Course Syllabus

Fall 2024 | ENG-2580-VO01 - War Literature

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Telly Halkias
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
Hiring Coordinator for this course: Cindy Swanson

General Education Requirements

VSCS Arts & Aesthetics

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

A survey of war literature across historical periods, cultures, and regions that examines the literary treatment of war's dimensions and its effects on individuals and societies. Explores war's purposes and causes as well as its perceived successes or failures. Readings will include novels, essays, poetry, and memoirs from a broad spectrum of writers and socio-cultural perspectives.

Essential Objectives

1. Read and discuss war literature from a variety of cultural, social, and historical perspectives.
2. Apply literary terms and approaches to novels, memoirs, plays, poems, letters, and essays that record and examine the war experience.
3. Examine the effect of war on soldiers and civilians, as reflected in literature.
4. Develop and discuss ideas and theories about the role of war literature in reflection, morality, propaganda, national identity and history, and anti-war movements.
5. Consider and debate ethical issues raised in war literature and other artistic media such as film, painting, music, and theater.
6. Discuss the contributions of war literature to contemporary debates regarding war and peace.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV IT Support page. https://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Methods

THERE ARE NO QUIZZES/TESTS/EXAMS IN THIS CLASS

TELLY HALKIAS is the recipient of the 2013-14 and 2022-23 Annual VSC/CCV Excellence in Teaching Award, and has been nominated by his students every year since 2011 (click link below).

CCV Faculty Receive Teaching Excellence Awards - Community College of Vermont

Ever wonder how the battle against scourges such as COVID-19 are patterned after and informed by military operations - and then further described with metaphors of human armed conflict? Or how actual combat itself ties to all of us? Even to those who have nothing to do with militaries, or only connected to them through family and friends?

Or how understanding the human desire for peace is tied to measuring the risks and costs of war? Or to how war, an endeavor tracing itself to the lowest of insects and as far back as cavemen began walking upright, can explain so much about everyday human psychology?

If so, or you are curious about those questions, then War Literature is a worthwhile learning journey - one that is only offered online once every fall term in the college's curriculum, and at no other VSC school but CCV.

FROM PAST STUDENT EVALUATIONS w Prof. Telly Halkias

---" ...Professor Halkias completely connects subject matter to the real world. The intellectual stimulation that this prompts takes the class into a higher level of learning and engagement. The [weekly subject] titles do not begin to tell the beauty of the journey that his students will take.."

---"By far, of all the classes I've taken in my degree program, I learned the most about myself and the world in War Lit with Prof. Halkias..."

---"Professor Telly is very thoughtful when it comes to spreading the homework to work best for both sides, students and the teacher."

---"Excellent selection of war literature materials and superb questions and assignments that enabled students to get the most from the materials."

---"I enjoy that the class has no tests or quizzes and instead grading is based almost entirely on participation in weekly discussions. I feel that this makes the course especially effective and engaging. I also enjoy Prof. Halkias' participation in discussions to further conversation and make students think."

---"The variety of materials we read was excellent from poems to personal accounts to books that mixed fiction and real experience. In particular, using Steven Pressfield's The Warrior Ethos created a foundational means to examine other works. It caused me to look for elements that I may have otherwise missed. This made me examine our reading materials more closely and made me consider the experience of war in a different light."

---"I found the overall structure of the course most effective. I enjoyed the open forum discussion style that was used every week. It allowed me to see how different people wrote and what diverse thoughts were running through people's heads. I enjoyed being able to interact with my peers and learn more about their thoughts. I also found that the instructions provided each week for the work that was expected to be turned in were clear and concise, allowing me to complete my work in a timely manner."

---"Prof. Telly was what makes the course so effective. His enthusiasm and knowledge toward each week's material were what motivated everyone to continue putting their best foot forward... He is a fair grader, and will always offer timely, considerate, and extensive feedback. It is difficult to imagine how he has time to offer the amount of feedback that he does, considering he has multiple courses to teach (and multiple jobs to do). Anyone who takes one of his courses will benefit greatly as both a writer and a student."

---"The discussion boards were very helpful and provided great potential for improvement in thinking and writing farther along in the course. It also helps to provide different points of view on a single piece of writing."

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The professor of this class is both an Army veteran, and a current practicing journalist; more on his journalism credentials here: VT DIGGER CONTRIBUTOR WINS NATIONAL WRITING AWARD

As such, the course is designed in the manner below, in order to fully examine the cross-societal and personal psychological effects of war, a concept known as "the inner struggle."

In essence, through studying human armed conflict in both fictional and non-fictional writings, we come to see that even the fervently peace-loving and anti-war must deal always with another type of war: the one raging within ourselves.

This also carries over to devastating non-armed conflict against invisible enemies in a totally updated course module including the current COVID-19 pandemic, and others like it.

1. Students will put themselves in the place of an embedded war reporter/journalist in addressing a summary and key aspects of the readings. These segments are entitled“War Correspondent Reporting” and will draw on the student’s power of observation (as well as their imagination to form it, since they are just reading about, and not physically observing, war and its devastating effects). Differences in “observation” will demonstrate how complex a mural warfare offers up to the human eye, mind, and heart.

2. Students will also have an opportunity to return to the concept of the warrior ethos, culture, and society, and refer back to the core work from weeks 1/2 to assess each given work studied that week. These segments are entitled “Command Post Debriefing” and will draw upon discussing the framework in which readings are set up, the connection to the individual combatant, as well as the larger society he/she serves.

3. Also, historical context matters, and history takes on many forms. Given the conflicts at hand during the assigned reading (Civil War, WWII, Vietnam, Iraq/Afghanistan, Global Pandemics like COVID-19 etc.),students will become detectives of the past,and research subjects of their choice during the relevant time periodand offer up their findings to the class in a segment known as “History Sleuth.” The intent will be to demonstrate that there are many levels of comprehending the backdrop of war, from that of the President to the lowest soldier in the trenches.

The underpinnings of all war literature are rooted in the history of conflicts between nations as well as individuals. Students will explore both to contribute to a greater understanding of the inner struggle. In this segment, students duck out of a barrage to consult with the class librarian in“The Regimental Librarian’s Bunker” during one week, then report back their entire historical finding the next week in “Press Briefing”.

4. In the poetry segments, students will engage in “Explications and Interpretations” and then discuss each other’s viewpoints.

5. There will be a final reflection at course end on the warrior culture, ethos, and society where students will draw upon the works they covered, and express what they are taking away from the study of human armed conflict literature.

6. IMPORTANT: All written assignments are meant to be brief and concise in order to emphasize subsequent and meaningful discussion more than the length of the initial submissions.

Evaluation Criteria

15 weeks of Discussion Forums .5.0% each = 75%

4 Library Forums……….........…..4.0% each = 16%

Final Reflection……….......……..9.0% ............= 9%

Total Course Grade…………................………100%

+EXTRA CREDIT FORUMS UP TO 5% ......... 105% MAX

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WEEKLY SCHEDULE:

Details for all assignments will be provided in the weekly course page. Please always feel free to ask question if an assignment is unclear or if you are having technical difficulties accessing course materials. Past student examples of "A" quality work of every key assignment will also be provided weekly.

WEEK 1: What It Takes, Part 1! SYLLABUS: READ: The Warrior Ethos (entire book, provided PDF)

WEEK 2: What It Takes, Part 2! SYLLABUS: READ: "Taking Chance" (provided PDF, movie optional)

WEEK 3: Rhymes and Rifles, part 1: SYLLABUS: READ: Select: WWI British Poets/"Writing About Poetry" "Intro to English War Poetry"

WEEK 4: Inner Combat, part 1!: SYLLABUS: READ: Civil War Stories (complete)

WEEK 5: Inner Combat, Part 2!: SYLLABUS: READ: Civil War Stories (complete), already assigned in Week

WEEK 6: The Adversary's Mirror, Part 1! SYLLABUS: READ: All Quiet On The Western Front (complete).

WEEK 7: The Adversary's Mirror, Part 2! SYLLABUS: READ: All Quiet On The Western Front (complete) "Nationalism" (provided PDF)

WEEK 8: Rhymes and Rifles, part 2: SYLLABUS: REVIEW: "WWI British Poets/"Writing About Poetry" "Intro to English War Poetry".

WEEK 9: Civilian Collaterals part 1 SYLLABUS: READ: Hiroshima (Complete, provided PDF)

WEEK 10: Civilian Collaterals, Part 2: SYLLABUS: READ: "My War"/ "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" (PDFs provided))

WEEK 11:Truth and Comrades, Part 1: SYLLABUS: READ: The Things They Carried (Complete). "Tim O'Brien's 'Bad' Vietnam War" PDF

WEEK 12: Truth and Comrades, Part 2: SYLLABUS: READ: The Things They Carried (Complete)

WEEK 12: Truth and Comrades, Part 2: SYLLABUS: READ: The Things They Carried (Complete)

WEEK 13: Innocence Lost! SYLLABUS: READ: A Long Way Gone, (complete)

WEEK 14: The Longest War! SYLLABUS: READ: The Road Ahead (complete)

WEEK 15: Final Reflection on War and the Inner Struggle! SYLLABUS: REVIEW: All deployment materials!

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity