HUMA 1301: Exploration of the Humanities (CV)

Spring 2010 MW 9-10:15 AM

Theresa M. Towner

Course Description and Requirements

Intended to introduce students to the connections between various fields of study in the humanities, this
course will examine ideas about character. We will read literary works and historical documents, view
films, and look through the world at large to see whether we can recognize, respond to, and perhaps
understand what we mean when we use that word.

Course requirements include regular attendance and active participation. Your course grade will be based
on four major assignments, each worth 25%: two in-class examinations; an oral report on a film and a one-
page analysis of its representations of character (assigned by the instructor); and a final project. The
quality of your classroom participation, along with the number of absences you manage to accumulate, will
settle any questions of borderline grades. More than two unexcused absences will adversely affect your
course grade.

You cannot hope to pass this class if you do not attend it and complete all of the required work. I do not
accept late papers; I do not issue grades of incomplete. This course will be conducted according to strict
codes of academic honesty. All cases of plagiarism will be fully investigated and the deliberate instances
reported to the University’s judiciary officer. Penalties for deliberate cheating may include failing the
assignment in question, failing the course, or suspension and expulsion from the University. Students are
expected to know the University’s policies and procedures on such matters, as well as those governing
student services, conduct, and obligations.

My office hours, in JO 5.620, are from 2-3 PM on Monday and Wednesday and by appointment; the phone
number is 972-883-2031, or you may e-mail me at tmtowner@utdallas.edu.

Texts

The following are available at the UTD Book Store, Off-Campus Books, and commercially. PLEASE USE
THESE EDITIONS.

William Shakespeare, Hamlet (Signet)

C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Scholastic)
William Faulkner, Light in August (Vintage International)
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (Penguin)
Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit (Ballantine)
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (Vintage)

We will watch three films together in class, which I will supply. I will also send to your UTD e-mail
account the materials listed as PDF on the syllabus.
HUMA 1301: Exploration of the Humanities (CV)
Spring 2010
Syllabus

Jan. 11: “Where the Wild Things Are” and “The Adam Lambert Problem” (PDF)
Jan. 13: Glossy magazines of the day

Jan. 18: Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday: no class

Jan. 20: C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Jan. 25 and 27: William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Feb. 1: Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address; Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address;
Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecoeur, “What is an American” (PDF)
Feb. 3: First examination

Feb. 8 and 10: View Citizen Kane

Feb. 15 and 17: William Faulkner, Light in August

Feb. 22: Light in August

Feb. 24: Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

Mar. 1: Song of Myself

Mar. 3: Second examination

Mar. 8 and 10: View Pollyanna

Mar. 15 and 17: Spring break

Mar. 22 and 24: View Gran Torino

Mar. 29 and 31: Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit

Apr. 5 and 7: Oral reports

Apr. 12 and 14: Oral reports

Apr. 19 and 21: Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

Apr. 26 and 28: View B&W made-for-television movies

May 3: Course projects due in JO 5.620 during class time

May 12: 8-10 AM: Course projects returned in our regular classroom; 50% of project grade determined
by attendance at this session