|| Sabo | Department | St. Olaf ||

Fall 2004: Tues. 9.35-11, Thurs. 9.30-10:50	Anne G. Sabo
OM 15	Old Main 14C
Office Hours: Tues. 1-3 pm, Wed. 3-4 pm, and by appointment	x 8105, e-mail sabo

Norwegian 233, Nordic Literature: Medieval to Modern, is a course in which students explore great works in Nordic literature from the Viking age through the twentieth century. The course focuses on the oral and aural aspects of literature and the literary development in its historical and cultural context. First, a significant number of the texts students read in this course predate printing. They were composed orally and were meant to be experienced aurally. Poetry and drama likewise highlight the oral/aural aspects of certain genres of literature. Second, oral communication skills are integral to the scholarly field of literature in terms of conference papers, public lectures and readings, interviews, and panels. Third, book clubs represent a popular mode of the oral/aural communicative aspects of the art of interpreting literature. Students in Norwegian 233 will be introduced to all of these modes of approaching literature and will learn how both to evaluate them and to engage in them as practices.

Readings, discussions, lectures and written and oral assignments are in English.

Norwegian 233 has no prerequisites and grants General Education credit in ALS-L and ORC.

Assignments and grades:

Oral communication assignments will focus on skills that support the disciplinary practices within the field of literature. These include:

All students will

• participate in an engaged and informed manner in class discussion (10%)
  It is ESSENTIAL that students show up to class on time. We will only meet twice a week: Tuesdays for 85 min, Thursdays for 80 min. Each class will have a tight schedule and students' participation is essential.
  
• participate in a book club which meets weekly throughout the semester and keep a log with notes from the discussions. Book clubs also report to class, serve as discussion leaders from the middle of the semester, review periods and critique other reveiwers towards the end of the semester (20%)
• present two oral interpretations (performances) of a literary text (one in pair/small group as a class and one individually or, optionally, in a pair) accompanied by a speech analyzing the piece performed. The speech should be typed and handed in during the day of the performance. The speech should not be a general, informative one, but should have an agenda, an argument, an opinion, an interpretation with which the speaker will seek to convince his or her audience. (20%)
  
  Different kinds of performances that you might sign up for:
  

• recite poetry (Kalevala, Voluspå)
• tell story (Norse saga or Norwegian folktale)
• stage drama (Holberg, Ibsen, or Strindberg)
• deliver a public reading of a fictional text (Skram, Hamsun, or Dinesen)

• stage a public panel (with your book club) on a certain controversial text and author during midterm, prepared with a 3-5 page paper defending your agenda (20%)
• deliver main point and argument of a 7-9 page conference paper on any of the texts read at a final mini-conference during final exam time (30%)
  
  

Feedback and evaluation:

Students will receive feedback on their oral assignments and their written components according to criteria drawn from assigned readings on oral and aural performances and the ORC manual edited by Jo Beld, Communication by Design: Resources and Ideas for ORC Courses. Students will receive these criteria prior to their own oral assignments and will be asked to discuss them and to comment with input. Students will evaluate both their individual performances & speeches, which will be videotaped, and their contribution as speakers and listeners. Students will also evaluate their peers according to the criteria agreed upon prior to the assignments.

Readings:

Original works:

• Kalevala 
• Voluspå or “The Seeress’s Prophecy” in The Poetic Edda (packet)
  
• Egil's saga. Palsson, Herman and Paul Edwards, trans. 
• Norwegian Folktales, edited by Asbjørnsen and Moe (packet)
• Ludvig Holberg: Jeppe of the Hill in Three Danish Comedies 
• Fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen (packet)
• Henrik Ibsen: A Doll House and Hedda Gabler in Four Major Plays. Trans. Rolf Fjelde.
• August Strindberg: The Father. Trans. William-Alan Landes.
• Amalie Skram: Under Observation. Trans. Katherine Hanson and Judith Messick.
• Knut Hamsun: Hunger. Trans. Sverre Lyngstad.
• Isak Dinesen. "The Dreamers" (SGT) and "Echoes" (LT) (packet)

• "Students Performance of Literature" by Elizabeth Fine, from Perspectives on Talk and Learning, ed. Susan Hynds and Donald L. Rubin, Urbana: NCTE, 1990. (packet)
• Chaps. 1, 3, 11 ("Small Groups as the Heart of Society," "Interpersonal Communication Principles for Group Members," and "Oral Presentations") in Communicating in Groups: Applications and Skills, Gloria Galanes et al. (packet)
• Sections from Chap. 3 ("Evaluate Your Speech") and Chap. 4 ("Critiquing Speeches" and "Acting on Criticism") and entire Chap. 9 ("Organizing the Body of Your Speech") from Mastering Public Speaking, George L. Grice and John J. Skinner (packet)

Secondary literature/background readings:

Final Exam:

Mini-conference entitled "Debunking the Nordic Stereotypes."

Monday, December 20, 2:30-4:30

Calendar:

|| Sabo | Department | St. Olaf ||