ENGL 436: American Literature
1945-Present Spring 2003
Instructor: Julie Barak
Phone: 248-1072
e-mail: [email protected]
Office Hours: MWF 10-11:50
Home Page: http://mesastate.edu/~jbarak
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Course Goals: 1) to read a representative sampling of the literature
of the period; 2) to review the theoretical developments of the period that
shape our interpretation of the texts; 3) to share our responses to both the
theory and the texts; 4) to display the ability to apply the theory to a text .
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Course Methods: 1) The most important pedagogical method of the course
will be discussion. This means that you’ve got to come to class having read the
assigned material—about 90 pages per class meeting. 2) To ensure that you are
doing the reading there will be short reading quizzes on random dates. 3)
Students will share their opinions and responses to the readings and
demonstrate their ability to apply theory to texts through informal
discussions, formal presentations, several short journal entries, three
in-class exams, and two short essays.
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Required Texts:
Albee, Edward. The American Dream and the Zoo
Story.
Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible
Hwang, David Henry. M. Butterfly.
Inge, William. Bus Stop
McClatchy, J.D. Contemporary American Poetry.
Momaday, N. Scott. House Made of Dawn.
Mukherjee, Bharati. Jasmine.
O’Connor, Flannery. Wise Blood.
Olsen, Tillie. Tell Me a Riddle.
Viramontes, Helena. Under the Feet of Jesus.
Williford, Lex. The Scribner Anthology of
Contemporary Short Fiction: Fifty North American Short Stories Since 1970.
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Assignments and Other
Required Work:
1. Two in-class exams. (10% each)
2. Response journals as assigned: Your task with these journals is to come up with questions and/or observations that will help us to discuss the texts on the agenda. How do they connect to other texts you’ve read? How does the theory help you to interpret the texts? How do the texts connect to information you’ve learned in other disciplines—psychology, anthropology, sociology, history, philosophy? This is not a place to make personal connections, but rather, to explore ideas and patterns. Depending on how you do it, it might also be the place to assert judgments about the quality of the text. What are your criteria for judging? Why do you think those criteria are important? What are some other possible criteria that you are dismissing or down playing? You’ll probably be responsible for 5 or 6 of these during the course of the semester. (15% all together)
3. Two oral reports:
One report will deal with a chapter from Literary Theory: The Basics. Your job is three fold: 1) summarize the text, 2) discuss your position with regard to the particular kind of criticism described, and 3) choose a brief text and "use" the theory to "read" it. (10%)
The other report will survey the history of a decade from the period under study. What happened? Who are the key figures? Philosophically what ideas dominated the decade? What was the "state of the arts" during the period? What were people reading? What where they watching on TV and at the movies? What were visual artists doing? What was happening in the world around the U.S.? (10%)
4. Two 4-5 page essays:
The first essay will summarize your reading of a piece of theory. Choose a selection from the bibliography at the end of one of the chapters of Literary Theory: The Basics that catches your attention.
The second essay will apply the theory that you read to one of the texts we’ve worked with during the semester. So, you’ll do a new historical approach to Louise Erdrich, or a French feminist reading of Bharati Mukherjee or a postcolonial reading of Viramontes, etc.
These will be due close to the end of the semester. You’ll share your work with the class in a conference type of presentation on the day it’s due. (15% each)
5. Quizzes: Random reading quizzes. Short answer or identification. No make up quizzes. I drop the lowest three grades. (15%)
6. Attendance: Show up. Speak up. Since this is a discussion based
class, participation in the discussions is a very large part of your grade.
After 3 absences, your grade for the course will be dropped by one letter grade
(A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc.) for each additional absence. For example, if at the
end of the course, you’ve earned a "B," but you’ve missed 5 classes,
your final grade will be a "C+".
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7. Other Policies and
Procedures: Refer to the Student Handbook
for college policies on Academic Honesty. If you require any kind of assistance
for special needs, please see me and we’ll make arrangements to suit your
situation.
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Reading and Assignment
Schedule:
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Date |
Reading Assignment |
Due |
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Jan. 13 |
Introductions, Sign-ups |
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Jan. 15 |
LT-1, Warren, Roethke |
RP |
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Jan. 17 |
Berryman, Jarrell |
45-50 report, RP |
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Jan. 20 |
LT-2, Bishop |
LT-2 report, RP |
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Jan. 22 |
Hayden, Swensen, Levertov, Hecht |
50-60 report, RP |
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Jan. 24 |
Inge |
RP |
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Jan. 27 |
LT-3, Ginsberg, Creeley |
LT-3 report, RP |
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Jan. 29 |
O’Connor |
RP |
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Jan. 31 |
O’Connor |
RP |
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Feb. 03 |
O’Connor |
RP |
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Feb. 05 |
LT-4, Plath, Sexton, Rich |
LT-4 report, RP |
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Feb. 07 |
Ellison |
60-70 report, RP |
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Feb. 10 |
Ellison |
RP |
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Feb. 12 |
Ellison |
RP |
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Feb. 14 |
Ellison |
RP |
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Feb. 17 |
Winter Break |
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Feb. 19 |
LT-5, Banks, Barth Bartheleme |
LT-5 report, RP |
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Feb. 21 |
Bausch, Leavit, Walker |
70-80 report, RP |
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Feb. 24 |
Albee |
RP |
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Feb. 26 |
Exam #1 |
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Feb. 28 |
LT-6, Johnson, Jones, Moore |
LT-6 report, RP |
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Mar. 03 |
Mukherjee |
RP |
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Mar. 05 |
Mukherjee |
RP |
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Mar. 07 |
Mukherjee |
RP |
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Mar. 10 |
LT-7, Ozick, O’Brien |
LT-7 report, RP |
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Mar. 12 |
Cisneros, Cunningham, Diaz, Erdrich |
80-90 report, RP |
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Mar. 14 |
Harper |
RP |
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Mar. 24 |
Olsen |
RP |
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Mar. 26 |
Olsen |
RP |
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Mar. 28 |
Momaday |
RP |
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Mar. 31 |
Momaday |
RP |
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Apr. 02 |
Momaday |
RP |
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Apr. 04 |
LT-8, Mukerjee, McKnight |
LT-8 report, RP |
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Apr. 07 |
Viramontes |
90-2003 report, RP |
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Apr. 09 |
Viramontes |
RP |
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Apr. 11 |
No class |
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Apr. 14 |
No class |
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Apr. 16 |
No class |
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Apr. 18 |
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Theory Summaries Due |
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Apr. 21 |
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Theory Summaries Due |
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Apr. 23 |
LT-9, Proulx, Sontag, Kaplan |
LT-9 report, RP |
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Apr. 25 |
Hwang |
RP |
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Apr. 28 |
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Theory Application Due |
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Apr. 30 |
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Theory Application Due |
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May 02 |
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Theory Application Due |
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May 05 |
8:00 |
Exam #2 |