Thorpe USEM 1000: Baptizing the Imagination: Poetry, Fiction, and the Kingdom of God. Office: Marston 231 Phone: 281-2311 (email: dthorpe@spu.edu) Office Hours: MWF 11:00 12:00, Tu 12-1 Class Mentor: Madison Slinker Texts: Sherman Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist ZFight in Heaven Dante, Inferno (Signet classics edition; Mandelbaum translation) George Macdonald, Phantastes Steven Mitchell, ed. The Enlightened Heart Charles Williams, Descent Into Hell The Everyday Reader

To open a book is to enter a labyrinth. To read it is to pass through one. . . . Once at the threshold, we must still find the courage to enter. And it does require great courage, for all citizens of modernity fear the labyrinth, accustomed as they are to broad avenues. They are not inclined to advance when they can only see a sharp turn ahead, or a dark and gaping chasm. They feel that once inside, they will be lost and bereft of resources . . . .This is enough to daunt even the bravest. Why leave the comfort of sedentary life? Why get involved with meanders? Those who hold fast to Reason will refuse to go a step further. --Jacques Attail, The Labyrinth in Culture and Society

Course Objectives: This seminar introduces first-time college freshmen to the liberal arts at a Christian university. In this class we will explore a paradox: that the best way to describe reality is through something that appears to be logically unreal that is, through metaphor and symbol, dream and fantasy. We will begin by exploring a few of the parables of the New Testament those places where Jesus uses story and metaphor in order to describe Kingdom of Heaven. We will then compare ways in which artists have attempted to convey something of this indefinable and ultimate reality seeking not only to describe or explain but inviting us to experience this truth. We will explore the work of Dante, listen to some music, watch a film, and conclude with Charles Williams, close friend of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien, and the Native American writer Sherman Alexie. We will also consider other forms of art in our exploration. Creative work will be invited, along with analytic.

Beyond the topic, the University Seminar has a variety of goals and objectives in mind, including:

--Considering the meaning and significance of the liberal arts in the context of a Christian university, especially in relation to vocation (in the largest sense of the term)

--Demonstrating basic computer facility --Using learning resources, both print and electronic --Writing in forms frequently required for college courses --Making an oral presentation --Working in collaborative groups --Becoming aware of life transition and choices that lead to success in college (wellness,

lifestyle, and vocational issues) --Becoming aware of the forms and conventions of disciplinary inquiry --Becoming familiar with the university subculture (behavioral expectations in class,

academic culture, time management and study skills) Requirements Two essays, 3-4 pages each. Draft and revision = of grade

One exam = 1/4th of grade Brief (1 page) reflections on the course readings. These will be done out of class, and

will each be worth 5 points. In class written responses. We will at times begin class with a short written exercise;

1pt. These cannot be made up. Library Research (5 pts each) Oral Presentation (4-6 minutes). This is to be a creative response at the end of the

quarter to something generated from the course material and/or class discussion. You may write, draw, sing, play, dance, act. Make a collage; a photograph.. In your presentation you will offer your work and then comment upon its connection to the class. This commentary may be delivered with notes but without reading or memorization. It may be done as part of a group presentation. Your grade will be based on effort, on the quality of your commentary and on your oral delivery. 10 pts.

Quizzes, 5-10 pts each. These will at times be announced, at other times unannounced. These components collectively, along with class participation = 1/4th of grade

Extra Credit will be available in a variety of forms. It is graded simply on a check basis; it does not figure directly into the computation of the final grade. What it can do is influence that final grade when it is balanced precariously between, say, an A- and a B+.

Thorpe USEM 1000 Syllabus Week 1 M 9/27 Introductions/ Music For Wednesday, I invite you to take a little excursion to Fremont, across the canal. Specifically, do the following: stop in at Fremont Place Bookstore and browse a little; even better, check out the used book store, Ophelias, greet the cat, and then check out the used cd/lp store next door. Wander the neighborhood dont miss the statue of Lenin and the Troll and end up at a coffeehouse (not Starbucks! try Ladro or the Fremont Coffeehouse across the street from Ladro). Buy something and sit a spell.

Then write up a response to your experience. Explore your feelings about the bookstore(s), the coffee house, or some aspect of Fremont. Choose something that had an impact on you that produced a response. State your experience as clearly as you can (what you felt), and then attempt to explore analytically the source of your feelings. Compare your experience in Fremont to your home town or neighborhood, focusing on the aesthetics and your response to the aesthetics. Consider, for example, architecture the buildings, the materials, the size, the age; consider the coffee house itself describe it and compare it to something at home. W 9/29 Song of Songs Read it all, then focus Chapter 4, 12-14 F 10/1 Gospel of John, Chapter 4, (Samaritan Woman at the Well). Mitchell, 12, 21-25, 29-35, 81-4, 113-121 Review Twenty Most Common Errors in The Everyday Writer

Week 2 M 10/4 Dante, Inferno Cantos 1-3 For Wednesday, write down a brief definition of allegory. Then in a paragraph or so comment on where (if anywhere) you first experience allegory in these cantos of Dante. W 10/6 Dante Canto 4-5 F 10/8 In Mitchell read Dickinson and Hopkins; IM (Innocence Mission), Rain, Happy Mondays Quiz Week 3 M 10/11 Dante Inferno Cantos 9-14

Library Research Using the On-Line Catalogue. Exercise Due: Use the on line catalogue to find 3 resources on one of the following topics: The Song of Songs, Dante, Francis of Assisi, Rumi, Mechthild of Magdeburg, labyrinths, Chartres Cathedral, Charles Williams, the innocence mission. Write down these sources as if completing a Works Cited page for an essay (see The Everyday Writer for proper citation).

W 10/13 Day of Common Learning: no class F 10/15 Dante Inferno Cantos 26-30; IM God, Gentle the Rain at Home Quiz Draft of Paper due

Week 4 M 10/18 Dante Inferno Cantos 31-34 W 10/20 Dante Purgatorio Cantos 27-28 on reserve (or internet)

Library Research (Using Academic Search) Library Exercise: Use Academic Search to locate materials on one of the topics listed above (week 3). Write down five resources from books or journals as if competing a Works Cited page for an essay (see The Everyday Writer for proper citation).

F 10/22 Purgatorio Cantos 29-33 on reserve (or internet) Mitchell 38-9, 42-4; IM Spring, All the Weather, Rhode Island Week 5 M 10/26 Paper Due Paradiso 30-33 (reserve). W 10/28 Dante, conclusion; IM North American Field Song, The Leaves Lift High F 10/30 Exam Week 6 M 11/2 film

Library Research (Searching the Web) Library Exercise: Use the Web to locate 3 sources for a possible oral presentation. Write down these sources as if completing a Works Cited page for an essay (see The Everyday Writer for proper citation).

W 11/4 film Mitchell 70,76, 77, 80-84, 92-98 F 11/6 film Week 7 M 11/9 Williams, Descent Into Hell pp 9-90 (Chapters 1-5) W11/11 Williams Chapters 6-10 F 11/13 Williams have the novel finished. quiz Week 8 M 11/16 Williams conclusions W 11/18 Mitchell 49-69 F 11/20 TBA Week 9 M 11/22 Mitchell 102 (Galib); 110-12 (Whitman) 113-20; Chartres/Labyrinth W 11/24 Labyrinth Walk (Upper Gwynn) Draft Due F 11/26 Thanksgiving Holiday Week 10

M 11/29 Alexie, Lone Ranger and Tonto, pp. 1-103 (focus, 43-53, 59-79) W 12/1 Alexie, Lone Ranger and Tonto, pp. 110-190 (focus 149-153, 181-190) F 12/3 Alexie, conclusion; Smoke Signals (excerpts; film based on Alexie) IM Id Follow if I Could, Shout for Joy

Paper Due Week 11 Tuesday 12/7 8-10 am Personal Responses/ Oral Presentations Quotes: I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralyzed much of my own religion in childhood. Why did one find it so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or about the sufferings of Christ? . . . . But suppose that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, by stripping them of all their stained glass and Sunday School associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? C. S. Lewis What is fantasy? . . . . As art . . . its affinity is not with daydream, but with dream. It is a different approach to reality, an alternative technique for apprehending and coping with existence. It is not antirational, but pararational; not realistic, but surrealistic, super-realistic, a heightening of reality . . . . It employs archetypes, which, as Jung warned us, are dangerous things . . . Fantasy is nearer to poetry, to mysticism, and to insanity than naturalistic fiction is. It is a real wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe. Ursula Le Guin. I shall not cease from mental fight nor shall my sword sleep in my hand till we have built Jerusalem in Englands green and pleasant land. --Blake Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise another. Jesus of Nazareth