English
347/516—Cognition & the Novel
Spring 2023
Meetings: Tuesday & Thursday, 1-2:15
Argyros Forum 206A
Professor Richard Ruppel
Office Hours: By appointment
Updated May 4, 2023
Assignments
Useful Links
Canvas
Course
Description & Objectives: Neuroscience has infiltrated all the
arts and art criticism: music, theatre, art, film, and literature. This course
will introduce ways to read through a cognitive lens: drawing our attention to
consciousness and the unconscious, narrative identity, human autonomy, the
connection between emotion and cognition, trauma and traumatic memory, mental
illness and cognitive disabilities, and other matters related to neuroscience
and the brain. The emphasis of the course will be on literary analysis,
but we will also explore both historical and scientific components, the ways
these novels responded to the understanding of cognition in their day and how
contemporary scientists are grappling with these same issues today.
This
course involves significant reading and writing, both informal (on our
discussion board) and formal (essays and essay exams). Through our
reading, discussion, and writing, we will develop an understanding of how the
study of cognition can inform and enrich our reading.
Novels:
Dracula, Bram
Stoker. Norton Critical, 1996.
The Secret Agent,
Joseph Conrad. Penguin, 2007.
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf. Norton Critical, 2021
The Sound and the Fury, William
Faulkner. Norton Critical, 2014.
Additional
Novels for Graduate Students:
Middlemarch, George Eliot. Oxford, 2019
The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James. Norton Critical, 1995.
Essays & Stories:
I
will make these available in the Modules section of Canvas or via links.
Course Requirements:
Attendance: Please make
every effort to attend our classes. Missing more than three sessions will
adversely affect your grade, and students who miss five or more classes will
fail the course.
Communication: Whether
online or in class, please be courteous and constructive. I receive a
large number of emails, so when emailing, please identify the course (347/516),
your last name, and the subject in the subject line. I will respond
promptly to your emails; please respond promptly to mine.
Essays: We will
discuss criteria for the essays, and I will provide an essay description with
suggested topics several weeks before the due dates. Both essays must
include citations to at least two, authoritative secondary sources. By
the due-date, send an electronic copy directly to my email: ruppel@chapman.edu. If possible, send it as an MS Word document. Other text (not pdf.) documents will work as
well. Please do NOT send me a link to
a Google doc.
Late
essays will receive reduced grades, and I will not accept papers submitted more
than a week late unless you provide a convincing explanation. To pass ENG 347/516, you must complete both
essays. If you are having difficulty
completing a paper or a Canvas post, let me know.
I will
accept a revision of one of your essays, but you must schedule a conference
with me to discuss that revision before you submit it, and I may require you to
meet with a Writing Center tutor before our conference. I will average
the grade of the original paper and the revision.
Grades:
Undergraduates:
Participation *: 20%
**Essay 1: 20% (Due March 16) 5-7 pages
(1750-2500 words)
**Essay 2: 30% (Due May 11) 6-9 pages (2100-3150 words)
Final: 30%
Graduates:
Participation *: 20%
Article Synopsis &
Analysis: 5%
**Essay 1: 15% (Due
March 16) 6-8 pages (2100-2800 words)
**Essay 2: 30% (Due May 11) 8-10 pages (2800-3500 words)
Final: 30%
**Students who do not submit both essays will fail the course.
*The “Participation” grade is primarily your grade on
responses to the Canvas Discussion assignments. Here are my criteria
for evaluating your responses:
1. The
response should respond as specifically as possible to the prompt (or you
should indicate why you’re modifying the prompt).
2. The response should reveal close engagement with the work(s) 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. Responses should be substantive.
One final note on
grades: Because
this is a cross-listed class, undergraduate and graduate, I will not be able to
record your grades in Canvas (unless I go back to school and become an
accountant). Feel free to ask me how
you’re doing any time.
General Education
Category (undergraduates): Artistic
Inquiry: This course provides
students an opportunity to explore artistic media, performance and/or creative
expression. Learning Outcome: Students compose critical works that
analyze conceptually an artistic form (literature) at a
baccalaureate/pre-professional level.
English Literature Program Learning Objectives (undergraduates): English 347 is one
of the electives you may take to fulfill the English literature, creative
writing, or journalism majors. In the discussion board responses,
formal essays, and essay exams, you will have the opportunity to develop and
demonstrate the English Literature Program Learning Objectives listed
below:
1. Skill
in critical reading, or the practice of identifying and interpreting the
formal, rhetorical, and stylistic features of a text
2. Ability
to identify and compare key literary movements and genres
3. Ability
to explain and apply significant theoretical and critical approaches in the
field of English studies
4. Skill
in writing grammatically, coherently, and persuasively
5. Skill
in finding, analyzing, and utilizing secondary sources (including the
appropriate methods of citation)
6. Skill
in crafting a compelling thesis-driven essay, with substantiating evidence
Course Student Learning
Outcomes:
On
completion of this course, students will
1.
Demonstrate
insight into and awareness of the many connections between cognitive studies
and prose fiction
2.
Demonstrate
understanding of the terms and concepts associated with cognitive studies
3.
Engage
in literary critical analysis (oral and written)
4.
Find,
analyze, and use secondary sources
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.) We will discuss the proper way to incorporate sources into your writing
as you prepare the first essay. Though I am
not requiring you to submit your essays via Turnitin, I am an expert at finding
online and other sources, so I will notice if you make unacknowledged use of
someone else’s work. If I have doubts, I will submit your work to Turnitin
myself. So please save both of us from trauma and write your
Canvas Discussion posts and essays yourself.
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.
Please see me if you have ANY concerns about completing any of the requirements
of this course.
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.
Course Outline*:
Week
1: January 31-February 2 – Course business, an introduction to
cognitive literary study, and “Symbols
and Signs” by Vladimir Nabokov.
Week 2:
February 7-9 – Introduction continued, first chapters of Terence Cave’s
Thinking and Literature: Toward a Cognitive Criticism.
Week 3: February 14-16 – Dracula.
Week 4: February 21-23 – Dracula. Graduate synopsis &
analysis.
Week 5: February 28-March 2: The Secret Agent. Graduate synopsis & analysis.
Week 6: March 7-9 – The Secret Agent. Begin Mrs. Dalloway.
Graduate synopsis & analysis.
Week 7: March 14-16 –Mrs. Dalloway. [Essay 1 due March 16, 5-7
pages (1750-2500 words) undergraduates, 6-8 pages (2100-2800 words)
graduates]
Spring Break!
Week
8: March 28-30 – Mrs. Dalloway.
Graduate synopsis & analysis.
Week 9: April 4-6: The Sound and
the Fury. Graduate synopsis & analysis.
Week 10: April 11-13– The Sound and
the Fury.
Week 11: April 18-20 – The Sound
and the Fury. Graduate students
begin discussion of Middlemarch.
Preparations for second essay.
Week 12: April 25-27 – No classes for undergraduates. Meet with Ruppel to discuss second
paper. Graduates: Middlemarch. Begin The Portrait of a Lady.
Week 13: May 2-4 – No classes for undergraduates. Meet with Ruppel to discuss second
paper. Graduates: The Portrait of a Lady.
Week 14: May 9-11 – Wrap-up and
preparation for final. [Essay 2 due May 11, 6-9 pages, grad students,
8-10 pages]
Week 15: Final Exam: Monday, May 15, 1:30-4pm.
*We may decide to alter this schedule. I will make any changes online and give you plenty of notice.
For Thursday, February 2: Read “Symbols
and Signs” by Vladimir Nabokov. Begin reading Dracula, which we’ll discuss
beginning Valentine’s Day. (You decide whether that’s an appropriate date. In
any case, don’t read this book after midnight.)
For Tuesday, February 7: Read the first chapter of Terence Cave’s Thinking
with Literature: Towards a Cognitive Criticism. (In the Modules section of
Canvas.) By 10am Tuesday morning, respond to the Discussion prompts in Canvas
asking you to raise one question and make one observation about the
chapter.
For Thursday, February 9: Read the second and third chapters of Thinking
with Literature.
For Tuesday, February 14: Finish Dracula. Respond to the prompt on our Discussion board
in Canvas asking for your initial thoughts about the novel. How is it interesting from a cognitive
studies perspective?
For Thursday, February 16: Continued discussion of Dracula.
For Tuesday, February 21:
Read the essay for Ryan’s synopsis and analysis, entitled “Dracula &
Carmilla” in the Modules section of Canvas (in the Graduate Student Synopsis
section). Begin reading The Secret
Agent.
For Thursday, February 23: Dracula
wrap-up. Introduction to The Secret Agent.
For Tuesday, February 28:
Respond to the Secret Agent prompt on the Discussion board in
Canvas by 10am Tuesday, February 28.
For Thursday, March 2: Read the article
selected by Kristen on narcissistic personality disorder, “The Cognitive
Neuroscience of Narcissism,” available in the Modules section of Canvas.
For Tuesday, March 7:
No new reading.
For Thursday, March 9:
Read the article for Rachel’s presentation, “The Accidental Autist,” on
the representation of Stevie in The Secret Agent, in the Modules section
of Canvas. Read the first third of Mrs.
Dalloway. Clear your first essay
topic.
For Tuesday, March 14:
Finish Mrs. Dalloway. Respond to the Mrs. Dalloway prompt
in Canvas.
For Thursday, March 16:
No new reading. Send your first essay to my email directly: ruppel@chapman.edu. You might begin reading The Sound and the
Fury over the break. Graduate students should also begin Middlemarch.
For Tuesday, March 28:
Continued discussion of Mrs. Dalloway. Read the article assigned
by Brie for discussion Thursday.
For
Thursday, March 30: Read Brie’s article,
“Readers’ Mindreading Challenges, and How They Can Inform Cognitive Science,”
in the Modules section of Canvas.
Introduction to The Sound and the Fury.
For Tuesday, April 4: Read the first two chapters of The
Sound and the Fury. (Benjy’s and
Quentin’s chapters, pages 3-119 in the Norton edition.) Respond to the
discussion question in Canvas by 10am April 4.
For Thursday, April 6:
Finish The Sound and the Fury.
Read the article for Tessa’s presentation.
For Tuesday, April 11:
No new reading.
For Thursday, April 13:
Respond to the second Discussion question on The Sound and the Fury.
For Tuesday, April 18:
Finish discussion of The Sound and the Fury. Summarize cognitive approaches to the four
novels.
For Thursday, April 20:
Undergraduates only. Exchange topic ideas for the second essay.
For Tuesday, April 25:
Graduates only. Begin Middlemarch
discussion. Clear paper topics with me
this week.
For Thursday, April 27:
Graduates only. Finish Middlemarch
discussion.
For Tuesday, May 2:
Graduates begin discussion of The Portrait of a Lady. Undergraduates schedule meetings with me to
discuss second essays.
For Thursday, May 4:
Class for everyone. Bring your
paper ideas and theses.
For Tuesday, May 9:
Complete course evaluations. No new reading. Course wrap-up.
For Thursday, May 11:
Finish course wrap-up. Final exam description. Optional Canvas
discussion due by 10am. Second essay due
by the end of the day.
Scientific
·
Theory of Mind: Alvin
Goldman’s extended
discussion from the Oxford Handbook
of Philosophy and Cognitive Science (2012).
·
Embodied Cognition: From Scientific
American.
·
William James on the concept of embodied cognition. “James’s
Mystical Body in the Light of the Transmarginal Field
of Consciousness,” by Michel Weber.
·
Anil Seth, “How
Does Your Brain Construct Your Conscious Reality?” (17 minute TED). This is mind-blowing.
Literary
·
The Victorian Web:
A rich collection of pages devoted to all things Victorian, sponsored by Brown
University.
Bram Stoker
·
Project Gutenberg, online version.
·
1931 Dracula adaptation, probably the
best. Trailer. The
1992, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Entire (and entirely
over-the-top) version. 1992
trailer. NBC’s
series, 2013. What We Do in the Shadows,
trailer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
·
How
did Dracula become the world’s most famous vampire? By Stanley Stepanic,
at the University of Virginia.
·
Dracula,
the First Modern Vampire. By Emily Zarka, at Arizona State University.
Joseph
Conrad
·
Gutenberg The
Secret Agent: A Simple Tale.
·
Article
in Slate about references to The
Secret Agent after the World Trade Center bombings.
·
Trailer from the 1996 film.
·
The
Death of Marat, Jacques Louis David.
·
“The
‘Born Criminal’? Lombroso and the Origins of Criminal Psychology.” Diana Bretherick. An
introduction to Lombroso.
·
Video: A quick defense of Lombroso
(alluding to his theory of left-handedness and crime). By Nat Robertson at Emory University.
·
The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, modeled himself after the Professor
in The Secret Agent. A Washington
Post analysis. A Brigham
Young University graduate student first saw the connection with The
Secret Agent before Kacyznski was
identified.
Virginia Woolf
·
Mrs.
Dalloway online.
·
Elaine Showalter’s brilliant video
introduction to Mrs. Dalloway, including photos and videos from London
in the 1920s.
·
Another, hour-long
video, with reenactments of Woolf’s life and the novel.
William Faulkner
·
The Sound and the Fury. HTML from Faded Page.
·
Trailer
for the 2014 movie.
·
Lecture
with slides by Professor Wai Chee Dimock at Yale on The Sound and the Fury. 50 minutes.
·
“The Necessity
of Benjy as an Opening Narrator.” A
defense of the The Sound and the Fury’s narrative style,
by Alana Rome.
·
“The Impossible
World of the Schizophrenic:
William Faulkner’s Quentin Compson,” by Ineke Bockting. Style. 24.3 (1990): 484-497. This is available in the Modules section for
Faulkner in Canvas.
·
Faulkner’s Noble Prize for Literature acceptance
speech.
·
C-SPAN’s Famous
Writers Series, on Faulkner. Two
hours total.
·
Brief interview of Faulkner concerned with The Sound and the
Fury. Questioned by
students.
George
Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
·
Middlemarch,
online.
·
The interesting serial publication history of Middlemarch.
·
Trailer from the BBC
miniseries adaptation of Middlemarch.
·
George Eliot’s “Silly
Essays by Lady Novelists” (1856)
·
Virginia Woolf’s essay on
George Eliot, later compiled in her book of essays, The Common
Reader (1925).
·
“George
Eliot’s Ugly Beauty,” Rebecca Meade, The
New Yorker. And a video
of Meade from the New Yorker Festival, 2011, just before she wrote My
Life in Middlemarch (2014).
·
Ruth Livesey’s video
introduction to the novel.
·
George
Eliot, A Scandalous Life. BBC,
2002. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6.
·
Bernini’s The
Ecstasy of St. Theresa.
Henry James
·
Gutenberg
The Portrait of a Lady. Volume 1. Volume 2.
·
Brilliant
introduction to The Portrait of a Lady in a New
Yorker review of Michael Gorra’s The Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the
Making of an American Masterpiece (2012).
Just for
Fun
