The following is a schedule of readings for each unit of the semester (this is subject to change based on our class progress). The readings listed under a particular day are the readings that will be discussed in our meeting that day; therefore, you should complete the readings prior to our meeting. For every day of reading, there will be a Reading Accountability Quiz (RAQs) due at the start of class that covers the material for that day's reading.
Information on the course books that you need to purchase is available on the FAQ page. If a book needs to be acquired (purchased, rented, borrowed, or stolen) by you, it will be marked [Acquire]. If it is available either as a link or PDF on the Canvas page, it will be marked [Canvas].
Please always make sure to read the introductory material for an author or a text.
Monday, January 8th
Read the syllabus
Familiarize yourself with the Canvas page
Complete the Entry Survey
Pick up required books
Wednesday, January 10th
Read the Close Reading Prompt and sign up for a due date
Read the Writing and Reading Tips on Canvas
Friday, January 12th
Read William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 [Canvas]
Monday, January 15th: NO CLASS (MLK Day)
Wednesday, January 17th
Read "Europe and the New World" [Canvas]
Read Martin Luther, "Open Letter to the Christian Nobility" (1520) [Canvas]
Friday, January 19th
Come prepared to do a close reading excercise in class!
Monday, January 22nd
Read Marguerite de Navarre, from the Heptameron (1588) [Canvas]
Wednesday, January 24th
Read Miguel de Cervantes, from Don Quixote Part I (1605) (Norton V. 1 1535–1575)
Friday, January 26th
Read Miguel de Cervantes, from Don Quixote Part II (1615) (Norton V.1 1642–1650, and 1685-1693)
Craft a great discussion question from any Don Quixote reading and submit it by Thursday at midnight.
Monday, January 29th
Read William Shakespeare, The Tempest Acts 1 and 2 (1610) [Canvas]
Wednesday, January 31st
Read William Shakespeare, The Tempest Acts 3– 5 (1610) [Canvas]
Friday, February 2nd
Reread the Epilogue of The Tempest and annotate; bring in parts 1 and 2 of the process worksheet
Monday, February 5th
Read "The Enlightenment in Europe and the Americas" [Canvas]
Read René Descartes, from "Discourse on Method" (1637) [Canvas]
Wednesday, February 7th
Read John Locke, from Second Treatise, "Chapter V: On Property" (1689) [Canvas]
Friday, February 9th
Bring in a short summary of your assigned paragraph from Locke.
Monday, February 12th
Read Immanuel Kant, "What is Enlightenment?" (1784) [Canvas]
Read Jonathan Swift, "A Modest Proposal" (1729) [Canvas]
Wednesday, February 14th
Read Alexander Pope, "Essay on Man" (1733) [Canvas]
Read from Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedie, "Africa," "Encyclopedie," and "Beast, Animal, Brute" (1751) [Canvas]
Friday, February 16th
Reread Swift as necessary to bring in an arguable, specific and complex claim in response to the following question: what, specifically, is Swift satirizing and what are the key elements of his satire?
Monday, February 19th
Read Olaudah Equiano, from The Interesting Narrative (1789) [Canvas]
Wednesday, February 21st
Review Day: Bring in a list of questions, particularly about keywords.
Friday, February 23rd: NO CLASS (Use this time to complete the midterm)
Midterm due Sunday, February 25th at Midnight
Monday, February 26th
Read "An Age of Revolutions" [Canvas]
Wednesday, February 28th
Read Letters I-IV and Chapters 1–2 of Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (pages 9-32) (1818) [Acquire]
Read Comparative Close Reading Prompt
Friday, March 1st
Read Vol. 1, Ch. 3 through Vol. 2, Ch. 1 of Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (pages 32–69) (1818) [Acquire]
Monday, March 4th
Read Vol. 2, Ch. 2 through Vol. 2, Ch. 8 of Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (pages 69-105) (1818) [Acquire]
Wednesday, March 6th
Read Read Vol. 2, Ch. 9 through Vol. 3, Ch. 4 of Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (pages 105–139) (1818) [Acquire]
Friday, March 8th
Activity to come.
Monday, March 11th
Finish Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (pages 139–168) (1818) [Acquire]
Wednesday, March 13th
Read "Preamble" and "Chapter 1" The Communist Manifesto (1848) [Canvas]
Friday, March 15th
Choose one keyword from this semester (you can find our keywords on the "Running List of Keywords" link under "Midterm"), and choose two texts that you think have something to say about this keyword. Bring in a list of observations about how the keyword operates in each of the texts and a statement about what this comparison teaches us about the keyword.
Monday, March 18th
Read Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener (1853) [Canvas]
Wednesday, March 20th
Read "Introduction" and Selections from Chapters 1–4 of Charles Darwin, Origin of Species (1859) [Canvas]
Friday, March 22nd
Activity to come.
March 25th-March 29th: NO CLASS-SPRING BREAK
Monday, April 1st
Read "Modernity and Modernism, 1900–1945" [Canvas]
Read Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part I (1899) [Acquire]
Wednesday, April 3rd
Read Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part II (1899) [Acquire]
Friday, April 5th
Discussion Board Activity
Monday, April 8th
Read Chinua Achebe, "An Image of Africa" (1978) [Canvas]
Wednesday, April 10th
Read Sigmund Freud, from Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, Part I (Parapraxes) (1915) [Canvas]
Friday, April 12th
Discussion Board Activity
Monday, April 15th
Read Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own Chapters 1–3 (1929) [Canvas]
Wednesday, April 17th
Read Aimé Césaire, Notebook of a Return to the Native Land (1939) [Canvas]
Friday, April 19th
Discussion Board Activity
Monday, April 22nd
Read Michel Foucault, "Panopticism" (1977) [Canvas]
Read Jorge Luis Borges, "On Exactitude in Science" (1946) [Canvas]
Read Jean Baudrillard, from The Precession of Simulacra (1981) [Canvas]
Wednesday, April 24th
Read Amitov Ghosh, Part II of The Great Derangement (2016) [Canvas]
Friday, April 26th
MANDATORY ASSESSMENT (in-class)
Discussion Board Activity
Final Exam due Monday, April 29th at 3pm