Syllabus (2008)
English 243 (Spring 2008)
Jay Clayton, Vanderbilt University
(Jan 9-11)
(Jan 14-18)
(Jan 21-25)
(Jan 28-Feb 1)
(Feb 4-8)
(Feb 11-15)
(Feb 18-22)
(Feb 25-29)
Week 9
(Mar 10-14)
(Mar 17-21)
(Mar 24-28)
(Mar 31-Apr 4)
(Apr 7-11)
(Apr 14-18)
(Apr 21)
Wednesday
Introduction
Friday
View online: “Cracking the Code of Life” (2 hour PBS special, Nova [2002])
Resource: Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms (prepared by the National Human Genome Research Institute [NHGRI])
Monday
Gattaca (1997), Andrew Niccol, dir.
Wednesday
The President’s Council on Bioethics, Human Cloning and Human Dignity:
An Ethical Inquiry (Washington, D.C., July 2002).
Friday
Martha Nussbaum, “Little C,” from Nussbaum and Sunstein, Clones and Clones (Central Library Reserve)
Stephen Jay Gould, “Dolly’s Fashion and Louis’s Passion” (Central Library Reserve)
Week 3 (January 21-25)
Monday
No class
Wednesday
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. Complete first half of the novel
Resource: Background for studying Brave New WorldFridayRecommended: J. B. S. Haldane, “Daedalus, or, Science and the Future” (1923).
Monday
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Wednesday
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
FridayThe Island (2005), Michael Bay, dir.
MondayKazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
WednesdayKazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Friday
Andrea Barrett, Ship Fever (1996), pp. 11-33
Priscilla Wald and Jay Clayton, “Preface: Genomics in Literature, Visual Arts, and Culture,” Literature and Medicine 26 (2007): vi-xvi (you only need to read the first six pages).
Recommended: S. Lander and Robert Weinberg, “Genomics: Journey to the Center of Biology,” Science 287 (10 March 2000): 1777-82 (PubMed)
Topics for Paper 1
Week 6 (February 11-15)
Monday
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, Ch. 10 (online text). Use any edition that reprints Darwin’s final revisions (1860 or later)
Wednesday
Friday
Master and Commander (2003)
Resource: Brief discussion of Darwin’s discoveries on the voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle by Ralph E. Taggart, Professor of Plant Biology, Michigan State University
Resource: A good collection of online secondary sources
Week 7 (February 18-22)
Monday
First paper due, 4:00 p.m. – Submit your paper using the Digital Dropbox in OAK . Send it to Jay Clayton’s digital dropbox. Be sure to use the SEND button not the ADD button.
Name your paper (both on the hard drive of your computer and in OAK ) as follows: “Lastname , Firstname – paper 1”
Begin reading H. G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896)
Wednesday
H. G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896)
Mark Greene, et al., “Moral Issues of Human-Non-Human Primate Neural Grafting” (Science 309 [July 2005]: 385-6)
Friday
H. G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896)
Week 8 (February 25-29)
Monday
James D. Watson, The Double Helix
Wednesday
Friday
Spring Break (March 3-7)
Week 9 (March 10-14)
Monday
Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
Wednesday
FridayEllen Wright Clayton, “Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Genomic Medicine” (New England Journal of Medicine). Dr. Clayton will meet with the class to discuss current research at Vanderbilt on genetics and religion
Monday
Wednesday
Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002)
Friday
Elizabeth Weil, “What If It’s (Sort of) a Boy and (Sort of) a Girl?” New York Times Magazine (September 24, 2006): 48-53
Week 11 (March 24-28)
MondayWednesdayFriday
Week 12 (March 31-April 4)
Monday
Read Simon Mawer, Mendel’s Dwarf (1998).
WednesdayRuth Schwartz Cowan, “Heredity and Hope: Intersections of Genetics and Faith in the Clinic” in Flynn Auditorium, Vanderbilt University Law School, 7:00 p.m.
This lecture is the keynote for the conference on Religion and Genomics, sponsored by the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society. For a full schedule and biographies of the participants, see http://www.vanderbilt.edu/religion-genomics/index.html.
(Reception with refreshments precedes the lecture.)
Friday
Week 13 (April 7-11)
Monday
Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2000).
Wednesday
FridayRace, population genetics, and the International Hapmap
MondayTopics for Paper 2
Wednesday
Friday
Presentations of digital media projects. For digital projects, put materials on a CD or disk in my mailbox in Benson Hall (third floor)
Week 15 (April 21)
Monday
Presentations of digital media projects continued.Second paper, research paper, or final version of project due, 4:00 p.m.
Post papers in Word to Blackboard. Name the file on your disk and on Blackboard as follows: “Lastname, First Name – Paper 2″
Option 1:
Two 5-page papers. Each paper will count for 30% of the semester’s grade.
Option 2:
Digital media project. The project will count for 60% of the semester’s grade.
Option 3:
Research paper (15-20 pages) – 60% of the semester’s grade.
Regular reading quizzes will constitute 25% of the grade.
Class participation, including a minimum of five required blog posts, will count for 15% of the grade.
Student Projects (samples from previous classes)
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