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Children's Literature Studies at EMU

|Department of English Language and Literature|Pray-Harrold Hall|Ypsilanti, MI|48197|

Literature 137: Harry Potter:
Literary Allusion, Children’s Literature, and Popular Culture

General Education Knowledge of the Disciplines Humanities Course

Professor: Dr. Annette Wannamaker
Office: 603L Pray Harrold
Office Hours: 12:15-2 p.m. Mon/Wed and5-6:30 p.m. Tuesdays
Email: awannamak@emich.edu
Personal Web Page: people.emich.edu/awannnamak
Children’s Lit Web page: http://www.emich.edu/public/english/childlit

Graduate Assistant: Jennifer Filion
Office: 607F Pray Harrold
Office Hours: 10-11 a.m. Mondays and 12-1 p.m. Fridays

Course Description and Rationale: What is the purpose of this course?

Since the books in the Harry Potter series are children’s texts and a cultural phenomenon, they also have become symbols in larger cultural battles over religious values, literacy, and the role of children’s literature in shaping the next generation’s beliefs about gender, social class, race, imperialism, capitalism, and spirituality. This makes these books an ideal model to use in a classroom to illustrate the relevance of literature and literary studies to society. A close study of these novels as complex literary works that have roots in classic literature, as cultural phenomena, and as the objects of public debates can highlight for students all that is at stake in literary interpretation and cultural production. Therefore, students in this course will explore questions such as: Do the books have literary value, or are they just commercial products? Are the books dangerous for children to read, or do they benefit children? Where is the line between literature, media, and mass-produced products, and should there/can there be a line? Why are these books so popular, and what does their popularity tell us about who we are and what we, as a culture, believe ourselves to be?

Course Outcomes: What material will be covered? How will material be covered? What are students expected to learn?

In order to think critically about these, and other questions, the class will read some of the novels in the series; classic literature, myths, folk tales, and legends alluded to in the novels; and articles covering some of the public and academic debates about the novels. Students will take reading quizzes, will take two exams, and will write a position paper, and will work in groups to research an assigned topic, assignments that will require them to synthesize various ideas and to apply what they have learned to their own interpretations of the books. Ideally, by the end of the course, students will have a better understanding of literary terms and concepts; of the significance of literary allusion; of the role of literature in contemporary culture; of the debates that experts have about such issues as literary merit or ideology in literature; and of the ways that both the form and the role of literature are evolving within the context of Twenty-first Century global capitalism.

Students must demonstrate competence in each of the following outcomes to successfully complete the course:

Required Texts and Materials:

Books: (Books and Course Packet available at Mike’s Book Store)

On-line Texts:

• Article: Trites, Roberta. “The Harry Potter Novels as a Test Case for Adolescent Literature”: <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2342/is_3_35/ai_97074159/pg_7>
• Article: Terzieff, Juliette. “Harry’s the star but Girlfriends Also Shine”: http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3237/

• Grimm's “Cinderella”: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510a.html#grim

• The Odyssey, Book 10:  http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/homer/odyssey10.htm

• “The Legend of Saint George”: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/stgeorge1.html

• Werewolf tales: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/werewolf.html#morbach (Note: just read a few of these. You don't need to read all of them).

A note about “spoilers”:

Because the Harry Potter books are part of a series, which together create one long narrative, we will at times make references to books later in the series. If you haven’t read all the books in the series and don’t want the plot “spoiled” for you by hearing what happens in book VI or book VII the first week of class, then please finish all the books before class begins. This is a course concerned with literary and cultural analysis, which means we can’t curtail academic discussions simply because some students don’t want their reading experiences “spoiled.” On the other hand, because I expect students to engage in close readings of texts, we will try to focus our discussion and analysis on whichever book in the series currently is under discussion.

Reading, Test, and Project Schedule:

Jan 7: Introduction to course, syllabus, attendance and behavior policies, and assignments (Download ppt Note: ppt contains same info listed on syllabus in different format, with only a few updates)

Harry Potter: Literary Text, Consumer Product, or Cultural Phenomenon?

Jan 9: Let’s begin with some questions: What is literary merit? Who decides? How are great works of literature defined? What is at stake in labeling a work as literary or sub-literary? What is high culture and what is low culture? Can mass-produced popular culture also be art? Does literature, as it has traditionally been defined, even exist anymore in a globalized, commercial, mass media culture? Within these contemporary contexts, who owns a text? The author? Readers? Fans? Corporate interests? How is the nature of a literary text and of reading re-defined when literary works evolve into a series of films, Internet fan sites, works of fan fiction, video games, and action figures? How might these repetitions of representation (often oversimplified, distorted simulations of the original narrative) affect our reading experiences? How have public discussions and controversies about these books shaped our perceptions of the original texts and shaped us as readers? Download: ppt1: definitions and questions

Jan 14: Read the essay: Borah, Rebecca Sutherland. “Apprentice Wizards Welcome: Fan Communities and the Culture of Harry Potter,” which is in your course packet.

In class we’ll talk about fan culture, the WB website controversy, fan fiction, slash fiction, wizard rock, and waiting in line at midnight to get the latest book in the series. What do we make of all these fan(atic) activities? Why are people so excited about these books? How do these fan activities change and challange the act of reading and interpreting a work of literature?

Jan 16: Read Chapter 9 from Exploring Harry Potter, which is in your course packet. Read the introduction to the Colbert book (15-17) and the chapter in Colbert titled, “Where do those names come from?” (165-184).

In class, I’ll define literary allusion and its role in literary texts. Then I’ll explain and assign the research project and presentation assignment.

Students will be assigned into their groups for the research project and presentation. There will be time at the end of class for groups to get together to exchange email addresses and to develop plans for conducting research. Download: ppt2: Allusion

Jan 21: No class. Martin Luther King Day.

Jan 23: Read the essay, Taub, Deborah J. and Heather L. Servaty. “Controversial Content in Children’s Literature: Is Harry Potter Harmful to Children?,” which is in your course packet.

In-class discussion about the censorship of the Harry Potter books based on religious concerns and concerns about exposing child readers to depictions of violence and death.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Jan 28: Read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Discuss literary terms, some major themes, and some characteristics of children’s literature Download: ppt3: Character

Jan 30: Read “Cinderella” (linked from web site) (There are several versions on the site – read only the Grimms’ version of the story)

Discuss literary allusions in HP1 and their functions in text.

Meeting time for Research Project Groups during the last 30 minutes of class.

Feb 4: Read the essay, Alton, Anne Hiebert. “Generic Fusion and the Mosaic of Harry Potter,” which is in your course packet. Download: ppt4: Genre

Discuss literary genres and expectations we have of texts based on literary form.

Feb 6: Read the essay, Smith, Karen Manners. “Harry Pottter’s Schooldays: J.K. Rowling and the British Boarding School Novel,” which is in your course packet.

Discuss the ways HP is influenced by the British school story.

Meeting time for Research Project Groups during the last 30 minutes of class.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Feb 11: Read chapters 1-10 in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Feb 13: Read chapters 11-18 in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Meeting time for Research Project Groups during the last 30 minutes of class.

Feb 18: Read The Odyssey, Book 10 (on-line link from the web site).

In-class discussion of Circe, pigs, wands, divine help and other allusions to The Odyssey in the HP novels. Dowload: ppt5: Odyssey

Feb 20: Read the sections from Ovid about “Narcissus and Echo,” “The Minotaur and Ariadne” and “Orpheus and Eurydice,” which are in your course packet. Read in Colbert the chapters titled, “Why would Fluffy come from a Greek Chappie?” (99-100), “Why is the third task set in a maze?” (153-4), and “Why are mirrors magical” (159-162).

In-class discussion of Narcissus, Echo, mirrors, labyrinths, and the Underworld. Download: ppt6: Labyrinth

Feb 25 and 27: No Classes. Winter Break.

March 3: Read “Herakles” information in your course packet. Read Chapter 10 from Exploring Harry Potter, which is in your course packet. Read the chapter in Colbert titled, “What makes Harry a Universal Hero?” (205-218).

Discuss the hero monomyth and its influence on HP novels. Download: ppt7: Monomyth

March 5: Read the chapter in Colbert titled, “Are basilisks just big snakes?” (33-34).

Discuss Medussa, Gorgons, and the metaphorical function monsters play in literature.

March 10: Read in Colbert the chapters titled, “Which creature is fit for a king?” (71-76) and “What Character Can’t Die?” (91-94), and Read the segments from The History of Kings of Britain included in your course packet.

Discuss snakes, dragons, phoenixes, and the use of Christian symbols in HP books.

March 12: Read T.H. White, Chapter 23 from The Sword and the Stone, which is in your course packet. Read in Colbert the chapters titled “Did Alchemists Really Search for a Magic Stone?” (19-22), “Why are Harry and Cedric like Knights of the Round Table?” (111-112), “Are Any of the ‘Famous Witches and Wizards’ Real?” (255-264).

Discuss wizards, swords, knights, and the influence of Arthurian legends on HP.

March 17: Midterm Exam

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

March 19: Read chapters 1-9 in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

March 24: Read chapters 1-22 in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

March 26: Read online text on werewolves. Read from Ovid “Cadmus and Harmonia” and “Arachne,” which is in your course packet. Read the chapter in Colbert titled, “Why would Sirius Black become a black dog?” (41-44) and “Who was the most amazing animagus?” (23-32).

Discuss transformations as metaphors in literature and assign position paper.

Download ppt: Essay Assignment (with first pre-writing activity)

March 31: Read the essay, Ostry, Elaine. “Accepting Mudbloods: The Ambivalent Social Vision of J.K. Rowling’s Fairy Tales,” which in the course packet.

April 2: Read an assigned section (based on the groups you are in for the research project and presentation) of Margery Hourihan’s chapter “The Hero” from Deconstructing the Hero: Literary Theory and Children’s Literature, which is in your course packets.

Dowload ppt: EssayAssignmentPart2

In class, we will discuss ways to apply research or theory to a discussion of literary text and ways to develop a position paper.

April 7: Read the online essay, Terzieff, Juliette. “Harry’s the star but Girlfriends Also Shine.” <http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3237/> and Read the essay, Thompson, Deborah. “Deconstructing Harry: Casting a Critical Eye on the Witches and Wizards of Hogwarts,” which in your course packet.

In class, we will discuss portrayals of gender in the novels and we will continue to discuss ways to develop a position paper.

April 9: Read the essay, Trites, Roberta. “The Harry Potter Novels as a Test Case for Adolescent Literature,” which is online at: <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2342/is_3_35/ai_97074159/pg_7>

Discuss characteristics of Adolescent Literature and the ways HPIII shifts the series from children’s literature to adolescent literature.

HPasYALit Powerpoint Download

April 14: Rough Draft Workshop. Bring one copy of position papers to class for workshop.

April 16: Turn in Revised Position Paper.

April 16 and 21:Watch the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban and discuss issues of adaptation.

April 25: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Final Exam.

Course Requirements and Grading:

Grading Scale: 1000-940=A; 939-900=A-; 899-870=B+; 869-840=B; 839-800=B-; 799-770=C+; 769-740=C; 739-700=C-; 699-670=D+; 669-640=D; 639-600=D-; <600=F.

Points out of 1,000 and Assignments:

300: 18 Reading Quizzes worth 20 points each (possible total of 360 points)
200: Position Paper
200: Group Research Project and Presentation
150: Midterm Exam
150: Final Exam

Exams: There will be a mid-term and a final in this course and I will do a brief review before each exam. The exams will be a combination of fill in the blank and short essay questions. Students will be required to demonstrate comprehension of materials covered in all assigned reading (whether or not it is discussed in the class lecture), of materials covered in class lecture and discussions, and of materials taught by other students in presentations.

Pop Reading Quizzes: During the course of the term, students will take 18 quizzes based on the reading due for that day’s class. It is very important to me that students taking a literature course actually read works of literature and essays about literature. Therefore, completing the assigned reading will count for a significant portion (30 percent) of the course grade. Furthermore, students who regularly attend class are more likely to succeed. Therefore, the quiz grading system is designed to encourage regular and punctual attendance.

The way the quiz/attendance/reading system works:

Position Paper: Students will write a typed double-spaced 5-page (12 point type) position paper that develops an interpretation of the Harry Potter novels or some aspect of the novels as cultural phenomenon. Students can write about a specific theme, symbol, or issue in the HP novels of their choosing. The essay should develop a specific thesis, which asserts an interpretation using evidence from the novels.
The paper must be typed, error-free, and written in MLA style. It will be graded on the quality of the writing and the ability to apply the concepts we’ve discussed during the term to an interpretation of literature/culture. Essays also will be evaluated based on audience awareness, organization, correctness, adherence to MLA citation guidelines, and on the effective use of evidence to build a convincing argument or interpretation.

We will do several in-class pre-writing activities and will have an in-class writing workshop so that students can have the opportunity to revise their papers. Students who do not attend the writing workshop, will lose 10 points from the paper grade. Papers turned in after the due date will lose 10 points per day late. The papers are worth 200 points (20 percent of the final course grade).

Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism is a complicated thing: sometimes students plagiarize material because they simply do not know they are doing so (forgetting to cite paraphrased ideas, for example). Other times, students consciously plagiarize by downloading an entire paper from the Internet, “borrowing” a paper from a friend, or by copying from a book or cutting and pasting text from the Internet into an essay. Plagiarism will be handled on a case-by-case basis. I can usually tell if it is accidental or purposeful. If it is an accident, the student will be allowed to rewrite the paper. If it is done on purpose, the student will receive a 0 on the plagiarized assignment and may fail the entire course. We will go over this issue in detail in class when we are working on various essays.

Group Research Projects and Presentations: During the course of the semester, groups of students will work together to research an assigned topic. Groups will be randomly assigned. There is some in-class time designated so that groups can meet to work, but most groups may also need to meet outside of class as well. You’ll need to decide among yourselves how to organize and divide tasks. The groups will present their findings on an assigned date in two ways:

Grading: 200 points (or 20 percent of course grade) which will be based on three factors: 1) The Written Report, which will demonstrate thorough and careful academic research, 2) The Presentation, which will creatively and effectively teach important information to the rest of the class, and 3) Written Peer Evaluations from fellow group members, which are meant to ensure accountability to the group.

The Written Report: Each group will receive an assignment sheet with a general topic, and lists of sub-topics and suggestions. The groups then will need to conduct thorough academic research on their topic. In other words, you will need to do more than simply surf the Internet or look at Wikipedia: I expect students to go to the library to find academic books and articles in respected academic journals. Suggestion: It is fine to split up tasks, but be careful about the ways you delegate work. For instance, if a group assigns two people to do research and two people to write the report, then the writers will have a hard time putting material together without any exposure to the research. Instead, it would be a better idea for everyone to share in all stages: two people could research topic A, two more could research sub-topic B, etc. and then you could all choose a date and time to get the research together into a coherent written and oral report.

The Presentation: The group will teach information to the class in a way that is interesting, clear, and that connects all information to the Harry Potters novels in a meaningful way. Each group will receive and assignment sheet with specific instructions and a list of research questions to cover. Groups can use whatever presentation style they think is most effective (a skit, overheads, writing on the blackboard, Powerpoint, etc.). Be creative and have fun! Also, it is not necessary for everyone in the group to actively participate in the presentation. If two groups members have horrible stage fright, they can volunteer to put together the written report and let other group members who are more comfortable with public speaking take the stage. The way you want to organize and present your information is up to each group to negotiate.

Written Peer Evaluations: After you have completed your presentation and turned in your written report, each member of the group will turn in a form that evaluates contributions made by other members of the group. Most students work very well together in groups (in some classes, groups have even become close friends long after the class is over!). But, every once in a while, a student will not fully contribute to the group – they let other group members down by forgetting to do research, by not meeting deadlines set by the group, or even by not showing up to meetings or not contributing at all. While it is important to learn to work together (most jobs you get once you graduate will require you to work in groups with other people), it is not fair for students who do little work to take credit for other people’s hard work. I will take the written peer evaluations into account when calculating grades for the group project: most of the time, everyone in the group will earn the same grades, but sometimes it will be necessary to give a lower grade to a student who did not contribute to the project. If this becomes necessary, I will have an individual meeting with the student(s) earning a lower grade.

Politeness Policies: Part of my job as a professor is to create a learning environment where students feel safe, respected, and able to get the most out of their learning experiences. I promise to treat all students with respect, but also must work to maintain a structured learning environment. I’m assuming that the following statements will seem obvious to most of you, but 16 years of teaching college students has taught me that there will be some students who need these rules of classroom etiquette spelled out in an obvious way:

Be on time. When you come to class late, it is disruptive to everyone around you. If you cannot make it to my class on time (8 a.m., not 8:02 or even 8:01) please drop the course.

Turn off your cell phone. It is not okay for your cell phone to ring in class. It is not okay to text message during class. If you are expecting a very important call (your wife is about to have a baby, for instance) you can talk to me and to your classmates before class to let us know that your cell phone will be on and may ring during class. Otherwise, turn it off.

Laptops are only for note taking. Students who use their laptops during class to surf the Internet, to poke friends on Facebook, or to play World of Warcraft will no longer be allowed to bring laptops into the classroom.

Be respectful of the instructor and your fellow students. These are examples of behaviors that are not respectful. When students exhibit the following behaviors, I assume they do not want to be in class and will ask if they prefer to leave.

These are examples of behaviors that are okay:

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