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Course Title: Topics in Literature

Instituto de Idiomas / Lenguas Extranjeras
Course Instructor: Steven K. McClain
smcclain@uninorte.edu.co
310-659-4007

Topics in Literature Assessment Summary

Assessment Title Assessment Completed During Weight

Analysis Composition 1 Course Weeks 3, 4, 5 19%
rd
(Grade Uploaded Before Sept. 3 )
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Analysis Composition 2 Course Weeks 6, 7, 8 21%
st
(Grade Uploaded Before Oct. 1 )
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Analysis Composition 3 Course Weeks 9, 10, 11 22%
(Grade Uploaded Before Oct. 29th)
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Analysis Composition 4 Course Weeks 12, 13, 14, 15 23%
th
(Grade Uploaded Before Dec. 4 )
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Final Exam Course Weeks 16 15%
nd st
(Exam To Be Held Nov. 22 —Dec. 1 )
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TOPICS IN LITERATURE Course Texts

(BRIDGE TEXT 1)
Octavia E. Butler’s ‘Bloodchild’ (1984) in Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995)
—RECORDING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYq6Wa6KBjs
—McClain PODCAST: https://voca.ro/1on66eeA5XLU

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(Text Group A or Monster Invasion)
1. Unknown Author’s Beowulf (Translation by Seamus Heaney)
—Lines 703 to 835 “Grendel Strikes”
—RECORDING:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaB0trCztM0 (Start 30:55)

2. H.P. Lovecraft’s “Dagon” (1919)

—READING at https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/d.aspx
—RECORDING at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1I0y6PHfg
OR
H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Color Out of Space” (1927)
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—READING at https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cs.aspx
—RECORDING at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JH7nEjwbEY
OR
H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwhich Horror” (1928)
—READING at https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/dh.aspx
—RECORDING at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJK5w4ZpQKc

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(BRIDGE TEXT 2)
Octavia E. Butler’s “Speech Sounds” (1983) in Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995)
—RECORDING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLax8f0-tyI
—McClain PODCAST: https://voca.ro/1f2sI4bosaG5

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(Text Group B or Windy Witches and Carnival Wizards)
1. William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth (1606)
—Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 1-77
—READING at http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/full.html
—BBC RECORDING (Start at 1:16:45)
SEE: soundcloud.com/esteban-p-rez-6/macbeth-with-paul-scofield

2. Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) Chapters 11+12
—RECORDING at www.youtube.com/watch?v=g46-tAondGo (Start at 1:07:40)
—Abridged BBC Radio Drama Adaptation (UNTIL 10:24)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag1CzXjE1uQ

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(BRIDGE TEXT 3)
Octavia E. Butler’s ‘The Book of Martha’ (2003) in Bloodchild and Other Stories
(1995)
—McClain PODCAST: https://voca.ro/1mHbikHbYXx5

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(Text Group C or Subterranean Tales)
1. Stephen King’s “Graveyard Shift” (1970)
—Robot RECORDING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tODrslVB3WE

2. Tolkien’s The Hobbit or There and Back Again (1937) Ch. 5 “Riddles in the Dark”
—Abridged RECORDING (Start at 8:15)
—www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg32aPTiKEY&list=PLbKAeAqsDeMlQU
k-3MC4IC3E9r6Bnr5GS&index=4

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(BRIDGE TEXT 4)
Octavia E. Butler’s “Amnesty” (2003) in Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995)

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(Text Group D or Dangerous Creatures Created by Science)
1. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818)
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—Chapter 4 FROM “It was on a dreary night of November” TO “a thing

such as even Dante could not have conceived”
—RECORDING (Start at 1:28:39)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7XLp_bOFUU

3. Isaac Asimov’s “...That Thou Art Mindful of Him” (1974)

OR
Isaac Asimov’s “The Bicentennial Man” (1976)
OR
Harlon Ellison “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” (1967)
—RECORDING by Ellison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgo-As552hY

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(BRIDGE TEXT 5)
Octavia E. Butler’s “The Evening and the Morning and the Night” (1987) in Bloodchild
and Other Stories (1995)

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(Text Group E or Poe’s Pets)
1. Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’ (1843)
—READING at https://poestories.com/read/blackcat
—RECORDING at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYFZTEDVDRY

2. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (1845)

—READING at https://poestories.com/read/raven
—RECORDING at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BefliMlEzZ8&t=22s

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(Text Group F or Brighter Futures)
1. H.G. Well’s The Time Machine (1895) Chapter 11
—RECORDING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE6oVq5k94s
(3:08:23—3:21:38)

2. Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968)

—Abridged RECORDING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3_HAcxsvpg
—Chapter 1 (0:00—14:42)
—Chapter 2 (14:45—25:03)
—Chapter 3 (25:05—30:12)

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(Text Group G or Helpful Critical Sources)
1. Darko Suvin’s “Preface” to Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and
History of a Literary Genre (1979)

Suvin’s definition of science fiction includes the following concepts: “Rather, it [SF]
should be defined as a fictional tale determined by the hegemonic literary device of a
locus and/or dramatis personae that (1) are radically or at least significantly different
from the empirical times, places, and characters of “mimetic”1 or naturalist fiction, but
1
Many snobby-sounding but useful literary terms—such as “mimetic” or “diegetic”—will be carefully
considered during the Topics in Literature course.
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(2) are nonetheless-to the extent that SF differs from other “fantastic” genres, that is,
ensembles of fictional tales without empirical validation-simultaneously perceived as
not impossible within the cognitive (cosmological and anthropological) norms of the
author’s epoch. Basically, SF is a developed oxymoron, a realistic irreality, with
humanized nonhumans, this-worldly Other Worlds, and so forth. Which means that it is
potentially the space of a potent estrangement, validated by the pathos and prestige of
the basic cognitive norms of our times” (Suvin 1979, viii).
—RECORDING: https://voca.ro/1mLBJ3zc3kYl

2. Farah Mendlesohn’s “Introduction” to Rhetorics of Fantasy (2008)

Fantasy literature, fictions whose text-worlds include the supernatural, can be divided
into four categories. These four categories (which may mix!) are a “toolkit” useful in
describing different ways that the supernatural can be introduced into or function within
the text-world:
(Category 1) PORTAL QUEST FANTASY or fictions in which characters
leave mimetic settings (i.e. real-seeming worlds) and enter supernatural realms through
passageways (i.e. portals).
(Category 2) IMMERSIVE FANTASY or fictions in which the characters
always reside in supernatural realms, i.e. there is in the fiction no mimetic or real-
seeming setting.
(Category 3) INTRUSION FANTASY or fictions in which the supernatural
invades the characters’ mimetic setting.
(Category 4) LIMINAL FANTASY or fictions in which the supernatural lurks
(and is nearly hidden) at the borders of the characters’ mimetic setting.
— Rhetorics of Fantasy RECORDING at https://vocaroo.com/1mInMuhtC2I0
—Portal Quest Fantasy Description (START at 23:59)
—Immersion Fantasy Description (START at 27:58)
—Intrusion Fantasy Description (START at 32:51)
—Liminal Fantasy Description (START at 36:01)

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Topics in Literature Composition Anchor Questions

(Anchor Question A) According to (CRITICAL SOURCE), is (FICTION) a work of

science fiction?

(Anchor Question B) According to (CRITICAL SOURCE), is (FICTION) a work of

fantasy?

(Anchor Question C) According to (CRITICAL SOURCE), should (FICTION) be

understood as a hybrid work of science fiction and fantasy?

(Anchor Question D) Using textual examples taken from (FICTION), argue for the
validity of the definition of science fiction and/or fantasy seen in (CRITICAL
SOURCE).
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(Anchor Question E) According to concepts seen in (CRITICAL SOURCE), are

characters in (FICTION), science-fictional characters?

(Anchor Question F) According to concepts seen in (CRITICAL SOURCE), are

characters in (FICTION), fantasy characters?

(Anchor Question G) According to concepts seen in (CRITICAL SOURCE), are

setting seen in (FICTION), science-fictional settings?

(Anchor Question H) According to concepts seen in (CRITICAL SOURCE), are

setting seen in (FICTION), fantasy settings?

(Anchor Question I) In what important ways do the diegetic worlds of (FICTION)

differ from the extradiegetic world of the reader?

(Anchor Question J) In what way does the text world of (FICTION) serve as a socio-
cultural reflection (or inversion) of the world of the reader?

(Anchor Question K) In what important ways do the text worlds of (FICTION 1) and
(FICTION 2) differ?

(Anchor Question L) In what important ways are the text worlds of (FICTION 1) and
(FICTION 2) similar?

(Anchor Question M) How would the text world of (FICTION 1) change if text
elements (i.e. characters, creatures, settings, technologies etc.) from (FICTION 2)
were introduced into it?

(Anchor Question N) In which fiction’s text world(s) would you, as a character, most
like (or least like) to live and why?

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During the Topics in Literature course, students—here deputized “student-

philologists”—will compose four, four hundred-to-five-hundred-word analysis

compositions related to (1) classroom fictions selected by McClain2, (2) critical sources,

and (3) independent fictions selected by student-philologists. The student-philologist’s

work—buttressed by peer and professor revision and analysis recitals—will culminate

2
Such English language literatures will, for example, include the fantastical and scientific fictions of
authors such as Octavia E. Butler and William Shakespeare. It should be by student-philologists noted
that, in the always polite but often intellectually violent worlds of literary criticism, the association of the
works of William Shakespeare with the likes of science fiction is a dangerous position to attempt to
defend. However, given that the instruction of Topic in Literature will this semester coincide with
dangerous times, the class will risk dangerous ideas. Such dangerous visions will, for example, include
the interesting ethical overlap of Macbeth’s three witches with Isaac Asimov’s genocide-plotting
androids, George 9 and George 10 seen in the short science fiction, “...That Thou art Mindful of Him”
(1974).
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in a fair but firm final exam which will require the timed production of an analysis

composition. During the final exam, student-philologists may be asked in answer any of

the above anchor questions in relation to any of the above classroom texts.

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Each of the course’s four critical compositions will require the student-

philologist to complete the following steps:

(STEP 1) Guided by instinct, interest and teacher/peer recommendations,

student-philologists will select an anchor question from the long list seen above to guide

the organization of their composition’s four-hundred to five-hundred words. It should

be noted that student-philologists may propose alternative anchor questions to the

course instructor (i.e. McClain), an individual receptive to good ideas.

(STEP 2) Student-philologists select four SF&F3 fictions. At least two of the

composition’s four fictions must come from the classroom fictions listed above. Two of

the four fictions may come from student-philologist-selected independent texts. One of

the student-philologist’s independent texts may be audio-visual in character (i.e. a film,

a television program and/or a videogame/interactive fiction). Student-philologist’s

independent texts may be comic book-like in character. Student-philologist’s

independent texts may be English-language translations of non-English fictions.

REMEMBER: Although student-philologists are required to read, reread and enjoy

classroom fictions in preparation for the final exam, independent texts chosen by the

student-philologist need not be of a science-fictional or fantastical character, and may

be taken from any other literary genre (e.g. crime fiction, historical fiction, romance

fiction). REMEMBER: Student-philologists are not required to select independent

3
“SF&F” is a useful and often employed abbreviation for “science fiction and fantasy”. The abbreviation
serves to emphasize genre overlap between science fiction and fantasy.
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texts and are always free to select all of their composition’s four fictions from classroom

readings if that is helpful.

(STEP 3) Student-philologists select a critical source, i.e. a non-fiction, essay-

like text such as Darko Suvin’s Metamorphoses of Science Fiction’s “Preface” or Farah

Mendlesohn’s Rhetorics of Fantasy’s “Introduction”.

(STEP 4) Student-philologists read, reread (and ENJOY) their four fictions and

one critical source. In addition to classroom reading days during which we will read

aloud (OR PERFORM) and debate classroom fictions, McClain (who loves to read

good stories) is always available—e.g. in-person, in-Office-Hours and/or by phone—to

help you read, reread and enjoy your fictions! Read with McClain!

(STEP 5) Student-philologists plot APA-cited quotation evidence from their

four fictions and one critical source onto the course’s analysis composition map.

(STEP 6) Student-philologists complete a 400-to-500-word analysis

composition arranged with calculated care into multiple paragraphs. The composition’s

content is governed by its anchor question and its one sentence thesis, i.e. the student-

philologist’s answer to the anchor question. Student-philologists’ analysis compositions

must include at least one direct quotation from either the composition’s four fictions or

its critical source. Quotations should not exceed ten words in length and should obey

APA citation rules. Compositions must include an APA-correct bibliography which

includes all fictions and critical sources which have been cited directly during the

composition. All compositions should include one footnote.

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Regarding Composition Formats:

Compression Essay vs. Analysis Screenplay vs. Analysis Fiction

The student-philologist’s four critical compositions may take any of many

formats selected by the student-philologist themselves. While course instructor (i.e.

McClain) will—with a spirit of pedagogical enthusiasm—welcome alternative text-

based analysis formats proposed by student-philologists, core academic writing formats

available to the student-philologists of Topics in Literature will take the form of

COMPRESSION ESSAYS, ANALYSIS SCREENPLAYS or ANALYSIS

FICTIONS.

(ANALYSIS FORMAT 1: Compression Essay) The thesis driven, paragraph-

prose of the 400-to-500-word Topics in Literature compression essay, scored on

course’s writing rubrics, will employ double spacing, size 12 font, and Times New

Roman typeface4.

Compression essays will include page numbering. Page numbers will be placed

in the header, will be right-margin-aligned, and will use size 12 font and Times New

Roman typeface. Page numbers will be positioned (separated by one space) to the right

of student-philologist’s last name or names. For example: Thingum 1

Compression essays will include a left-margin-aligned, single spaced, size 12

font and Times New Roman typeface header to include the following information

arranged in the following order:

Student-Philologists’ Full Name

Professor’s Full Name
Topics in Literature: Analysis Composition 1
Deadline Date of Submission
Anchor Question Employed:

4
It should be noted that Times New Roman is McClain’s favorite font while Calibri (the worst and
clumsiest of typefaces) is McClain’s least favorite font.
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Skipping one single-spaced space under the compression essay’s header,

student-philologists will include a creative (and sometimes zany) title. The title will be

paired using a colon to a more specific and formal-styled subtitle. The essay’s title

should be centered under the essay’s above-described header. There should be one

single-spaced space between the composition’s title and the composition’s first

paragraph. A functional example of a compression essay title and subtitle would be: The

Many-Bodied Battles of Anyanwu: Regarding the Implications of Mutant

Metamorphoses in Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed5.

The student-philologist’s compression essays’ first sentence will serve the

composition as a thesis statement, i.e. a specific answer to the essay’s anchor question.

Although there are (nearly) limitless forms that a serviceable thesis statement may take,

in the case of the Topics in Literature compression essay, thesis statement should—in

order to satisfy the course’s writing rubric—obey the below listed analysis regulations:

(a) The thesis statement should include the texts’ author’s (or authors’) full

names as said names appear in the texts’ attached publication information.

REMEMBER: The student-philologist’s composition will make reference to a number

of texts, i.e. four fictions and a critical source. Not all of the employed texts will be of

equal importance to the essay’s arguments. The student-philologist’s thesis statement

(like their composition’s title or subtitle) need only list the one or two titles of those

texts most important to the essay’s argumentation.

(b) The compression essay’s thesis statement should include the complete titles

and subtitles (if there happen to be subtitles) of the texts analyzed in the composition.

REMEMBER: The title of a book is, for our heroic purposes, italicized. The title of a

short story, poem or an essay is, in contrast, enclosed in apostrophes.

5
The above example adheres to rules of title and subtitle capitalization imparted by professors of the
English Department of the University of Virginia between 2003 and 2007. There are, however, many
alternative capitalization methods.
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(c) The essay’s thesis statement should include the ORIGINAL publication year

of the texts analyzed. REMEMBER: There is, oftentimes, a difference (and sometimes

a big difference) between the original publication year of a text and the publication year

of the edition of the text that the student-philologist is using. For example, J.R.R.

Tolkien’s delightful The Hobbit or There and Back Again was originally published in

1937. Student-philologists of Topic in Literature that choose to analyze The Hobbit will

likely make use of a non-1937 edition. Regardless of the publication date of the edition

used, in a thesis statement which makes reference to The Hobbit, the original 1937

publication date will be listed.

(d) The compression essay’s thesis statement will include a specific answer to

the composition’s governing anchor question. REMEMBER: The present document—

in all its wordy glory—includes a list of possible anchor questions. A functional

example of an anchor question and answering thesis statement might, for instance,

resemble the following:

(Anchor Question A) According to (CRITICAL SOURCE), is (FICTION) a

work of science fiction?

Example THESIS STATEMENT as answer to Anchor Question A: According

to concepts seen in Darko Suvin’s Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics

and History of a Literary Genre (1979), Octavia E. Bulter’s “Bloodchild” (1984) is a

work of science fiction.

The student-philologist should note that in the above thesis statement example

only two texts are referenced, i.e. Metamorphoses of Science Fiction and “Bloodchild”

because, in the case of the imaginary essay which this example thesis statement
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introduces, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction and “Bloodchild” are the composition’s

argument’s most important texts.

REGARDING Analysis Composition’s EVIDENCE SENTENCES: Having

completed the thesis statement of their soon to be multi-paragraph, 400-to-500-word

compression essay, the student-philologist must construct evidence sentences which

serve to prove the “correctness” of their thesis statement. REMEMBER: All sentences

included in the student-philologist’s essay’s 400-to-500-words are (AND MUST BE!)

either a thesis statement or an evidence sentence. For the safety of all student-

philologists, NO OTHER SENTENCE TYPES WILL BE PERMITTED!

During the adventure of evidence sentences composition, specific examples—

i.e. (1) ten-or-fewer-word quotations correctly cited or (2) paraphrase-based retellings of

story events or critical text concepts—help to demonstrate to a reasonable reader that

the thesis statement is, in fact, valid. Some evidence sentences will include no new

quotation or paraphrased information, but will instead be used as space in which

previously stated examples can be discussed. REMEMBER: An analysis composition

that includes a long list of textual examples that are never discussed in any real depth

(i.e. in a more complete analytical fashion) in relation to the thesis is in grave

philological danger! ALL EVIDENCE MUST DEFEND THE THESIS

STATMENT!

REGARDING ESSAY’S BIBLIOGAPHY: Compression essays will also

include a complete bibliography of works cited. Said bibliographies must—as an

exercise in indispensable scientific MUST-DOs—include all fictions and critical

sources whose words are, during the essay, quoted directly. If a student-philologist’s

evidence employment of a fiction (for example Octavia E. Butler’s ‘Bloodchild’) or a

critical source (for example Darko Suvin’s Metamorphoses of Science Fiction) only
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includes paraphrased retelling of a story event or a paraphrased restatement of a critical

source concept, then that fiction or critical source should not (in the case of the

compression essay) be included in the bibliography.

Not all fictions and critical sources will be equally useful to the strength of the

argumentation of the student-philologist’s compression essay. As such, not all fictions

and critical sources will warrant direction quotation during the essay’s 400-to-500-

words. As a result, not all fictions and critical sources will appear in the compression

essay’s bibliography.

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(FORMAT 2: Analysis Screenplay AND Analysis Fiction) In addition to the

compression essay, the first of Topics in Literature’s analysis composition formats, the

student-philologist may also choose to employ the analysis screenplay and/or the

analysis fiction formats to complete the course’s four analysis compositions.

The analysis screenplay and/or analysis fiction formats, like the compression

essay, are also prose-paragraph-based and thesis-statement-governed analytic

compositions of between 400 and 500 words. Rules regarding the analysis screenplay

and/or analysis fiction’s composition’s spacing, font size, typeface, page numbering,

header content, title structure, thesis statement and evidence sentence characteristics are

IDENTICAL to the rules already established regarding the compression essay. The

final score for the analysis screenplay and/or analysis fiction will also be awarded based

on the student-philologist’s success in relation to the course’s writing rubrics.

What then—the student-philologist of Topics in Literature might ask—is the

difference between the compression essay and its more alien cousins, the analysis

screenplay and/or the analysis fiction? Stated simply, the compression essay is an essay,

the analysis screenplay is a screenplay, and the analysis fiction is a short story. What,
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however, does that distinction really mean in practical terms useful to a student-

philologist seated valiantly at their writing desk despite the steep odds of the science-

fictional scenario they now face? (NOTE: Don’t surrender writers! We will be out of

the biomedical woods soon!) In practical terms, the analysis screenplay and/or analysis

fiction distributes its thesis statement and evidence sentences—elements of written

argumentation no less clear-cut, specific and methodical than those seen in the

paragraphs of a successful compression essay—into the dialogue sentences of two or

more science-fictional and/or fantastical character-speakers. REMEMBER: The

sentences of an analysis screenplay will be arranged in a fashion resembling a play or

screenplay while the analysis fiction’s format will look like a short story (PLEASE see

examples of analysis screenplay and analysis fiction provided on Analysis Map

EXAMPLES document).

For example, the student-philologist—having chosen to compose an analysis

screenplay and/or analysis fiction in order to compare H.P. Lovecraft’s sea monster

short story “Dagon” (1917) to Octavia E. Butler’s extraterrestrial horror tale of

mutilating male pregnancy, “Bloodchild”—may decide to compose an analysis

screenplay and/or analysis fiction between the giant fish-like humanoid of “Dagon” and

the giant insect-like alien, T’Gatoi of “Bloodchild”. Futhermore, in a Topics in

Literature analysis screenplay and/or analysis fiction, the analysis dialogue of the

science-fictional and/or fantastical speakers will be set by the student-philologist in a

science-fictional and/or fantastical setting. For instance, the above-mentioned fish-giant

and insect-alien dialogue may be set by the student-philologist on the same fish-stenchy,

newly emerged, massive and muddy Pacific island seen in H.P. Lovecraft’s “Dagon”,

tale of fish-related cosmic horror.

Thingum 14

Conversely, a student-philologist may lift their analysis screenplay and/or

analysis fiction’s setting from a classroom text’s tale that does not figure among the

texts analyzed during their analysis screenplay and/or analysis fiction. For example, the

student-philologist may choose to seat the “Dagon” fish-giant and the “Bloodchild”

insect-alien at a small table in the dark cellar seen in Edgar Allen Poe’s anti-alcoholic

and feline phantom fantasy, “The Black Cat” (1843). It should also be noted that said

cellar setting would, in the case of a successful analysis screenplay and/or analysis

fiction, include the basement wall behind which “The Black Cat” narrator hides his

hatchet-murdered wife.

Moreover, the student-philologist which hopes to pen a successful analysis

screenplay and/or analysis fiction may:

(1) Choose to have their two or more characters agree regarding their analysis

screenplay and/or analysis fiction’s thesis. In the case of an agreement-styled dialogue,

a character will, at the dialogue’s beginning, present a thesis then defended by evidence

examples presented by all characters;

OR

(2) Choose to have their two or more characters disagree regarding the analysis

screenplay and/or analysis fiction’s thesis. In the case of a disagreement-style dialogue,

a character will, at dialogue’s beginning, present a thesis then opposed by an antagonist

character who will, in response, present and defend an opposing thesis. A disagreement-

style dialogue’s content will consist of the characters’ dueling presentation of opposing

textual examples used to defend opposing thesis statements.

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Regarding Topics in Literature Final Exam

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Following a semester of rigorous philological training, at course’s inevitable

end, student-philologists will be asked to complete the infamous Topics in Literature

Final Exam. During said exam, student-philologists will be asked (politely)—while

being burdened by strict time requirements—to complete a short but highly specific

composition. Said composition exam will be scored utilizing a holistic rubric designed

for purposes of fairness and rigor. Said composition-styled final exam will require that

student-philologists construct careful, literary-critical argumentation in response to a

course anchor question selected by the course instructor in relation to classroom

readings also selected by course instructor.