Syllabus

Honors 390

East Meets West: Cultivating and Maintaining a Zen-like

Perspective in 21st Century, America

www.bsuhonors390.blogspot.com

Professor Michael Meyerhofer
Class Meeting Time: 3 to 3:50 PM in RB 105.
Office Hours: MW, noon to 2 PM in RB 246

Zen is a way of liberation, concerned not with discovering what is good or bad or advantageous, but what is. -Alan Watts

Course Description:  Just as certain Zen sayings (called koans) are designed to short-circuit our analytical brains and hopefully jar us out of our everyday complacency, so too with poetry and fiction (both "eastern" and "western" alike). But in our modern day culture of constant commercials, reality TV, and near-rabid consumerism, how significant is the sound a frog makes as it jumps in the water (a famous haiku by Basho) or a bag blowing in the wind (a famous scene from "American Beauty")? What is "significance," anyway? That's where we'll begin—and quite possibly, where we'll end. This course will incorporate careful readings and discussions of Zen as viewed through the lens of poetry, fiction, film, and philosophy (but most especially, poetry). Later in the semester, we will also write and workshop creative, Zen-inspired pieces of our own.

Required Reading:

Bring Me the Rhinoceros by John Tarrant

Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk by Shozan Jack Haubner

One Hundred Poems from the Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth

Essential Haiku by Robert Hass

Folly by Norman Minnick

Haiku Anthology by Cor van den Heuvel

Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins

Suggested Additional Reading: Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger. Also, The Blue Cliff Record, The Book of Serenity, The Gateless Gate, and The True Dharma Eye (these are ancient, original collections of Zen koans, widely available in print and online)

Grading:  This is a hybrid discussion/workshop class, not a traditional lecture course, so a significant percentage of your overall points depend on active and positive participation in class discussions (including workshops).  However, I also expect regular journal responses, which is an additional opportunity for you to interact critically with the assigned texts.

*Reading Responses (a two full page reading response to each of the required texts).  I will accept these responses in printed form or over email in doc or docx format.  30%

*A portfolio of your own Zen-inspired poems, workshopped in class and revised by the end of the semester. Tentatively, I’m requiring five pieces. 30%

*Active and Productive Class Participation (not synonymous with attendance). 30%

*An individual project elucidating or expanding upon some aspect of Zen literature (especially Zen poetry) and/or the history of Zen.  This can either be a creative project (such as a multi-media or art piece), a class presentation, or a more traditional research paper of 4-5 pages. 10%

Absences: You can miss up to three classes without penalty. If you miss four to five classes, your final grade will be reduced by one letter grade. If you miss six to seven classes, your final grade will be reduced by two letter grades. If you miss eight or more classes, you fail for the semester.  However, attendance isn’t just a matter of being there on time; it’s a matter of good participation.  I reserve the right to mark as absent any student who disrupts class or fails to be respectful to others.

Conferences: At least once during the semester, we will meet one-on-one in my office to discuss your writing. Although these meetings are informal, attendance is mandatory and is counted into your participation grade. Also, failure to attend conferences will result in unexcused absences.

Reading Responses: As I said, I expect you to turn in a journal (two full, double spaced pages, typed) for each of the assigned texts.  Don’t just say “I like this” or “I hate this.”  Give me specific lines, images, ideas, or techniques that caught your attention.  You certainly don’t have to like all the pieces I assign, let alone all the poems or passages in a given book.  In fact, I welcome disagreements!  Let’s get some good discussions/debates going so basically, look at these responses as prep for class discussion. 

Class Participation: The way we improve as writers and critics is by practice and participation.    Think of this class as a Sangha (more on that later), or if you prefer, as a community of fellow scholars and writers who each bring something different to the table, who may not always agree but can assist each other through good-natured, constructive dialog.  In terms of your final grade, strong class participation will help you greatly, especially if your grade is borderline. So don’t be afraid to speak up, and to speak your mind, but do it with consideration for the opinions and feelings of your classmates.  Going along with this, you are expected to behave respectfully in class.  That means please don’t chat, interrupt, play with cell phones or laptops, start juggling without permission, etc. 

About Your Instructor: I've published three books and five chapbooks of poetry and have won quite a few national prizes. I also have a literary fantasy novel forthcoming in April (the first in a series). Feel free to swing by www.troublewithhammers.com and check out some of my work, if you’re bored. This is my sixth year as an Assistant Professor at Ball State University. Before this, I taught composition and creative writing at Southern Illinois University for four years. I’m the Poetry Editor for Atticus Review and I’ve also been a tutor, worked in a rehab center, flipped burgers, and built refrigerators in a factory (worst job ever). I am also an unapologetic history, science, and politics nerd so be prepared to have random facts thrown at you (and, sometimes, candy).  As my prior students can attest to, I believe very strongly in helping my students. So if you have questions or concerns, let me know!