English 204: Readings in North American Literature
Section 001/Spring 2007
Instructor: Emron Esplin
Email: emronesplin@hotmail.com
Office: 107 Morrill Hall
Office Hours: Wednesday 2:00-4:00pm
Days and Times of Class: M/W 8:30-9:50am
Classroom: Wells Hall c206
Course Description
While this course is catalogued as a course in North American literatures, I will teach this
section as a “Literatures of the Americas” course that will look across and beyond the
linguistic, geographic, and political borders that divide the Americas. This hemispheric
approach will allow us to read literatures from the United States, Mexico, South America,
and the Caribbean side by side in order to discuss the influence and affinities between
several American authors and to analyze some of the shared anxieties between writers
from several literary traditions.
Course Themes
As stated above, this is a “Literatures of the Americas” course; however, we have two
general themes that we will follow throughout the semester—detective/horror/fantastic
fictions in the Americas and portrayals of racial mixture in the American literatures. The
first theme could be considered a study of influence and affinity. We will read several of
Edgar Allan Poe’s detective stories, fantastic tales, and horror (or grotesque) stories.
Then, we will read several Spanish American authors who react to Poe by imitating and
parodying his writing or by expanding and improving on his methods. The second theme
allows us to compare the history of the United States (particularly the U.S. South) with
the histories of various Spanish American countries as we interrogate the portrayals of
racial mixture in texts from the U.S. South, Puerto Rico, and Mexico and discuss how
these depictions of racial mixture play a significant role in the creation of various national
identities throughout the Americas.
Course Structure
Most class periods will begin with 2 student presentations. The remainder of each class
period will consist of my lectures on the various authors and their texts/contexts and
small and large group discussions about the readings for each day.
Required Texts
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Borges, Jorge Luis. Collected Fictions
Quiroga, Horacio. The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories
Vasconcelos, José. The Cosmic Race
Faulkner, William. Go Down, Moses
Fuentes, Carlos. The Old Gringo
Course Pack
The six texts are all available at SBS. The course pack contains fiction, articles, poetry,
etc. I have placed 2 master copies of the course pack on 2 hour reserve in the library for
you to check out and make copies in the library copy center. You need to complete this
task during the first 3 weeks of class.
Grades
Exam 1
Exam 2
Presentation
Rushwrites/Quizzes
Participation
Total
900-1000
860-899
800-859
760-799
700-759
660-699
600-659
0-599
300 points
300 points
100 points
100 points
200 points
1000 points
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.0
Exams
Exam 1 will test what the students have learned during the first half of the semester while
exam 2 will cover the second half of the course. Each exam will contain a section on
text/author identification (both spot quote identification and author/text matching), a
section of short answer essays, and one longer essay.
Presentation
The hemispheric approach of this course assumes that while important cultural and
linguistic distinctions may divide the Americas the proximity, shared histories, and/or
continual cultural contacts connect the peoples, cultures, and nations of the Americas in
significant ways. Each student will prepare and present to the class a 7-10 minute oral
presentation in which they explain how a specific text, song, film, map, city, person,
product, object, etc. either creates or demonstrates connections between the Americas.
Each student will need to bring 40 copies of a 1-2 page handout that summarizes the main
points of their presentation for their classmates. Presentations that are less than 7 minutes
will lose points, and I will not allow presentations to go beyond 10 minutes. You may
use 1-2 minute music or video clips that are pertinent to your presentation, but
PowerPoint presentations will not be allowed.
Rushwrites/Quizzes
To ensure that the students are keeping up with their daily reading, I will occasionally
give oral pop quizzes. These quizzes will consist of 5 questions about the day’s reading
and 1 bonus question. On a more frequent basis, I will have the students complete small
writing assignments in class (rushwrites). Both quizzes and rushwrites are part of the
day’s activities and cannot be made up even if absent students have a valid excuse for
missing class. Each rushwrite and quiz will be worth 5 points. By the end of the
semester, students will have taken a total of 20 quizzes/rushwrites for a total of 100
points.
Participation
Student participation is an important part of each class period. I expect the students to
come to class having carefully read the material for the day and ready to discuss the
assigned texts. I will not keep a running tally of how many comments you make in class,
nor will I “grade” the comments that you do make. Instead, I will merely notice which
students are willing to participate in class discussions, which students respectfully listen
to the presentations of their classmates, and, contrastingly, which students do not.
Attendance in the class is mandatory, and it will count as a part of your participation
grade. Students can miss class up to 3 times without affecting their participation points.
After the first 3 absences, students will lose 20 participation points for each extra
absence. If you use up your free absences and then have a legitimate reason for missing
class, you will still lose the points. The free absences should be used for legitimate
reasons—sickness, job interviews, court dates, religious holidays, student/professional
conferences—and students should email me in advance to let me know when and why
they will be missing class. At the end of the semester, each student will self-evaluate
their own participation, and I will either concur or disagree with their evaluations. At this
time, I will also calculate the students’ absences into their participation grades.
Academic Integrity
In accordance with MSU=s policies on “Protection of Scholarship and Grades” and
“Integrity of Scholarship and Grades,” students in English 204 are expected to honor
principles of truth and honesty in their academic work. Academic honesty entails, among
other things, that students will not plagiarize. This means (1) students will not submit
someone else=s work as their own; (2) students will not knowingly permit another
student to copy and submit their work as that student=s own; (3) students will not use
unacknowledged quotations or paraphrases as part of their work; (4) students will not
copy any part of other students’ exams. As provided by university policy, such academic
dishonesty or plagiarism will be penalized by a failing grade on the assignment and/or the
course. Failure in a course as a result of academic dishonesty will also result in written
notification to the student=s academic dean of the circumstances. Additional discussion
of cheating or academic dishonesty is available on the Ombudsman=s webpage:
<http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/dishonestystud.html>.
Calendar
We will follow the schedule outlined below. If we get ahead of the schedule or fall slightly behind, I
reserve the right to shift the schedule accordingly. The second exam is scheduled by the university during
finals week, and thus, the date is not negotiable.
DATE
Monday
January 8
Wednesday
January 10
Monday
January 15
Wednesday
January 17
Monday
January 22
Wednesday
January 24
Monday
January 29
Wednesday
January 31
Monday
February 5
Wednesday
February 7
Monday
February 12
READINGS
Gustavo Pérez Firmat
“Introduction: Cheek to Cheek” (CP)
Deborah Cohn and Jon Smith
“Introduction: Uncanny Hybridities” (CP)
NO CLASS
Enjoy Martin Luther King Day
Edgar Allan Poe
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue”
“The Black Cat”
Edgar Allan Poe
“The Mystery of Marie Roget”
“The Masque of the Red Death”
Edgar Allan Poe
“The Purloined Letter”
“The Cask of Amontillado”
Edgar Allan Poe
“William Wilson”
“The Tell-Tale Heart”
“Berenice”
“The Raven,” “The Bells,” “Annabel Lee”
Jorge Luis Borges
“The Garden of Forking Paths”
“The South”
“The Circular Ruins”
Jorge Luis Borges
“Death and the Compass”
“The Aleph”
“Emma Zunz”
Jorge Luis Borges
“Ibn-Hakam al-Bokhari…”
“The Lottery in Babylon”
“Borges and I”
John T. Irwin
“The Dupin Tales’ Sequence…” (CP)
Horacio Quiroga
“The Feather Pillow”
“The Decapitated Chicken”
“The Son”
José Asunción Silva
“Nocturne III” (CP)
ASSIGNMENTS DUE
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
Wednesday
February 14
Monday
February 19
Wednesday
February 21
Monday
February 26
Wednesday
February 28
Monday
March 5
Wednesday
March 7
Monday
March 12
Wednesday
March 14
Monday
March 19
Wednesday
March 21
Monday
March 26
Wednesday
March 28
Monday
April 2
Wednesday
April 4
Monday
April 9
Horacio Quiroga
“The Pursued”
Mary G. Berg
“Horacio Quiroga” (CP)
Rosario Ferré
“The Youngest Doll” (CP)
Prepare for exam 1
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
Exam 1
David Goodman Croly
“Miscegenation” (CP)
Kate Chopin
“Desiree’s Baby” (CP)
NO CLASS
Enjoy Spring Break
NO CLASS
Enjoy Spring Break
José Vasconcelos
“The Cosmic Race”
Octavio Paz
“The Sons of La Malinche” (CP)
Elena Garro
“It’s the Fault of the Tlaxcaltecas” (CP)
William Faulkner
“The Fire and the Hearth” from
Go Down, Moses (chapter 1)
William Faulkner
“The Fire and the Hearth” from
Go Down, Moses (chapters 2-3)
William Faulkner
“The Bear” from Go Down, Moses
(pages 183-223)
William Faulkner
“The Bear” from Go Down, Moses
(pages 224-263)
William Faulkner
“The Bear” from Go Down, Moses
(pages 264-315)
Rosario Ferré
“Sweet Diamond Dust” (CP)
(“Guamaní”-“The Confession”)
Rosario Ferré
“Sweet Diamond Dust” (CP)
(“The Rescue”-“Homage to Morel
Campos”)
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
2 Student Presentations
Wednesday
April 11
Monday
April 16
Carlos Fuentes
Old Gringo (chapters 1-7)
Carlos Fuentes
Old Gringo (chapters 8-12)
2 Student Presentations
Wednesday
April 18
Monday
April 23
Wednesday
April 25
Carlos Fuentes
Old Gringo (chapters 13-17)
NO CLASS
Extra time for reading and studying
Carlos Fuentes
Old Gringo (chapters 18-23)
Final discussion; Prepare for exam 2
2 Student Presentations
Participation Sheet Due
Tuesday
May 1
2 Student Presentations
Exam 2
7:45am-9:45am