Genre Studies in American Literature:
The Fiction of the American 1920s
Course:
AN33006BA, Spring 2011
Time & place:
Wednesday 8:00-9:40; Kassai Bldg., Room 206
Instructor:
Zoltán Simon (zsimon@dragon.unideb.hu)
Room 118 (: 512-900 / 22069)
Office hours:
Tuesday 13:00-14:00, Thursday 10:30-11:30
Description:
This seminar is aimed at deepening students’ understanding and
appreciation of certain (mainly “canonical”, with attention to the
problematic nature of this word) works of fiction from the period
frequently regarded as a golden age of American letters, the “Roaring
Twenties.” While the course will be rather reading-intensive, requiring
students to read a excerpts from a critical monograph and 4 novels, as
well as some short stories, it also purports to be rewarding in terms of
revisiting themes and authors familiar from earlier courses and allowing
for more in-depth analysis and discussion. Types of skills to be
acquired and/or developed include close reading, critical analysis,
synthesis, speaking and presentation skills, research in the field of
literary studies, and academic writing.
Requirements:
The single most important requirement is that you should carefully read
and reflect upon the assigned texts for each of the class sessions, and
give evidence of this by way of actively participating in the discussions.
To help you think over your readings and your own interpretation of
them, you are required to prepare a short (approximately 250 words, or
1 page) and informal response paper on at least five novels/groups of
short stories assigned for reading. These are to be submitted at the end
of the last class when the given text is being discussed, so that you can
rely on them when articulating your comments. Occasionally you may
also be asked to read your response paper or parts of it in class. In
addition, each student will give at least one 10-minute oral presentation
on a pre-approved issue connected to the topic of the course. I will
propose some topics, and you can also come up with ideas for these
presentations. It is recommended that you prepare a handout for
distribution in class. The presentation is to be followed up by a 3-5page paper incorporating feedback received on your presentation, to be
submitted within a week after your presentation (separately graded).
Finally, there will be an in-class end-term exam, incorporating an essay
component, written on Week 11. Your final grade will be calculated on
the basis of the following: active participation in discussions,
presentation, follow-up paper, and end-term exam, at 25% each.
Recommended secondary sources:
Andrist, Ralph K., ed. The American Heritage: History of the 20's & 30's. New York.: American
Heritage, 1970.
Baughman, Judith S., ed. American Decades: 1920-1929. New York, N.: Manly, 1996.
Douglas, George H. Women of the 20s. Dallas: Saybrook, 1986.
Edey, Maitland A. et al, eds. This Fabulous Century. Vol. III. New York: Time-Life Books,
1969.
Herzberg, Max J., ed. The Reader’s Encyclopaedia of American Literature. New York:
Cromwell, 1962.
Hoffman, Frederick J.: The Twenties: American Writing in the Postwar Decade. New York: Free
Press, 1965.
Quinn, Arthur Hobson, ed. The Literature of the American People. An Historical and Critical
Survey. New York: Appleton, 1951.
Ruland, Richard and Malcolm Bradbury. From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A History of
American Literature. New York: Penguin, 1992.
Virágos, Zsolt K. The Modernists and Others: The American Literary Culture in the Age of the
Modernist Revolution. Debrecen: U of Debrecen: IEAS, 2008.
Schedule of classes and reading assignments
Week 1 – Orientation and introduction
Week 2 – Frederick J. Hoffman: The Twenties (hereinafter: Hoffmann), Chapter I: “The
Temper of the 1920s”
Week 3 – Sherwood Anderson: Winesburg, Ohio
Week 4 – F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”; “The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button”; “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”; “The Rich Boy”; “Babylon Revisited”
Week 5 – Sinclair Lewis: Babbitt
Week 6 – William Faulkner: “Country Mice,” “Mirrors of Chartres Street,” “Out of
Nazareth,” “The Kid Learns,” “Honor”
Week 7 – Willa Cather: Death Comes for the Archbishop
Week 8 – Consultation week
Week 9 – Ernest Hemingway: “A Very Short Story”; “Soldier’s Home”; “Big Two-Hearted
River”; “Hills Like White Elephants”; “The Killers”; Chapter II: “The War and the
Postwar Temper”
Week 10 – Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms
Week 11 – End-term exam
Week 12 - Conclusions, evaluation