ENGL 513-002: Place in
Nonfiction
Spring 2008
George Mason University
Scott W. Berg, Instructor
Course web site: http://classweb.gmu.edu/sberg1
We'll also be reading portions of two
other works:
--Henry David Thoreau's Walden
is available online at a terrific web site called "The Thoreau Reader":
http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden00.html.
We'll
read chapter 7, "The Bean-Field."
--Mark Twain's Life on the
Mississippi is
available in several locations online, none as pretty as the Thoreau
site. (Use Google.) We'll read the first three chapters.
Finally, you'll find E.B. White's long
essay "Here is New York" in a course pack at the bookstore, if you
don't have that essay somewhere else. (I recommend purchasing Essays of
E.B. White.)
You'll also
be
responsible for making copies of your own work.
Literary nonfiction has always been interested in place, in many of the same ways that fiction, drama, and poetry have always cared about place: as backdrop, as atmosphere, as metaphor, as locus of conflict, as home -- in other words, as "setting," in all of these usual manifestations and more. But there is a particular kind of nonfiction book that does more than use and honor place: rather, it makes one spot on the map the very point of the enterprise. In PrairyErth, William Least Heat-Moon talks about his self-appointed task to fashion a "deep map" of Chase County, Kansas, treading over its every acre in order to create a multi-layered portrait of place, a human map layered on top of an historical map layered on top of a physical map. This kind of close investigation of a single place -- a vertical, rather than horizontal, impetus -- is the thread tying together all of the readings in the class. We'll read about densely populated cities and barely populated rural regions, in forms ranging across the continuum from highly personal memoir to out-and-out journalism.
PREREQUISITES FOR ENGLISH 513
All the usual limitations on enrolling for graduate courses apply. I am not the person who dispenses information and advice about course eligibility. If you have questions, please contact Bill Miller, director of graduate creative writing, at 703/993-2763 or wmiller@gmu.edu (or, if you are an undergraduate, Laura Scott, English department advisor, at 703/993-1179 or lscott@gmu.edu).
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Your grade will be determined according the following mix:
Final paper/ project: 35%
Class participation/discussion starters: 25%
Other writing assignments (reading responses and pastiches): 20%
Final exam: 20%
Your grade is not based solely on an
assessment of your writing, nor is based solely on whether
you accomplished every item on my checklist. Doing good writing
and
being a good student are equally important.
A NOTE ABOUT SAVING YOUR WRITING
There can be no excuse in the year 2008 for losing one's only copy of a
piece of writing. Never
carry around a piece of writing without making
sure that you've also saved that piece of writing to 1) a hard drive
somewhere 2) a server somewhere (by e-mailing it to yourself) 3) a
second storage medium, or 4) a paper copy. Preferably, you'll use
several of these methods at once. Please don't come to me
and say and say "I only had one copy."
PLAGIARISM AND LATE ASSIGNMENTS
Here is the definition of plagiarism, according to the English Department:
Plagiarism means using the exact words, opinions, or factual information from another person without giving that person credit. Writers give credit through accepted documentation styles, such as parenthetical citation, footnotes, or end notes; a simple listing of books and articles is not sufficient. Plagiarism is the equivalent of intellectual robbery and cannot be tolerated in the academic setting.
Egregious plagiarism will result in an F for the assignment and a report of an Honor Code violation.
Late papers and assignments will be penalized. This penalty will depend on the nature of the offense; for example, an assignment one day late will suffer less than an assignment five days late. (The minimum penalty, though, is a half-grade reduction.) No assignment a week late or more will receive a passing grade. I will consider, though not automatically grant, extension requests made at least one class period in advance--but only if such requests are infrequent.