American Literature – Civil War to Present
ENGL 206.002 – Virginia Commonwealth University – Spring 2007
Instructor:
Office Hours:
Office:
Phone:
Email:
Dr. Les Harrison
9:00 – 10:30, MWF
324e Hibbs
827-8334
hlharrison@vcu.edu
Graduate Stephen Kovach
Assistant: 2:30 – 4:00, TR
226 Hibbs
827-8226
kovachsm@vcu.edu
Prerequisite
Completion of English 101 or its equivalent.
Textbooks
The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym et. al. 6th ed. Package 2,
vols. C, D, E. 0393977943.
Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury (Vintage). 0679732241
Morrison, Toni. Beloved (Vintage). 1400033411
Objectives
To acquaint you with the great range and diversity of American writing between the Civil
War and the present day; to provide a social and historical context for understanding
American literature; to improve your ability to read, understand, and interpret literature in
general.
Examinations
Two examinations over the course of the semester and a partially comprehensive final
exam. Exam dates are as follows:
Preflight:
Exam 1:
Exam 2:
Final:
M, 2/5
M, 2/19
F, 3/30
M, 5/7
(30 quiz
(25% of
(25% of
(30% of
points)
final grade)
final grade)
final grade)
Exams will consist of 5 short answer (50%) and one (50%) essay questions. The short
answers questions will require you to identify and analyze 5 of 6 quotations taken from the
text. The essay portion of the exam will require you to write an approximately 750 word
response to one of three questions dealing with a central theme of the course. Aside from
the comprehensive essay on the final, exams will cover only the material read since the
previous exam.
Students are required to write the answers to their exams in a full-sized blue book
(available at any college book store). In addition, students will be permitted to bring one 8
½ x 11 inch, single-side, sheet of notes with them to the examination.
Make-up exams will be administered during class time one week following the originally
scheduled exam. Grades for the exams and the course are not curved.
ENGL 206.002, 2 of 6
Reading Quizzes
As an incentive to stay current with the class reading schedule, there will be daily (3 times a
week) quizzes over the assigned readings. Reading quizzes will be administered outside of
class via Blackboard and are subject to the following conditions:
•
Quizzes will be available 24 hours prior to the start of class
•
Quizzes are to be completed by the start of class on the given due date
•
Students may take a quiz up to three times with no penalty
•
Students will not be limited in the amount of time allotted to take quizzes
The content of the reading quizzes will be simple objective questions designed to reinforce
reading comprehension and to encourage students to complete the assigned reading prior to
the start of class.
Each quiz will consist of 5 questions covering the assigned reading (including the
biographical note on the author). Questions for the reading quizzes will be randomly
selected from a larger question pool of 15 - 20 quiz questions. Each time a quiz is taken,
including all repeat quiz attempts, Blackboard will generate a new set of quiz
questions. While some of the questions will be the same, others will be new. Please be
sure to read each question carefully and to double-check your spelling before submitting
your quiz answers.
Lockouts and Technical Difficulties: If you fail to complete a given quiz by the start of class,
Blackboard will lock you out of the unfinished quiz resulting in a grade of zero.
Occasionally, user or Blackboard errors may result in your accidentally being locked out of a
quiz. If you are accidentally locked out of a quiz, email Stephen immediately so that he can
allow you to re-take the quiz. Do not bring a hard copy of your quiz to Stephen. Stephen
will override a maximum of two lockouts per student.
The reading quizzes will count for 10% of your final grade.
Participation and Attendance
Although this is a large lecture section (250 – 300 people), student participation will be a
key component of this class. You will earn one participation point for each scheduled class
excluding the following: the preflight,exam days, and the the classes immediately before
exams 1 & 2. This should result in a base grade of 74 participation points for each student
who completes the course (42 classes – 5 = 37 x 2 = 74 points).
You may earn additional participation points through both in-class and outside participation.
In-class participation: During lecture you will have a number of opportunities for
participation. In addition to answering questions posed to the class, I welcome student
questions relevant to the reading at almost any point in the lecture (provided the questions
are relevant to the issues being addressed in class). In general, students will receive
participation points for any serious, relevant, question or observation made about the day’s
reading. However, certain questions or comments will receive no credit:
•
Clerical Questions: “When is the exam?” “What are we supposed to read for
tomorrow.”
•
Complaints / Bellyaching: “The readings was boring.” “Why do we have to read
Gertrude Stein?” “The exam was too hard” “He hit me”
•
Random Questions / Observations: “I like monkeys.”
•
Pop culture references that don’t work: While I like it when students are able to
connect the issues raised in the reading with contemporary culture, these connections
ENGL 206.002, 3 of 6
have to have a point. I’m less interested in knowing that Hawthorne’s “The
Birthmark” reminded you of Battlestar Gallactica than I am in seeing how that
connection deepens our understanding of the issues raised by both the short story and
the t.v. show.
At the end of a class period during which you have spoken, write your name and a 1-5 word
summary of your comment (1 sentence) on a half sheet of paper and give it to Stephen. If
you do note turn in a piece of paper documenting your comment the day you made it you
will not receive credit.
You will receive 1 point for each time you participate in class with a maximum of 2
participation points being earned in a single class period.
Outside Participation: In addition to the points received in-class, students will have the
opportunity to earn participation and attendance points outside of class. Students who
attend and complete a written analysis (2 pgs.) of a cultural event can receive an additional
5 attendance / participation points. This assignment can be completed a maximum of 4
times over the course of the semester and is subject to the following guidelines:
•
Eligible cultural events include: plays, musical performances (non-popular), lectures,
readings, museum exhibits, and films (non-popular, not seen in-class). In addition,
students may seek permission to attend other cultural events for participation credit
(permission must be received prior to the event).
•
The written analysis of the event must be submitted no later than the second class
meeting following the event.
•
Students may not submit more than one event analysis a week.
•
The written analysis must include proof of your attendance at the event (program,
ticket stub, autograph).
•
The first half of your analysis should summarize the event.
•
The second half of the analysis should attempt to connect the event to a theme or
writer covered in the course. The connection can be loose, but it should be anchored
by a quote from one of the works read in the course and should be analytical in
nature.
Written analyses will receive either 5, 3, or 0 points. Analyses that are significantly below
the 2 page length requirement or which do include proof of attendance, will receive an
automatic grade of 0.
At the end of the semester, your combined participation and attendance grades will be
evaluated on an 100 point scale (maximum grade of 110%). A student who attends every
class, does not speak in class, and earns no external participation points would receive a
grade of 74 out of 100 points (42 classes – 5 = 37 x 2 = 74 points). Participation and
attendance will count for 10% of your final grade.
Attendance and Absences:
I expect regular attendance. While I will not dock your grade for surpassing a certain
number of absences, there will inevitably be a direct correlation between your attendance
and your overall grade. Because early departures and late arrivals are disruptive, you
should arrive on time and stay for the entire period. Please obtain missed class notes from
a classmate, not me.
Extra Credit
Prior to April 13th, students may earn extra credit for the course by completing a 2-3 page
critical praxis of a scholarly article dealing directly with one of the works covered in the
course.
ENGL 206.002, 4 of 6
The critical praxis is worth a maximum of 5 points added to your final grade. The
assignment will be graded pass / fail (5 points for pass, 0 for fail). In addition, I will deduct
one point from your critical praxis grade for each significant typo or spelling error. Ex. A
passing assignment with two obvious misspellings will receive a grade of 3.
All extra credit papers will be run through Turnitin.com and manually checked against both
the web and published scholarship on the article you are reviewing. Students found to have
plagiarized their assignment (intentionally or unintentionally) will receive final grade of “F”
in the course.
Grade Determination
Exam 1
Exam 2
Final Exam
Quizzes
Participation
25%
25%
30%
10%
10%
University Policies:
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires Virginia Commonwealth University
to provide a “reasonable accommodation” to any individual who advises us of a physical or
mental disability. If you have a physical or mental condition that requires an
accommodation or an academic adjustment, please arrange a meeting with me within the
first two weeks of the course..
Students are expected to adhere to VCU’s Code of Honor, which makes explicit the
university’s principles regarding truth and honesty in academic matters. Details about the
Honor System are available online at http://www.students.vcu.edu/rg/policies/
rg7honor.html.
Students are expected to adhere to VCU’s Student Conduct in Instructional Settings
policy, which can be viewed online at http://www.students.vcu.edu/rg/policies/
rg7conduct.html.
VCU e-mail is an official method of university communication. Students are responsible for
information transmitted this way and should check their accounts daily. VCU’s email policy
can be viewed at http://www.students.vcu.edu/rg/policies/rg7email.html.
Study Suggestions
As a survey, reading is the core of the course. Maintain the schedule below; it’s designed to
distribute the load evenly and break it into coherent groups. Look for connections among
works assigned each day as well as each week; such connections can steer you in the
direction of good questions for class participation. Read assignments—including the
introductory material on each assigned author—before coming to class, taking notes and
underlining as you go (margin notes are better than underlining). Lectures require careful
note-taking also. Relate them to your reading and use them as a guide for exam
preparation. The lectures and class discussions will be more meaningful if you come to
class prepared to tackle the day’s material.
ENGL 206.002, 5 of 6
Reading Schedule
In addition to the works listed below, students are responsible for reading the biographical
header for each author by the assigned date.
Week 1
W, 1/17:
Introduction to Course, American Literature 1865-1914 (3-14)
F, 1/19:
Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” (122–166). Read through section 29,
especially 1, 2, 5, 6, 8–10, 15, 17, 19, 27–29
Week 2
M, 1/22:
“Song of Myself,” section 29 through end of poem, especially 31, 34–38, 46,
47, 51, 52
W, 1/24:
Emily Dickinson (166–211), poems 49, 341, [185, 258, 285, 303, 326, 441,
448, 488, 505, 709, 952, 1129], [199, 249, 435, 732, 1072]
F, 1/26:
Emily Dickinson continued, poems [130, 285, 314, 328, 520, 978, 986, 1068,
1138, 1397, 1463], [324, 1545, 1732, 214, 465, 712]
Week 3
M, 1/29:
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (219–286)
W, 2/31:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (286–361)
F, 2/2:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (361–407)
Week 4
F
M, 2/5:
Pre-flight, Joel Chandler Harris (590–595)
W, 2/7:
Charles W. Chesnutt (780–797)
F, 2/9:
Henry James, “The Art of Fiction” (553–567), “Daisy Miller: A Study”
(468–506)
Week 5
M, 2/12:
Finish “Daisy Miller: A Study”
W, 2/14:
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wall-paper” (831-843),
“Why I wrote ‘The Yellow Wall-paper” (844-845).
F, 2/16:
Sarah Orne Jewett, “A White Heron” (595-604)
Week 6
F
M, 2/19:
Exam 1 (25% of final grade)
W, 2/21:
Booker T. Washington, “The Atlanta Exposition Address” (760–767);
W. E. B. Dubois, from The Souls of Black Folk (876–900).
F, 2/23:
[D] “American Literature Between the Wars, 1914–1945” (1071–1084);
Edgar Lee Maters, all poems (1100–1103, + Blackboard); Edward Arlington
Robinson, all poems (1104–1111)
Week 7
M, 2/26:
Robert Frost, all poems (1174–1201)
W, 2/28:
Wallace Stevens, all poems (1234–1250), especially “The Emperor of IceCream,” “Sunday morning,” “The Idea of Order at Key West,” “Of Modern
Poetry.”
F, 3/2:
Marianne Moore, all poems (1325–1337)
ENGL 206.002, 6 of 6
Week 8
M, 3/5:
H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), all poems (1302-1320)
W, 3/7:
T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1420–1423),
“The Waste Land” (1430–1443)
F, 3/9:
Eliot, finish “The Waste Land”
Spring Break
Su, 3/12 – Su, 3/19
Week 9
M, 3/19:
William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (1–75)
W, 3/21:
The Sound and the Fury (76–179)
F, 3/23:
The Sound and the Fury (180–264)
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Final Date to withdraw with a grade of “W” -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Week 10
F
M, 3/26:
The Sound and the Fury (264–321)
W, 3/28:
open
F, 3/30:
Exam 2 (25% of final grade)
Week 11
M, 4/2:
Zora Neale Hurston (1506–1527), Jean Toomer (1635–1640)
W, 4/4:
Sterling A. Brown (1885-1890), Langston Hughes (1891–1901)
F, 4/6:
[E] Ellison: from Invisible Man (2064–2092)
Week 12
M, 4/9:
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (2109–2141)man
W, 4/11:
Death of a Salesman (2141–2175)
F, 4/13:
American poetry since 1945 (2637–2651); Allen Ginsburg, “Howl,” “A
Supermarket in California” (2863–2873)
Week 13
M, 4/16:
Gloria Anzaldúa (2434–2459)
W, 4/18:
Alberto Ríos (3072–3078), Lorna Dee Cervantes (3078–3084)
F, 4/20:
Sandra Cisneros (selections from Woman Hollering Creek on Blackboard)
Week 14
M, 4/23:
Toni Morrison, Beloved (first third)
W, 4/25:
Beloved (second third)
F, 4/27:
Beloved (finish novel)
Week 15
M, 4/30:
open
Final Exam
M, 5/7:
1:00 – 3:50 p.m., no make-ups (30% of final grade)