Paper Series

ENG 195 Introduction to Literature
Spring 2011
Dr. David Banash
d-banash@wiu.edu

Paper Series Assignment: Over the course of the semester, you will write a one-page, single-spaced paper (600-800 words) almost every week. You must choose to write with only one of the four strategies below for any given week, unless otherwise directed. Out of all the papers you will write, by the end of the semester you must have written at least three papers in each strategy.

Response: Explain how the reading affected you. What was your experience reading like? How did you react emotionally? How did it affect you intellectually? How did it relate to your life, challenge what you believe, or confirm you point-of-view? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Did it remind you of something? Did it touch you? The trick to writing well as a response is to explain how exactly specific elements of the text prompt your response. You need to use brief quotations or quick paraphrases to locate your reader in a particular moment in the reading and then explain how it provoked your response. You have wide latitude in response to go just about anywhere the reading and writing take you, but through quotations and careful explanations, you have to show us how you got there from the text itself.

Analysis: Explain what some element of the reading means without any reference to your personal experience. The challenge here is to wrestle with the most literary elements of a reading. Is there a strange detail? For instance, why is Gregor Samsa a bug in Kafka's story and not, say, a horse? That detail isn't self-evident. You have to identify that detail, and then try to explain how it makes the story mean particular things for us. For instance, Gregor's status as a bug arguably makes him awfully gross, and you can find evidence in the story to support that. It makes others dislike him, thus making many things in the story happen. Show us what those are. Moreover, maybe his transformation says something about his life before it or even about his character generally. Explain as many facets of the detail you choose as you can without referencing anything of your personal experience. Good candidates for this assignment are striking metaphors, settings, descriptions, narrative surprises, or just those elements in the reading that you don't understand and you want to figure out. Why is Bluebeard's beard blue? Why does a beast play cards and wear a mask? Why is Cinderella covered in ashes? Why is the word blackberry so resonant? What does Gilbert mean about “finding the wabi?” Be sure to support all your points by briefly quoting things from the reading that support or suggest what you are saying is convincing.

Imitation: If you ask any major writer about what they read, they will tell you they read far more than they write and that their writing is deeply inspired by their reading life. In fact, most writers begin learning their craft and finding their own voice by writing in styles pioneered by their literary heros. Poet Allen Ginsberg was writing like English poet William Blake and novelist Bret Easton Ellis was trying his damndest to be Joan Didion, but both ended up becoming uniquely themselves in the process. The challenge here is to try and write like one of the writers we have read. This means you have to understand how they write. The first and greatest challenge is simply coming to understand the style of a particular writer. What makes their use of language distinct? The following questions should help with that:

No matter if you revise a fairy tale, invent a plot for a story, or try your hand at poems, the key thing is to work on successfully imitating the style of your chosen author. So, for instance, if you chose to imitate Jack Gilbert you cannot write in rhyme because Gilbert never does. If you revise a fairy tale in the style of Carter, you’ll have to have sentences that are long, use gorgeous vocabulary, and touch on larger abstract ideas. If you choose to write like Barry Hannah, you have to be funny in just the understated way he is, while if you choose Kafka, you have to have realistic descriptions that nonetheless inspire real horror.

Review: This option is available only when you attend an event designated by our Peer Mentors as an FYE part of the class. As you attend an event, such as a poetry reading, a fiction reading, a film or a lecture, be sure to take strong notes about both the content and your experience of it. Then, write a paper that combines both response and analysis. You want to write about your experience of the event and how it affected you. You also need to wrestle with some literary aspect of the content and say something substantial about what the “text” (be it a poem, a lecture, etc) means. Even in the context of a non-literary event, be alert for the literary work going on. For instance, what was the role of storytelling? Was there a particularly striking use of language? Was there a particularly striking image, description, characterization? Explore the power of these literary moments, and also be alert for their seduction, their ability to sway the audience to accept or become excited about certain kinds of ideas. Your strong notes will help you be specific here. Be sure to clearly introduce the event in your introduction, including where it took place, what it was, and who was participating.

Format: Your paper must be no more than a single page printed on only one side, single-spaced comprising 600-800 words. In that page, you must have the following:

Within that space you can write as much or as little as you must to meet the requirements of the assignment and, more importantly, the challenge you set for yourself.

Mechanics and Style: You should strive to write gracefully and without errors of grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Generally, this means proofreading, revision, and perhaps even working with a tutor at the writing center. Polish your writing and make it beautiful.

Quotations: If you are writing a response, analysis, or review you must quote from the text to support your points. In academic writing, this means leaving a way for your reader to find and confirm your quotations. The easiest way to do this is simply to follow your quotation with what is called a parenthetical citation. For instance, perhaps I want to quote a few lines of an essay entitled “The Storyteller” by Walter Benjamin. He writes, “Experience which is passed on from mouth to mouth is the source from which all storytellers have drawn” (84). Notice that this is followed with the page number in parenthesis. If you need to quote more than a line of poetry or a few sentences from a prose reading assigned for class, be sure to follow MLA guidelines on quotation available at the OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/2/

Outside Sources: Sometimes to understand a work of literature, you want to turn to others and see what they have said about it. This is an essential part of scholarly reading, but it also has its dangers, since as a new student you can become overwhelmed by the sources you read. If you do read an outside source to help you understand a reading, you must acknowledge that by offering at least one direct quotation and creating a “Works Cited” list. Failure to do so will constitute plagiarism in the context of this class. You can find out how to create a “Works Cited List” at the OWL.

Ambition Counts: Your papers will be graded both on the quality of your work and its ambition. You could choose to write very simple responses, for instance, that don't really illuminate either the reading or your own life. You could write pretty lame imitations that superficially resemble the reading in some ways, but have no depth or nuance. Real discovery, insight, or even beauty demand risks! Taking those risks means giving your attention, your time, and your passion over to the writing. Whatever your write, make it ambitious. While your writing may well fail to live up to its ambition, that ambition will also be clear, and ambitious failure will be more generously rewarded than a cautious success.

Due Dates: See the course calendar.