When Fantasy Meets Reality
Spring 2018
Jacob Burg
Office: Rabb 222
Office Hours: Tues. 12-1 and Wed. 11-12, and by appointment
Class Schedule:
MW – 1-1:50
Olin-Sang 116
Course Description:
The line between fantasy and reality is thinner – and more complexly constructed – than we might think. Philosophers, artists, scientists, and politicians have all wrestled with questions about the real and the fantastical for generations. Although it may appear obvious what is real and what is pure fantasy, the criteria for defining each are constantly in flux, particularly in moments of social, political, and/or economic crisis. Therefore, we must ask, when does fantasy serve as more than mere relief from the burdens of reality? How have conversations about reality changed over time within various disciplines? And historically, which groups have been empowered to reimagine definitions of the real? In this writing course, we will investigate the intimate relationship between reality and fantasy in order to develop students’ writing and research skills. The semester will be organized around three required essays: first, students will write a close reading in order to interrogate the realism in fantasy and/or the fantasy in realism; second, students will engage in conversations with a theoretical text so as to deepen their understanding of the powerful influences race, sexuality, class, and gender can have upon definitions of reality; finally, students will conduct a research project to examine what various realist and fantastical works have had to say about their respective eras of production, as well as our contemporary moment.
Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.).
Our Assumed Roles, and How We Can Change Them:
My intention is that our classroom will always serve as a space for dialogue(s). My expectation is that we each bring our own interests, perspectives, and questions to an ongoing conversation that will begin our first day (that began, in fact, before you even started reading this), and which will hopefully continue long after the semester is over. Our conversation will take many shapes and cover many topics, and it is important that we spend some time each class thinking about how and why our conversation has taken the shape it has.In part, this will be done with writing, which is not a reproduction of thinking, but thought itself. At other times, this reflection will occur as we askeachother questions.
Although we assume certain roles in the classroom (me: instructor, you: student), these are only initial positions. My hope is that you will teach me (because you can) just as much as – if not more than – I teach you. If by the end of the semester we share new interests and can ask new questions, I will consider this course a success. I invite you to think about what you believe will make your time in this classroom a success both for you individually, and for you as a member of our broader community.
Required Texts (available in bookstore):
- Coursepacket
- Write Now! (A collection of essays written in last year’s UWS classes).
Note: If you have difficulty acquiring any of these materials, for whatever reason, please let me know as soon as possible.
UWS Learning Goals:
Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing
Use writing and discussion to work through and interpret complex ideas from readings and other texts (i.e. film).
Critically analyze your own and others’ choices regarding language and form.
Engage in multiple modes of inquiry (i.e. field research, library-based inquiry, journal searching, web searching).
Incorporate significant research into writing that engages a question and/or topic and uses it as a central theme for a substantive, research-based essay.
Use writing to support interpretations of text, and understand that there are multiple interpretations of any given text.
Consider and express the relationship between your own ideas and the ideas of others.
Processes
Use written, visual, and/or experience-based texts as tools to develop ideas for writing.
Understand that writing takes place through recurring processes of invention, revision, and editing.
Develop successful, flexible strategies for your own writing through the processes of invention, revision, and editing.
Experience and understand the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.
Learn to critique your and other’s work.
Be reflective about your own writing process.
Knowledge of Conventions
Understand the conventions of particular genres of writing.
Use conventions associated with a range of dialects, particularly standardized written English (but not necessarily limited to it).
Recognize and address patterns in your writing that unintentionally diverge from patterns expected by your audience(s).
Practice using academic citation systems (i.e. MLA) for documenting work.
Course Assignments and Policies:
Essay 1:Close Reading – In this assignment you will formulate an argument about one or more short stories from the coursepacket.
Essay 2: Lens Essay– In this assignment you will place one short story in conversation with one of the assigned critical texts in order to create a new claim within an ongoing scholarly conversation regarding nature, race, nationality, sexuality, or another clearly focused topic.
Essay 3: Research Argument – In this assignment, you will select an ongoing critical conversation (either about a film or a scholarly field) that interests you. Given the direction of that conversation, you will make an argument that contributes to it by refocusing, redefining, or otherwise altering a belief that reader(s) currently hold.
Portfolio – At the end of the semester you will assemble all of your work (including pre-draft assignments, rough drafts, final drafts, and peer review sheets) and email them to me, together with a letter describing how your understanding of yourself as a writer has changed over the course of the semester. This means that you need to electronically save all of the writing that you do throughout the semester.
Drafting:
There are four components that lead up to the final drafts of each essay:
- Pre-draft Assignments – Each essay will be preceded by two or three pre-draft assignments. They will be short pieces of writing designed to help you develop your ideas. These assignments will receive constructive feedback and will factor into the grade for your final draft. You can rework and resubmit any of the work done within these assignments until the end of the unit.
- First Drafts – You are required to turn in a first draft of each paper. These drafts are important opportunities for you to receive feedback not only from me, but from your peers as well. These drafts will need to be complete in order for your readers to have the best sense of your argument, and in order for you to have the best chance of shifting their perspectives on your topic.
- Peer Review – After the first draft of each paper is due you will form a group with two of your classmates and read each other’s drafts. In class you will give your partners constructive and descriptive feedback. I will collect these peer review letters and they will also count toward your overall grade. These activities are meant to increase your sense of audience awareness and give you an opportunity to reflect on the concepts we have discussed in class.
- Conferences – Each student will have four twenty-minute conferences with me over the course of the semester: one to discuss each first draft. Attendance is required. Missing a conference is equivalent to missing a class. Sign-up sheets will be distributed in class.
Grade Breakdown:
Class Participation – 15%
Close Reading Essay – 15%
Lens Essay – 25%
Research Essay (includes presentation) – 25%
Portfolio (includes Latte posts, pre-drafts, and peer reviews) – 20%
Class Participation:
Your consistent participation in class sessions is the most critical component of a successful course. Please be prepared to discuss the assigned readings as well as each other’s work on a daily basis. Arrive on time and ready to engage in thoughtful conversation and writing.
Laptops:
Unless otherwise specified or unless you have a documented disability, please do not bring your laptops to class. If printing copies of your assignments and work ever becomes an issue, please let me know.
Attendance:
You are allowed three absences. For each additional absence your final grade will drop by one third of a letter grade (ex. A to A- to B+). Seven or more absences will result in a failing grade. Please contact me in the event of an emergency.
Late Work, Extension, and Minimum Page Requirements:
Given the amount and frequency of writing that we will be doing in this course, it is important to stay on top of each assignment. If you feel as if you have fallen behind because your ideas are not working out for one reason or another, notify me two days in advance of the final due date and we can discuss a possible extension. If you do not have an extension, late work will be penalized by a third of a letter grade per day for the final paper. Additionally, final papers that do not meet the required minimum will be penalized by a third of a grade for each missing page.
Academic Honesty:
You are expectedto be honest in all of your academic work. The work you hand in should be your own, and properly cited. The University policy on academic honesty is distributed annually in section 5 of the Rights and Responsibilities handbook. Instances of alleged dishonesty will be forwarded to the Office of Campus Life for possible referral to the Student Judicial System. Potential sanctions include failure in the course and suspension from the University. If you have any questions, please ask.
Accommodations:
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in class, please see me right away.
Schedule of Classes:
Unit 1: Close Reading – What Makes a Fantasy? What is Reality?
Week 1
Jan 10 (W) Class: Introductions; Core Questions
Week 2
Jan 15 (M) NO CLASS
Jan 17 (W)Read:(1) “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” by Bret Harte
(2) “The Grass Princess” by Gwyneth Jones
Write:LATTE post – What are the main features of a fantasy? Explain how Jones’ story fits the fantasy genre, and speculate what might make Harte’s story like a fantasy.Post by no later than 10pm the night before (Jan. 16)
Class:Free-write;Discuss story; Close reading (skills vs. practices)
Jan 18 (Th) Read:(1) “The Flower” by Louise Erdrich
(2) “From Elfland to Poughkeepsie” by Ursula Le Guin
Class: Discuss story; Audience – Who are “they” and how do we construct and engage with them?
Week 3
Jan 22 (M)Read: “Ainulindale” and “Valaquenta” by J.R.R. Tolkien
Write:Pre-Draft Assignment 1 – Close Reading a Passage
Class: Discuss story; Thesis and Motive – Get Reader from A to B
Jan 24 (W)Read: None
Write:Pre-Draft Assignment 2 – Thesis Statement
Class:Workshoptheses; Introductory Paragraphs – What are we “supposed” to get done vs. what do we need to get done?; Preparing to write first drafts
Week 4
**Conferences to Discuss Close Reading Essay This Week and/or Next**
Jan 29 (M)Read: Close reading essays from Write Now!
Write: Work on First Drafts
Class: Free-write; Discuss drafts-in-progress
Jan 31 (W)Read: Selections from Morphology of the Folktale by Vladimir Propp
Write:First Draft w/ Cover Letter Due
Class:Discuss scholarly article; Exchange papers with peer reviewer
Unit 2: Lens Essay – Who Determines the Line Between Fantasy and Reality?
Week 5
Feb 5 (M)Read: Peer’s essay
Write:Peer Review Letters – Email to peer by Sunday, Feb. 4th
Class:Discuss review letters; Entering a Critical Conversation – Where do I find one? How do I do it?
Feb 7 (W)Read:“Introduction” from The One vs. The Many by Alex Woloch
“Narrate or Describe” by Lukacs
Write: Work on Revisions of Essay
Class: Discuss theoreticaltext; Characters – real or fantasy?
*Revisions of Close Reading Essay w/ Cover Letter due Sat., Feb. 10 by 10pm*
Week 6
Feb 12 (M)Read:“Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” by Louis Althusser
Write: LATTE post – Identify key words from lens text of your choice
Class: Discuss theoretical texts, Summary and paraphrase activity
Feb 14 (W)Read: (1) “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins
(2) “Hell is the Absence of God” by Ted Chiang
Write: Pre-Draft Assignment 1 – Summarizing Scholarly Article
Class:Discuss stories
Week 7
Feb 19 (M)NO CLASS
Read: “Ravalushan” by Mohammed Naseehu Ali
Feb 21 (W)NO CLASS
Read: “The Bones of the Earth” by Ursula Le Guin
Week 8
Feb26 (M)Read:None
Write:Pre-Draft Assignment 2 – Mini Lens Analysis
Class: Discuss lens texts; Quotations – How do we speak when we’re not the ones speaking?
Feb28 (W)Read: Lens Essays from Write Now!
Write:None
Class:Writing exercise TBD
Week 9
March 5 (M)Read:“A Gentle Creature” by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Write:Pre-Draft Assignment 3 – Thesis and Motive
Class: Discuss story
March 7 (W)Read:“The Fisher Queen” by Alyssa Wong
“Ponies” by Kij Johnson
Write: Draft of Lens Essay w/ Cover Letter Due Friday, March 10
Class:Revisit thesis, motive, audience, and structure
Week 10
**Conferences to Discuss Lens Essay on Monday and Tuesday**
March 12 (M)Read:Peer’s essay
Write:Peer Review Letters – Email to peer by Wed., March. 14th
Class:TBD
March 14 (W)Read:None
Write:None
Class:TBD
Unit 3: Research Essay – Where Reality Meets Fantasy…And Vice Versa
Week 11
March 19 (M)Watch:Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Write: Work on Revision of Lens Essay
Class:Discuss film; Modern fairytales – How and why have the genre’s tropes changed?; Cultural Analysis – What is culture? How do we produce and consume it?
March 21 (W)Read:One journal article (from journal of your selection)
Write:Revision of Lens Essay w/ Cover Letter Due
Class:Library Session 1 – Meet in TBD by 12pm**
Week 12
**Conference #1 to Discuss Research Essay This Week**
March 26 (M)Read:Two journal articles (from journals of your selection)
Write:Pre-Draft Assignment 1 – Research Proposal
Class:Scholarly Sources Revisited; Continue film discussion
March28 (W)Watch:Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Write: LATTE Post – Close read one scene from either Pan’s Labyrinthor Beasts of the Southern Wild. Post by no later than 10pm night before.
Class:Discuss film
Week 13
April 2 (M)NO CLASS
Read: Begin research for paper
April 4 (W)NO CLASS
Read:Continue research for paper
Week 14
April9 (M)Watch:Midnight in Paris (2011) and/or Big Fish (2003)
Class:Discuss film
April 11 (W)Read:Continue research for paper
Write:Pre-Draft Assignment 2 – Developing Research Thesis
Class:Discuss film; Introduce Annotated Bib. & MLA Citation
Week 15
**Conference #2 to Discuss Research Essay This Week Or Next**
April 16 (M)Write:Pre-Draft Assignment 3 – Annotated Bibliography
Class: Library Session 2 – Meet in TBD by 12pm
April 18 (W)Write:First Draft of Essay 3 w/ Cover Letter Due
Class:TBD
Week 16
April 23 (M)Write:Work on revisions
Class:Portfolio instructions
**Portfolio w/ Final Revision of Research Essay Due May 1stby midnight**
Assignment Sequences:
Close Reading Unit
During this first unit, we will begin a semester-long discussion about how to read closely – in other words, how to perform a careful analysis of the language, style, and content of a text. We will also discuss how to produce an interpretation – that is, how to make an argument (not just observations) about a text, and how to support that argument with solid and persuasive evidence.
Assignment (5-6 pages):
For this essay, make an argument about the relationship between fantasy and realism in any of the five short stories we’ve read so far. How do the two work together or fight against one another? What effect does this have on the characters and the story’s themes? Make sure that your essay accounts for how the narrative defines and represents this complex relationship. Pay attention to when, where, and how fantasy is used, as well as to the identity markers of those involved in these fantastical moments.
Some other questions that might help your thinking (you do not need to explicitly answer them): What are the different forms of fantasy? How do they help structure the story? Is there a strong difference between fantasy and fantasizing (i.e. daydreaming)? What makes a fantastical world operate in a “realistic” way?
Learning Goals:
Develop a compelling, non-obvious thesis. Complexity, nuance, and engaged debate are at the core of any worthwhile thesis. Begin by posing a question or problem, rather than devising a statement that pre-determines the claims your essay is capable of making. Remember, you are entering into a larger (scholarly) conversation, and the point is to make thought-provoking claims that cause others to respond. As you read, be on the lookout for opportunities to stake an intellectual claim – and be willing to take risks. While your initial reactions to images, moments, and characters’ actions will not be sufficient to sustain an entire essay, they will serve as fantastic starting points.
All interpretations require evidence; all evidence requires analysis. Remember, summary (presentation of facts or paraphrase of what is happening in the text) is very different from analysis (an explanation of how the details you identify are meaningfully linked and contribute to your interpretation). Summary is useful almost exclusively for providing context for your analysis (situating your readers so they can follow along with your interpretation), and even then must be used sparingly. Your analysis drives your essay.
Structure the essay according to your argument. Avoid organizing your essay as a barely connected – or unconnected – sequence of points (think of the stale five-paragraph model). Your essay should be driven by the evolution of your ideas, which will draw connections between various pieces of evidence. Imagine that each claim (and the evidence to go with it) is an instrument in a band – they must all play together and harmonize, with each section building upon the work performed by the previous one. Also, avoid simply restating the same idea from your thesis again and again (if each section of your essay plays the same note, the song will not be much of a song). While you will want to include necessary context for your reader, this essay will mainly consist of close reading – analysis of specific words, phrases, images, and themes.