return to Donald Larsson's home page
update 13 January 2002
English 328: American Literature Survey, 1865-Present
Section 2, Monday Night, Professor Larsson
Professor: Donald Larsson Office: AH 229F
Phone: 389-2350 E-Mail: donald.larsson@mnsu.edu
Office Hours: MON. 5:00-5:45 P.M., TUES 2:00-3:45 P.M.
WED. 1:00-2:00 P.M., THURS. 2:00-2:45 P.M.
and by appointment
Class website: http://english2.mnsu.edu/larsson/amerlit2/syllabus.htm
Text: The
Norton Anthology of American Literature.
Ed. Nina Baym, et al.
Volume 2. 5th ed.
Objectives:
In this class, we will survey major trends and writers in American literature from the end of the Civil War to the present We will examine the shift in the late 19th century from Romanticism to Realism and Naturalism and the 20th century experiments of Modernism and Post-Modernism. We will also see how the alternative voices of Native Americans, African Americans, immigrants and others intersect with these movements or offer other views of the definition and uses of “American literature.”
Requirements:
1. Reading and Attendance; Weekly Responses
We have a lot of material to cover in just 14 weeks of classes, and we only meet once a week, so your attendance and your knowledge of the readings for each week is vital! If you know that you have to miss a class or if circumstances force you to miss a class, please check with me as soon as possible.
At the end of class each week, I will ask you to write a short paragraph in response to one of the readings and/or issues raised in class that week. These responses will constitute 15% of your total grade, but Week 2 (Martin Luther King Day) wiil be given to you for “free” and you will get 10 points for each response unless it indicates a lack of attention to the material! (See below for complete grade breakdowns.) Only students whose absences have been excused will be allowed to submit a make-up response!
2. Oral Report and Resource List
Except on Test nights, we will have three short oral reports (each no more than 10 minutes long) each week in class. By the end of the semester, each student will have given one report and submitted a list of at least five print and/or online resources relating to his or her topic. The Report and Resource List are worth 10% of your total grade.
3. Mid-Term Exams
There will be two mid-term exams. Each will be made up of two parts:
a. A written take-home exam, responding to a choice of questions dealing with the works we have read.
b. An in-class “objective” quiz, identifying terms, authors, etc.
Each exam is worth 20% of your total grade (15% for essays; 5% for quizzes).
4. Final Exam
The Final Exam will be a comprehensive exam covering the entire semester, but emphasizing the last four weeks of class. It will include both essay and “objective” questions. The Final Exam is worth 35% of your total grade.
|
Assignment |
Number of Points |
Percent of Total Grade |
|
Weekly Responses |
150* |
15% |
|
Oral Report and Resource List |
100 |
10% |
|
Mid-Term Exam/Quiz 1 |
150/50 |
20% |
|
Mid-Term Exam/Quiz 2 |
150/50 |
20% |
|
Final Exam |
350 |
35% |
*10 points are “free” for Week 2
Grade Breakdown, based on total of 1,000 points
|
A |
B |
C |
D |
F |
|
900-1000 |
800-899 |
700-799 |
600-699 |
0-599 |
Class Schedule, Spring 2002, (subject to change)
|
Week |
Date |
Topics |
Reading and Assignments |
|
1 |
Jan. 14 |
Introductions: ½ hour Post-Civil War America and Mark Twain: lecture ½ hour Reading: ½ hour Discussion: 1 hour (incl. Break) MTT: 1 hr? |
Introduction: 1-15 [Mark Twain Tonight] 35 |
|
2 |
Jan. 21 |
Martin Luther King Day |
No Classes, Read Huckleberry Finn, 28-216 |
|
3 |
Jan. 28 |
Reports: ½ hour Discuss HF: 2 hours H & B: 1 hr. (show OAOCB?) |
Oral Report 1 Twain and American Realism Howells: 239-267 Bierce: 268-265 219 |
|
4 |
Feb. 4 |
Realism and Naturalism: , , , Crane, London Reports: ½ hour James and Wharton : 1 1/2 hours Norris, Crane (poetry): 1 ½ hours
|
Oral Report 2 James: 281-284, 323-340, 370-384, 402-424
Wharton: 670-704 Crane: 741-743, 760-787 127 |
|
5 |
Feb. 11 |
A Sense of Place: Cochise, Charlot, Harris, Chesnutt, Jewett, Freeman Native American Chants and Songs Reports: ½ hour Native Americans: ½ hour Harris, Jewett, Freeman: 1 hour Chopin: Intro and Stories: ½ hour |
Oral Report 3 Cochise and Charlot: 276-281 Harris: 424-429 Jewett: 430-431, 438-454 Freeman: 559-579 Chopin: 455-467 Chesnutt: 615-632 Native American Chants and Songs: 828-846 98 |
|
6 |
Feb. 18 |
Seeking Liberation 1: Chopin: The Awakening, Washington, Chesnutt, [Dunbar], Gilman, Du Bois Reports: ½ hour Chopin and Gilman: 1 ½ hours Washington, Chesnutt, Du Bois 1 ½ hours |
Oral Report 4 Chopin, The Awakening: 467-558 Washington: 579-589, 595-603 Gilman: 656-670 Du Bois: 711-736 152 |
|
7 |
Feb. 25 |
Test 1 due/In-class Quiz 1 Modernity and Early Modernists Adams, Masters, Robinson, Lowell, Frost
|
Oral Report 5 Adams: 875-877, 902-909 Introduction: 911-921 Masters: 937-940 Robinson, 941-947 Lowell: 1084-1091 Frost: 1115-11140 O’Neil: 1287-1367 125 |
|
8 |
Mar. 4 |
Modernist Poetry Stevens, Williams, HD, Moore, Eliot, Millay, Cummings
|
Oral Report 5 Stevens: 1164-1184 Williams: 1214-1231 HD: 1252-1270 Moore: 1275-1287 Eliot: 1368-1373, 1380-1401 Millay: 1456-1460 Cummings: 1478-1489 104 |
|
Mar. 11-Mar. 17 |
Spring Break |
Read As I Lay Dying, 1532-1630 |
|
|
9 |
Mar. 18 |
Modernist Prose
|
Oral Report 6 Stein: 1091-1115 Anderson: 1143-1160 151 |
|
10 |
Mar. 25 |
Modernist Prose, continued
|
Oral Report 7
Yezierska: 1202-1214 Dos Passos: 1511-1532 Hemingway: 1685-1704 Porter: 1411-1426 85 |
|
11 |
April 1 |
The Harlem Renaissance and the “New Negro” [Note: Time of Transition, April 5]
|
Oral Report 8 Grimke: 1185-1202 McKay: 1406-1411 Hurston: 1426-1456 Toomer: 1489-1495 Brown: 1724-1730 Hughes: 1730-1740 Cullen: 1751-1756 Wright: 1756-1766 89 |
|
12 |
April 8 |
Test 2 Post-World War II Prose: Drama
|
Introduction 1773-1781 Williams: 1794-1860 Baraka: 2124-2139 Mamet: 2313-2348 127 |
|
13 |
April 15 |
Post-World War II Prose: Short Fiction Readings to be chosen |
Oral Report 9 |
|
14 |
April 22 |
Post-World War II Poetry Readings to be chosen |
Oral Report 10 |
|
15 |
April 29 |
Post-World War II Poetry Readings to be chosen |
Oral Report 11 |
|
|
May 6 |
Final Exam |
|