University of the PhilippinesDiliman

College of Arts and Letters

Department of English and Comparative Literature
First Semester, 20172018

English 11: Literature and Society (3.0 units)

Timothy Ong

Course Description

A study of various literary genres as a dynamic interaction between the individual and social
and cultural forces.

Course Objectives

To enable students to understand literary texts and to help them explore the texts
various contexts.
To introduce students to critical approaches.
To hone the students reading and writing skills.

Specifically, the course aims:

To help students explore and analyze the formal elements of the various literary genres.
To examine differing views in literary texts and encourage students to critically examine
their own perspectives within national and global contexts.
To enable students to place themselves in the midst of social, historical, and cultural
flux.

Course Outline and Timeframe

SESSION 1: Course Introduction

INTRODUCTION TO FICTION

SESSION 2: The Short Story and Its Reader

Why Short Stories Are Essential and Why They Are Seldom Read, Charles E. May (USA)
A Long Walk to Forever, Kurt Vonnegut (USA)

THE TEXT AND ITS FORMAL ELEMENTS

SESSION 3: Plot and Narration

The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe (USA)

SESSION 4: Character and Point of View

In a Grove, Ryunosuke Akugawa (Japan)
SESSION 5: Setting
The Storm, Kate Chopin (USA)
Midsummer, Manuel Arguilla (Philippines)

SESSION 6: Symbol and Theme

Dead Stars, Paz Mrquez-Benitez (Philippines)

EXPLORING CONTEXTS

SESSION 7: Critical Contexts: Metafiction

Ad Infinitum: A Short Story, John Barth (USA)

SESSION 8: Cultural and Historical Contexts

The Headstrong Historian, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)

SESSION 9: Special Topic: Science Fiction

Film: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Mamoru Hosoda (dir., 2006) (Japan)

SESSION 10: The Novel

The Stranger, Albert Camus (France)

SESSION 11: EXAM

INTRODUCTION TO POETRY

SESSION 12: The Poetic Impulse

Message in a Bottle, from How to Read a Poem, Edward Hirsch (USA)
Introduction to Poetry, Billy Collins (USA)
Let Me Tell You What a Poem Brings, Juan Felipe Herrera (Mexico/USA)

THE TEXT AND ITS FORMAL ELEMENTS

SESSION 13: Persona and Dramatic Situation

Las Ruinas del Corazon, Eric Gamalinda (Philippines)
[You who never arrived], Rainier Maria Rilke (Austria)
The Triumph of Achilles, Louise Glck (USA)

SESSION 14: Imagery and Figurative Language

Drinking Alone By Midnight, Li Bai (China)
A Sketch for a Modern Love Poem, Tadeusz Rewicz (Poland)
The Red Wheelbarrow, William Carlos Williams (USA)
SESSION 15: Feeling and Tone
Tonight I can write the saddest lines, Pablo Neruda (Chile)
The Cinnamon Peeler, Michael Ondaatje (Sri Lanka/Canada)
Wishbone, Richard Siken (USA)

SESSION 16: Sound

ygUDuh , e. e. cummings (USA)
The Windhover, Gerard Manley Hopkins (UK)
Send Me To The Moon, Conchitina Cruz (Philippines)

SESSION 17: Poetic Forms

Haiku: Selections from Hashimoto, Issa, and Bash (Japan)
Sonnet: Sonnet CXVI, William Shakespeare (UK)
Prose Poetry: The Colonel, Carolyn Forch (USA)

EXPLORING CONTEXTS

SESSION 18: Critical Contexts: Modernist Poetry

The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats (Ireland)
In a Station of the Metro, Ezra Pound (USA)
Instead of a Preface, Anna Akhmatova (Russia)

SESSION 19: Cultural Contexts: Selected Southeast Asian Poetry

Where I Am From, Ma. Fatima V. Lim (Philippines)
Tongues, Mikael de Lara Co (Philippines)
Zero Child Policy, Cyril Wong (Singapore)
My Country and My People, Lee Tzu Pheng (Singapore)

SESSION 20: Special Topic: Poetry in Film

Film: Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (The Dance of Two Left Feet),
Alvin Yapan (dir., 2011) (Philippines)

SESSION 21: EXAM

INTRODUCTION TO DRAMA

SESSION 2223: Drama on Stage and on the Page

Poetics, Aristotle (Greece)

SESSION 2425: Classical Drama

Oedipus Rex, Sophocles (Greece)

SESSION 2627: Contemporary Drama

Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett (Ireland)
EXPLORING CONTEXTS

SESSION 28: Critical Context: Jean-Paul Sartre

No Exit, Jean-Paul Sartre (France)

SESSION 29: EXAM

SESSION 30: PAPER DUE

*Readings are included in the Eng 11 reader provided by the professor, except for book-length
texts, some of which will be uploaded separately on the class e-group. Alternatively, copies of
all book-length texts will be provided for photocopying. Finally, supplementary readings may
be given to the students to deepen specific topics covered in class.

Course Requirements

Class participation 15%

Short quizzes 15%
Group report 10%
3 Unit Exams 45%
Synthesis paper 15%
100%

Grading System

1.0 97100 Excellent 2.5 7981 Satisfactory

1.25 9496 * 2.75 7678 *

1.5 9193 Very Good 3 7075 Pass

1.75 8890 * 5 69 Fail

2 8587 Good INC Incomplete

2.25 8284 * DRP Dropped

Classroom Policies

Proper, disciplined behavior is expected. This also means that the student is expected to
have read and prepared for the days activities.
Laptops, mobile phones, tablets, and other gadgets are allowed in class as long as they
do not cause disruptions.
Papers should follow the MLA format and must be printed on A4-sized sheets (scratch
papers recommended but not mandatory). Electronic submissions will not be accepted,
unless otherwise specified by the professor.
 Attendance maximum of 6 cuts, no distinction between excused and unexcused cut.
Students will be marked 5.0 (Fail) on the 7th cut. Should you decide to drop the course,
please inform the professor before the deadline for dropping of subjects to avoid
getting a grade of 5.0.
Tardiness
Attendance will be checked 10 minutes after the start of class. Anyone who comes
in after that up to 30 minutes after the start of class will be considered late. Anyone
who comes in after the 30th minute will incur a cut.
3 lates make 1 cut.
Late submissions major requirements (15% and up) can be made-up, subject to
deductions, one grade per day late (including weekends and holidays); minor
requirements (less than 15%) may or may not be made-up. Papers may be submitted up
to seven (7) days after the deadline, after which it will get a grade of 5.0.
Plagiarism plagiarism for a minor requirement (including drafts) will result in 5.0 for
that requirement; plagiarism for a major requirement (including drafts) will result in 5.0
for the course.

Consultation Hours

TWThF, PAV 1120, 1:00PM2:30PM, 4:00PM5:00PM; at all other times, by appointment.

Email: tfong@up.edu.ph