Peace & Justice Studies/English 360: War, Memory, & Literature

Dr. Richard Ruppel

Canvas
Assignments
Useful Links
January 5, 2026

                                                                               

Office: 07 Smith Hall
Office Hours: Monday & Tuesday, 8:30-9:30am & by appointment   
Phone: 997-6754 (office)
Email: ruppel@chapman.edu
Class Meetings: Tuesday/Thursday 1-2:15 pm – 201 Doti Hall

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

 

 

Texts

Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway.  [First published 1925] Norton Critical, 2021
Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms. Or here. [First published 1929] Scribner, 2014
Elie Wiesel, Night.  [First published (in Yiddish) 1956] Hill & Wang, 2006
Ruth Klόger. Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered.  [First published (in German) 1992]          Feminist Press, 2003
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five.  [First published 1959] Dell, 1991.
Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried.  [First published 1990] Mariner Books, 2009. 
Dương Thu Hương, Novel without a Name.  [First published 1991] Penguin, 1996.


Course Description and Objectives:

 

War and conflict have been the central inspiration of literature since human beings began writing. The Epic of Gilgamesh, from Mesopotamia, composed over four thousand years ago, depicts King Gilgamesh’s battles with various demi-gods.  In the Hebrew Bible, known to Jews as The Tanakh and to Christians as the Old Testament, Jehovah is shown leading the Jews to victory in battle (or to defeat if they have been disobedient). The great Indian epic, the Mahabharata (completed and compiled by the fourth century), is centrally concerned with war. The Iliad and Odyssey, with the Hebrew and Christian Bibles the most influential literary productions of the West, depict the Trojan War in some detail, along with its origins and consequences.

 

This course will focus on the war literature of the twentieth- and, if we have time, the twenty-first centuries.  Before the twentieth century, authors most often treated war solemnly. In literature, war brought glory. Here is part of the most famous tribute to war in English, from Shakespeare’s Henry V, spoken by King Henry before the Battle of Agincourt: 

 

From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

 

(And here is Kenneth Branagh’s stirring rendition.)

 

But the great wars of the twentieth century, anticipated by our own Civil War, introduced increasingly accurate and deadly techniques and weapons, and the inspiring words long associated with battle: glory, courage, honor – all accompanied by and confirmed by God’s sanction – began to ring hollow.  World War II, with its Holocaust association and its destruction of whole cities, culminating in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, fundamentally changed our vision of war.  “Now I am become Death,” Robert Oppenheimer said after the first successful test of the atomic bomb, quoting from the Bhagavad Gita, “the destroyer of worlds.” 

So this introduction to war literature will be skewed, and we will see war treated less as a path to glory than as a tragic waste, a foolish and useless source of pain and death, or even as a terrible, black comedy.  In the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries, God continues to lead some people to war, but for others, God can only be invoked in the name of peace, and for still others, the wars of the last century prove that God is dead. 

 

We will read a small selection of poetry, stories, novels, and memoirs provoked by the World Wars, the Holocaust, and the Vietnam War. These readings are difficult; at times you will want to turn away. Our challenge will be to maintain an analytical, academic tone at the same time that we respond emotionally to these works of great sadness, pain, and beauty. 

 

Our Course Learning Outcomes:

 

1.     You will practice a good deal of critical reading, including poetry, leading you to learn to identify and analyze the formal, rhetorical, and stylistic features of different genres.

2.     You will improve your understanding of the development of war literature through the 20th century in its historical context. 

3.     You will continue to work on your critical thinking skills as you read and respond to the literature on the discussion board and on the three exams.

 

General Education:

 

This course fulfills the Values and Ethics Inquiry general education requirement: “Students articulate how values and ethics inform human understanding, structures, and behavior.”  The study of war and its representations in literature is a study in values and ethics.  When is violence at any level justified? What are the ethical and moral issues raised by war?  How do our readings this semester affect my own moral system?  How should I myself act in a world prone to fight wars to settle national disagreements?

 

This course also fulfills the Artistic Inquiry general education requirement: “Students compose critical or creative works that embody or analyze conceptually an artistic form.”  Your responses to the discussion board and exams will give you the opportunity to analyze works of literature as art forms.   

 

Weekly Syllabus*

Week 1 –February 3-5: Classical, Biblical, and Medieval Accounts of War
Week 2 – February 10-12:  World War I Poetry & Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway. 

Week 3 – February 17-19: Woolf.
Week 4 – February 24-26:  Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms.  
Week 5 – March 3-5: Hemingway. The Holocaust & WWII:  Elie Wiesel, Night.
Week 6 – March 10-12: Elie Wiesel.  First exam. 

Week 7 – March 17-19: Rodgers Center visit Tuesday. Ruth Klόger, Still Alive.

 

Spring Break!


Week 8 – March 31-April 2: Ruth Klόger.
Week 9 – April 7-9: Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five.
Week 10 – April 14-16: Kurt Vonnegut.  Second exam. 

Week 11 – April 21-23:  Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried.

Week 12 – April 28-30: Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried. Dương Thu Hương, Novel without a Name.
Week 13 – May 5-May 7: Novel without a Name. 

Week 14 – May 12-14: Wrap-up and preparation for final
Week 15 – Final:  Thursday, May 21st, 1:30-4 pm. 

 

 

*We may agree to change the syllabus, but I will give you plenty of notice, and I'll keep the syllabus updated on the Web. 

Course Requirements

You are allowed three free absences through the semester. Missing more than three will affect your grade, and you will not pass this class if you miss six or more classes.

Keep on top of the reading and other work through the semester. If you haven't read the assignment, you will find our class discussion both incomprehensible and dull.

Minutes: Each of you will keep minutes for one week, sharing the duties with a partner.  You will collate your minutes with your partner’s and then send them to me, preferably as a Word document.  They are due the following Monday, and I will post them in Canvas. 

Grades:
Assignments & Participation*: 20%
Minutes:  10%
Exam 1: 20% March 12
Exam 2: 20% April 16
Final: 30%

*This is primarily but not exclusively your grade on the Canvas Discussion Board posts; it will also take your class participation into account.  Here are my criteria for evaluating your posts:

1. The posting should respond as specifically as possible to the prompt (or you should indicate why you’re modifying the prompt).

2. The posting should reveal close engagement with the work under discussion.

3. The posting should contribute to the discussion, so later postings should not simply repeat earlier postings, and they should reflect some engagement with earlier postings.

4. Postings should be substantive. 

I will post grades in Canvas, but I keep the official grades in my gradebook and average your grades based on a four-point scale (A= 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, etc.). In the past, there have sometimes been differences between students' Canvas cumulative grades and their actual grades. I think I've fixed this, but I calculate your final grades; the Canvas final grades are not official grades. If you have any questions about your grades, don’t hesitate to ask me. 

A:  4.0
A-: 3.7
B+: 3.3
B: 3.0
B-: 2.7
C+: 2.3
C: 2.0
C-: 1.7
D+: 1.3
D: 1.0
D-: .7
F: 0

I will be happy to discuss your grades, and I am always happy to see you for any reason. 

Chapman University Academic Integrity Policy: 

Chapman University is a community of scholars that emphasizes the mutual responsibility of all members to seek knowledge honestly and in good faith.  Students are responsible for doing their own work, and academic dishonesty of any kind will be subject to sanction by the instructor and referral to the university's Academic Integrity Committee, which may impose additional sanctions up to and including dismissal.  (See the Undergraduate Catalog for the full policy.)

 

ChatGPT and other Large Language Model (LLM) chatbots:

1.  Typing a prompt into an LLM chatbot, copying the response, and then submitting that response for an assignment is an obvious form of academic misconduct.  Don’t do it. 

2.   Chatbots are sometimes inaccurate.  In the summer of 2023, when I asked ChatGPT for a biography of Richard Ruppel, a Chapman English professor, I found that I was born in Fairview (false), had been an expert on the Holocaust (mostly false), had graduated from Yale and Harvard (false), and was now dead (demonstrably, I hope, false).  People in the field describe these errors as “hallucinations,” and they are presented with supreme self-confidence. LLMs are improving, but hallucinations continue to occur. 

3.   If I suspect that you have pasted in a response produced by an LLM, I will check the various services that can detect this.  If those services confirm my suspicion, I will call you in for a conference, and we will go over your submission line by line while I ask pointed questions. 

4.  Chatbots can be inaccurate, but they do offer clear, useful information which users should check.  These are still early times, but through this semester (and through your academic career) we will all discover ways to help you use them to enhance your learning. 

 

The following discussion of the use of LLMs in academic settings was developed by Dr. Nora Rivera, a former professor in Chapman’s English department: 

 

Acceptable Uses of LLMs

Not Acceptable Uses of LLMs

·       To improve your work

·       To brainstorm

·       To explore potential counterarguments

·       To fine-tune research questions

·       To draft an outline to organize your thoughts

·       To check grammar and style

·       To check format

·       To translate words and phrases

·       To replace your work

·       To cheat on the writing & research process

·       To obtain answers to assessments

·       To generate a full draft of your work

·       To generate large chunks of text with little or no input from you as an author

 

·       Students must cite AI technologies when appropriate (e.g., when using images generated by AI technologies, when referencing an answer provided by AI technologies, et cetera)

·       Copying works entirely generated by AI technologies and submitting them as original content is considered an academic integrity violation

·       Always revise your work before submitting it. You are responsible for any inaccurate, biased, offensive, or otherwise unethical content you submit regardless of whether it originally comes from you or an AI model.

 

In-Class use of laptops, tablets, and phones:

You may use a laptop to take class notes only when you are one of the week’s note-takers.  Otherwise, laptops and tablets must remain closed, and you may not consult your phone during class.  If you have a reason to consult one of these devices during class, you must receive my permission to do so beforehand.  If I see you consulting your phone during class, I will mark you absent. 

Chapman Equity and Diversity Policy:

Chapman University is committed to ensuring equality and valuing diversity.  Students and professors are reminded to show respect at all times as outlined in Chapman’s Harassment and Discrimination Policy.  Any violations of this policy should be discussed with the professor, the Dean of Students and/or otherwise reported in accordance with this policy. 

 

Chapman's Students with Disabilities Policy:

In compliance with ADA guidelines, students who have any condition, either permanent or temporary, that might affect their ability to perform in this class are encouraged to inform the instructor at the beginning of the term. The University, through the Disability Services Office, will work with the appropriate faculty member who is asked to provide the accommodations for a student in determining what accommodations are suitable based on the documentation and the individual student needs. The granting of any accommodation will not be retroactive and cannot jeopardize the academic standards or integrity of the course. 

It is very important to me that ALL students feel welcome and encouraged to learn in my classes.  If you have any concerns about participating in class, writing posts, or taking our exams, do not hesitate to speak with me.  I want you to feel challenged in this class, but if you feel overwhelmed, let me know. 

 

 

Useful Links

 

Achilles & Patroclus. The archetype of transcendent friendships among soldiers.

 

Poetics

·       Dactylic meter: Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1854).  Video reading. 

·       Anapestic meter: Byron’s “The Destruction of Sennacherib” (1815). Video reading. 

 

World War One

·       The Poetry Foundation’s fine collection of WWI poetry, with a brief introduction. 

·       War Poetry Website. 

·       Images of WWI, from the Britannica Website. 

·       Interesting New Yorker article on Rupert Brooke. 

·       Pro-war poetry.  Julian Grenfell, “Into Battle.” Jessie Pope: “The World War I Poet Kids are Taught to Dislike” (BBC), “War Girls,” “No!” “Who’s for the Game?”

·       “Shell Shock - The Psychological Scars of World War 1.”  A brief video history of the condition. 

·       Wilifred Owen, probably the best English poet from WWI. 

·       Siegfried Sassoon, another fine WWI poet.  He was one of the models for Septimus Smith, in Mrs. Dalloway.   

 

Mrs. Dalloway

·       David Bradshaw’s (no relation to William) fine analysis of the way the novel responds to WWI (in the Canvas Module section). 

·       Elaine Showalter’s description of Mrs. Dalloway.  A terrific British Library production.

·       One source for Clarissa Dalloway, Kitty Maxse.   

·       Woolf Works.  A ballet based on three works by Virginia Woolf. 

 

Farewell to Arms

·       Passage from Huck Finn demonstrating Hemingway’s stylistic source.

·       “Westron wynde” referred to on page 171.  Set to music. 

·       A video reference to the novel in The Silver Linings Playbook. 

·       Trailer to the 1932 film, full film with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. Trailer for the 1957 adaptation, 1957 full film.  With Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones. 

 

 

The Holocaust

·       The Rogers Center for Holocaust Education at Chapman. 

·       Elie Wiesel bio from “The Academy of Achievement.” (In ITunes.) 

·       Brief, edited interview with Elie Wiesel in 2014.  Video obituary, NYTimes. 1994 Interview with Charlie Rose. 

·       United States Holocaust Museum.  The Ilse Salomon Collection. 

·       Holocaust Timeline.

·       Trailer for a series, A Small Life, about Miep Gies, who helped hide the family of Anne Frank. 

·       The Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance. 

·       Poetry.  “First They Came for the Jews”; “Holocaust Poem”; “The Little Boy with Hands Up”; “The Burning of the Books,” “Daddy.”

·       Jewish Women’s Archive biography of Ruth Klόger. 

·       2001 review of Still Alive in the NY Times – critical of Klόger’s feminism. 

·       Ruth Klόger discusses the reception of Still Alive. She reads from Still Alive at UCI.  She speaks at UCSB and reads from her book.  She speaks at Oregon State University on “The Shoah in Literature.”   

·       The New York Times obituary for Ruth Kluger. 

·       Khan Academy introduction to the Holocaust. 

·       United State Holocaust Museum (in Washington DC). An authoritative source. 

·       Auschwitz Camp Complex maps. 

 

World War II

·       Poems:  “High Flight,” John Magee; “i sing of olaf, glad and big,” e.e. cummings; “Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” Randall Jarrell.

·       Kurt Vonnegut.  Interview on his life and career (1983).  Extremely brief biography.  Vonnegut on “the shape of stories.” 

Vietnam

·       Straightforward account from one platoon commander about fighting in Vietnam.

·       “The US defeat in Vietnam was a political choice.”  A defense of the war by a historian from the Hoover Institution, Victor Davis Hanson. This video is hosted by PregerU, a right wing foundation devoted to climate-change denial and other right wing issues.    

·       Trailer for the PBS Ken Burns special, Vietnam.  A PBS story on the series. 

·       Glossary of military terms from Vietnam. 

·       Poems:  Yusef Komunyakaa, “Tu Do Street.” Leroy Quintana, “Natural History.” Robert Borden, “Meat Dreams: A Poem of the Vietnam War.” 

·       Trailer to Apocalypse Now. 

 

Tim O’Brien

·       Tim O’Brien, on why he writes about Vietnam.  Interviewed about The Things They Carried.  Reading “How to Tell a True War Story.”  On “The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong,” which, according to this Web page, may have been based on a true story. 

Thu Hương Dương

·       Biography of Thu Hương Dương; thorough NYTimes article from 2005; a multi-part video of an event involving Dương Thu Hương.  Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.  Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7.    

·       The story of Au Co and Lac Long Quan, a founding myth of Vietnam referred to on p. 247. 

·       A good review of Novel Without a Name. 

 

Assignments

For Thursday, February 5:  Read Thomas Hardy’s “Channel Firing,” “Drummer Hodge,” (reading), “A Wife in London,” “The Man He Killed”; David Ferry, “The Soldier”; Rupert Brooke, “The Soldier”; A. E. Housman, “Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries”; Hugh MacDiarmid, “Another Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries”; Carl Sandburg, “Grass”; e.e. cummings, “my sweet old etcetera,” (read) “i sing of olaf glad and big,” (read) & (read); and Siegfried Sassoon’s “The Redeemer,” “Christ and the Soldier,” “They,” “The Hero,” “The General,” “Glory of Women,” “Everyone Sang”). Be prepared to read aloud and discuss one of the poems. Begin reading Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, which we’ll begin discussing Thursday, February 12.

 

For Tuesday, February 10:  Read Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem of Doomed Youth,” (read), “Dulce Et Decorum Est” (read), “Exposure,” Insensibility,” “The Send-Off,” “Futility,” “Strange Meeting,” “The Sentry,” “Spring Offensive.” By 10am, February 10, on the Canvas Discussion page, briefly describe the ways the poetry we have read both confirmed and contradicted your sense of what constitutes "war literature."  Continue reading Mrs. Dalloway. 

 

 

 

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