Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Course Description
This course is a review of sociological research on the production, readership, and broader social implications of
literature. Topics will include: the issue of whether literature "reflects" society, the use of literature in establishing
collective identities, and reading as a social practice.
Required Texts:
Wendy Griswold, Bearing Witness; Readers, Writers, and the Novel in Nigeria. Princeton University Press.
Sarah Corse, Nationalism and Literature: The Politics of Culture in Canada and the United States. Cambridge
U.P.
Ken Gelder, Popular Fiction: The Logics and Practices of a Literary Field. London: Routledge.
These books are available in the campus bookstore and are also on reserve in the library.
Additional Required Readings: The readings marked with asterisks (**) in the outline below are available on
course reserve in the library, and are also available in the campus bookstore through the Eastman copy service. You
may also access pdf files of most of these readings online.
Course Requirements
1. Mid-term Exam: There will be a mid-term test worth 25% of your final grade. This test will be given on
Thursday, February 13 during the regular class time period. Failure to take the test on the scheduled day will
result in a grade of F for that test, unless there is some legitimate extenuating circumstance and arrangements are
made in advance.
2. Final Exam: A final exam worth 30% of your course grade will be given during the finals period. This final
examination will not be cumulative, that is, you will be responsible only for the material covered during the last half
of the course.
3. Course Paper: One term paper will be assigned during the semester. This essay will be worth 45% of your
final grade and it will be due Tuesday, April 8. A late paper will not be accepted unless there is some legitimate
extenuating circumstance, and I reserve the right to reduce the grade of any essay that is turned in late. This paper
should be approximately 10 double-spaced pages in length. See below for the stylistic guidelines for the essay.
Course Outline
Lecture Topics and Reading Assignments
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Literary Sociology
Readings: Griswold, Bearing Witness (chapters 3 and 4)
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8 NOTE:
Week 9
Popular Literature
Readings: Gelder, Popular Fiction
Week 10
Sociology of Reading
Readings: **Bautz, Early Nineteenth-Century Readers of Jane Austen; ** Rose, The Difference
Between Fact and Fiction
Week 11
NOTE:
Thursday, March 20, 2008 - The normal Thursday schedule of course activities is cancelled for March 20. In its
place, all lectures, labs, conferences and other course-related activities that are cancelled on Monday, March 24
because of Easter Monday will be held on Thursday, March 20.
Week 12
Week 13
Typing: Your essays must be typed and double-spaced with at least an inch margin on all sides.
Language: You may write your essays in either French or English.
Punctuation: Punctuation is important. Learning where to place commas and quotation marks, and how to use
semi-colons and the "em dash", are skills that will stand you in good stead. Regrettably, some students have not
mastered the basics of punctuation in their preceding education, or have not been in a position where they have been
forced to exercise these skills. Fortunately, help is available. The "Online reference sites" section in the McGill
Library website has a "Writing Tools" page which is very useful
Plagiarism is a form of deviant behavior that brings with it severe sanctions. A report on plagiarized material
submitted in class will be sent to the Associate Dean who may take additional action in accordance with the "Code of
Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures" as outlined in Chapter three of McGill's A Handbook of Student
Rights and Responsibilities (available online).
There are several sorts of plagiarism. The most obvious sort is to steal whole passages from some text and claim the
result as your own work. But incorporating any textual material in your essay (beyond a commonplace word or two)
without acknowledging its source is also a case of plagiarizing. You must put quotation marks around such material
if it is a direct reproduction of textual material. You may, of course, paraphrase some argument that appears in a text,
but your paraphrasing must involve more than altering a word or two, and you must also provide a reference at the
end of your paraphrase to the page number of the text where the argument originally appears. Further discussion of
the nature of plagiarism can be found in item #15, section III (Academic Offenses) of McGill's A Handbook of
Student Rights and Responsibilities (available online).
If you are unclear as to whether what you are engaging in plagiarism, do not take chances! Please see me.
Please Note Regarding final exams: According to Senate regulations, instructors are not permitted to make special
arrangements for final exams. Please consult the Calendar, section 4.7.2.1, General University Information and
Regulations at www.mcgill.ca.