Connections

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Syllabus for English 346 (Studies in Modern Prose):

Ulysses

Monday, August 31

Introduction and course overview

(Tuesday reading salon during class time)
Wednesday, September 2

  • Introductory "first few lines" videos from Professor Simpson (linked from our Teams site)
  • James Joyce, "Araby," "Ivy Day in the Committee Room," and "The Dead" from Dubliners

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day. Note: because we are not yet reading Ulysses, you may find that your obsession does not work smoothly as a way to read these stories (though many of them will). If you have trouble using your obsession as a starting point, feel free to find another way of connecting your chosen quotations.

(Thursday reading salon during class time)
Friday, September 4

  • Two pieces from Collaborative Dubliners, ed. Vicki Mahaffey: Jennifer Levine and Andrew Gibson, "Ivy Day in the Committee Room," and Margot Norris and Vincent P. Pecora, "Dead Again"

Assignment due in your obsession document at noon on class day: As you'll see, these pieces use an unconventional, collaborative approach to scholarly writing. Choose one location in either article where you think that kind of collaboration produces a helpful insight, and write a short paragraph explaining your choice.

Monday, September 7

  • Plot summary of Ulysses (handout, uploaded to Teams site)
  • Introductory "first few lines" videos from Professor Simpson (linked from our Teams site)
  • Episodes 1-3 (The Telemechiad): Telemachus, Nestor, and Proteus

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day.

(Tuesday reading salon during class time)
Wednesday, September 9

  • Introductory "first few lines" videos from Professor Simpson (linked from our Teams site)
  • Episodes 4-6 (Calypso, The Lotus Eaters, Hades)

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day.

(Thursday reading salon during class time)
Friday, September 11

  • At least three entries of your choice from the Ashplant lexicon, chosen on the basis of potential connections to your obsession.

Assignment due in your obsession document at noon on class day:

  1. Write a brief paragraph about an insight you gained from one of your lexicon entries.
  2. Use the search form on the libraries' home page (customized for distance learning) to find at least two possible articles or book chapters that might relate to your thinking about your obsession. Aside from the more conventional keyword searches, you can also use the quotations you have used in your obsession document as full-text keyword searches in the library interface or Google Books. At least one of your sources should address Joyce or Ulysses directly. Put the citation information in your obsession document.

Monday, September 14

  • Introductory "first few lines" videos from Professor Simpson (linked from our Teams site)
  • Episodes 7 (Aeolus) and 8 (Lestrygonians)

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day.

(Tuesday reading salon during class time)
Wednesday, September 16

  • Introductory "first few lines" videos from Professor Simpson (linked from our Teams site)
  • Episodes 9 (Scylla and Charybdis) and 10 (Wandering Rocks)

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day.

(Thursday reading salon during class time)
Friday, September 18

  • Vincent J. Cheng, "Authenticity and Identity: Catching the Irish Spirit"
  • An article or book chapter of your choice--perhaps one of the two that you identified for last week's assignment.

In your obsession document, answer these two questions:

  1. What single sentence do you think best represents the thesis of Cheng's article?
  2. How can you imagine the piece that you selected to read becoming useful in a paper about Ulysses?

Monday, September 21 changed to Tuesday, September 22

  • Introductory "first few lines" videos from Professor Simpson (linked from our Teams site)
  • Episodes 11 (Sirens) and 12 (Cyclops)

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day.

(Tuesday reading salon during class time)
Wednesday, September 23 changed to Thursday, September 24

  • Introductory "first few lines" videos from Professor Simpson (linked from our Teams site)
  • Episodes 13 (Nausicaa) and 14 (Oxen of the Sun)

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day.

(Thursday reading salon during class time)
Friday, September 25

  • Vicki Mahaffey, "Ulysses and the End of Gender."
  • Optional second reading: Joseph Valente, "'Neither fish nor flesh'; Or How 'Cyclops' Stages the Double-bind of Irish Manhood"

Do the following assignment for Mahaffey's article.

Take good notes in your obsession document on your answers to the following questions:

  1. Where (specifically) do you think the thesis is located?
  2. What are the piece's major transitions, and how do they reveal the structure of the argument?
  3. What are the key quotations from Ulysses?
  4. What would you include in a short list of the obsession-style major themes of the piece?
  5. What critical or theoretical works are most important to the piece?

We will draw on these notes in class, so be ready to share them.

Monday, September 28

  • Introductory "first few lines" video from Professor Simpson (linked from our Teams site)
  • Episode 15 (Circe), part 1 (through line 2741)
  • Web resources:

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day.

(Tuesday reading salon during class time)
Wednesday, September 30

  • Episode 15 (Circe), part 2 (lines 2742-end)

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day.

(Thursday reading salon during class time)
Friday, October 2

You have no reading for today. Use your time to do some writing that will consolidate your obsessional thinking so far and thus help lead you to your final paper. In your obsession document, write a) at least two paragraphs summarizing your take (general or specific) on your obsession before Circe, b) at least two paragraphs summarizing your take on how Joyce transforms your obsession in Circe, and c) citation information for at least three sources that you think may be helpful to you.

Monday, October 5

  • Introductory "first few lines" videos from Professor Simpson (linked from our Teams site)
  • Episodes 16 (Eumaeus) and 17 (Ithaca)

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day.

(Tuesday reading salon during class time)
Wednesday, October 7

  • Introductory "first few lines" video from Professor Simpson (linked from our Teams site)
  • Episode 18 (Penelope)

Obsessional quotation assignment, due at noon on class day.

Thursday, October 8

(No Thursday reading salon--open, optional Teams meeting for questions during class time and sharing regarding final conversations)

Friday, October 9

  • Jennifer Levine, "James Joyce, Tattoo Artist"
  • Derek Attridge, "Molly's Flow: The Writing of 'Penelope' and the Question of Women's Language"

Read both articles but do the following assignment for only one of them. If your last name starts with A-K, write about Levine's piece; if your last name starts with L-Z, write about Attridge's.

Take good notes in your obsession document on your answers to the following questions:

  1. Where (specifically) do you think the thesis is located?
  2. What are the piece's major transitions, and how do they reveal the structure of the argument?
  3. What are the key quotations from Ulysses?
  4. What would you include in a short list of the obsession-style major themes of the piece?
  5. What critical or theoretical works are most important to the piece?

We will draw on these notes in class, so be ready to share them.

Monday, October 12 and Tuesday, October 13

FINAL CONVERSATIONS

(Tuesday reading salon during class time)
Wednesday, October 14

By class time, add to your obsession document a) a draft opening paragraph of your paper and b) whatever additional notes you'd like to share about how the paper might develop after that. During class, you will talk about these draft paragraphs and notes in your groups.

Thursday, October 15

(No Thursday reading salon--open, optional Teams meeting for questions during class time and sharing regarding final papers)

Friday, October 16

Progress reports! Send me an email by noon letting me know how you're doing with the paper. I will reply by email, and we will follow up by video or phone if that's helpful.

(No Friday class--open, optional Teams meeting for questions during class time and sharing regarding final papers)

Wednesday, October 21

FINAL PAPERS DUE BY EMAIL BY 4:00 P.M.
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Erik Simpson | simpsone@grinnell.edu
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