515/415ScheduleSpring2012
Schedule for ENGL 515 and 415: Life and Literature of New Mexico
Spring 2012
Please note that usually a course “week” runs from a Wednesday morning to the
following Tuesday night. That includes the weekend plus two days thereafter to get your
week’s assignments done.
In addition to the assignments listed below, each week you will be writing one paragraph,
each, in response to two of my discussion topics and in response to two of your fellow
students’ posts regarding the week’s assigned readings. You may respond to more topics
and posts if you wish, of course.
In other words, you’ll be writing four paragraphs (or more, if you wish) each week in the
discussion forum as your class participation. For more details, see the individual weekly
links in the Learning Modules, found in the Course Tools menu. The weekly discussion
topics are found immediately after the weekly lecture. At the start of each course week I
will also post the weekly discussion topics in the forum.
I’m adding YouTube video clips as I find clips suitably illustrating some of our works
and topics. Such clips are recommended viewing to give you additional perspectives on
these subjects.
Week 1 (Jan. 9-17): Land of Enchantment
My lecture outlining the course and some of the topics, ideas, and questions we’ll be
considering about New Mexico’s variegated literature and culture.
Week 2 (Jan. 18-24): Writers’ Colonies
Cline, Literary Pilgrims
My lecture on the Taos literary colony
Week 3 (Jan. 25-31): Cather’s Perspective
Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop (through book five)
My lecture on Willa Cather’s ways of looking at New Mexico
Week 4 (Feb. 1-7): Cather (cont.)
Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop (finish)
Cather, “The Enchanted Bluff,” “Tom Outland’s Story”
(These two stories are available in the Handouts Folder on the course home page.)
My lecture on Cather’s sense of New Mexican myth and magic
Paper #1 assigned on Feb. 1st, due Feb. 22nd.
Week 5 (Feb. 8-14): The Black Range
McKenna, Black Range Tales (first eight chapters, plus “Pete,” “The Apache Passes By,”
and “Old Towns and Old Friends”)
My lecture on Black Range history and culture
Week 6 (Feb. 15-21): Cowboys
Rhodes, Best Novels and Stories of Eugene Manlove Rhodes: Paso Por Aqui and The
Trusty Knaves
My lecture on the life and times of Eugene Manlove Rhodes
Week 7 (Feb. 22-28): Cowboys (cont.)
Rhodes, Best Novels and Stories of Eugene Manlove Rhodes: Bransford of Rainbow
Range and “Consider the Lizard”
My lecture on Rhodes’s legacy
Paper #1 due Wednesday, Feb. 22nd.
Week 8 (Feb. 29 - March 4): Questions
A chance to review and ask questions about the course thus far.
Paper #2 assigned on February 29th, due March 28th.
Week 9 (March 5-11): Spring Recess
Week 10 (March 12-20): Edward Abbey
Abbey, The Brave Cowboy (through Part II)
My lecture on Edward Abbey’s writings
Week 11 (March 21-27): The Spirit of Defiance
Abbey, The Brave Cowboy (finish)
My lecture on Abbey’s vision
Week 12 (March 28-April 3): Pueblo Life
Silko, Ceremony
ENGL 515 students read the entire Silko novel this week; ENGL 415 students read the
first half, through "Note on Bear People and Witches."
My lecture on Silko’s varied cultural perspectives
Paper #2 due Wed., March 28th.
Week 13 (April 4-10): Navajo Mysteries
Hillerman, Skinwalkers
ENGL 515 students read this Hillerman novel this week. ENGL 415 students instead
finish Silko's Ceremony.
My lecture on Hillerman, Navajo life, and mysteries
(no lecture this week for ENGL 415 students)
Paper #3 assigned on April 4th, due April 25th
Week 14 (April 11-17): Cultural Crosscurrents
Anaya, Alburquerque (through chp. 12)
My lecture on Anaya’s kaleidoscopic vision
Week 15 (April 18-24): Modern Albuquerque
Anaya, Alburquerque (finish)
My lecture on changing cultural contexts
Week 16 (April 25-May 4): Dreaming Big
ENGL 515 students read Schweidel and Boswell's What Men Call Treasure
ENGL 415 students read Jameson's New Mexico Treasure Tales: Introduction and pp. 1115, 21-37, 39-61, 69-81, 93-98, 111-32, 139-57, 165-98)
My lecture on the land of enchantment, illusions, and dreams
Paper #3 due Wednesday, April 25th
For ENGL 415 students: Take-home essay final exam issued on Monday, April 30th, due
before noon on Thursday, May 10th (Final Exam Week)