English 230—Great Narratives

Professor Charles Ross cross@purdue.edu

HEAV 126  TTH 4:30-5:45

 

Office: HEAV 304A; hours, Tuesday 1-4:00 or by appointment anytime.

 

Books are available at Von’s Bookstore:

 

• Homer, The Odyssey, trans. Allen Mandelbaum
• Matteo Maria Boiardo, Orlando Innamorato (Orlando in Love), trans. Charles Ross, Parlor Press: order either the text ($40) or ebook ($12.00) through Amazon or Parlor Press. Do so right away.
• Mme de LaFayette, The Princess of Clèves. Penguin.
• Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
• Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
• Marcel Proust, Swann’s Way
• Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire

 

Schedule:

 

August 24: Odyssey 1

August 26: Odyssey, 2-4

 

August 31: Odyssey, 5-8

September 2: Odyssey, 9-12

 

September 7: Odyssey, 13-18

September 9: Odyssey, 19-24

 

September 14: Exam

September 16: Orlando Innamorato 1: Arthurian Romance

 

September 21: Orlando Innamorato 2-5: Orlando’s Odyssey

September 23: Orlando Innamorato 6-9: The Custom of Castle Cruel

 

September 28: Orlando Innamorato 10-13: The Evil King of Baghdad

September 30: Orlando Innamorato 14-20: The Fortunes of War

 

October 5: Orlando Innamorato 21-29: Fraternal Strife

October 7: Orlando Innamorato, book 2, cantos 1-5, 14, book 3, cantos 5 and 9

 

October 14: Exam

 

October 19: The Princess of Cleves

October 21: The Princess of Cleves

 

October 26: The Princess of Cleves

October 28: Sense and Sensibility

 

November 2: Sense and Sensibility

November 4: Sense and Sensibility

 

November 9: Exam

November 11: Great Expectations                 

 

November 16: Great Expectations

November 18: Great Expectations

 

November 23: Swann’s Way

 

November 30:  Swann’s Way

December 2: Pale Fire

 

December 7: Pale Fire

December 9: Pale Fire

 

December ??    Final

 

Grades:

In addition to the four exams, you will write two 5-page comparative papers. Each assignment is worth 20 points. I won’t count your lowest grade. Two points will be deducted for each unexcused absence. You are expected to follow Purdue’s policy on academic integrity.

 

Papers:

The first paper will be a comparison of a character or theme from the Odyssey and the Innamorato. It will be due October 19. It can be rewritten for a new grade. The second paper will be a comparison of a character or theme from any two of the remaining novels. It is due December 9.

 

Please bring in a printed question or observation, with your name on the paper, every day of class—this will serve as a quiz, basis of class discussion, and spur to keep you current with the reading. I may email you a suggest a topic I want you to think about.