Syllabus for English 346: Ulysses
Spring 2012

Tuesday, January 24

First day: introduction, course overview, ranking of obsessions, injunction to curiosity

• Joyce, "Ivy Day in the Committee Room" and "The Dead" from Dubliners

• Lee Spinks, "Political Joyce" from James Joyce: A Critical Guide

Everyone: by 9:00 Wednesday evening, make a brief post to the blog pointing to a passage or problem you'd like to be sure we discuss on Thursday. This assignment will serve to structure our discussion and to check that everyone is using the blog smoothly.

• Episodes 1-3 (The Telemechiad): Telemachus, Nestor, and Proteus
• Ashplant:
• Ulysses as a whole

• Ashplant:
• Episode 1
• Episode 2
• Episode 3

Groups 1 and 2: Do a blog post describing the key developments and passages relating to your obsession in today's reading.

Groups 3 and 4: Take good notes on the development of your obsession. You'll need the notes for your blog post next week.

• Vincent J. Cheng, "Authenticity and Identity: Catching the Irish Spirit"
• Justin Beplate, "Joyce, Bergson, and the Memory of Words
• Optional but recommended: the Telemachus comic and anything else you want to look at in Ulysses "seen"

For class,

Everyone reads both critical pieces well.

Groups 1 and 2 prepare to work on Cheng's piece in class, and groups 3 and 4 Beplate's piece, with this division of labor:

Group mamber a: structural notes
b: textmarks
c: references
d: obsessions and themes

• Episodes 4-6 (Calypso, The Lotus Eaters, Hades)
• Ashplant:
• Episode 4
• Episode 5
• Episode 6

Groups 3 and 4: Do a blog post describing the key developments and passages relating to your obsession up to this point in the novel.

Groups 1 and 2: Take good notes on the development of your obsession. You'll need the notes for your blog post next week.

• Stephen Greenblatt, "Filthy Rites"

For class,

Everyone reads the Greenblatt piece well.

Group 3 prepares to construct a hyperannotation, with this division of labor:

Group mamber b: structural notes
c: textmarks
d: references
a: obsessions and themes

Groups 1 and 2 do blog posts containing short updates on their obsessions. These are meant to foster small-group discussion in class, so problems and questions will be useful components of the posts.

The members of group 4 each bring something to share with the other members of group 4 in small-group discussion: a scholarly piece, information about a contextual issue, or a resource that might be helpful. For this week, examples of relevant contexts include Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" (4.98), the novelist Paul de Kock, Maud Gonne's letter (5.70), performances of Hamlet by women, Peter Carey (5.380), "The Croppy Boy" (6.145), Thomas Gray's "Elegy" (6.940), and Robert Emmett's speech from the dock (6.978). If you choose a contextual note, email your group when you make your choice so that other people know you've got a given topic covered.

• Episodes 7 (Aeolus) and 8 (Lestrygonians)
• Ashplant:
• Episode 7
• Episode 8

Groups 1 and 2: Do a blog post describing the key developments and passages relating to your obsession in today's reading.

Groups 3 and 4: Take good notes on the development of your obsession. You'll need the notes for your blog post next week.

• Bryan Cheyette, "Jewgreek is Greekjew: The Disturbing Ambivalence of Joyce's Semitic Discourse in Ulysses
• Henry Staten, "The Decomposing Form of Joyce's Ulysses

For class,

Everyone reads the Cheyette and Staten pieces well.

Group 1 prepares to construct a hyperannotation of Cheyette and group 2 of Staten, with this division of labor:

Group mamber b: structural notes
c: textmarks
d: references
a: obsessions and themes

Groups 3 and 4 do blog posts containing short updates on their obsessions. These are meant to foster small-group discussion in class, so problems and questions will be useful components of the posts.

• Episodes 9 (Scylla and Charybdis) and 10 (Wandering Rocks)
• Ashplant:
• Episode 9
• Episode 10

Groups 3 and 4: Do a blog post describing the key developments and passages relating to your obsession in today's reading.

Groups 1 and 2: Take good notes on the development of your obsession. You'll need the notes for your blog post next week.

• Graeme Gilloch, Myth and Metropolis: Walter Benjamin and the City

Group mamber c: structural notes
d: textmarks
a: references
b: obsessions and themes

In class, the people with the same assignment will collaborate in groups.

• Episodes 11 (Sirens) and 12 (Cyclops)
• Ashplant:
• Episode 11
• Episode 12

Groups 1 and 2: Do a blog post describing the key developments and passages relating to your obsession in today's reading.

Groups 3 and 4: Take good notes on the development of your obsession. You'll need the notes for your blog post next week.

• Joseph Valente, "'Neither fish nor flesh'; Or How 'Cyclops' Stages the Double-bind of Irish Manhood"

For class,

Everyone reads the Valente piece well.

Group 4 prepares to construct a hyperannotation of Valente, with this division of labor:

Group mamber d: structural notes
a: textmarks
b: references
c: obsessions and themes

Members of groups 1, 2, and 3 all write some notes reflecting on the secondary readings we have done so far. Which have been most useful to you in thinking about your obsessions, and what specific insights have they offered you? What kinds of sources will be useful to you in your further thinking? What keywords might you use to search for such sources? Take notes on your answers to these questions to prepare for small-group discussions in class.

• Episodes 13 (Nausicaa) and 14 (Oxen of the Sun)
• Ashplant:
• Episode 13
• Episode 14

Groups 3 and 4: Do a blog post describing the key developments and passages relating to your obsession in today's reading.

Groups 1 and 2: Take good notes on the development of your obsession. You'll need the notes for your blog post next week.

• Vicki Mahaffey, "Ulysses and the End of Gender."

For class,

Everyone reads the Mahaffey piece well.

Group 3 prepares to construct a hyperannotation of Mahaffey, with this division of labor:

Group mamber d: structural notes
a: textmarks
b: references
c: obsessions and themes

Groups 1 and 2 do blog posts containing short updates on their obsessions. These are meant to foster small-group discussion in class, so problems and questions will be useful components of the posts.

The members of group 4 each bring a critical piece (article or book) related to their obsession to share with their group members.

• Episode 15 (Circe), part 1 (through line 2741)
• Ashplant:
• Episode 15

Everyone: you'll do a full blog update for Wednesday. For now, post some notes on how your obsession develops in the first part of the episode. In class today, you will meet in groups, and we'll do the usual whole-class discussion of the week's readings on Thursday, when you'll be all the way through the episode.

• Episode 15 (Circe), part 2 (lines 2742-end)

Everyone: update your blog and consolidate your thoughts in the light of this climactic episode.

• Episodes 16 (Eumaeus) and 17 (Ithaca)
• Ashplant:
• Episode 16
• Episode 17

Groups 1 and 2: Do a blog post describing the key developments and passages relating to your obsession in today's reading.

Groups 3 and 4: Take good notes on the development of your obsession. You'll need the notes for your blog post next week.

• Jennifer Levine, "James Joyce, Tattoo Artist"
• Frederic Jameson, "Ulysses in History"

For class,

Everyone reads the Levine and Jameson pieces well.

Group 1 prepares to construct a hyperannotation of Levine and group 2 of Jameson, with this division of labor:

Group mamber d: structural notes
a: textmarks
b: references
c: obsessions and themes

The members of groups 3 and 4 each bring a critical piece (article or book) related to their obsession to share with their group members.

• Episodes 18 (Penelope)
• Ashplant:
• Episode 18

Groups 3 and 4: Do a blog post describing the key developments and passages relating to your obsession in today's reading.

Groups 1 and 2: Take good notes on the development of your obsession. You'll need the notes for your blog post next week.

• Jacques Derrida, "Ulysses Gramophone: Hear Say Yes in Joyce"
• Derek Attridge, "Molly's Flow: The Writing of 'Penelope' and the Question of Women's Language"

[No reading for today]

Write for the blog a consolidation post: a first shot at wrapping up your thoughts on your obsession and the novel. This may function as a sketch of your shorter paper.

Today we will use class time to meet in groups in the JRC grill area. Bring to this meeting (in hard copy) a brief project proposal for your shorter paper. This proposal should explain which track you are on in terms of the assignment and what you plan to do. Come prepared to give a concise (2- or 3-minute) explanation of your plan for the paper, so we can spend some time giving each of you feedback.

NO CLASS TODAY

SHORTER PAPER DUE TO MY OFFICE BY NOON

Today you will prepare for an in-class peer review of shorter papers. After this peer review, you may choose to revise your paper; if so, the final version is due to my office by Monday at noon.

Today we will meet in small groups in the JRC grill area to discuss your bibliographies on this schedule. Come prepared to give a concise (2- or 3-minute) explanation of your plan for the bibliography, so we can spend some time giving each of you feedback.

We will meet in the classroom at the usual time to discuss the bibliographies and cover essays, especially the latter: As you do the work of research, what possibilities do you see for the cover essays? Which of the possibilities I have offered seem most or least useful?

After that discussion, I will remain in the classroom for the rest of the period for individual consultations about the bibliographies.

WORK IN PROGRESS PRESENTATIONS: DAY 1

The simplest format for this day is that eight of you will present your paper idea, in the form of your choice, for about six minutes, and the class will respond to and converse with you for another six minutes. You may also make a case for alternative modes of presentation, including group or joint presentations.

WORK IN PROGRESS PRESENTATIONS: DAY 2

(Again,) the simplest format for this day is that eight of you will present your paper idea, in the form of your choice, for about six minutes, and the class will respond to and converse with you for another six minutes. You may also make a case for alternative modes of presentation, including group or joint presentations.

FINAL PAPER DUE BY 2:00 P.M.
TO MY OFFICE

Note: anyone taking the extension for this paper by the normal procedure will have a deadline of 2:00 p.m. on Friday, May 18.