Dr. Alex E. Blazer Course Site Syllabus
In Class Activities Scholarly Criticism  
Informal Writing Peer Response Group Project
Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3

Assignments

"Wrapped in Plastic": The Postmodern Detective

English 205.02: Literatures in English

Fall 2007, MWF 1:00-1:50PM, 226 Lake Superior Hall

In Class Group Activities

1. Pyrhönen, "The Form of the Detective Narrative"

From time to time we will have in class small group activities designed to decenter the classroom, encourage participation, apply concepts, and connect readings. Each group will answer the questions assigned to it and report its findings to the class. Therefore, the group should select a secretary to take notes and a spokesperson to give the report. In order to ensure that the most amount of students can participate, the spokesperson should NOT be a student who regularly speaks in class. In this activity, your group will examine one part of Heta Pyrhönen's chapter on the genre's form and study thereof.

  1. The Art of Framing Lies: Early Criticism (15-23): What are the rules of the detective fiction genre? In what ways have the stories we've read followed those rules?
  2. Narrative Machines: Early Structuralist Accounts (23-32): What is structuralism? Give some examples of structuralist analysis from the chapter. Do you detect a common narrative structure underlying the stories we've read so far? If so, what is it?
  3. The Self-Reflexivity of Detective Fiction (32-36): What are self-reflexivity and metafiction and why is detective fiction considered to exude these concepts? In what ways are the stories we've read self-reflexive and metafictional?
  4. How to Read Detective Fiction (36-41): What processes of reading are involved with different types of readers? In what ways have our class discussions incorporated different levels of reading, from the "elite" to the "down market"?

2. Pynchon's Plots

Pynchon's postmodern mystery does not follow the traditional structure of a detective novel. In an effort to understand the literary plot of this "800-year-old postal" plot, we'll break into groups to determine, chapter by chapter, what actually happens, how the events effect Oedipa's psyche, and what the story reveals about the nature of conspiracies.

  1. Chapter 3
  2. Chapter 4
  3. Chapter 5
  4. Chapter 6
  1. What happens in the chapter: what does Oedipa do, who does she meet, what does she learn?
  2. What happens to Oedipa's psyche over the course of her experiences in the chapter?
  3. Select a revelatory quote that both reflects upon the supposed conspiracy in the book and the nature of conspiracy itself.

Reading Scholarly Criticism

As you'll find out in class discussion, I have a particular psychoanalytic-existentialist approach to literature. However, there are more approaches to literature than you can learn in any one class or any one degree. In order to introduce you to the various ways of reading (not to mention to prepare for the group project and third paper), we'll read and discuss scholarly articles, which exemplify different critical approaches, on many of the texts we're reading in class. While I encourage you to read all of the criticism, you are only responsible for reading the articles that you're assigned on this sheet. All articles are available online in the Course Documents section of Blackboard.

 

Text Article Students
Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

Cooper, "Sex/Power/Knowledge in the Detective Genre"

Patty Blade

Brad Houdek

Stephanie Lughermo

Shane McGrath

Julie Schwartzmiller

DeFino, "Lead Birds and Falling Beams"

Kayla Bottrell

Ben Joubert

Caleb Marshall

Josh Mediate

Molly Smith

Malgrem, "The Crime of the Sign: Dashiell Hammett's Detective Fiction"

Taryn Potyraj

Paul Tansey

Katie Veltema

James Walsh

McGurl, "Making 'Literature' of It: Hammett and High Culture"

Danielle Decoster

Charity Kuzner

Jared Leets

Ryan Smith

Peltier, "Economic Discourse in The Maltese Falcon"

Brad Grace

Annette Leestma

Heidie Martinez

Christina Ramirez

Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 Bergh, "(De)constructing the Image: Thomas Pynchon's Postmodern Woman"

Patty Blade

Brad Grace

Stephanie Lughermo

Shane McGrath

Julie Schwartzmiller

Gleason, "The Postmodern Labyrinths of Lot 49"

Kayla Bottrell

Ben Joubert

Caleb Marshall

Josh Mediate

Molly Smith

Johnston, "Toward the Schizo-Text: Paranoia as Semiotic Regime in The Crying of Lot 49"

Annette Leestma

Taryn Potyraj

Christina Ramirez

Paul Tansey

Katie Veltema

James Walsh

Lord, "Mystery and History, Discovery and Recovery in Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 and Graham Swift's Waterland"

Danielle Decoster

Charity Kuzner

Jared Leets

Heidie Martinez

Ryan Smith

Proyas, Dark City Romney, "The New Paranoia" all
Swope, "Science Fiction Cinema" all
Paul Auster, The New York Trilogy

Alford, "Mirrors of Madness: Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy"

Kayla Bottrell

Danielle Decoster

Charity Kuzner

Caleb Marshall

Rowen, "The Detective in Search of the Lost Tongue of Adam: Paul Auster's City of Glass "

Patty Blade

Ben Joubert

Annette Leestma

Taryn Potyraj

De Los Santos, "Auster vs. Chandler or: Cracking the Case of the Postmodern Mystery"

Stephanie Lughermo

Josh Mediate

Christina Ramirez

Julie Schwartzmiller

Rubenstein, "Doubling, Intertextuality, and the Postmodern Uncanny: Paul Auster's New York Trilogy"

Bradley Grace

Heidie Martinez

Ryan Smith

Katie Veltema

Jim Walsh

Russell, "Deconstructing The New York Trilogy: Paul Auster's Anti-Detective Fiction"

Jared Leets

Shane McGrath

Molly Smith

Paul Tansey

Christopher Nolan, Memento Little, "Surviving Memento" all
Lyons, "Vengeance, the Powers of the False, and the Time-Image in Christopher Nolan's Memento"
David Lynch, Twin Peaks Hague, "The Derationalization of Detection in Twin Peaks" all
Nochimson, "Desire under the Douglas Firs: Entering the Body of Reality in Twin Peaks

Group Project

1. Sign-Up

The informal writing and first two papers compelled you to analyze literature, to estimate the author's world view. This assignment asks you to do just that, but also to teach the class what you've come to understand. Your group must choose a work of literature in the genre you've been assigned. Groups of four or five will compose a website or powerpoint that provides a working analysis of the text as well as an annotated bibliography of journal articles, books, and book chapters on the text and/or its author. Groups will then teach the work of literature to the class in a multimedia enhanced presention.  The paper as well as the website/ presentation must be uploaded to Blackboard on the day your presentation is due. The project should be informative and argumentative. This assignment is neither a book report nor a biography, but instead a critical and analytical interpretation of a work of literature.

 

The purpose of this sheet is merely to form groups.  Sign up for two slots, placing a #1 by your first choice and a #2 by your second choice.  Once groups are assigned, those groups are responsible for meeting with me outside of class to determine a work of literature to read, research, and teach to the class via both a website or Powerpoint presentation.

 

poetry

Sylvia Plath

Friday, November 30

Stephanie Lughermo

Josh Mediate

Julie Schwartzmiller

novel or short story

Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly

Friday, November 30

Kayla Bottrell

Danielle Decoster

Charity Kuzner

Caleb Marshall

open genre

Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo

Monday, December 3

Jared Leets

Shane McGrath

Molly Smith

Paul Tansey

film or television

Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange

Wednesday, December 5

Bradley Grace

Ryan Smith

Katie Veltema

Jim Walsh

play

David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross

Friday, December 7

Patty Blade

Ben Joubert

Annette Leestma

Taryn Potyraj

2. General Goals

The informal writing and first two papers compelled you to analyze literature, to estimate the author's world view. This assignment asks you to do just that, but also to teach the class what you've come to understand. Your group must choose a work of literature in the genre you've been assigned. Groups of four or five will compose a paper of sorts that provides a working analysis of the text as well as an annotated bibliography of journal articles, book chapters, and scholarly websites on the text and/or its author. Groups will then teach the work of literature to the class in a multimedia enhanced presention.  The written and presentation components must be uploaded to Blackboard on the day your presentation is due. Note that Blackboard Group Pages affords group discussion board, collaboration (chat), email, and file exchange. The project should be informative and argumentative. This assignment is neither a book report nor a biography, but instead a critical and analytical interpretation of a work of literature.

 

Plan of Action: Approximately four weeks before the presentation, groups must create, post in their Blackboard Group File Exchange, and give me a plan of action that provides a timeline of meetings, individual group member responsibilities, and due dates. Individual group members must participate in the group (attend meetings, keep up with email) and complete their individual assignments in a timely manner.

3. Written Component

4. Presentation Component

The presentation should accomplish two objectives:

  1. Summarize the ways critics read the story as well as what issues they debate.
  2. Teach the work of literature to the class according to your group's reading of it.

As long as you meet these two objectives, the format of the presentation is completely up to you. Audiovisual aides such as Microsoft Powerpoint will help to guide your presentation. You may choose to focus on various elements of literature (conflict, character, setting, symbol, point of view, structure, tone) as ways into the work of literature as we have done in previous classes. You have all the technology of our lab at your disposal: computer with internet, projector, dvd/vcr, cd players, and Microsoft Powerpoint; let me know if you need other equipment. Presentations will be 20 minutes long and followed by a five to ten minute question and answer period.

5. Group Project Timeline

Week 7

Groups assigned.

Week 8

Choose text for group project.

Week 9

Read and analyze text individually.

Week 10

Discuss text as group.

Week 11

Research Methods Tutorial.

Research text both individually and as group.

Week 12

Begin planning presentation and written components.

Week 13

Lab time for group projects given in class.

Work on presentation and written component.

Week 14

Lab time for group projects given in class.

Work on presentation and written component.

Week 15

Group Presentations

Written component due on day of presentation.

Informal Writing

The goal of informal writing assignments is to get you to think actively and write critically about literature. These short assignments of 1-2 double-spaced, typed pages will also prepare you to write the longer, formal papers. Approximately once per week, you will be asked to respond to or practice analyzing some element of fiction (conflict, character, setting, imagery, figure of speech, etc.), respond to a thematic issue, or practice summarizing scholarly criticism in preparation for formal papers and research projects.

Responses will be due by the start of class on the due date, either as a typed hard copy or word-processing file in Blackboard > Assignments > Informal Writing #. To retrieve your graded electronically submitted paper, go to Blackboard > My Grades > Informal Writing #. Click the green checkmark link to open up your assignment dropbox and then scroll down to Section 3 Feedback to Student to download your graded response.. Click here for grading rationale and calculation of informal writing assignments.

  1. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four
    • Do a character sketch of Sherlock Holmes. What do we know about him and how do we know it? Next, do a character sketch of the narrator. What do we know about and how do we know it? If you have the space, compare and contrast Dupin and Holmes' characters.
    • Due: Wednesday, September 5
  2. Dashiel Hammett, The Maltese Falcon
  3. Hammett criticism
  4. Auster, The New York Trilogy
    • Now that you have have read all three stories in the Trilogy, respond to how they fit together, both in terms of narrative plot and thematic ideas. What connections do you see among the stories' situations and events, what resonances and variations on the same theme can you determine? What is the conflict or issue that you find running throughout the Trilogy?
    • Due: October 19

Peer Response

1. Peer Response Goals

The dual goals of this course are for you to read and write about literature in a variety of manners. Informal writing and formal papers allows you to analyze the texts; reading scholarly criticism and participating in class discussion exposes you to a variety of other interpretations. Peer response sessions extend the reading and writing process by allowing you and your peers to engage in direct oral and written dialogue about matters of interpretation, with the ultimate goal of improving your formal papers. You have the opportunity to revise your first two formal papers based upon comments by your peers and myself. You will provide constructive criticism to 2 or 3 other members of the class as will they to you.

2. Peer Response Groups

3. Written Peer Response

Answer the following questions as you formulate your one page, double-spaced response to each peer's paper. Because these peer response papers and sessions help your peers revise their papers and thus improve their grade, it is very important that you offer the best constructive criticism in the strongest possible terms, both in writing and in the group meeting. Do not simply say that a peer's paper is okay. Even if you find no problems, engage a dialogue with the paper's interpretation.

4. Verbal Peer Response

In the peer response meeting, group members will share their responses in verbal form. Writers take turns listening to their group members review their work. Specifically, the group should go around the circle and address the following issues. The process should take 7-10 minutes per writer and last 35-50 minutes depending on the size of the group.

Paper 1

We have discussed Poe, Conan Doyle, and Hammett works at length in class. You have written on these works, but only informally and tentatively. Now is your opportunity to rigorously analyze a work of literature. For the first formal paper, write an essay built around the most important passage in one of the detective stories that we have read so far. In your studied interpretation, what is the most significant passage? Why is it central to the core conflicts, character, and meaning of the story? What issues does it embody? In other words, using this key passage, you should write a paper that 1) interprets the meaning of the work via 2) explicating the fundamental conflicts and basic concerns of the text.

 

Note: You will write two drafts of this paper. The first draft will be ungraded (though still subject to length and late penalties which affect the final grade) and reviewed by both your peers and myself in order to give you constructive criticism for revising the second, graded draft.

Paper 2

We have discussed Poe, Conan Doyle, Hammett, Pynchon, Proyas, Auster, Shepherd, Ai, and Nolan at length in class. For the first formal paper, you analyzed the core conflicts and meaning of a work by looking at a significant passage. For the second formal paper, enter into the interpretive debate; write an essay that analyzes a difference of interpretion on a key point in a work of literature. Present the different interpretations, then argue for your side, your reading. Some issues that we have debated include but are not limited to: Is Oedipa a delusional paranoiac or does the conspiracy exist? Does John Murdoch become an existential hero or does he commit an act of bad faith at the end of Dark City? Is Auster's The New York Trilogy ultimately a metaphysical or an existential text? Does City of Glass's Quinn find God or disappear into the void? Is the narrator of The Locked Room, "blinded by the book that had been written for me" (307) struck to the core by the transcendent Truth of his creator's (i.e., Fanshawe's/God's) Word, much like Moses and the burning bush, or does the narrator erase himself by throwing away the book and thereby force himself to be free of Fanshawe originary and God's divine presence? Does Shepard's Suicide in Bb take place in parallel universes, different times, or the imagination? Is Memento's Leonard Shelby an unconscious killer or a conscious yet compromised detective? You may, of course, use an interpretive question not listed here. You may use any work we've read in class, but it must not be the same work on which you wrote your first formal paper.

 

Note: You will write two drafts of this paper. The first draft will be ungraded (though still subject to length, late, and MLA style penalties) and reviewed by your peers and instructor in order to give you constructive criticism for revising the second, graded draft.

Paper 3

In the first formal paper, you analyzed a particular passage, and in the second paper you debated the oppositing meanings of a work that we have read in class. For the third and final paper, select a work of literature not discussed in class (it may, however, be the work your group project worked on), and, after clearing it with me, write an in depth analysis and interpretation of the work using 3-5 works of scholarly criticism (journal articles, books, and book chapters) to provide support or counterargument. The primary emphasis of this paper is your thoughtful, rigorous analysis of a work of literature; use the secondary sources only inasmuch as they aid your interpretation.

 

Thesis and Sources: When we meet individually to discuss your third paper, bring your working thesis, a bibliography of 10 works of scholarly criticism (approximately half books and half journal articles). Here is the sign-up sheet for our individual conference, to be held during class time.

 

Individual Conference Sign-Up Sheet

 

M, 11-26
Ben Joubert Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross
Katie Veltema Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange
Paul Tansey Hitchcock, Vertigo
Caleb Marshall Dick, A Scanner Darkly
Charity Kuzner Dick, A Scanner Darkly
Jared Leets Hitchcock, Vertigo
Danielle Decoster Dick, A Scanner Darkly
Stephanie Lughermo Plath, "Lady Lazarus"
Patty Blade Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross
Julie Schwartzmiller Marquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold
W, 11-28
Kayla Bottrell Dick, A Scanner Darkly
Shane McGrath Hitchcock, Vertigo
Jim Walsh Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange
Ryan Smith Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange
Annette Leestma Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross
Taryn Potyraj The Simpsons or Pulp Fiction
Bradley Grace Melville, Moby Dick
Molly Smith Ball, American Beauty
Josh Mediate Plath, "Lady Lazarus"

 

Note: You will only turn in one draft of this paper to me; however, I encourage you to share drafts with peers you've learned to trust in class and peer response sessions.

research paper list