Course Outline for New Worlds of Literature: Writings from America’s Many Cultures created by Prof. Emily Hoeflinger, Fall 2012.
Note for instructors: this syllabus uses a different format than other course outlines. Here you are offered a number of choices of readings, which can work well together, and you choose which to use.
Required Texts:
Beaty, Jerome and J. Paul Hunter. New Worlds of Literature: Writings from America’s Many Cultures, 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1994.
Hacker, Diana and Nancy Sommers. A Writer's Reference. Montclair State University
custom 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.
COURSE OUTLINE
Unit One: Family
Week 1: Family
Possible Readings and Study Questions:
-Tony Ardizzone, “My Mother’s Stories,” study questions: 1, 2, 11 125-6
-Simon Ortiz, “My Father’s Song,” study questions: 1,2 144
-Sherley Williams, “Say Hello to John,” study questions: 1,2,3 156
-Naomi Long Madgett, “Offspring,” study questions: 1,3 157
-John Edgar Wideman,” Little Brother,” study questions: 3,4
-Marie G. Lee, “My Two Dads,” study questions: 2,3
-Elias Miguel Munoz, “Little Sister Born in This Land,” study questions: 2, 3
-Afterword: “Setting” and “Characterization”
(Suggested pairing and lesson plan for first class)
In class: Read, Linda Hogan’s “Heritage” and William Saroyan’s “Najari Levon’s Old Country Advice to the Young Americans on How to Live With a Snake” in class and begin discussion of textual analysis. Use “Introduction,” “Representing the Literary Text,” and “Replying to the Text”(929-934) as well to discuss responding to literature.
Week 2: Family
Possible Readings and Study Questions:
-Cynthia Kadohata, “Charlie-O,” study questions: 1,2
-Li-Young Lee, “The Gift,” study questions: 3
-Jimmy Santiago Baca, “Ancestor,” study questions: 1, 5
-Simon Ortiz, “Speaking,” study questions: 1,2
-Rhoda Schwartz, “Old Photographs,” study questions: 2
-Eric Chock, “Chinese Fireworks Banned in Hawaii,”study questions: 1, 2,4
-Fenton Johnson, “The Limitless Heart,” study questions: 3
-Afterword: “Theme”
-“Writing About Texts,” A Writer’s Reference
In class: Discuss selected texts, continue conversation about how we define and interact with ideas of “Home.” Read “Explaining the Text” and discuss the differences between responding to a text and analysis. Introduction to short story and poetry analysis and “Theme.”
Distribute and discuss Essay #1 prompt. Use “From Topic to Rough Draft” and “Deciding What to Write About” to brainstorm essay ideas and begin prewriting.
Week 3: Drafting, Essay #1
In class: Use “From Rough Draft to Completed Paper,” and “A Summary of the Process” to discuss the drafting process as students revise and peer review first draft to middle draft and middle draft to final draft.
Writing Prompt:
This unit deals primarily with the idea of family—how individuals define it, the different family structures that exist, and the ways in which family can be influential in a person’s life. Along with these basic subtopics of family, this unit also incorporates issues like culture, race, gender and economic status into the discussion. Indeed, family is a complex notion, and its presence in our lives is integral to how we develop and process the world(s) around us. In this paper, you need to explore the concept of family through at least two of the works. You need to identify how the individual works define family and what particular facet of family life is discussed, and then identify how the works you’ve chosen speak to one another as well as the larger issue. In this first paper, you want to employ the literary analysis and close reading techniques that have been discussed in class. Root your central claim/argument in the texts, show where you see evidence of your claim, and be certain to clearly explain to your audience why and what about this issue is significant to a discussion of family.
Unit Two: Home and Fences
Week 4: Home
Possible Readings and Study Questions:
-Amy Tan, “A Pair of Tickets,” study questions: 2
-Luis Cabalquinto, “Hometown,” study questions: 1, 2
-Maurice Kenny, “Going Home,”study questions: 7
-Edward Hirsch, “In a Polish Home for the Aged (Chicago, 1983),” study questions: 1, 6
-Audre Lord, “Home,” study questions: 2, 4
-Elena Padilla, “Migrants: Transients or Settlers?,” study questions: 4, 5
-Edward Said, “Reflections on Exile,” study questions: 1, 3
-Afterword: “Point of View” and “Words”
In class: Literary analysis work, focus on theme of “Home” and discuss “Point of View” and “Words.”
Week 5: Fences
Possible Readings and Study Questions:
-David Leavitt, “A Place I’ve Never Been,” study questions: 1, 3
-Rita Mae Brown, “Sappho’s Reply,” study questions: 2
-Madeline Coopsammy, “In the Dungeon of My Skin,” study questions: 1, 2
-Cathy Song, “Lost Sister,” study questions: 2, 4, 5
-Laurence Thomas, “Next Life: I’ll Be White,” study questions: 1, 3
-Michelle Cliff, “If I could Write This in Fire I would Write This in Fire,” study questions: 1, 5
-Afterword: “Expectation” and “Conflict and Structure”
-“Constructing Reasonable Arguments,” A Writer’s Reference
In Class: Literary analysis work, focus on theme of “Fences” and discuss “Expectation” and “Conflict and Structure.”
Week 6: Drama
-August Wilson, Fences, study questions: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9
In class: Introduction to Drama.
Week 7: Drafting, Essay #2
In class: Read “Planning,” “Drafting,” and Revising sections of A Writer’s Reference. Class discussion of each as students work through each stage of the second drafting process.
Writing Prompt:
In your last paper, you worked with the idea of family. Home is often aligned closely with family, as family is commonly thought to be the way a house becomes a home. In this unit, we have considered what home means to different groups and individuals, as well as the concept of fences—an object that frequently encircles homes. In our readings, we have discussed the more social and metaphorical implications of fences, as well as homes. In this paper, you will need to choose at least one reading from either section and perform a close reading analysis of how the works come together to argue something about our idea of home and fences. The works might come together to make one similar claim or they might suggest different positions on a common issue. Your central claim must reflect the intricacies of the claims made by the chosen texts. Again, be certain to pay attention to the analytical and close reading techniques discussed in class and identify and clearly explain the significance of this issue.
Unit Three: Aliens and Crossing
Week 8: Aliens
Possible Readings and Study Questions
-Margaret Atwood, “The Man from Mars,” study questions: 1, 14, 20
-Mitsuye Yamada, “Looking Out”, study questions: 2
-Marcela Christine Lucero-Trujillo, “Roseville, Minn., U.S.A.,” study questions: 1, 2
-Sharon Olds, “On the Subway,” study questions: 3, 4
-Tato Laviera, “tito madera smith,” study questions: 1, 2, 3
-Perry Bass, “I Think the New Teacher’s a Queer,” study questions: 2, 3
-Etheridge Knight, “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane,” study questions:1, 3
-Leslie Marmon Silko, “[Long Time Ago],” study questions: 3, 4, 6
-Jack G. Shaheen, “The Media’s Image of Arabs, “ study questions: 1, 3
-Afterword: “Contexts” and “Myths and Symbols”
In class: Literary analysis, focus on theme of “Aliens” and discussion of “Contexts” and “Myths and Symbols.”
Week 9: Crossing
Possible Readings and Study Questions:
-Tobias Wolf, “Say Yes,” study questions: 3, 6
-Sandra Cisneros, “Bread,” study questions: 1, 4
-Wendy Rose, “Julia,” study questions: 1, 4
-Elizabeth Alexander, “West Indian Primer,” study questions: 2, 4
-Juliet Kono, “Sashimi,” study questions: 2, 3
-Michael Lassell, “How to Watch Your Brother Die,” study questions: 1, 2
-Lynn Nelson, “Sequence,” study questions: 1, 5
-Gogisgi, “Song of the Breed,” study questions: 2
-Cyn. Zarco, “Flipochinos,” study questions: 2
-Gary Soto, “Like Mexicans,” study questions: 2, 4
-Lynn Minton, “Is It Okay to Date Someone of Another Race?,” study questions: 2
-Alice Childress, “Wedding Band,” study questions: 6, 10, 12, 26
In class: Literary analysis, focus on “Crossing.”
Week 10: Drafting, Essay #3
Writing Prompt:
In our first two units, we analyzed the concepts of family and home and then introduced the idea of boundaries in the section about fences. In this unit, we turn to the concept of “aliens,” which speaks to a set notion of home/family v. others, and “crossing,” which ventures into what happens when we transgress the fences that have been established. Again, you are required to choose one text from either section. In addition, you need to incorporate a reading selection from one of the previous units that will help you to better develop your claim. Your central claim must reflect the arguments made within the texts chosen and identify and clearly state the significance of this issue to your audience.
Unit Four: Language and Beliefs
Week 11: Language
-James Alan McPherson, “I Am an American,” study questions: 5, 7
-Salli Benedict, “Tahotahontanekentseratkerontakwenhakie,” study questions: 1, 2
-Lorna Dee Cervantes, “Refugee Ship, “ study questions: 1, 3, 4
-Rita Dove, “Parsley,” study questions: 1, 4, 6
-Li-Young Lee, “Persimmons,” study questions: 1, 3
-Louise Erdrich, “Jacklight,” study questions: 1, 3
-Nora Dauenhauer, “Tlingit Concrete Poem,” study questions: 1, 2, 3
-Gloria Naylor, “Mommy, What Does ’Nigger’ Mean,” study questions: 2, 3
-Gustavo Perez-Firmat, “Limen,” study questions: 2
-Rudolph Chelminski, “Next to Brzesinski, Chelminski’s a Cinch,” study questions: 1
In class: Literary analysis, focus on “Language.”
Week 12: Beliefs
-Toshio Mori, “Abalone, Abalone, Abalone,” study questions: 4, 5, 6
-Helena Maria Viramontes, “The Moths,” study questions: 1, 5
-Louise Erdrich, “Fleur,” study questions: 1, 4, 5, 6
-Ishmael Reed, “I Am a Cowboy in the Boat of Ra,” study questions: 1, 2, 3
-Olive Senior, “Ancestral Poem,” study questions: 1, 4, 5
-Rafael Jesus Gonzales, “Sestina: Santa Prisca,” study questions: 1, 2, 3
-Alice Walker, “Revolutionary Petunias,” study questions: 1
-Cathy Song, “Heaven,” study questions: 1, 4
-Walter K. Lew, “Leaving Seoul: 1953,” study questions: 1, 3, 4
-Garrison Keillor, “Protestant,” study questions: 1, 2, 3
In class: Literary analysis, focus on “Beliefs.”
Week 13: Drafting, Essay #4
Writing Prompt:
We have explored the ways in which we create a sense of comfort, stability and security within our worlds and the ways in which these definitions can be challenged. In this unit, we turned to how we come to our definitions of home, family and other through our belief systems and the ways in which we reinforce or challenge established notions of these concepts through our language. In other words, this unit asked us to think about what informs our ways of thinking and how we actively create our worlds through language. In this paper, you need to choose two or three texts that speak to the same subject, but approach it from different perspectives. At least two texts must come from this unit, but you may draw from previous units for a work or two that help(s) to better develop your analysis. Be sure to do a close reading of all texts used and identify and clearly explain the significance of this issue (paying special attention to how multiple perspectives better elucidate the importance of this subject).
Week 14: Final Portfolio Review
Exam Period: Final Portfolio Submission. Due on final exam date (TBA). There will be a class meeting for one hour.
Helpful Information for Planning your Syllabus:
In order to help you plan your calendar the following link will take you to the academic calendar for Spring 2014:
The final exam schedule for Spring 2014 can be accessed here:
The link to Registrar’s page for withdrawal dates, etc.:
NOTE: Spring Break is March 10 – 16.
The last day of classes is May 6, which is a Tuesday, designated as a Friday. Only Friday classes meet on this day. Tuesday day and evening classes do not meet.