EVANGEL UNIVERSITY
Humanities Department
Rev. 1/2008
ENGLISH 272
American Literature After Civil War 3 credit hours Spring 2007
Meeting time: Tu-Th 2:00-3:15 p.m. (Room Trask 308)
Instructor: SC Vekasy Voice Mail: 8647 E-mail: vekasys@evangel.edu
Office Hours: Posted (AB2-312A) or at Course Syllabi at www.wordtinker.com
CATALOG DESCRIPTION: A study of American writing with emphasis on social and intellectual backgrounds
from Realism to the post-war years. Offered spring semester. This course is not recommended for freshmen or
anyone without college-level introduction to literature and writing classes (See instructor).
COURSE PURPOSE: To provide a comprehensive view of the literature of the period after the American Civil
War by surveying writers of the period with attention to historical, social, and intellectual contexts.
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Perkins, George. The American Tradition in Literature. Shorter Edition in One Volume.
11th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.
Twain, Mark. Huckleberry Finn. [Purchased separately]
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
1. To survey representative pieces displaying the range and the power of American literature as a whole
2. To understand the stature and variety of major American authors
3. To relate literary works to American society and its intellectual history
4. To appreciate American literature’s regional and ethnic influences, social forces, dominant ideas, historical
events, and aesthetic values
5. To become aware and appreciative of social levels of language usage and dialectic differences within
American culture
6. To sharpen critical reading skills
7. To be acquainted with important literary critical theory
8. To experience primary literary forms: non-fiction, fiction, poetry, drama
9. To view literary subjects via non-print media (video of authors and primary works)
10. To recognize and appreciate the distinctiveness of American cultural diversity as portrayed in its native
literature
11. To respond both individually and collectively to literary works
12. To enjoy and appreciate written works of art
13. To understand the antecedents of contemporary American issues
14. To demystify the process of reading literature by offering effective strategies for unlocking meaning and by
providing critical tools for understanding art literature
METHODS AND PROCEDURES:
Classes will consist of lectures, group discussion, written or oral responses, reading response journal notes, unit
exams, audio-visual materials, and extra-credit activities whenever appropriate.
UNITS:
1. 19th century major poets
2. Local colorists and regional realists
3. The "Big Three" Realists
4. Early Naturalists
5. Later Naturalists
6. Selected Moderns
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1. Completion of reading schedule (See attached sheet.). Daily response journals must be submitted to
TurnItIn.com before class begins each day (300-word minimum per author).
2. Quizzes over introductory material in text where indicated on the reading schedule.
3. Because classes supplement reading assignments, attendance is not only expected, it is assumed.
4. Essay-type exams will be written during the mid-term and finals week.
5. On the 8th absence, a student is dropped from the course. This includes school-sponsored and sports
absences. The course is inherently designed to favor those who attend regularly. Daily discussion
cannot be duplicated, and information given in class is not usually found elsewhere. One’s daily
decisions have consequences, and it is a student’s choice as to how he/she accepts academic
responsibility. Arriving late to class: Frequent tardiness reveals a lack of consideration for others and
reflects a careless attitude toward one’s work. If possible, be early, not late!
6. Plagiarism ON ANY ASSIGNMENT will result in a failing grade for that assignment and possible
disciplinary action.
7. As a rule, taking an examination either early or late is not be permitted except in extreme
circumstances. No missed examination can be taken more than a week after the test date
without special permission.
a. Early or late exams require a permission slip signed by the instructor and submitted to the
Humanities Office 24 hours prior to the exam time. A $5.00 late fee is required.
b. A student must take a missed exam at the earliest available time determined by the office staff.
c. If a student fails to appear at the time scheduled, he/she forfeits the opportunity to take it.
EVALUATION:
1. Response journal notes are evaluated each day and assigned point values. Total daily points count as 25%
of the course grade. Late notes are not accepted even if the student is absent the day they are due.
NOTE: These notes are an integral part of the course. They are NOT optional. The 25% weight indicates
their importance.
2. Quizzes, oral presentation points, and extra credit points count toward the daily average.
3. The mid-term exam, novel quiz, and final exam points constitute 75% of the final course grade.
ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE -- American Literature After Civil War -- Spring 2008 -- Vekasy
Note: Assignments in [brackets] require no reading notes. All others require reading response
journals
submitted to TurnItIn.com before each class period begins (300-word minimum per author).
Jan
10
15
17
22
24
29
31
Feb
5
7
12
14
19
21
26
28
Mar
4-6
11
13
18
20
25
27
Apr
1
3
8
10
15
17
22
24
26
Introduction to Course / Syllabus / Review
-----------------------------------------------------Whitman [ video]
“An Age of Expansion” [889-897 Quiz]; Whitman 898-933
-----------------------------------------------------Whitman 934-955; 957bot-967; 970-976top
CONFERENCE DAY (Humanities—11:00 and 2:00)
------------------------------------------------------Dickinson 986-988; Letters 1014-1020 [Assign poems] [video]
Dickinson [orals] Selected [989-1014mid] Begin Reading HUCKLEBERRY FINN
------------------------------------------------------Dickinson "
"
"
"
Frontier Humor / Realism / Harte 1178-1185
-------------------------------------------------------Crosscurrents (Whitman, Adams, Cable, Washington) 1052-1064 / Jewett 1208-1216
Intro to Mark Twain -- Finish reading Huckleberry Finn
--------------------------------------------------------Twain 1021-1031top; 1048bot-1051 HUCKLEBERRY FINN QUIZ [No Blue Book Needed]
Howells 1065-1076top / James Introduction
---------------------------------------------------------James 1076-1078; 1135mid-1164top / James The Wings of the Dove [video]
James Daisy Miller [video] [359-398] Late Session
---------------------------------------------------------SPRING BREAK
---------------------------------------------------------Study Day – No Class Meeting [Make-up for late sessions]
MAJOR EXAM [Bring Blue Book] {Last week to withdraw with “W”}
----------------------------------------------------------“The Turn of the Century” [1193-1198 Quiz] / Wharton 1352bot-1363
Crane 1331; 1367mid-1386
-----------------------------------------------------------“Literary Renaissance” [1413-1418 Quiz] / Dreiser 1386bot-1401top / Robinson 1419-1426mid
ALSO Read “The Man Against the Sky” http://www.bartleby.com/233/126.html
Cather 1426mid-1448top / Anderson 1478bot-1486mid
------------------------------------------------------------O’Neill – The Hairy Ape 1616-1648top / Long Day’s Journey Into Night [video] Late Session
O’Neill – Long Day’s Journey [video] Late Session
-------------------------------------------------------------“Literature of Social and Cultural Challenge” [1607-1613 Quiz] / Fitzgerald 1686-1701[video]
“Second WW and Its Aftermath” [1773-1783 Quiz] / Hemingway 1744-1746top / ALSO Read
“The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” http://www.duke.edu/~ss57/macomber.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------Faulkner 1717bot-1743 / Dos Passos 1701bot-1717 {Last week to withdraw WP/WF}
“Century Ends . . .” [2031-2038 Quiz] / O’Connor 1955mid-1969 / Roth 1994-2006mid
-------------------------------------------------------------Frost – [video] 1448-1474mid
Study Day – No Class Meeting [Make-up for late sessions]
--------------------------------------------------------------CAMPUS STUDY DAY
FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, April 29th 3:00-5:00 p.m. (Trask 308) Bring Blue Book