Professor: Dr. Bev Hogue
Office: 216-A Thomas Hall
e-mail: hogueb@marietta.edu
office telephone: x4657
website: www.marietta.edu/~hogueb
class mailing list: 2009_SP_ENGL_337_01@marietta.edu
Office Hours: MF 11 to noon and 2:15 to 4 p.m.; W 11 to noon; TTH 9:30 to noon and 2:15to 4
Other times available by appointment
Course Description: Twentieth-century American authors employ a variety of narrative techniques, including stream of consciousness, first-person narration, and impressionistic collage. This course will explore some of the more innovative narrative techniques of the twentieth century with a view toward understanding American literary movements, developing skills in analysis and interpretation, and enhancing writing skills.
Required Texts:
Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth. Signet Classics.
William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury. Norton Critical Edition.
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper Perennial.
Joseph Heller, Catch-22. Simon & Schuster.
Don DeLillo, White Noise. Penguin.
Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum. Harper Perennial.
Toni Morrison, Paradise. Plume.
Course Objectives: At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to:
Expectations: This course depends upon class participation; therefore, students should:
Evaluation:
Online summary and discussion 100 points
Two essay exams, 100 points each 200 points
Three short papers, 100 points each 300 points
Proposal & Annotated Bibliography 100 points
Researched essay 200 points
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.
Each exam will require you to write an analytical essay in response to a prompt.
One objective of any 300-level literature class is to introduce students to a variety of theoretical approaches to the study of literature and critical articles analyzing certain works. We will accomplish this by means of a series of online discussions of critical and theoretical articles. The online discussions will require two types of responses from you. You will be assigned a particular critical or theoretical essay, and you will write a brief summary to distribute electronically to your classmates. This summary is worth 60 points. You will earn the remaining 40 points by participating in discussions about articles summarized by your classmates. (See assignment sheet for complete details.)
For each short paper, you will write a brief but cogent essay responding to a particular question related to reading assignments.
For the researched essay, you will select one of the authors on the reading list and explore that author’s work in greater depth, which will require reading some additional works by that author and becoming familiar with the current state of scholarship. You may wish to expand on the ideas in one of your short papers. The multi-stage assignment will require submission of a proposal, annotated bibliography, and draft; failure to submit any of these stages will result in a final grade of 0 on the researched essay.
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.
Revision option: You may choose to revise any short paper and resubmit it for further consideration; however, your grade on that paper will not be increased by more than one letter-grade, and revising a paper does not guarantee that it will qualify for an improved grade. Revised essays must be turned in no later than one week following the return of the grade paper, and they must be accompanied by the original graded paper and rubric.
Plagiarism occurs when a student represents someone else’s work as his or her own; it includes:
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.
January
12 Introduction to the class
14 Wharton 1-51 (Book I, chapters 1 through 4)
16 Wharton 52-102 (ch. 5 through 8)
19 Wharton 102-189 (ch. 9 through end of Book I); post Blair, Van Rosk.
21 Wharton 191-275 (Book II, ch. 1 through 7)
23 Wharton 275-350 (ch. 8 to end); respond to Blair, Van Rosk
26 Paper 1 due
28 Faulkner 1-48 (April 7, 1928); post Deleuze
30 Faulkner 1-48 (April 7, 1928)
February
2 Faulkner 48-113 (June 2, 1910); respond to Deleuze; post Kartiganer, Wadlington, Weinstein
4 Faulkner 113-65 (April 6, 1928)
6 Faulkner 165-99 (April 8, 1928) respond to Kartiganer, Wadlington, Weinstein
9 Hurston 1-50 (chapters 1 through 5); post Joseph, Marquis
11 Hurston 51-128 (ch. 6 through 13)
13 Hurston 129-93 (ch. 14 through end); respond to Joseph, Marquis
16 Paper 2 due
18 Heller 1-50 (chapters 1 through 5)
20 Heller 51-103 (chapters 6 through 9)
23 Heller 104-75 (chapters 10 through 17); post Green, Seltzer, Scoggins
25 Heller 176-239 (chapters 18 through 22)
27 Heller 240-305 (chapters 23 through 27); respond to Green, Seltzer, Scoggins
March
2 Heller 306-376 (chapters 28 through 35)
4 Heller 377-end (chapters 36 through end)
6 Exam
16 DeLillo 1-53 (chapters 1 through 11); post Barrett, Heise
18 DeLillo 54-105 (chapters 12 through 19)
20 DeLillo 106-63 (all of section II); respond to Barrett, Heise
23 DeLillo 164-230 (chapters 22 through 30)
25 DeLillo 231-326 (chapters 31 through end)
27 No Class; Paper 3 due
30 Erdrich 1-94 (Part I); post Reid, Gutwirth
April
1 Erdrich 95-186 (Part II)
3 Erdrich 187-254 (Part III); respond to Reid, Gutwirth
6 Erdrich 255-76 (Part IV)
8 Proposal and Annotated Bibliography due
10 Morrison 1-49 (Ruby, Mavis); post Flint, Fraile-Marcos, Read, Sweeney
13 Morrison 50-138 (Grace, Seneca)
15 Morrison 139-217 (Divine, Patricia); respond to Flint, Fraile-Marcos, Read, Sweeney
17 Final paper draft due
20 Morrison 218-91 (Consolata, Lone)
22 Morrison 292-end (Save-Marie)
24 Final paper due; preparation for final exam
Final Exam: Thursday, April 30, 3 to 5:30 p.m.
Paper 1: Realism and Naturalism
Read the following short essays on electronic reserve:
Garland, Hamlin. “Productive Conditions of American Literature.” Documents of American Realism and Naturalism. Ed. Donald Pizer. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1998. 151-8.
Parrington, V.L. “Naturalism in American Fiction.” Documentsof American Realism and Naturalism. Ed. Donald Pizer. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1998. 211-14.
Write a short essay (no more than five pages, typed) in which you demonstrate understanding of Realism (Veritism) and Naturalism as defined in the readings and classify The House of Mirth as either a Realistic or Naturalistic work. Your essay, while brief, should be a thorough, in-depth consideration of the topic, supporting a clear thesis with evidence from the texts, with all source material documented properly according to MLA format.
Deadline: paper due at the beginning of class Jan. 26.
Paper 2: Narrative Methods
Choose a short passage from The Sound and the Fury and Their Eyes Were Watching God and write an essay comparing Faulkner and Hurston’s methods of narration, paying special attention to how those narrative methods influence meaning. Your essay, while brief (no more than 5 pages), should be a thorough, in-depth consideration of the topic, supporting a clear thesis with evidence from the texts, with all source material documented properly according to MLA format.
Deadline: paper due at the beginning of class Feb. 16.
Paper 3: Postmodern or not?
Read the following article on electronic reserve:
Jameson, Fredric. “Postmodernism and Consumer Society.” The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture. Ed. Hal Foster. New York: New Press, 1998. 127-44.
Write an essay arguing that either Catch-22 or White Noise should or should not be classified as a postmodern text according to Jameson’s definition. Your essay, while brief (no more than 5 pages), should be a thorough, in-depth consideration of the topic, supporting a clear thesis with evidence from the texts, with all source material documented properly according to MLA format.
Deadline: paper due by the beginning of class March 27, either in my mailbox in the English Department office or as an attached Word document.
Researched Essay
Your reading this semester will introduce you to a variety of twentieth-century American novelists; this assignment provides an opportunity to explore the works of one of those authors in greater depth. For your researched essay, you will select any author who appears on the reading list and find at least one additional work by that author. Write a paper analyzing some aspect of your author’s work--a theme, idea, literary technique, or something else interesting. Your paper should focus on a clear thesis and demonstrate some awareness of critical approaches to the works in question. You may wish to incorporate relevant material from one of your short papers, but the bulk of this paper should be original work. Your paper must:
Your success on this paper will depend largely on your careful attention to each step in the process:
Choosing a topic
Select an author whose work you find enjoyable and interesting and who provides plenty of material for analysis.
Conducting research
In order to read other works by your chosen author, you may need to order books through Ohiolink; therefore, begin your preliminary research early enough to allow those books to arrive. In addition, look for source material that can inform you about the historical and cultural context in which your author wrote, and use the library’s searchable catalog and research databases (especially the MLA International Bibliography database) to discover what others have already written about your author.
Choosing sources
Writing a paper is like entering a conversation that has been going on for some time; therefore, you must read widely enough to be able to add something to that conversation that has not already been said before. In order to accomplish this, you will need to consult sources that will help you understand the historical and cultural context of the works, the ideas and concepts contained in the works, and the approaches other scholars have taken to analyzing the works.
Remember also that the quality of your final paper depends largely upon the quality of your sources. Books and peer-reviewed academic journals (many available through the library’s research databases) are considered the most reliable sources in literary analysis; you may find some information on web sites, but if the bulk of your sources are web sites, the quality of your argument will inevitably suffer.
Your paper must incorporate information from at least six print sources. Print sources are those, like books and articles in scholarly journals, that originally appeared in print form. Web sites are not print sources; however, when you use the library’s research databases to access full-text journal articles that originally appeared in print, these are considered print sources.
Writing a Proposal and Annotated Bibliography
After you have done some preliminary research, you will write a brief proposal (no more than two pages, double-spaced) explaining what author and work(s) you will consider, what point you hope to make in your paper (your working thesis), and how your approach fits in with or departs from current approaches to the topic.
In order to accomplish this, you will need to demonstrate familiarity with a variety of critical approaches. You will do this in an annotated bibliography listing at least 10 entries (including your primary sources). Entries must be arranged in alphabetical order, and each entry must include an MLA-style Works Cited listing followed by a brief summary of the source and a brief evaluation of its usefulness for your project. (See sample.)
The Proposal and Annotated Bibliography together are worth 100 points and are due at the beginning of class April 8.
Writing a draft
Drafts are due in class April 17; failure to turn in a draft on that date will result in an F for the paper. You will need to bring a hard copy of the paper to class for peer review, and you will need to send an electronic copy to me as a Word attachment. You will receive focused feedback from your classmates and from me.
The final paper is due in class April 24.
Online Discussions
One objective of any 300-level literature class is to introduce students to a variety of critical and theoretical approaches to the study of literature. We will accomplish this by means of a series of online discussions of scholarly articles. These discussions will require two types of responses from you, an article summary and participation in discussion.
Article Summary
Early in the semester, you will be assigned one critical or theoretical article from the list below. In order to earn 60 points, you must:
Discussion Participation
You are expected to participate in electronic discussion of theoretical articles summarized by your classmates, posting 10 responses to the summaries of your choice, at least 5 before midterm. Each response is worth 4 points, for a total of 40; in order to earn full credit, you must:
For both the summary assignment and the discussions, technical difficulty is no excuse for failure to participate. However, in the case of catastrophic technical difficulties (such as the failure of the college server or a power outage), I will contact the class to set up an alternative method of fulfilling this requirement.
Online Discussions: Articles and Deadlines
Harness: Blair, Amy L. “Misreading The House of Mirth.” American Literature 76.1 (2004 Mar): 149-75.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Jan. 19
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Jan. 23
Smith: Rosk, Nancy Von. “Spectacular Homes and Pastoral Theaters: Gender, Urbanity and Domesticity in The House of Mirth.” Studies in the Novel 33.3 (2001 Fall): 322-50.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Jan. 19
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Jan. 23
Williams:. Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. “Rhizome.” Postmodern Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Niall Lucy. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000. 92-120.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Jan. 28
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 2.
Shanks: Kartiganer, Donald M. “The Meaning of Form in TheSound and the Fury.” 324-43 in Norton Critical Edition of text.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 2.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 6.
Kaustinen: Wadlington, Warwick. “The Sound and the Fury: A Logic of Tragedy.” 358-70 in Norton Critical Edition.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 2.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 6.
Barrington: Philip M. Weinstein. “‘If I Could Say Mother’: Construing the Unsayable about Faulknerian Maternity.” 430-42 in Norton Critical Edition.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 2.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 6.
Puckett: Joseph, Philip. “The Verdict from the Porch: Zora Neale Hurston and Reparative Justice.” American Literature 74.3 (2002 Sept): 455-83.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 9.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 13.
Park: Marquis, Margaret. “'When de Notion Strikes Me': Body Image, Food, and Desire in Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Southern Literary Journal 35.2 (2003 Spring): 79-88
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 9.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 13.
Wallace: Green, Daniel. "A World Worth Laughing At: Catch-22 and the Humor of Black Humor." Studies in the Novel 27.2 (Summer 1995): 186-196.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 23.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 27.
Griesser: Seltzer, Leon F. "Milo's 'Culpable Innocence': Absurdity as Moral Insanity in Catch-22." Papers on Language and Literature: A Journal for Scholars and Critics of Language and Literature 15 (1979): 290-310.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 23.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 27.
Oliver: Scoggins, Michael C. "Joseph Heller's Combat Experiences in Catch-22." War, Literature & the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities 15.1/2 (Mar. 2003): 213-227.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 23.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. Feb. 27.
Whalen: Barrett, Laura. "'How the Dead Speak to the Living': Intertextuality and the Postmodern Sublime in White Noise." Journal of Modern Literature 25.2 (2001-2002 Winter 2001): 97-113.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. March 16.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. March 20.
Adkins: Heise, Ursula K. "Toxins, Drugs, and Global Systems: Risk and Narrative in the Contemporary Novel." American Literature 74.4 (Dec. 2002): 747-778.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. March 16.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. March 20.
Barclay: Reid, E. Shelley. "The Stories We Tell: Louise Erdrich's Identity Narratives." MELUS 25.3-4 (2000 Fall-Winter 2000): 65-86.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. March 30.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. April 3.
Harmon: Gutwirth, Claudia. “ ‘Stop Making Sense’: Trickster Variations in the Fiction of Louise Erdrich.” Trickster Lives: Culture and Myth in American Fiction. Ed. Jeanne Campbell Reesman. Athens: U Georgia P, 2001. 148-67.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. March 30.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. April 3.
Hart: Flint, Holly. "Toni Morrison's Paradise: Black Cultural Citizenship in the American Empire." American Literature 78.3 (Sep. 2006): 585-512.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. April 10.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. April 15.
Frantz: Fraile-Marcos, Ana María. "Hybridizing the 'City upon a Hill' in Toni Morrison's Paradise." MELUS 28.4 (Winter 2003): 3-33.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. April 10.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. April 15.
Cress: Read, Andrew. "'As If Word Magic Had Anything to Do with the Courage It Took to Be a Man': Black Masculinity in Toni Morrison's Paradise." African American Review 39.4 (Winter 2005): 527-540.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. April 10.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. April 15.
Ross: Sweeney, Megan. "Racial House,Big House,Home." Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism 4.2 (Apr. 2004): 40-67.
Summary must be posted no later than 10 a.m. April 10.
Responses must be posted no later than 10 a.m. April 15.