ELIT 48C:
MAJOR AMERICAN
WRITERS 1914 TO PRESENT
Instructor: Amy Leonard
Office Hours: Mondays 10:45am11:45am in the F6-J
E-mail:
Leonardamy@fhda.edu
Website:
http://deanza.edu/faculty/leonardamy
Required Texts:
Baym, et al., The Norton Anthology of American Literature (7th ed., Vol. D—"Between the Wars 1914-1945")
Baym, et al., The Norton Anthology of American Literature (7th ed., Vol. E—"Literature since 1945")
About this Course:
This class will provide you with an examination of the major developments in American fiction during the
twentieth century and twenty-first century, including modernism and postmodernism, culture, race and identity,
and the politics of history and memory. The course will be set up as a tasting menu of American literature from
1914-the present so that you get a quick taste of each author’s style and place in the American literary cannon.
Some of the authors we will be sampling include but are not limited to Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Eliot,
Ellison, Miller, Rich, Vonnegut, Plath, Ginsberg, Tan, Cisneros, Williams, Mamet, and Morrison. Suggested
Prerequisite: Eligibility is recommended through successful completion of EWRT 1A.
Course Objectives:

Examine works by several major American authors that represent culturally and stylistically diverse voices
and perspectives, and engage in standard critical discourse for (Modernism, Post-Modernism, and
Contemporary literature).

Recognize and discuss major trends in American literature—post-1914—regarding stylistic, social,
political, religious, intellectual, and philosophical developments.

Develop literary historical awareness—a recognition of the way in which the past has shaped the present.

Acknowledge and account for alternate critical textual interpretations.

Relate various movements and genres of American literature to yourself and your surroundings, and
explore the contribution of literary texts to the human experience: culture and consciousness.
Attendance:
All class time counts and attendance every day is required. After four absences, you will be Withdrawn from
the course. Two tardies are equivalent to an absence. Students who are absent are responsible for all
announcements made, assignments given, and material covered. Students are also responsible for turning in all
assignments on time. Assignments turned in late will lose 1 full letter grade for each class day missed. Group
work, quizzes, and tests missed due to unexcused absences or tardies may not be made up. Note: If you are
absent any day the first week, I will drop you to give your spot to a wait-listed student.
GRADE SCALE:
97-100%=A+
87-89%=B+
93-96%=A
83-86%=B
90-92%=A80-82%=B-
77-79%=C+
73-76%=C
70 – 72 = C-
67-69%=D+
63-66%=D
60-62%=D-
59% and below=F
GRADING POLICY
Each of your assignments will receive points. Here is a list of the assignments you will do and the total points possible for
each assignment:
Assignment
5 Analytical Responses
Points
250
Percent of Grade
25%
Midterm Exam
200
20%
Final Exam
Participation
200
250
20%
25%
Quizzes
100
10%
Total
1000
100%
Assignments:
Analytical Responses: (50 pts each, 250 pts total)
In order to develop and appreciate the keen awareness of narrative/poetic forms, themes, images, literary styles/movements,
and historical contexts, you will be asked to write 5 detailed 1-2 pg analyses; each one must focus on a single quote of your
choice from one of the texts we read. The focus of your analysis should be on the (literary) details of the quote (tone, voice,
images, irony) and/or the narrative form as a whole (narrator, characterization, conflict). These short papers are in place of
a final paper, so please treat them as formal papers, not informal ramblings.
5 Literary Quizzes: (20 pts each, 100 pts total)
Because this class has a lot of reading, I want to make sure that you are keeping up with the reading and understanding it.
These quizzes will be a combination of short answer, analysis of a passage, and passage identification. The questions on the
quiz will be taken from texts that we discuss in class and texts we do not discuss in class, so make sure you read everything.
Midterm: (200 pts)
The midterm will be a combination of passage identification, true/false questions, and short answer. It is designed to make
sure you are reading and analyzing the texts assigned. This midterm will be take-home so that you can have time to think
about the questions and examine the texts. However, because it is a take-home exam, I expect in-depth answers, not frantic,
disjointed ramblings.
Final: (200 pts)
Because this class covers an enormous amount of literature, we cannot read everything. Your job for the final will be to
work in a team and prepare a short presentation on an author that we did not get a chance to read or that you think should be
included in the Norton.
Participation: (250 pts)
ELIT 48C is a discussion-based course. Your class “presence” will be public and you will be asked to express your ideas
about the texts regularly. Students are expected to do the assigned readings before each session and to come prepared to
discuss the readings in both small groups and class discussions. If you remain passive, you will do poorly. If you attend
every class but participate minimally, the highest grade you will receive for participation will be a C. You must be
prepared, engaged, and involved in the classroom community in order to succeed.
Class Policies:
Honesty:
I am interested in your ideas as well as how clearly you can discuss the ideas of others. If you use the ideas of anyone else
(printed, friends, on-line), acknowledge your source immediately in parentheses. If you use the words of a source, use quotation
marks and acknowledge the source. In general, plagiarism automatically results in an F for the entire course. If you are
uncertain about the rules for using a source, come see me before you turn in the assignment.
Politeness:
Please, come to class on time! Turn all cell phones and ipods off or to vibrate before class starts. Also, remember to be
courteous to everyone in the class, even when you disagree.
Late Work:
Please turn your work in on time. All late work will lose half a letter grade for every day it is late, but it is better to turn
work in late than not at all.
Written work:
Please type, double-space, and use 12-point font, use MLA formatting and citation style, and include your name on all of
our class assignments. If access to a computer will be a problem, please let me know and we’ll work out a solution.
About Course Content:
This is an adult level course; therefore, the subject matter of readings and discussions will contain adult material and will
not be censored.
The Reading Load:
This class is a literature class, so the reading load is high! You should expect to read on average 60-80 pgs a week, but
some weeks that will be higher. Do the best you can, and if you fall behind, it is your job to catch up, not the course’s job to
slow down. Also, the texts we read can and will be challenging, so please make sure to take good notes and come up with
questions as you read so that you can be prepared to participate in class. Finally, keep this in mind: the texts that disturb,
anger, or confuse you the most upon first reading are usually the ones that end up teaching you the most.
Note:
If you have any special circumstances that you feel may influence your performance in this class (a diagnosed learning
disability, physical disability, or anything at all that might interfere with your learning), please come chat with me so that
we can create a learning environment that works for you.
I look forward to working with and learning from all of you.
Amy
.
Important Dates:
1. Last day to add a class: April 17th
2. Last day to drop for a refund: April 17th
3. Last day to drop with no grade on your record: April 24th
4. Last day to drop with a “W”: May 28th
5. Holidays (College Closed): Memorial Day weekend May 29th-31st
6. FINAL: June 23, 11:30am-1:30pm (You Must Be Present at the Final to Pass the Class)
LIFELINES: These are the people you call if you miss class.
Name:
Phone:
E-mail:
Info:


ELIT 48C ASSIGNMENT CALANDER for Spring 2010
The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the syllabus and the assignment calendar during the course of the semester.
It is the student’s responsibility to stay informed about these changes.
Date
4/5
Reading Homework
In-Class Work/ Assignment Due Dates
Modernism and American Literature
4/6
Read: “American Literature 1914-1945” p. 1177-1190
Read: Edgar Lee Masters p. 1206-1209
EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON (1869–1935) 1209
Luke Havergal 1210
Richard Cory 1211
Miniver Cheevy 1211
Mr. Flood’s Party 1212
AMY LOWELL (1874–1925) 1349
The Captured Goddess 1350
Venus Transiens 1352
Madonna of the Evening Flowers 1352
September, 1918 1353
Meeting-House Hill 1354
Summer Night Piece 1354
St. Louis 1355
New Heavens for Old 1355
WORLD WAR I AND ITS AFTERMATH 1371
ALAN SEEGER: I Have a Rendezvous with Death . . . 1373
JOHN REED: One Solid Month of Liberty 1374
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: Letter of August 18, 1918, to His Parents 1377
E. E. CUMMINGS: From The Enormous Room 1379
JESSIE REDMON FAUSET: From There Is Confusion 1382
JOHN ALLAN WYETH, Jr.: Fromereville 1384
GERTRUDE STEIN: From The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas 1385
ROBERT FROST (1874–1963) 1388
The Pasture 1389
Mowing 1389
Mending Wall 1390
Fire and Ice 1403
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 1403
Home Burial 1395
After Apple-Picking 1398
The Wood-Pile 1399
The Road Not Taken 1399
CARL SANDBURG (1878–1967) 1436
Chicago 1437
Fog 1438
Cool Tombs 1438
Grass 1439
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS (1883–1963) 1462
The Young Housewife 1464
Portrait of a Lady 1464
Queen-Anne’s-Lace 1465
The Widow’s Lament in Springtime 1466
The Red Wheelbarrow 1469
The Dead Baby 1469
Death 1471
This is Just to Say 1472
SUSAN GLASPELL (1876–1948) 1411
Trifles 1412
WALLACE STEVENS (1879–1955) 1439
The Snow Man 1441
A High-Toned Old Christian Woman 1441
The Emperor of Ice-Cream 1442
Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock 1443
Sunday Morning 1443
The Death of a Soldier 1450
EZRA POUND (1885–1972) 1477
To Whistler, American 1479
Portrait d’une Femme 1479
Revenge against Small town life.
4/7
4/8
4/12
4/13
4/14
4/15
4/19
4/20
"an American dream gone awry.”
Imagist school
WWI and the American Author
Vernacular vs. Modernism
Feminist Drama
Literature Response 1 Due
Avant-garde poetry
Objectivist Poets
4/21
4/22
4/26
4/27
4/28
4/29
5/3
5/4
5/5
5/6
5/10
5/11
5/12
A Virginal 1480
A Pact 1481
H. D. (HILDA DOOLITTLE) (1886–1961) 1514
Mid-day 1515
Oread 1516
Leda 1516
Fragment 113 1517
MODERNIST MANIFESTOS 1499
F. T. MARINETTI: From Manifesto of Futurism 1500
MINA LOY: Feminist Manifesto 1502
EZRA POUND: From A Retrospect 1505
WILLA CATHER: From The Novel Démeublé 1508
WILLIAM CARLOS: Williams: From Spring and All 1510
LANGSTON HUGHES: From The Negro Artist and the Racial
Mountain 1511
T. S. ELIOT (1888–1965) 1574
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 1577
T. S. ELIOT
The Waste Land 1587
The Hollow Men 1599
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (1896–1940) 1822
Winter Dreams 1823
CLAUDE McKAY (1889–1948) 1686
The Harlem Dancer 1687
Harlem Shadows 1687
The Lynching 1688
If We Must Die 1688
LANGSTON HUGHES (1902–1967) 2026
The Negro Speaks of Rivers 2027
I, Too 2028
The Weary Blues 202
Theme for English B
COUNTEE CULLEN
Yet Do I Marvell
Incident
Uncle Jim
ZORA NEALE HURSTON (1891–1960)
How It Feels to Be Colored Me 1710
WILLIAM FAULKNER (1897–1962) 1858
Barn Burning 1955
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY (1892–1950) 1803
Recuerdo 1804
I Think I Should Have Loved You Presently 1805
[I, being born a woman] 1805
Apostrophe to Man 1805
I Too beneath Your Moon, Almighty Sex 1806
The Snow Storm 1806
I Forgot for a Moment 1807
E. E. CUMMINGS (1894–1962) 1807
Thy fingers make early flowers of 1808
in Just- 1809
O sweet spontaneous 1809
Buffalo Bill ’s 1810
the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls 1811
“next to of course god america i 1811
i sing of Olaf glad and big 1811
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond 1813
anyone lived in a pretty how town 1813
my father moved through dooms of love 1814
pity this busy monster,manunkind 1816
ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1899–1961) 1980
The Snows of Kilimanjaro 1983
EUDORA WELTY (1909–2001) 2146
Petrified Man 2148
JOHN CHEEVER (1912–1982) 2248
The Swimmer 2250
“Art for Arts Sake”
The Modernist
The Lost Generation
The Jazz Age
The Harlem Renaissance
Literature Response 2 Due
Southern Gothic Modernism
Political Poetry
The Avant-Garde Traditionalist
Literature Response #3 Due
Late Modernism and Southern Literature
Alienation in Suburbia
5/13
5/17
5/18
5/19
5/20
5/24
5/25
5/26
5/27
5/31
6/1
6/2
6/3
THEODORE ROETHKE (1908–1963) 2133
Cuttings 2134
Cuttings (later) 2135
My Papa’s Waltz 2138
Elegy for Jane 2144
I Knew a Woman 2145
Wish for a Young Wife 2145
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS (1911–1983) 2184
A Streetcar Named Desire 2186
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS (1911–1983) 2184
A Streetcar Named Desire 2186
ROBERT CREELEY (1926–2005) 2567
Kore 2569
I Know a Man 2570
For Love 2570
The Messengers 2572
The Birds 2572
Fathers 2573
DENISE LEVERTOV (1923–1997) 2502
To the Snake 2503
The Jacob’s Ladder 2504
In Mind 2504
September 1961 2505
What Were They Like? 2506
Caedmon 2507
KURT VONNEGUT (b. 1922) 2460
Slaughterhouse-Five 2461
Chapter One 2461
FLANNERY O’CONNOR (1925–1964) 2521
The Life You Save May Be Your Own 2522
Good Country People
RALPH ELLISON (1914–1994) 2297
Invisible Man 2298
Prologue 2298
Chapter I [Battle Royal] 2304
ARTHUR MILLER (1915–2005) 2325
Death of a Salesman 2327
Death of a Salesman 2327
Happy Memorial Day
POSTMODERN MANIFESTOS 2485
RONALD SUKENICK: Innovative Fiction/Innovative Criteria 2486
WILLIAM H. GASS: The Medium of Fiction 2488
HUNTER S. THOMPSON: From Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 2492
CHARLES OLSON: From Projective Verse 2493
FRANK O’HARA: From Personism: A Manifesto 2495
ELIZABETH BISHOP: From Letter to Robert Lowell,
March 21, 1972 2497
A. R. AMMONS: From A Poem Is a Walk 2499
AUDRE LORDE: From Poetry Is Not a Luxury 2501
ALLEN GINSBERG (1926–1997) 2574
Howl 2576
Footnote to Howl 2583
A Supermarket in California 2584
Sunflower Sutra 2585
To Aunt Rose 2587
On Burroughs’Work 2588
Ego Confession 2589
ANNE SEXTON (1928–1974) 2641
The Truth the Dead Know 2642
The Starry Night 2642
Sylvia’s Death 2643
Little Girl, My String Bean, My Lovely Woman 2645
The Death of the Fathers 2647
ADRIENNE RICH (b. 1929) 2649
Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law 2651
Midterm Handed out
Modern American Drama
Deconstructing Marriage
Black Mountain Poets
Metafiction
Midterm Due
The Post-Modern Southern Gothic
Racial Alienation
Tragedy of the American Dream
NO CLASS
Literature Response 4 Due
“The re-evaluation of the entire Western
value system”
The Beats
Confessional poetry and the construction of
self
6/7
6/8
6/9
6/10
6/14
6/15
6/16
6/17
6/21
6/23
“I Am in Danger—Sir—” 2654
A Valediction Forbidding Mourning 2655
Diving into the Wreck 2656
Power 2658
Transcendental Etude 2658
Shattered Head 2662
Five O’clock, January 2003 2663
Wait 2664
SYLVIA PLATH (1932–1963) 2698
Morning Song 2700
Lady Lazarus 2701
Ariel 2703
Daddy 2704
JOHN ASHBERY (b. 1927) 2603
Illustration 2605
Soonest Mended 2606
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror 2608
Myrtle 2619
AMIRI BARAKA (LEROI JONES) (b. 1934) 2743
Dutchman 2745
An Agony. As Now. 2758
A Poem for Willie Best 2759
Will They Cry When You’re Gone, You Bet
TONI MORRISON (b. 1931) 2684
Recitatif 2685
RAYMOND CARVER (1938–1988) 2827
Cathedral 2828
DAVID MAMET (b. 1947) 3040
Glengarry Glen Ross 3042
DAVID MAMET (b. 1947) 3040
Glengarry Glen Ross 3042
ART SPIEGELMAN (b. 1948) 3090
From Maus 3091
AMY TAN (b. 1952) 3154
Two Kinds 3155
ALICE WALKER (b. 1944) 3009
Everyday Use 3010
LOUISE ERDRICH (b. 1954) 3172
Dear John Wayne 3173
SANDRA CISNEROS (b. 1954) 3163
Woman Hollering Creek 3164
WRITING IN A TIME OF TERROR: SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 3205
From The 9/11 Commission Report 3206
JOHN UPDIKE: [Comment] from The New Yorker 3210
KIMIKO HAHN: Her Very Eyes 3212
PATTIANN ROGERS: Grief 3213
BRENDAN GALVIN: Fragments #1 and #3 3214
DAVID RAY: Six Months After 3215
NAOMI SHIHAB NYE: Shoulders 3216
C. D. WRIGHT: On the Eve of Our Mutually Assured
Destruction 3217
D. NURKSE: The Reunification Center 3218
The New York School
The Greatest Living American Author?
Minimalism and Dirty Realism
Post-Modern American Tragedy
Literature Response 5 Due
The Graphic Novel
Feminist Domestic Disputes
Feminist Identity Narratives
Post-9/11 World
Final Presentations