ENGL 204 Syllabus

Course Description: English 204 is a survey of themes, authors, and literary movements in the United States from 1865 to the present. Topics include: literary movements, the development of the American identity, the historical and cultural contexts of literature, and the impact of women and minority authors. This course fulfills the General Education Literature and Writing Proficiency requirements. In order to take this course, students must have completed ENGL 101or WRIT 101 with a grade of C- or better.

Course Objectives: At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to

Demonstrate understanding of selected American literary works
Demonstrate understanding of the relationships between literary works and general movements in American culture
Analyze literary devices and techniques and their relationship to themes and meanings
Significantly improve writing skills

Expectations:
This course depends upon class participation; therefore, students should

Attend every class session promptly. Excessive absences will have a negative impact on your grade. You may miss class three times without penalty; for every additional absence, I will deduct one-half of a letter grade from your final grade. Three tardies count as one absence.
Complete every assignment and hand it in on time. Except in rare circumstances, late papers will not be accepted.
Read every assignment thoroughly BEFORE the class session in which it will be covered.
Participate in class discussion. Be prepared with questions, comments, insights, confusions, or other responses to the texts.
Contribute to an open and supporting learning environment by respecting opposing viewpoints.

Evaluation:
Your grade will be based on the following elements:

four exams, each worth 100 points
four short papers, each worth 100 points
reading comments, 100 points

Exams may include essay questions and a variety of objective questions, including quote identification, multiple choice, and short-answer questions. The final exam (April 30) will include objective questions dealing with the final unit and may include an essay question covering the entire semester’s material.

Each short paper will be a brief but cogent essay responding to a specific question. You will receive the question at least a week before the paper is due. Papers should represent your original thinking on the subject and need not refer to outside sources. Papers will be evaluated based on both content and style. Failure to turn in any one of the short papers will result in an automatic F for the course.

Reading comments: You will be required to submit brief comments on reading assignments 25 times over the course of the semester, each worth 4 points, for a possible total of 100 points. See handout for further information.

Grading Scale
A = 93-100 A- = 90-92 B+ = 88-89 B = 83-87 B- = 80-82
C+ = 78-79 C = 73-77 C- = 70-72 D+ = 68-69 D = 63-67 D- = 60-62
The A+ grade does not affect gpa and will be given only for extraordinary work.

All written work must be typed/word processed, double-spaced, in black ink on white paper, with attention paid to spelling, grammar, and style. Late work will not be accepted except in rare unavoidable cases. Students are expected to produce original work for this course; papers written for other courses here or elsewhere are not acceptable.

Plagiarism occurs when a student represents someone else’s work as his or her own; it includes:

Copying another person’s paper
Copying another person’s words without putting quotation marks around them or citing them as a source
Copying entire sentences and paragraphs from a print or electronic source without providing proper documentation and credit
Allowing another person to write your paper or make major revisions to your paper

Any student who plagiarizes, whether from published material (such as a web site, book, or magazine) or from unpublished material (such as another student’s writing), will receive an F on the assignment. Any student who submits someone else’s work as if it were his or her own will receive an F on the assignment and may fail the class. Copying information from an online source directly into a paper will result in an automatic F for the assignment and possible failure of the course.

All work produced in this course is considered public and is used for the purposes of teaching and evaluation. This may include the use of your work as a model for future students and the submission of your work to an online plagiarism detection service.

Co-Curricular Probation: Students placed on academic probation at the end of the semester will be barred from most co-curricular activities the following semester. See the college catalog for further details.

Accommodations: Any student requiring accommodations because of a documented disability should notify the instructor AND the Academic Resource Center (Andrews Hall, third floor, 376-4700) at the beginning of the semester for further instructions.

Readings and Assignments

Jan 12 Introduction to the class; Robinson Jeffers, “To the Stone-Cutters”

Jan 14 Whitman, “Song of Myself,” sections 1 through 5 (30-33); Dickinson, #207 (80), #519 (87), #1263 (91)

Jan 16 Introduction (1-14); Mark Twain, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (104-08).

Jan 19 “Realism and Naturalism” (911-12); Dreiser, “True Art Speaks Plainly” (926-27); Jewett, “A White Heron” (520-28); Garland, “Under the Lion’s Paw” (752-62).

Jan 23 Charles Chesnutt, “The Goophered Grapevine” and “The Passing of Grandison” (688--716);

Jan 26 Kate Chopin, “The Storm” (531-34); Zitkala Sa, from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood” (1105-13)

Jan 28 Fiction paper due
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wall-paper” and “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wall-paper’” (806-20); Stephen Crane, “The Open Boat” (1000-16) and poems (1016-19)

Feb 4 “American Literature 1914-45” (1177-92); Edgar Lee Masters, poems (1206-09); Sherwood Anderson, from Winesburg (4121-36)

Feb 6 Susan Glaspell, “Trifles” (1412-21); Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Act I (1607-27)

Feb 13 Marinetti, “Manifesto of Futurism” (1500-01); Ezra Pound, “A Retrospect” (1505-07); Carl Sandburg, poems (1436-39); Ezra Pound, “A Pact” (1481), “The Rest” (1481), and “In a Station of the Metro” (1482).

Feb 20 Faulkner, “Barn Burning” (1955-67); Hemingway, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1980-99)

Feb 23 Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits” and “How it Feels to be Colored Me” (1710-21); Langston Hughes, poems (2026-37)

Feb 25 Poetry paper due
William Carlos Williams, “Spring and All” (1466), “To Elsie” (1467), “The Red Wheelbarrow” (1469), “This Is Just To Say” (1472), “A Sort of a Song” (1473); Marianne Moore, “Poetry” (1531-33); Wallace Stevens, “Anecdote of the Jar” (1446), “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” (1448-50), and “Of Modern Poetry” (1453).

March 4 “American Literature since 1945” (2083-96); Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, Scenes 1 through 4 (2184-2215)

March 6 Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, Scenes 5 to end (2215-48)

March 16 Flannery O’Connor, “Good Country People” (2529-43); Bernard Malamud, “The Magic Barrel” (2284-97)

March 18 Donald Barthelme, “The Balloon” (2679-83); Grace Paley, “A Conversation with My Father” (2472-77)

Marc 20 Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” (2684-98); Alice Walker, “Everyday Use” (3009-16)

March 23 Raymond Carver, “Cathedral” (pp. 2827-38); Sherman Alexie, poems and “Do Not Go Gentle” (3239-48)

March 25 Louise Erdrich, “Fleur” (3175-84); Jhumpa Lahiri, “Sexy” (3248-64)

March 27 Drama paper due
Sam Shepard, True West (2959-99); Amiri Baraka, Dutchman (2743-58)

April 13 A.R. Ammons, “A Poem is a Walk” (2499-2501) and from Garbage (2551-54)

Fiction Paper: Defining Movements

Realism, Naturalism, and Literary Impressionism were important literary movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; however, scholars disagree about which works exemplify these movements—in fact, some works demonstrate characteristics of all three. For your paper, choose one of the following works:

Your paper should explain which characteristics of Realism, Naturalism, and Literary Impressionism present in the selected work and argue that the work best exemplifies one of these categories. You need not refer to any source outside the textbook; instead, focus on the text itself. Papers relying on websites or other electronic sources are unlikely to earn passing grades.

Papers are due at the beginning of class Jan. 28. I would be happy to look at drafts before that date.

Revision option: You may choose to revise any of the first three short papers and submit it for further consideration. Revising a paper does not guarantee that the grade will be improved, and revised papers can receive at most a 10-point improvement in the grade. Revised essays must be turned in no later than one week following the return of the graded paper and must be accompanied by the original graded paper with rubric attached.

Evaluation: A sample grading rubric appears on the back of this page. A sample student paper is available on my web site:
http://www.marietta.edu/~hogueb

Poetry Paper

What is poetry for? What is it made of and what can it accomplish? Ezra Pound and F.T. Marinetti provide very different answers. In this paper, you will explain the principles of either Futurism or Imagism, using at least two poems from the list below to support your claims:

You will also need to refer to the Pound or Marinetti essays to support your claims, but do not use any other outside sources. Papers relying on websites or other electronic sources are unlikely to earn passing grades.

Papers are due at the beginning of class Feb. 25. I would be happy to look at drafts before that date.

Evaluation: On my web site you will find links to a sample grading rubric and a sample student paper:
http://www.marietta.edu/~hogueb

Drama Paper: Performing Identity

In Sam Shepard’s True West (2959-99) and Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman (2743-58), characters come into conflict over expectations about how different racial or ethnic groups or genders are “supposed” to act. For your paper, choose one character from each of the plays and compare the ways in which they perform identity, paying special attention to the elements from which they construct their own ideas of themselves. (Think about dialogue, costume, gestures, characteristic actions, how they interact with others, etc.) Do not refer to any sources outside the textbook; instead, focus on the texts themselves, drawing on evidence in support of a clear thesis. Papers relying on websites or other electronic sources are unlikely to earn passing grades.

Papers are due at the beginning of class March 27. I would be happy to look at drafts before that date.

Final Paper: Analyzing Change

Over the course of this semester, you have noticed a great deal of change in the style, content, and purpose of American literature. For your final paper, you will trace the development of a particular literary theme, technique, or idea, analyzing how authors have adapted that element over time. Your paper will focus on three works, one from each volume of the textbook. You need not limit yourself to works we have discussed in class. You may wish to draw on information from your earlier papers, but this should not simply be a rehash of what you’ve already written; it must include a substantial amount of new material. You need not refer to any source outside the textbook; instead, focus on the texts themselves. Papers relying on websites or other electronic sources are unlikely to earn passing grades.

This paper requires a two-step writing process. Failing to submit either of the two steps will result in a final grade of F on the paper.

Stage One: Draft
Write a full draft of the essay. Your draft should be brief (about 5 pages) but cogent and should:

Drafts are due at the beginning of class April 17. Failing to submit a draft will result in a final grade of F on the paper.

Stage Two: Final Paper
Revise your draft in response to feedback you will receive from your classmates and from me. The final paper is due at the beginning of class April 24.

Evaluation: On my web site you will find links to a sample grading rubric and a sample student paper:
http://www.marietta.edu/~hogueb

Weekly Reading Comments

Twenty-five times over the course of the semester, you will send me a brief e-mail message (at least 250 words) commenting on one or more items on the reading list that have not yet been discussed in class. You may wish to raise questions, offer interpretations, make connections among various readings, or try out ideas for papers. Feel free to be creative!

I may respond individually to your comments, answering questions or making suggestions for further exploration of topics. I may share interesting insights or questions with the class, but I will not use your name unless you want me to.

Sending comments: Comments must be submitted to my regular e-mail address (hogueb@marietta.edu); please do not submit them through webct. The subject line should be “reading comments.” Make sure to include your name in the text of the e-mail message. Send comments in the body of your e-mail message or as an attached Word file; other formats will receive no credit.

Deadlines: You may choose when you send your comments, within the following guidelines:

Evaluation: You may submit up to 25 comments, earning up to 4 points each, for a total of 100 points available toward your final grade. Each comment will earn either 0, 3, or 4 points.

To earn 0 points, submit a comment after we have discussed the literature in class

Weekly comment points will be maintained on webct. Check webct frequently to make sure the records are accurate; if an error occurs, please notify me as soon as possible.

ENGL 204: Literary Culture of the United States II

Readings and Assignments

Fiction Paper: Defining Movements

Poetry Paper

Drama Paper: Performing Identity

Final Paper: Analyzing Change

Weekly Reading Comments