Honors 311 -- Great Books / Great Ideas
Spring
  2003

Fr. Mark Thamert, O.S.B.

Office hours:
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  • 1-3-5:  9-11:30 A.M. and by appointment. I am often in my office beyond my office hours, so check by at other times. You may also contact me by leaving a message on my voice mail (2394) or sending me an email message (mthamert@csbsju.edu).
Texts:
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  • 100 Books from our Great Books List.
  • WWW sites for biographical information and select secondary literature about our authors and their works. Here's a site in Canada dealing with great works:  Great Works Information
Scope:
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  • About 100 great works from several world traditions from the oldest Hebrew Scriptures to living Nobel Prize winners.
  • Works read according to several of the following themes:   Identity; The Experience of the Artist; God and Transcendence; Death and Looking Back on Life;  The Afterlife.  Seminar members have a role in determining the schedule of readings for each theme.
  • Applying the ideas and moral debates within the works to how we live our own lives.
  • An extensive summer reading project before the course begins.
  • One or two works from our list each week during the semester.
  • Discussions at several interpretive levels: personal, one-on-one relations, communal and national, international and global, cosmic and God-centered.
Aims:
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          By the end of this seminar, you will
  • have read and discussed a wide range of great works from countries worldwide.
  • have an understanding of how these works interrelate thematically and chronologically and know something about their place in the history of ideas. 
  • have a personal library of some 100 great works for the sake of lifelong reading.
  • demonstrate proficiency in the use of various approaches used to discuss and write about great works of literature and social thought, including the following approaches: narratological, structural, new historical, reader response, genre-historical, biographical, deconstructionist, gender-centered and ethical.

  • have memorized about seven passages which you regard as particularly meaningful.

  • understand the importance of reading great books for life-long learning.   See my article on this topic, A Jesting Pilate: The Great Books and Today's Students.

Assignments:
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  • Readings according to the mutually agreed upon schedule.  As is common in upper-division honors courses, students have a role in determining the schedule of readings and course activities.
  • Frequent e-mail essays on works we are reading as preparation for seminar discussions These can be read by seminar members at All Public Folders > Academic > Honors > Mark Thamert courses > HONR 311 -- Spring 2003

  • Group Book Report in April on some work not covered in seminar discussion.

  • Term paper on two or more works we have covered.

  • Learning by heart quotes from seven authors.  These quotes may serve as your life talismans, quotes which strike a particular resonance within you which you can ponder for years to come.   Taken together your talismans will be about 250 words of material learned by heart.

  • Final Course Book including a collection of all your edited e-mail essays, a chapter for your term paper, a table of contents, a page for works cited, a prolog of 500 words or more, and an epilog of 600 words or more, and a chapter transcribing and commenting on the quotes you have learned by heart -- your talismans from the course.
Semester grade
based upon
:
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  • Class attendance.  You must be present at all 14 seminar meetings.  Your grade will be effected after one absence.
  • Participation in seminar discussions and group book report -- Here's our Discussion Guide.   (10%)
  • E-mail assignments -- quality of thought, writerly tension, timeliness, personal commitment.  Here's our Writing Guide.  (15%)
  • Recitation and discussion of seven talismans in April -- done by appointment with Fr. Mark.  (15 %)
  • Final Course Book with Term Paper -- Here's our Writing Guide.    (60%)