Dates and reading selections may change to reflect the current pace and interests of the class. Unless otherwise noted, the material and tasks are due on the date they appear. Written assignments and deadlines appear in red.
Part I: History
Tuesday, January 12 (Week 1)
- Introduction to Writing 101
- Introduction to graphic narratives
- Introduction to Davidson Domains
Thursday, January 14
- Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, chapters 1-2
- Kyle Baker, Nat Turner
- Place at least six tabs in your copy of Nat Turner: three green tabs for pages you’re comfortable talking about in class and three red tabs for pages you have questions about or have had difficulty with
- Sign up for a Davidson Domain, set up a subdomain, and install a WordPress site for WRI 101
- Warm-up 1 assigned
Tuesday, January 19 (Week 2)
- Reread Nat Turner (use red and green tabs again)
- Kenneth Greenberg, “Nat Turner: The Man and the Rebellion” from The Confessions of Nat Turner: Text and Context
- Project 1 assigned
Thursday, January 21
- Understanding Comics, chapters 3-4
- Find examples of each of McCloud’s six kinds of transitions, as described in “Blood in the Gutter” in Understanding Comics—and post one to your domain with a 2-3 sentence analysis
- Find an interesting example of a time-space visual relationship, as described in “Time Frames” in Understanding Comics—and post it to your domain with a 2-3 sentence analysis
- Warm-up 1 due
Tuesday, January 26 (Week 3)
- Meet in Library for Zotero Workshop
- Project 1 draft due
Thursday, January 28
- Understanding Comics, chapters 5-6
- Richard McGuire, first half of Here (use red and green tabs again in Here)
- Project 1 comments due by end of the day
Tuesday, February 2 (Week 4)
- Finish Here
- Project 1 final revision due
Part II: Funny Animals
Thursday, February 4
- Art Spiegelman, Maus: My Father Bleeds History, chapters 1-3
- Warm-Up 2 assigned
Tuesday, February 9 (Week 5)
- Maus: My Father Bleeds History, chapters 4-6
- Joshua Brown, “Of Mice and Memory” in Oral History Review 16.1 (1988): 91-109
Thursday, February 11
- Maus II: Here My Troubles Began, chapters 1-2
- Warm-up 2 due
- Project 2 assigned
Tuesday, February 16 (Week 6)
- Maus II: Here My Troubles Began, chapters 3-5
- Hillary Chute, “‘The Shadow of a Past Time’: History and Graphic Representation in Maus.” Twentieth Century Literature: A Scholarly and Critical Journal 52.2 (2006): 199-230.
Thursday, February 18
- Project 2 draft due
Tuesday, February 23 (Week 7)
- Individual Meetings with Dr. Sample throughout the week
- Project 2 comments due
Thursday, February 25
- Project 2 final revision due
Tuesday & Thursday, March 1 & 3 (Spring Break)
Part III: Death
Tuesday, March 8 (Week 8)
- Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, Daytripper, pages 1-128
- Warm-up 3 assigned
Thursday, March 10
- Daytripper, pages 129-247
Tuesday, March 15 (Week 9)
- Understanding Comics, chapter 7-9
- Experiments in graphical storytelling
- Project 3 assigned
Thursday, March 17
- Warm-up 3 due
Tuesday March 22 (Week 10)
- Project 3 draft due
Thursday, March 25
- Project 3 comments due
- Writing Workshop
Tuesday March 29 (Week 11 / Easter Break)
Thursday, March 31
- In class: David Sedaris, “Letting Go”
- Project 3 final revision Sunday, April 3 by 5pm
Tuesday, April 5 (Week 12)
- Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, chapters 1-4
Thursday, April 7
Tuesday, April 12 (Week 13)
- Hillary Chute, “An Interview with Alison Bechdel,” MFS Modern Fiction Studies 52.4 (2006): 1004-1013.
- Warm-up 4 assigned
Thursday, April 14
- Robyn Warhol, “The Space Between: A Narrative Approach to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home,” College Literature 38.3 (2011): 1–20.
- Valerie Rohy. “In the Queer Archive: Fun Home,” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 16.3 (2010): iv–361.
- K.W. Eveleth, “‘A Vast “Network of Transversals”’: Labyrinthine Aesthetics in Fun Home,” South Central Review 32.3 (2015): 88–109.
- In class: On Tuesday, April 12, the class will divide into 3 groups. Each group will take one of the above essays (Warhol, Rohy, and Eveleth) and present that essay to the class on Thursday, April 14. The presentation will consist of the following: (1) a 5-minute presentation with at least 5 slides, and no more than 5 words per slide; and (2) a 15-minute activity that could be a short writing prompt, class discussion, activity, etc. (no quizzes or game-show like activities). The contents of the 5-minute presentation should revolve around these questions: What conversation about Fun Home is the essay intervening into? What is the author’s central claim? What’s at stake with the author’s claim? Why does it matter? How does the author back it up? What questions does the essay raise for you?
- Project 4 assigned
Tuesday, April 19 (Week 14)
- Warm-up 4 due
Thursday, April 21
- Project 4 draft due in class
Tuesday, April 26 (Week 15)
- Meetings on-one-on with Dr. Sample
Thursday, April 28
- Meetings on-one-on with Dr. Sample
Tuesday, May 3 (Week 16)
- Project 4 due