English 211 Literature and the

Arts: In the Museum

MWF 9:35-10:25
N Callaway

Dr. Sarah Peterson

speter3@emory.edu
N404-C Callaway
Office Hours: W 10:30-11:45 and by
appointment

Museums place the written word and visual art in relation to one another in complex
and interesting ways. This course will use Emory's Carlos Museum as our inspiration for
discussing intersections of literature and art. Because a large portion of the Carlos’
collection is art and artifacts from antiquity, we will think broadly about the themes of
Myth and Metamorphosis to provide a foundation for exploring the works housed in
Emory’s own art museum.

Throughout the course, we will discuss the works themselves but also the way meaning
changes depending on the contexts in which they are experienced, specifically those
provided by related literary texts and the institutional structure of the museum. We will
explore classic, modern, and contemporary responses to art drawing on myth or
representing metamorphosis. We will also consider how language supplements visual
experience. Central to that experience are the written texts (as well as the “texts”
provided by new media) we encounter alongside visual art in museums. Consequently,
we will also explore the role of writing in the museum, specifically how the written
word shapes a visitor's experience of both the museum and the objects housed within it.
Our final project will be to conceive an exhibition that places the Carlos’ collection in
conversation with other works of literature and visual art.

Course Objectives
• Gain familiarity with the Carlos Museum collection and the literary traditions
that inform it
• Explore the impact of voice and style in written responses to visual art
• Strengthen writing and revision skills through the practice of revising drafts and
participating in a peer review
• Develop critical reasoning and creative thinking skills while building an
understanding of how language shapes meaning in museums.

Required Texts:
• John Hollander, The Gazer’s Spirit: Poems Speaking to Silent Works of Art
University Of Chicago Press (1995) 978-0226349497
• Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories Oxford World Classics (1995) 978-0192834362
• Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-
Glass Penguin Classics (2003) 978-0141439761
 • Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (Picador, 2007) ISBN 978-0312427733

• Carol Ann Duffy, The World’s Wife Faber & Faber (2001) 978-0571199952

• I also suggest you have a good dictionary (or find your way to the Oxford English
Dictionary accessible through the library databases) and a style manual (I
recommend Diane Hacker’s A Pocket Style Manual Bedford St. Martins Fifth
Edition (2008)).

Course Policies
Preparation and Participation
All students should plan to attend class regularly and be prepared to discuss the
assigned readings. Being prepared, in the context of this course, means several things:
being on time, having read, annotated, and thought about the assigned material, and
asking questions about things you did not understand. Since our primary activity in
class will be to close reading, you must bring a copy of the reading to class with you. If
you don’t bring the text(s) to class with you, you are not prepared, even if you have read
assignment, and will be counted absent.

To be successful, seminars require participation by all members of the class. Your

participation – asking and answering questions, participating in discussion, and
contributing to small group activities - will be taken into account when calculating your
final grade. If you find yourself unable to speak up in class for any reason, come talk to
me so we can figure out another way for you to participate.

Attendance
Of course, in order to participate in class, you must be present. Therefore, I do have an
attendance policy. Each absence beyond three will lower your final grade by one step (a
B will become a B-). More than six absences will result in a failing grade. If you must
miss a class, you are responsible for obtaining the relevant notes and information from
your classmates.

Due to the threat of H1N1 (aka Swine Flu), the College is asking us to remind you not to
come to class if you are running a fever and have symptoms of influenza. If this is the
case, please get in touch so that we can keep you up to date.

Academic Integrity
“For over half a century, academic integrity has been maintained on the Emory Campus
through the student initiated and regulated Honor Code.

Every student who applies to and is accepted by Emory College, as a condition of

acceptance, agrees to abide by the provisions of the Honor Code so long as he or she
remains a student at Emory College. By his or her continued attendance at Emory
College, a student reaffirms his or her pledge to adhere to the provisions of the Honor
Code.” (Excerpt from Emory University Honor Code)
Plagiarism is a serious offense and will be treated as such by both the College and
myself. While we will be using other people’s work in our research papers, there is a
fundamental difference between drawing on those sources and documenting them
appropriately, and representing them as your own. If you have any questions on how to
properly document material, please contact me.

Writing Center
The writing center is an excellent resource for writers of skill levels. You may arrive
there with specific requests or areas of focus, or you may simply ask for general
feedback on written work. It is always helpful to have numerous sets of eyes on a piece
of written work.

The Writing Center is located in N212 Callaway. You may make appointments for 30 or
60 minute meetings online. Visit them online for more information.
http://writingcenter.emory.edu

Assignments
Wiki Response essays
You will write 12 response papers over the course of the semester. These responses will
all be posted on our Blackboard Wiki. The subject of these responses will be twofold.

8 of these responses will focus on a particular character or theme, as noted in the

syllabus, which will be the topic of the course for the day. In preparation for the class,
you will choose a representation of this character/theme – either a visual or textual
representation. You will post, along with your 500 word written response, the image or
text (or link to it) on the wiki. While online writing is often less formal, you should
approach these responses as you would printed ones. They are your opportunity to
practice the kind of close reading required of your formal paper and exhibition project.

These responses must be posted by 5 pm the day before as they will be the focus of our
class discussion the following morning. Responses posted on time, which fulfill the
requirements, will receive full credit. Late responses will be docked.

The 4 remaining responses should be to any works of art visited in museums of your
choosing. 2 will be due before Fall Break and 2 before Thanksgiving. Your responses
may take any written form – prose or poetry, formal or experimental – but should
provide a specific and focused perspective on the work under consideration.

Group Presentations
Working in groups, you will research and present on an object in the Carlos Museum. I
will provide a list of objects and sign-up sheet as well as a formal handout about the
nature of these presentations in the first two weeks of class. The dates of these
presentations are on the calendar below.

On the days where presentations will occur, we will all meet in the Carlos museum.
Formal Essay
You will write one 5-6 page essay twice. In other words, you will write two drafts of an
essay responding to the same prompt. I will provide you with a list of prompts in
advance of the first due date. Papers will be graded on the strength of the argument, the
structure in which that argument is conveyed, the use of evidence to support the
argument, the clarity of the essay’s style, and the commitment to improving the second
draft. We will spend time in class developing content, focusing ideas, and strengthening
writing style.

Essays must be typed and double spaced with standard margins. Hard copies of papers
are due at the beginning of class. If you will miss class the day a paper is due it is still
your responsibility to turn in that paper before class. Late work will not be accepted,
except at my discretion (with a significant grading penalty). Assignment deadlines are
not flexible. Email submissions will not be accepted.

Exhibition Project
Your final assignment in the course will be to create an exhibition catalog that explores
the way literature and art engage a specific topic, theme, issue, or idea.

We will discuss the specifics of this assignment later in the semester.

Extra Credit
To receive extra credit, you may write additional responses to artworks visited in
museums. There will be a wiki page set up for you to post these online.

Grading:
Your work in this class will be evaluated according to the content, structure, and style of
written work and the level of participation in both group work and class discussions.

Your final grade will be determined as follows:

Formal Essay = 25%

Exhibition Project = 25%
Wiki Responses = 15%
Presentation = 15%
Participation = 20%

*Note: I/We may decide to make changes to his syllabus over the course of the semester.
In that event, I will provide you with a new hardcopy.

Date Reading Due Other

Friday Aug 28 Introductions
Mon Aug 31 Updike “Writers and
Artists”
Wed Sept 2 “Assuming
Responsibility: Lessons
from Aesthetics” Hilde
Hein (Museum
Philosophy in the 21st
century)
Fri Sept 4 Hollander Intro (3-23, 30-
32)
Mon Sept 7 No Class
Wed Sept 9 Hollander Intro (69-91,
93-94)
Fri Sept 11 Sadoleto (97-105) Anon, Laoccon
Rogers (127-28) Anon, Apollo Belvedere
Byron (137-141)

Coxall, “How Language

Means” (Course Reserves)
Mon Sept 14 Updike, “Some Renoir
Rectangles of Blue”
Updike, “Is Art Worth
it?”

Warren (Hollander 331-

33)
Wed Sept 16 Hollander 249-253 Brueghel, The Fall of
Ovid, Daedulus and Icarus
Icarus (handout)
Duffy, “Mrs. Icarus” Wiki Response on Icarus
Williams, “Landscape
with the Fall of Icarus”

Myth
Fri Sept 18 Zeus and Leda poems Wiki Reponse on Leda
(handout)
Museum
Mon Sept 21 Homer, The Odyssey (5-6,
10-11)
Wed Sept 23 Homer, The Odyssey (19,
23)
Fri Sept 25 Tennyson, “Ulysses,” Wiki Response on
“Lotus Eaters,” Penelope
Penelope Poems
Duffy, “Penelope,”
“Circe”
Mon Sept 28 Walcott, from Omeros
 (Reserve)
Cheever, “The Swimmer”
(BB)
Wed Sept 30 Peer Review

Fri Oct 2 Museum Presentations Greek

Mon Oct 5 Museum Text Reading Paper Due

Wed Oct 7 Venus Anon, Venus de Milo
De Lisle (Hollander, 171-
178)
Conquest (Hollander 263-
66)
Siebers (ereserve)
Fri Oct 9 Museum Presentations Roman
Mon Oct 12 No Class – Fall Break Museum Object Wiki
Responses Due
Metamorphosis
Wed Oct 14 Ovid Prologue
Genesis
Fri Oct 16 Kipling Wiki Response on
Creation Story
Mon Oct 19 Kipling
Wed Oct 21 Museum Presentations Egyptian
Fri Oct 23 Ovid, from Metamorphosis Wiki Response on
Perseus Poems Medusa
Duffy, “Medusa”
Hollander 143-147
Mon Oct 26 Baxter, “Gryphon”
Wed Oct 28 Ovid, from Metamorphosis Wiki Response on
Pygmalion Pygmalion
Updike, “Pygmalion”
(online)
Duffy, “Pygmalion’s
Bride”
Fri Oct 30 Museum Presentations Ancient American
Mon Nov 2 Museum Text Reading Paper Rewrite Due
Wed Nov 4 Alice in Wonderland
Fri Nov 6 Alice in Wonderland Wiki Response on Alice
Mon Nov 9 Alice in Wonderland
Wed Nov 11 Ovid from Metamorphosis Wiki Reponse on
Tiresias, Narcissus Tiresias or Narcissus
Duffy, “Mrs. Tiresias”
Fri Nov 13 Ovid, from Metamorphosis
 Hermaphroditus, Calliope
Mon Nov 16 Middlesex
Wed Nov 18 Middlesex
Fri Nov 20 Middlesex
Mon Nov 23 Middlesex
Wed Nov 25 No Class Thanksgiving Museum Object Wiki
Responses Due
Mon Nov 30 Middlesex
Wed Dec 2 Middlesex
Fri Dec 4 Middlesex
Mon Dec 7 Wrap-up
Exhibition Projects Due