LITR 237: Fantasy (CRN 969)
MWF 11:00-11:50, FITZ 316

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Assignments

For this class you have 4 assignments: Angel postings, an essay, a group presentation and paper, and a final exam. All written assignments must be typed, and all need to be in MLA format. Each assignment is worth 25% of your final grade.

Angel Posting and Miscellaneous: For 8 of the 10 novels assigned in class, you will be required to post a response to the reading to the Angel discussion board bearing the name of the text. The posts will be due by noon the day after the class’s first discussion of the text—generally a Tuesday (you may post earlier; see the syllabus for specific deadlines). You have several options for your posts: you may respond to something that was discussed in class; you may respond to a question/comment posted in the instructions for the discussion board; you may respond to a classmate’s comments; you may come up with your own topic of discussion. Some things to consider discussing about all of the books include character analyses, thematic elements, imagery/symbolism, and other aspects of literary analysis that you have learned in other classes. You are welcome to compare the book to others we’ve read (or to others with which you are familiar). Do not give plot summaries.

I’m looking for a solid paragraph or two of concrete, specific analysis, and I encourage you to reference specific passages in the texts in your analyses. Choose only a single aspect of the text to discuss or your post will be too broad. Use standard academic English (i.e. no emoticons or internet/chat abbreviations) in your posts. Posts will be graded on a scale of 0 to 10: 0 = no post; 1-5 = E; 6 = D; 7 = C; 8 = B; 9-10 = A. Flaming posts will earn you an automatic 0 for the post, and a second occurrence of flaming will earn you a 0 for the remainder of this portion of your grade. Note that you may post more than the required 8 times (and I encourage you to do so), but you will only be graded on 8. Grades for the posts will be available on Angel. The grammar and mechanics policy will not be applied to the posts; however, excessive errors will have an adverse effect on your post’s grade.

In addition to the Angel posting, I may occasionally assign additional in-class writings or give quizzes if I am dissatisfied with the quality of class discussions. These additional works will count as part of this component of your final grade.

Essay: During the first part of the semester, you will be required to write an essay in which you develop an argument about a fantasy text. For this essay, you will have three options:

1. Choose a short story that was not assigned for class from one of your anthologies and analyze it. You can do a literary analysis of it or you may discuss its place within fantasy (Does the story fit into fantasy? How? Why or why not?) You may compare the story to other readings we’ve done in class if you like as you’re making your analysis.
2. Compare one of the novels on your syllabus to a film version of it. All of the books we will have read by the time the paper is due have at least one film version. Though it will be easier to choose one of the books already read for class, you may also choose one of the later books with a film version (The Color of Magic, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) instead. In your paper, you should discuss how the filmmakers have used film to interpret the novel. To determine this interpretation, look at what scenes are removed and what are emphasized. What kinds of changes have been made, and how do those changes affect your understanding of the storyline? [please note that many versions of Alice in Wonderland combine the two books, and that the film version of The Color of Magic combines the first two books in the Discworld series (you are welcome to examine the entire film or just the first half if you choose to write about The Color of Magic).]
3. Choose an original fantasy film and write an analysis of it. In your paper, you should either write an analysis of a literary aspect of the film (as you would a written text) or explore how the film fits within the realm of fantasy. Examples of original fantasy films include Willow, Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (not the TV series), Star Wars, Star Trek, Highlander, etc. Before you settle on a film, you need to make sure it’s an original film, not based off a book of some kind. If you’re not sure the film is original, you can check with me.

The paper should be 3-5 pages long and is due Friday, 9 October by 5. You may submit your paper by e-mail attachment, but do so as either a Word document (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text Format (.rtf).

Group Presentation: For this assignment, you will explore a specific sub-genre of fantasy with a group of 3 or 4 others and create a 10-15-minute presentation in which you explain the sub-genre to the class. On Friday, 4 September, you will decide on a group to work with and choose a sub-genre to explore. Each group must choose a different sub-genre, so have a couple of options in mind in case your first choice is taken by another group. I have included a list of sub-genres below, but if you know of another that you’d like to explore, you may propose it.

Your group’s job is to define the sub-genre and explain how it is distinct from other subgenres. In order to define your sub-genre, the group will choose one text that everyone in the group must read (it can be a text assigned for class). In addition, each group member must read at least one other text (groups choosing poetry or short fiction must read collections, not single poems or short stories). You may not read more than one book by the same author, and you may only use one book assigned in class as a main text, though you may list additional class texts on your list of additional books (see below). Once you have read the texts, you need to sit down and discuss what types of elements exist in the books that give them commonality. You also need to decide which of these elements (or combination of elements) makes your sub-genre unique. Note that you are not required to do secondary research, though you are welcome to do so. If you do additional research you must include citations on the written portion of the assignment. (Research includes using the internet to find lists of books for your sub-genre)

When you give your presentation, each member of the group must speak. You must define your sub-genre for the class by giving a list of specific criteria that the texts must have and examples of the criteria from the books you have read. Some of the criteria will always be required of the sub-genre while some may be common but still optional. You need to differentiate these criteria for the class.

Each group will, in addition to presenting its definition to the class, be required to submit a paper to me containing the following items:

• A written definition of the sub-genre with examples from each of the books you’ve read in it. This definition should be at least 1½ to 2 pages long.
• An annotated bibliography containing for each book read by the group (5 books for groups of 4, 6 books for groups of 5) an MLA Works Cited citation and a summary annotation of the text.
• A list of 10 additional books that fit the subgenre.
• A list of any secondary sources you use, if applicable. These sources include any websites you use to find books that fit your subgenre.

Here are some sub-genres that you may choose from:

For some of the sub-genres on the list, you may need to narrow your focus because they are very broad. You should also note that overlap between genres can be expected. For example, Dracula can fit both under Classic and Vampire (and probably several others). If you’re not sure what would fit under a certain sub-genre, you can ask for examples.

Presentations will begin on Monday, 30 November and conclude on Wednesday, 9 December.

Final Exam: For your final exam, scheduled for Wednesday, 16 December, from 2:00 to 4:30, you will be required to synthesize what you have learned throughout the semester in an essay. The specific topic for the essay will be given at the exam itself, but you should be prepared to discuss a minimum of 7 of the books you have read for class in the essay. The exam will be open note, open book, and you should bring your books with you so that you may reference specific passages in your essay

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