English 655. Literature of Encounter

"You can observe a lot just by watching." --Yogi Berra   Prerequisite: graduate standing Classroom: LA 531   Days/Times: M 4:45-7:30 pm Syllabus link Schedule link Professor: Dr. Roxanne Kent-Drury  Office: LA543  Office Hour: TBA Telephone: (859) 572-6636  E-mail: rkdrury@nku.edu(best) Website: http://www.nku.edu/~rkdrury/

Course Description.

In this course, you will gain perspective on the historical, cultural, and aesthetic ways in which Western European explorers and travelers imagined the "New World" people and landscapes they encountered in the late 15th through the 18th centuries. Through film and text, we will also investigate such ideas as they are represented even today in popular culture as well as in media debates of public policy. 

We will begin by analyzing the observations of explorers and travelers which they reported in the extremely popular narratives they published for Western European audiences. By analyzing their attempts to describe in European terms what they had never before encountered, we will learn about what the authors thought about themselves, about other peoples and places, and about how land and natural resources should be used. 

To students in the arts and sciences, these narratives are important for several reasons. Although extremely popular when written, these narratives have emerged only recently as an important topic of study. Also, although their authors nearly always claim that they are telling the truth, many of the accounts were, in fact, fictional or exaggerated. Such texts also give us important insights into the concerns and interests of the reading population because they reached larger audiences than many of the texts we think of as traditional "literature." Also, aside from their popularity with readers, these narratives had "official" lives: they were relied upon or even distributed by political, social, and economic policymakers and speculators, who relied upon (or exaggerated) their accuracy to guide and accelerate exploration and colonization of unknown territory. As such, the representations made in these works found their way into official land use and environmental practices as well as into later popular culture representations in adventure films. And finally, understanding what such works contained adds to our understanding of many literary works seen as important by literary scholars today.

Core Primary Readings

Some readings will be provided. Other readings will be drawn from the following course textbooks, which you should purchase immediately. Please use these translations as other translations may differ considerably from the texts we will be discussing in class. The translations were selected for their integrity as well as their affordability and availability. Possible sources include http://www.amazon.com, http://www.barnesandnoble.com, and such used book sites as http://www.powells.com (recommended) and http://www.alibris.com.

Christopher Columbus. The Four Voyages. Penguin. ISBN: ISBN: 0-14-044217-0
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. Castaways. Univ of California Press. ISBN: 0-520-07063-1
Sir Thomas More. Utopia. (provided)
Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Norton. 0-393-96452-3
Jonathan Swift. Gullivers Travels. Penguin. ISBN: 0-14-043022-9
Gordon Sayre. American Captivity Narratives. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-98073-9
Hawkesworth, John. Cook's Voyages to the South Pacific (available online; see schedule)
Park, Mungo. Travels to the Interior of Africa. Ed. Kate Marsters Ferguson. Duke UP.ISBN 0822325373

The films that are required may be borrowed.. These include Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Odyssey, The Searchers, Black Robe. and Cannibal Tours. Two other films that might be of interest include The Piano, Master & Commander, and Castaway.

Other secondary readings may also be available on loan or from the library's database subscriptions..

Grading & Milestones

For any project to be graded, you must fulfill the following requirements:

Presentations (10 %) Sign up for 2 presentations (two critical articles/books) For each presentation, provide a one-page precis to each member of the class, including me.

Papers (30%) MLA/plagiarism workshop completed and quiz passed Annotated bibliography turned in (see below) Paper written in direct response to the paper assignment Title and one-paragraph description turned in on schedule Paper with appropriate number of sources, documented in MLA format Works cited page (no exceptions)

Annotated Bibliography (20%) Set up according to the course handout Bibliography with the appropriate range of resources for the topic selected, documented in MLA format Annotations describing the contents of the work as it relates to your paper Two milestone checkpoints to consult with instructor and discuss research problems

Final Exam (20% ) Responses to four essay questions Written in class the day scheduled

Participation (20%) Regular attendance and participation in discussions

Course Components

Papers. During the term, you will write one paper on a topic you choose in consultation with me. Papers must be written on a topic related to the materials we study in this course and must meet the requirements of the assignment. Papers written on topics or materials not related to this class will not receive a passing grade unless you receive prior approval. In addition, papers that do not make a recognizable point, do not use appropriate quotations from the text, or do not cite the sources used cannot receive a passing grade. Papers are expected to be written on a negotiated topic and typed in a 10-12 point font, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins all around. A graduate-level paper is expected to be around 20 pages long, and graduate students should demonstrate in their papers that they are conversant with the important critical discussions associated with the course materials. All quotations and sources must be cited in proper MLA documentation style. As part of this assignment, you are expected to paper proposal, an annotated bibliography (along with associated consultations), and a final draft of your paper.I will not grade any paper for which any of these milestones is not completed.

Short Assignments. At several points during the semester, I will ask you to complete a short assignment inside or outside of class. These assignments will be due in writing either at the end or that class meeting or at the beginning of the class meeting following their assignment. These assignments will usually linked to the class website; if you must miss a class, you should get the assignment from the website.

Presentations. Graduate students are required to make an informal presentation on two scholarly articles/books during the term. Such items may also be included in the annotated bibliography and will preferably be related to the students' chosen research topic. These presentations will generally occur during the second half of the course.I will circulate a signup sheet early in the term.

Participation. You are expected to participate regularly and thoughtfully in class discussions and group activities.

Exams. The final exam for this will consist of four essay questions circulated in advance of the final exam, but written during class at the scheduled exam time.

Policies

Late work. All work is due at the beginning of class on the date posted on the course schedule. I will not accept late work except in extraordinary circumstances. If you cannot attend class on a due date, send your work along with one of your classmates, or make arrangements with me to turn it in before the due date. I will distribute a voluntary student contact sheet to help you contact one another should it be necessary.

Attendance. Although I do not take attendance, daily in-class writing and frequent in-class assignments make attendance mandatory (see In-class Writing component below).

Cheating & Plagiarism. All work submitted must be written exclusively for this course. The use of sources (ideas, quotations, argument structures, and paraphrases) must be properly documented. Any plagiarism, whether on a regular assignment or on an extra credit assignment, will result in failure of the course. Please see me if you have any questions about your use of sources. The use, without citation, of anyone else's actual or paraphrased words will result automatically in a failing grade in this course whether the plagiarism occurs on a regular or an extra credit assignment. Cheating on any exam will result in failure of the course. Please also refer the NKU Student Honor Code, which is available online at the Dean of Students website.

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