BBL 3201 INTRODUCTION TO CRITICAL APPRECIATION

EXAMINATION COVERAGE

SEMESTER 1, 2011-2012

Mid-Semester Examination

Read poems and short stories from Barnard, B and D.F. Winn. Access Literature: An Introduction to Fiction Poetry, and Drama. New York: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.

WEEK / TOPIC / READING
1 / Part 1: Introduction to Fiction
·  Introduction: assignments, text, course policies
·  Getting into Lit – active reading, annotating and arguing with the text
·  Getting into Fiction - the writer’s voice and the reader’s response, the elements of fiction
·  Profile of a fiction writer – Flannery O’Connor, “Parker’s Back” / Chapter 1
Chapter 2
2 / Part 2: Introduction to Poetry
·  Getting into Poetry – elements of poetry
·  Profile of a poet – Langston Hughes, “Ballad of the Landlord”, “Cross” / Chapter 13
3 / Part 3: Introduction to Drama
·  Getting into Drama – plot and form, characterization and theme, setting and staging
·  Profile of a playwright – David Ives, “Sure Thing” / Chapter 25
4 / Part 4: Writing a Literary Analysis
·  Talking and Writing about Literature – developing the thesis, comparison and contrast, explication, argumentation, fiction into film, developing the essay, documenting sources, revising and editing the essay / Chapter 32
5 / Understanding Plot – Beginning-Middle-End or Middle-Beginning-End; Sources of conflict; The conventional resolution versus the open-ended story; flashback and foreshadowing
·  Amy Tan’s “Half and Half”
·  William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” / Chapter 3
6 / Understanding Characterization – major, minor, round or flat; methods of characterization; dynamic and static characters
·  James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” / Chapter 4
7 / Understanding Setting – physical setting; time and setting; setting and theme; social setting
·  Albert Camus’s “The Guest” / Chapter 5

Final Semester Examinations

8 / Understanding Point of View – third-person voices; first-person voices; mixed voices
·  Isabel Allende’s “The Judge’s Wife” / Chapter 6
9 / Understanding Style, Tone of voice, and Irony – style; tone and voice; types of irony; reliability and unreliability
·  Alice Munro’s “How I Met My Husband” / Chapter 7
10 / Understanding Metaphor, Image and Symbol – figures of speech, imagery, symbolism
·  Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni “Two Women Outside a Circus, Pushkar”, “Tiger Mask Ritual”
·  Claribel Alegria, “I am Mirror”
·  Sylvia Plath, “Mirror” / Chapter 15
Chapter 16
11 / Understanding Metaphor, Image and Symbol – figures of speech, imagery, symbolism
·  Bi Shumin’s “Broken transformers” / Chapter 8
12 / Understanding Theme – image and theme, characterization, plot and theme; other pathways to theme
·  Louise Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible”
·  Gish Jen’s “In the American Society” / Chapter 10
13 / Reading and Interpreting Drama – plot and form; characterization and theme; setting and staging
·  Judy Klass’s “The Locker Room” / Chapter 30