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American Literature: 1865 to the Present
English 251-000
Spring 2009
MWF 10:40-11:30 am
White Hall 112
Dr. Brian Croxall
Callaway N313
404-727-4264
Office Hours: MW 3-4:30 pm
Digital Office Hours: TTh 9-10 am or whenever I’m shown as available at
TA: Amy Hildreth,
* I reserve the right to modify this syllabus.
Course Description
This course is a survey of American writing from the Civil War to the present. We will read essays, poetry, short stories, novels and drama, observing how their form and content shift and change in response to literary trends and the larger culture. Our investigation will identify common traits in literature that causes it to fit within three very broad historical categories—realism, modernism, and postmodernism. At the same time, however, we will track how these literary conventions are embraced differently by women, writers of color, and writers of different economic classes. We will track how these authors created a space for themselves and for others within a nation that became so powerful that the twentieth century has frequently become known as “The American Century.”
Goals
By the end of the semester, successful students should be able to:
- Identify stylistic, thematic, and ideological aspects of writing by many authors in different periods of nineteenth-, twentieth-, and twenty-first-century American literature
- Compare and contrast the work of different authors in terms of literary style, intellectual orientation, and historical and cultural perspective
- Identify and describe important literary/intellectual movements and understand how particular writers were shaped by and helped to shape those movements
- Develop arguments about how literature represents and engages social conflicts, both within particular texts and across a range of texts
Texts
The required texts for this course are
- The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volumes C (1865-1914), D (1914-1945), and E (Literature since 1945) (ISBN: 978-0-393-92994-2)
- Nella Larsen, Passing, ed. Carla Kaplan, Norton Critical Edition (ISBN: 978-0-393-97916-9)
- Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (ISBN: 978-0060931674)
Finally, there will occasionally be texts that are only available from Reserves Direct or online. You are required to bring a hard copy of these texts to class with you on the day that we will discuss them. If you don’t have the text with you, you will not be able to participate effectively in the class and I will consider you absent.
Assignments
Discussion and participation: In general, lectures will be held Mondays and Wednesdays; beginning on January 23, the class will split into two discussion sections, one led by the professor and one by the TA, on Fridays. Discussion sections will be held in Emerson 103 and Emerson 504. You will be assigned to a discussion section. While you should be prepared to discuss the assigned reading on every day of the course, your participation will matter even more on Fridays.
Weekly Writing: Each week you will complete a short (300-400 word) writing assignment that will be due on Friday. These assignments will ask you to look at particular passages or themes of the text for Friday’s discussion. Each paper will be graded on a scale of 1-10; 8 represents an average response, 9 a very good response, and 10 an excellent and insightful response. The first one will be due on 23 January.
Timeline: Throughout the semester, we will be building a dynamic timeline of the period we are studying. You will be responsible for researching and adding events to the timeline for two different years throughout the semester. Find details at
Wiki Class Notes: Class notes are, to borrow from a colleague of mine,“epistemologically weird.” On the one hand, they are an individual account of what you learned during a class. On the other hand, if your notes are too individualized or idiosyncratic it means you will have likely missed what was most important. To be effective, in other words, class notes should reflect the collective experience of the classroom. To this end, you will be working in groups this semester to create class notes using the course wiki. I will provide examples for the first few days of class. You will be assigned groups and start taking notes on 28 January.
Having a semester’s worth of class notes aggregated on the wiki will also help you see exactly how much work takes place in an English classroom and it will be a useful resource for reviewing material that you might have missed or when preparing for exams. I have been known to consult your notes on the wiki when preparing my exam questions.
Each group will write 4 entries on the wiki and the assignment is essentially worth 100 points total. Each entry is therefore worth 20 points. The remaining 20 points will be allocated at the end of the semester based on how a report that group members will make to me--privately--about how the group dynamic functioned. In other words, don't slack off; everyone must carry their own weight in this assignment.
Exams: There will be a mid-term and a final exam; both will consist of identification questions and an essay.
Grading
The grades for the assignments will be weighted as follows.
Weekly Writing: 10%
Timeline: 15%
Wiki: 10%
Mid-Term: 25%
Final: 30%
Participation: 10%
Policies
Attendance: You are allowed three unexcused absences, but if you must miss a class for any reason, you are responsible for obtaining the relevant notes and information from your classmates. If you have more than three unexcused absences, your final grade for the class will be lowered one grade level (if you have a B, it will become a B-). If you have more than six unexcused absences, you will fail the course. Absences because of a sporting event, a family vacation, or a hangover are not excused. Excused absences require documentation.
Late Papers: If you are absent the day an assignment is due it is still your responsibility to turn it in before class. Late work will not be accepted, except at my discretion (with a grading penalty). Assignment deadlines are not flexible.
Formatting of Papers: All papers in this course must be typed in 12 point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins and must be in MLA standard style format. Furthermore, the pages should be numbered in the upper right corner and must be stapled together.
Office Hours: My office hours are designed for you. I reserve those times to meet with you individually to talk about the readings, the assignments, or other concerns about the course or the study of English literature at Emory. If you have a recurring conflict with these hours, I am glad to meet with you by appointment. Furthermore, you should note that I am available to chat online during my Digital Office Hours, and I am frequently available at hours not listed. If I’m listed as available for chatting at or on the wiki, feel free to strike up a conversation.
Plagiarism: For over half a century, academic integrity has been maintained on the Emory Campus through the student initiated and regulated Honor Code. Every student who applies to and is accepted by Emory College, as a condition of acceptance, agrees to abide by the provisions of the Honor Code so long as he or she remains a student at Emory College. By his or her continued attendance at Emory College, a student reaffirms his or her pledge to adhere to the provisions of the Honor Code. Plagiarism is a serious offense and will be treated as such by both the University and myself. While we will be using other people’s work in our research papers, there is a fundamental difference between drawing on those sources and documenting them appropriately, and representing them as your own. The Honor Code is also detailed at
Students with Disabilities: Any student who, because of a disability or any other circumstance, may require special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should letthe professor knowand should register with the Office of Disability Services:
Counseling Services: Free and confidential counseling services are available from the Emory Counseling Center (404-727-7450):
Writing Center: The Writing Center is an excellent resource for writers of all skill levels. It offers assistance with all aspects of writing, including brainstorming, organization, thesis formation, style, wording, and revision. The Writing Center is located in the Callaway N212, and its website is
Schedule
Complete all assigned reading before coming to class. Please keep in mind that all reading assignments are subject to change. All page numbers refer to the editions/ISBNs that I have ordered. For some readings, you will download and print the text through the Reserves Direct system.
Jan. 14 W Introductions, Syllabus
Jan. 16 FFrederick Jackson Turner, from “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (Norton C: 1148-53)
Walt Whitman, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (Norton C: 21-25)
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Jan. 19 MMLK Holiday
Regionalism
Jan. 21 WMark Twain, from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 1-2, 14-20, 31 (Norton C: 108-114, 154-198, 243-249), “The War Prayer” (Norton C: 322-324)
Jan. 23 FJoel Chandler Harris, “The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story” and “How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox” (Norton C: 514-516)
Charles Chesnutt, “Goophered Grapevine” (Norton C: 688-696)
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Jan. 26 MClass canceled
Jan. 28 WSarah Orne Jewett, “A White Heron” (Norton C: 522-528)
Kate Chopin, “Desiree’s Baby” (Reserves Direct), “The Storm” (Norton C: 531-534)
Realism
Jan. 30 FCharlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (Norton C: 808-819) and “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wall-paper’?” (Norton C: 820)
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Feb. 2 MHenry James, “Daisy Miller,” (Norton C: 391-429), from “The Art of Fiction” (Norton C: 918-920)
William Dean Howells, from “Henry James, Jr.” (Norton C: 913-915)
Feb. 4 WEdith Wharton, “The Other Two” (Norton C: 830-843)
Naturalism
Feb. 6 FFrank Norris, “Fantaisie Printanière” (Norton C: 931-938)
Theodore Dreiser, from Sister Carrie (Norton C: 938-954)
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Feb. 9 MStephen Crane, “The Open Boat” (Norton C: 1000-1016)
Frank Norris, “A Plea for Romantic Fiction” (Norton C: 923-926)
Modernism(s): Poetry
Feb. 11 WWallace Stevens, “The Snow Man,” “The Emperor of Ice Cream,” “Sunday Morning,” “Anecdote of the Jar,” “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” “Of Modern Poetry” (Norton D: 1439-1456 passim)
Carl Sandburg, all poems (Norton D: 1436-1439)
Marianne Moore, “Poetry” (Norton D: 1531-1533)
Feb. 13 FWilliam Carlos Williams, “The Young Housewife,” “Portrait of a Lady,” “Queen Anne’s Lace,” “Spring and All,” “The Red Wheelbarrow,” “The Dead Baby,” “The Wind Increases,” “This Is Just To Say,” “The Dance,” “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” (Norton D: 1462-1477 passim)
E. E. Cummings, “in Just–,” “O sweet spontaneous,” “Buffalo Bill’s,” “‘next to of course god america i,’” “pity this busy monster,manunkind” (Norton D: 1807-1816 passim)
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Feb. 16 MFrost, “The Pasture,” “Mending Wall,” “The Death of the Hired Man,” “After Apple-Picking,” “The Wood-Pile,” “The Road Not Taken,” “Birches,” “Fire and Ice,” “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” “Departmental,” “Design,” “The Gift Outright,” “The Figure a Poem Makes” (Norton D: 1388-1410 passim)
Ezra Pound, “A Pact,” “In a Station of the Metro” (Norton D: 1477-1482 passim); from “A Retrospect” (Norton D: 1505-1507)
Modernism(s): The Harlem Renaissance
Feb. 18 WWEB DuBois, from The Souls of Black Folk (Norton C: 894-901)
Paul Laurence Dunbar, “When Malindy Sings,” “An Ante-Bellum Sermon,” “We Wear the Mask,” “Sympathy,” “Harriet Beecher Stowe” (Norton C: 1039-1044)
Feb. 20 FNella Larsen, Passing, Part One (1-34)
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Feb. 23 MNella Larsen, Passing, Parts Two and Three (35-82)
Feb. 25 WLangston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “Mother to Son,” “I, Too,” “The Weary Blues,” Mulatto,” “Song for a Dark Girl,” “Visitors to the Black Belt,” “Note on Commercial Theatre,” “Words Like Freedom,” “Madam and Her Madam,” “Madam’s Calling Cards,” “Silhouette,” “Theme for English B” (Norton D: 2026-2037 passim); from “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (Norton D: 1512-1513)
Claude McKay, “The Harlem Dancer,” “Harlem Shadows,” “The Lynching,” “If We Must Die,” “America,” “Outcast” (Norton D: 1686-1689)
Countee Cullen, “Yet Do I Marvel,” “Incident,” “Heritage,” “From the Dark Tower” (Norton D: 2060-2065)
Feb. 27 FMidterm Exam
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Modernism(s): Bridging the Wars
Mar. 2 MErnest Hemingway, “Big Two-Hearted River, Part I,” “Big Two-Hearted River, Part II,” “Now I Lay Me,” “Indian Camp” (Reserves Direct)
Mar. 4 WF. Scott Fitzgerald, “Winter Dreams” (Norton D: 1822-1839)
Mar. 6 FFlannery O’Connor, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” and “Good Country People” (Norton E: 2521-2543)
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Mar. 9 – 13 Spring Break
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Mar. 16 MArthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, Act 1 (Norton E: 2325-2357)
Mar. 18 WArthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, Act 2 and Requiem (Norton E: 2357-2392)
Mar. 20 FJames Baldwin, “Going to Meet the Man” (Norton E: 2508-2520)
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Kitchenettes, Confessionals, and Beats: Mid-Century Poetry
Mar. 23 MGwendolyn Brooks, “kitchenette building,” “the mother,” a song in the front yard,” “The White Troops Had Their Orders But the Negroes Looked Like Men,” “We Real Cool,” “The Blackstone Rangers” (Norton E: 2409-2420 passim)
Theodore Roethke, “Weed Puller,” “Frau Bauman, Frau Schmidt, and Frau Schwartze,” “My Papa’s Waltz,” “Dolor,” “The Waking,” “I Knew a Woman” (Norton E: 2133-2146 passim)
Mar. 25 WAllen Ginsberg, “Howl,” “Footnote to Howl,” “A Supermarket in California” (Norton E: 2574-2584)
Adrienne Rich, “Diving Into the Wreck,” “Five O’Clock, January 2003,” “Wait”
Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish,” “Sestina,” “In the Waiting Room,” “One Art” (Norton E: 2166-2184 passim)
Mar. 27 FSylvia Plath, “Lady Lazarus,” “Daddy,” “Words,” “Child” (Norton E: 2698-2711 passim)
Robert Lowell, “My Last Afternoon with Uncle Devereux Wilson,” “Memories of West Street and Lepke,” “Skunk Hour,” “For the Union Dead” (Norton E: 2392-2409 passim)
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Mar. 30 MCatch-up Day
Postmodern Pastiche
Apr. 1 WDonald Barthelme, “The Balloon” (Norton E: 2679-2683)
Hunter S. Thompson, from “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (Norton E: 2492-2493)
Ishmael Reed, “Neo-HooDoo Manifesto” (Norton E: 2844-2848)
Apr. 3 FThomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, 1-30
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Apr. 6 MThomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, 31-79
Apr. 8 WThomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, 80-152
Apr. 10 FJohn Cheever, “The Swimmer” (Norton E: 2248-2257)
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Postmodern Multiculuralisms
Apr. 13 MPhilip Roth, “Defender of the Faith” (Norton E: 2720-2743)
Apr. 15 WSandra Cisneros, “Woman Hollering Creek” (3163-3171)
Gloria Anzaldúa, from Borderlands/La Frontera (Norton E: 2935-2941 [second break], 2947-2955)
Apr. 17 FAlice Walker, “Everyday Use” (Norton E: 3009-3016)
Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” (Norton E: 2684-2698)
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Apr. 20 MJhumpa Lahiri, “Sexy” (Norton E: 3248-3264)
Apr. 22 WYoung-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, texts TBA
Apr. 24 FSherman Alexie, all poems (Norton E: 3239-3244), “Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock” (Reserves Direct)
Joy Harjo, all poems (Norton E: 3127-3134)
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Apr. 27 M Richard Powers, “Modulation” (Reserves Direct)
Closing Thoughts and Course Conclusions
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Final Exam
May 4 M 8:30-11:00 am