Professor: Dr. Robert
Lynch
Office: Grainger G08
Office Hours: MW: 11-11:50.
TR 8:30-9:20 and by appt.
Telephone: 395-2167
Email: Lynchrl
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Please try to buy the editions listed below. It is very hard as a class to negotiate seven different versions of the same text during a discussion. The texts published by Norton are critical editions which present materials that will be useful for conducting research and writing papers in this course.
Franklin, Wayne, et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: (Shorter Seventh Edition) Vol. 2. Paperback). New York: Norton.
Hurston, Zora Neale, Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York:
HarperPernnial, 0060931418
McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Vintage, 2006. ISBN
978-0-307-38789-9
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Plume,
1970. 0452282195
Norris. Frank. McTeague. New York:
Norton. 0-3-9397013-2
O’Brien , Tim . Going After Cacciato, New
York: Broadway Books, 0767904427
Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome,
New York: Norton Critical Edition, 978-0393966350
Note: This is a course in the study of literature not a course in pleasure reading. In order to better understand the texts, to come to "own" them, we must annotate and interact with the texts. Thus, we will be marking them up; so consider them as consumable products much as you would a "workbook" in another course. (If you choose to sell the texts at the end of the course the bookstore does not reduce the buy back price due to markings in the books!). Students are expected to have their own copies of the texts. Not bringing a copy of text under consideration is cause for dismissal.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Upon the completion of the course, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a capacity for critical and analytical thought in terms of
interpreting various forms of American
literature.
2. Demonstrate an ability to convey their own thoughts verbally and in writing
concerning the modernist and postmodernist periods in American literature.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the cultural background surrounding the works
we read.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of this time period in
relation to the rest of American Literature.
5. Articulate varying critical theories concerning Naturalism, Modernism, and Postmodernism
as expressed by the authors themselves.
6. Revise and edit their writing to make it more concise, effective, and
correct. Write in accordance with the
conventions of standard English usage and punctuation.
7. Demonstrate an ability to engage in the collaborative learning process.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
READING SCHEDULE: (Tentative and Subject to Change)
Aug. 25:Introduction to Course
Topic: Naturalism
27: Norris, Frank. McTeague, 5-64
Sept. 01: Norris, Frank. McTeague, 65-119
Sept. 3: Norris, Frank. McTeague, 119-182
07: Labor Day (No Classes)
08: Norris, Frank. McTeague, 182-end
10: Naturalistic Short Fiction: Crane, Steven. "The Open Boat" and "The
Blue Hotel" and London, Jack, "To Build a Fire"
15: Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome, 1-37
17: Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome, 37-74
22: Topic: Literature Between the Wars : Modernism
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises,
11-95
24: Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises, 96-173
29: Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises, 173-end
Oct. 01: Modern Poetry:: Masters, Robinson, Frost, Cummings selections
Paper
#1 Due
06: Pound, Eliot, and Williams, selections
08: MIDTERM
12-13: Fall Break
15: The Harlem Renaissance
Hurston, Zora Neale, Their Eyes Were Watching
God, 1-75
20: Hurston, Zora Neale, Their Eyes Were Watching God, 76-135
22: Hurston, Zora Neale, Their Eyes Were Watching God, 135-end
27: Harlem Renaissance Poetry: Hughes, Cullen, Mckay (handout)
29: Modernism and Short Fiction: Faulkner and Fitzgerald, all four
stories.
Nov. 03: Topic: Literature Post World War II: Postmodernism
Magical Realism: O'Brien, Tim. Going After Cacciato, Chapters 1-14
05: O'Brien, Tim. Going After Cacciato, Chapters- 15-26
10: O'Brien, Tim. Going After Cacciato, Chapters 27-38
12: O'Brien, Tim. Going After Cacciato, Chaptets 39-end
17: Contemporary Short Fiction: Updike, Roth, Walker, Alexie. selections
19: Contemporary Poetry: Brooks, Ortiz, Sexton, Rich, Collins, selections
24: McCarthy, Cormac, The Road, 3-95
25-27: Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 01: McCarthy, Cormac, The Road, 95-192
03: McCarthy, Cormac, The Road, 192-end
Dec. 7-11: Final Exams
Scale:*A=90-100% *B=80-89% *C=70-79%
*D=60-69%
A= 460-500
A-= 450-459
B+=
435-449
B= 410-434
B-= 400-409
C+=
385-399
C= 360-384
C-= 350-359
D+=
335-349
D= 310-334
D-= 300-309
The attendance policy for this course is the same as the university policy in the University Catalog and the Student Handbook. Thus if you miss three or more times your grade may be reduced. Tardies will count as absences after roll is taken or unless I'm notified beforehand. No quizzes will be given out to those who come late.
Students are expected to live by the Longwood University Honor Code. All work done for the class must be pledged. Your instructor will not tolerate any form of cheating. You are expected to know what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it. All ideas taken from sources, whether in texts or online, must be cited. Remember that your instructor also has access to these materials and they are easy to track on-line. Any student caught plagiarizing will automatically fail the course and his/her name will be forwarded to the Honor Board.
Students are expected to make regular and significant contributions to class discussion. Your grade in this regard will be based upon both daily contributions during the semester and taking the lead in guiding class discussion for at least one class.
90-100% |
Student is well prepared and enthusiastically participates in all class activities; is very considerate and cooperative with the rest of the class; asks questions and responds to questions; demonstrates knowledge of course materials; consistently practices critical thinking; actively helps to create a vibrant learning community. |
80-89% |
Student is generally prepared and willing to participate in class activities; is relatively cooperative with the rest of the class; asks questions and responds to questions most of the time; makes an inconsistent effort to refer to readings and course topics; generally practices critical thinking; helps to create a vibrant learning community. |
70-79% |
Student is often unprepared and reluctantly or sporadically participates in class activities; often does not ask questions or respond to questions; rarely makes an effort to demonstrate knowledge of course materials; rarely practices critical thinking; does not show much interest in creating a vibrant learning community. |
60-69% |
Student is generally unprepared, unwilling to participate in class activities and unable to answer questions; does not formulate questions or responses; demonstrates little understanding of course materials; does not practice critical thinking; distracts from the creation of a vibrant learning community. |
0-59% |
Student is absent (physically or mentally), unprepared, inattentive, uncooperative or disruptive in class. |
All papers are due on the date assigned at the beginning of class. Late papers will not be accepted. No exceptions. Learning to handle your workload and deal with deadlines is a part of life.
My office hours are posted and I will be available during these times. If you need to see me and these times are not convenient, please feel free to schedule a conference for some other mutually agreeable time.
In the event of classes being cancelled, students are expected to keep up with the reading.
American Modernism." Special Issue. American Quarterly 39.1 (1987).
Altieri, Charles. Painterly Abstraction in Modernist American Poetry: The Contemporaneity of Modernism. New York: Cambridge UP, 1989.
Baker, Houston A. Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1987.
Bartlett, Lee. ed. The Beats: Essays in Criticism. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1981.
Berube, Michael. "Masks, Margins, and African American Modernism: Melvin Tolson's Harlem Gallery." PMLA 105.1 (Jan 1990): 57-69.
Bradbury, Malcolm and James McFarlane, eds. Modernism. New York: Penquin, 1991.
Charters, Ann. "Beat Poetry and the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance." in Parini Jay ed. The Columbia History of American Poetry. New York: Columbia UP, 1993.
Charters, Ann ed. The Beats: Literary Bohemians in Postwar America . Detroit: Gale, 1983.
Cowley, Malcolm and Robert. Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age. New York: Scribners, 1966.
Davies, Alastair. An Annotated Critical Bibliography of Modernism. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1982.
De Jongh, James. Vicious Modernism: Black Harlem and the Literary Imagination. New York: Cambridge UP, 1990.
Eysteinsson, Astradur. The Concept of Modernism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1992
Falck, Colin. Myth, truth, and literature: towards a true post-modernism. New York: Cambridge U P, 1989.
Gambrell, Alice. Women Intellectuals, Modernism, and Difference: Transatlantic Culture, 1919-1945. NY: Cambridge UP, 1997.
Garvin, Harry R. ed. Romanticism, modernism, postmodernism. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell U P, 1980
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. The signifying monkey: a theory of African-American literary criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Gelpi, Albert. A Coherent Splendor: The American Poetic Renaissance, 1910-1950. New York: Cambridge UP, 1987.
Hassan, Ihab. The dismemberment of Orpheus; toward a postmodern literature. NY: Oxford U P, 1971.
Hoffman, Michael J. and Patrick D. Murphy. eds. Critical Essays on American Modernism. NY: G. K. Hall, 1992.
Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Harlem Renaissance. London: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Kirschke, Amy Helene. Aaron Douglas: art, race and the Harlem Renaissance. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995.
Linn, Ray. A teacher's introduction to postmodernism. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 1996.
McHale, Brian. Postmodernist fiction. NY: Methuen, 1987. PN3503 .M24
McGowan, John. Postmodernism and its critics. Ithaca: Cornell U P, 1991.
Nelson, Cary. Repression and Recovery: Modern American Poetry and the Politics of Cultural Memory, 1910-1945. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1989.
Nicholls, Peter. Modernisms: A Literary Guide. Berkeley: U of California P, 1995.
North, Michael. The Dialect of Modernism: Race, Language, and Twentieth-Century Literature. NY: Oxford UP, 1994.
Pearce, Roy Harvey. The Continuity of American Poetry. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1961.
Perkins, David. A History of Modern Poetry. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford UP.
Perloff, Marjorie. Poetic license: essays on modernist and postmodernist lyric. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern U P, 1990.
Ruland, Richard, and Malcolm Bradbury. From Puritanism to postmodernism: a history of American literature. NY: Viking, 1991.
Schwarz, Daniel. Reconfiguring Modernism: Explorations between Modern Art and Modern Literature. NY: St. Martin's P, 1997.
Singal, Daniel. ed. Modernist Culture in America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1991
Trachtenberg, Stanley. ed. Critical essays on American postmodernism. NY: G.K. Hall, 1995.
Waggoner, Hyatt H. American Poets from the Puritans to Present. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
Watson, Steven. The Birth of the Beat Generation: Visionaries, Rebels, and Hipsters, 1944-1960. New York: Pantheon, 1995.
Watson, Steve. The Harlem Renaissance. New York: Pantheon, 1995.
Waugh, Patricia. Feminine fictions: revisiting the postmodern. NY: Routledge, 1989.