ENGL A168: Popular Fiction
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Curriculum Committee Approval Date | 12/02/2020 |
| Top Code | 150300 - Comparative Literature |
| Units | 3 Total Units |
| Hours | 54 Total Hours (Lecture Hours 54) |
| Total Outside of Class Hours | 0 |
| Course Credit Status | Credit: Degree Applicable (D) |
| Material Fee | No |
| Basic Skills | Not Basic Skills (N) |
| Repeatable | No |
| Grading Policy | Standard Letter (S),
|
| Associate Arts Local General Education (GE) |
|
| Associate Science Local General Education (GE) |
|
| California General Education Transfer Curriculum (Cal-GETC) |
|
| Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) |
|
| California State University General Education Breadth (CSU GE-Breadth) |
|
Course Description
Read, analyze, and write on important texts of Popular Fiction including popular novels, detective fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, young adult, romance, historical fiction, and graphic novel/comics. Explore the historical, cultural, philosophical, and aesthetic implications of representative works. Formulate and produce written analyses of assigned works. ADVISORY: ENGL C1000. Transfer Credit: CSU.
Course Level Student Learning Outcome(s)
- Explore significant historical, philosophical, cultural, and aesthetic implications of representative works of Popular fiction, including defining traits and major themes.
Course Objectives
- 1. Read and demonstrate an understanding of major authors, works, and genres of Popular fiction.
- 2. Analyze and interpret the literature along with the intellectual, social, philosophical, cultural, mythic, religious, and/or historical elements of Popular Fiction.
- 3. Recognize and interpret the literary devices and writing styles evident in Popular Fiction. Distinguish how these elements represent an individual authors aesthetic sensibility and a larger context of social understanding and consciousness.
- 4. Relate the literary works of Popular Fiction to their historical, philosophical, social, political, and aesthetic contexts.
- 5. Demonstrate and understanding of the above through appropriate academic discourse and conventions of literary analysis.
- 6. Demonstrate comprehension of the above through classroom discussion, written exams, and essays, using appropriate citation form.
Lecture Content
An overview of the differences between traditional/canonical literary texts and popular/mainstream texts. Historical, social, economic, and philosophical context of popular, commercially successful literature. Central themes and concerns of Popular fiction, including ones that have characterized cultures, sub-cultures, or time periods. Discuss literary analysis, literary theory, and significant theories concerning race, culture, sexuality, and identity. An examination of various genres of Popular Fiction: Popular, commercially successful novels Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin Margaret Mitchells Gone With The Wind Harper Lees To Kill A Mockingbird Chuck Palahniuks Fight Club or Choke Yann Martels Life of Pi Michael Chabons The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Jeffrey Eugenides The Virgin Suicides Detective Fiction Edgar Allen Poes Murder in the Rue Morgue Sir Arthur Conan Doyles A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, or The Hound of the Baskervill Dashiell Hammetts The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, or Red Harves Raymond Chandlers The Big Sleep or The Long Goodbye Agatha Christies Murder on the Orient Express or And Then There Were None Chester Himes If He Hollers Let Him Go Walter Mosleys Devil in a Blue Dress or Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned James Ellroys L.A. Confidential Science Fiction H.G. Wells The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, the Invi sible Man or The Island of Dr. Moreau Jules Vernes Around the World in 80 Days or Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan or John Carter of Mars Ursula Le Guins The Left Hand of Darkness or A Wizard of Earthsea Ray Bradburys The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man or Fahrenheit 451 Frank Herberts Dune Douglas Adams The Hitchhikers Guild to the Galaxy Neil Gaimans American Gods or Neverwhere Spy/Thriller Rudyard Kiplings Kim Ian Flemings Casino Royale, From Russia With Love, or Goldfinger John le Carrés The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, The Day of the Jackal, or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Robert Ludlums The Bourne Identity Tom Clancys The Hunt for Red October or The Cardinal of the Kremlin Westerns Zane Greys Rider of the Purple Sage or The Lone Star Ranger Louis LAmours Hondo, The Quick and the Dead, or Sacketts Land Charles Portis True Grit or The Dog of the South Larry McMurtrys Lonesome Dove Cormac McCarthys Blood Meridian Horror Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Bram Stokers Dracula H.P. Lovecrafts The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories Shirley Jacksons The Haunting of Hill House Stephen Kings The Shining, Carrie, or It Bret Easton Ellis American Psycho Anne R ices Interview with a Vampire or Vampire Chronicles Thomas Harris Silence of the Lambs Young Adult Louisa May Alcotts Little Women L.M. Montgomerys Anne of Green Gables Laura Ingalls Wilders Little House on the Prairie Stephen Chboskys The Perks of Being A Wallflower John Greens The Fault in our Stars Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter series Graphic Novels and Comics Alan Moores Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, From Hell or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Frank Millers The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil: Man Without Fear, or Sin City Neil Gaimans Sandman Daniel Clowes Ghostworld Alison Beachdels Fun Home Robert Kirkmans The Walking Dead
Method(s) of Instruction
- Lecture (02)
- DE Live Online Lecture (02S)
Instructional Techniques
Instructional techniques involve some or all of the following: lecture/discussion, in-class writing prompts, close reading, group work, panel discussions, debates, response papers, quizzes, and collaborative research presentations.
Reading Assignments
A minimum of four hours per week reading, analyzing, and annotating representative works from the genre of popular fiction.
Writing Assignments
Write a minimum of 3000 words (15 pages, 12 pt double spaced typed) about popular fiction: a) minimum of 2000 words (10 pages) of the writing must be in the form of analytical essays, b) the other writings may be in the form of tests requiring primarily short or long essay responses, journal writing, creative modeling of the literature, written notes outlining oral presentations, or other types of writing that demonstrate an understanding of the literature.
Out-of-class Assignments
A minimum of between four to six hours each week on writing assignments--including (but not limited to) essays, summaries, reading responses, research essays using secondary sources, and take home exams
Demonstration of Critical Thinking
Tests, analytical essays, journals, class discussions, or class presentations
Required Writing, Problem Solving, Skills Demonstration
Tests, analytical essays, journals, or class presentations
Eligible Disciplines
English: Masters degree in English, literature, comparative literature, or composition OR bachelors degree in any of the above AND masters degree in linguistics, TESL, speech, education with a specialization in reading, creative writing, or journalism OR the equivalent. Masters degree required.
Textbooks Resources
1. Required Kelley, D.M>. The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction, 3rd ed. New York: Pearson, 2014 2. Required Lovecraft, H.P.. The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, 1st ed. New York: Chartwell, 2016 3. Required Bradbury, R.. The Martian Chronicles, 1st ed. Boston: Simon and Schuster, 2012 4. Required Moore, A.. Watchmen, ed. New York: DC Comics, 2014 5. Required Fleming, I.. Casino Royale, ed. New York: Mercer, 2012 6. Required Kirkman, R.. The Walking Dead: Days Gone By, Vol. 1 ed. New York: Image, 2013 7. Required Grey, Z.. Riders of the Purple Sage, 1st ed. Austin: Zane, 2012 8. Required Stoker, B.. Dracula, 1st ed. London: Winehouse, 2016 9. Required Jackson, S.. The Haunting of Hill House, 1st ed. New York: Penguin, 2013 10. Required Collins, S.. The Hunger Games: Box Set, 1st ed. Boston: Scholastic, 2013