English 499 (2 credits/32852)—Masters of

Prose: E. M. Forster & Christopher Isherwood

Spring 2014

Location & Time: Thursdays, 9:30-10:50/Taper 106

Instructor: Dr. Chris Freeman

Office: Taper 410

Office Hours: Tues/Thurs 2-3pm and by appt.

Contact Info:

Course Description

English 499 is a special topics, 2-credit course. This class will focus on two 20th century masters of English prose, E. M. Forster (1879-1970) and Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986). We will also explore their era and their context.

These two men knew each other well—they met in the early 1930s and remained friends until Forster’s death nearly forty years later. Forster was a peripheral member of the Bloomsbury Group; Isherwood’s first two books were published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s Hogarth Press. Forster became known for his liberalism, his humanism, and his clean, precise writing. As a young writer, Isherwood saw Forster as a role model, but then, as he grew and matured as a man and a writer, there was a shift, as the younger man became a kind of role model for the older one. Isherwood moved to the United States in 1939 and lived the second half of his life in Los Angeles, much of that time in a relationship with a much younger man, the artist Don Bachardy. Forster admired Isherwood’s ability to be open in his life and, eventually, in his writing; Forster himself was never really able to live that way. He did write that way, but only secretly.

After publishing A Passage to India (1924), Forster published no more fiction. However, he wrote plenty and he had a literary secret, a gay novel he had written just before the outbreak of World War I. He allowed Isherwood and a few other close friends to read the manuscript. Isherwood was especially moved by the book, and this forged such a strong bond between the two writers that Forster left Isherwood the manuscript, which Isherwood saw it into publication in 1971. It nearly ruined Forster’s reputation. How that happened will be part of our course.

We will cover a representative sample of both writers’ work—fiction and nonfiction—as well as critical and biographical scholarship about them. Both men wrote about the writing process, so that will also be a concern in this class. Students will also present projects and research papers on other writers of their choice from this era. These projects will allow our course to cover the breadth of the period while also going in depth on these two important, masterful writers.

Learning Objectives

Students will come to understand and appreciate the work and legacies of Forster and Isherwood. They will also work to place the writers in various contexts, particularly in terms of literary modernism, criticism, the canon of twentieth-century literature, and in terms of the literature and criticism on sexuality of this era.

.

2 | Page

The Contract

In accepting this syllabus and becoming a member of this class, each student agrees to complete all assignments in a timely and serious fashion. You also affirm your commitment to the exploration of ideas in the liberal arts tradition, an exploration which is intellectual, creative, and respectful of others in the classroom. Your commitment to the quality and integrity of your work during the semester means that all work you hand in will be your own; any outside sources will be properly cited; and your work will be of the highest quality that you can produce. Plagiarism will have severe ramifications, and I will spot-check anything suspicious to ensure against it. If you have any questions about using outside sources, please ask me to help you.

As the instructor, my commitment to you is that I have put considerable thought into developing this course; that I will work hard to invigorate and challenge you during the semester; that I will read your work carefully and with an open mind and will value it; that I will be prepared for class but that my agenda won’t get in the way of your input; and that I will be available to help you in your writing and thinking about texts and issues we will be actively exploring.

Texts

Wendy Moffat, A Great Unrecorded History: A New Life of E. M. Forster—Picador (2011)

E. M. Forster, Howards End (1910)—Bedford/St. Martin’s (1996) if possible

E. M. Forster, Maurice (1913; 1971)—Norton (2006)

E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel (1927)—BLACKBOARD (selections)

Christopher Isherwood, Christopher and His Kind (1976)—University of Minnesota (2001)

Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man (1964)—Minnesota (2001 or 2009)

Christopher Isherwood, Isherwood on Writing, edited by James Berg—Minnesota (2007)

BLACKBOARD selections from The Isherwood Century and The American Isherwood (Berg & Freeman, editors)

Grading

§  One literary-critical essay (5-7 pp.) 300 points

§  One longer project and presentation 400 points

§  Take-home Final (Tuesday, 5/13 11am) 200 points

§  Class Participation 100 points*

*NOTE: Three unexcused absences will forfeit ALL 100 POINTS in this category, as you cannot participate if you are not in class.

Grading: A: 930-1000; A-: 929-895; B+: 894-870; B: 869-830; B-: 829-795, etc.

Schedule

(subject to change as needed)

/ Topics/Daily Activities / Readings and Homework / Deliverable/ Due Dates/etc.
Week 1
/ Getting to Know Forster and Isherwood / Moffat; Isherwood Century (intro, Bucknell) / Discussion of biography and period
Week 2
/ Foster’s masterpiece: Howards End /
HE chapters 1-17; Moffat
/
Discussion of style and modernism
Week 3
/ Howards End continued / Finish HE; watch the Merchant-Ivory film on your own / Discuss projects; Skype in Wendy Moffat
Week 4
/ Forster on Form / Excerpts from Aspects of the Novel; Moffat / Discuss essay one (due week six)
Week 5
/ Isherwood and the 30s / Read Christopher and His Kind; watch Cabaret on your own / Discuss essays and projects; choose topics for projects
Week 6
/ Forster’s Secret Novel / Read Maurice (half); Moffat; Summers on Maurice / Essay one due (5-7 pages)
Week 7
/ Maurice part two; being Isherwood’s openly gay novel / Read Single Man (half); Garnes from Isherwood Century; excerpts for essay in The American Isherwood (reader) / Discuss projects; presentations to begin week 10 (3 per week)
Week 8
/ Single Man continued / Finish Single Man; read essays from The American Isherwood (reader); watch CHRIS & DON on your own / presentations schedule announced; 10-12 minutes each; powerpoint or similar
Weeks 9 and 10
/ Isherwood on Writing / Read Isherwood on Writing / Skype: Jim Berg, editor of Isherwood on Writing; 5-7 pp paper due
Week 11
/ Forster, “What I Believe” and What Ish believes / Forster essay (pdf on Blackboard); Ish on Writing continued / Presentations begin (3-4 per week, 15 minutes each)
Week 12
/ Forster, “The Obelisk” / Blackboard; more on Christopher and His Kind / Presentations continue
Week 13
/ Isherwood in America / Blackboard: from The American Ishewood / Presentations continue
Week 14
/ More Isherwood in American / Essays from The American Isherwood / Presentations continue

Week 15

/ Wrap up discussion; course evaluations / Take home Final exam assigned (10% of grade) / Finish presentations; papers due

FINAL exam details

/ Take home essay assigned last day of class / 10% of course grade / Tuesday, 5/13 11am, via email

About the Presentations/Project

In order to place these authors into their historical and literary contexts, your projects will focus on writers and movements of their eras, from about 1900 until about 1980. Presentations of 10-12 minutes (and 6-8 page papers) will be done in rough chronological order based on the dates of your subject. Here are some potential subjects; feel free to propose others.

Virginia Woolf Leonard Woolf Anthony Burgess

D. H. Lawrence James Joyce W. Somerset Maugham

Radclyffe Hall Katherine Mansfield Lawrence Durrell

Samuel Beckett George Orwell P.G. Wodehouse

Aldous Huxley Edward Upward Muriel Spark

W. H. Auden Stephen Spender Kingsley Amis

Evelyn Waugh Truman Capote Agatha Christie

Gore Vidal Dorothy Parker

Dodie Smith Paul Bowles

Statement for Students with Disabilities

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Website and contact information for DSP: http://sait.usc.edu/academicsupport/centerprograms/dsp/home_index.html, (213) 740-0776 (Phone), (213) 740-6948 (TDD only), (213) 740-8216 (FAX) .

Statement on Academic Integrity

USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. SCampus, the Student Guidebook, (www.usc.edu/scampus or http://scampus.usc.edu) contains the University Student Conduct Code (see University Governance, Section 11.00), while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A.

Emergency Preparedness/Course Continuity in a Crisis

In case of a declared emergency if travel to campus is not feasible, USC executive leadership will announce an electronic way for instructors to teach students in their residence halls or homes using a combination of Blackboard, teleconferencing, and other technologies.

Statement on Student Behavior

Behavior that persistently or grossly interferes with classroom activities is considered disruptive behavior and may be subject to disciplinary action. Such behavior inhibits other students’ ability to learn and an instructor’s ability to teach. A student responsible for disruptive behavior may be required to leave class pending discussion and resolution of the problem and may be reported to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs for disciplinary action. These strictures may extend to behaviors outside the classroom that are related to the course.

2 | Page