ENGLISH 322: aMerican fIction sInce 19$5

Blackboard site: http://blackboard.viterbo.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The university catalog defines this course in terms of time and place and genre: the country’s fictional output since WWII.  That designation cuts a wide path, but it still leaves much out, and no semester course can pretend to cover the terrain with objectivity and scope.

More fiction has been written and published in the last fifty years than in any other period of human history.  Under such conditions, true representativeness is itself a fiction; compromises abound. Generally, fiction after 1945 differed from pre-war fiction in terms of who wrote it, what it took as its subject, and how it was written.  Among other things, the period is one of literary experimentation.   Many writers in these post-war years amplified modernist concerns with time, point of view, sequence, subjectivity, and belief.   Our version of the course will emphasize postmodernism, a slippery term we will chase all semester long, a term which describes how works are constructed and received more than when they were created.  In broad terms, postmodernism supposes that mediation governs all interactions, that authenticity is elusive if not impossible.  In the postmodern universe, if the medium is not the message, then at least the medium so shapes our understanding that we cannot know truth with a capital t.  In the postmodern age, we know too much to go back and pretend that we can represent the real in language.  Postmodern writers suppose their work to be as much alternate reality as reality-based narrative.  (Of course, no writer is bound strictly to these principles; there are no postmodern police ensuring compliance.)

We will read the fiction in this class in some familiar ways, asking straightforward questions about what happens and why.  We will also try to see how the writers of the course use their fictional tools to move beyond the most basic conventions of the realist novel.  Although we will discuss history, English 322 is primarily a literature course.  My perspective will be formal, how the piece is constructed, and cultural, how fictive choices reflect outside issues.  You will find that the fictions of this course differ enough from popular fiction like that of Stephen King that you may need to modify your reading strategies.
 

SOME STARTING ASSUMPTIONS


COURSE QUESTIONS

How do these authors construct their fiction?
How do we read fiction in general and this fiction in particular?
How are issues of this era reflected in its fiction?
What is postmodernism?
What is art’s relationship to reality?
 

COURSE GOALS

We will decide these collectively the first week of class.
 

METHODOLOGY

I stress collaboration in my courses.  The daily structure of the class will be built around discussion.  When you refer to the reading, I will ask that you find the exact location, so that the rest of us can find it.  I will often have you write for a few minutes in class to give everyone a chance to consider the question at hand.  I will rarely collect this in-class writing and never for grading purposes.  But my writing bias extends to the out-of-class work I assign and its evaluation.  Although this is a literature class, not a writing class, I will measure your understanding of ideas in the course by your ability to explain yourself in writing, in structured arguments of clear prose supported by appropriate, precise evidence.
 

COURSE WORK

Weights determined by in-class voting the first week of class.  The extra 1% is my teacher leeway.

1. Six response papers (1-2 pages) (24%)

Response essays take on a small aspect of your reading (e.g., metaphor, character motivation, point of view, a scene).  Use response essays to pursue one strand of your larger reaction to the fiction you write about.  Think of response essays as answering how and why you react to a particular aspect of a story or novel.  To make the best use of the little space you have, narrow your response quickly and cite particular features of the discussion or text(s). The best response essays offer an argument that holds together paragraph by paragraph and still manages to develop an idea with supporting detail. I will grade response papers with a check, plus, minus, based on clarity, organization, textual detail, intelligence.

2. Context presentation and one-page overview (17%--7 collective, 10 individual)

These are nine-minute group presentations on a major event, creation, movement, discovery in this period in some field outside of literature (physics, biology, design, etc.).  I will stipulate fields and assign three-person groups the second week of class.   Your presentation needs to share responsibility among group members and needs to answer two questions:  What was the discovery, event, etc.?  How can understanding it help us understand how we might read fiction from this period?    I will give one grade for the group and one for each member.  I will evaluate presentations and the written overview based on their clarity, organization, and intelligence.  I will ask that you also submit the overview to me electronically, so that I can post it on the Web site.

3. First paper (5-6 pages) (18%)

Define one of the essential features or aspects of postmodernism (indeterminacy, intertextuality, gender vs. sex, etc.) and show how the concept helps you interpret one fiction from the first half of the course.

4. Final paper (7-8 pages) (25%)

Your final project needs to include two of the primary works we've read for the class.  It will need to make an interpretive argument of some sort, not just compare two works for the sake of comparison.  Use the two fictions to answer a particular question.  You might ask which of two stories is more postmodern.  You might find a common relationship between two fictions in terms of their use of popular culture.

I also welcome creative options of all kinds for the final paper, as long as they, one, work with two of the course's fictions and, two, include a separate one-page defense of their artistic choices.  Some possibilities:

Move a character from one fiction to another.
Rewrite one story in the style of another.
Invite characters from two fictions to dinner.
5. Participation in class discussion (15%)

This class will work best when people discuss the material in thoughtful, thorough ways. Good classroom discussion asks for speaking and listening; extremes of either will hurt your participation grade. Perfect silent attendance earns you just a C in participation.
 

COURSE TEXTS

It's a misfortune of the semester schedule and your course loads that I have limited myself to short novels.  The longest of these just tops 300 pages.  That's a complete misrepresentation of fiction in this era, but we'll talk about that in class.  And representativeness isn't possible in an era of such diversity, multiculturalism, and decanonization.

Bellow, Saul.  The Victim.  1947.
Nabokov, Vladimir.  Pale Fire. 1962.
Vonnegut, Kurt.  Slaughterhouse Five. 1969.
Morrison, Toni.  Sula. 1973.
Swift, Edward. Splendora.  1978.
Baker, Nicholson.  The Mezzanine.  1988.
Paula Geyh, Andrew Levy, Fred G. Leebron, eds.  Postmodern American Fiction:  A Norton Anthology.  1997.
 All books are or will be available at the college bookstore.
Course notebook
Daily Web and email access
2 diskettes for course papers—1 primary, 1 backup
RESERVE MATERIALS

I will make use of the Web and the reserve desk in the library throughout this class.  I will post electronic materials to our course Web site in Blackboard.   I will add to the books on reserve as need arises throughout the semester.

On reserve now
Cantor, Norman and Mindy Cantor.  The American Century: Varieties of Culture in Modern Times.  1997.
Hutcheon, Linda.  A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction.  1988.
Lentricchia, Frank and Thomas McLaughlin, eds. Critical Terms for Literary Study. 2nd ed.  1995.
Sim, Stuart, ed. Routledge Critical Dictionary of Postmodern Thought.  1999.
 

FORMATTING AND DOCUMENTATION

Type all submitted, written work on a word processor. You may use recycled paper (white only).  Double space the text, and maintain one-inch margins on all sides. Use twelve-point type and Times New Roman font (like this).  Put your name, the course number, and the date in the upper left-hand corner of the first page. Number each subsequent page in the upper right-hand corner.  Include no cover sheet. Cite textual references according to MLA citation style, the basics of which are covered in any college handbook (e.g., Harbrace). MLA in-text citations use the author's name and page number inside parentheses (Sleumas 12).  The full citation information goes at the end of your paper on the Works Cited page. You can find overviews and samples of MLA style many places on the Web.  Here's one from the Cornell University Library.

Here is another paragraph I include with every syllabus.  Computers are unreliable; you must become protective. Save your work after every paragraph or set your word processor's autosave feature to five minutes. And always keep a copy of your drafts on 2 diskettes or on a diskette and your hard drive.  Never hand in your only copy of a paper.
 

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS

You may submit your work electronically, either through the drop box in Blackboard (our course page) or via email as an attached file.  In either case, you’ll need to make arrangements with me.  If you send your work as an attached file to an email message, please save it in “rtf” (rich text format), since I will be printing it to read it.
 

LATE POLICY

Unless you arrange for an extension with me, late papers will lose one letter grade per day.  I will grant extensions only after communicating with you directly.  Your request for an extension on my voice mail, answering machine, or computer will not in itself constitute an extension. I do grant extensions fairly easily; I just need to know the conditions.
 

ATTENDANCE/LATE POLICY

We meet twice a week.  I expect you to be here.  The school’s stated policy is that any student missing more than 15% of its classes may fail that course (College Catalog 36).  We have 29 scheduled classes.  If you miss more than three classes, your course grade drops 5%.  If you miss four classes, it falls 10%.  If you miss more than four of our classes, two weeks, you fail the course.  I will make exceptions for absences excused by college-sponsored events (e.g., athletics, musical performances), though I’ll ask for written verification of that involvement.  I may also make exceptions for severe illness on a case-by-case basis.

*        *        *        *    *        *        *        *    *        *        *        *    *        *        *        *
December 12th: This language is clearly confused, establishing as it does two different penalties for missing four classes.  I should have caught this mistake earlier in the semester.  Let me say this, then, here in the last week.  If you missed four classes, your grade drops 5%.  If you missed five classes, your course grade drops 10%.  If you missed six or more classes, you fail the course.

I offer those people in jeopardy of failing the course through absences a reprieve in the form of two options.  You may write a separate four-page interpretation of one of the hyperfictions we've read since Thanksgiving.  Your second option is to double the size of your final paper, moving it to 13-15 pages. Into this longer paper, you will also need to incorporate a third fiction from the course, one from the second half of the semester.  If you pursue either of these options successfully, you will cancel out two of your absences.   If you pursue both options, you can cancel out four of your absences, two full weeks of class.  All makeup papers must be at least competent.  And the December 21 deadline applies for all work in the course.

*        *        *        *    *        *        *        *    *        *        *        *    *        *        *        *

I will hold you to no specific late policy, but if you consistently arrive late to class, you will affect your grade.
 

ON GRADING

I've been teaching a long time, but I still think that A's should be hard to earn.  I hate grade inflation, and I expect a lot of my students.  With the exception of weekly response papers, to earn A's on the long papers in this class, you must cite both primary and secondary materials. A work is clear, organized, and smart.  See my grading criteria (also on line at our Blackboad Web site).  To earn an A in participation, you must actively participate every class.
 

ACADEMIC HONESTY

One postmodern assumption is that we’re never alone: what we make draws upon the work of others whether we know it or not.  One college assumption is that your work is your own.  Obviously, these two ideas conflict.  Still, given our setting, the rules of academic conduct apply.  Where you consciously borrow ideas and language from others, you must cite your debts.  Anything less is plagiarism.
 

ADA ACCOMODATION

If you have a learning disability or need other accommodation, please notify me right away so that we can make appropriate arrangements.
 

THE LEARNING CENTER

The Learning Center (MC 312) offers help with writing in all disciplines and tutoring help of all kinds.  The folks there may not help you understand all of postmodernism, but they’ll help you write about what you do understand.
 

MUTABILITY

In a postmodern world, stability is rare, change proliferates.  I will honor the terms of this course as best I can, as best we can, but we may find that certain assignments change.  The written work for the course will not increase, but we will add critical reading, and we may end up sacrificing some of the short stories in order that we have more time to discuss the novels.
 

COURSE SCHEDULE    (1ST REVISION)

Note: Secondary readings will be added to these assignments as the semester progresses, some from the Web, some on reserve, some as handouts.

SEPT  5      Introduction; defining course terms, goals.  How we read fiction.
            7     Modernism into Postmodernism; PAF “Introduction,” ix-xix; "Some Cultural Forces
        Driving Literary Modernism" (John Lye, on line); Saul Bellow, The Victim, 1-120.
         --
         12     RP #1 due; Bellow, The Victim, 121-208.

        Sample response paper from this summer, Rolf on The Princess Bride (also see Blackboard site)
        Online Literary Criticism Collection on Bellow
        on the international Jewish conspiracy
        Henry Ford Invents a Jewish Conspiracy
        John Hersey's Hiroshima

        14       Bellow, The Victim, 209-264

            Mediation
         --
        19      Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, 1-69; PAF "Introduction," xix-xxiv; Ihab Hassan, "Toward a
                    Concept of Postmodernism," 585-595

            The Revised Standard Version of the Bible (Atlantic article)
           Palimpsest

         21     Nabokov, Pale Fire, 73-174

           Zembla
           Penn State University Library bibliography on Pale Fire
         --
        26      RP #2 due; Nabokov, Pale Fire, 174-315
        28    PAF: William Gass, “In the Heart of the Heart of the Country,” 65-84; Joyce Carol Oates,
                    “The Turn of the Screw,” 396-409

            Dalkey Archive Interview with William Gass
           Celestial Timepiece: a JCO Home Page
         --
OCT 3      PAF: David Foster Wallace, "Lyndon," 362-391; Tim O’Brien, “How to Tell a True
                    War Story,” 174-183; Michael Berube, "From Public Access," 595-603.

            Dalkey Archive Interview with David Foster Wallace
           David Edelman Interview with Tim O'Brien

          5     Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five, 1-71
         --
         10    RP #3 due; Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five, 72-205

            Salon appreciation of Vonnegut by Frank Houston
           The impact of Vatican II (Andrew Greeley)

         12   PAF: John Barth, “Dunyazadiad,” 416-443
               "The Processed World of Marshall McLuhan," Arthur Kroker
           John Barth Info Center

                Three waves of feminism: www.feminist.org
         --
         17   PAF: Ricardo Cortez Cruz, "Welcome to the Ghetto," 263-270; Helena Maria Viramontes,
                    "The Cariboo Café," 497-507

            Ricardo Cortez Cruz interview (Southwest Texas State University)
           Helena Maria Viramontes (Voices from the Gaps)

         19     Toni Morrison, Sula

           Toni Morrison (Voices from the Gaps)
           Toni Morrison resources (about.com)

            Interview with Daniel Ellsberg, the man behind The Pentagon Papers
           Metalepsis
         --
         24    Morrison, Sula

           Metanarratives (Lois Shawver)
           Commandment II (from the Ten Commandments of the Postmodern,
                        Richard P. Richter, President Emeritus, Ursinus College)
           On Wittgenstein's Concept of a  Language Game (Lois Shawver)

         26   PAF: Jean Baudrillard, "from Simulacra and Simulation," 631-637

            BAUDRILLARD, JEAN. SIMULACRA AND SIMULATION
                (Richard P. Richter, Ursinus College)
           Baudrillard on the Web (Alan Taylor, University of Texas-Arlington)
                "Disneyworld Company" (Jean Baudrillard, translated by Francois Debrix)
                Example of the Hyperreal?  "Unreal L.A."
         --
         31   1st paper due; PAF: Robert Coover, “The Phantom of the Movie Palace,” 226-241

            Coover's homepage at Brown University
           A Post-Interview Encounter With Robert Coover (www.conjunctions.com)

            Centre National d'Art et Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris (Digital Archive of Architecture)

NOV  2     Edward Swift, Splendora, 1-74

           Edward Swift homepage (Previewport.com)
           Alvin Toffler and the Third Wave (Michael Finley)
         --
         7        Swift, Splendora, 75-183

            Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature
           Banned Books On-Line (Digital Library, University of Pennsylvania)
           Censored: Wielding the Red Pen (University of Virginia Library)

         9        Swift, Splendora, 184-251.  Splendora as theater.  Guest: Professor Susan Rush.

            A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Execellence in Education)
                    "A Novel Approach," Michael Barnwell (on adapting a novel into a play);
                    accessible only from Blackboard external links page
         --
        14       RP #4 due or due next Tuesday; Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine, 1-98
         16      Baker, The Mezzanine, 98-135

           Interview with Nicholson Baker (the Write Stuff)
                    Nicholson Baker fan page
         --
        21    PAF: William Gibson, “The Gernsback Continuum,” 512-519;
                    Ursula K. Le Guin, “Schrodinger’s Cat,” 519-525.

            Resources on William Gibson (Loyola University, New Orleans)
           American Literature Online: Ursula K. Le Guin (Michael O'Conner, Millikin University)

            ALT.CYBERPUNK FAQ
           The Cyberpunk Project

        23    Thanksgiving: no class
        --
         28     RP #5 due; PAF: Michael Joyce, from afternoon: a story, 576-580, and on line.
                  Also "Conclusions," Terry Harpold, PAF, 637-648.

            Michael Joyce homepage (Vassar College)

         30     Rick Pyrill, "Lies"; Stuart Moulthrop, Literary Hypertext Chronology;
                    Electronic Labyrinth, "Hypertext";
                    Five Standing, "HYPERTEXT THEORY:  the theory, concept, purpose and history of hypertext"

                 See also "Hypertext, Narration, and Literariness," Raine Koskimaa,
                    WVU Center for Literary Computing

                "After Wham! Pow! Shazam! Comic books move beyond superheroes to the world of literature."
                 Dave Eggers, New York Times

               Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics
         --
DEC 5     Stuart Moulthrop, Hegirascope; "But I Know What I Like," Robert Kendall, WordCircuits
         7     Rolf Samuels, Moline Greens
         --
        12     Shelly Jackson, The Body; "Stitch Bitch: The Hypertext Author As Cyborg Narrator" (interview)

                    George Landow, "Hypertext and Hypermedia: An Overview"

        14     Last class: wrap up, course evals.
           FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: Basic Information about MUDs and MUDding; Avalon
           (Note: if you can't access the game itself, that's fine.  Just read the surrounding information, history, etc.)
--

FINAL PAPER DUE IN MY OFFICE: Thursday, Dec 21, 12:50-2:50 p.m.
 

COURSE LINKS

MODERNISM AS PRECURSOR OR SYNONYM?

An Index of Web Sites on Modernism
(Robert Scholes, Brown University, Dept. of Modern Culture and Media)

Some Cultural Forces Driving Literary Modernism
(John Lye, Dept. of English, Brock University)

Teaching Postmodern Fiction Without Being Sure That the Genre Exists
(Michael Berube, professor of English, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Modernism and Postmodernism: Some Useful Distinctions
(Kiss of the Panopticon, Diane Gromala and Douglas Bicket)
 
 

HISTORY AND POSTMODERN RESOURCES
Contemporary Philosophy, Critical Theory and Postmodern Thought
(U of Colorado, Denver, Dept. of Education)

post-modernism @ the informal education homepage
(Barry Burke) (good general overview)

The Literature & Culture of the American 1950s
(Al Filreis, Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania )

Post-World War II American Literature and Culture Database
(U. California-Berkeley)

Postmodernism and the Postmodern Novel
(the Electronic Labyrinth)

Summary of Brian McHale's Postmodernist Fiction
(Richard P. Richter, President Emeritus, Ursinus College)

Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (excerpt)
(Frederic Jameson, Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning)

Fragments of Rationality (good overview of postmodern culture)
(Lester Faigley, University of Texas-Austin)

PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide
(Paul P. Reuben, CSU Stanislaus, Dept. of English)

Modern and Contemporary American Literature and Poetry
(United States Information Agency)

The American Literature Archive
(Brian A. Bremen, U. of Texas-Austin, Dept. of English)

American Literature: Twentieth Century: Texts and Resources
(U. Virginia, American Studies Dept.)

American Literature Since 1945
(Akihito Ishikawa, Department of English, Nagasaki College of Foreign Languages, Japan)

The LitEngine: A Literary Guide to the Internet
(Paris Belletric)

The death of the Red-Hot Center [on post 1960s fiction]
(Salon.com)

BIBLIO-PO-MO: Post-Modernism and Information
(Leigh Ann Kennison, SLIM, Emporia State University)

"The Literature of Replentishment--Postmodernist Fiction" (summary of John Barth's essay)
(Jerry Liang, English Department, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan)

Introduction to Feminism/Postmodernism
(Sun Jung Moon, Chungnam National University)
 

FEATURES OF POSTMODERNISM

        Postmodernism
        (Mary Clages, Dept. of English, U. of Colorado)

        Express Yourself: It's Later Than You Think
        (Brad Holland, Atlantic Monthly)

        Postmodernism for the Layman
        (David Daland, Americana)

         Postmodernism
        (Michael Fegan)

         Alt.Postmodern FAQ
        (Van Piercy, English Dept., Indiana University)

         Our Postmodern Life
         (Pixcentrix Design, London)

        An Overview: Postmodernism and  Fiction
        (Paul Smethurst, Liverpool John Moores University)

        Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory

        The concept of postmodernism (Mark Wooley, University of Sheffield)
 

CHRONOLOGY and CULTURAL CONTEXT

Modernism Timeline: 1890-1940
(John Eckman, U. Washington, Dept. of English)

Literary and Contextual Events since 1945
(Norton Anthology of American Fiction)

The 1900s
(Archer Audio Archives)

The History Channel
(www.historychannel.com)

Events by Year (immense collection)
(Greg Duncan)

American Writers and Their Works: The 20th Century
(Bill Fleming, Sam Houston State University, English Dept.)

African-American Literature Timeline, Part II, 1860-1997
( La Tonya Rease Miles, Cultural Studies in the African Diaspora Project [CSADP] at
UCLA's Center for African American Studies)

 Surfing the Aether: A Radio History and Technology Timeline

           FROM THE ABACUS TO THE APPLE:
           A Timeline of Significant Events in Information and Communication Technology
           (Bobbi A. Kerwin, Teach 2000)

           Recording Technology History
           (Steve Schoenherr)

           Television History
            (the Media History Project)

           Fifties Pop History
            (Candace Webb, www.fiftiesweb.com)

            The Psychedelic 60s: Literary Tradition and Social Change
             (University of Virginia Library Special Collections Department)

            DeeT's 70s-Related Resources
             (David B. Thomas, www.rt66.com)

            The 80s Server
             (MacroMusic, Inc.)
 

LITERARY MOVEMENTS

Black Street Fiction  (Cathouse 2000)

Jewish American Literature Research (Derek Royal, North Georgia College)

Black Humor Fiction (Overbooked)

Comics and Graphic Novel Links  (Paul McIlvenny, Aalborg University, Denmark)

Cyberculture  (Voice of the Shuttle)

Metafiction (Victoria Orlowski, Emory University)

Minimalism (Diane Stevenson , Middlebury College)
 

AWARDS/HONORS

         American Book Awards, 1980-1998 (Before Columbus Foundation)

         National Book Award Winners (National Book Foundation)

         National Book Critics Circle Award Winners (Bookshop Santa Cruz)

         PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (Folger Library)

         Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (Mindspring)

         Nobel Prizes for Literature (The Nobel Foundation)

         Publisher's Weekly Best Sellers, 1900-1995 (Cader Books)

         Context Reading Guide (Context magazine, Dalkey Archive)

                                                                             LAST UPDATE: DECEMBER 12, 2000