English 221 – Survey of American Literature II
Spring Semester, 2008
Grant T. Smith, Ph. D.
Office:
MC 446 Office
Hours: T TH 9-12 noon; by appointment
Class: MWF 10 – 10:50 a.m. MC
446
Phone: 796-3485
E-mail: gtsmith@viterbo.edu
Course
Texts: 
“Americanism
in Literature” by Thomas Wentworth Higginson (on reserve in the library)
Emily
Dickinson: The Complete Works
Henry
James: Daisy Miller
Kate Chopin: The Awakening
Ernest Hemingway: In Our Time
Richard Wright: Black Boy
Robert
Frost: The Complete Works
Ken Kesey: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Flanner O'Connor: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find
Annie
Proulx: “
Alexie Sherman: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Gene Luen Yang: American Born Chinese
Helena Maria Viramontes: Under the Feet of Jesus
Course
Description:
English
221 will provide a chronological overview of American literature from the
American Civil War to the present. The content of the course will be presented
through lecture, class discussion, film, group work, and individual projects.
Core Abilities:
·
Thinking—Students
engage in the critical and creative thinking
·
Life
Values—Students respond to ethical issues
·
Communication—Students
communicate effectively orally and in writing
·
Aesthetic
Sensitivity—Students engage in artistic experiences and reflect critically upon
them
·
Cultural
Sensitivity—Students demonstrate a respect for the diversity of the human experience
·
Community
Involvement—Students demonstrate responsible citizenship
Student
Learning Outcomes:
·
Thinking—The students will engage in critical
thinking whey they explicate or “close read” literary texts; when they identify
formal elements such as point of view, literary language, symbolism, imagery;
when they consider texts and authors in relation to historical, cultural,
ideological, and theoretical contexts; when they compare what they are reading
with what they have read previously; when they relate what they are reading to
the wider world and to universal issues of human life. Click here
for the Viterbo Critical Thinking Home Page.
·
Communication—The students will articulate in class
and in assigned writing assignments their interpretations, insights, analyses,
and evaluations of the assigned literature.
Click here
for the English Department’s Home Page on Writing a Critical Analysis of
Literature .
·
Aesthetic—The students will articulate in class
and in assigned writing assignments their understanding of the elements of a
“masterpiece” of young adult literature.
The students will evaluate the lasting quality of literature from the
formal and contextual elements embedded in the literature.
·
Ethics—The students will articulate in class
and in assigned writing assignments their responses to the ethical questions
and dilemmas posed in the assigned readings.
Ethics is generally
defined as the principles of conduct governing an individual or group; concerns
for what is right or wrong, good or bad.
The students will not plagiarize.
Click here
for the
·
Cultural Sensitivity—The students will read various texts
by diverse authors. The students will
articulate in class and in assigned writing assignments their understanding of
life values represented in different texts in relation to their own. Individual projects are designed to give the
students an opportunity to move outside of their own culture and to study and
interact with a new culture. Click here
for the university’s statement on sexual harassment.
Course Requirements and Grading
Policy:
I am
trying something different this year. I
have only three requirements of you this semester, if you do all of them, you
will receive an A, if you don’t, then you will receive something less than an
A. The first requirement is steady
attendance. If you have three or fewer
unexcused absences during the semester, then you will satisfy the “A” component
for attendance. If you have four or five
unexcused absences, then you will satisfy the “B” component. If you have six or more unexcused absences,
then you will satisfy the “D” component.
The second requirement is a bi-weekly electronic journal. Now, I must admit that I am deceiving you a
bit here, because included in the bi-weekly journal will be occasional formal
writings. But as long as you keep your
journal current and “interesting,” then you will satisfy the “A” component for
the journal. If you don’t keep the
journal current and interesting, then you may have to be satisfied with
something less than an A. How will you
know if the journal is “interesting?” I
will tell you when I return your journal to you. If the entry isn’t acceptable, I will ask you
specific questions and give you a deadline for the response; and, I will direct
you to descriptions of good college writing.
Click here for suggested
journal topics. However, most of
your journal assignments will be specific to the reading assignments. The last requirement is to read the
assigned texts. Of course you will
have to read in order to write.
Occasionally you will be asked to read material not on the course text
list. This may seem like a lot of
reading, but you are college students and you are expected to be well
read! Also, you should leave Viterbo
with a liberal arts education, and you can’t do that if you don’t read—a
lot! And remember, you don’t have any
exams, quizzes or any term papers for this class!
To
make this assignment experiment work, all of you will have to keep up with the
syllabus because it may change from day to day.
The syllabus is a narrative. I am
talking to you through the syllabus, and so I want you to talk back to me and
your peers.
Self-Evaluation
Click
here for a rubric for evaluating your
participation in the class. You will
complete this rubric during the final exam.
I will use it to determine your grade for the semester. I will also keep a record of your attendance
and your journal entries. Please note
that attendance, reading, and journaling are included in the
self-evaluation.
Click
here for a rubric for a formal
essay. Look at this
rubric often, especially when you are asked to write a formal essay for a
journal assignment. We shall go over
this rubric and others in class.
January 14
Welcome to English 221, a survey of
American literature published after 1865!
I hope this semester will be a rewarding one for you and for me.
Throughout this semester we will be reading a variety of works from
several periods in American literature and American history. As we read these works, we will constantly be
asking ourselves these three questions:
How is this piece of literature peculiarly “American”? What have I learned about being an American
from reading this work? What is the role
of the "misfit" in American literature and in American history? For you to be able to answer these questions,
you must first make two lists: (1) List
the “themes” you expect to see in American literature. (2)
List the characteristics you expect to see in an American "misfit." This is the first part of your first journal assignment! Click here to
see the second part of your first journal assignment.
Reading Assignment:
Americanism in Literature
by Thomas Wentworth Higginson. You can
find Higginson’s essay on line or on reserve in the library.
To
participate in the discussion this week,
you will need to read the poems by Williams,
Dickinson, and Bryant and be
familiar with the concept of “Realism”
in American Literature.
By the time we finish the semester, we should
be able to answer these questions: Is an
American today significantly different from the “Americans” who lived here in
the 19th century? How? How are today’s American citizens similar to
earlier readers and writers of American literature? In what ways have we changed? What is your definition of American
literature, especially literature since the 19th century? How does American literature differ from
European literature or African or South American literature? What makes our literature “American”? And of course--the misfit--who is he or
she? Why is the misfit important in
literature and in society? Indeed, for
the Final Exam, we shall answer these questions in a class discussion.
Let’s think about it:
· Are there identifiable an
·
Why should we take a literature course? What is the difference between Venus de
Milo and Corporate Rape Simulator?
·
Are
there shifting dominant cultural norms or practices in
· How do you define an American misfit? Look again at the trailer for the latest Rambo movie. What is there about this character that appeals to the American psyche--at least enough to make another film about him?
·
·
· January 21
Your first journal assignment is due any time the week of February 4-8.
Reading Assignment: The Complete Works of Emily Dickinson Some scholars argue that modern American poetry begins with Emily Dickinson. Certainly Dickinson and Walt Whitman departed radically from poetic forms used by most American poets prior to the Civil War. To participate in the discussion this week, you should do some research on Emily Dickinson and read the following poems: 106, 156, 199, 203, 211, 214, 216, 219, 249, 251, 254, 258, 271, 280, 288, 303, 311, 313, 324, 328, 341, 369, 375, 389, 408, 410, 435, 465,505, 507, 593, 597, 639, 640, 712, 722, 732, 754, 919, 986, 1053, 1072, 1100, 1129, 1212, 1317, 1377, 1397, 1463, 1487, 1510, 1624.
Dickinson
is not always an easy poet to read and enjoy. You may want to do some
research on her poetry to gain a fuller understanding of different
meanings. For example, check out this web site on poem
185.
The following students
(all senior-level students) will be responsible to lead the
discussion of
January 28
Reading Assignment:
Continuation of the reading of Emily Dickinson. Do you like
Reading Assignment: Read Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." We will spend Friday, February 1, discussing this short story that has a character named the "Misfit." Consider how this evil man fits with our definition of the American Misfit, and how the villain differs from our definition. Click here for a brief criticism of the story.
Flannery O'Connor: "Heaven Suffereth Violence"
Bainard Cowan: "The Tradition of Violence in American Literature"
Let’s think about it:
How does Emily Dickinson challenge the status quo?
February 4
On
February 4,
Click
here for discussion questions for “
Click here for links to the movie Brokeback Mountain.
Let’s talk about it:
What meaning and significance does “
To prepare for "Brokeback Mountain" and the symposium, you should attend one of the following symposium events:
Film, A River Runs Through It, RC 127, 3 p.m. Monday, February 4. To prepare for the film, you should look at the discussion questions on the novella.
Keynote Speaker: Paul Wadell, Monday, 11 a.m., FAC Main Theatre
Speaker: Mary Garman, Monday 7 p.m., FAC Main Theatre
Film: Midnight Cowboy, Tuesday, RC 127, 3:30 p.m.
Your
first journal entry is due before the end of the
week. Here are your options:
· A response to any of Emily Dickinson's poems.
· A response to either "Brokeback Mountain" or "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
· A response to any of the Humanities Symposium activities.
February 11:
Reading Assignment: Daisy Miller by Henry James
Click here for a Study Guide to Daisy Miller
Let's talk about it: Is Daisy only a 19th century version of Madonna? A "Re-inventing" Madonna? The Infamous Kiss! Courtship Rules, 19th Century Courting in the Victorian Age
Anders Shafer Art Exhibit: January 23-February 19, FAC Art Gallery. Working Demonstration, February 19, 9 a.m. to noon, FAC 301. Slide Demonstration, February 19, 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., FAC Hospitality Suite.
February 18
To
understand what Kate Chopin, you must understand what is happening in American
history and in American letters in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Click here for a guide to Naturalism;
click here for historical
events and figures that contributed to the development of
American letters at the end of the nineteenth century. As you read The Awakening, think of how the book is really a book
about the 21st century.
Reading Assignment: The Awakening by
Kate Chopin
Reading Assignment: “The Story of an Hour”
Let’s
talk about it: Can you identify the missing or silent voices
in society?
February 25
Reading Assignment: In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
Let's talk about it: Existentialism
March 3 (Spring Break)
March 10
Reading Assignment: Black Boy by Richard Wright
In
The Awakening we looked at gender and class in
·
What
is racism?
·
Is
racism a problem in
·
Am
I a racist? Have I ever behaved in a
racist way? Have I ever spoken in a
racist way
· Have I witnessed racism?
· Let’s talk about it: How are you considering ways of addressing and overcoming racism?
·
Are
you able to identify and address stereotyping, labeling, and other unjust
practices?
Second Journal Assignment Due March 14
Journal Options: Daisy Miller, The Awakening, In Our Time, Black Boy
March 17 Good Friday, March 21
Reading Assignment: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
March 24 Easter Vacation, March 24)
Continued discussion of Ken Kesey
March 31
Reading Assignment: Sula by Toni Morrison and Selected Poems from the Harlem Renaissance
To
understand fully early 20th century Black poets, you should do some research on
The Harlem Renaissance. As you read about the writers of this period in
American letters, compare their style, themes, and contributions to what you
saw in Dickinson, Chopin, James, and Hemingway.
The
following students (Novak through Zinn) will be responsible for
leading the discussion on The Harlem Renaissance.
“Color”
Images: Halle Berry, Michael Jackson,
Oprah Winfrey, Toni
Morrison
April 7
Reading Assignment:
Robert Frost’s The Complete Works
Click
here for the assigned poems
by Frost. Click here for class notes
on Frost’s poetry.
The following students will
be responsible to lead the discussion of Frost’s poems (all junior-level
students)
Your
fifth Journal
Assignment is a reflection paper on any of the poems by Robert
Frost.
April 14
Reading Assignment: Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic
Click here for Discussion Questions on Fourth of July
April 21
Reading Assignment:
April 28
Reading Assignment: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang or Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes
Read
this summary of Literary Journalism and
John Hellman’s “Post-modern Journalism” (on reserve in the library) to get an
idea of the new genre Capote is credited with creating.
For
our discussion of this book, we shall use the discussion questions posted on the
syllabus. You will work in groups of two
or three to prepare for the discussion of each question.
May 5 (Final Exam Week)
Reading Assignment: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Click here for a definition of Post-modern Literature
Click here for discussion questions for Part-Time Indian
Let’s talk about it: How does one assume a position of
“power” and “control” in
Sixth and Final Journal
Assignment: Respond in a “Formal Essay”
to any of the discussion questions for The Absolutely True Diary of a
Part-Time Indian, American Born Chinese or Under the Feet of
Jesus. This journal response is due the last day
of finals week.
Click
here for the Final Exam
Questions
Policies:
·
Click
here
for the university definitions of an excused and unexcused absence
·
Click
here
for the university policy on sexual harassment
·
Click
here for
the university policy on plagiarism
If
you are a person with a disability and require any auxiliary aids, services or
other accommodations for this class, please see Wayne Wojciechowski in Murphy
Center room 320 (796-3085) within ten days to discuss your accommodation
needs. If there other accommodations that need to be made for you to
succeed in the class, please indicate those needs to the instructor.
Click here for a link
to the