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How to Live

English 118
Smith College, Fall 2015
Hillyer 109, T Th 910:20
Instructor: Pam Thompson
pthompson@smith.edu
Office: Jacobson Center, Seelye 307
Hours: Tuesday 4:305:30pm, and by appointment

About the Course


The virtues of life are comparable to the
virtues of good writingstyle, connectedness,
grace, eleganceand also, we must not forget,
sometimes getting it right.
Alexander Nehamas, The Art of Living
When will you begin to live virtuously, Plato
asked an old man who was telling him that he
was attending a series of lectures on virtue.
One must not just speculate for ever; one must
one day also think about actual practice.
Immanuel Kant
Through wide-ranging readings from ancient philosophy to
contemporary memoirs, we will engage this most essential question:
How are we to live our lives? Philosophers and artists, farmers and
writers, religious leaders and political activists have given us a rich
variety of approaches to this question, envisioning utopias both
society-large and farm-small, proposing maxims to live by, conducting
private and public experiments, condensing hard-won knowledge into
prose.
The range of forms of these provocative writings leads to this
classs second question: How are we to write about what
matters? This is not a class in ancient philosophy or religious studies,
but rather a class about writing. Well examine brief selections of
important texts from a variety of times and traditions not only to
consider their messages and discuss their relevance to our lives, but
also to examine how the writing itself works. What techniques do
these writers employ to convey their messages? Which would you like
to make yours? In short, well not only be addressing the question of
how to live, but also how to write.
To that end, expect to do a lot of writing. Much of it will be
informal a writers journal, in-class quick responses, notes on
reading. Your formal essays will happen in stages, starting with

generating ideas, writing a rough draft, bringing that draft to me


and/or to workshop, and revising for the final version. Along the way,
we will work to develop strategies for each of these stages, looking
hard at the issues that vex writers most. We will pay particular
attention to how to start a paper and how to link your journal, with its
informal writing its lists and notes, its spontaneous observations
to your academic writing.
Our class time together will be varied. We will discuss the assigned
reading, write, and critique your essays in small groups or pairs.
Throughout the term, we will also have brief mini-lectures on
grammar and writing strategies, and one meeting in the library, to
familiarize you with its offerings.

Reading
Writing Papers: A Handbook for Students at Smith College, from
the Jacobson Center
Garners Modern American Usage. Though not required, I strongly
recommend owning this book. Its a great one to have at your
fingertips, to consult about the finer points of English usage.
Other required reading will be handed out in class or posted on
Moodle, including selections from Plato, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius,
David Foster Wallace, J.K. Rowling, Toni Morrison, Joseph Brodsky,
Lao Tzu, the Bible, Buddhist sutras, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Annie Dillard, and Ruth Ozeki. Our selections are
generally brief tastes of larger works, which I hope youll want to go
back to later. If you miss class, be sure to pick up the reading from my
office (if you dont find it posted on Moodle).

Requirements
Writers journal (15% of grade)
This is the courses simplest (or hardest?) requirement. Keep a
journal. Try to make this a daily habit. An entry might be as brief as a
single sentence, but plan to find time every day if only a few
minutes, to sit with pen and paper (or laptop) to ask yourself: What do
I see today? What have I noticed? This is about establishing a habit. A
habit of awareness, of reflection, of commitment to the life of your
mind. Some in-class prompts and responses to reading will be a part
of your journal. I wont read your journal, but I will check periodically
that it exists, and some in-class work and discussion will be drawn
from it; we may sometimes share parts of journal entries in class.
Essays (70% of grade)
Essays during the first weeks of the term will be brief, one-page,
ungraded assignments. The three longer essays are 5-6 pages. Essay
assignments will include a personal piece, an analysis of one (or more)

of the courses readings, and a research paper. Over the course of


these essays, expect to focus on the skills you need to write well in
college and beyond, including formulating clear and compelling
theses, analyzing texts, organizing your ideas, incorporating the work
of others fluently and with correct citations, and attending carefully
(and even joyfully!) to the nuances of words and grammatical
structures.
Class participation (15% of grade)
This includes responses to your peers writing, brief presentations,
contributions to class conversations, the quality of presence in the
classroom. Are you listening? to me, to your classmates, to
yourself? Are you present? This is not a competition to speak the most
often or most impressively, but to participate to the fullest of your
ability. Participation also includes one stint as co-discussion leader
and one brief end-of-semester presentation. The day that you are to
help me lead the discussion, come to class especially prepared, having
done reading in excess of the assignment and with thoughts and
questions for opening class discussion. Everyone is responsible every
day for the quality of our classroom discussions; this exercise helps
everyone think about the effort this takes.

A Few Further Notes


On attendance
If youre not in class, I expect to hear why via e-mail, within 24 hours.
If I dont, its an unexcused absence. Excused absences include being
sick, emergencies, and family obligations. If you know of something
ahead of time, please let me know. More than 2 absences will become
a problem for keeping to the rhythm of the class, and we will have to
discuss how to handle this. Unexcused absences lower your grade by
a half-letter each time.
Moodle
I use Moodle to post assignments and sign-up sheets for conferences
and the like. Please check the site as a matter of course: If you cant
remember whats due the next class, youll find out there.
Hard vs. virtual copies
Occasionally you will be able to e-mail me assignments, but mostly
you will be required to bring hard copies of your work to class. Please
be sure to save time for printing.
Conferences
Twice during the term we will meet for individual 20-minute
conferences, instead of our regularly scheduled class.
Rewriting

If you are dissatisfied with any of your final essays, please see me
about revising a third time.
On grading
Worry over grades is a distraction from the central goals of this
course. For that reason, I will not assign letter grades to the courses
opening, brief papers. For the longer essays, I will set expectations for
each paper and comment on how you have met these, generally at
both the draft and final stage. I hope this will give you more useful
feedback to carry forward to your next writing, rather than simply a
letter that makes you feel either proud or dismayedneither of which
is the point! We will discuss this further.
On communication
Please be sure to make use of my office hours, and if you cant meet
then, Im happy to find another time. Email works, too.
On flexibility
The wonderful thing about a class is that we get to go on an
intellectual journey together. With any luck, well end up somewhere
unexpected. To this end, we may have to shift, subtract, or add
readings and/or work. Weekly assignments given on Moodle trump
syllabus.

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