Vöő Gabriella
Monday 12-14, A/424
ABNB090206, AFNB060402, ANNB 120302, AMNB 070302
Fall 2008
American Literature and Culture III
Themes, authors, primary texts
1
8 Sept.
Critical reading
Introduction to the course
2
15 Sept.
The Gilded Age
Mark Twain: “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg”
IAS: “The Loss of Innocence”
Thorstein Veblen: “Conspicuous Consumption”
3
22 Sept.
Henry James: Daisy Miller
Weisbuch: “Winterbourne and the Doom of Manhood
in Daisy Miller” (optional)
4
29 Sept.
The 1920s and the Jazz Age
Scott Fitzgerald: “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”
IAS: “The Twenties”
Pelzer: “Greatness in the Conception”
5
6 Oct.
Ernest Hemingway: “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,”
“The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber”
First essay due
Experiments in drama:
O’Neill: The Emperor Jones
Tyler: “The African Stories”
Modernist poetry
R. Frost: “Stopping by Woods . . .,” “The Wood-Pile”
W. Stevens: “Anecdote of The Jar,” “The Snow Man”
Ezra Pound: “A Pact,” “Canto I”
William Carlos Williams: “The Red Wheelbarrow,”
“Spring and All”
The poetry of the Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes: “The Weary Blues,” “Mother to
Son,” “Theme for English B”
DuBois: “Our Spiritual Strivings”
The interwar period and the Depression
John Dos Passos: excerpt from USA
Hirsch: “Helmet of Fire: American Poetry in the
1920s”
10
17 Nov.
The culture and literature of the South
William Faulkner: “A Rose for Emily”
Allen Tate: “I’ll take My Stand”
[critical interpretations of “A Rose for Emily”]
11
24 Nov.
Flannery O’Connor: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
DiRenzo: excerpt from “American Gargoyles”
12
1 Dec.
Test
13
8 Dec.
The 1950s and ‘60s: the Beat Generation
Allen Ginsberg: “Howl,” “A Supermarket in
California,” “Sunflower Sutra”
* Deadline for the second essay
6
13 Oct.
7
27 Oct.
8
3 Nov.
9
10 Nov.
Pawley: “The Black World of Eugene O’Neill”
Rampersad: “The Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance”
(CHAP)
IAS: “The Thirties”
Charters: “Beat Poetry and the San Francisco Poetry
Renaissance” (CHAP)
Texts
Texts have been selected according to availability: anthologies of American literature as well as volumes by
individual authors can be found in the library loan section (building A). Texts available electronically: on
CooSpace.
Background reading about historical periods and authors’ biographies is part of the reading assignments, so you
are advised to consult anthologies, and/or the “Knowledge Notes” on Literature Online
a) anthologies:
The Harper Anthology of American Literature, Vol. 2 or The Concise Edition
The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vol. 2.
b) Literature Online: http://lion.chadwyck.co.uk (from University server only)
Critical reading
Bradbury, Malcolm and Howard Temperley. Introduction to American Studies. New York: Longman, 1989.
(IAS)
Hirsch, Edward. “Helmet of Fire: American Poetry in the 1920s.”A Profile of Twentieth-Century American
Poetry. Ed. Jack Meyers and David Wojahn. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1991. 54-83.
Parini, Jay and Millier, Brett C. (eds.). The Columbia History of American Poetry. New York: Columbia UP, 1993.
(CHAP)
Pawley, Thomas D. “The Black World of Eugene O’Neill.” Ch. 15 of Eugene O'Neill in China: An International
Centenary Celebration. Ed. Liu Haiping and Swortzell Lowell. New York: Greenwood, 1992.
Pelzer, Linda C. “Greatness in the Conception: Fitzgerald’s Literary Career” Ch. 2 of Student Companion to F.
Scott Fitzgerald . Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2000.
Tyler, Lisa. “The African Stories.” Ch. 7 of Student Companion to Ernest Hemingway. Westport, CT:
Greenwood P, 2001.
Weisbuch, Robert: “Winterbourne and the Doom of Manhood in Daisy Miller.” New essays on Daisy Miller and
The Turn of the Screw. Ed. Vivian R. Pollak. Cambridge; New York: Cambtridge UP, 1993. 65-90.
Course requirements
1. Primary Reading: Students are kindly requested to come to class having read and prepared the text(s)
assigned in the reading and discussion schedule. Also prior to the discussion of a given author or period, they are
expected to revise the lecture material.
2. Criticism: Essays indicated in the “Critical reading” section are compulsory reading unless otherwise stated;
class discussion will rely on both primary and secondary material. There will be random tests checking the
primary and secondary readings.
3. Tests and essay: There will be random testing of readings, a test, as well as two essays of about 2500 words
length required for this course. The first, shorter essay (due on October 6th) will be focused on the analysis of a
literary work, the second, research essay (due on December 8th) will discuss a literary work in its cultural
context. Please note that your argument must be supported by at least 4 critical works, which must be cited as
references. You can use the critical material listed in the syllabus, or you may do some individual research in the
library or in the Literature Online (Chadwyck) database (‘Criticism and Reference’ section). All reference
material should be properly credited.
Format of the essay: MLA (please consult the MLA Style Crib Sheet
at:http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/ , http://www.docstyles.com/mlacrib.htm ,
http://www.arthes.com/composition/mla.html
Presentation: Each student must be actively involved in two in-depth discussions of an author, poem or theme.
Assignments will be given to students individually.
Grading will be based on students’ accomplishments in the test (30%), the essays and class work (40+30%).
Attendance: No more than two absences are acceptable without excuse.