English 203: Literature of the Non-Western World Online *  *  * Home Page

Course Goals: This course seeks to familiarize students with non-Western literary texts. By embracing these texts, many of which are philosophical and provide guiding principles for the cultures they represent, you will become more familiar not only with the writings considered central to certain non-Western cultures but also with the ideological and philosophical bases of the cultures themselves.

Course Objectives:

• Learning about selected Non-Western literatures and cultures
• Considering new philosophical and cultural ideas
• Identifying and examining various literary genres and critical approaches taken toward them
• Expanding your intellectual abilities as a result of the above

Course Method: The methods of this course include readings, lectures, class discussions, group work, impromptu writing, quizzes, and three comprehensive examinations (from which your grade for the course will derive). Of course, the most effective method on your part will be to keep up and to exhibit an understanding of the course content.

Grading: We will use a total point system. There will be 400 total points available. You will earn as many as you can by the following activities:

• Ten 10-point participation quizzes/bulletin board discussions. Ten of the thirteen units will have such exercises. Some will be more work than others, but the points will be the same. It's not difficult to get this 100 points, and they are the 100 points you can control.
• Three 100-point exams. All exams are comprehensive, meaning that all three will test for the ENTIRE term and not from where the last exam left off. Reviews will be posted to the bulletin board.
• The number of total points needed for various letter grades follows.

 
• A=360-400
• B=320-359
• C=280-319
• D=240-279
• F=239 and below

Course Policies: Certain simple rules provide a basis for equal treatment and evaluation of all students. These rules are listed below.

• Use email.  Seventy-five percent of my teaching load is online; thus, I will spend less time in my office and more on the computer.  Do not call my office and leave a message to avoid responsibility by claiming you called when I was not there.  This is an online class.  Use email for ALL one-on-one communication.  You can use course mail or the WTAMU address above.
• Keep up. This is something you can always get right.  Do not assume you can do this whenever you like.  The modules need to be completed on schedule, just like class assignments in any venue.  To that end, we have a calendar link in the left frame which will keep you up-to-date on our important deadlines.  If you know of a conflict ahead of time, I need to know about it, too.  If an emergent situation complicates your meeting the requirements, inform me as soon as you can.
• Be courteous.  The fact that this is an online forum does not mean you can say anything to anyone.  Our chat and bulletin board interaction is to be based on the content of the course.  Moreover, your capcity to send email any time, day or night, does not oblige anyone, including the instructor, to answer immediately.  I will have certain blocks of time set aside for this course, and I intend to respond to email daily.  However, if it is late at night or a weekend or any other time you would not expect a reply from a professor in a traditional class, do not expect one here.  Putting off your efforts for this course until the last minute is a bad idea, just as it is in any class.  Finally, I am the professor for this course, not a private tutor for 100-plus students.  It's your work to do.
• Do your own work. Lying, cheating, and plagiarizing always earns a zero (0) and may lead to disiplinary action by the University.  Moreover, it is your job to read the book, not mine or your classmates to summarize it for you.  It's your work to do.  Finally, "group testing" falls under this injunction.  I will check times that the exams are taken.  Remarkably consecutive completion times will be scrutinized.
• Observe copyright restricitons.  The box at the bottom of this page details WTAMU's copyright policy and applies to ALL pages constituting this course.  A strict interpretation of this policy holds that printing the lessons without my permission and showing them to anyone not enrolled in this class is illegal .  I am stating now that such permision is not and will not be forthcoming; that is, you do not have my permission to print anything from this course for any reason beyond your own personal study.  I cannot, obviously, monitor all of you.  However, this stated policy will be enforced should any reproduction of any part of this course for distribution beyond your eyes be traced to you.
• Advise me of any special needs you may have immediately. WTAMU seeks to provide reasonable accommodation for all qualified persons with disabilities. This university will adhere to all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations as required to afford equal educational opportunity. It is the student's responsibility to register with the Disability Support Services and to contact the faculty member in a timely fashion to arrange for suitable accommodations.
• Other policies may be instituted as needed.

Syllabus:
 

Unit 01--Egyptian         The Leiden Hymns 42-45	Unit 06         Lu Xun, "Diary of a Madman," 2723-35
Love Songs 45-48
Unit 02--Chinese	Unit 07--Indian         The Ramayana of Valmiki, 576-612
Book of Songs, 534-36
"Plop fall the plums," 535	Unit 08
"She threw a quince," 536	The Bhagavad-Gita, 612-24  (ExamII)
"I beg of you," 537
"Tossed is that cypress boat," 540	Unit 09
"We plucked the bracken," 540	Bhakti Poets: 1411-29
"They clear away," 541
"Big rat, big rat," 544	Unit 10
	Rabindranath Tagore, "Punishment," 2618-27
Unit 03
Confucius, Analects, 545-55	Unit 11--Arabic
	Koran, 868-888
Unit 04
Tao Te Ching--Web (Exam I)	Unit 12
	The Thousand and One Nights, 923-48
Unit 05--Tang Poetry         Li Po, "Bring in the Wine," 827-32         Tu Fu, 834-35; "Song of P'eng-ya"	Unit 13         Naguib Mahfouz, "Zaabalawi," 2881-93
"My Thatched Roof Is Ruined"	Final Exam: TBA

 
 

Copyright © 2004 Martin M. Jacobsen, Ph.D. as to the syllabus and all lectures; materials may not be reproduced without Dr. Jacobsen's written consent. Students are prohibited from selling (or being paid for taking) notes during this course to or by any person or commercial firm without the express written permission of the professor teaching this course.