| English 262 -- American Lit. Survey II | Spring 2002 |
| Instructor: Julie Barak
e-mail: [email protected] Home Page: http://mesastate.edu/~jbarak |
Office Hours: M-F 10:00-10:50
Phone: 248-1072 Office: Lowell Heiny Hall -- 435 |
| Goals | Methods | Texts |
| Course Work --
Quizzes, Issue Papers, Exams, Final Project |
Schedule | - |
Course Goals: 1) Learn effective ways to read, appreciate and discuss a variety of texts from this period of American Literature. 2) Understand relevant critical terminology, along with historical, philosophical and artistic contexts important to this period of American Literature. 3) Practice communicating ideas and observations about American Literature of this period through concise and well-planned papers and exams.
Course Methods: I will provide you with basic background information on the authors and their times through lectures. We will spend time discussing the texts in class. These discussion will be both informal--based on questions that arise as you read the texts and listen to the lectures, and formal--based on issues that you bring in for discussion as a result of your own thinking and writing. We will do a lot of writing in various forms--journals, exams, essays, and on-the-spot responses to questions and issues raised through discussion.
| Author | Title/Edition | Publisher |
| Theodore Dreiser | Sister Carrie | Mass Market |
| Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Jennifer Gillan | Growing up Ethnic in America: Contemporary Fiction about Learning to Be American | Penguin |
| Frank Norris | McTeague | Penguin |
| Meridel Le Sueur | The Girl | University of New Mexico Press |
| Nella Larsen | Quicksand and Passing | Rutgers UP |
| Arthur Miller | Death of a Salesman: Texts and Criticism | Viking Critical Edition |
| Bill Moyers | The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets | Doubleday |
Quizzes over the reading will be given throughout the semester. Reading the texts is the most important task we have to accomplish this semester. The quizzes consist of 5 questions over plot or characterization. They're very easy if you've done the reading. The average of all of your quiz scores for the semester will equal 20% of your grade. No make up quizzes are offered. The lowest 3 grades will be dropped.
Six 2 page, double-spaced, typed essays, due approximately every other week. Each paper should have a clear and interesting point to make about the text under scrutiny. I do not want you to use the papers to summarize the texts. If I read your papers and all I find is summary, that paper will receive a failing grade. I do want you to use the papers to develop thoughtful and critical approaches to the books. Each of the essays should contain the following sections: 1) title, 2) concise statement of your organizing idea or thesis, 3) clear and articulate presentation of your exposition or argument supported by references to the text.
Some questions you might answer in your papers include, but are not limited, to the following:
At midterm and at the end of the semester you’ll read over your mini-papers, think about our in-class discussions and review the lecture notes you’ve taken. Have you been thinking a lot about the different ways men and women authors portray characters in their texts? Have you been writing and thinking about how greed affects the American psyche? Have you been looking at race relationships in two or three of the texts? Have you been looking at dialect or language use in the texts? Have you noticed patterns of images in the texts? Have you been thinking about the structure of the poems or novels? Shape your thoughts into three questions. I will select two of those questions for you to answer on your exam. You will have one weekend to write the exam. We will share and discuss our answers with the class. Each exam is worth 17.5% of your final grade.
The research project has three parts.
For the first part, you must put together a written report on an author chosen from the list I'll provide. Include the following information: 1) A BRIEF biography -- no more than three paragraphs. In this biography summarize the important personal, political and literary influences of the author's life. 2) A photograph or two. 3) A quote that illustrates the main thought of the work you read or a quote that describes the author's attitude about his or her work. 4) A summary of the work you read by this author. You don't have to read a novel -- a short story or a selection of poems will do.
For the second part of the project, you must write a critical analysis of the text you chose to deal with. This analysis should include at least 2 references to outside sources and a brief bibliography (10 sources) of important criticism about the author and the text you've chosen to work with.
Finally, for the third part, you will do an oral presentation, sharing information about your writer, what he or she has written and how he or she fits into the contexts and themes we've been discussing all semester.
Parts 1 and 3 are worth 6 % of your grade each. Part 2 is worth 13% of your grade.
| Date | Reading Assignment | Writing Assignment |
| 1 -- Jan. 14 | ||
| Jan. 16 | 1-6 of Sister Carrie | |
| Jan. 18 | 7-16 of Sister Carrie | IP |
| 2 -- Jan. 21 | 17-24 of Sister Carrie | IP |
| Jan. 23 | 25-32 of Sister Carrie | IP |
| Jan. 25 | 33-40 of Sister Carrie | IP |
| 3 -- Jan. 28 | Finish Sister Carrie | IP |
| Jan. 30 | 1-5 of McTeague | IP |
| Feb. 1 | 6-9 of McTeague | IP |
| 4 -- Feb. 4 | 10-13 of McTeague | IP |
| Feb. 6 | 14-18 of McTeague | IP |
| Feb. 8 | Finish McTeague | IP |
| 5 -- Feb. 11 | 1-11 of Quicksand | IP |
| Feb. 13 | Finish Quicksand | IP |
| Feb. 15 | 1-16 of The Girl | IP |
| 6 -- Feb. 18 | Winter Break | |
| Feb. 20 | 17-33 of The Girl | IP |
| Feb. 22 | Finish The Girl | IP |
| 7 -- Feb. 25 | "Tragedy and the Common Man," "Designing a Play," and Act I of Death of a Salesman | IP |
| Feb. 27 | Assigned Critical Essay and Act II of Death of a Salesman | IP |
| Mar. 1 | Scenes from the play -- video | |
| 8 -- Mar. 4 | Allen Ginsberg Poetry | |
| Mar. 6 | Film on Ginsberg and other Conversation. | |
| Mar. 8 | Conferences | Bring questions |
| 9 -- Mar. 11 | Conferences | Bring questions |
| Mar. 13 | Film | |
| Mar. 15 | Midterm exam due | |
| 10 -- Mar. 18 | Spring Break | |
| Mar. 20 | Spring Break | |
| Mar. 22 | Spring Break | |
| 11 -- Mar. 25 | Tan, Chin, Jen, Watanabe (Ethnic) | IP |
| Mar. 27 | Hongo, Mura, Chin, Lee (Moyers) | IP |
| Mar. 29 | Soto, Cofer, Cisneros, Viramontes (Ethnic) | IP |
| 12 -- Apr. 1 | Cruz and Baca (Moyers) | IP |
| Apr. 3 | Midge, Erdrich, Alexie, Ortiz (Ethnic) | IP |
| Apr. 5 | Harjo and Tall Mountain (Moyers) | IP |
| 13 -- Apr. 8 | Moore Campbell, Pinckney, Morrison (Ethnic) | IP |
| Apr. 10 | Jacobs, Weaver, Chambers (Ethnic) | IP |
| Apr. 12 | Clifton and Dove (Moyers) | IP |
| 14 -- Apr. 15 | Harper, Sundiata and Troupe (Moyers) | IP |
| Apr. 17 | Bucci Bush, Gillan, di Prima, and Gardaphe (Ethnic) | IP |
| Apr. 19 | Kamlani, Geha, Rustomji (Ethnic) | IP |
| 15 -- Apr. 22 | Nye (Ethnic) and Nye (Moyers) | IP |
| Apr. 24 | Conferences | |
| Apr. 26 | Conferences | |
| 16 -- Apr. 29 | Research Projects | Questions Due |
| May 1 | Research Projects | |
| May 3 | Research Projects | |
| 17 -- May | Research Projects | Final Exam Due |
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