English

Great Books, Honors

Mr. Perry Lantz, Professor
English Department / Room 54
Class Meetings: M W, 2:35pm - 4:00pm (subject to
change on a weekly basis)
E-mail: plantz@materacademy.com
Office Hours: T H 2:35pm to 3:30pm, or by
appointment
The Almighty Chrutnuw Ro
Course Description
Great Books is an honors-level, elective English course designed to introduce students to
world literature. Students will be assigned titles to read from different areas of the world
and will be expected to compare the significance of the pieces from multiple cultural
perspectives. The class will also contain a creative writing component in which students
will be given the opportunity to express, develop, and refine their individual creative
voices. All students in this class will also be part of the school’s Creative Writing Club
and will be expected to produce pieces for the club’s newsletter. Throughout this course,
the students will be assigned multiple topics to write about on a weekly basis in addition
to the assigned reading and discussion materials they will be expected to prepare for
each class. The goal of this class is to allow students to drive discussions and the overall
learning experience in a manner which is similar to that of an actual college course.

Course Objectives
At the end of this course, you should be able to:
● Create your own definition of culture and analyze its impact on a particular
country or region’s literature.
● Identify and describe major literary styles and genres from multiple parts of the
world.
● Identify the relationship between literature and its social context.
● Write interpretations of texts and/or issues in literary studies in which you:
○ Perform a reasonable close reading by analyzing relevant literary elements
(techniques, themes, forms/genres, stylistic choices, or other literary
devices).
○ Make appropriate references to relevant texts.
● Demonstrate how common or culturally specific heritages, perspectives,
histories, and/or belief systems influence writers and the forms or genres in
which they write.
● Analyze the importance of literature as it relates to its socio-cultural context and
to its “universal” appeal.
 ● Explain how and why socio-cultural factors:
○ Influence our understanding and experience of a literary piece.
○ Impact the significance and meaning of a literary piece.
● Demonstrate an awareness of the basic literary and cultural manifestations of
each country or region studied in this course.
● Demonstrate analytic and oral skills related to the interpretation of different
literary genres.
● Identify and analyze connections between different authors and art forms.
● Identify the literary, cultural, historical, political impact of literary works across
the world.

Course Topics
1. Introduction: Reading & Writing About Literature
2. Literary Elements & Styles
3. Comparing & Contrasting Literary Works
4. Eastern Literature
a. Arabic & Middle Eastern Literature
b. Asian & Far Eastern Literature
c. African Literature
5. Western Literature
a. Classical Greek and Roman Literature
b. European & English Literature
c. American Literature
i. African-American Literature
d. Latin American Literature
6. Literature & Painting
7. Creative Writing: Expression, Importance, and Creation

Required Texts and Readings

Texts: The following is the textbook that will be used in class. Copies will be available for
use in class.

Robert DiYanni, Literature: Reading fiction, poetry, and drama (6th ed.).
Published by McGraw-Hill.

Readings: In addition to this textbook, we will be reading a variety of texts from

newspapers, journals, magazines, and novels. This course is designed to cover a range of
pieces and topics in world literature with the hopes that everyone’s interests will
explored. All readings are required – they are in no way optional. The readings will be
decided and announced in advance, allowing you sufficient time to complete them. It is
strongly recommended that you keep a journal in which you take notes on your assigned
readings. The value and success of this class depends upon the willingness of its
members to read, to listen, to share ideas, to challenge themselves as well as each other,
and to ask questions. What you gain from this course will reflect the time and effort you
put into it.

Classroom Rules of Conduct

1. Respect the feelings, ideas and property of others. There will be times when one
of your peers will express an opinion about an issue that you might not agree
with, so make sure you do not react and say something hurtful. Think before you
speak.
2. Be careful with foul language in the classroom. This is a professional setting not
the street. Do not use sexist or sexually explicit language in the classroom.
Remember, one uses foul language because he/she lacks the vocabulary to
communicate properly.
3. Communicate problems, questions and opinions in appropriate ways.
4. Your undivided attention is necessary to be successful in this class. Therefore,
make sure you are always in your seat quietly listening.
5. You will always respect your teacher. I believe that if you want respect you
should respect others. I will show you respect, so I expect the same from you.
There will be times when we will laugh and have fun in the classroom, but that
does not mean that you will treat me as your friend. I am not your friend. I am
your teacher. I am friendly but do not mistake my amiable attitude as a way, and
means, to cross the boundaries of our student-teacher relationship.
6. All work must be turned in on time.
7. Never try to solve problems through arguing or fighting. If you have a problem
with someone, you make sure to let me know. We will try to solve the problem in
a civilized manner.
8. You are expected to do your best. I will do my best to teach you. Therefore, I
expect you to do your best to learn. Do not take your education for granted.
9. Always come to class prepared to learn. You will come equipped with your
materials and an open mind.

Important Policies
Attendance: Class meetings will be held after-school on Mondays and Wednesdays from
2:35pm to 4:00pm. There will be other instances where we may meet until 4:00pm on
other days or on Fridays; students will be notified in advance. Because meetings are
after school, they will be subject to change depending on a variety of factors such a
meetings, events, or holidays; students will be notified of changes in advance.
Attendance to class is mandatory. However, if you need to be absent for any particular
reason please inform your instructor with ample time and arrangements will be
discussed. Please be cautious of the number of unexcused absences you accumulate as
this course is subject to the same credit withholding policies as any other block course.
It is your responsibility to be informed of all work that is required of you regardless of
whether or not you were present in class.

Grading: This course will follow the mandatory grading structure of Mater Academy.
Classwork 35%
Homework 25%
Quizzes 15%
Tests 25%

Late Work: Every assignment is due in class or online at the date and time that is
indicated when the assignment is first given. Late work will not be accepted unless
previous arrangements have been made with the instructor for acceptable reasons.

Food: Because this class takes place after school, every student will have the opportunity
to eat a light snack or meal. However, eating in class can be distracting to your
classmates and to the instructor. With that in mind, there are two policies about
bringing food to class. Food is allowed in class so long as:
● You unwrap and eat your food quietly.
● You purchase your food early enough that you arrive on time to class.
If there is a problem with either of these issues, you will be addressed individually. If the
problem is not resolved, you will be asked to eat prior to or after class.

Revisions: Revising an out-of-class essay after a grade has been assigned is allowed. If
you wish to revise an out-of-class essay discuss the matter with your instructor. The
subject matter of the revision must be the same as the subject matter of the original.
Grades will be given for revisions. In fact, all efforts to improve as a student will be
encouraged and rewarded.

Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty: Your work must be your own. Plagiarism will not
be tolerated at any level. Be advised that any student caught plagiarizing will
automatically fail the plagiarized assignment and will be subject to academic discipline
by me and the administration, as specified in the student handbook. In addition, any
form of cheating, such as copying another student’s work and bringing materials into an
exam that are not allowed, will also be subject to disciplinary actions.

Course Web Site

This course will use a blog in order to post and distribute information, readings, and
assignments relevant to the class. Simply use any web browser to access the blog site at
greatbooksatmater.blogspot.com. Please make a regular habit of checking the blog for
this class because important information and assignments will appear there.

Tentative Reading List

The following list is meant to represent the variety of literature from all different
cultures and parts of the world which we will study in class. I suggest that you use your
summer vacation to locate as many of the pieces below as possible. Do not attempt to
purchase a tangible copy of each of the following works as some will be found in the
course textbook. For your convenience, many of the works below can be found for free
or at discounted prices at many legal websites such as Project Gutenberg or Amazon. In
addition, many thrift shops and bookstores across South Florida have many of the
pieces below at low prices. Do not stress yourself about finding every single work below.
I do not expect you to have them all in your possession at the start of the course. The
works have been organized by the topics outlined earlier in “Course Topics.”

Introduction: Reading & Writing About Literature

 Robert Frost, “Dust of Snow”
 Stephen Crane, “War Is Kind”
 Poetry by Walt Whitman

Eastern Literature
Arabic & Middle Eastern Literature
 Selected Stories from “The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and
One Nights”
 Religious Excerpts, “The Vedas” & “The Upanishads”
 Salman Rushdie, “Midnight’s Children”
 Khaled Hosseini, “The Kite Runner”
Asian & Far Eastern Literature
 Wu Cheng’en, “Monkey: A Folktale of China”
 Young-Ha Kim, “I Have the Right to Destroy Myself”
 Selected Poetry & Stories by Asian Authors
 Excerpts from Selected Asian Philosophies
African Literature
 Chinua Achebe, “Anthills of the Savannah”
 Alan Paton, “Cry, the Beloved Country”
 Uwem Akpan, “Say You’re One of Them”
 Selected Tribal Short Stories and Fables
 Selected Yoruba Myths and Stories

Western Literature
 Classical Greek and Roman Literature
 Sophocles, “Oedipus Rex”
 Aristotle, “Nicomachean Ethics”
 Voltaire, “Candide”
 Selected Poetry by Horace & Ovid
European & English Literature
 William Shakespeare, “King Lear”
 Jean-Paul Sartre, “No Exit”
 Dante Alighieri, Selected Cantos from “The Divine Comedy”
 Albert Camus, “The Stranger”
 Geoffrey Chaucer, Excerpts from “The Canterbury Tales”
 E.M. Forster, “A Passage to India”
American Literature
 Selected Works of Edgar Allen Poe
 Selected Poetry of Emily Dickinson
 Joseph Heller, “Catch-22”
 Ernest Hemingway, “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
African-American Literature
o August Wilson, “Fences”
o Lorraine Hansberry, “A Raisin in the Sun”
o Selected Poetry of Langston Hughes
o W. E. B. Du Bois, Excerpt from “The Souls of Black Folk”
o Selected Works of Maya Angelou
o Toni Morrison, “Beloved”
Latin American Literature
 Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings”
 Selected Poetry of Pablo Neruda
 Laura Esquivel, “Like Water for Chocolate”
 Isabel Allende, “The House of the Spirits”
 Selected Short Stories and Poetry of Jorge Luis Borges
 Octavio Paz, Excerpt from “The Labyrinth of Solitude”

Literature & Painting

 Unit: Poetry and Painting
 Unit: Speaking Through Art
 Course Contract

Student
I have read and fully understand the classroom rules, regulations, and films to be shown section.
I will adhere to the policies, abide by the demands and rigor of Great Books Honors. I am aware
of the plagiarism clause in the syllabus and will conduct myself with the utmost integrity and
ensure that my work is original and my own product. I will honor Mr. Lantz’s classroom
management and discipline plan for the entire 2016-2017 school year.

Print Name: Period: Date:

Student Signature:

Parent / Guardian
(I/We) the parent(s) / guardian(s) have reviewed the terms of this agreement with my
child and (I/we) understand and agree to all the terms and conditions therein.

Print Name:

Parent/Guardian Signature: Date:

*Sign and return this page only*