TEXTS
John Dos Passos, "The Body of
An American" (from 1919)
Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
Eudora Welty, The Golden Apples
James Agee, A Death in the Family
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
Don DeLillo, White Noise
Carolyn Chute, The Beans of Egypt, Maine
Louise Erdrich, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Selected Critical Materials (xerox)
OBJECTIVES
This course should expand your sense of the diversity and vitality of modern and contemporary American fiction. It should also strengthen your desire to continue to read widely and to think deeply about American culture.
As we explore these writers' distinctive styles and visions, we will consider the various traditions they are drawing upon, the social and historical contexts to which they are responding, and the ways their work has enriched--and, in some cases, transformed--our sense of our cultural heritage.
Our discussions should also make you
more aware of issues in contemporary criticism and should help you to
evaluate the strengths and limitations of various critical perspectives.
You also will have ample opportunities in this course to continue to
develop and refine your research, oral communication, and writing skills.
REQUIREMENTS
You are expected to prepare the readings for each session (including any assigned critical materials) and to contribute regularly to class discussions. Active participation includes introducing ideas, raising questions, and building upon or helping to clarify the responses of others. If you find it difficult to speak up in class, for whatever reason, please come and talk with me as soon as possible.
To encourage close reading and sustained, active involvement in the course, a brief written commentary on the readings is required each week. Commentaries should approximate one page in length, when typed, and should be submitted at the beginning of the session. One half of the class will write commentaries for the first weekly session, the other half for the second session. Late commentaries will not be accepted.
At the end of the term, you are to gather up your commentaries for the course and submit them in a portfolio. By that time, all commentaries must be typed. The completed portfolio, not the individual commentaries, will be graded.
Two papers -- 5-7 and 8-10 pages in length -- are required. You may exceed the maximum length, if necessary, but you should not fall short of the minimum. In at least one paper you must draw significantly (and critically!) upon a variety of secondary sources (both on the Web and in the Library), and document them properly, using the MLA style of documentation. Please talk with me for a few minutes about your proposed topic or tentative thesis before you begin your papers. You may find that your commentaries open up questions or topics that you will want to explore further in your papers. If you want to write on an author or work we are not reading in this course, you need to see me before you start the paper.
Majors who are fulfilling their senior exercise requirement with this course will give presentations based on their work. They will receive an additional hour of credit. While their senior exercise will substitute for the longer paper, they will also be expected to do the commentaries on the readings, write a 5-7 page paper, and submit the portfolio.
Approximate breakdown of final grade: 30% for portfolios; 25% for the researched paper; 20% for the shorter paper; 25% for class participation. (Note: you must submit the portfolio and the researched paper in order to pass the course.)
This is a 200-level English course. Papers with numerous spelling, punctuation, and grammatical or stylistic errors will not be accepted until the errors have been corrected. Such papers will be docked one-third of a letter grade each day until they are resubmitted in an acceptable form. Although I will not be able to read rough drafts of your papers, you will have the option to revise your first paper after I have returned it to you with a grade. Grades on the original and the revised versions will be averaged together. More weight will be given to the grade on the revised version if the revisions are especially extensive and effective.
Normally, paper deadlines
will be extended and absences will be excused only in the case of an
urgent personal problem, a family emergency, or a serious illness, verifiable
by the Dean. Absences will limit what you can gain from the course as
well as what you can contribute. Unexcused absences also will lower
your final grade.
