ENG 606D:
Freaks, Tricksters,
& Iconoclasts
(In Children's Literature)
Joseph T. Thomas, Jr.
email: jtthomas@mail.sdsu.edu
Class Meetings: Thurs, 7:00-9:40PM; HH-210
Office: AL-255
Contact: jtthomas@mail.sdsu.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays: 2:00-3:00PM & Thursdays: 5:00-6:00PM (and by appointment)
!!!! IMPORTANT: Online Schedule !!!!
This course is a seminar, and as such, its success depends on you, the students, so I expect you to attend every class session and participate. As the leader of this seminar, I have four principal duties: 1) planning and convening of the course; 2) archiving material, that is, bringing together various texts and pointing you to sources important to our subject; 3) critically engaging and productively critiquing your ideas; and 4) evaluating your intellectual work. That work will involve the careful reading and analysis of our primary texts, self-directed historical and theoretical research, in-class discussion based on that research, two twenty-minute presentations distilling your critical engagement with a chapter or article, weekly online responses, and a final, capstone project of your design. A course in textual analysis and both literary and cultural history, Freaks, Tricksters, and Iconoclasts in Children's Literature (ENGL 606) concerns the those odd beings who serve to define normality by living on its borders, those who rarely are invited "inside," but who sometimes enter nonetheless by redefining "outside," remaking the world by rewriting its rules (as in the case of Hermes), or, more drastically, by destroying themselves and the world that casts them out (as in the case of Loki). Children and youth, of course, are the perennial outsiders, the others who define the human by being everything adults are not, small, unformed, proto, "innocent," ignorant, dangerous and endangered, sometimes literally--and always figuratively--freaks. This semester we will explore childhood's connection to the trickster, to the freak, to the iconoclast, asking why these figures so consistently find their way into our children's literature and how they function in it when they do. |
REQUIRED TEXTS
COLUM -- NORDIC GODS & HEROES
EDELMAN -- NO FUTURE : QUEER THEORY & THE DEATH DRIVE
FITZHUGH -- HARRIET THE SPY
HYDE -- TRICKSTER MAKES THIS WORLD
LESTER -- BLACK FOLKTALES
MCDERMOTT -- RAVEN : TRICKSTER TALES FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
SEUSS -- CAT IN THE HAT
SILVERSTEIN -- WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
SHERMAN -- GREASY GRIMY GOPHER GUTS
SNICKET -- CARNIVOROUS CARNIVAL (SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS #9)
YANG -- AMERICAN BORN CHINESE
PDF Articles on Blackboard
(These should All be available online by the beginning of Week Three, if not earlier)
Mikhail Bakhtin, from Rabelais and His World, Introduction
Rodolphe el-Khoury, Introduction to History of Shit (included in Laport pdf)
Henry Louis Gates Jr., from The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism, Chapter 1 & 2
Michael Holquist, Prologue to Rabelais and His World pages xii-xxiii (included in Bakhtin pdf)
Dominique Laporte, from History of Shit (Histoire de la merde), Chapter 1 & 2 (1978)
Philip Nel, from The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity, "Dada Knows Best: Growing Up Surreal with Dr. Seuss"
Philip Nel, from Dr. Seuss: American Icon, "Epilogue: American Icon, American Iconoclast"
Martin Pops, from Home Remedies, "The Metamorphosis of Shit"
Dr. Seuss, Annotated Cat in the Hat (largely for fun: read the pdf annotations along with the text)
Joseph T. Thomas, Jr. from Poetry's Playground, Chapter Five: "Child Poets and the Poetry of the Playground"
Joseph T. Thomas, Jr., "Reappraising Uncle Shelby"
Late Work:
Work will be turned in on the date due or not at all. We all have schedules, and it is imperative that we keep to them. However, I am not completely draconian. In extreme cases I may accept late work, but don't count on it.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is taking someone else's words, idea, or argument and claiming it as your own. Don't do it. Cite all your sources and think for yourself. I am unforgiving when it comes to plagiarism. Plagiarism will earn you an F for the course, and, in egregious cases, may result in expulsion from the university. Please familiarize yourself with SDSU plagiarism policies, discussed in your handbook. Keep in mind, throughout the syllabus and on my links page are links to many useful web sources. Do not take the words or ideas from any of these sources without providing the appropriate citations. This goes for oral presentations as well as written work.
Assignments/Grade Distribution:
20%: Participation
20% Weekly Blackboard Responses
15% 1st Author/Chapter Presentation
15%: 2nd Author/Chapter Presentation
30%: Final Project
Participation: (20%)
I expect you to come to class with something to say. In addition to researching the authors, think about when the books were published, reacquaint yourself with historical context that surrounds the work, its reception, etc. Make connections between the content of this course and others you have taken, and apply whatever theoretical, philosophical, or pedagogical rubrics you feel are appropriate (check out the children's literature, poetry, and theory links on my webpage. And use print sources as well. Again, the library is a wonderful place). Contributions to the Blackboard discussion threads above and beyond the minimum requirement counts towards your participation grade.
Here's a handy rubrick (these are, of course, guidelines--every student is unique, and no rubrick can account for the various ways individuals contribute to a seminar's success):
A level participation involves the student regularly making insightful, surprising, and generative comments in class and on the Blackboard discussion list. The student is a crucial member of the class who helps others understand complex ideas, raises issues that profoundly affect class discussion, and regularly makes intelligent connections between disparate readings, putting them into novel perspective. The student is a positive influence on the class dynamic, self-motivating, prepared, demonstrating regularly that she spends time outside of class considering the ideas raised in the course. She provokes everyone--even the professor--to think hard about difficult ideas.
B level participation involves the student reguarly making insightful and generative comments in class and on the Blackboard discussion list. The student eagerly enters into discussion, extending and complicating the ideas offered by the professor and her classmates. The student often has something to say about the texts and issues at hand, keeping in mind previous readings. The student is a positive influence on the class dynamic, receptive to complex ideas, self-motivating, and prepared, demonstrating regularly that she spends time outside of class considering the ideas raised in the course.
C level participation involves the student always attending class. The student is prepared, open to learning, and periodically makes comments in class, sometimes posting extra comments on Blackboard. The student is self-motivating and receptive to complex ideas.
D level participation involves the student making it to class fairly regularly, but when there, rarely making comments, and often appearing unprepared, suggesting that he has spent little time outside of class considering the ideas raised in the course. The student rarely if ever posts extra comments on Blackboard.
F level participation involves the student either missing a great deal of class, or, when attending, resisting the material unproductively. The student is often unprepared, rarely making comments, or making comments that reflect a refusual to treat the professor and classmates as colleagues in a learning community.
Responses (20%)
These are formalized reflections on the week's readings which will be posted to a discussion thread on Blackboard (log into Blackboard, click on "communication," and then on whatever week you are responding to. We'll go over the process in class). You will be a member of either group A or group B. Beginning on the second week, one group will write a Reading Response of two hundred and fifty to three hundred words (250-300) to the assigned readings. These responses may focus on one reading, or link two or more of the readings. While they may reference earlier readings, these responses should focus primarily on the readings for that week. Then the second group will write a shorter, one hundred and fifty to two hundred word (150-200) Peer Response to a Reading Response. These two groups will alternate throughout the semester. The first group (Reading Response) will post their work to Blackboard by 9:00PM Monday, before our class meeting. The second group (Peer Response) will post their response by 9:00PM Wednesday, before our class meeting. Responses will guide our class discussion. Reading Responses may point out and discuss crucial terms and concepts, challenge or extend ideas developed in previous discussions or in the critical readings, intepret the literature in relation to the themes of the course, or link the readings in surprising ways. Peer Responses will critically engage, challenge, or extend the ideas raised by that week's Reading Responses. Both responses should be cordial and collegial, even (or especially!) when disagreeing with classmates. You will want to be generative, opening up discussion, not foreclosing it.
Although you are required to post only once a week, you may want to (and are encouraged to!) continue discussing ideas once you've met the minimum requirement. In other classes, I've had discussion threads continue for weeks. These discussions are for your benefit, so enjoy them. Contributing often and articulately certainly won't hurt your participation grade.
You are NOT responsible for posting either a Reading Response or a Peer Response on the weeks you are giving a presentation.
The schedule is as follows:
Week Two:
Monday (9:00PM): Group A (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group B (Peer Response)Week Three:
Monday (9:00PM): Group B (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group A (Peer Response)Week Four:
Monday (9:00PM): Group A (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group B (Peer Response)Week Five:
Monday (9:00PM): Group B (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group A (Peer Response)Week Six:
Monday (9:00PM): Group A (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group B (Peer Response)Week Seven:
Monday (9:00PM): Group B (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group A (Peer Response)Week Eight:
Monday (9:00PM): Group A (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group B (Peer Response)Week Nine:
Monday (9:00PM): Group B (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group A (Peer Response)Week Ten: (NOTE: We will not be having class on Thursday this week. Instead, we will be meeting on Monday, March 23. However, the responses are due at the regular time)
Monday (9:00PM): Group A (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group B (Peer Response)Week Eleven: SPRING BREAK -- No Responses
Week Twelve:
Monday (9:00PM): Group B (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group A (Peer Response)Week Thirteen:
Monday (9:00PM): Group A (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group B (Peer Response)Week Fourteen:
Monday (9:00PM): Group B (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group A (Peer Response)Week Fifteen:
Monday (9:00PM): Group A (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group B (Peer Response)Week Sixteen:
Monday (9:00PM): Group B (Reading Response)
Wednesday (9:00PM): Group A (Peer Response)
Two Author/Chapter Presentations : (15% each)
Choose two chapters or articles from the assigned secondary (that is, non-literary) sources and have me approve your choices. You will then prepare two 15 to 20 minute presentations on your selections' main points, relating them to whatever readings we are responsible for that week, as well as works we've already encountered. Each presentation will also provide information on your piece's author, placing him or her in a broader, critical tradition, pointing to other important works s/he has written, and, perhaps, works by other authors you feel resonate with or challenge or complicate your selection. You will articulate your piece's main points, but, more importantly, you'll be engaging those points, extrapolating from them, extending them, critiquing them, and, crucially, relating them to our other readings--primary and secondary. Although you'll want to focus mainly on how the essays inform our understanding of our readings for that week, feel free to tie them into the primary texts we read up to that point in the semester. Be imaginative, and try to surprise us. Do a little research; see what others have said about your piece or, if it's a chapter, the book it comes from. In essence, be prepared to talk for 15 to 20 minutes in a generative way. Your talk will frame much of our discussion.Your presentation will take place whatever week your selection is assigned. (For example, if you choose to present on Freud's essay "The Uncanny," your presentation would take place on April 9.) Prepare a handout outlining your talk. This handout, which you will distribute to your peers on the day you present, should contain information they might find useful: it could feature related sources, other important works by the author, biographical information, whatever. Your first selection should be made by or before classtime, week two. Your second choice needs to be made by classtime, week three. First come, first serve, so choose quickly, lest someone beat you to the punch! If you can, choose pieces that you think will inform your research agenda in this class or as a graduate student at large. If you're dying to present on a piece relevant to this course and our readings but which is not on our reading list, let me know as soon as possible. I will allow you to present on one unassigned piece. I'll need to know soon so I can add the piece to our reading list and get copies to your classmates. Together we will determine when the new piece should appear on the syllabus.
Final Project: (30%)
Your final project will probably involve an extended, researched exploration of some issue related to our seminar topic, broadly conceived. Any sort of analysis or investigation appropriate to the subject of our course is acceptable. Final papers in this fashion should be thesis-driven, and around eight to twelve pages (standard conference paper length). These papers should be of publishable quality.
I also allow students the flexibility to craft their own final projects. If so, you need to prepare a written proposal, explaining the academic and creative worth of the project and how it relates to the subject matter we've been exploring over the semester.
Final projects are due on Thursday, May 21st. We will arrange a time for you to hand them in, if, for some reason, you can't do so electronically.