Professor Vaughn Rasberry

The JFK Era in American Literature

Fall Quarter 2014

M-W, 2:15-3:45 pm

Office Hours: M-W, 4:30-5:30 pm and by appointment

**This syllabus is provisional and subject to change.**

The JFK Era in American Literature

Course Description:

Few U.S. presidents have exerted so great a fascination on the national—and global—post-World War II imagination as John F. Kennedy. As the 2013’s semi-centennial anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination attests, the production of films, television and multimedia programs, biographies, conspiracy theories, academic studies, and literary texts about the iconic JFK and his fabled, thousand-day presidency continues unabated. In this course, we will explore the attention Kennedy has drawn from writers and filmmakers in texts like Norman Mailer’s essay “Superman Comes to the Supermarket,” Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs, Don DeLillo’s Libra, Oliver Stone’s film JFK, Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Feast of the Goat, and Stephen King’s 11/26/63.

Another notable aspect of JFK’s presidency involves his administration’s effort to promote U.S.-style modernization globally (via initiatives like the Peace Corps and The Alliance for Progress). These efforts coincide with Kennedy’s unprecedented support for decolonization, especially in Africa. Yet how did the beneficiaries of this support perceive American development aid and modernization schemes—especially when compared with outreach from the Soviet Union, America’s rival in the Cold War?One aim of the course is to debate this period of U.S. foreign policy and to explore how writers and intellectuals—especially in the non-western world—reimagined JFK’s legacy in literary and other aesthetic forms.

Required Texts:

Lorraine Hansberry, Les Blancs

Mario Vargas Llosa, The Feast of the Goat

Don DeLillo, Libra

James Ellroy, American Tabloid

(Other readings are available electronically via Stanford’s library or will be uploaded on Coursework.)

Evaluation

Essay One: 35%

Essay Two: 35%

Reading Journal: 10%

Participation: 10%

Class Presentation: 10%

Essays:

Essays will be between 1200-1500 words in length. They should be typed, double-spaced, and in 12-point font. We’ll assign topics in advance; you’re also welcome to propose your own topic, subject to approval. You’ll also have the opportunity to revise the first essay for a higher grade.

Attendance:

Attendance and active participation are crucial to the success of this course. You may miss two classes without penalty, but each subsequent unexcused absence will result in a deduction from your final grade. I am not, however, inflexible about this policy: if you encounter some circumstance that leads to your prolonged absence, then let me know what is going on—just don’t wait until the end of the quarter to do so. Communication is key.

Reading Journal

Beginning next Monday (1/14), for each class I ask that you write about 150 words on the day’s reading. This practice is meant to give you an opportunity to reflect on our readings, to provide you with ideas to discuss in class, and to improve your writing. But the journal is also a site for exploratory thinking—your ideas needn’t be polished—that can serve as a catalyst for your essay assignments or other intellectual interests. I recommend that you identify a short passage that you reproduce at the top of the page (a sentence or two, or even a phrase) and reflect on why and how the writer uses those particular words, and to what effect. We’ll model some examples of this kind of thinking and writing in class.

Students with Disabilities

"Students with Documented Disabilities: Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066, URL:

Reading Schedule:

  1. Introduction: The JFK Era in American Literature
  2. Presidential Power and the U.S. Literary Imagination (1 week): Sean McCann, A Pinnacle of Feeling: American Literature and Presidential Government (available electronically on Stanford’s library);
  3. JFK and U.S. National Identity(1 week): Kennedy, “Courage and Politics,” in Profiles in Courage; JFK, A Nation of Immigrants (excerpts)
  4. Hip Figures and Postwar Masculinity (2 weeks): Michael Szalay, Hip Figures (available electronically on Stanford’s library); Norman Mailer, “The White Negro”; “Superman Comes to the Supermarket”; James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time; Douglas Taylor, “Three Lean Cats in a Hall of Mirrors: James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, and Eldridge Cleaver on Race and Masculinity” (optional); Mary McCarthy, The Group (film screening)
  5. JFK andModernization Theory (2 weeks): JFK, “The Alliance for Progress” and “The Issue of Latin America”; Michael Latham, Modernization as Ideology (available electronically on Stanford’s library); Guy Reynolds, Apostles of Modernity: American Writers in the Age of Development (chapters 1-5)
  6. JFK and the Global South (2 weeks): Loraine Hansberry, Les Blancs; JFK, “The Challenge of Imperialism: Algeria,” “The New Nations of Africa,” and “The War in Indochina”;Hannah Arendt, On Violence; Mario Vargas Llosa, The Feast of the Goat; Mao Tse-Tung, “Statement of Support”; Malcolm X, speeches (in-class viewing); Gabriel García Márquez, “The Solitude of Latin America”
  7. JFK and the Counterfactual Imaginary (2 weeks): Hannah Arendt, “The Fate of the Union: Kennedy and After”; Don DeLillo, Libra; James Ellroy, American Tabloid;Oliver Stone, JFK (film); David Miller, Executive Action (film); The Warren Commission (film)

1