warning Outdated Browser Warning!
You are using an outdated version of Internet Explorer to view this site. Your browser is no longer supported by Microsoft and is a major security threat to your computer. Additionally, this site will not function correctly in your browser.
Please consider installing a more modern browser. Either upgrade Internet Explorer, or consider installing Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, which are all modern, updated web browsers.
Course Schedule
How To Read This Schedule: All readings will be completed before class on the date on which they are assigned. Anything in bold is work to be completed before class and brought with you on the day listed. Paper due dates, also in bold, indicate that the completed manuscript of your paper must be in the correct dropbox on eCampus before class starts on the day indicated.
Unit 1: Levels of Style / Fable
Week 1 Introduction
Tue 01/17
- Course Overview
- What is Style?
- What is Rhetoric?
Thu 01/19
- Three Styles
- Performing Prose, Chapter 2
- Performing Prose, Chapter 5
Week 2
Tue 01/24
- Fables
- David Sedaris, “The Migrating Warblers” (scroll down)
- Gabrel Garcia Marquez, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”
- Angela Carter, “The Werewolf”
Thu 01/26
- Field Work #1
Unit 2: Footing / Anecdote
Week 3
Tue 01/31
Thu 02/02
- Donald Barthelme, “Game”
- Joyce Carol Oates, “How I Contemplated the World From the Detroit House of Corrections and Began My Life Over Again”
- Fable Due
Week 4
Tue 02/07
- Anecdote
- J.K. Rowling, “The Tale of the Three Brothers” + Commentary
- Office Hours Rescheduled to 02.06
Thu 02/09
- Field Work 2
Unit 3: Sentences / Personification
Week 5
Tue 02/14
- Rheotrical Style, Chapter 7
- Commonplace Book Check
Thu 02/16
- Dashiell Hammett, “Arson Plus”
- Anecdote Due
Week 6
Tue 02/21
- Rheotrical Style, Chapter 8
- Rheotrical Style, Chapter 9
Thu 02/23
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Week 7
Tue 02/28
- Personification
- Biden/Obama Memes
- John Gardner, From Grendel
- (also be familiar with the plot of Beowulf)
Thu 03/02
- Field Work 3
Unit 4: Tropes / Encomium OR Invective
Week 9
Tue 03/14
No Class
Spring Break
Thu 03/16
No Class
Spring Break
Week 10
Tue 03/21
- Encomium / Invective
- Nicholson Baker, From Mezzanine
- Franklin P. Adams, “To a Thesaurus”
- J.M. Coetzee, From Age of Iron
- H.L. Mencken, “The Libido for the Ugly”
Thu 03/23
- Field Work 4
Unit 5: Schemes / Refutation
Week 11
Tue 03/28
Thu 03/30
- Jorge Luis Borges, “The Circular Ruins”
- Jorge Luis Borges, “The Library of Babel”
- Encomium/Invective Due
Week 12
Tue 04/04
Thu 04/06
- Field Work 5
Unit 6: Imagery / Description
Week 15
Tue 04/25
- Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried”
- Commonplace Book Final
Thu 04/27
- Description Due
Week 16
Tue 05/02
No Class
Redefined Day (Go To Friday Classes)