ENGL 4350 – AMERICAN REALISM
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT TYLER
TR 3:30-4:50 BUS 259
SYLLABUS
Fall 2015
To borrow a phrase from an English author’s novel:
“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” Charles Dickens
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Professor:
Karen Sloan, Ph.D.
Office:
Bus 247
Office Phone: 903-566-7460
Dept. Phone: 903-566-7373 (Ms. Holland)
E-mail:
ksloan@mail.uttyl.edu
Office hours by appointment
Gould Hudson River Estate
REQUIRED TEXTS AND EDITIONS:
 Cambridge Introduction to American Literary Realism.
Cambridge UP, 2011. ISBN 978-0-521-0510-4
 CHARLES CHESNUTT. Stories, Novels, and Essays. Library of
America ed. ISBN . 978-1-93108206-8
 WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS. The Rise of Silas Lapham, Norton
critical edition. ISBN 978-0-393-09165-6
 MARK TWAIN. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. U. of
California Press. ISBN 9780520266100
 EDITH WHARTON. Ethan Frome. Norton critical edition.
ISBN 978-0-393-96635-0
New York Tenement
SUGGESTED ONLINE RESOURCES—UT-Tyler & Internet:
UTT Writing Center
http://www.uttyler.edu/writingcenter/
Vandy Dubre, UTT Prof. Librarian http://libguides.uttyler.edu/profile.php?uid=1838
Robert Muntz Library
http://library.uttyler.edu/
Documenting the South
http://docsouth.unc.edu/
American Studies at U of Virginia
http://xroads.virginia.edu/
American Memory (Lib. Of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Bartleby.com
http://www.bartleby.com/
The Making of America
http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/m/moa/
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Study of selected authors and genres that represent American literary realism from the Civil War
through World War I (c. 1865-1917), with particular emphasis on contributions to a uniquely
American voice that explores social concerns through an aesthetic lens. In this course, we will focus
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 2
on the ways in which literary products of the period represent, respond to, and shape artistic,
intellectual, psychological, and political transformations in American society.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
At the conclusion of the course, the successful student will be able to
 name and apply the distinctive characteristics of American literary realism to specific texts
 understand the limits of the term realism to describe America after the Civil War
 analyze, compare, and assess selected works of American Realists
 situate Literary Realism within the larger context of American Literature
 select, apply, and assess the value of various critical methodologies
 provide personally and socially meaningful responses to what Roland Barthes once called the
“question par excellence": "Why the world? what is the meaning of things?”
GRADE PERCENTAGES:
Daily Activities
Oral Report
Papers
Examinations
35%
10%
25%*
30%
*There will be 5 paper assignments. You may choose any 3.
If you made below a C on a paper, you may request grade
replacement by writing a 4th paper.
GRADING SCALE:
A (90-100) Clearly demonstrates exceptional competence
B (80-89
Clearly demonstrates competence
C (70-79) Strongly suggests competence
D (60-69) Suggests incompetence
F < 60
Demonstrates incompetence
The Gross Clinic, 1875
A NOTE ABOUT ATTENDANCE, PARTICIPATION, ATTITUDE, AND INITIATIVE
FACE-TO-FACE CLASSES: My expectations of students include coming to class on time, silencing and
hiding all electronic devices, staying in the classroom for the entire period, attending class
regularly, completing all assignments by their due dates, enthusiastically participating in activities
whether graded or ungraded, and contributing substantively to discussions. Failure to meet these
expectations may result in a reduction of your final average.
HYBRID CLASS MEETINGS: When class sessions are conducted online, you are expected to complete
and post assigned tasks by stated deadlines. Failure to do so results in loss of points. Note: A hybrid
class meeting does not mean “class has been cancelled”; it means the meeting place is online rather
than in a physical classroom. Referring to hybrid classes as the equivalent of “no shows” is
inaccurate and misrepresents your instructor’s actions.
COURSE POLICIES & PROCEDURES
Attendance and Participation. Among other reasons for taking college courses is the benefit
derived from being a member of a scholarly community. Students marginalize themselves and do
their fellow scholars a disservice when they miss class, come unprepared, seldom share their
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 3
insights, or fail to take initiative. Performance in classes can influence your final grade for better or
for worse—it’s your call.
Absences. Excessive absences (generally 6) may result in unsuccessful completion of the course—
i.e., an F. You are allowed three absences, excused or unexcused, without penalty. Assignments may
be made up only if the absence falls in a university-designated category. I understand many of you
have responsibilities and obligations that may conflict with the requirements of this course.
However, I cannot in good conscience give special consideration to select students and/or modify
course expectations as explained in this syllabus.
Assignments. Unless I inform you otherwise, assignments are due on the date specified on the
weekly assignment sheet posted on Blackboard. A late paper receives a deduction of one full letter
grade for each class day past the due date. One week (the second class period after the due date) is
the latest I will accept a past-due assignment. If you need an extension, please discuss your
circumstances with me prior to the due date of an assignment. VERY IMPORTANT: Unless
otherwise instructed, all written assignments must be submitted on Blackboard using the
designated link. No exceptions. A Paper Format Sheet posted in Home Base on Blackboard explains
matters related to form and style when submitting written work. A major examination may be
made up at the discretion of the instructor. Written verification of an unavoidable absence must be
provided. The format and content of a make-up examination is subject to change and the level of
difficulty may be higher.
Daily Activities. You are responsible to follow each week’s assignments and stay abreast of
announced changes. Unless otherwise instructed, complete all assignments, whether or not they
are covered in class, as information regarding those assignments is considered important and may
be included on quizzes or tests.
Make-Up Work. Students may not make up grades for missed daily assignments, including quizzes.
Daily work accounts for 35% of your grade. Most students can miss two or three daily assignments
without influencing their final grade in the course. The only exception to the “no makeup” policy for
daily activities pertains to university-related absences. For policy on major papers and
examinations, please see "Assignments," above.
Extra Credit Assignments. I do not give work for extra credit. Period. Improving one's grade
average requires improving performance on regular assignments. I strongly encourage students
worried about grades to meet with me personally at their earliest opportunity.
Blackboard/Internet Access. Blackboard is an integral part of this course for a number of
reasons, including my ability to contact students both as a group and individually. You will need
Internet access for various tasks, including but not limited to downloading and printing course
handouts and/or readings. Printed copy of handouts, readings, and written assignments must be
brought to the appropriate class meetings. If you have problems accessing any required websites,
you are responsible for contacting itsupport@patriots.uttyler.edu. Please do not ask me to
troubleshoot; I have neither the knowledge nor the authority to fix most problems.
Class Etiquette. A breech of etiquette is any willful behavior that another member of the class,
including me, might plausibly find distracting, offensive, or irrelevant. (Common-sense policy:
when in doubt, don't.) Examples: (1) Electronic devices.: make sure they are silenced prior to class.
You may use electronic devices for class-related activities, but woe to the individual caught
checking social websites or playing games. (2) "Hall passes": Class periods are 1 hour and 20
minutes long. Leaving the room for any reason during class is considered a breach of class
etiquette. If you cannot devote the full 80 minutes to a class, please stay home. If an
unforeseen event occurs and you must leave in the middle of a class, do not return that day.
(3) Unauthorized small group interaction: Not allowed. Simple as that. If the discussion is on topic,
share it with the class; if it isn't, save it till later. Students who fail to respect these and similar
policies may be asked to leave the classroom and will be counted absent for the day. The negative
consequences of attending sporadically, attending without participating, and/or showing disrespect
for the academic setting are explained above, under “Attendance and Participation.”
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 4
Communication with Instructor. I encourage students to contact me throughout the semester by
email, phone, or in person for a previously arranged appointment. Very important: The SUBJECT
LINE of any email you send me must include ENGL 4350 and your full name. If it doesn’t, expect to
receive a blank return email from me. Although I check my email regularly, including weekends,
please do not expect a reply to weekend emails (those sent after 4:00 pm Friday and prior to 9:00
am Monday). If an issue legitimately requires immediate attention, please mark it URGENT in the
subject line of an email or flag it “high importance.” Communication immediately before and after
class: This is NOT the time to relate information or submit unsolicited work that may in any way
affect your grade or that requires me to check a calendar. This includes but is not limited to early or
late papers. Chances are slim that I will remember our conversation and take appropriate measures
when I return to my office. Do not consider the information "delivered" unless you have
communicated it in an email or during an office visit.
UNIVERSITY POLICIES & PROCEDURES
Academic Honesty. All members of the UTT community are responsible for maintaining an
environment that encourages academic integrity. Any students or faculty member who witnesses
an observed or suspected case of academic dishonesty must immediately contact the faculty
member in charge of the assignment.
Since the value of an academic degree depends on the absolute integrity of the work done by the
student pursuing the degree, a student must maintain a high standard of individual honor in
scholastic work. Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, and
collusion.
"Cheating" includes, but is not limited to,
 Copying from the paper of another student
 Engaging in written, oral, or any other means of communication with another student; or giving
aid to, or seeking aid from, another student when not permitted by the instructor;
 Using unauthorized material during an examination or when completing
an assignment Taking or attempting to take an examination for another student, or allowing an
other student to take an examination for oneself
 Using, obtaining, or attempting to obtain, by any means, all or any part of an unadministered
examination or work assignment
"Plagiarism" includes
 unacknowledged incorporation of the work of another person in work that a student offers for
credit.
"Collusion" includes
 unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written work that a student offers
for credit.
Grade Replacement. If you are repeating this course for a grade replacement, you must file an
intent to receive grade forgiveness with the registrar by the 12th day of class. Failure to file an
intent to use grade forgiveness will result in both the original and repeated grade being used to
calculate your overall grape point average. A student will receive grade forgiveness (grade
replacement) for only three (undergraduate student) or two (graduate student) course repeats
during his/her career at UT Tyler. (2006-08 Catalog, p. 35)
Grade Appeal. Please refer to Section 2.05 of the Handbook of Operating Procedures, available
online at http://www.uttyler.edu/ohr/hop/
Disability Statement. "If you have a disability, including a learning disability, for which you
request disability support services/accommodation(s), please contact Ida MacDonald in the
Disability Support Services office so that the appropriate arrangements may be made. In
accordance with federal law, a student requesting disability support services/accommodation(s)
must provide appropriate documentation of his/her disability to the Disability Support Services
counselor. For more information, call or visit the Student Services Center located in the University
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 5
Center, Room 282. The telephone number is 566-7079 (TDD 565-5579)." Additional information
may also be obtained at the following UT Tyler Web address:
http://www.uttyler.edu/disabilityservices.
Social Security Statement. It is the policy of The University of Texas at Tyler to protect the
confidential nature of social security numbers. The University has changed its computer
programming so that all students have an identification number. Students are responsible to know
their i.d. numbers.
Note Regarding Student Absence due to Religious Observance. Students who anticipate being
absent from class due to a religious observance are requested to inform the instructor by the
second class meeting of the semester.
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 6
TENTATIVE READING SCHEDULE & Projected Due Dates for Major Assignments
Note: The schedule below provides an overview of major reading assignments as well as
anticipated due dates for major assignments (e.g., two major examinations and 3 short papers).
Information such as study questions, group assignments, and paper topics is located on Weekly
Assignment Sheets posted on Blackboard.
LEGEND (abbreviations) in alphabetical order:
ALR
= Cambridge Introduction to American Literary Realism
BB
= Document located on Blackboard in Weekly Module
Chesnutt
= Chesnutt: Stories, Novels, and Essays (Library of America)
Film
= movie you are responsible to access and watch prior to class
Frome
= Ethan Frome
Huck Finn
= Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
LIB
= a Muntz Library Database
RSL
= The Rise of Silas Lapham
Web
= Online text (url is provided)
UNIT I INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LITERARY REALISM
WEEK ONE 08/25 & 08/27
Tuesday 08/25
 Introduction to the course and the precursors of American literary realism (chapter 1 of
Cambridge ALR)
Thursday 08/27
READ:
 ALR: preface and chapter 3 “Creating the ‘Odour” of the Real: Techniques of Realism”
UNIT 2 GENDER & THE WOMAN QUESTION
WEEK TWO 09/01 & 09/03
Monday 08/31
Labor Day Holiday
Tuesday 09/01
READ:
1. ALR: chapter 8 “Certain Facts of Life” pp. 134-141
2. LIB and BB: Alice Preston, “The Things of Girls: A Talk about the Girl at
Home” Ladies Home Journal Jan. 1906 (American Periodicals Series Online)
3. BB: “The Yellow Wall-Paper”
4. BB: “Why I Wrote the Yellow Wall-Paper” (very short essay)
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 7
Thursday 09/03
READ:
1. Web & BB: Chopin, “A Point at Issue” http://americanliterature.com/author/kate-chopin/shortstory/a-point-at-issue
2.
3.
Web& BB: Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” http://www.katechopin.org/story-hour/
Web & BB: Chopin, “A Pair of Silk Stockings”
http://www.pbs.org/katechopin/library/silkstockings.html
NOTE: You must have all of Ethan Frome read one week from today. It’s not a lengthy novel, but you
may wish to begin reading now.
WEEK THREE
09/08 & 09/10
Tuesday 09/08
READ:
1. ALR: chapter 5 “’Democracy in Literature?’ Literary Regionalism” pp. 74-86
2. Web & BB: Freeman, “A New England Nun”
http://wilkinsfreeman.info/Short/NewEnglandNunNEN.htm
3. Web & BB: Freeman, “Louisa”
http://wilkinsfreeman.info/Short/LouisaNEN.htm
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Thursday, 09/10
READ:
 Ethan Frome: Introduction to the 1922 edition and the complete novella
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
WEEK FOUR
09/15 & 09/17
Tuesday 09/15
READ:
From Frome (included in the Norton critical edition):
1. “The Writing of Ethan Frome”
2. Contemporary reviews: The Nation, Hartford Daily Courant, Saturday Review
3. E. H. Van Deusen, “Observations on a Form of Nervous Prostration”
4. Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, “The Hysterical Woman…”
5. Judith Fryer, “The Spaces of Ethan Frome”
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Thursday 09/17
WATCH (prior to class):
 Film: Ethan Frome (film version starring Liam Neesen)
The movie may be available via this link: http://j.mp/1wzdPIZ
or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMLDxB3InFM
If not, you will need to rent or purchase it.
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 8
UNIT 3 GENDER: CRISIS OF MALE AGENCY
WEEK FIVE
09/22 & 09/24
Tuesday 09/22
READ:
1. ALR: chapter 7 “Crisis of Agency: Literary Naturalism, Economic Change, and ‘Masculinity’”
pp. 114-120
2. BB: Stephen Crane, “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky”
3. BB: Bret Harte, “The Luck of Roaring Camp”
WRITE:
 Short Paper #1 due
 DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Thursday 09/24
 Priority Filing Deadline for Fall Graduation
READ:
1. ALR: chapter 7, pp. 121-end
2. BB: Edith Wharton, “The Other Two”
3. BB: Theodore Dreiser, Excerpt from Sister Carrie
4. DISCUSS:
5. See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
UNIT 4 CAPITALISM AND CLASS
WEEK SIX 09/29 & 10/01
Tuesday 09/29
READ:
1. ALR: chapter 4 “Conflicting Manners: High Realism and Social Competition”—read entire
chapter
2. BB: Edith Wharton, “Roman Fever”
3. BB: Edith Wharton, “Xingu”
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Thursday 10/01
 EXAMINATION #1
Covers all assigned readings, reports, and class discussions
Up to this point. PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY: take good
notes during each class meeting. Do not expect a Study Guide
Edith Wharton
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 9
WEEK SEVEN 10/06 & 10/08
Tuesday 10/06
READ:
1. ALR: chapter 6 “’The blab of the pave’: Realism and the City,” pp. 95-102
2. RSL: chapters 1-9
3. RSL: “Composition”--W. D. Howells, letter to his father + three letters between W. D. Howells
and Cyrus Sulzberger
4. RSL: “Backgrounds”--Theodore Dreiser, “How He Climbed Fame’s Ladder” and Clark W
Bryan, “The Literature of the Household”
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Thursday 10/08
READ:
1. RSL: chapters 10-19
2. RSL: “Friends and Readers”—letters to Howells from John Hay, William James, Harold
Frederic, Owen Wister, and Henry James
3. RSL: “Critical Perspectives”—John E. Hart, “The Commonplace as Heroic in RSL”
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
WEEK EIGHT 10/13 & 10/15
Tuesday 10/13
READ:
1. RSL: chapters 20-end
2. RSL: “Howells and the Dilemmas of Realism”—Henry James, “William Dean Howells”; W. D.
Howells, “A Call for Realism”; Edwin H. Cady, “The Chief American Realist”
WRITE:
Short Paper #2 due
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Thursday 10/15—to be determined. Unless informed otherwise, assume #1
is the assigned reading.
#1. READ:
1. ALR: chapter 6 “’The ‘blab of the pave’: Realism and the City””: pp. 103-end of chapter
2. BB: excerpt from Stephen Crane, Maggie, A Girl of the Streets
3. Web and BB: Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities – Introduction
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5732/
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
OR
#2 READ:
 Edith Wharton, The Bunner Sisters http://www.gutenberg.org/files/311/311h/311-h.htm
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 10
WATCH:
 Filmed theatrical adaptation of The Bunner Sisters
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
UNIT 5 THE COLOR LINE
WEEK NINE 10/20 & 10/22
Tuesday 10/20
READ:
1. ALR: chapter 9 “The Unjust Spirit of Caste” pp. 154-156
2. Web and BB: Mark Twain, “A True Story, Repeated Word for Word a I Heard It”
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/twain/twain.html
3. Web and BB: Joel Chandler Harris, “The Wonderful Tar Baby Story”
http://www.uncleremus.com/stories.html
4. Web and BB: Joel Chandler Harris, “A Story of the War”
http://www.uncleremus.com/storywar.html
Note: If you have difficulty reading the dialect, you may find it helpful to read along with the
Librivox audio recordings located at https://archive.org/details/uncle_remus_librivox
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Thursday 10/22
READ:
1. ALR: chapter 9 “The Unjust Spirit of Caste,” pp. 157-162
2. Chesnutt: “Superstitions and Folkore of the South”
3. Chesnutt: “The Goophered Grapevine”
4. Chesnutt: “’Po Sandy”
Note: If you have difficulty reading dialect in Chesnutt’s short stories, try reading along
with an audio version provided by Librivox:
https://archive.org/details/conjure_woman_1204_librivox
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
WEEK TEN 10/27 & 10/29
Monday, 10/26 Last Day to Withdraw from a Class
Tuesday 10/27
READ:
1. Chesnutt: “Sis Becky’s Pickaninny”
2. Chesnutt: “What Is a White Man?”
3. Web and BB: Joel Chandler Harris: “Why the Negro Is Black”
http://www.uncleremus.com/negro.html
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 11
WATCH (prior to coming to class)”
 Song of the South https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLOqJBw62EM
WRITE:
 Short Paper #3
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Thursday 10/29
READINGS:
1. Chesnutt: “Her Virginia Mammy”
2. Kate Chopin: “Desiree’s Baby”
3. Chesnutt, The House behind the Cedars, chapters 1-8 (note: we will not begin discussing this
novel until next Tuesday)
WATCH:
 “The Lie of Silent Assertion” (dramatization of essay by Mark Twain)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnF-7bqyKuo
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED BUT NOT REQUIRED:
 Chesnutt: “The Wife of His Youth”
WEEK ELEVEN 11/03 & 11/05
Tuesday 11/03
READ:
 Chesnutt, The House behind the Cedars, through chapter 21
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Thursday 11/05
READ:
1. Chesnutt, The House behind the Cedars, chapters 22-end
2. Contemporary Reviews (1900): Boston Evening Transcript; Denver Times; [San Francisco]
Bulletin; Peoria Evening Star; Chicago Banker; Southern Workman
http://www.chesnuttarchive.org/reviews/HouseReviews/housecedars_reviews.html
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
WEEK TWELVE 11/10 & 11/12
Tuesday 11/10
WATCH (prior to class):
 Veiled Aristocrats
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 12
Thursday 11/12
1. ALR: chapter 9 “The Unjust Spirit of Caste,” 163-end of chapter
2. Web and BB: Toni Morrison, “Remarking Twain”
http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/huckfinn/huchompg.html
Huck Finn*, chapters 1-13
Notes re the novel:
 You are responsible for information in the “Explanatory Notes” 373-451”; my suggestion
is to read the notes associated with each chapter before you read the chapter and refer to
the notes a second time as necessary.
 You are responsible for the terms in the Glossary 452-57.
WRITE:
 Short Paper #4
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
WEEK THIRTEEN 11/17 & 11/19
Tuesday 11/17
READ:
1. Web and BB: Shelley Fisher Fishkin, “Mark Twain’s Inconvenient Truths”
https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=31965
2. Huck Finn, chapters 14-23
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts

Thursday 11/19
READ:
1. Huck Finn, chapters 24-31
2. BB: Other Authors Writing about Twain (William Dean Howells, Helen Keller, Rudyard
Kipling, T. S. Eliot, Sterling Brown, George Bernard Shaw, Ralph Ellison
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
WEEK FOURTEEN 11/23-27
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
“The observance of Thanksgiving Day -- as a function -- has become general of late
years. The Thankfulness is not so general. This is natural. Two-thirds of the nation
have always had hard luck and a hard time during the year, and this has a calming
effect upon their enthusiasm.” Mark Twain, Following the Equator
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 13
“Thanksgiving Day. Let all give humble, hearty, and sincere thanks now, but the
turkeys. In the island of Fiji they do not use turkeys; they use plumbers. It does not
become you and me to sneer at Fiji.” Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar
WEEK FIFTEEN 12/01 & 12/03
Tuesday 11/30
READ:
1. Huck Finn, chapters 32-Chapter the Last
2. Leslie Fiedler, “Come Back to the Raft Agin’ Huck Honey”
3. Jane Smiley, “Say It Ain’t So, Huck: Second Thoughts on Mark Twain’s ‘Masterpiece’”
4. Shelley Fisher Fishkin, “Jimmy” (from Was Huck Black?)
WRITE:

Short Paper #5
DISCUSS:
 See weekly assignment sheet for study questions/prompts
Thursday 12/02
 Examination #2
Covers all assigned readings, reports, and class discussions
covered after Examination 1. PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY: take good
notes during each class meeting. Do not expect a Study Guide
WEEK SIXTEEN 12/07-12/11
NO FINAL EXAMINATION IN THIS COURSE
INDIVIDUAL REPORTS1 & DUE DATES
For specific details pertaining to this assignment, go to Home Base on Blackboard.
09/01
09/03
09/08
09/08
09/08
09/10
09/15
09/17
09/22
09/22
“The Other Side of the Woman Question”
DR. SLOAN
Gilman, The Home: Its Work and Influence, ch. 2 & 3
DR. SLOAN
Lucy Stone: “The Progress of the Last Fifty Years”
“Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s Two New England Nuns
William James The Principles of Psychology, excerpt from chapter 10
“The Work of a Farmer’s Wife” and “A Criticism upon ‘The Work of a Farmer’s Wife’”
R. W. Gilder, “Certain Tendencies in Current Literature”
Carl Van Doren, The American Novel, chapter 6, Howells and Realism
Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”
excerpts from 1893 speech
Bret Harte’s General Introduction to the 1897 edition of his collected works
Signup sheet is on Blackboard—click the “Signup Sheet” link to access a list of reports and
presentation dates; “first come, first served.” See Home Base for detailed information about
reports and presentation.
1
Engl 4350 Fall 2015 14
09/24
09/24
09/29
10/06
10/08
10/13
10/15
10/15
10/20
10/20
10/27
10/29
10/29
11/03
11/03
11/05
11/05
11/10
11/12
11/12
Thorstein Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class, chapter 3—“Conspicuous Leisure”
Thorstein Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class, chapter 4—“Conspicuous Consumption”
Excerpt from Andrew Carnegie, The Way to Wealth
Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, chapter 21
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Women and Economics, chapter 3—sex distinctions among
humans
William Graham Sumner, What Social Classes Owe to Each Other--Introduction and
chapter 3
Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House, chapter 8, “Problems of Poverty”
Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, chapers 20 & 21, “The Working Girls
of New York” & “Pauperism in the Tenements”
Charles Chesnutt, “The Future American” and Van de Graaff, “The Unaided Solution of
the Southern Race Problem”
Joel Chandler Harris, Stories of Georgia: “The Reconstruction Period” & “The New
South”
Thomas Inge, “Walt Disney’s Song of the South and the Politics of Animation”
Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, chapters 5 & 14
W.E.B. Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk, chapters 1 and 3
The Tragic Mulatta
Sir Walter Scott and the American South: chapter 46 of Life on the Mississippi (Twain)
and part 4 “Chesnutt’s Parody of Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe”
William Andrews, The Literary Career of Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter 5
James Bryce, “Thoughts on the Negro Problem”
Thomas Nelson Page, “A Southerner on the Negro Question”
E. W. Kemble, “Illustrating Huckleberry Finn” and Kelly Anspaugh, “The Innocent Eye?
E. W. Kemble’s Illustrations…”
Carl Van Doren, The American Novel, chapter 7 “Mark Twain”