Course Syllabus

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Professor Gillian Harkins      

English 341A: Studies in the Novel

Class Meeting: T/Th 1:30-3:20 in THO 135                                                 

Office Hours: T/Th 12:00 – 1:00 PM or by appointment

In-Person: 504-A Padelford Hall / Virtual Appointments

 

Studies in the Novel:

On Narrators

Literature as a category is about what’s important to a culture, the stories that are privileged and honoured, the narratives that people—often those in power, but also those resisting that power—believe to be central to their understanding of the world and their place in relation to it.

-- Daniel Heath Justice, “Introduction: Stories that Wound, Stories that Heal” Why Indigenous Literatures Matter (2018)

For me, literature is a way of knowing that I am not hallucinating, that whatever I feel/know is.  It is an affirmation that sensuality is intelligence, that sensual language is language that makes sense.

-- Barbara Christian, “The Race for Theory” Cultural Critique (1987)

Here, then, is the irony of the “realist” novel: the very gestures with which it conjures up reality are actually a concealment of the real.

-- Amitav Ghosh, “Stories” The Great Derangement (2016)

Course Description: 

This course will dwell in the strange and magical world of narrative fiction.  We will read five novels published between 1898 and 2017, and we will read them carefully, patiently, and with the great gift of our collective attention.  Each novel raises important and disconcerting questions about the act and art of narration, or how stories, characters and meanings appear through the lure of a narrative voice.  What is a narrator?  How does the presence or absence of the narrator as a character shape the meaning of the story itself?  Are readers supposed to trust people they know or people they don’t know, voices they can identify and situate or voices that assume a position of unidentified authority?  Which signs or codes convey narrative reliability, and which cue readers to question a narrator’s capacity to convey consistent meaning?  How do these questions draw attention to the changing expectations or rules that shape narrative forms, and how does paying attention to such expectations or rules (or narrative conventions) raise larger questions about the ways trust, reliability, and meaning are organized more generally?  We will read these novels with the goal of considering their narrative provocations to notice and question relations of authority and meaning. Our conversations will include reflections on these dynamics in present contexts, even as we seek to understand specific historical and social conditions discussed through the novels themselves. 

While we will read a few short critical pieces on narrative and narrators, our main focus will be on the novels.  We will read Henry James Turn of the Screw (1898), Nella Larsen Passing (1929), Jamaica Kincaid Lucy (1990), Lawrence Chua Gold by the Inch (1998) and Mohsin Hamid Exit West (2017).  These novels will be available for purchase in print or digital editions through the University Bookstore or can be borrowed from the UW or other library system. 

English Major: This course fits the Genre, Method and Language Requirement.

Course Format:  

The Course will meet in person on UW Seattle Campus, with the option to shift class to Zoom through this Canvas website as needed.  

Course Readings: 

This is a course focused on novels, so our readings will primarily be a series of novels you must borrow or purchase to read independently. Books required for the class will be available for purchase at the University Bookstore; you may also purchase or borrow these books in any edition from other sources.  Additional readings will be accessible through the Canvas website.  Please let me know if you have any trouble accessing the required materials. 

Course Objectives:

  • Learn about narrators
  • Read some novels carefully
  • Engage critical questions
  • Practice critical analysis
  • Produce a critical project
  • Option to produce a creative project

Course Requirements: 

Your learning in this course will be assessed through active discussion of readings; a midterm project; and a final project.  Here is how the 100 point grade scale will be converted to the UW 4.0 system.

  • Active Learning (20 points): This is a record of how you engage in the course materials with your peers.  To satisfy this requirement, you will complete the course reading before the start of class time and come to class prepared to engage the materials with your peers.  Questions or comments related to in-class discussion will be uploaded to an on-line board to create a record for shared learning and assessment.  If you must miss a class, you may add a make-up post and reply to one peer on the board up to three times. You may request accommodations for additional absences by contacting the professor. There are 19 posts total worth 1 point each with 1 additional point assigned through a separate Self-Introduction to the Professor link in week one of the course schedule. Due Date: weekly.

  • Midterm Project (40 points): This is a record of how you develop a more sustained critical or creative engagement with a novel or novels.  To satisfy this requirement, you must create a critical or creative project responding to the works from the first half of the class.  Due Date: Sunday 5/3 by 11:59 PM.

  • Final Project (40 points):  This is a record of how you develop a more sustained critical engagement with a novel or novels.  To satisfy this requirement, you must create a critical project responding to the works from the second half of the class.  Due Date: Sunday 6/7 by 11:59 PM.

Course Policies:

  • Academic Conduct:  We all share responsibility for creating a positive shared learning community.  Everyone is invited to raise questions and offer additional perspectives about any materials discussed in class. Everyone is also expected to contribute their ideas in a manner that is thoughtful and respectful of the ideas expressed by others.  The Canvas site has links to useful guidelines for class discussions and online discussions. 
  • Academic Integrity: The University takes academic integrity very seriously. Behaving with integrity is part of our responsibility to our shared learning community.  Please review this University of Washington website for a definition and explanation of academic misconduct. For this class, any developmental drafting use of ChatGPT or generative AI-assisted writing technology will be considered academic misconduct. Similarly, any use of non-class sources must be noted in your submitted writing.  Why?  This class is about learning through writing, which is not possible if you are not writing through your thinking as it unfolds.  If you are confused or have any questions about a specific instance, please feel free to see me in advance of the due date.
  • Academic Accommodations: It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course. If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. 
  • Religious Accommodations: Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy.

Additional Resources:

Course Summary:

Course Summary
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