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Derek P. Royal Office: 131 Hall
of Literature Office Phone: ( |
Office Hours: TR 8:00 – 9:30, R 2:30 – 4:30, or by appointment |
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ENG 442 – Survey of American Literature II
Spring 2005
Course Syllabus
Required Texts
Prerequisites
ENG
Catalog Description
The development of American literature from the Civil War to the
present.
Course Description & Objectives
This is a survey course, and as such, we’re going to be surveying quite
a bit of literature. This is a reading intensive course, so please
prepare accordingly. The subject matter
spans a very large temporal area, from 1865 to the present. My goal is to give you a survey sweep of the
American literary landscape over the last century and a half. This means that at times we may have to read
shorter works or excerpts from some of our most significant authors. But in no way do I want to give short shrift
to those writers. To this effect, we’ll
supplement our reading with a series of mini-lectures. Also, if you’ll notice, no plays are on our
reading list. That’s because we will
cover some major American plays through group presentations. This will give students the opportunity to
read closely a major American play and present to the class on their
readings. The objectives of this course
are to give students an introduction to the vast array of fiction, poetry, and
drama that make up much of American literature; to provide the opportunity to
explore the diverse nature of our literature; to help students develop a deeper
understanding of the ever-evolving issues involved in defining the American
canon; and to encourage the reading of literature with a fine critical
understanding and aesthetic appreciation that a 400-level course should provide.
Attendance
Be here!
Much of your work will be done in class. Therefore, except in the most
extraordinary cases, you will be
required to attend all class sessions. If you know you have/will have an
excused absence from class, please see me about this as soon as you can. You still need to make up the work you may
have missed in class. And do arrive to class on time; tardiness can count as an
absence. Attendance and class participation will help determine your overall
course grade. More than three unexcused
absences can lower your course grade by at least one letter. Also, if you miss more than
Evaluation
The course grade is largely determined by performance on major exams, a
midterm paper, and a final paper. Class participation will also be graded.
Grading Scale
A+=
D+=69, D=
The portions are weighted as follows:
3 Exams 60%
Drama Presentation 15%
Course Paper 25%
Except for legitimate excused absences, any paper turned in after the due date will result in a zero for the
assignment. Furthermore, unless
there is an excellent excuse, the exams cannot be made up, so please make sure
you do the readings and don’t miss class.
American Disabilities Act (
Students
requesting accommodations for disabilities must go through the Academic Support
Committee. For more information, please
contact the Director of Disability Resources & Services,
Plagiarism and Cheating
- Department policy: The
Department of Literature and Languages adheres to the university definition of
“plagiarism” by the Council of Writing Program Administrators that can be found
at http://www.ilstu.edu/~ddhesse/wpa/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf:
Plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately
uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge)
material without acknowledging its source. […] Ethical writers make every
effort to acknowledge sources fully and appropriately in accordance with the contexts
and genres of their writing. A student
who attempts (even if clumsily) to identify and credit his or her source, but
who misuses a specific citation format or incorrectly uses quotation marks or
other forms of identifying material taken from other sources, has not
plagiarized. Instead, such a student
should be considered to have failed to cite and document sources appropriately.
- Royal’s addendum: To intentionally plagiarize is to steal
another’s words or ideas as if they were your own. Any student who blatantly
plagiarizes (i.e., intentionally and directly lifting whole or partial material
from any electric or printed material) will automatically fail the course and
should expect disciplinary action by the college.
Student Conduct and Responsibilities
- University policy: All students enrolled at the University
shall follow the tenets of common decency and acceptable behavior conducive to
a positive learning environment.
- Royal’s
addendum: In order for
everyone to get the most out of this course, classroom conduct is of the utmost
importance. Therefore, you will be
required to create and maintain a productive classroom environment with little
in the way of disruption. Your overall
grade could be put in jeopardy if you demonstrate inappropriate classroom
behaviors. This includes the habitual
disruption of the class through chit-chatting and talking out of turn, doing
outside work during our classroom time, and bringing in active electronic
devices (such as cell phones and pagers).
Every day you enter the class, please turn off your cell phones and
pagers.
Schedule
The
following schedule reflects the texts included in the Norton Anthology of American Literature (vols.
C, D, E).
Introduction.
Mark Twain and the Defining of
an American Literature
Twain, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences”
Week 2: January 24 – 28
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Week 3: January 31 – February 4
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (cont.); Harte, “The
Outcasts of Poker Flat”
Drama Presentation: Glaspell’s Trifles
Week 4: February 7 – 11
The Rise of Realism
Howells, “Novel-Writing and Novel-Reading,” “Editha” (online); James, “The Art of Fiction,” “Daisy
Miller”
Week 5: February 14 – 18
The Problematic (?) Place of Regionalism
Jewett, “A White Heron”; Chopin, The Awakening; Freeman, “The Revolt of
Mother”; Gilman, “The Yellow Wall-paper”
Exam 1
Week 6: February 21 – 25
Naturalism; or, the Return of the Romantic
Cahan, “A Sweat-Shop
Romance”; Norris, “A Plea for Romantic Fiction” (handout); Crane, “The Open
Boat”; Dreiser, “Old Rogaum and His Theresa”; London,
“To Build a Fire”
Week 7: February 28 – March 4
The Dawning of the Modern
Cather, “The Sculptor’s Funeral”; Masters, various poetry;
Robinson, various poetry;
Drama Presentation: O’Neill’s Long
Day’s Journey into Night
Modern American Poetry
Frost, various poetry; Sandburg, various
poetry; Stevens, various poetry;
Williams, various poetry
Week 9: March 14 – 18
SPRING BREAK
Week 10: March 21 – 25
Pound, “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley”; Eliot, “The
Week 11: March 28 – April 1
The
Hurston, “The Eatonville
Anthology,” “The Gilded Six-Bits”; Toomer, various
selections; Fitzgerald, “
Exam 2
Week 12: April 4 – 8
Faulkner, As
I Lay Dying
Drama Presentation: Williams’s A
Streetcar Named Desire
Week 13: April 11 – 15
The Evolving Shape of Post-War Fiction
Hughes, various poetry; Wright, “The Man Who
Was Almost a Man”; Welty, “Petrified Man”; Cheever, “The Swimmer”; Updike, “Separating”
Week 14: April 18 – 22
Malamud, “The Magic
Barrel”; Bellow, “Looking for Mr. Green”; Roth, “Defender of the Faith”;
Drama Presentation: Baraka’s Dutchman
Week 15: April 25 – 29
Postmodernism, Self-Reflexive Literature, the Emergence of the Ethnic
American
Barth, “The Literature
of Exhaustion” (handout); Barthelme, “The Ballon”; Pynchon, “Entropy”;
Walker, “Everyday Use”; Erdrich, “Fleur”
Week 16: May 2 – 6
Post-War American Poetry
Various
poetry, post 1945
Drama Presentation: Mamet’s
Glengarry Glen Ross
Course Paper Due
Final Exam