Overview of this course:

An in-depth study of various works of the period.  Readings will be supplemented with lectures and presentations on Modernism and the important figures, movements and manifestos integral to the period.

 

Class Time and Place:  MWF 1:00-1:50 in ACB 111

Your Instructor:  Dr. Julie Barak

Office Phone:  248-1072

Office:  LHH 452

Office Hours: MW 8:00-8:50, 2:00-2:50; T 11:00-11:50; F 8:00-8:50

E-mail:  [email protected]

 

Syllabus subject to change.  Changes will be announced in class.  If you miss class, you are responsible for finding out what has changed and for completing the appropriate assignment. 

 

Required Textbooks and Materials:

Dreiser, Theodore. Sister Carrie

Hemingway, Ernest. Garden of Eden

Hurston, Zora Neal.  Their Eyes Were Watching God

Kalaidjian, Walter, Ed. The Cambridge Companion to American Modernism

Lauter, Paul, Gen. Ed.  The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume D:  Modern Period 1910-1945

 

Broad Course Goals:

1.      To become familiar with the basic philosophical, historical and aesthetic trends of the period.

  1. To read poetry, fiction and drama of the period
  2. To be able to apply the philosophical, historical and aesthetic principles to the texts as is appropriate for the practice of literary interpretation and criticism.

 

Objectives:

1.      Students will be able to identify and discuss the basic tenets and ideas of Modernism;

2.      Students will be able to apply these tenets of Modernism to the literary texts in order to investigate meanings and contemplate effects;

3.      Students will be able to write sound and logical essays summarizing and demonstrating an understanding of someone else’s work;

4.      Students will be able to evaluate the relevance of that work for interpreting and critiquing a literary text.

 

Course Requirements:

1.      Random quizzes over reading assignments.  100 points.

  1. 10 minute presentation, with accompanying single-spaced handout (1-2 pages), on a term/individual associated with modernism. You should research the term in more than one place, provide examples/visual aids when appropriate during your presentation and include a Works Cited list.  Following your presentation, you will have an opportunity to revise your definition before it is published on our K:Drive.  100 points.  See syllabus and sign-up sheets for due dates. 

 

Terms for investigation:  1. Sir James Frazer, 2. Freud, 3. Nietzsche and “the will to power,” 4. Einstein and Theories of Relativity, 5. Symbolism, 6. Realism and Naturalism, 7. Impressionism, 8. Max Weber, 9. Victorianism and the Enlightenment, 10. Romanticism, 11. Existential panic/alienation, 12. Avant garde, 13. Mach and positivism, 14. Carl Jung, 15. Expressionism, 16. Cubism, 17. Modernism and music, 18. Dada, 19. Surrealism, 20. Jazz age, 21. Fascism, 22. Fauvism, 23.  Primitivism, 24. Modernism and architecture

 

  1. Paper (2-3 pages) summarizing a critical article on one of the works studied as assigned.  The article should focus on explication of the text, on providing insight into how another reader has interpreted the text, placed it into its historical context, or read it as part of the modernist movement. (Head to JSTOR, LION, MLA or some other appropriate library database to search for an article of interest to you.  Please see me for approval of the article before you begin your work on the paper.)  See syllabus and sign-up sheets for due dates. 100 points.
  2. Paper (4-5 pages) incorporating your summary of a critical article but also analyzing and evaluating the article’s usefulness in interpreting the novel. 200 points.
  3. Midterm exam. This exam will cover the terms we have been reporting on in class and the reading material up to this date. 250 points.
  4. Final exam.  This exam will be comprehensive. 250 points.  

 

Grades:          

Random Daily Quizzes on Readings                100 points

Definition of term:                                            100 points

                        Summary of critical article:                              100 points

                        Paper evaluating critical article:                                   200 points

                        Midterm:                                                          250 points

                        Final:                                                                250 points

Total                                                                            1000 points

 

900-1000 points = A; 800-899 points = B; 700-799 points = C; 600-699 points = D; Below 600 = F

 

Raw grade may be raised or lowered by one letter according to the quality of the student’s class participation and quantity of the student’s attendance.

 

Policies and Procedures:

1.      Turn work in on time.  I always take late work, but I assess a heavy penalty for delayed submission.  For every day the work is late, the grade drops one full letter grade.  So, if you have an essay due on Monday, but you don't turn it in until Thursday, you won't receive any grade higher than a "D" for that assignment.  Do your work ahead of time.  Print your essay or response out the night BEFORE it's due.  Don't wait until the last minute to dash something off.  Be sure you back up all the work you do on your computer so that you have a copy on your hard drive and a copy on disk.  No kind of excuse -- computer or printer problems, disk problems, lost items, etc. -- will mitigate the penalty for late work.

2.      Academic Honesty:  Refer to the Student Handbook for college policies on Academic Honesty. You are cautioned a) against using, word for word, without acknowledgment, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc. from the printed or manuscript material of others; b) against using with only slight changes the materials of others; and c) against using the general plan, the main headings, or a rewritten form of someone else’s material. These cautions apply to the work of other students as well as to the published work of professional writers.  Violations will be handled according to the guidelines suggested in the Student Handbook.

3.       Students w/ Disabilities:  In coordination with Educational Access Services, reasonable accommodations will be provided for qualified students with disabilities.  Please meet with the instructor the first week of class to make arrangements.  Educational Access Services can be contacted at 248-1856, or in person in Houston Hall, Room 100.

4.       Tutorial Learning Center = TLC:  The TLC is a FREE academic service for all MSC students. Tutors are available on a walk-in basis for many courses. Needing to ask a quick question? Seeking homework clarification? Looking for feedback on a paper? Reviewing for a test? Come to Houston Hall 110 on Mondays through Thursdays from 8AM-7PM and Fridays from 8AM-5PM to meet with one of our peer tutors.  Please call 970-248-1392 with any questions.

 

 

 

Schedule for Spring 2010

 

Week

Date

Assignment

Project Due

1

J – 18 – M

Intro to Course

1.      Term due  -- Julie

 

J – 20 – W

Intro from Heath – Modern Period 1910-1945

2.      Term due -- ____________

3.      Term due -- ____________

 

J – 22 – F

Intro and Nationalism and the Modern American Canon from Kalaidjian

4.      Term due -- ___________

5.      Term due -- ___________

2

J – 25 – M

Mod. American Fiction from Kalaidjian

Sister Carrie – 1-10

6.      Term due -- ___________
Report on Dreiser Article -- Julie

 

J – 27 – W

Sister Carrie – 11-21

7.      Term due -- ____________

8.      Term due -- ____________

 

J – 29 – F

Sister Carrie – 22-35

9.      Term due -- ____________

Report on Dreiser Article -- ______

3

F – 1 – M

Sister Carrie to end

10.  Term due -- ____________

Report on Dreiser Article -- _______

 

F – 3 – W

Fitzgerald in Heath

11.  Term due -- ____________

Report on Fitzgerald Article -- ____

 

F – 5 – F

Faulkner in Heath

12.  Term due -- ____________

Report on Faulkner Article -- _____

4

F – 8 – M

Wharton in Heath

13.  Term due -- ____________
Report on Wharton Article -- _____

 

F – 10 – W

Anderson in Heath

14.  Term due -- ____________

15.  Term due -- ____________

 

F – 12 – F

Mod. American Poetry from Kalaidjian

Tradition and the Individual Talent – T. S. Eliot – in Heath

16.  Term due -- ____________

5

F – 15 – M

T. S. Eliot – in Heath

16.  Term due -- ____________   

        Report on Eliot Article -- _______

 

 

F – 17 – W

Pound in Heath

17. Term due -- ____________
       Report on Pound Article -- _______

 

F – 19 – F

William Carlos Williams in Heath

18. Term due -- ____________

6

F – 22 – M

e. e. cummings in Heath

19. Term due -- ____________

 

F – 24 – W

Wallace Stevens in Heath

20. Term due -- ____________

 

F – 26 – F

Marianne Moore in Heath

21. Term due -- ____________

22.  Term due --____________

7

M – 01 – M

Frost in Heath

23. Term due -- ____________

 

M – 03 – W

Lowell in Heath

24. Term due -- ____________

 

M – 05 – F

Midterm Exam

 

8

M – 08-12

Spring Break

 

 

M – 15 – M

Mod. American Drama from Kalaidjian

Trifles – Glaspell in Heath

 

 

M – 17 – W

Hairy Ape – O’Neill in Heath

Report on O’Neill Article -- _____

 

M – 19 – F

American Modernism and the New Negro Renaissance from Kalaidjian

Cullen and McKay in Heath

 

 

M – 22 – M

W. E. B. Du Bois in Heath

Their Eyes Were Watching God – 1-8

Report on Hurston Article -- _____

 

M – 24 – W

Their Eyes Were Watching God – to end

Report on Hurston Article -- _____

 

M – 26 – F

No Class

 

 

M – 29 – M

Langston Hughes in Heath

Report on Hughes Article -- _____

 

M – 31 – W

Schuyler in Heath

Larson in Heath

Report on Larson Article -- _____

 

A – 02 – F

Cluster:  Political Poetry in the Modern Period in Heath

 

 

A – 05 – M

Jazz and Visual Arts and Avant-Garde from Kalaidjian

 

 

A – 07 – W

Gender and Sexuality in American Modernism from Kalaidjian.

Loy Handout.

 

 

A – 09 – F

Stein in Heath

Report on Stein Article -- _________

 

A – 12 – M

Garden of Eden

Report on Hemingway Article -- _____

 

A – 14 – W

Garden of Eden

Report on Hemingway Article -- _____

 

A – 16 – F

No Class

 

 

A – 19 – M

Garden of Eden

Report on Hemingway Article -- _____

 

A – 21 – W

Garden of Eden to end

Report on Hemingway Article -- _____

 

A – 23 – F

Social Representations within American Modernism from Kalaidjian.

Bourne and Dos Passos in Heath

Report on Dos Passos Article -- _____

 

A – 26 – M

Yezierska and Gold in Heath

Report on Yezierksa Article -- _____

Report on Gold Article -- _____

 

A – 28 – W

Mathews, Whitecloud and McNickle in Heath

Report on McNickle Article -- _____

 

A – 30 – F

Wright and Walker in Heath

Report on Wright Article -- _____

Report on Walker Article -- _____

 

M – 03 – M

De Donato in Heath

Report on De Donato Article -- _____

 

M – 05 – W

Paredes in Heath

Report on Paredes Article -- __________

 

M – 07 – F

Review

 

 

M – 10-13

Exam Week

Final Exam – 1:00 May 12th

 

 

Cross out the term you’ve chosen before you pass the sheet to the next person. 

Terms for investigation: 

1. Sir James Frazer                                           13.  Mach and positivism,
2. Freud                                                           14. Carl Jung

3. Nietzsche and “the will to power”               15. Expressionism

4. Einstein and Theories of Relativity              16. Cubism

5. Symbolism                                                   17. Modernism and classical music

6. Realism and Naturalism                               18. Dada

7. Impressionism                                             19. Surrealism

8. Max Weber                                                  20. Jazz Age

9. Victorianism and the Enlightenment                        21. Fascism

10. Romanticism                                              22. Fauvism

11. Existential panic/alienation                                    23. Primitivism

12. Avant garde                                               24. Modernism and architecture

 

 

 

Sign-up Sheet for Terms:

Date

Presenter

Term

Jan 18

Julie

Imagism

Jan 20

 

 

Jan 20

 

 

Jan 22

 

 

Jan 22

 

 

Jan 25

 

 

Jan 27

 

 

Jan 27

 

 

Jan 29

 

 

Feb 01

 

 

Feb 03

 

 

Feb 05

 

 

Feb 08

 

 

Feb 10

 

 

Feb 12

 

 

Feb 15

 

 

Feb 17

 

 

Feb 19

 

 

Feb 22

 

 

Feb 22

 

 

Feb 24

 

 

Feb 26

 

 

Feb 26

 

 

Mar 01

 

 

Mar 03

 

 

 

 

Please check with me before you work on your summary.  I want to make sure the article you’ve chosen is appropriate.  Please use resources from the library databases:  JSTOR, LION, Project Muse, MLA Bibliography are the best places to go for literary research.  Remember that the article should explicate or explain how the critic/writer makes sense of some aspect of the text under consideration. 

 

 

 

Sign-up Sheet for Article Report:

Date

Presenter

Author/Work

Jan 25

Julie

Dreiser – Sister Carrie

Jan 29

 

Dreiser – Sister Carrie

Feb 01

 

Dreiser – Sister Carrie

Feb 03

 

Fitzgerald – “Babylon Revisited”

Feb 05

 

Faulkner – “Barn Burning” or “Delta Autumn”

Feb 08

 

Wharton – “The Other Two” or “Roman Fever”

Feb 15

 

Eliot – “The Wasteland”

Feb 17

 

Pound – “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley” or “The Cantos”

Mar 17

 

O’Neill – The Hairy Ape

Mar 22

 

Hurston – Their Eyes

Mar 24

 

Hurston – Their Eyes . . .

Mar 29

 

Hughes – Poetry

Mar 31

 

Larson – Passing

Apr 09

 

Stein – You choose

Apr 12

 

Hemingway – Garden of Eden

Apr 14

 

Hemingway – Garden of Eden

Apr 19

 

Hemingway – Garden of Eden

Apr 21

 

Hemingway – Garden of Eden

Apr 23

 

Dos Passos – U.S. A.

Apr 26

 

Yezierska – “America and I”

Apr 26

 

Gold – Jews without Money

Apr 30

 

Wright – “Bright and Morning Star” or “Between the World and Me”

Apr 30

 

Walker – Jubilee

May 03

 

De Donato – “Christ in Concrete”

May 05

 

Paredes -- http://0-muse.jhu.edu.www.millennium.marmot.org/journals/american_literary_history/v021/21.3.saldivar.html