English 2322 Spring 2002
McLamore rmclamore@cs1.mcm.edu
793-3893 829-5415
Text
Baym et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Volume 2. 5th. ed.
Goals:
This course introduces major
American authors and their works from the Civil War to the contemporary period.
We will discuss several significant writings, their authors and ways in which
major historical, cultural, intellectual, and political events that shaped the
writing and reading of these works. We will be particularly interested in
developing ideas about how the functions of literature--in shaping personal
identity, cultural ideals and representations, national goals, and spiritual
aspirations--interact with American cultural development after what one
historian has called "the second American Revolution." Also, and more importantly, we will try to
express the ideas we develop: in discussions, in written responses, and in
papers.
Course Requirements
v
Daily written responses @ 5 points (gathered in notebook or sent via
e-mail to rmclamore@cs1.mcm.edu)
Papers (2) @ 100 points each
Exams (2) **If daily responses are inadequate**
v
Viewing two
films: Casablanca and Blazing Saddles
v
Class
Participation @ 50 points
Daily Written responses:
Each week you will write 3
responses (I prefer typed or e-mailed) about your responses to, questions
about, observations upon, associations with, or general ideas about the reading
to be covered in class that day. These responses should be about one page long
(or 2-3 well-developed paragraphs) and should demonstrate a thorough reading of
and attempt to understand and come to grips with the materials presented in the
readings. On days when you are assigned
more than one selection, you need not respond to all of the assigned
selections. If I suspect that your
participation is lagging, I reserve the right to take up your notebook on the
spot, so it would be wise to keep up with this work.
Essays
Paper #1 will be a short (2)
page critical, historical, or cultural analysis over some aspect of one of the
nineteenth century works we have read for class; or it may be a comparison of a
number of works we have read. These papers may be discussions of theme, a
character analysis, or discussions of how differing works contain similar
elements. These possible topics are starting points, not strict guidelines. If
you have an idea, try it out on me.
Paper #2 will be a 4-7 page
biographical study of a modernist writer whose works we are not covering this
semester.
Paper #3 will be a 4-7 page
essay about a significant theme or issue that you discover that links works
from the major periods and different literary genres of the course.
Exams
You will have two
examinations, plus a final. They will ask you to
identify the key terms or significant ideas associated with key literary
figures and terms.
Absences:
Three types of absences may
be excused: illness, personal emergency, and school business. Illness will be
excused with verifiable medical documentation. In case of a personal emergency,
such as an illness or death in the family, notify student affairs; they will
arrange for you to make up any missed work. If you miss because of school
business, tell me before you leave. NOTE: If you accumulate more than two
unexcused absences, I will penalize your grade up to and including failure of
the course. If you miss five or more classes for any reason, I will drop you
from the course.
Reading Schedule:
First Phase:
Reconstruction, Regionalism, and the Rise of Corporate America:
Week One
14 Jan: Introduction to the course; discussion of
Reconstruction; begin reading Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
28-81,
16 Jan: Huck Finn
(81-137)
18 Jan: Huck Finn
(137-179); More
Regionalism.
Week Two
21 Jan: Complete Huck
Finn (179-216)
23 Jan: Begin Kate Chopin, The Awakening, 467-503
25 Jan: Kate Chopin, The Awakening (503-528)
Week Three
28 Jan: Kate Chopin, The Awakening (528-558); Mary Austin, “The
Walking Woman,” (704-711)
30 Jan: Henry James "The Jolly
Corner," (402-424);
1 Feb: Hamlin Garland,
“Under the Lion’s Paw,” (646-656); Charles W. Chesnutt,
"The Goophered Grapevine," (617-624)
Week Four:
4 Feb:: Booker T. Washington, from Up From
Slavery, (581-603)
6 Feb: W. E. B. DuBois from The Souls of
Black Folk (713-735):
8 Feb: Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, (848-874)
Week Five
11 Feb: Henry Adams, from The Education of Henry Adams, (877-910)
13 Feb: Black Elk and John
G. Neihardt, from Black Elk Speaks, (925-937)
15 Feb Examination #1
Phase Two: Modernism
I: Poetry and Change
Week Six:
18 Feb: Paper #1 Due.
Edgar Lee Masters,
all selections, (937-941); Robert Frost, 1115-7, "Mending
Wall," 1119, "After Apple
Picking," 1127,. "The Oven Bird," 1130; "Two Tramps in Mud
Time," (1134);
"Directive," (1139).
20 Feb: Wallace Stevens,
1164-6, “A High-Toned Old Christian Woman,” (1166); "The Emperor of Ice
Cream," 1167, "Peter Quince at the Clavier" 1172-); “A Postcard from the Volcano,” (1177).
22 Feb: T. S. Eliot,
1368-70, "The Waste Land,” (1380-1393); from Tradition and the
Individual Talent, (1375-1378).
Week Seven
25 Feb: H.D. from “The Walls Do
Not Fall,” (1259-1270).
27 Feb: Claude McKay, 1406-1407. All poems in selection. Langston Hughes, 1730-1, all poems in
selection.
1 Mar: Katherine Anne Porter, 1411-12.
"Flowering Judas," 1412-21;
Week Eight
4 Mar: F. Scott Fitzgerald,
1495-6. “Babylon
Revisited,” (1496-1511);
6 Mar: John Dos Passos, U.S.A.
(1512-1532)
8 Mar: Examination #2.
Paper #2 Due.
Phase III: Literature Since World War II.
Week Nine:
18 Mar:
20 Mar:
22 Mar: Flannery O'Connor,
2011-12, "Good Country People," 2020-34.
Week Ten:
25 Mar: Ralph Ellison, from Invisible
Man, (1884-1901).
27 Mar: James Baldwin,
"Going to Meet the Man," (2000-2011)
29 Mar: Good Friday--No
class
Week Eleven:
1 Apr: Easter Monday, No class
3 Apr: Allen Ginsberg,
2632-4. "Howl," 2634-41
5 Apr: Richard Wilbur, “The
Beautiful Changes,” (2568-2569); “Ceremony,” (2569-2570); “Love Calls
Us to the Things of This World,” (2571-2572).
Week Twelve:
8 Apr: W.S. Merwin, all selections, (2681-2690)
10 Apr: Adrienne Rich,
2711-13. (2712-2731)
12 Apr: Robert Pinsky, “The figured Wheel,” 2779-2780); “A Woman,”
(2782-2783); “Shirt,” (2784-2785); “At Pleasure Bay,”
(2786-2787).
Week Thirteen:
15 Apr: Theodore Roethke, (2445-2458)
17 Apr: Maxine Hong
Kingston; 2230-2232, from Tripmaster
Monkey, (2232-2257)
19 Apr: Ann Beattie
(2300-2302), "Weekend," 2302-2313
Week Fourteen
22 Apr: Barry Hannah,
(2264-2265), "Midnight and I'm not Famous Yet," (2265-2273); Sandra
Cisneros, (2375-2384)
24 Apr: Denise Chavez,
"The Last of the Menu Girls," (2356-2374)
26 Apr: Louise Erdrich, 2385-5, "Fleur," 2385-94; Diane Glancy, ("Jack Wilson or Wovoka
and Christ My Lord," (2258-2261). Blazing Saddles screening.
Week Fifteen
29 Apr: Gwendolyn Brooks,
(2541-2552)
1 May: Annie Dillard,
"Holy the Firm," 2281-2299
3 May: Review for Final. Paper #3 due; Reading notebook due.
Final Exam
tba