Freudian SlipsSpring ‘17

Instructor: Lydia Equitz, Honors 189

e-mail:

office hours: Monday, Wednesday & Thursday, 1-4.

Sign up, change, and cancel appointments on the clipboard on my office door. There is no need to make an appointment in advance: just check the clipboard to see if I’m expecting anyone and jot your name in the current timeslot as you come in the door.

Texts

Sigmund Freud, The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud ISBN:0-679-60166-X

Robertson Davies, The Deptford Trilogy ISBN:014-01-4755-1

Alain Robbe-Grillet, The Voyeur ISBN 0-8021-31654

Course Reader available at Clark Graphics

Goals & Methods

In this class we will learn to read Freud’s work sympathetically, appreciating its accomplishments and insights whileunderstanding its limitations. We will use a Jungian novel for the dual purpose of studying the genre of the “Psychodrama” in literature and to learn to distinguish Jungian influences from Freudian ones, and then test our developing understanding of Freud with a difficult postmodern novel which requires the application of Freudian principles to decipher.

Concurrently, we will track Freudian (and pseudo-Freudian) influences in contemporary popular culture and science by looking at a wide range of magazine and newspaper articles and letters, from Psychology Today magazine to “Dear Abby.” This work will develop our ability to distinguish accurate and appropriate uses of Freudian principles from those which are neither. We will also gain a general understanding of which aspects of Freud’s work continue to prove fruitful scientifically and which have turned out to be theoretical or therapeutic dead ends.

In the last part of the course we willstudy the artistic movement of surrealism using Breton’s “Manifesto” and Dali’s paintings (plus a few of Magritte), discovering that here, too, Freudian principles are keys which unlock the meaning of notoriously enigmatic works, thus confirming once more the analytic—or perhaps, interpretive—value of Freudian theory and insights in [western postmodern] art and culture.

Policies

Attendance: This seminar relies on its students to discuss issues, readings, and daily journal assignments.Thus, your absence directly and negatively affects everyone’s learning. I keep attendance records as part of the participation grade, andunless the absence was for military service, religious observance you’ve notified me about in the first 3 weeks of class, or allowed for by an official UWM VISA, the following grade penalties apply:0-3 absences= participation and journal grades affected variably based on what you’ve missed; 4 or more absences=as above, PLUS final grade decreased by one (e.g., A- to B+) for each absence over three.

Note: Because of the nature of in-class work and because attendance/preparation/participation is only 10% of the final grade (if you have no more than 3 absences), no special allowances are made for illness or other life events. Thus, you must save your maximum of three (more-or-less lightly penalized) absences in case you get sick or have an emergency.

Lateness and unpreparedness:No matter how many classes you’ve missed before, or how late or unprepared you are going to be, it is better to come to class than not to come. I’ll always welcome you and try to get you integrated into what we are doing as smoothly as possible. While I expect you to attempt the reading and journal work, I also realize that there can be many reasons that a student doesn’t fully review/understand material before class, and that your journal work might not be very polished at this point, so I don’t expect perfection. I do ask that you not try to fake preparation or distract the course of discussion to something not on the syllabus, because this wastes time and can put us off the track of understanding the material accurately.That said, chronic lateness or unpreparedness needs to be fixed, preferably by you.

Classroom disruptions: It is fine to do normal, non-annoying things like drinking water, asking your neighbor to borrow a pen, or unobtrusively slipping out to go to the bathroom. However, to protect the learning environment of all students, I ask that you refrain from eating in class, and any student engaging in rude, distracting activities such as texting* or slurping with a straw will be asked to leave the classroom.Repeated violations will result in a low participation grade. In the unlikely event that a student is very disruptive I will call campus police to escort that person out.

*Obviously, phones should be turned off. I also ask that you take notes manually rather than on a laptop or tablet. In short, no electronic devices at all, please.

Anonymous Grading*: The grading breakdown is as follows: 30% on journal (10% each of the three times I collect the journal for grading), 10% on attendance, preparation and participation, and 20% on each of three papers. The10% on daily preparation and participation is not anonymous. Your (anonymous)journal will includeexercises and some in-class work, with opportunities forpost-class revisions. All papers can be submitted as drafts for my comments prior to the due date—more than once, if you wish. After grading, the first two paperscan be revised for a new grade, in which case your final grade for those papers will be the average of the original and the new grade.The end-of-semester paper is not revisable after grading. Because there is ample opportunity to discuss these in class and revise them afterwards, journal work may not be submitted as drafts andjournals are not revisable once graded.

*All written workwill be graded anonymously: you turn the journal andpapers in with a code in place of your name. I will maintain a gradebook based on codes separate from the name-based attendance/preparation/participation book.

Late work: Late papers andjournals will be docked one grade (e.g., from A- to B+) per dayM- R, and two grades for work turned in F-Su. (Since I cannot know when work is turned in over the weekend, Thursday after 4 to when I arrive on Mondaymorning counts as ONE unit worth TWO grades.) Work due on a particular date can be turned in after class up until the time I leave at night without penalty. If you have a foreseeable absence, including sports participation, plan ahead and turn the work in early. I do not accept e-submissions of journals and papers; you or your agent must physically turn in hardcopy to avoid late penalties.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a violation of the academic honor code and carries severe sanctions. I personally find it repugnant, and make every effort to identify and punish plagiarizers.You should know what plagiarism is by now, but if you have any doubts, refer to the free copy of Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers (available in the Honors library) on the subject BEFORE you “use” another’s work in any suspicious way. If you are still in doubt, see me after class or during my office hours. I do not accept real or professed ignorance and/or intellectual insecurity as an excuse for the theft, lying, and laziness that plagiarism entails.

Links to Other Important University Policies:

Communication

I will post assignments and course documents on D2L within a week of handing them out in class and will use your university e-mail accounts to share links, clarifications, and announcements about the class. Please check it regularly.