Study Guide for Exam 3 (Final): 1945-Present ~~ English 228 Spring 2012
The exam is based on class notes and readings, including printouts and
introductory/editorial materials on authors, “-isms,” terms given in class, and the
works we read from the text(s). Interpretations are not asked for on the exam. The
exam is composed of multiple-choice questions, some of which contain brief,
specific passages we discussed in class.
Know the following areas from readings and class notes:
Authors and Intro. material, from Intro. on America after N/E 2083-2092 to 9/11 writing
(see syllabus schedule).
Works, including titles, authors; for the individual works, you need know only those we
discussed in class; this is apart from issues listed immediately below that involve issues
associated with the works.
Know also these things concerning authors and works as we discussed them:
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author’s concerns (their interests and individual concerns in/for their
writing) and a brief example of how these appear in the works (an
example would be Lahiri’s interest in issues of her identity, even how she
feels about her name, for instance—something precise to Lahiri that
other authors we read do not share in quite the same way.
influences of various –isms/movements (Postmodernism,
deconstruction, etc.) upon the works; examples of where these appeared
in the authors we discussed.
Postmodernism (and its modes of discourse, central ways of “seeing” and
“thinking” about issues, and its various means of creation – as, for
instance, with collage, bricolage, etc.)
Postcolonialism (with requisite elements of, say, “Orientalism”)
characters, plots, major symbols, narrators/speakers, leitmotifs, themes
of works discussed in class
techniques/modes of and themes in writing we identified (and which the
Norton editors discussed) for individual authors
Terms (literary and otherwise) and Printouts/Handouts, content such as, but not
limited to, discussions of anomie, pastiche, bricolage, and diaspora, for example.
Class notes, of course, throughout this section of study, but also including
specialized points: such as, for instance (but not limited to) discussions of dark irony,
trauma, and the “world citizen.”
Tips for Studying
Study on your own (one way is to make flash cards for authors, works, themes, terms, etc.).
After you have studied on your own, meet and study with others from class, filling in gaps in
your notes and discussing issues.