YSS ENGL S127
Summer 2015
Session B
MWF 1:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Room TBA
READINGS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE
Professor Jacqueline Goldsby
Office: 81 Wall Street, Room 106
E-mail: jacqueline.goldsby@yale.edu
Office Hours: M & W 10:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
COURSE OVERVIEW
"The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem," Walt Whitman exulted in his Preface to
the first edition of Leaves of Grass (1855). Why imagine America as a literary, rather than geographic or
political, entity? Because for Whitman, democracy in America--"the tribes of red aborigines--the weather
beaten vessels entering new ports or making landings on rocky coast--[...] the haughty defiance of '76, and
the war and peace and formation of the constitution--[...] the free commerce--[...] the endless gestation of
new states--[...] the noble character of young mechanics and of all free American workmen and
workwomen--[...]the fluid movement of the population--[...] slavery and the tremulous spreading of hands
to protect it, and the stern opposition to it"--was akin to "unrhymed poetry." That is to say, for Whitman,
American literature and its aesthetic forms engaged social, political, and cultural developments in ways
that, on the one hand, defied long-known conventions and, on the other hand, defined new shapes and
modes by which lived experience could be known.
Following Whitman's bold prophecy, we will read works in which American authors grapple with key
ideals about life in the United States. For instance, what are the bases of selfhood, equality, and freedom? Is
agency best realized because of—or, in spite of—the relationships that society offers? What claims do
history, geography, technology, and identity impose upon individualism, choice, and autonomy—or, that is
to say, how free willed is life in America? How have these ideals changed over time? And how might
authors’ experiments with literary form shed analytic light onto the development and meanings of these
ideals?
These questions (and doubtless others) will guide our discussions. Since our inquiries will span the 19th to
21st centuries, we aren't trying to be comprehensive or even systematic in our survey. Rather, reading
widely will allow us to explore and debate what defines American Literature as an object of study at all.
COURSE LOGISTICS
Required Texts:
Dave Eggers, The Circle (Vintage Books)
William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (Vintage Books)
Toni Morrison, Sula (Vintage Books)
Henry David Thoreau, Walden (Penguin American Library)
Required books will be available for purchase at the Yale Bookstore (77 Broadway @ York Square). You
may also use on-line booksellers to obtain copies of the required texts. If you choose that route, please
obtain the editions listed here--doing so will make our class discussions run more smoothly.
Other required readings (noted on the course syllabus) are available on our Classes v2 website.
Course Description/1
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Students are required to:
(1) attend class sessions assiduously and punctually (i.e., more than 1 absence and/or persistent tardiness
will lower your final course grade);
(2) complete assigned readings on time;
(3) energetically participate in class sessions by proposing ideas, arguments, analyses, and/or questions for
classmates to discuss & debate;
(4) meet with me for at least one office chat (to discuss your ideas and /or the course assignments; any
questions you might have about the literature we’re studying; or to muse/fret/imagine about college life,
generally speaking);
(5) in teams, present a set of discussion questions to the class for group discussion (dates TBD). This
contribution counts towards your Attendance & Participation grade;
(6) post brief writings (1-2 pages typed, double-spaced) on the Classes v2 website, responding to the
assigned readings throughout the term. These "essayettes" are due by 8 PM the day before class. I'll read
and grade these writing exercises. See due dates on course syllabus;
(7) write close textual analyses of the readings via unannounced quizzes and other in-class writing
assignments given throughout the term;
(8) write one (1) critical essay (5-8 pp. typed & double spaced). See due date on course syllabus;
ON PLAGIARISM
I assume that the written work you’ll produce and submit for this course reflects your own ideas and
language. Plagiarism—representing the work of others as your own without properly acknowledging that
influence or information--violates my expectation, as well as Yale College's rules on academic honesty
(http://yalecollege.yale.edu/content/academic-honesty). If I think your work has been plagiarized, I'll
follow the required procedures for evaluating such cases.
If you have any questions at all about how to cite the ideas or works of others in your assignments, please
don’t hesitate to ask me for help. Also consult Yale Writing Center's website for detailed information on
appropriate citation methods:
(http://writing.yalecollege.yale.edu/using-sources)
ON LAPTOPS & OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES IN CLASS
Though we live in a deeply networked, digitized society, in our classroom I want us to give each other our
fullest attention when we're engaged in discussion. So, our class will follow this honor code: if you bring
and use a laptop computer to take notes or conduct class-related web searches, that's all you'll use
your machine to do. You won't use it to multitask by visiting other non-class-related websites (e.g., email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, You Tube, Instagram, Zappos, etc., et.al.). Also, I ask that you turn off
your cell phones and other "smart" electronic devices so that our conversations aren't interrupted by a
chorus of ringtone tunes. If you violate this honor code, I will ask you to leave class and mark you as
absent for the day.
Course Description/2
DEADLINE POLICIES
The critical essay due date occurs near the end of the term (see syllabus). Missing that deadline will reduce
your essay grade by a half-mark each day the paper is overdue. Quizzes will be distributed at the start of
class. If you’re late, you don’t get to take that day’s quiz and there are no make-up quizzes. Likewise, if
your Classes v2 post is date/time stamped after 8 p.m. on those due dates, I won't count it as done, nor will
I read or grade it.
GRADE WEIGHTS
*Attendance & participation
*Classes v2 posts
*Quizzes
*Critical essay
15%
30%
20%
35%
Course Description/3
YSS ENGL S127
Summer 2015
Session B
Prof. Jacqueline Goldsby
READINGS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE
COURSE SYLLABUS
NOTE: *denotes reading available on Classes v2 website
"I MAKE MY OWN TIME, I MAKE MY OWN TERMS”
Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)
M, 7/6
Course introduction
*Bishop, “The Weed” (1946)
*____., “Sestina” (1955)
W, 7/7
Thoreau, Walden (1854)
*Emerson, “Self-Reliance” (1841)
F, 7/9
Thoreau, Walden (1854)
M, 7/13
Thoreau, Walden
W, 7/15
*Whitman, “Song of Myself,” from Leaves of Grass (1855)
*Emerson, “The Poet” (1844)
Th, ____
Classes v2 Post on Thoreau & Whitman due by 8 p.m.
F, 7/17
Morrison, Sula (1973)
M, 7/20
Morrison, Sula
W, 7/21
Morrison, Sula
Th, ____
Classes v2 Post on Morrison due by 8 p.m.
“THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WAS. ONLY IS.”
William Faulkner (1956)
F, 7/23
Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (1929)
CRITICAL ESSAY ASSIGNED
M, 7/27
Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Tu, 7/28
Classes v2 Post on Faulkner due by 8 p.m.
W, 7/29
Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
F, 7/31
Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
M, 8/3
Eggers, The Circle (2013)
W, 8/5
Eggers, The Circle
CRITICAL ESSAY DUE
F, 8/7
Eggers, The Circle
Final Class Session
1