St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo
Department of English
ENGL344
Modern American Literature
Winter 2015
T/F 1:00pm to 2:20pm SJU 2011
Instructor: Sara Humphreys
Office: 1024
Office Phone: 519-884-8110 x28234
Office Hours : Tuesday 10am to 12pm
Email: smhumphreys@uwaterloo.ca
(It is best to reach me via email)
Course Description
“One percent of the nation owns a third of the wealth. The rest of the wealth is distributed in such a way as to turn those in the 99% against one another: small property owners against the propertyless, black against white, native born against foreign born, intellectuals and professionals against uneducated and unskilled. These groups have resented one another and warred against one another with such vehemence and violence as to obscure their common position as sharers of leftovers in a very wealthy country”
Howard Zinn
In the twentieth century, the United States shifted from a minor player on the global stage to a world economic, cultural, and military power. We will explore how American literature operates as a platform upon which dynamic communities debate national issues. We are particularly interested in debates pertaining to economic stratification. You may be surprised to learn, for example that the modern western began as a means to quell debate over economic, gender, and racial inequality: this genre was designed to designate a certain kind of white male as a natural aristocrat, white women as lesser beings, and racialized others as invisible. We will study one of the great social protest novels - and, in many ways, socialist novels of the 20th century - John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and, as well, delve into the caustic, satirical poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks in order to consider the ways in which economic ideologies have influenced concepts of the U.S and national identity. This will be an eye-opening course that will change the way you read, think, and write about stories and nation.
Course Goals and Learning Outcomes

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By the end of the course, students are expected to gain a greater ability to read analytically, think creatively, and express the following skills with precision, coherence, and clarity:
A.
Critical and lateral thinking attained via
 group discussion, close reading, and analysis
B.
Knowledge of modern American literature, culture, and history, which will be attained via
 reading American literature
 studying, discussing, and (creatively) writing about key events in American literature, culture, and history
C.
Advanced research skills, which will be attained via
 writing research blogs/essays
 conducting research on various issues pertaining to American literature and disseminating said research verbally, creatively, and through writing
Required Text/Films

Charlie Chaplin Modern Times (film – no need to buy, unless you want to write about it)

John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath (bookstore)

Owen Wister The Virginian (bookstore)

Mourning Dove Cogewea (bookstore)

Frank Miller The Dark Knight Returns (bookstore)

Nella Larsen Passing
Please try to buy the same editions that are currently on sale in the bookstore. You might be able to get them more cheaply elsewhere.
Required Readings Available on LEARN

Gwendolyn Brooks “The Lovers of the Poor”

William Carlos Williams “To Elsie”

Adrienne Rich “What Kind of Times Are These?”

Sara Humphreys““Truer ’n Hell”: Lies, Capitalism, and Cultural Imperialism in Owen Wister’s The
Virginian, B. M. Bower’s The Happy Family, and Mourning Dove’s Cogewea”

Walt Whitman “Democratic Vistas”

Marge Piercey “For the Young Who Want To”

Countee Cullen “Saturday’s Child”

Zora Neale Hurston “The Conscience of the Court”

Allen Ginsberg “America”

Langston Hughes “I, Too”

Walt Whitman “I Sing America”

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
Alain Locke Introduction to The New Negro

Sui Sin Far “In the Land of the Free”

Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight Rises (a viewing of the film will be arranged)
Assessment
Response Paper
Creative Assignment
Discussion Posts
Proposal
Final Project
Take Home Exam
Total
Notes on the various class assessments
Due Date
Jan 27
(various)
Jan 20, Feb 3, Feb 13, Mar 3, Mar
20
March 6
March 31
April 13
Weighting
10%
20%
5x2%= 10%
10%
20%
30%
100%
Response Paper
A short paper through which students supply a personal response to one of the course texts. More details to come in the third class.
Creative Assignment
You can work in pairs (shared grade) or solo on an online project, a creative writing piece, a scholarly presentation, a dramatic presentation, or a video. You will have to choose a project by the date specified in the course schedule. More details to come in the third class.
Discussion Posts
Students will log in to LEARN and answer a question on the class discussion board based on the discussion/subject matter from the previous class. Grading is a “check” (one mark) and “check plus”
(two marks) system. One mark for simply posting something relevant and an extra mark for responding in an exemplary manner.
Proposal
Students explain their choice of assignment for the final project and how they will approach the project.
Final Project
Students can choose from building a research blog on a specific topic (only on Wordpress – the reasons why will be made apparent in class) or writing a research essay.
Take Home Exam
Students will be asked to display their knowledge of the course material through a variety of questions

4 answered within a specified time limit. The structure and guidelines for the exam will be decided upon in consultation with class members.
I hope this goes without saying, but you are expected to bring all texts to class, including readings posted on LEARN (please print out these readings) and be prepared to discuss the readings. Thank you for respecting the course material.
The following schedule is subject to change with as much notice as possible. If the instructor must miss a class, she promises to supply an online replacement for the lecture.
Class One (Jan 6)
Readings Due: Syllabus
Film Viewing: Charlie Chaplin Modern Times (first half)
Lecture: We will view Chaplin’s Modern Times to get an idea of the major issues of the period.
The early twentieth century is an incredibly tumultuous period of American history in which the norms and values of American society and culture shifted drastically from local, regional communities to mass-consumer society. Chaplin captures this shift brilliantly.
He also supplies a scathing critique of mass-production and its effect on the American worker and citizen.
Class Two (Jan 9)
Readings: Please review course notes (on LEARN in the “class two” folder) entitled “How to
Read Film as Narrative Fiction”)
Film Viewing: The remainder of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times
Topics: American modernity; Fordism, Taylorism and American labor
Class Three (Jan 13)
Readings: Walt Whitman “Democratic Vistas” (please also read the intro to Whitman’s murky and difficult essay on The Walt Whitman Archive – I posted the link in the “class three” folder).

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Topics: Explanation of Response Paper, Creative Assignment, and Discussion Posts. American democracy in the 20 th century; the failure of Reconstruction; spiritual “decline?; and the voice of the American “poet philosopher”
Class Four (Jan 16)
Readings: Owen Wister’s The Virginian (up to and including the chapter entitled “Emily”)
Topics: The birth of the western; Turner’s frontier thesis; suffrage, feminism, and dissenting voices or who were Progressive Reformers? A brief intro to American Naturalism and Realism – where does the western fit?
Class Five (Jan 20)
Readings: Owen Wister’s The Virginian
Topics: The Virginian and Molly: East meets West or East exploits West?; The Frontier Club and the Cheyenne Club: national collectivity and gentlemen’s clubs
Assignment Due: Discussion Post or Response One
Class Six (Jan 23)
Readings: Owen Wister’s The Virginian and Mourning Dove’s Cogewea
Topics: The nations within the nation; print culture, textual production and race
Class Seven (Jan 27)
Readings: Owen Wister’s The Virginian and Mourning Dove’s Cogewea ; Sara Humphreys “’Truer
’n Hell”: Lies, Capitalism, and Cultural Imperialism in Owen Wister’s The Virginian , B. M.
Bower’s The Happy Family , and Mourning Dove’s Cogewea”
Topics: Indigenizing capitalism; ideologies of whiteness and national belonging; management and workers
Assignment Due: Response Paper
Class Eight (Jan 30)

Readings: Mourning Dove’s Cogewea
Topics: Indigenising the western and changing paradigms; critiquing The Virginian
Assignment Due: Creative Assignment sign-up sheet
Class Nine (Feb 3)
Readings: Zora Neale Hurston “The Conscience of the Court”; Alain Locke Intro to The New
Negro
Topics: The rhetoric of race in 20 th century America; a brief intro to the Harlem Renaissance
Class Ten (Feb 6)
Readings Due: Nella Larsen Passing ; scenes from John M. Stahl’s Imitation of Life (you are recommended to watch the entire film; I may hold a film viewing)
Topic: Passing and Minstrelsy
Assignment Due: Discussion Post or Response Two
Class Eleven (Feb 10)
Readings: Nella Larsen Passing ; Countee Cullen “Saturday’s Child”
Topic: “silver spoons” and “racoons”; the power of literature as a form of resistance; inscribing identity
Class Twelve (Feb 13)
Readings: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five “The Message”; Ice T “Freedom of Speech
(Just Watch What You Say)”; various R&B songs (in ppt)
Topic: The Harlem Renaissance, Spoken Word; Civil Rights; and Rap
**********************Reading Week!  Feb 16 to 20*************************
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Class Thirteen (Feb 24)
Readings: William Carlos Williams “To Elsie”
Topic: Narrative perception and judgement; imagism and social justice; explanation of proposal and final project
Assignment Due: Discussion Post or Response Three
Class Fourteen (Feb 27)
Readings: John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath
Topics: Jeremiad, American captivity narrative, and travel narrative: the narrative bricolage in
Steinbeck’s novel
Assignment Due: Non-dramatic, non-verbal creative assignments due
Class Fifteen (Mar 3)
Readings: John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath
Topics: Free market capitalism, man-on-the-make vs. civic duty: the rhetoric of America
Assignment Due: Discussion Post or Response Four
Class Sixteen (Mar 6)
Readings: John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath ; Adrienne Rich “What Kind of Times Are These”
Topics: Introduction to American Neoliberalism and ideals of property; analogy and imagery; queering perception of the “American Dream”
Assignment Due: Proposal
Class Seventeen (Mar 10)
Readings: Gwendolyn Brooks “The Lovers of the Poor”
Topics: Language and ideology; sentimental capitalism

Class Eighteen (Mar 13)
Readings: Walt Whitman “Allen Ginsberg “America”; Langston Hughes “I, Too”
Topics: talking back and rewriting ideology
Class Nineteen (Mar 17)
Readings: Sui Sin Far “In the Land of the Free”; “Mrs. Spring Fragrance”
Topic: Consent and descent in American culture; the irony of the Asian-American experience;
“authenticity” in American culture
Class Twenty (Mar 20)
Readings : Frank Miller The Dark Knight Returns
Topics: Reaganomics; hope and privilege
Assignment Due: Discussion Post and Response Five
Class Twenty One (Mar 27)
Readings: Frank Miller The Dark Knight Returns
Topics: Unfettered capitalism; neoliberal legacies; visual rhetoric and American symbolism
Class Twenty Two (Mar 31)
Readings/Film: Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight Rises
Topic: 21 st century robber barons and rebels?
Assignment Due: Final Project
***********************April 3 rd Is Good Friday – No Class!  ********************
Class Twenty Three (Apr 6)
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Readings: Marge Piercy: “For The Young Who Want To”
Topic: Take home exam distributed; course review
Late Work
Late papers and extensions are dealt with on a case by case basis. The penalty for late assignments is 1) I grade them when I want to (usually at the end of the term); and 2) there is a 2% per day penalty, so please consult with the instructor if you think your assignment might be late. Your assignments are to be submitted electronically.
Electronic Device Policy
I allow and encourage students to take notes using tablets, laptops, and even smartphones; however, please be advised that during videos and other forms of presentation, you will be asked to close your devices out of respect for your classmates. Abuse of electronic devices is not permitted; for example, if your classmates complain that you are disturbing them, you will be asked to shut down your device in class. Remember that people beside you and behind you can see what you are doing, who you are talking to, and what you are posting. If you are registered with AccessAbility for the use of an electronic device, then your misuse of the electronic device will be reported to the AccessAbility Services (AS)
Office, if you are using it for something other than its documented purpose.
Attendance Policy
You are expected to attend all classes on time and prepared for discussion. You are adults, so it is up to you to come to class or not. If you miss class, you can expect your grade to reflect the level of effort you put into the course.
Important Information
Academic Integrity: To maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo and its Federated University and Affiliated Colleges are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility.
Academic Integrity Office (UW) : A resource for students and instructors.
Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under the St. Jerome’s University Policy on Student Discipline . For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to University of
Waterloo Policy 71 (Student Discipline) .

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Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Students who decide to file a grievance should refer to University of Waterloo Policy 70 (Student Petitions and Grievances) . For more information, students should contact the Associate Dean of St. Jerome’s University.
Appeals: A student may appeal the finding and/or penalty in a decision made under the St. Jerome’s
University Policy on Student Discipline or University of Waterloo Policy 70 (Student Petitions and
Grievances) if a ground for an appeal can be established. In such a case, read St. Jerome's University
Policy on Student Appeals .
Note for Students with Disabilities: The AccessAbility Services (AS) Office , located in Needles Hall, Room
1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the AS Office at the beginning of each academic term.