English 118 - "Modern American Authors"
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"Sunrise
III" - Arthur Dove '36
(Yale University Art Gallery) |
OBJECTIVES
In this course we will be studying works in different genres by selected modern and contemporary American authors. We will consider these works in relation to larger literary, social, and cultural developments. Topics include modernism, anti-modernism, the literature of social protest, the emergence of multicultural and postcolonial discourses, and postmodernism. Ongoing questions for discussion include the following: What purposes might literature serve at different times, in different contexts, and for different audiences? What assumptions underlie our own aesthetic and critical judgements? How do works or writers come to be considered "major," and what difference does it make? We will also consider questions of genre. (For example, how is our reading shaped by what we expect from a particular genre? Why is this book called a novel, instead of a memoir? Why is this one presented as nonfiction, instead of as fiction? What if we were to re-write this poem as a story? This story as a poem? What difference would it make?) This course is also intended to help students become active and adept researchers in the field of literary studies.
TEXTS
•Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio
•Robert Frost, Collected Poems
•William Faulkner, Light in August
•Allen Ginsberg, Howl
•Malcolm X (and Alex Haley), The Autobiography of Malcolm X
•Maxine Hong Kingston, China Men
•Don DeLillo, Libra
•Jhumpa Lahiri, The Interpreter of Maladies
•Xerox packet of other readings ($9.25 xeroxing fee)
REQUIREMENTS
- In keeping with College policy, you are expected
to attend all of our class sessions.
- You are expected to prepare
the readings assigned for each session and to take
an active role in class discussion.
- You and a partner (or partners) will be expected
to lead class discussion
on certain occasions. For details on this requirement, click here.
- A reading journal and a 7-10 page research paper are required. Journal entries should be made on a weekly basis and should reflect upon the readings for the week. More details about the journal and research paper will be provided in class.
- Although there will be no final exam, there
may occasionally be reading quizzes. These may be unannounced.
GRADING
- Approximate breakdown of final grade: 45% journal;
25% research paper; 30% class participation (which may also include occasional
reading quizzes).
- Deadlines will be extended and absences will
be excused only in the case of a documented medical emergency. Absences
from class will limit what you will gain from the course and what you
can contribute to it. More than two unexcused absences may lower your
final grade for the course.
- Late work for which no extension has been granted will receive an "F". Exceptions will be made only when I determine that they are fully warranted. Work that is not submitted receives a "O". All work must be submitted by the last day of class. For your own protection, always make a copy of your work before submitting it.
Plagiarism,
even when unintentional, is a serious offense. If under the Sweet
Briar Honor System, you are convicted of plagiarism in work you do for
this course, you will automatically fail the course. If you are
not sure what plagiarism is, please ask me. Also,
please note that I do not accept 'recycled' papers that you wrote for
other courses, here or elsewhere.
[Students] [Details]
[Readings] [Research]