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).
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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%)
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