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Practical
Criticism
English 112, Summer Term 2001, Prof.
Aranye Fradenburg
E-nail: Lfraden@english.ucsb.edu
Office: 2708 South Hall, 893-8825 |
Menu
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| "Practical Criticism"
has two chief goals: improving essay-writing skills, and introducing
students to perceptions of language and the arts and humanities
current in popular U.S. culture. These goals dovetail, because
the course specifically encourages students to analyze how and
why they use language (and what kind, and when) as a basis for
critical analysis. Students develop rhetorical skills while
they study the social and cultural functions of rhetoric in
contemporary society, and leave the course with a greater awareness
of the connections between the work they do as humanities majors
and the work performed by the arts and humanities in other national
domains. Readings are largely drawn from Robin Lakoff, The
Language Wars, and Barbara Isenberg, The State of the
Arts. (Prof. Fradenburg is co-organizer of the UCSB English
Department's Public
Humanities Initiative, whose focus on the relation between
the humanities and other sectors of society bears on the themes
of this course.) |
| WEEK
ONE: |
| Monday June 25:
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Introduction; Workshop |
| Wednesday June 27 |
- "Language," pp. 17-41
in Lakoff
- Poem by John Donne (xerox)
- Thomas McLaughlin, "Figurative
Language" (xerox)
- Buddy Collette (pp. 139-44)
and Luis Valdez (pp. 233-240) in Isenberg
- Workshop, Sentence Structure
(review relevant sections in Strunk & White, as always
for workshops)
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| WEEK
TWO: |
| Monday July 2 |
- First Paper Due (on Donne)
- "The Neutrality of the
Status Quo," pp. 42-62 in Lakoff
- James Engel and Anthony Dangerfield,
"The Market-Model University" (available online
from the Harvard Magazine website, by email from
me, or in xeroxed form)
- Joan Didion, pp. 327-32, and
Maxine Hong Kingston, pp. 262-66, in Isenberg
- Workshop, Punctuation
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| Wednesday July 4 |
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| WEEK
THREE: |
| Monday July 9 |
- Second Paper Due (on Donne);
"The Neutrality of the Status Quo," pp. 62-85
in Lakoff;
- Selection from Frederic Douglass’s
Autobiography (online and on Reserve)
- Bella Lewitzky, pp. 3-7, and
Amalia Mesa-Baines, pp. 20-27, in Isenberg
- Workshop, Punctuation
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| Wednesday July 11 |
- Revisions to First Paper Due
- "Political Correctness
and Hate Speech," pp. 86-100 in Lakoff
- Matt Groening, pp. 297-93,
and Judy Chicago, pp. 65-72, in Isenberg
- Workshop, Paragraph Coherence
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| WEEK
FOUR: |
| Monday July 16 |
- Third Paper Due (on Douglass)
- "Political Correctness
and Hate Speech," pp. 101-117 in Lakoff
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti, pp.
60-64, and Norman Lear, pp. 210-15, in Isenberg
- Workshop, Paragraph Unity
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| Wednesday July 18 |
- CONFERENCES; Revisions to Second
Paper Due
- Workshop, Transitions
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| WEEK
FIVE: |
| Monday July 23 |
- Fourth Paper Due (on Douglass)
- "The Story of Ugh,"
pp. 252-266 in Lakoff
- Edmund Burke, "Reflections
on the Revolution in France"
- Frank Gehry, pp. 45-52 in Isenberg
- Workshop, Introductions &
Conclusions
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| Wednesday July 25 |
- Revisions to Third Paper Due
- J. Hillis Miller, "Narrative"
(on Reserve);
- "The Story of Ugh,"
pp. 266-282 in Lakoff
- Clint Eastwood, 357-61, and
Don Henley, 130-36, in Isenberg
- Workshop, Argumentation
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| WEEK
SIX: |
| Monday July 30 |
- Fifth Paper Due (on Burke);
- " What the Sphinx Thinks,"
pp. 168-193 in Lakoff
- Prologue to Christine de Pizan’s
Book of the City of Ladies (on Reserve)
- Workshop, Argumentation
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| Wednesday August 1 |
- Revisions to Fourth Paper Due
- "What the Sphinx Thinks"
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| Friday August 3 |
- Revisions to Fifth Paper Due
- Sixth Paper Due (on Christine
de Pizan)
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CLASS
POLICIES
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- ZERO TOLERANCE ON PLAGIARISM. Any instance of plagiarism, even if you only fail to indicate that
you’ve paraphrased three words from an unacknowledged
source, will result in an "F" for the course and
forwarding of your case to the Student Conduct Committee.
- ATTENDANCE.
You are required to attend this class each day.
You can cut ONLY ONE class without explaining yourself
to me. Otherwise, you must have a signed medical excuse,
or a document certifying that you attended, e.g., your great
uncle’s funeral on the same day you missed class.
Hospitalization of family members (except for your
children) is not an acceptable excuse.
Neither is conflict with your work schedule.
Shopping is negotiable.
- DEADLINES:
NO EXTENSIONS.
- BRING ALL OF YOUR MATERIALS
(books, xeroxes) TO CLASS EACH DAY.
You will need them for workshops.
This includes papers you’ve already written
for the class.
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CLASS
REQUIREMENTS
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- Six Papers; the first paper
is not graded. Remaining five papers and revisions: 15% of course grade for each set (paper and
revision). Assigned
Topics. Two-Three pages.
- Questions on Readings:
15% of course grade.
You must turn in, at the beginning of class, one
discussion question and proposed answer for each
of the assigned readings for that day. For example, for Wednesday June 27, you would
turn in one question/answer on Lakoff’s "Language,"
one on Donne’s poetry, one on the material in Isenberg,
and one on McLaughlin’s essay. This is the required format: you quote a passage from Lakoff’s chapter
that interests you and which you regard as one of the main
points of her argument.
Your discussion question must relate this passage
to one of the other readings, e.g., how does a certain point
Lakoff makes about language illuminate Donne’s poem? You must choose a specific passage in Donne’s
poem, quote it, and explain how you think Lakoff’s
point illuminates it. Keep
copies of these questions in a notebook as a kind of reading
journal, which you will turn in to me along with your final
paper.
- Professional conduct (including
presentation of work), attendance, class participation:
10% of course grade.
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REQUIRED
TEXTS
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- Robin Lakoff, The Language
War
- Barbara Isenberg, State
of the Arts
- Strunk and White, The Elements
of Style (4th edition)
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