美國文學(一)

This course introduces students to some major authors and literary works in American literature before the Civil War. We will highlight several antebellum issues, such as settler colonialism, slave narratives and the abolitionist movement, romanticism and the gothic, and the intersectionality of race, gender, and other social differences.

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Class Attendance You have to check your attendance each week. Whenever you miss one hour of class, I will dock 1 point (out of 10). Our TA Star Chen (starchen.flg07g@nctu.edu.tw) will be in charge of the roster. If you have not let her know your attendance within the first ten minutes of each hour, your attendance score will suffer. Once you check your attendance, you do not have to do it again in the next hour(s). If you have to miss classes for legitimate reasons (official or sick leave), please let the TA and me know in advance/in person. A doctor's note must come with your sick leave. I will not count your legitimate leaves as absences unless there are more than THREE times. If you miss more than three classes (even for legitimate reasons), those absences will more or less affect your final score. You could waive THREE quizzes at most, and only legitimate excuses apply. If you are on personal leave, you are not entitled to any exemption. Group Report On our schedule, you will see a dual report system: the numeral ([1], [2], and so on) are for readings assigned to the whole class; the alphabetic ([A], [B], and so on) are for unanthologized novels or unrequired readings. For each text in the numeral system, three people will introduce the author, summarize the assigned text, and point out important themes in 15 minutes. For each text in the alphabetic system, two (or three) people will summarize the assigned text and show us crucial topics in 10-15 minutes. If the groups in the numeral system do not introduce the author, you have to. Unless you report in a careless manner, you may expect to obtain 90-100 points (out of 100) for your one-time report. Discussion, Participation, and Quizzes We will have quizzes and discuss our readings in the third hour. Usually, the weekly quiz covers our reading that week. Sometimes, however, we may have a quiz that covers two weeks of reading. There should be 10-13 quizzes in total. Your highest 10 scores will enter your final score. To encourage your participation, you may earn a bonus of up to 20 points for asking questions that generate our weekly discussion. Your questions must be original; they should not be a recapitulation of the lecture. Also, you need to explain why your questions are important. You may ask questions right before or after our quiz or submit your questions on a slip of paper to the podium during our breaks, with your name written on the paper. Everyone is entitled to 3 times of the 20-point bonus, and each bonus applies to a quiz score of lower than 100 only. In other words, if you have an original quiz score of 90, the bonus will turn it into 100 (instead of 110). To make sure that our TA and I remember your bonuses, please see the TA after class whenever you earn a bonus that week. We will apply your bonuses to your quiz scores when we have all your raw scores. Sometimes, I have additional questions for discussion in the third hour. Those who come up with a fair answer to the question will earn a bonus of up to 10 points. See the paragraph above for the specific rules. You could apply FOUR bonuses to your quiz scores in total: they are different combinations of one to three 20-point bonuses and one to three 10-point bonuses. Mid-Term and Final Exams Depending on the nature of the questions in your mid-term and final exams, you may refer to your textbook or notes for 3-5 minutes or the whole session. All questions will come from lecture or discussion. 10-15% of the questions come from group reports.

Class Attendance: 10 % Group Report: 10% Discussion, Participation, and Quizzes: 20% Mid-Term Exam: 30 % Final Exam: 30 %

Baym, Nina, et al., editors. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter 9th ed., vol. 1, W. W. Norton, 2017. Please use the 9th edition. We will read some texts only available in the new edition. It will also be easier to locate passages during lecture if we use the same edition.

地點

HC409

時間

Office Hours: M. 14:00-16:00 or by appt.

聯絡方式

Chung-Hao Ku (chku@nctu.edu.tw) Tel: 03-5712121, ext. 58117 Star Chen (starchen.flg07g@nctu.edu.tw)