AML 2070: Survey of American Literature
Instructor: Aniruddha Mukhopadhyay
Section: 1625
Email:
Class meetings: MWF, Period 9, 7 Matherly
Office:
Office hours: Mondays 1-3 pm.
Class Description
AML 2070 is titled Survey of American Literature and we shall set about conducting that survey in reasonable earnest right up to the early 20th Century. But what is America? How does a national literature originate? What are its characteristics and what is its relationship to the American character? Which works of literature get included in the canon that defines this American-ness? We shall pursue these questions and expect no simple answers. What will such an endeavor entail? A lot of reading and hopefully a lot of discussion in the class. It’ll be hard work – anything worthwhile almost inevitably necessitates labor – but somewhere in between all the intellectual exercise we might by sheer chance get to enjoy ourselves just a little bit.
Required Texts
- The Norton Anthology of American Literature Vol. A&B
- The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Cane by Jean Toomer
All of the above texts may be purchased at Goerings Campus Bookstore, 1717 NW 1st Ave. Gainesville, FL. Phone: 377-3703
Internet
WebCT access: Free service available through UF. Go to select VISTA, then University of Florida and log in using your Gatorlink username and password.
General Education Learning Outcomes
You must pass this course with a grade of C or better to receive 6,000-word Gordon Rule credit (E6). You must turn in all papers to receive credit for writing 6,000 words. A grade of D or better satisfies the University's General Education Composition (C) requirement. You must pass with a grade of C or better if this course is to satisfy the CLAS requirement of a second course in Composition (C).
AML 2070 carries General Education credit as both Composition (C) and Humanities (H) course.
Composition (C)
Writing is one of the most important skills students need to communicate effectively during their professional careers and lives. Composition courses focus on methods of writing, conventions of standard written English, reading and comprehension skills, and techniques in production of effective texts for readers in varied situations. "C" designated courses are writing-intensive, require multiple drafts submitted to the instructor for feedback prior to final submission, and fulfill 6,000 of the university's 24,000-word writing requirement.
Humanities (H)
The humanities requirement enables students to think critically about what artists and thinkers (past and present) have to teach us about the nonmaterial qualities of human beings and human values. In courses in the humanities, students become acquainted with the enduring products -- in words, sounds, paint, stone, metal, and many other media -- in which thoughtful and gifted human beings have attempted to meet our individual and collective needs for emotional, spiritual, or intellectual fulfillment. Humanities courses address major intellectual, cultural, and aesthetic achievements. Students consider questions of ultimate meaning and study human activities, artifacts, and values in the context of the ages in which they were produced.
Assignments
Presentation: You will have to make a 10 minutes presentation on a chosen work (could
be a work of literature, a film, music or any other suitable piece to be decided in consultation with the instructor) in class and then submit a write up of the presentation in about 1500-2000 words (5-7 pages) within the next seven days. Presentation counts for 25% of your grade.
Term Paper: This will be the most important assignment of the class. You will have to
pick a topic in some way linked to the subjects taken up in class and write a well argued, properly cited paper of around 2500-3000 words (8-10 pages). The term paper counts for 40% of your grade.
Response Papers: You will have to submit a 1 page response paper on each of the days
marked for Review on the syllabus schedule. Effectively that means there will be 6 response papers in all. You will be required to express your reactions to and opinions on the texts discussed up till that point in class. I will count the best 3 responses towards your grade. Response papers count for 15% of your grade.
Class Participation: This class will primarily depend on discussions and your
participation is of the utmost importance. The grade will depend not on the quantity but the quality of your contributions and the interest and enthusiasm that you display. Also please refer to the guidelines on classroom behavior, which will be an important aspect of your participation. Repeated tardiness will also hurt your participation grade. Participation counts for 20% of your grade and an additional 5 points.
Grading Scale
A90-100
B+89-87
B86-80
C+79-77
C76-70
D+69-67
D66-60
E0-59
A — Have to submit concrete, well-organized, grammatically sound, stylistically
competent, creative papers. Have to attend and participate in class regularly.
B — On submission of nicely detailed, generally well-organized papers with a few minor
mechanical/grammatical errors. Must attend and participate in class more than average.
C — On submission of papers lacking concrete detail, or with organizational weaknesses,
or with several grammatical/mechanical/stylistic errors. Also, if you miss more than 3 classes, only rarely participate in the discussions, occasionally get distracted and talk with others while class is in session.
D — On submission of poorly written papers with little development, weak organization,
etc. Also, if you miss more than 3 classes, only rarely participate in the discussions, clown around and talk with others while class is in session.
E — On non-submission, or submission of unacceptable or incomplete work, messy
rough drafts, wrong assignments, non-participation in class discussions, more than 3 absences, plagiarism, etc.
Grade Complaints
A complaint about one assignment needs to be discussed with the instructor. A student whose complaints have accumulated, and who is sure his or her final grade will be lower than desired, is to fill out a complaint form available in the English Office and submit this form in the English Office along with all work written during the semester as well as a record of absences and a review of class participation. A committee of faculty members will review the student's work and decide on the final grade. The committee may decide the grade should remain as is, be raised, or be lowered; the decision is final.
COURSE POLICIES
*Note: The syllabus is liable to revision at any given point of time during the semester based on the sole judgment and discretion of the instructor.
Attendance
Regular attendance is very important for this class. More than four absences will automatically result in a failing grade. Only absences involving university-sponsored events, such as athletics and or band, and religious holidays will be excused. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to catch up with the rest of the class. Assignments must always be turned in on time. If deadlines have been changed, or special instructions given out on a day you were not present it is your responsibility to get the information from your classmates.
Please do not come late to class; arriving late disrupts the entire class. If you are more than 10 minutes late, you will be marked absent.
Preparation
You are expected to be prepared for every class, including completing all reading and writing assignments on time. If we have a reading assignment due, bring the textbook to class for reference during class discussion. Failure to be prepared for, or to contribute to, discussions will lower your participation grade.
Submission Policies
All papers must be in 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced and stapled. Your name should not be written anywhere on the actual paper. Add a title page to each paper with your name, the name of the assignment, class, the instructor, on it and remember to mention the date of submission. For all papers you must submit a hard copy and send me an electronic copy by mail, either to my English account or through WebCT.
Your papers should be polished and presented in a professional manner. They should have proper citations and a working bibliography according to MLA guidelines.
Important: For every class period a paper is late, I will lower the paper’s grade by one letter grade. Nothing will be accepted after five calendar days (as opposed to class days) have elapsed. Even if you are unable to meet a deadline because of legitimate reasons (such as illness or any other emergency), you still need to give me prior notice to make appropriate arrangements.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious violation of the student academic honor code. You commit plagiarism when you present the ideas or words of someone else as your own. You commit plagiarism if you use without crediting the source:
Any part of another person’s essay, speech, or ideas
Any part of an article in a magazine, journal, newspaper; any part of a book,
encyclopedia, CD-ROM, online WWW page, etc.
Any idea from another person or writer, even if you express that idea in your
own words.
Important tip: There should never be a time when you copy and paste something from the Internet and don't provide the exact location from which it came.
All acts of plagiarism will result in failure of the assignment and may result in failure of the entire course. N.B. Plagiarism can occur even without any intention to deceive if the student fails to know and employ proper documentation techniques.
Unless otherwise indicated by the instructor for class group work, all work must be your own. Nothing written for another course will be accepted.
Academic Honesty
As a University of Florida student, your performance is governed by the UF Honor Code, available in its full form at . The Honor Code requires Florida students to neither give nor receive unauthorized aid in completing all assignments. Violations include cheating, plagiarism, bribery, and misrepresentation. Visit for more detail.
Graded Materials
Students are responsible for maintaining duplicate copies of all work submitted in this course and retaining all returned, graded work until the semester is over. Should the need arise for a re-submission of papers or a review of graded papers, it is the student's responsibility to have and make available this material.
Classroom Behavior
Please keep in mind that students come from diverse cultural, economic, and ethnic backgrounds. Some of the texts we will discuss and write about engage controversial topics and opinions. Diversified student backgrounds combined with provocative texts require that you demonstrate respect for ideas that may differ from your own.
Sexual Harassment
Please see the university’s harassment policies at
Students with Disabilities
The University of Florida complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Students requesting accommodation should contact the Students with Disabilities Office, Peabody 202. That office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation
Schedule
August
23rd – Wednesday – Introduction
25th – Friday – Christopher Columbus: “From Letter to Luis de Santangel…” and
“From Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella…”
28th – Monday – Bartolomé de las Casas: “The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of
the Indies”
30th – Wednesday – The Iroquois Creation Story; Mourning Dove: “Owlwoman and
Coyote”
September
1st – Friday – Adriaen van der Donck: “Why this Country is Called New
Netherland;” Cotton Mather [Pg 392-403]
4th – Monday – HOLIDAY
6th – Wednesday – William Bradford: Of Plymouth Plantation [Pg 157-179]
8th – Friday – Class discussion on writing term papers and making presentations; Review
11th – Monday – Mary Rowlandson: “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration…”
13th – Wednesday – Mary Rowlandson discussion contd; Presentation
15th – Friday – Crèvecoeur: “From Letter III” and “From Letter XII;” John Adams and
Abigail Adams [Pg 687-697]
18th – Monday – William Byrd: “From The Secret Diary of William Byrd…;” Benjamin
Franklin: “The Way to Wealth”
20th – Wednesday – Screening of Bend of the River
22nd – Friday – Screening contd…
25th – Monday – Discussion; Presentation
27th – Wednesday – Thomas Paine: “From III. Thoughts on the present State of American
Affairs;” Thomas Jefferson: “From The Declaration of Independence”
29th – Friday – Discussion
October
2nd – Monday – Review; Presentations
4th – Wednesday – Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The American Scholar;” Henry David
Thoreau: “Resistance to Civil Government;” Abraham Lincoln: “Second inaugural Address”
6th – Friday – HOLIDAY
9th – Monday – Discussion; Presentation
11th – Wednesday – Edgar Allen Poe: “The Raven” and “Ligeia”
13th – Friday – Poe: “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Cask of
Amontillado”
16th – Monday – Discussion; Presentations
18th – Wednesday – Conference on writing progress
20th – Friday – Conference on writing progress
23rd – Monday – Harriet Jacobs: “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl;” Frederick
Douglas [Pg 2043-2074]
25th – Wednesday – Discussion
27th – Friday – Review; Presentations
30th – Monday – James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans
November
1st – Wednesday – Discussion
3rd – Friday – Discussion; Presentation
6th – Monday – Review; Presentations
8th – Wednesday – Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn
10th – Friday – HOLIDAY
13th – Monday – Discussion; Presentation
15th – Wednesday – Discussion; Presentation
17th – Friday – Review; Presentations
20th – Monday – Presentations
22nd – Wednesday – Jean Toomer’s Cane
24th – Friday – HOLIDAY
27th – Monday – Discussion
29th – Wednesday – Discussion
1st – Friday – Review
December
4th – Monday – Summation
6th – Wednesday – Term Paper due