The goal in this course is for you to read and carefully examine several major works by Fyodor Dostoevsky. You should read actively and carefully, think about what you are reading, record your thoughts and be prepared to articulate those thoughts in class, both orally and in written form.

 All reading must be completed before the beginning of each class. As you read you should keep your thoughts, observations, questions and comments on sheets of loose-leaf paper to be kept in a binder which you bring to class for every meeting. These outline notes on any given occasion should serve as the basis for a class discussion that you will be called upon to lead.(While these thoughts are personal, they are not private!)

For each Tuesday class you should prepare an electronic journal entry. This one page (250 words) entry should contain a single well-constructed analysis of some aspect of the work which appealed to you. For each Thursday class write a single question  to serve as a discussion question for the entire class. These entries must be sent to my e-mail account tom.beyer@middlebury.edu before 9:00 AM on the day of class.

Grades

Your willingness to do all the reading on time, attend all classes as an active participant, and  on time completion of all assignments will determine your grade. However, if you miss more than one class your highest grade will be a C, three missed classes will result in a D, and more than three classes is an automatic F. Failure to read the assigned work before each class results in a descending scale of C+, C, C-, D and then F. 

Grades are based on your having read each text well and before class to be determined by random in class writing assignments before classes and your active participation and preparedness to lead class discussions based on notes (50%); timely submission of thoughtful journal entries (30%); and your completion of a final written assignment (20%). Grades will be determined by random in class writing assignments before classes and your active participation and preparedness to lead class discussions based on notes (50%); timely submission of thoughtful journal entries (30%); and your completion of a final written assignment (20%). If you read all the works on time, do all the informal and formal journal entries on time, and participate actively in each class, you can expect a grade of B or better. The "better" depends upon clear demonstration of exceptional effort and care in your work.