Freshman Preceptorial
THE OTHER:
A
STRANGER AMONG US
Course Description: In this course we will discuss the concept of the “other” by examining several narratives centered upon the protagonist's search for identity. Invariably authors introduce these quests through the rhetorical device of the stranger. We will consider the image of the stranger in order to confront the estrangement inherent in family origins, gender and literary acceptance, and the author’s unresolved feelings about him(her)self. Frequently the associations of a sense of place are bound together with memory, stasis and nostalgia. What gives a place a unique flavor is the fact that it is constructed out of a specific arrangement of social and physical relations that intersect at a particular point. The works selected center on the theme of alienation seen through the eyes of the stranger. We will discuss the function of this trope on three levels - the spatial, temporal and psychological. Of particular interest will be the disturbing 'falling away' from the family or group, and the movement from unity and acceptance to individuality and denial. Through a close reading of selected works, we will seek to understand the way one is able to construct and manipulate his/her own sense of place.
Course Requirements and Evaluation: Students will be expected to have completed the reading for each class as outlined below and to actively contribute to class discussion. Students are strongly encouraged to attend classes regularly. Students will also write papers, each of which will be due the third, sixth and eighth weeks of class. The final eight-page paper will be submitted first as a draft and then as a final version. Detailed instructions on writing assignments will be provided. The final grade for the course will be determined based on the following:
Attendance and Participation 20%
Quizzes and smaller writing assignments 10%
1 Midterm Exam 20%
Three Papers 15% (5% each)
Final Paper (8 pgs) 35%
Required Reading: (all books are available at the bookstore; works marked with an asterisk are short stories that will be provided to you)
Balzac, “The Unknown Masterpiece” Petrushevskaia, The Time Night
*Pushkin, “Queen of Spades” Strunk and White, The Elements of Style (4th Ed.)
*Gogol, “Diary of a Madman”
*Turgenev, “First Love”
Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
Camus, The Stranger
Achebe, Things Fall Apart
Morrison, Song of Solomon