Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2017 - ENGL 112W D100

Literature Now (3)

Class Number: 3951

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 5 – Dec 4, 2017: Tue, 9:30–10:20 a.m.
    Burnaby

    Sep 5 – Dec 4, 2017: Thu, 9:30–10:20 a.m.
    Burnaby

  • Exam Times + Location:

    Dec 7, 2017
    Thu, 12:00–3:00 p.m.
    Burnaby

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Introduces students to contemporary works of literature in English and/or contemporary approaches to interpreting literature. May focus on one or multiple genres. Includes attention to writing skills. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

After Nature

What does it mean to be after nature? The texts selected for this course help us explore some of the surprising ways literature answers this question. All of our readings this semester are about how the natural world as we know it has been altered, unsettled, displaced, or even destroyed. However, to have an idea of what it means to come after nature, we need to know what nature is - or was. The texts we read this semester perform an exemplary encounter with the idea of nature in literature in part because they are about the limits or end of our natural order or environment. Often they are about worlds that seem unnatural or even supernatural. Through such imaginary worlds, they stage terrifying as well as hopeful forces greater than ourselves. In so doing, they ask how we come to accept the impossible, the improbable, and the almost unimaginable as a new version of nature. Above all, in presenting us with a resurgence of nature, however we define it after nature, the literature we study this semester asks what is - or was - human nature.

Grading

  • Tutorial participation 5%
  • Tutorial presentation/In-class writing 5%
  • First essay draft (650 words) 15%
  • First paper revision (800 words) 15%
  • Final essay (800-1,000 words) 30%
  • Final Exam 30%

REQUIREMENTS:

Details to be announced: an optional meeting, perhaps in conjunction with Prof. Everton, who is also teaching Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep this Fall in Engl. 111W.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Mary, Shelley. Frankenstein: 1818 Text, edited by Marilyn Butler, Oxford 2009.
ISBN: 9780199537150

Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) 3rd ed. Broadview 2015.
ISBN: 9781554810246

Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968), Del Ray 1996.
ISBN: 9780345404473

Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake, Vintage 2004.
ISBN: 8708385721677

Cormac McCarthy, The Road, Vintage 2007.
ISBN: 9780307387899

Department Undergraduate Notes:

IMPORTANT NOTE Re 300 and 400 level courses: 75% of spaces in 300 level English courses, and 100% of spaces in 400 level English courses, are reserved for declared English Major, Minor, Extended Minor, Joint Major, and Honours students only, until open enrollment begins.

For all On-Campus Courses, please note the following:
- To receive credit for the course, students must complete all requirements.
- Tutorials/Seminars WILL be held the first week of classes.
- When choosing your schedule, remember to check "Show lab/tutorial sections" to see all Lecture/Seminar/Tutorial times required.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS