Course
Syllabus
American
Literature II
Course
Description, Goals and Objectives for English 208-1
Justin George Watson
Spring semester, 2004
Three credits
Office: 186 Vincent
Office phone: 239-8367
Office
hours:
Home phone: 273-3986
E-mail: jwatson@hcc-nd.edu
Required Texts and Materials:
1. The American Tradition in Literature
2. Black Boy
3.
The Virginian
4 Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
In this class we will read a large amount of both fiction and non-fiction; what I want to avoid at all costs is the idea that our readings—be they poetry, essay, or autobiography—are somehow “irrelevant” to our own lives. Sometimes it seems that we only really think about the works we read when we are in class; when we leave class, we stop thinking about what we have read, as if the chasm between the “real” world and literature/art can’t be breached. What I want to propose to you is that much literature is relevant to our lives, and it is by no means only of relevance to English majors. It does not matter if we are engineers, doctors, business people, or teachers; there are issues and ideas in great works that involve us all.
Throughout this semester I will be asking why you think I have included these works in this 208 class; furthermore, I will often ask, sometimes implicitly but more often explicitly, if these works are indeed “relevant,” “relevant” in the sense they are worthy to be studied and discussed by people of different backgrounds in our 208 class. All of you in your possible future roles as parents, taxpayers, concerned citizens, and alumni of this college will potentially have to reach conclusions about what is considered "appropriate" or "desirable" for literary works taught in schools—and ultimately reach your own conclusions about the roles and relevance of literature in your own lives.
Goals
and Objectives:
•Develop
an aesthetic response
•Understand the creative process
•Recognize and use multiple ways of thinking
•Ask relevant questions
•Distinguish among fact, opinion, and judgment
•Make connections among subjects
•Be a constructive critic of society
•Analyze, interpret, and appreciate thoughts/works of others
•Demonstrate proficiency in reading competency
•Define the purpose and goals of a scholarly investigation
•Evaluate and use available sources of information
•Write effectively
•Interact and
cooperatively work with others
Grading:
The grades for this class will be calculated according to the scale found in the Student Handbook. Assignments are due at the beginning of indicated class periods; generally speaking, late work will not be accepted. Late assignments that are accepted will be penalized with one full grade reduction for each day they are late. All assignments must be turned in directly to the instructor during regularly scheduled class times; the instructor will not be responsible for any assignments that are turned in under an office door, in a mailbox, etc. The class plagiarism policy will follow the general guidelines indicated in the Student Handbook. The specific plagiarism policy in this class is an “F” (0 points) for the assignment on the first infraction, an “F” in the course for a subsequent infraction.
Class assignments will be graded according to the following formula:
•A
minimum of twelve unannounced quizzes on the readings. The ten highest grades
will count toward the final grade. There are no makeups for missed quizzes.
200 points
•Two out-of-class, typed, double-spaced papers (600 words minimum).
200 points
•One out-of-class, typed, double-spaced paper (1,000 words minimum).
200 points
•One midsemester exam. There are no makeups for missed exams.
200 points
•One
final. There are no makeups for missed exams.
200 points
900 and above A
880-899 A-
860-879 B+
800-859 B
780-789 B-
760-779 C+
700-759 C
680-699 C-
600-679 D
599 and below F
Attendance Policy:
1. You
are expected to attend every class meeting and conference and to be on time.
2. Whenever
possible students should inform the instructor of forthcoming absences.
3. Students
with absences are expected to contact the instructor as soon as possible to
discuss any work missed. Absence is not an excuse for late assignments.
4. Be aware that it is the student's
responsibility to drop or withdraw from this class: the last day to drop is
Wednesday,
American Literature II
Syllabus
The instructor reserves the right to adjust the syllabus; however, any changes will be announced in advance.
Week 1, Jan. 13 and 15
Tuesday:
adminstrative matters and diagnostic essays
Thursday:
Twain's "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg"; background lecture
Week 2, Jan. 20 and 22
Tuesday:
Jewett and Freeman; discussion of semester essays
Thursday:
Chopin and Chesnutt
Week 3, Jan.
27 and 29
Tuesday:
James's "Real Thing" and "Jolly Corner"
Thursday:
Wharton and Howells’s “Editha”
Week 4, Feb. 3 and 5: Crane
Tuesday:
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Thursday:
"The Open Boat" and poems
Week 5, Feb. 10 and 12: Wister's The Virginian
Week 6, Feb. 17 and 19
Tuesday:
first draft of paper one due;
Dreiser and
Thursday:
Cather and Robinson
Week 7, Feb. 24 and 26
Tuesday:
Frost (to be assigned)
Thursday:
final draft of paper one due;
Sandburg and
Week 8, Mar. 2 and 4
Tuesday:
declaration of semester essay topics;
Pound―all except "A Virginal" and "Portrait d'une
Femme"; H.D.
Thursday:
midsemester examination
Week 9: midsemester vacation
Week 10: Mar. 16 and 18: Eliot
Tuesday:
"Tradition and the Individual Talent" and "The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock"
Thursday:
The Wasteland
Week 11: Mar. 23 and 25
Tuesday:
O'Neil
Thursday:
Cummings
Week 12: Mar. 30 and Apr. 1
Tuesday:
first draft of paper two due;
Fitzgerald and Porter
Thursday:
Faulkner's "Spotted Horses" and Hemingway's "Big
Week 13: Apr. 6 and 8: Wright's Black Boy, "Southern Night"
section
Thursday:
final draft of paper two
Week 14: Apr. 13 and 15
Tuesday:
Wright's Black Boy, "The Horror
and the Glory" section
Thursday:
Hughes
Week 15: Apr. 20 and 22
Tuesday:
first draft of semester essay due;
Thursday:
Berryman, Sexton, and Plath
Week 16: April 27 and 29
Tuesday:
Ginsberg and Snyder (to be assigned)
Thursday:
final draft of semester essay due;
Brooks, Rich, and Levertov
The final exam will be given at
American Literature II
Paper Assignments
Canon Evaluation
Refer to the course syllabus for length requirements.
Paper one topic is to be taken from the syllabus assignments before midsemester.
Paper two topic is to be taken from the syllabus assignments after midsemester.
The semester essay topic is to be taken from your exploratory discussions with friends, family, and mentors. (This will be discussed further.)
Your audience is the community of
As we have previously discussed in this class, literary canons are formed by people. Scholars, critics, historians, writers, school boards, concerned citizens, etc. are all the time making judgments about what works should be included in anthologies, what works should be labeled as "classics," and what works should be fundamental to an understanding of the American experience and will appear in great/classic books courses or reading lists. The point to remember is that people make these decisions, and over time works move in and out of the canon as tastes, attitudes, and outlooks evolve.
I would like you to select one work, a novel or a short story. If you are interested in examining poems, you might want to select several by the same author. Make a case that this work does or does not belong in the American literature canon for a course like ours, a college introductory survey course of American literature. You might possibly want to consider some of the following issues:
•Is in fact the work a "classic"? (Of course you will have to define "classic.")
•Was the work perhaps very good and compelling in other times but now seems irrelevant?
•If enough background material and context is present to understand the work' s wealth of meaning or insight, is it still capable of reaching an audience today?
•Did previous generations just downright overrate this work?