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Prof. Noelle Morrissette
Dept. of English
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
E-mail:
Office: 3135 Hall for the Humanities
Office hours: TR 12:30-1:30pm and by appt.
English 252-01: American Writers Realist to Modern
TR 11-12:15, GRAHAM 424
Course description:
This course provides a survey of American literature from 1865 to the present, focusing on the representational strategies employed by authors and ranging across historical periods and literary genres. We will examine how authors contribute to a national literary tradition by reworking ideas of literature and nationhood. Along the way, we will consider questions about the boundaries and various functions of both literature and nation, as well as the ways in which literary texts have addressed (or failed to address) America’s critical struggles over the extension of democratic principles across lines of race, class, and gender. Authors include Chesnutt, Dunbar, Twain, Stein, Du Bois, Johnson, Hemingway, Wright, Ellison, and Morrison.
Required texts (available at the University Bookstore in the Student Center):
Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition
Stein, Three Lives (an e-book through the library: http://www.bartleby.com/74/)
Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
Ellison, Invisible Man
All other required readings available on Blackboard.
Note: Students are required to bring a printout of Blackboard readings to class on the date they are discussed.
Course Requirements (please see below for description):
Participation as discussant (15%);
Response Papers (10%)
Reading Quizzes (25%);
In-class Midterm (25%);
Final Exam (25%)
Course Objectives (Learning Outcomes):
Based on the description above, this course is structured to produce the following learning outcomes:
1. Deepen students’ knowledge and appreciation of American literary history through the careful analysis of representative texts and authors. Students will improve their understanding of the personal, cultural, and political experiences of Americans as it is reflected in the literature of the period (post-1865 to mid-20th century).
2. Improve students’ knowledge and use of appropriate critical terminology used in the analysis of literary texts. This terminology will improve students’ ability to analyze and appreciate the formal and aesthetic qualities of literature and deepen their understanding of creative processes.
3. Enhance students’ skills in oral and written expression of critical thinking. Students will practice thinking critically about both the literature they study and the interpretations they produce by questioning the key assumptions operating in the literary texts they read and those that inform their own interpretations of those texts. Students will develop their own hypotheses, theories, and interpretations of the literature they read. Students will improve their ability to frame questions, analyze specific images, symbols, passages, and scenes, and to present interpretations of literary work in both oral and written formats. In written communication, particular attention will be paid to writing clear, concise sentences and paragraphs, structuring original analyses and arguments in a clear and compelling way, and documenting arguments effectively through the use of outside sources (if the instructor requires such research).
Pedagogical Method:
This course emphasizes discussion-based teaching, in which student participation animates the direction of the class material. Discussion will focus on facilitating a shared exploration of the meaning of the assigned texts through rigorous analysis of the text itself, consideration of it in relation to other authors, genre, periods, and theories surveyed in our readings. Students are expected to make these connections and foster discussion by addressing questions and comments to their classmates and by active listening.
Course Schedule (subject to change as per instructor):
Tu Jan 13: Introduction to course materials and requirements.
Morrison, “Black Matters,” from Playing in the Dark:
Whiteness and the American Literary Imagination (1993)
(Blackboard)
Th Jan 15: Local color: Sarah Orne Jewett, “A White Heron” (1886)(Bb); critical term: “regionalism” (Bb)
Tu Jan 20: Local color: Charles Chesnutt, “The Goophered Grapevine” (1887); “Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby” (Bb); critical term: “signifyin’” (Bb)
Due date: student-professor contract and student information sheet
Th Jan 22: Paul Laurence Dunbar, selected poetry (Bb);
“How to Read a Poem” (Bb); critical term: “vernacular”
Tu Jan 27: Herman Melville, “Benito Cereno” (1855) (Bb)
Th Jan 29: Melville, “Benito Cereno,” cont’d.; selection, Walt Whitman,
selection, “A Song for Occupations” [Leaves of Grass (1855)]
Tu Feb 3: Ralph Ellison, essay, “Hidden Name and Complex Fate”
(1958) (Bb)
Th Feb 5: Ralph Ellison, Prologue and Chapter One (“Battle Royal”), Invisible Man (1952). Audio: Louis Armstrong, “What Did I Do To Be So Black and Blue”
Critical term: Surrealism
Tu Feb 10: Ellison, Invisible Man, chapters Two (“Trueblood”), Nine, (“Mr. Emerson”) Ten (“Liberty Paints”) and Eleven (“What’s Your Name?”).
Due date: Response essay on Ellison’s Invisible Man
Th Feb 12: Ellison, Chapters 13 (“The Dispossession”), 25 (“The Briefcase”), and Epilogue, Invisible Man.
Tu Feb 17: W. E. B. Du Bois, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” and “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others,” from The Souls of Black Folk (1903) (Bb);
Booker T. Washington, excerpt, “Atlanta Exposition Speech” (1898) (Bb); critical terms: “double consciousness,” “stream of consciousness”
Th Feb 19: In-class midterm examination. No make-ups will be given. Bring two bluebooks.
Tu Feb 24: James Weldon Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
(1912), in entirety; critical terms: “cakewalk” and “passing”
Th Feb 26: Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, cont’d.
Tu Mar 3: Gertrude Stein, “Melanctha” (1911), in Three Lives;
critical terms: “modernism” and “cubism”
Th Mar 5: Gertrude Stein, “Melanctha,” in Three Lives;
“How Gertrude Stein is Twitter in 2010” (Bb)
Friday, March 6- Sunday, March 15th: Spring Break
Tu Mar 17: Amy Lowell, “Patterns,” “New Heavens for Old”; Dorothy Parker, “the Whistling Girls,” “Dilemma”
Th Mar 19: F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925) in entirety;
“Violence and the Modern American Novel” (Bb);
“The American language”(Bb)
Tu Mar 24: Fitzgerald, Gatsby, cont’d.
Th Mar 26: Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (1926), in entirety
Tu Mar 31: Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, cont’d.
Th Ap 2: Richard Wright, “Blueprint for Negro Writing” (1937)(Bb);
Ellison, “Richard Wright’s Blues” (1945)(Bb)
Tu Ap 7: Independent work: Response essay, Richard Wright, Native
Son (1940), Part One (“Fear”) (Bb);
critical term: “naturalism” (Bb)
Th Ap 9: Discuss and submit response essays in class.
Tu Ap 14: Chesnutt, Marrow of Tradition (1901) in entirety;
“Plessy v. Ferguson” (Bb);
Chesnutt, “What is a White Man?” (1889)
critical term: “realism” (Bb);
“Wilmington Riots” (Bb)
Th Ap 16: Chesnutt, Marrow of Tradition, cont’d.
Tu Ap 21: Review for final exam.
Th Ap 23: In-class final exam. No make-ups will be given.
Bring three bluebooks.
Outline of Course Policy and Requirements:
What you should know about plagiarism:
It is incumbent upon you, as a scholar, both to document the borrowings you make from the work of others and to report more general indebtedness to the people and books (and lectures, internet sources, et cetera) you have consulted in the course of preparing your papers. Plagiarism consists of intentionally misrepresenting someone else’s work, words, or insights as your own. Like any other form of intellectual dishonesty, plagiarism is a serious offense in an academic community. A paper that shows evidence of plagiarism will receive a failing grade of “F” and will lead to a failing grade of “F” for the entire course term. Every case of plagiarism will be reported to the University Honor Committee for disciplinary action, which may range from further reprimand to expulsion from UNCG.
Students are expected to adhere to the University Academic Honor Policy. See the UNCG Dean of Students website:
http://sa.uncg.edu/handbook/academic-integrity-policy/
Dean of Students Office:
The Dean of Students office oversees academic integrity at the university.
sa.uncg.edu/dean
On this webpage you will find the Academic Integrity Policy, which all students are required to uphold for this class and in the entirety of their studies at UNCG. Students are required to report violations to the policy to the appropriate instructor and the Dean of Students. Students who do not understand the academic integrity policy and/ or its application to a particular assignment are responsible for raising such questions with their faculty member.
Students are required to provide and sign the Academic Integrity Pledge on all exams and papers submitted in this class. The instructor will not grade your work until the signed statement is submitted. The instructor will not accept your work unless it is accompanied by the Academic Integrity Pledge. Any work submitted without the pledge will be returned and will be considered late.
Academic Integrity Pledge:
I HAVE ABIDED BY THE UNCG Academic Integrity Policy ON THIS ASSIGNMENT.
Student’s Signature ______Date ______
Learning disabilities:
If you wish to receive accommodations for a learning disability, you must formally work with the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services, formerly ODS:
ods.uncg.edu
Writing Center:
If you need additional help in writing your formal papers for this class, please consider visiting the University Writing Center. The WC offers online advising as well as face-to-face tutorials:
writingcenter.uncg.edu
Course requirements:
Student-professor contract signed by student (signed by January 16, 2014, or dropped from course)
Student information sheet completed by student
Participation as discussant (15%);
Response Papers (10%)
Reading Quizzes (25%);
In-class Midterm (25%);
Final Exam (25%)
You must complete all assignments to receive a passing grade for this class.
Late work:
The course moves at a rapid pace, so all work must be completed on time. Late work will lower your final grade. Late papers will be penalized by one letter grade per day, with a maximum of two calendar days. After two days, you may not submit your work for a grade and you will receive a zero for the assignment.
Classroom deportment:
Our classroom is a space that fosters and supports respect and collaboration. Do not interrupt class with private conversations, note-passing, or late arrival to class. Cell phones, PDAs, Blackberries, and all other electronic devices must be turned off at all times. Use of computers is not permitted without prior permission from instructor. Should you choose to ignore the policy of classroom deportment outlined here, you will be asked to leave the classroom for the duration of our meeting time. More than one infraction of the classroom deportment policy will result in a failing participation grade for the class and a mandatory disciplinary action taken through the Dean of Students Office.
Office Hours:
Every week I will be available in my office for consultation. Office hours are your opportunity to talk to me about the reading and writing process and the ideas that you develop on an individual basis. If you cannot make my office hours, you may schedule an appointment with me for another time.
Student-professor contract:
The last two pages of this course syllabus are a student-professor contract. By choosing to enroll in this course, students have entered into a contractual relationship with the professor. Students have obligations and responsibilities to the professor, as the professor has obligations and responsibilities to the students. These are outlined in the contract, which will be signed by each student and by the professor. The professor will return a copy to students and retain the original for her files. The Student-professor contract must be signed by each enrolled student by January 16, 2014. Students who have failed to sign and submit the contract as a hard copy to the professor by this date will be dropped from the course.
Student information sheet:
Students will respond in detail and with deliberation to the student information sheet, posted to Blackboard and available for download, as part of their participation/ discussant grade. Students must offer detailed, accurate, and well-reasoned responses to questions about their course of study at UNCG, their goals for the course, their related courses in the subject and/ or disciplinary area, and realistic employment goals. This worksheet is due in-class on January 20, 2015. Failure to complete and submit this form by the deadline will result in a failing grade in participation for the course.
Attendance:
Regular attendance is required. Attendance at all classes is required. Latecomers will be counted as absent. I will accept valid doctor’s notes and advance notice of religious observations only as excuses for absences. If you miss more than three classes, I will inform your academic advisor of your unsatisfactory standing in the class and your final grade will be lowered by one full letter grade per absence, starting with the fourth absence. If you miss more than four class meetings, I will drop you from the course.
Participation:
Regular, active participation is required. You must keep up with the readings in order to fulfill your obligation as a member of the class and a participant in the ongoing discussion. Your participation grade will reflect your demonstration of the on-time completion of reading assignments through active discussion. Our class is a seminar, not a lecture: your participation in classroom discussions is not only welcomed—it is required. I expect thoughtful comments and questions and active listening.
During the first week of classes, a sign-up sheet will be circulated, and each registered student will be required to sign up for four dates as a discussant. A discussant may raise questions or introduce observations about the assigned reading for the day. He or she is required to make a significant, thoughtful contribution to the day’s class discussion based on the assigned readings for that class reading. There are no make-ups for these dates of discussion. It is the student’s responsibility to sign up for four meetings and to keep track of which dates he or she has chosen. If you miss your designated dates as discussant, you will automatically receive a failing grade for the assignment (15% of your final grade).
Written work:
Note: All written work for this course must contain a signed statement of the UNCG Academic Integrity Policy: “I have abided by the UNCG Academic Integrity Policy on this assignment. Signature: ______Date: ______”
Reading Quizzes: the instructor will give impromptu quizzes on the assigned reading. These quizzes are in-class only and cannot be made up. Reading quizzes will be composed of three questions only. A quiz with all three questions answered correctly earns an A. One incorrect response is a B, two incorrect responses a C, three incorrect responses a D. Reading quizzes comprise 25% of your final grade.