changes in my record book. Please familiarize yourself with university policy on absences that lack a legitimate excuse.

            Students can, alas, 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 about your personal dramas, but a call from the University’s Counseling Center or a doctor’s note will help substantiate explanations. The university requires that students br prepared to document their reasons for missing class. Please note university deadlines for “WXing a class.” If your name still appears on my final grade sheet and you have, for whatever reason, disappeared from the class without leaving a paper trail, I gather from the Registrar’s Office that your capacity to receive a passing grade will be very gravely compromised.

Academic Accommodations for Qualified Students with Disabilities

         “It is the policy of Villanova University to make reasonable academic accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you are a person with a disability and wish to request accommodations to complete your course requirements, please make an appointment with the course professor as soon as possible to discuss the request. If you would like information on documentation requirements, contact the Office of Learning Support Services at 610-519-5636, or visit the office in Geraghty Hall.”