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James Joyce is arguably the most important writer in the English language in this century His novella, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man may be the defining story about the development of the soul of an artist in the twentieth century. His modern epic, Ulysses, does for the common man what A Portrait does for the artist: reveals the inner workings of the mind and heart. Ulysses especially is a long and difficult book in part, though always rewarding to the careful reader, and much of the time we'll just read it through, page by careful page, scene by scene. If we have time – which I rather doubt – we’ll take a look at Joyce’s last book, his magnum opus written in a language of puns, Finnegans Wake. It is difficult at best, but never without reason or meaning. As for classroom practice, we basically talk and talk and talk, and I require talking. Stories and novels don't always reveal their meanings instantly to a single reader, and meanings usually emerge through a pooling of responses and a sharing of ideas. In the arena of culture, meaning is dialectical--we work it out together by testing our responses against each other. We learn what we know because we discuss what we mean. So, talk is what we do, and you will be held accountable for being prepared and ready to participate. There will also be one paper some time in the middle of the semester and one final paper or exam. However, since the course meets just once a week, I am going to set up both a web site and an electronic bulletin board for the class so that students can have the opportunity to check in with me and with each other on a regular basis, in order to keep the discussion alive. Four books are on order for the course, and all are available at Talking Leaves Bookstore, 3157 Main Street. They are: |
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James Joyce |
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407 |
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Professor Mark Shechner Thursdays 7:00 - 9:40 Reg. No. 237425 |
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Herman Melville |
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412 |
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Professor Martin Pops TTh 3:30 - 4:50 Reg. No. 024779 |
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We shall read seven novels by Melville, witnessing the evolution of his art as a prose writer from beginning to end: · Typee (1846) · Redburn (1849) · Moby-Dick (1851) · Pierre (1852) · Israel Potter (1855) · The Confidence Man (1857) · Billy Budd (1884-1891) (We’ll also read “Bartleby” and a selection of late poetry.) In preparation for this course, it would be useful to have read a biography of Melville; the most recent, by Andrew Delbanco, is quite fine. Midterm, endterm, ten-page term paper. |
Students will be expected to have the books handy in class, since we will be making frequent reference to them. |
