Wayne Stengel, American Fiction Since 1900
Spring 2017, English 4314/4315; CRN 28124, 28125; T/Th. 2:40-3:55; Irby 201
Office Hours: MWF 11:00-1:00, T/Th. 4:00-5:00; Phone: 450-5101 or
Course Description: This course will examine, in some detail, eight great American novels by established American writers who have contributed significantly to the idea of what accomplished American fiction might be in the twentieth and twenty-first century. Fitzgerald writing about affluence and conspicuous consumption and their influence on the American Dream; Hemingway writing about expatriate existence and a world and lives lived far from the strictures of America,and Faulkner investigating the privations and bigotry in the American South four decades before the Civil Rights Movement; each contributed mightily in form, language, and critical ideology to possibilities for the novel, not only in America but throughout the world. Steinbeck with his monumental, epic road novel about the displacements of the American Depression, The Grapes of Wrath, writes the most significant novel ofsocial criticism in American literature in the twentieth century, while Willa Cather and John Updike, in The Professor’s House and Of The Farm respectively, write slender yet more poetically distilled evocations of mundane American lives, small town lives, in works notable for economy, tenderness, and critical poignance. Philip Roth writes about a polio epidemic in Newark, New Jersey in 1954 in Nemesis, while Jennifer Egan finishes this course with her short story cycle examination of the effect of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll on an entire generation of nineties millennials with A Visit from the Goon Squad.
Course Objectives and Requirements: This class is designed so that you will read these novels with some care, aesthetic appreciation, and good attention to the form of each work, the wonderful, frequently poetic language in each novel, and the critical questioning of the values and norms of American life manifest in each. My only requirements are that you come VERY REGULARLY, AND NOT TARDILY, to each class session, that you attempt a good and inquiring attitude about each novel we are reading, and that you make an occasional response or pithy comment to one of the many questions that might come your way in the course of this semester. Try to avoid getting behind in your novel reading. BUT DO COME TO CLASS EVEN ON THOSE DAYS WHEN YOU ARE LESS THAN FULLY PREPARED.
TEXTS:
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
William Faulkner, Light in August
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Willa Cather, The Professor’s House
John Updike, Of The Farm
Philip Roth, Nemesis
Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad
Descriptions of Major Assignments and Examinations: There will be a mid-semester examination and a final examination. A final term paper will be due on the last week of classes, eight to ten pages for undergraduate students, ten to twelve pages for graduate students. Each of the students in the course will teach the conclusion of one of the novels in an oral presentation for the class on the concluding day of our discussion of the novel. After your presentation you will have until the next class meeting to write a careful and expanded version of your class presentation allowing you to explain, enlarge, and complicate the analysis you made to the class so that it is more interesting, persuasive, and thorough.
Grading Policies:
Class participation grade—10%
Oral presentation class teaching becoming written analysis—15%
Mid-semester examination—25%
Final examination—25%
Term paper—25%
Attendance and Drop Policies: REGULAR CLASS ATTENDANCE IS EXTREMELY IMPROTANT TO THIS PROFESSOR. MISS THIS CLASS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I TAKE THE CLASS ROLL REGUARLY, RELIGIOUSLY. MISSING MORE THAN FOUR (4) CLASSES IN THIS SEMESTER—A LUDICROUSLY RIDCIULOUS NUMBER OF CLASSES--WILL RESULT IN MY DROPPING YOU FROM THE ROSTER AND YOU RECEIVING A WF IN 4314/4315. YOU HAVE BEENADVISED.
The following Academic Integrity statement:
The University of CentralArkansasaffirms its commitment to academic integrity and expects all members of the university community to accept shared responsibility for maintaining academic integrity. Studentsin thiscourseare subjectto the provisions of the university’s Academic Integrity Policy,approved by the Board of Trusteesas Board Policy No. 709 on February10, 2010, and published in the Student Handbook.Penaltiesfor academic misconduct in this coursemay includea failinggrade on an assignment, a failinggrade in the course, or any othercourse-related sanction the instructor determines to be appropriate. Continued enrollment in thiscourseaffirms a student’s acceptanceof thisuniversitypolicy.
The following Americans with Disabilities Act statement:
The University of Central Arkansas adheres to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you need an accommodation under this Act due to a disability, please contact the UCA Disability Resource Center, 450-3613.
The following Building Emergency Plan statement (to be discussed in class/lab during the first week of the semester):
An Emergency Procedures Summary (EPS) for the building in which this class is held will be discussed during the first week of this course. EPS documents for most buildings on campus are available at Every student should be familiar with emergency procedures for any campus building in which he/she spends time for classes or other purposes.
The following Title IX disclosure:
If a student discloses an act of sexual harassment, discrimination, assault, or other sexual misconduct to a faculty member (as it relates to “student-on-student” or “employee-on-student”), the faculty member cannot maintain complete confidentiality and is required to report the act and may be required to reveal the names of the parties involved. Any allegations made by a student may or may not trigger an investigation. Each situation differs, and the obligation to conduct an investigation will depend on the specific set of circumstances. The determination to conduct an investigation will be made by the Title IX Coordinator. For further information, please visit: *Disclosure of sexual misconduct by a third party who is not a student and/or employee is also required if the misconduct occurs when the third party is a participant in a university-sponsored program, event, or activity.
Directstudentstofamiliarizethemselveswithall policiesincludedintheStudentHandbook,particularlythefollowing:
SexualHarassmentPolicy
AcademicPolicies
Information about the Timing of Student Evaluations
In addition to the requirements listed above, please consider including in your schedule for the semester information about the timing of student evaluations of the course and instructor. The information to be substituted for each “{insert date}” indicator is included in the Academic Timetable for each academic year (see the link under the heading Academic Timetable at
Evaluations (Fall and Spring)
Student evaluations of a course and its professor are a crucial element in helping faculty achieve excellence in the classroom and the institution in demonstrating that students are gaining knowledge. Students may evaluate courses they are taking starting on the Monday of the thirteenth week of instruction {insert date} through the end of finals week by logging in to myUCA and clicking on the Evals button in the top right.
Evaluations (IEP: Fall and Spring)
IEP LEVEL 1 and 2: It is important to evaluate your class and your teacher. UCA greatly values this process so we know students are learning and everyone is doing their job as best they can. Starting on Monday of the 5th week {insert date} , log on to myUCA. Lookin the top right corner and click on the Evals button. Make sure you are evaluating the correct class and correct teacher. This button will be there until the Sunday after classes are over.