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English 242 American Literature from 1865 to the Present Jeanne Hamming Spring, 2001 TR Home

English 242 (formerly 25): American Literature from 1865 to the Present

Jeanne Hamming
Spring, 2001
Tues. and Thur. 4:00-5:15
Office: 125 Stansbury
Email: jhamming@wvu.edu

Course Description:

This course will survey the literature of a dynamic American society between 1865 and the present to see how writers of their period reflect new conceptions of a changing American society through subject, theme, and modes of expression. The historical, social, and critical contexts of this literature will serve as a lens thorugh which to focus our readings and discussions.

Required Text:

McMichael et al. Anthology of American Literature, Volume II. 7th edition. Prentice Hall.

Course Evaluation:

Your performance in this class will be evaluated in three ways:
1. Preparation and Participation. 30% (In-class pop quizzes and short take-home response papers collected randomly throughout the semester.
2. Midsemester essay. 35%
3. Final Exam. 35%

Attendance and Lateness:

Attendance for this course is mandatory. Any more than three unexcused absenses will result in a failing grade. If you are absent as a result of a University sanctioned event, please present a written excuse to me as soon as possible. Because lateness is disruptive and disrespectful, it will not be tolerated. Late arrivals to class will count as one-half of an unexcused absence.

Late Work:

Late work will not be accepted. Assignments are to be turned in on their due date in class. I will on rare occasions grant extensions to students in dire situtations that constitute unforeseeable circumstances or emergencies. Note: printer failure or a misbehaving alarm clock does not constitute an emergency.

Syllabus (subject to revision at any time):

Week 1
T 1/9 Introduction to the course; Introduction to Literary Criticism
TH 1/11 Walt Whitman: Preface to Leaves of Grass, "Song of Myself"

Week 2
T 1/16 Emily Dickinson: Biography excerpt (handout), all
TH 1/18 Emily Dickinson: 214, 216, 249, 258, 280, 287, 465, 510, 520, 585, 613, 712, 754

Week 3
T 1/23 Sarah Orne Jewett; Charlotte Perkins Gilman
TH 1/25 Kate Chopin

Week 4
T 1/30 Henry James: Turn of the Screw
TH 2/1 Ambrose Bierce; Stephen Crane

Week 5
T 2/6 Jack London
TH 2/8 Robert Frost: "The Road not Taken," "Design," "Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Week 6
T 2/13 Ernest Hemingway
TH 2/15 John Dos Passos

Week 7
T 2/20 TS Eliot: "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock," "The Waste Land"
TH 2/22 William Carlos Williams: "Pastoral," "The Red Wheelbarrow," "This is Just to Say"

Week 8
T 2/27 Jean Toomer; Midsemester Essay due
TH 3/1 Zora Neale Hurston

Week 9
T 3/6 William Faulkner
TH 3/8 Eudora Welty

Week 10
T 3/13 Langston Hughes
TH 3/15 Ralph Ellison

Week 11
T 3/20 Tennessee Williams
TH 3/22 Allen Ginsberg: "Howl," "A Supermarket in California," "America"

T 3/27 SPRING BREAK
TH 3/29 SPRING BREAK

Week 12
T 4/3 Adrienne Rich
TH 4/5 Sylvia Plath

Week 13
T 4/10 Amira Baraka (LeRoi Jones)
TH 4/12 Joyce Carol Oates

Week 14
T 4/17 Leslie Marmon Silko
TH 4/19 Louise Erdrich

Week 15 (Last week of classes)
T 4/24 Don DeLillo
TH 4/27 Toni Morrison; Discuss Final Exam

Final Exam: Friday, May 4 at 8:00am

 

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