WRTG 3020: Sections 92 & 97

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WRTG 3020: Sections 92 & 97

The Grotesque, Fall 2012

OFFICE LOCATION:

My office is located in the Temporary Building 1, located in between Sewall Hall and the Rec Center. You’ll see a horizontal building with two sets of doors. Choose the doors on the LEFT. Once inside, you should see stairs to your immediate left. Take the stairs down, then go down the hall. I’m the second door on the right (red room, brain in jar on desk, etc.).

Readings can be found on the class blog: To get full participation credit, you must print them out and annotate them before class discussion.

Assignments:

Blog entries: 10% Participation: 10% Midterm 15% Visual Rhetoric Assignment: 20%

Argument Paper: 30% Group Presentation 15%

Major Assignments:

Blog Entries: Will consist of weekly analytical reflections of the work we read in class, as well as the societal issues those works comment on. The blog is also a communal space where you can post papers and have the opportunity to edit each other’s work.

Visual Rhetoric Assignment: This assignment is an analytical and argumentative paper with a photographic component. Focusing on a very specific and narrow topic of your choice, you will use the visual persuasion of the grotesque to deconstruct the binary and cliché rhetoric surrounding the issue. Your paper will also be an examination of this process—how you came to choose your content and frame it as an act of persuasion.

Midterm: This essay is an open note test. You will have the opportunity to show how you have progressively deepened your knowledge surrounding the rhetorics of the grotesque and uncanny—this includes literature, film, and theory. You will also show how you have mastered a specialized vocabulary and comprehend this material at an advanced level.

Final Project: Your final project will be multimodal in nature and consist of an original argument/analysis regarding one work of literature, film, or art. This paper is not a literary analysis; rather, it will focus on how the work employs the grotesque as a rhetorical tool in order to persuade, or perhaps even dissuade, an audience regarding a societal issue.

Group Presentation: As a group of 5, you will give a multi-media presentation on how the grotesque could be used to question a prevalent issue in today’s society that has become polarized in popular culture. You will need to analyze all kinds of texts for this presentation, including scholarly articles, popular ads, and media such as TV, film, and art. The presentation will take the entire class period (including a question and answer time).

Grading Scale:

A 93-100%

A-90-92%

B+88-89%

B83-87%

B-80-82%

C+78-79%

C73-77%

C-70-72%

D+68-69%

D63-67%

D-60-62%

F59% or less

POLICIES

EMAIL POLICY:

Please feel free to email me with any questions you may have. I usually respond to emails in less than 24 hours (and sometimes as quickly as 24 seconds, if I’m online). However, you will need to follow good email etiquette when contacting me. Please include the following:

1) a proper subject line that lets me know the nature of your email

2) a respectful greeting (Dear Nancy, Hi Dr. Hightower, etc)

3) your name at the end

For the first two weeks of class, please include your class time or section number with your signature or in the subject line. If you do not receive some kind of reply within 24 hours, please email me again.

** I never accept final assignments in disk form or in an email, and I don’t take attachments.

ATTENDANCE AND LATE WORK:

You are allowed three absences, for any reason. After three absences, your final grade will be lowered by one letter grade for every day missed, and more than six absences will cause your failure of the course. I will take into account extreme illness (with a doctor’s note). Your timely attendance is required; if you are late for three classes, it will count as an absence.

LATE WORK: We will have numerous draft workshops for all major projects, so you will have adequate time to complete your assignments on time. Therefore, late work incurs a letter grade deduction for every day it is late. Work turned in after the beginning of class incurs a five point deduction.

Religious Observance: Please be sure to give me two weeks’ notice if you need to miss a class for religious practices (which count as an excused absence). See full details at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html.

PARTICIPATION:

This class isn’t a lecture class (nothing could be more boring—lecture upon lecture about writing!). So, we will need everyone’s participation in order to help us learn what it means to engage in thoughtful, articulate persuasion. Therefore, your participation grade is based on the following:

• printing out all the reading material in order to engage in class discussion.
• contributing to class discussions in a thoughtful, engaging, and productive way.
• being good, active peer editors when work-shopping drafts.
• having a good attitude during discussions and peer workshops.

***Texting in class is very distracting both to me and your fellow students. Please turn off all electronics before the class period begins. Because such distraction so negatively affects the classroom, if your cell phone rings in class, or you are caught text messaging someone, your final participation grade will be reduced by 5 points.

DRAFTS:

Bringing in drafts of your work is an essential part of this class. Good writing always means revision. Therefore, failure to bring a draft on a draft due date will result in a 5 point reduction of your final participation grade.

If you have missed a draft day for illness (with a doctor’s note) or have notified me in advance of your absence on a draft day:

• Email two other students your draft and get comments on it.
• Edit their drafts as well.
• Bring all edited drafts in hard copy by the next class day to get full credit.

RECAP--to get full participation points: come to class on time, bring drafts when due, turn in projects when due, turn off cell phones, and be active class participants.

Other In-class Policies

Behavior: Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, culture, religion, politics, sexual orientation, gender, gender variance, and nationalities. Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student's legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records. See policies at

http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html and at

http://www.colorado.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/code.html#student_code

Harassment: The University of Colorado at Boulder policy on Discrimination and Harassment, the University of Colorado policy on Sexual Harassment and the University of Colorado policy on Amorous Relationships apply to all students, staff and faculty. Any student, staff or faculty member who believes s/he has been the subject of sexual harassment or discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status should contact the Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the ODH, the above referenced policies and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding discrimination or harassment can be obtained at http://www.colorado.edu/odh

Academic Integrity: Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (; 303-735-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Other information on the Honor Code can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and at http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/

Special Accommodations:

If you need special accommodations due to a disability, please give me a letter from Disability Services so that we can make the necessary arrangements. If you have any questions regarding this process, please visit www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices

Conflict Resolution. If you have a conflict with me or these policies, the first step is to talk to me. If we can’t resolve the issue, the next step is to contact the Conflict Resolution Coordinator in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric: .

Counseling Services. If you have a life crisis or feel depressed for an extended period of time, please talk to me or contact Counseling Services at Willard Administration Center, Room 134, phone 2-6766. Walk-in hours are Monday through Friday 8-5.

Student Academic Services Center. If you find yourself struggling with academic life, you may visit the Student Academic Services Center (SASC), which helps students who are having difficulty meeting the expectations of college life. Some students may be eligible for no-cost tutoring, and there’s a dedicated computer lab in Willard 353. SASC also offers assistance to ESL students. Willard Hall, room 386, phone 2-0259. www.colorado.edu/SASC.

Course Schedule: Readings are to be printed out, read, and annotated before class. All readings, except for Visual Literacy, can be found on the class blog (I will send the blog address in an email). Visual Literacy needs to be purchased at the bookstore.

WEEK 1 Aug 28, 30

Thurs:

• Bring laptops. Blog policies and etiquette
• Review of class schedule. Presentation of the visual grotesque, followed by discussion
• Review of Visual Rhetoric Assignment

WEEK 2 Sept 4, 6

Tues:

• The Lost Worlds, 1375-1750
• Carnivalesque, Timothy Hyman and Roger Malbert
• In-class reading: Rabelais
• Examples of past student projects
• Introductions due by 11 a.m.

Supplemental Reading:

• Late-Medieval Dutch Pilgrim Badges

Thurs:

• Thomson The Grotesque in Art and Literature, part 1, and Thomson The Grotesque in Art and Literature, part 2; discuss differences in literary genres and conventions and how they pertain to the use of the grotesque
• The Lady's Dressing Room Jonathan Swift--using Thomson's theories, discuss where the grotesque might momentarily take over the satire in this piece
• Write up two paragraphs about 2 possible VR topics (just one paragraph per topic) to turn into me. What very specific issue do you want to look at? Remember, the issue itself isn’t grotesque–you’re going to use the aesthetics of the grotesque in your pics to create a paradigm shift in the viewer.

WEEK 3 Sept 11, 13

Tues:

• Chapter 2, Writing Analytically
• Workshop: dialogues to further develop ideas for VR assignment

Thurs:

• Excerpts from Freud’s “Uncanny”
• Paz, The Blue Bouquet
• Draft Due: Bring first page of VR assignment to workshop. Look for evolving thesis, logical structure

WEEK 4 Sept 18, 20

Tues:

• Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, Joyce Carol Oates and Reflections on the Grotesque, Joyce Carol Oates

Thurs:

• The Doll Queen, Fuentes
• Draft Due: Bring 2-3 pages (double spaced) of VR assignment to workshop, with photograph sketch or sample photos if possible. Does the paper effectively analyze the photographs and incorporate the analysis seamlessly into paper?

WEEK 5 Sept 25, 27

Tues:

• O’Connor’s Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction, O’Connor “—Discuss O’Connor’s definition of the grotesque and how this differs from Oates’ definition. What underlying binaries still exist within O’Connor’s definition?
• Good Country People, O’Connor —Discuss how the grotesque questions the concept of use value within story

Thurs: Class cancelled for Jay Smooth talk (in two weeks). Take pictures!

WEEK 6 Oct 2, 4

Tues: The Yellow Wallpaper

Thurs:

• Draft Due: Last draft workshop of Visual Rhetoric assignment. Check to see if the paper covers the following:
• What is the public/cultural discourse on this issue? How has the rhetoric surrounding it been turned into a cliché or become polarized?
• Persuasion: What kinds of rhetorical appeals do your pictures employ, and how do those appeals question the clichés and boundaries surrounding your topic?
• Analysis: Discuss how form interacts with content to create meaning. What angles did you use to take the pictures and why? What about distance or clarity of picture? How did you decide on the “frame”? Did you choose to print the pictures in color or black in white? Why?
• Reflection: What new things did you see about your subject?
• Does the conclusion present a thesis that has been developed, tested, and evolved throughout the essay
• Three blog posts or comments due

WEEK 7 Oct 9, 11

Tues: Watch Antichrist–What does the grotesque look like in film, as opposed to Hollywood’s “taboo-breaking” movies?

Thurs:

• Finish movie and discuss.
• VISUAL RHETORIC Assignment Due at the beginning of class.

WEEK 8 October 16, 18

Tues:

• Go over final project and group presentation. Break into final presentation groups

Thurs: Final project brainstorming workshop

WEEK 9 October 23, 25

Tues:

• A Good Man Is Hard To Find, O’Connor: Define where the aesthetics of the uncanny and grotesque come into play–what is each trying to do?

Thurs:

• Rabbits, Kanai Mieko—Re-examine literary conventions—is this story grotesque, surreal, the “new weird,” or merely a tale of the fantastic? What constructions of gender does the story question and how does the shift between two frame narrators work as rhetorical device?
• One page prospectus due for final project

WEEK 10 October 30, Nov 1

Tues: Writing Justice

• In the Penal Colony, Kafka Continuation of discussion about the relationship/dialectic between language and the idea of justice

Thurs:

• A Country Doctor, Kafka
• Refresher Lecture: How to cite appropriately, how to generate questions that further your argument
• Three blog posts due

WEEK 11: Nov 6, 8

Tues: Santa Sangre

Thurs:

• Santa Sangre
• Midterm Review

WEEK 12 Nov 13, 15

Tues:

• Midterm (bring all notes, paper and writing utensil)

Thurs:

• Draft Due: Bring first 3 pages of argument paper, with one sentence paragraph summary out to the left hand side
• Presentation Workshop: Have each group member summarize their part in the presentation

WEEK 13 Nov 20, 22—Happy Thanksgiving!

WEEK 14 Nov 27, 29

Tues:

• Presentation Workshop: Have each group member summarize their part in the presentation
• Sign up for presentation schedule

Thurs:

• Draft Due: Bring full project to workshop

WEEK 15 Dec 4, 6

Tues:

Thurs:

• Presentations. Attendance mandatory

LAST WEEK Dec 11, 13

Tues: Multimedia Presentations.

Thurs: Multimedia Presentations. Final Projects due.