EngLit 12

LITERATURE: GLOBAL VOICES & ENCOUNTERS

ANNA MARIE S OBLEPIAS
SECTION BBB 3-4PM MWF CTC 104
Department of English, School of Humanities
First Semester, 2018-19

COURSE DESCRIPTION
(3 units) A prolific body of literature exists depicting the drama of global encounters,
where different cultures and perspectives play out the dynamics of conflict and the search
for human understanding.

This course surveys representative texts in poetry, fiction, and drama revealing important
facets of global society through cultural diversity, conflict resolution, and dialogical
interaction.

With close attention to genre conventions and various literary modes, students survey a
range of global cultural traditions and ideas, in view of honoring cultural diversity,
expanding personal horizons, and fostering global citizenship.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES
1) Cultural diversity informs the current world.
2) Many times, cultural diversity provokes conflict.
3) Yet diverse global conditions also raise prospects for cultural cooperation.
4) Literature is an artistic window that allows us to explore the dynamics of conflict,
cultural cooperation, and their consequences.
5) To read literature is to develop personal skills for honoring cultural diversity.
6) Reading literature hones our critical response to cultural conflict, cooperation, and
their consequences to humanity and its various contexts.
7) More importantly, literature hones our capacities for dialogical interaction and global
citizenship by respecting difference and multicultural realities.
8) Literature inscribes the discourse of diversity through different literary forms and
outlooks.
9) Language, culture, and translation support this undertaking.
10) Attention to language and competence in recognizing different forms and conventions
of literary expression enable us to respect global diversity.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
1) Trace a discourse of global encounters through poetry, fiction, and drama.
2) Recognize and explore issues raised by diverse texts across cultures and timeframes.
3) Develop textual interpretations of literary texts that promote a critical grasp of global
issues through independent writing, class discussions, small-group work, and creative
presentations.
4) Hone the personal skill of dialogical thinking through textual explorations of
difference and multicultural realities.
5) Form convictions through literature about one’s place and responsibilities in today’s
global society.

COURSE CONTENT & TIME FRAME

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TIMEFRAME TOPIC

WEEKS 1-3 I LITERARY VOICES

Speaker, characters, author, POV, and tone

Voice as Identity

Weeks 4-6 II GLOBAL ENCOUNTERS

Personal Encounters and Cultural Convergences

Forms of Literary Encounters

Contexts of Literary Encounters

Weeks 7-11 III LITERARY REPRESENTATIONS OF CONFLICT AND RESOLUTION

Personal Conflict

Colonialism

Diaspora

Alienation

Environment

Exploitation, Oppression, Inequality

Weeks 12-15 IV CHALLENGES, RESPONSE, AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Respecting Global Spaces

Reclaiming Identity and Honoring Cultural Diversity

Challenges, Response, and Responsibilities

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Weeks 16-17 SYNTHESIS AND FINAL EXAMS

READINGS
(OTHER SELECTIONS MAY BE ADDED AS THE SEMESTER PROGRESSES)

SHORT STORIES

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid
“Magnificence” by Estrella Alfon
“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner
“The Bread of Salt” by N.V.M. Gonzales
“Araby” by James Joyce
“Wedding Dance” by Amador Daguio
“Faith, Love, Time, and Dr. Lazaro” by Gregorio Brillantes
“The Scent of Apples” by Bienvenido Santos
“In a Grove” by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury
“War” by Luigi Pirandello
“Enemies” by Anton Chekov
“The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket” by Yasunari Kawabata
“A Certain Night” by Ting Ling
“Forty-five a Month” by R. K. Narayan
“Mista Courifer” by Adelaide Casely-Hayford
“Once Upon a Time” by Nadine Gordimer
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
“Eleven” by Sandy Cisneros
“Dream #6” by Naguib Mahfouz

POETRY

“To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell

“Gather Ye Rosebuds” by Robert Herrick
“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning
“Musee des Beaux Artes” by W. H. Auden
“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman
“Desert Places” and “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost
“Ithaca” by C. P. Cavafy
“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Sara Teasdale
“Fifteen” by William Stafford
“Love, When I Find You Quietly Asleep” by Trinidad Tarrosa-Subido
“Soledad” by Angela Manalang Gloria
“Tonight I Can Write” by Pablo Nerruda
“Letter to Pedro, US Citizen, Also Called Pete” by Rene Estella Amper
“Confessions of a Green Card Holder” by Fatima Wilson Lim
“Factory Town” by Carlos Bulosan
“Letter from a Contract Worker” by Antonio Jacinto
“The Man Who Had No Useful Work” by Rabindranath Tagore
“The Taj Mahal” by Sahir Ludhianvi
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“Refugee Mother and Child” by Chinua Achebe

“To Wash a Child” by Pablo Neruda
“Prayer to the Saints” by Pat Mora
“God Said I Made a Man” by Jose Garcia Villa
“Six P.M.” by Nick Joaquin

NOVELS

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Soledad’s Sister by Jose Dalisay

DRAMA
The Merchant of Venice or Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADING SYSTEM

25% Quizzes
20% Literary Essays
15% Departmental Midterm Examination
20% Final Examination
10% Class Participation
10% Group Project

CLASSROOM POLICIES

1. Attendance will be checked as soon as the bell rings. Anyone who is not in by this time
will be marked late. Three late marks are equivalent to one cut. Anyone who is not in
ten minutes after the bell rings will be considered absent (one cut). This being a three-
unit class, students are allowed only nine cuts. The student will be given a grade of W
upon the 10th cut.
2. Laptops, mobile phone, tablets, and other electronic devices may be used in the
classroom only with the permission of the teacher.
3. Students are expected to have prepared for the day’s classroom activities and must
have the required readings or other relevant materials in class. Otherwise, the student
is penalized with one forced cut.
4. All requirements must be submitted in class on the deadline. LATE SUBMISSIONS
WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED, AND THE STUDENT IS GIVEN A ZERO FOR THE
REQUIREMENT. Exceptions will be made only under extraordinary circumstances
such as an accident, illness, hospitalisation, or a death in the family, and the student
must convey this information to the teacher ideally before the deadline of the
requirement.
5. PLAGIARISM IS ACADEMIC DISHONESTY, WHICH IS A MAJOR OFFENSE AT
THE ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY. ALWAYS PROPERLY CITE YOUR
SOURCES WHEN BORROWING WORDS, IDEAS, AND INFORMATION FROM
AN INDIVIDUAL, A PRINTED RESOURCE, A WEBSITE, ETC. IN YOUR
WRITTEN WORK. SUBMISSION OF A WORK WITH PLAGIARISED CONTENT
WILL RESULT IN A GRADE OF F FOR THE REQUIREMENT AND POSSIBLY
THE COURSE IF THE ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS DECIDES
SO.
6. Please adhere strictly to the rules and regulations in the student handbook, particularly
those regarding proper student decorum in the classroom and the dress code. Any
infractions may result in the student being asked to leave the classroom, which will be
considered a forced cut.
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CONSULTATION HOURS
10:30-11:30 am, 12:30-1:30pm MWF Department of English
Consultations may also be done by emailing anna.oblepias@gmail.com