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English 271/ Bryn Mawr College/Anne Dalke
Spring Semester, 2010
MW 1-2:30,  in English House Lecture Hall

Log In           Our Class Commonplace Book        Class Notes        
Web Papers: on Alice James

Instructions for Preparing/Posting in the Commonplace Book; Webpapers;  Final Portfolio and Self-Evaluation

"In the world of James, there are no absolutes, no final truths, no static realities"
(Siri Hustvedt, A Plea for Eros: Essays, 2005 ).

This course is conceptualized as an extended visit with one of America’s most interesting and influential families: the unruly, expansive children of Henry James, Sr. We will focus on the remarkable writings of three of them: the diarist Alice, who became a feminist icon; the great novelist Henry; and the groundbreaking psychologist and philosopher William. Attention will also be paid to contemporary representations of them and applications of their work including Susan Sontag’s play Alice in Bed and Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing.

In a series of linked writing projects, students will 1) contribute weekly to our on-line class commonplace book; 2) write three papers about the relationship of the work of each one of the James siblings to that of someone else; 3) create a final project examining the role of the Jameses in contemporary culture. In addition to regular postings in the on-line commonplace book, a total of twenty-four pages of writing will be required by semester’s end.

Course Requirements:
Bi-weekly attendance and participation in class
10 postings in our commonplace book kept on the world-wide web
Three 4-pp. papers, posted on-line by 5 p.m.:

• F, 2/5: thinking aloud about Alice James in relation to....?
  
• F, 3/5:  thinking aloud about Henry James in relation to...?
• F, 4/23: thinking aloud about William James in relation to...?
  

5/2: Final performance

5/14: Final 12-pp. project
(what roles are the Jameses now playing in our culture, in our lives?)
portfolio and self-evaluation

A little background on and inspiration for our commonplace book:
Wikipedia: Commonplace book (as scrapbook, memory aid, clearinghouse to clarify and concentrate)
Electrasteph's Commonplace Book (as a way of memorializing striking passages)
Serious Hypertext's Notes about Notes: Commonplace book
(as a way to gain time for reflecting on the meaning and the construction of our favorite works)

Reading Schedule

W, Jan. 20 Introduction: Reading Some Images, Imagining Some Forms
Paul Fisher. Preface. House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family (2008)

S, Jan. 24 Beginning our own (shared, 21st century) commonplace book

M, Jan. 25 Susan Sontag, Alice in Bed: A Play in Eight Scenes (1992)

W, Jan. 27 The Diary of Alice James (1890-92)
Excerpts: "A Woman in Conversation with Herself"

M, Feb. 1    "
Guest visit from Kristin Lindgren of the Haverford College Writing Center

W, Feb. 3  Kristin Boudreau, "'A Barnum Monstrosity': Alice James and the Spectacle of Sympathy." American Literature, 65, 1 (March 1993): 53-67.

Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw" (1898)

Writing Conferences with Anne

5 p.m. F, Feb. 5: 4 pp. on-line reflection about the relation of Alice James to....?

M, Feb. 8  Oscar Cargill, "The Turn of the Screw and Alice James." PMLA 78, 3 (June 1963): 238-249.

Shoshana Felman, "Writing and Madness (Literature/Philosophy/Psychoanalysis)," Yale French Studies 55-6 (1977): 94-113, 185-207.

W, Feb. 10 SNOW DAY!!!

M, Feb. 15 Henry James, “The Real Thing” (1892)

Also: bring in a contemporary version of "The Real Thing": possibilities include Kurt Anderson's 1980 collection of humorous essays; Tom Stoppard's 1982 play; albums by Bo Bice, Faith No More, Midnight Oil, PureNRG, Taj Mahal, Vanessa Williams, Marvin Gaye, Jill Scott, The Higgins, 2Unlimited, Joe Nichols; songs by ABC, Jellybean, Lisa Stansfield, Russell Morris, Tony Di Bart, Javine, Gwen Stefani, Kenny Loggins, Kingston Wall, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jame and Cypress Hill....

W, Feb. 17 Henry James, Preface and Chapters 1-14, The Portrait of a Lady (1881)

M, Feb. 22 Chapters 15-26, The Portrait of a Lady

W, Feb. 24 Chapters 27-42, The Portrait of a Lady

M, Mar. 1 Chapters 43-55, The Portrait of a Lady

W, Mar. 3  Cynthia Ozick, “The Lesson of the Master," Art and Ardor (1982) and
“An (Unfortunate) Interview with Henry James,” The Threepenny Review (Winter 2005).

5 p.m. F, Mar. 5: 4 pp. on-line reflection about the relation of Henry James to....?

SPRING BREAK

Most the remaining readings are to be found in The Writings of William James: A Comprehensive Edition. Ed. John J. McDermott. Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1977.

From The Principles of Psychology (1890) and Psychology: Briefer Course (1892)

M, Mar. 15  "The Stream of Consciousness," rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 21-74.

W, Mar. 16 "Habit," rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 9-21.

Anne Dalke. Weeding, Seeding and Place-Keeping: A Story with Three Steps and a Coda. Bryn Mawr College, Serendip. June 2007.
 
Eugene Taylor. "Biological Consciousness and the Experience of the Transcendent: William James and American Functional Psychology." Rpt. Robert  Wozniak, "Mind and Body: Rene Déscartes to William James." Bryn Mawr College, Serendip 1995.

From The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)
M, Mar. 22  "The Will to Believe,"  rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 717-735.
 

From the University Chronicle (Berkeley, California, 1898)
W, Mar. 24 "Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results," rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 345-362

From The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)
M, Mar. 29 "Conclusions" and Postscript," rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 758-786.
                  
From Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907)
W, Mar. 31 "The Present Dilemma in Philosophy," rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 362-376.

M, Apr. 5  "What Pragmatism Means," rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 376-390.
 
From A Pluralistic Universe (1909)

W, Apr. 7 "The Types of Philosophic Thinking"; rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 482-496.

M,  Apr. 12 "Hegel and his Method"; rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 512-529.

From Memories and Studies (1911)
W, Apr. 14 "The Moral Equivalent of War," rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 660-671.

Jimmy Carter, "The Moral Equivalent of War." The President's Proposed Energy Policy. April 18, 1997.

From Essays in Radical Empiricism (1912)
M, Apr. 19 "A World of Pure Experience," rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 194-214.

More Contemporary Resonances
W, Apr. 21  Gertrude Stein, "Objects." Tender Buttons. 1914; rpt. on-line by Bartleby.com

Dana Cairns Watson, "Modifying the Mind: William James and Tender Buttons." Gertrude Stein and the Essence of What Happens. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2005.

Jacques Barzun, Prologue and "The Genius." A Stroll with William James. New York: Harper and Row, 1983. 1-5, 262-302.

5 p.m. Fri, Apr. 23: 4 pp. on-line reflection about the relation of William James to....?

M, Apr. 26  Louis Menand, “The Man of Two Minds,” “Brazil,” “Pragmatisms” and “Epilogue.” The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001. 
73-95, 140-148, 351-375, 435-442.

William James, "The Gospel of Relaxation" (Address delivered @ Bryn Mawr, 1907).

W, Apr. 28 Henry James, "The Question of Our Speech" (Bryn Mawr Commencement Address, 1905)

Ursula LeGuin, Bryn Mawr Commencement Address, 1986.

Final Performances

12:30 p.m. Fri, May 14:  12-pp. final project (on the contemporary implications
of the work of the James family*), portfolio and self-evaluation due

*As inspiration, William James's words on the death of his brother:
"I feel abandoned and afraid, even as a lost child. But he is a possession,
of real magnitude, and I shall find myself still living upon him to the end."
(and we...?)