VARIATIONS ON THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN ADAM IN THE NEW WORLD GARDEN: READING
TEXTS FROM THE TEMPEST TO THE FIGHT CLUB
INSTRUCTOR: ILDIKÓ LIMPÁR
FRIDAY 12:30 P.M.
Week 1: September 13 Introduction
Week 2: September 20
William Shakespeare: The Tempest
Week 3: September 27
Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Rappaccini's Daughter"
(Background text: William Shakespeare: The Tempest)
Week 4: October 4
Ernest Hemingway: "Indian Camp";
Ernest Hemingway: “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”
Week 5: October 11
Eudora Welty: “Death of a Travelling Salesman”
Ursula Leguin: “She Unnames Them”
Week 6: October 18
John Cheever: "The Swimmer"
Richard Brautigan: “The Post Offices of Eastern Orregon” from Trout Fishing in America
Week 7: October 25
Amy Tan: “Without Wood” (a chapter from The Joy Luck Club)
Week 8: November 1: Holiday, non-teaching day
Week 9: November 8
Marilynne Robinson: Housekeeping (novel)
Week 10: November 15
Marilynne Robinson: Housekeeping (novel)
Sandra Cisneros: The House on Mango Street (chapters)
Week 11: November 22
Gerald Vizenor: “Feral Lasers”;
Louise Erdrich: “I’m a Mad Dog Biting Myself for Sympathy”
Week 12: November 29
Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club
Week 13: December 6
Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club
Week 14: December 13 Evaluation
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
ASSIGNMENTS:
 Reading the assigned texts at home;
 Coming to class with the texts and your notes; three absences are tolerated;
 Active participation in class;
 Writing occasional quizzes at the beginning of the classes;
 Handing in 4 mini essays;
ESSAY REQUIREMENTS:
 Topic: examine one or more aspects of the American Adam myth (focusing on the relationship
between man/civilization and nature) in the chosen work.
 Length: Using double space, Times New Roman character, 12 pts, normal margins of cc. 2 cms, the
essays should be about 2 pages long.
 Research and formal requirements: Two of the mini essays require the use of secondary literature
(at least two English language scholarly secondary sources for one essay). (You are encouraged to
use JSTOR and Project MUSE data bases, which are freely available from campus.) Your sources
must be acknowledged properly. (Preferred style: MLA, but all other systematically used citation
systems are accepted, too; if you use an internet source, make sure you give the exact link to the
source, too.) Plagiarism is not tolerated and results in automatic failure. Do not forget to cite your
primary sources properly, too.
 Deadlines: All essays must be about a piece that we discuss in class. You may write a comparative
seminar paper on two pieces if you would like to. The essays should be handed in before the (first)
discussions of the pieces you have written about. If you may not be present in the class where we
discuss the piece you have written about, you may hand in your essay the next time you turn up,
without any negative consequences. Final deadline to hand in either your last mini essay:
November 27.
 Manner of handing in: You need to hand in the mini essays as both printed documents and as
electronic documents emailed to my email address (limparildi@gmail.com). Use “doc” extension.