Course Description

Why has the television series Downton Abbey (2010-2014) been so successful? We'll try to answer this question by considering a variety of related issues, including genre, narrative form, audience, marketing, gender, and fan culture as we read and view a wide range of texts. We'll begin with literary contexts (Austen, Heyer, Forster, Barker, Waugh, Ishiguro). We'll next turn to the influence of heritage film (the iconic A&E Pride and Prejudice) and other televison series (Upstairs, Downstairs). We'll conclude by looking into the fan response to Downton Abbey and its appearance in popular culture, both in print and online, as well as the popular fascination with re-living that period of British history. Throughout, we'll be considering the relationship between the historical setting for the series (England from 1912 into the 1920s) and the transformation of that history into art. Our over-arching goal will be to map the complex intersection of literary and cultural concerns that both create and perpetuate this popular and award-winning series.

Course Objectives:

• To become familiar with and appreciate the narrative forms and themes of Downton Abbey and of the literature, television, and film which informs it
• To study Downton Abbey within the cultural context of its production and reception
• To use relevant cultural and historical information when interpreting literature, film, and other cultural texts
• To participate in lively and informed discussions about our reading, television series, and films
• To develop and apply critical skills for reading, thinking, and writing about several genres
  – what a literary or cultural text conveys (its themes, its view of the world)
  – how a literary or cultural text conveys that knowledge (its aesthetic form, its selection/omission of detail)

Readings and Class Participation: Given the course objectives and learning outcomes stated above, this class will foreground discussion. Class participation is therefore expected and will count for 20% of your final grade. This portion of your grade includes your contributions to our discussions in class (in large and small groups) and to our discussions on the online message board (further information below). To participate, you must complete the reading and viewing assigned for each class session, think carefully about what you have read, and come to class ready to share your ideas.

Attendance: Your attendance is important, but I recognize that the unexpected will happen. Therefore, you will not be penalized for your first absence. However, subsequent absences will lower your final course grade; excessive absences (three or more) or excessive lateness/early departure may result in failure of the course. While I appreciate your offering explanations for your absence, the only way to excuse an absence is to provide me with an official letter from your dean or advisor or an official notice of illness from the Health Center or your doctor. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out from another class member any announcements or assignments.

 

Class Discussion Questions: As part of the class participation grade, students will sign up in groups of 2-4 to initiate discussion for one of our class sessions. Questions for class discussion (4-5 in number) should highlight issues or themes or queries you think we should address in our class discussion of the assigned texts for that day. After conferring about and drafting the questions, the group leading discussion should email me their questions by 7 p.m. the night before; I will confirm receipt and offer any suggestions for the order or focus of the questions.

Online Message Board: To offer another venue for discussion, we'll be using an online message board in K-State Online. Each week, each student is required to post at least one paragraph-length comment about the materials we're reading and discussing in class. I will read these discussions and assess a grade (at the end of the semester) based on the thoughtfulness of your comments, their ability to foster discussion among your classmates, and their responsiveness both to our readings and to your classmates' comments in class and on the board. I'll provide some weekly question prompts as I follow these conversations, and I may also participate in the discussions, but I see the message board primarily as a way for you to raise issues we haven't addressed – or addressed fully or to your satisfaction – during our regular class meetings. The work contributed to the message board can become source material for more formal writing assignments.

The weekly message board will run from Saturday to Friday, to encourage you to post right after as well as before our weekly class discussions, but I encourage you to contribute your ideas throughout the week and to check the board for others' postings. Your postings do not need to be long, but they do need to be substantive: they must be long enough to convey clearly the problem you are taking up and your point of view, connecting your comment to others' comments whenever possible. I will offer models of successful comments early in the semester.

To post to the message board, follow these directions:

1. Go to my homepage at http://www.ksu.edu/english/westmank/ and click on our course (ENGL 635), and then "Message Board" to login to K-State Online and go directly to the "Message Board." (You may also login to the K-State Online course page for ENGL 635, click on "Collaboration" and then select "Message Board.")
2. You should see all the messages posted to date and the newest threads ones first.
3. To post, choose to "reply," so you can engage directly in the conversation and your message can "thread" beneath the one you're responding to. Please change the subject line so it reflects the content of your message.

Papers and Response Papers: All students will write two formal papers: Paper #1 (4 pages in length) which offers a literary analysis of one of our assigned novels, and Paper #2 which analyzes Downton Abbey through the lens of historical research about a person, place, or cultural reference mentioned in the series. Graduate students will also write an essay review of four articles or a book-length study about one of our authors on the syllabus and a conference abstract for either Paper #1, Paper #2, or a paper that could emerge from the essay review.

 

You will have a choice of three novels for Paper #1, and you will have a choice of many topics for Paper #2; I will distribute detailed assignment sheets for each paper. Both papers should follow the general rules of composition and be typed or word-processed with standard double-spacing, 1-inch margins, and either 11- or 12-point typeface. Title pages and cover sheets are unnecessary. Pages should be numbered, stapled together, and spell-checked. Papers are due by the date and time on the syllabus; late papers will be penalized one grade (i.e.: A to B) for each day late. (Note: The University’s Honor Code obliges you to cite the source of any idea that is not your own. Otherwise, you have plagiarized. If you do plagiarize, you will fail this course)

 

You will also write four response papers (2 pages in length) in response to our readings. Response papers are designed to prepare you for class discussion and to explore ideas you could develop further in your longer paper. In your response paper, you should not repeat previous class discussions or provide a mere summary of the reading. Instead, your response should begin to analyze the primary and secondary reading assigned for that class session, selecting an issue or theme or question you feel to be significant. I recommend that you select a word, phrase, or short quotation from the reading to initiate your response. (See the sample response distributed on the first day of class as an example.)

Everyone will write a response paper for our first reading assignment (Austen's Pride and Prejudice) and for Season 2 of Downton Abbey; for the remaining two response papers, you may choose from the remaining texts on the syllabus, being sure to choose one novel and one t.v. series / film. Response papers are due at the start of class on the day we begin our discussion of the reading. Responses will be graded on a 1-5 scale: 5=A, 4=B, 3=C, 2=D, 1=F. I do not accept late response papers.

 

Multi-Media Project: You will choose one of four possible multi-media projects to complete during the semester. Your multi-media project can be submitted on any class day but must be turned in no later than Tuesday April 29. Each project should demonstrate insight and understanding of the text with which it connects, should be thoughtfully constructed, and should be presented professionally with attention to detail.  Refer to the grading rubrics (posted in K-State Online as of 1/28) for detailed grading criteria. The assignment will be distributed the second week, but here are brief descriptions:

• Option 1: Create a soundtrack cd to accompany one of the texts we're studying. It must have 5-6 tracks and be accompanied by a written explanation (2 pages in length) of how each selected song relates to the text and its themes.
• Option 2: Using events, situations, or characters from a text we're studying, create a fictional front page of a newspaper about that text. Format appropriately (single spaced, columns, headings/headlines), and include a written explanation (2 pages in length) about your process of selection, research, or design, in light of the text's themes.
• Option 3: Create a collage of pictures and words (cut from magazines or assembled from digital images/print) that connects with a text from the syllabus. Include a written explanation (2 pages in length) explaining why you chose those particular images and/or words for that text and why you arranged them as you did, given the text's themes.
• Option 4: Locate an instance of Downton Abbey in popular culture: a reference or allusion, a moment in which people invoke the series, parody the series, identify with the series, borrow from the series, or otherwise appropriate the series. Capture this reference in digital or hard-copy form and indicate where you found it. Then, provide a close-reading (2 pages in length) interpreting this cultural instance. For what purpose does it invoke the series, and for what audience? How does the creator view the series? How do you know? What does it tell us about the cultural influence of the series?

 

Examination: You will have a cumulative final exam.

Online and video resources: Along with some required viewing (see the television series and films listed under "Required Texts") and required online reading, I will refer you to resources available online or on video to complement our readings and discussions. Links within the online “Schedule of Classes” will take you to related online resources. I will add and update these resources as the semester progresses; if you locate a site or page which you find valuable, please let me know, and I'll consider adding it to the existing links.

 

Email: I highly recommend email as a way of touching base with me about your work for the class -- a kind of virtual office hours. You can send me queries about reading or writing assignments, your thesis statement for an essay, or anything else that could be handled with a quick exchange of messages. I check my email throughout the day, but please remember that I am not perpetually online.

Conferences: I want you to succeed in this course, and I am happy to meet with you about your work and your progress. I encourage you to see me before exams or papers are due, or if you have questions about material we discuss in class. Please feel free to stop by during office hours (M, W 9:00-10:00 a.m.), or contact me by phone or email to arrange a more convenient time to meet.

Note: If you have any condition such as a physical or learning disability that will make it difficult for you to carry out the work as I have outlined it or which will require academic accommodations, please notify me in the first two days of the course. Any student with a disability who needs a classroom accommodation, access to technology, assistance during an emergency evacuation, or other assistance in this course should contact Disability Support Services and/or me. DSS serves students with a wide range of disabilities including, but not limited to, physical disabilities, sensory impairments, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, depression, and anxiety.

Academic Honesty: Kansas State University has an Honor System based on personal integrity, which is presumed to be sufficient assurance that, in academic matters, one’s work is performed honestly and without unauthorized assistance. Undergraduate and graduate students, by registration, acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Honor System. The policies and procedures of the Honor System apply to all full and part-time students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate courses on-campus, off-campus, and via distance learning. The honor system website can be reached <http://www.k-state.edu/honor/>. A component vital to the Honor System is the inclusion of the Honor Pledge which applies to all assignments, examinations, or other course work undertaken by students. The Honor Pledge is implied, whether or not it is stated: "On my honor, as a student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work." If you have any questions about your work in relation to the Honor System, please ask.

Expectations for Student Conduct: All student activities in the University, including this course, are governed by the Student Judicial Conduct Code as outlined in the Student Governing Association By Laws, Article VI, Section 3, number 2. Students who engage in behavior that disrupts the learning environment may be asked to leave the class.

Grading:

Undergraduate Students: The two papers will count for 35% of your final grade (15% and 20% respectively); the response papers will count for 15% of your final grade; the multi-media project will count for 10% of your final grade. Class participation (20%) and a final exam (20%) complete the requirements.
Graduate Students: The two papers will count for 30% of your final grade (10% and 20%, respectively); the response papers will count for 15% of your final grade; the multi-media project will count for 10% of your final grade. The essay review will count for 10%, and the abstract will count for 5%. Class participation (20%) and a final exam (10%) complete the requirements.