Detailed Schedule | Fiction and Fact in English Prose

Week 1	Jan. 7	1: Introduction Reading James Frey, A Million Little Pieces* (2003) excerpt Oprah Interview with James Frey, Oprah Winfrey Show (2011; 41:54 min.) Laura Barton, "The Man Who Rewrote His Life," The Guardian (2006)
Week 1	Jan. 10	2 Reading Dave Eggers, "The Man at the River," Granta* 124: Travel (2013) Lydia Davis, "Five Short Stories," Five Dials* (2018)
Week 2	Jan. 15	No class (Intervarsity Games: January 13–17, 2020)
Week 2	Jan. 17	No class (Intervarsity Games: January 13–17, 2020)
Week 3	Jan. 22	3 Reading Joe Hill, "Late Returns," Full Throttle: Stories* (2019) Joan Baez, "Joe Hill," , One Day at a Time (1969, video clip, 3:23 min.) Discussion Leaders: Quiz 1
Week 3	Jan. 24	4 Reading Joe Hill, "Who's Your Daddy?," Introduction, Full Throttle: Stories* (2019) "It's all for you!," The Omen, directed by Richard Donner (1976 film; video clip of Nanny's lines, 1:24 min.)
Week 4	Jan. 29	5 Reading Tessa Hadley, "Bad Dreams," The New Yorker* (2013) Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons (1930 novel) Swallows and Amazons, directed by Claude Whatham (1974 film; trailer clip, 3:24 min.) Swallows and Amazons, directed by Philippa Lowthorpe (2016 film; trailer clip, 2:28 min.) Discussion Leaders: Quiz 2
Week 4	Jan. 31	6 Reading Leslie Jamison, "In the Shadow of a Fairy Tale," The New York Times Magazine* (2017) Michele Filgate, "What My Mother and I Don't Talk About," Longreads* (2017)
Week 5	Feb. 5	7 Reading Ella Martinsen Gorham, "Protozoa," New England Review, vol. 39, no. 4 (2018) Emily Mitchell, "Ella Martinsen Gorham," Interview, New England Review* (2019) Discussion Leaders: Quiz 3
Week 5	Feb. 7	8 Reading Kelly Marie Tran, "I Won't Be Marginalized by Online Harassment," The New York Times* (2018) Rebecca Reid, "I Invented the Term 'Sadfishing' So Let's Talk about What It Actually Means," Grazia* (2019) Digital Literacy Virginia Heffernan, "Scrolling, Rickrolling, and Trolling," Wired (2018) Do Not Track, directed by Brett Gaylor (2015 personalized documentary) Episode 1: "Morning Rituals" (5:54 min.) Episode 2: "Breaking Ad" (7:39 min.) Episode 3: "Like Mining" (8:56 min.) Episode 4: "The Spy in My Pocket" (interactive chapters) Episode 5: "Big Data: Inside the Algorithm" (interactive chapters) Episode 6: "The Daily Me" (2:30 min.) Episode 7: "To Change the Future, Click Here" (interactive chapters) Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (2019) "Shoshana Zuboff on Surveillance Capitalism," VPRO Documentary (2019; video clip, 49:59 min.) Edward Snowden, Permanent Record (2019) Christopher Wylie, Mindfck* (2019) The Great Hack, directed by Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, Netflix (2019 documentary) Bad News, DROG and Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab (online game) Troll Factory, YLE (online game) Miles O'Brien, "Why ‘Deepfake’ Videos Are Becoming More Difficult to Detect," PBS NewsHour (2019; video clip, 9:37 min.)
Week 6	Feb. 12	9 Reading Jodi Angel, "Snuff," One Story* 179 (2013) Karen Friedman, "Q&A," One Story (2013 interview with Angel) Snuff films David Mikkelson, "Snuff Films," Snopes (2006) John Bailey, "Viewing Death: Disturbing New Genre of Snuff Films Create an Ethical Paradox," The Sydney Morning Herald (2015) Mack Lamoureux, "Head of Gore Website Pleads Guilty in Canadian Snuff Film Trial," Vice (2016) Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac, "Don't Stop," Rumours (1977, 2018 official music video; 3:42 min.) Christopher R. Weingarten, et al., "Fleetwood Mac's 50 Greatest Songs," Rolling Stone (2019) Discussion Leaders: Quiz 4
Week 6	Feb. 14	10 Reading Jeffrey Eugenides, "Walkabout," The New Yorker* (2007) Walkabout, directed by Nicolas Roeg (1971 film; trailer, 2:01 min.)
Week 7	Feb. 19	11 Reading Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, "Audition," The New Yorker* (2018) Interview, The New Yorker (2018) "Saïd Sayrafiezadeh" (official webpage) "The Seinfeld Story," NBC (2004; video clip, 41:48 min.) "Michael Jordan Career Retrospective," NBA (2014; video clip, 6:55 min.) Crack Cocaine "Crack Cocaine," Center for Substance Abuse Research, University of Maryland (2013) "Cocaine," National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Health (2018; topics include: What is cocaine?, How do people use cocaine?, How does cocaine affect the brain?) Crackhouse, directed by Carl John, Real Life, BBC (2003 documentary by former addict; video clip, 58:08 min.; ! Contains material that may be disturbing for some viewers ex. drug use, brief partial nudity) John Tierney, "The Rational Choices of Crack Addicts," The New York Times (2013) Discussion Leaders: Quiz 5
Week 7	Feb. 21	12 Reading Sugar, "The Future Has an Ancient Heart," The Rumpus* (2011) Octavia Butler, "Positive Obsession," Bloodchild and Other Stories* (1995)
Week 8	Feb. 26	13 Reading Ottessa Moshfegh, "Bettering Myself," Homesick for Another World* (2017) Discussion Leaders: Quiz 6
Week 8	Feb. 28	14 Reading Scaachi Koul, "Dry January: A Failure," Hazlitt* (2015) Mary Wang, "Miscellaneous Files: Ottessa Moshfegh," Guernica* (2018 interview with Moshfegh)
Week 9	Mar. 4	Test 1 (90 minutes, in-class)
Week 9	Mar. 6	No class (Midterm week: March 2–6, 2020)
Week 10	Mar. 11	15 Reading T. C. Boyle, "Admiral," Stories II* (2005) Discussion Leaders: Quiz 7
Week 10	Mar. 13	16 Reading Alex Tizon, "My Family's Slave [Lola's Story]," The Atlantic* (2017) Jeffrey Goldberg, "A Reporter's Final Story," Editor's Note (2017) John Bonazzo, "‘Disgusted’ Women, Minorities Criticize Viral Atlantic Story ‘My Family’s Slave,’" Observer (2017) M. Evelina Galang, "What the Conversation around Alex Tizon's Atlantic Story Is Missing," Slate (2017) Marnette Federis, "Five Things to Consider If You Are Reading ‘My Family’s Slave,’" PRI (2017) Rose Minutaglio, "Sisters of Late Writer Raised by Family’s Secret Slave Feel ‘Angry and Guilty’ About Their Past: ‘We Felt Powerless,’" People (2017))
Week 11	Mar. 18	17 Reading Nafissa Thompson-Spires, "Heads of the Colored People: Four Fancy Sketches, Two Chalk Outlines, and No Apology," Heads of the Colored People: Stories* (2018) Karin Cecile Davidson, "What Is a Sketch but a Chalk Outline Done in Pencil or Words?: An Interview with Nafissa Thompson-Spires," Newfound, vol. 9, no. 2 (2018) Discussion Leaders:
Week 11	Mar. 20	18 Reading Kiese Laymon, "I Am a Big Black Man Who Will Never Own a Gun Because I Know I Would Use It," Gay Mag* (2018)
Week 12	Mar. 25	19 Reading Weike, Wang, "Omakase," The New Yorker* (2018) Discussion Leaders:
Week 12	Mar. 27	20 Reading Simba Runyowa, "Microaggressions Matter," The Atlantic* (2015) Pathik Pathak, "Cross-Cultural Marriage Is No Picnic," The Guardian* (2010)
Week 13	Apr. 1	21 Reading Doug Henderson, "The Manga Artist," The Iowa Review* (2019) Discussion Leaders: Presentation stories and synopses posted on the course webpage. Groups e-mail your first three preferences to acharn Michael Crabtree at crabtree@chula.ac.th by 4 p.m. on Friday, April 3.
Week 13	Apr. 3	22 Reading David Sedaris, "Full House," Esquire* (2003) Liesl Shurtliff, "In Defense of Graphic Novels and Those Who Read Them," Nerdy Book Club* (2019) Group story selection due 4 p.m. (E-mail your group's first three fiction preferences to acharn Michael Crabtree at crabtree@chula.ac.th.) Presentation stories selection results announced on the course webpage
Week 14	Apr. 8	23 Reading Ursula K. Le Guin, "Pity and Shame," Tin House* 76 (2018) Discussion Leaders:
Week 14	Apr. 10	Test 2 (90 minutes; essay-type) The prompt is posted on the course webpage and here at 9:30 a.m. E-mail your response to your section instructor (or via another indicated platform) when the 90 minutes are up. There is a grace period of five minutes for your mail to reach your instructor's inbox.
Week 15	Apr. 15	No class Group presentation schedule posted on the course webpage
Week 15	Apr. 17	No class
Week 16	Apr. 22	Student Presentations Groups give a 20–25-minute presentation on a pair of short work via Zoom to two instructors.
	Apr. 24	Student Presentations Groups give a 20–25-minute presentation on a pair of short work via Zoom to two instructors.
	Apr. 26	Student Presentations Groups give a 20–25-minute presentation on a pair of short work via Zoom to two instructors.
Week 17	Apr. 29	Final Exam paper 1 (90 minutes during class time; open-book; essay-type) The final consists of two papers, the first on Wednesday, April 29 and the second on Friday, May 1 during class time. Both are cumulative, covering material throughout the semester. Like in the tests, you are asked to write two essays in a 90-minute period. Paper 1 will be posted on the course webpage and here on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. At 9:30 a.m., please e-mail your responses to your instructor. There is a grace period of five minutes for your file to reach their inbox.
Week 17	May 1	Final Exam paper 2 (90 minutes during class time; essay-type) Prompts will be posted on the course webpage and here a little before 9:30 a.m. Responses should reach your section instructors' e-mail inbox at 11:00 a.m. plus five minutes grace time. Group paper due (4–5 pp.; e-mail your group paper to your presentation instructors by 4 p.m.)