Spring 2008 English 942 Russ Castronovo

Office hours[1]: W 11:30-12:30, 2:30-3:30

Aesthetics and Politics in American Literature [sic]

Why “sic?” Why the acknowledgment of error? The reason is to contest several accepted about the location and function of literature. Foremost among these terms is “literature” itself since much of our reading, because of its political nature, has debatable aesthetic value. Does a treatise on lynching, for example, have literary status? Is Jacob Riis’s collection of photographs literature? A better question, perhaps, is to consider how such texts force reevaluations of categories such as “aesthetics,” “politics,” and “literature.” Another error—as you no doubt noticed with your opening reading in Kant—is that this course in American literature has a hard time abiding by national borders. We will want to probe how this slippage bleeds into other categories, creating instability in our usual aesthetic and political judgments.

Which is to say that amid so much error there is no “grand narrative” for this course. Some readings and pairing are experimental. Does Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt really fit our reading list? (Hint: its dubious fit is, in fact, the answer). Given the preponderance of error and experiment, this course is designed very much as a collective. So let me dispel a misconception right away: I have little wisdom to impart just as I have no set “take” that I’m pushing. Instead, I teach graduate courses because I’m interested in the unexpected meanings and possibilities that emerge from our shared discussion.

Finally, part of the seminar is designed as a practicum devoted to writing abstracts, delivering conference presentations, and preparing work for publication. How does one write a successful abstract of a conference paper? How does one deliver a conference paper, field questions, and engage in public professional activities?

Texts:

Jonathan Dee, The Liberty Campaign

Joan Didion, Democracy

John Dos Passos, The 42nd Parallel

Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

Charlotte Perkins Gillman, Herland

Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt

Jack London, The Iron Heel

Tom Paine, Common Sense

Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, On Lynchings

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1855 edition)

Requirements:

  1. active class participation: The seminar is committed to investigating issues that deserve debate as well as exploration via a diverse grouping of voices. To gain a sense of this contested ground, we need to create a contested, mutli-voiced conversation. We will often begin with a brief check-in as a way to set the agenda of our seminar discussion. I do not lecture.
  2. position paper: each student will produce a 2-3 page (single-spaced) essay about one of the critical/theoretical texts that accompany our readings. The goal is to present a cogent argument about a portion of our week’s reading. Our class will be helped not so much by a "report" as a brief summary followed by series of questions or an argument that problematizes the article in ways that will lead to an informed, lively, and intelligent conversation in class discussion. Your position paper should privilege intervention over synopsis. In order to give your colleagues an opportunity to prepare, it is essential that you distribute copies of your position paper via email at least 24 hours prior to Wednesday’s class.
  3. abstracts: How does one write a conference abstract? We’ll work on this aspect of professionalization by abstracting—one page (200 words maximum)—a critical essay as though it were drawn from research to be presented at a conference. Three students will do this at a time for the same essay, and then the class will collectively decide which one to choose.
  4. seminar paper: In 15-25 pages, students should design an essay that combines a number of texts (including critical/theoretical articles) to develop a critical argument. The goal is not to write an essay that offers a reading of a text, one that sees its job as the interpretation of the book’s meaning. Rather, the idea is to develop an argument that uses literary texts in combination with critical and historical materials to consider any number of issues including race, justice, the “literary,” propaganda, gender relations, national citizenship, and so on. To put it bluntly, no one cares about a reading of a literary text; what is important, however, is a reading of a literary text that in some way explores larger critical issues. This brief list is in no way intended to circumscribe your expression; on the contrary, it is intended to suggest a critical essay that accesses larger issues beyond textual interpretation. Don’t forget, though, that precise analysis of textual and cultural specifics remains a vital part of any critical argument.
  5. conference: The final two weeks of the class, we will have a mini-conference where each student will deliver a 5-page paper to be followed by questions and comments. Prior to this date, you’ll be submitting a conference abstract(not to be confused with “abstracts” in 3 above), which will help you both prepare your longer seminar paper and hone your skills of abstract writing. Roles of commentator will be assigned, too. Details will emerge as the semester progresses.

Schedule

1/23Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Judgment

1/30Tom Paine, Common Sense, “The Liberty Tree,” “Reflections on the Life and Death of Lord Clive,”The Crisis (I, II, VII); Wai Chee Dimock, Through Other Continents (selections) [Abstracts: group 1]

2/6Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass; Betsy Erkkila, “Whitman and the Homosexual Republic”; Lauren Berlant and Michael Warner, “Sex in Public” [Abstracts: group 2]

2/13Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives; Walter Benjamin, “The Author as Producer,” “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire”

2/20Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland, Theodor Adorno, “Commitment”

2/27Jack London, The Iron Heel; Leon Trotsky, Literature and Revolution (selections)

3/5Ida B. Wells-Barnett, On Lynchings; W.E.B. Du Bois, “Criteria of Negro Art”; Claude McKay, “The Lynching,” “If We Must Die”; “To the White Fiends,” Patricia Yaeger, “Consuming Trauma; or, the Pleasures of Merely Circulating” [Abstracts: Group 3]

3/12Jacques Ellul, Propaganda (selections); Jean-Paul Sartre, What is Literature?

3/19Spring Break

3/26John Dos Passos, The 42nd Parallel; José David Saldívar, Border Matters (selections) [Abstracts: group 4]

4/2Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt

4/9Langston Hughes, Selected Poems, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”; Richard Wright, “Blueprint for Negro Writing”; conference abstracts due

4/16Joan Didion, Democracy

4/23Jonathan Dee, Liberty Campaign; Amy Kaplan, “Violent Beginnings and the Question of Empire Today”

4/30presentations

5/7presentationsseminar paper due

[1] Also, I’m usually on campus either Monday or Friday, and I’m available to meet one of those days as well.