Time Schedule:
Christopher B. Patterson
ENGL 131
Seattle Campus
Study and practice of good writing: topics derived from a variety of personal, academic, and public subjects. Cannot be taken if student has already received a grade of 2.0 or higher in either ENGL 111, ENGL 121, or ENGL 131.
Class description
English 111: The Literature of Travel
Our focus in this course will be on literary travel writing, ranging from the exploration travels of Herodotus and Marco Polo, to the value of travel experiences as cultural capital and as forms of power, to travel tourism and stories of return to the homeland. If Mark Twain's adage is correct, that "travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness," or Gustav Flaubert's similar position on travel, that “traveling makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world," then travel can be seen as a type of virtue, an expansion of the mind. But as we will see, this desire to know the unknown and to bear witness to the locals can have unseen consequences, such as the propagation of stereotypes and excoticisms, and taking a patronizing and paternal stance on the locals rather than seeing them as agents of their own design. To put it differently, if knowledge is power, then the traveler cannot obtain knowledge about the other without also effecting regimes of power, control and influence.
To better structure our inquiry into travel, we will focus on five main research questions throughout the course: 1) How do we define travel, and what types of travel can we identify? 2) What are the various motivations for travel, and how does travel satisfy its participants? 3) How does travel affect the traveler and the homeland upon his return? 4) What effects does travel have on the foreign lands, how is the traveler made to see the locals of that foreign land, and how does this change historically and culturally? Finally, we will end on an ethical question: What makes a good traveler?
The first half of this course will focus on the literary history of travel, from Herodotus to Jack Kerouac. The second half will focus on contemporary minority travel writers returning to their homeland.
Student learning goals
Because this course fulfills a core writing credit, our research questions will be pursued in the form of academic essays, in two sequences, each sequence containing three short papers (2-3 pages) and one major paper (5-6 pages), in MLA style. We will use the readings in the book Situating Inquiry and Elements of Style to learn how to form arguments and to utilize investigative skills for a major college essay. The course will be broken up in order to move at a challenging but manageable pace. The reading for the course will be substantial, and you will be expected to keep up with the syllabus and to be in class every meeting prepared to discuss the issues raised by the required reading.
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Have read the UW Common Book.
Class assignments and grading
