English 334: Major Authors: James Joyce

Professor Kathryn Conrad
Fall 1999
12:30-1:20 MWF * 4025 Wescoe
Office hours:  Mondays 1:30-3 and by appointment, 2035 Wescoe Hall

Course Description

In this course, we will be reading most of James Joyce's major works works--Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Dubliners, Ulysses, and selections from Finnegans Wake--as well as some of his poetry. Among the topics we will explore are the ways Joyce variously exploits and challenges systems of authority, the relationship between style and content, and the many controversies surrounding Joyce and his works. A large portion of the semester will be devoted to Ulysses.

Requirements

Students will be expected to write three papers and participate in classroom AND online discussion.  Short writing assignments in addition to the course blog may be required.

Participation (30%): The participation grade includes attendance (40%), in-class participation (35%), and the in-class presentation (25%).

More than 5 unexcused absences, counting from the first day of your enrollment in this course, will result in failure of this course. Work in other classes, away games, hangovers, vacations, and sniffles do not count as excused absences. If you are in doubt, ask me. Excused absences require either notification of me on or before class date (by e-mail, preferably, or by a message on my office voicemail), or official documentation shortly after the absence.   Students will be allowed one unexcused absence; after that, the attendance portion of your participation grade will fall by one full letter grade.

If quizzes are given, they will be figured into the in-class participation portion of the participation grade.

You may be asked to participate in discussion fora online; if you are a quiet person in class, this is an excellent way to boost your participation grade.

In this class, you will be expected to give a brief (5 minute) presentation on at least a portion of one of the texts we are reading. Presentations should correspond to the text--that is, one shouldn't give a presentation on Finnegans Wake while the class is discussing Portrait. The schedule for presentations is flexible; student presentations may be postponed if the student or the teacher deems it appropriate. These presentations are designed to encourage classroom discussion as well as give you ideas for papers.

With this in mind, I suggest a few different ideas for presentations:

1. Read a critical article on the text you are reading, and briefly summarize its argument.  State what you think is important and/or controversial about the article.
2. Focus on a portion of the text and analyze it.  Suggest what this close reading might add to our understanding of the text; raise questions based on that portion of the text.
3. Focus on some background information (historical, biographical, political) for the text; explain its significance to the text.

 You should end your presentation with at least one question for the class. Presentations will be graded on the basis of their coherence and evidence of close reading (of text and/or article).

Papers (70%): There are three papers, 6-8 pages, required for this course. (Change to syllabus, Oct.: you may write one 9-10 pp. paper, due 12/6/99, instead of the last two papers). General essay topics will be provided, but you are encouraged to come up with your own topics and discuss your topics and papers with me.  You are also encouraged to bring me drafts of your papers, but if you do so, you need to fill out a self-evaluation form (thanks to Eric Simpson of UPenn for this form!)

When the paper topics are available, there will be active links below.

    Paper topics, paper #1
    Paper topics, paper #2
    Paper topics, paper #3

Writing Resources

Writing Center: Most colleges and universities have a writing center, a place for students to talk about their writing with trained peer consultants. At KU, we call our writing centers Writer's Roosts. When you visit, bring your work in progress and an idea of what you would like to work on-organization, support, documentation, editing, etc. The Roosts are open in several different locations across campus; please check the Writing Center website for current locations and hours. The Roosts welcome both drop-ins and appointments, and there is no charge for their services. For more information, please call 785-864-2399 or send an e-mail to writing@ku.edu (Adopted from Writing Center Statement).

UPenn English Writing Program's TeachWeb, with useful and accessible tips for writers.  Do check this one out--particularly the parts about writing theses.

Jack Lynch's guide to grammar and usage--a really useful guide.  Jack's "How to get an A on an English paper" is pretty interesting, too (though I offer no guarantees!).

Strunk and Whitehandbook (take with a grain of salt!).

Other Resources

• Work in Progress: The James Joyce Homepage
• Homer's Holistical-Horrifical-Humongistical List of James Joyce Materials
• James Joyce Resource Center
• Earreverently Ayeing James Joyce

Specific Links of Interest

• Searchable text of Ulysses--good if you're looking for a word or words; just go to a chapter and use your browser's "find in page" command (usually under "edit").
• More searchable texts, both of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.  You'll have to scroll through the page to find the links to the searchable texts..
• The Gilbert Schema for Ulysses
• Under Homer's Holistical-Horrifical-Humongistical List of James Joyce Materials--see  VI. Ulysses, for the  Linati schema.
• Linati and Gilbert Schema (with links to the e-text versions).
• Finnegan's Wake (the song--audio file)
• Joyce reading from Finnegans Wake.
• Article:  Donaled Theall, "Beyond The Orality/Literacy Dichotomy: James Joyce And The Pre-History Of Cyberspace," Hypermedia Joyce Studies.