ENGL 2120 Course Overview and Trickster Archetypes Study Guide

English 2120: Course Overview and Administration

• Course Code: English 2120

• Primary Subject: Literary Studies, Theory, and Writing

• Instructor Office: AE 293 (formerly located on the 3rd Floor)

• Instructor Office Hours:

  • In-person: Available on campus most days except Tuesdays; brief meetings available immediately following class.

  • Virtual Office Hours: Thursdays from $01:45\,\text{PM}$ to $02:45\,\text{PM}$. Students must notify or message the instructor roughly $10\,\text{minutes}$ prior via Google Chrome or email to enter the virtual space. If multiple students request time, a queue schedule is implemented.

Attendance and Communication Protocols

• Attendance is recorded at the start of every class.

• Late arrivals are required to check in with the instructor at the conclusion of class to adjust the attendance record.

• Name corrections or preferred names not matching official course rosters should be communicated directly to the instructor.

• If a student accrues consecutive unexcused absences ($2$, $3$, or $4$ classes in a row) without communication, protocol requires the instructor to reach out; failure to respond can result in the student being officially dropped from the course.

• Official Attendance Roster Names: Noah, Brandon, Rhea, Christopher, Natalie, Tanashi, Harmon, Tyler Sky, Ash, Leo, Abby, Casey, Logan, Fallon, Ethan, Bridget, K, Katelyn, Emma, Bennett.

Course Description, Objectives, and Learning Outcomes

Course Outline and Purpose

• The course outline functions as a binding contract detailing expectations, learning outcomes, and assessment structures.

• Course Title: The Trickster Illuminated: An Exploration of Hybridity and Shape-Shifting in Literature

• Target Audience: Recommended for students entering or enrolled in an English major or minor degree, as well as students seeking upper-level writing and critical reading skills.

• Prerequisite Expectation: Completion of English 1100 (Introduction to Academic Writing) or an equivalent academic writing course.

Core Conceptual Themes

• Exploration of the trickster figure, hybridity, and shape-shifting across diverse cultural texts, traditions, and time periods.

• Investigation into why human cultures gravitated toward trickster archetypes for creative, philosophical, and structural purposes.

• Analysis of Indigenous cultural traditions, such as the Haida people's reverence for the coyote as a figure bound to cultural transformation.

• Examination of mutable, unfixed, and hybridized figures that challenge decorum, subvert authority, and disrupt conventional concepts of truth, normalcy, power, inclusion, exclusion, and belonging.

• Application of theoretical perspectives, including Postmodernism, Psychoanalysis, Cultural Anthropology, Gender Studies, Poststructuralism, and Postcolonialism.

Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

1. Perform close critical readings across three primary literary genres with fluid comprehension.

2. Critically and creatively evaluate literary genres and historical movements.

3. Interpret literary texts through a range of topical strategies and diverse critical frameworks.

4. Reflect on and articulate the complexities and underlying assumptions of historical, political, and cultural contexts.

5. Compose analytical academic essays that feature an articulate thesis statement, well-supported scholarly arguments, and appropriate documentation styles at a university-level standard.

Literary Genres and Primary Required Texts

The Three Genres Studied

1. Poetry: Explored through cryptic and modern spoken-word perspectives.

2. Drama: Explored through live performance traditions, theatrical mechanics, and script structures.

3. Fiction: Explored through classic science fiction and narrative prose.

Primary Texts and Sources

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

• Context: Written when Mary Shelley was $18$ to $19$ years old and published in $1818$; widely recognized as one of the earliest works of science fiction in the Western tradition.

• Personal Background and Biographical Context:

  • Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft (pioneering figure of Western feminism), died shortly after childbirth due to puerperal infection caused by unwashed medical hands during the removal of the afterbirth.

  • Shelley experienced repeated personal losses, including the premature death of her husband and multiple children, with only one child surviving into adulthood.

  • The novel reflects early $19\text{th}$-century scientific transformations, emerging concepts surrounding artificial life, grief, loss, and the search for the elixir of life to overcome mortality.

• Media Caution: The Netflix film adaptation directed by Guillermo del Toro diverges significantly from the original text; the primary novel must be read prior to analyzing adaptations.

Trickster Feminism by Anne Waldman

• Author Background: Contemporary American poet and spoken-word artist.

• Text Characteristics: Cryptic language requiring rigorous student decoding and close critical analysis.

Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art by Lewis Hyde

• Text Characteristics: Accessible theoretical work exploring why trickster myths and narratives recur across global cultures and artistic movements.

Theory and Criticism Anthology (Library eBook)

• Format: Digital collection available via TRU library credentials; over $600$ pages in print form.

• Content: Excerpts and chapters from prominent theoretical figures covering poststructuralism, postmodernism, and theoretical foundations.

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

• Context: Composed during the waning phase of Shakespeare's life and career; reflects on mortality, purpose, art, legacy, deception, and power struggles.

• Text Version: Modern translated version used to increase accessibility and facilitate direct extraction of theoretical concepts without language barriers.

• Reading Schedule:

  • Sept 2 – 11: Pages $7$ to $39$

  • Sept 16: Pages $7$ to $94$

• Methodology: Keeping a dedicated reading journal is recommended to record immediate analysis for future papers.

Metamorphosis by Ovid

• Context: Major Roman text compiling Greek and Roman mythology bound together by the central motif of transformation and metamorphosis.

Supplemental Works

• Orientalism by Edward Said (Chapter excerpt studied in Week 12 alongside film analysis).

• The Structural Study of Myth by Claude Lévi-Strauss.

Evaluation Scheme, Grading Breakdown, and Academic Integrity

Assessment Structure

\begin{array}{|l|c|}\n\hline\n\textbf{Evaluation Component} & \textbf{Weight} \\\n\hline\n\text{Classroom Participation and Presence} & 15\% \\\n\text{Group Presentation (Theory / Psychoanalysis / Feminism)} & 20\% \\\n\text{Essay 1 (Paper on Shakespeare's } \textit{The Tempest}\text{)} & 30\% \\\n\text{Final Examination (Scheduled by Registrar)} & 35\% \\\n\hline\n\end{array}

Academic Integrity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policies

• Submissions must consist entirely of original student writing; direct copying or pasting of AI-generated prose is strictly prohibited and classified as plagiarism.

• AI tools integrated into library databases or search engines are permissible solely for research pathways and source discovery.

• Written assignments serve to evaluate independent critical writing, structural argumentation, and engagement with historical human ideas.

Global Trickster Archetypes: In-Class Group Research

Overview of the Trickster Archetype

• The trickster is a cross-cultural figure operating as a boundary-crosser, tool-maker, catalyst for change, and disruptor of binary categories.

• Structuralist theory (Claude Lévi-Strauss) posits that trickster figures persist across centuries because they resolve or articulate complex cultural, philosophical, and structural contradictions until those insights are fully integrated.

Case Studies of Specific Figures

Loki (Norse Mythology)

• Characteristics: Pre-Christian origin; embodies moral ambiguity beyond rigid concepts of good and evil.

• Lineage and Offspring: Gave birth to Sleipnir (the eight-legged horse); fathered Jörmungandr (the World Serpent), Fenrir (the wolf), and Hel (goddess of the realm of the dead).

• Key Mythic Event: Engineered the death of the god Baldr by crafting a projectile and placing it in the hands of Baldr's blind brother, Höðr. For his punishment, the gods bound Loki to three stone slabs in a cave using the entrails of his slain son Nafi.

Hermes / Mercury (Greek and Roman Mythology)

• Role: Psychopomp (conductor and guide of souls into the afterlife); functions as an emissary able to travel unharmed between the mortal world, the realm of the deities, and the underworld due to his winged sandals.

• Symbolic Attributes: Associated with the tortoise (a paradoxical symbol given his speed). Official protector of thieves, liars, and tricksters.

• Mythic Accomplishments: Stole cattle from Apollo as an infant; credited with inventing the alphabet, numeric systems, astronomy, music, the lyre, and the method of igniting fire.

• Physical Analogy: Linked to the element mercury (quicksilver), which exists in an ambiguous state between solid and liquid at room temperature, symbolizing mercurial temperament, fluidity, and non-binary liminality.

Puck / Robin Goodfellow (Shakespeare / English & Celtic Mythology)

• Origins: Grounded in pre-Christian Celtic and English folklore regarding fairies.

• Function: Merges dual roles of helpfulness and harmful mischief, serving as both a benevolent assistant and a disruptive prankster.

Sun Wukong / The Monkey King (Chinese Mythology)

• Textual Origin: Synthesized in the $16\text{th}$-century novel Journey to the West.

• Narrative Arc: Evolved from a rebellious thief and disruptor into a protector who escorted a Buddhist monk on a pilgrimage to India, ultimately achieving spiritual enlightenment through good deeds and karmic transformation.

• Modern Relevancies: Continues as a central archetype in global pop culture, literature, television, comics, and video games.