Syllabus

Major American Authors

English 128.004
TR 9:30-10:45
Spring 2009
Bingham 301

Instructor: Kelly Ross
Office #: Swain 211
Office Hours: Tues. 10:45-11:45, Thurs. 3:30-4:30 and by appointment

Required texts:

Edgar Allan Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Dover Publications, 2005. ISBN 0486440931
Two Slave Rebellions at Sea: "The Heroic Slave" by Frederick Douglass and "Benito Cereno" by Herman Melville. Ed. George Hendrick and Willene Hendrick. Wiley-Blackwell, 2000. ISBN-10: 1881089452
Emily Dickinson, Selected Poems. Dover Thrift Publications, 1990. ISBN-10: 0486264661
Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams. Dover Publications, 2002. ISBN-10: 048642443X
Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. Vintage, 1990. ISBN-10: 067972463X
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man. Vintage; 2nd edition, 1995. ISBN-10: 0679732764

Recommended text:

Elizabeth Bishop, The Complete Poems, 1927-1979. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1984. ISBN-10: 0374518173 (on reserve at the Undergraduate Library)

Readings (not including the required texts) will also be available on the course Blackboard website.

Grading:

(10%) Blog posts
(10%) Reading quizzes
(10%) Presentation
(15%) Paper 1
(20%) Paper 2
(15%) Mid-term exam
(20%) Final exam

Calendar:

T 1/13 Introduction, Horton poem
R 1/15 Poe, NAGP, p. 1-53
T 1/20 Poe, NAGP, p. 54-103
R 1/22 Poe, NAGP, p. 104-155
T 1/27 Douglass, “HS,” p. 1-36
R 1/29 Douglass, “HS,” p. 36-51
T 2/3 Melville, “BC,” p. 52-82
R 2/5 Melville, “BC,” p. 83-112
T 2/10 Melville, “BC,” p. 52-82
R 2/12 Melville, “BC,” p. 83-112
T 2/17 Dickinson, poetry TBA
R 2/19 Dickinson, poetry TBA
T 2/24 Dickinson, poetry TBA; Paper 1 Due
R 2/26 Dickinson and Melville, poetry TBA
T 3/3 Mid-term Exam
R 3/5 Adams, EHA, p. ix-124
T 3/10 Spring Break!
R 3/12 Spring Break!
T 3/17 Adams, EHA, p. 125-272
R 3/19 Adams, EHA, p. 273-381
T 3/24 Stein, AABT, p. 3-85
R 3/26 Stein, AABT, p. 86-192
T 3/31 Stein, AABT, p. 193-252
R 4/2 Ellison, IM, p. 1-97
T 4/7 Ellison, IM, p. 98-250
R 4/9 Ellison, IM, p. 251-355
T 4/14 Ellison, IM, p. 356-478; Draft of paper 2 due in class
R 4/16 Ellison, IM, p. 479-581
T 4/21 Bishop, "The Map" and "The Man-Moth"; Paper 2 due
R 4/23 Bishop, "The Fish"
S 5/2 Final Exam

Course Description and Objectives:

This course is designed with non-English majors in mind, so we will guide our readings with specific questions and problems rather than a concern for defining the American literary canon. Along the way, however, we will learn about historical literary movements and the techniques of literary criticism.

Some of the questions we’ll be dwelling on this semester include:

- Who gets to decide which authors are major and which are minor? How and why do these designations change over time?
- How does the culture of deception and secrecy engendered by slavery affect literary form?
- Why were so many people writing about the sea, and especially mutinies at sea, in the antebellum period?
- Is the Civil War really “the unwritten war”? Why did Dickinson’s most prolific period coincide with the Civil War?
- Is autobiography more truthful than fiction? When and how is it appropriate to use our knowledge of an author’s biography to interpret her writing?
- How do 20th-century authors incorporate, respond to, represent, and critique the American literary tradition? Why, for example, does Ellison use a quotation from “Benito Cereno” as the epigraph for Invisible Man?

We may not agree on a definitive answer to these questions, but over the course of this semester we will formulate reasoned hypotheses and test them in our on-going conversation, learning from one another. I will lecture occasionally and briefly, but the class will be discussion-based; I will therefore rely on your active and thoughtful participation. I want you to enjoy the class and bring your own ideas and questions so we can investigate the issues that concern you.

This course aims to:

- introduce you to a variety of questions, problems, and analytical techniques that structure and guide the study of literature
- challenge you to develop and defend your interpretations of a sampling of American literature
- improve your academic writing and critical reading skills
- and encourage your passion for literature (or, if you’re a bit skeptical about literature right now, help you discover your passion)!

Course Requirements:

You are responsible for completing daily reading assignments, attending class, regularly participating in class discussions, posting and commenting on the course blog, writing two papers, taking two exams, and contributing to a group presentation.

Please follow these guidelines when formatting your assignments:
- 12 point font (Times New Roman or something similar—no weird, hard to read fonts)
- Double spaced
- 1 to 1.25 inch margins (please don’t try to stretch your paper to meet the length requirement by messing with the margins or font size—it’s very easy to spot)

(10%) Blog posts

The first week everyone will post an introduction so that we can get to know each other and test that the blog is working. Starting on Jan. 20, group A (I’ll assign groups in class) will post to the class blog no later than 9am on Thursday (please post earlier in the week if possible), while group B will comment on one of the blog posts no later than midnight Friday. The following week, the groups will switch: B will post and A will comment.

When it’s your turn to post, you should write at least 2 paragraphs (approximately 200 words total) and should examine some specific aspect of the text. For example, you might explore the motivations of a key character, do a close reading of a short segment of prose or verse, speculate about how the author might have handled a particular part of the text differently, trace the use of a recurring theme or image through several places in the text, explore the philosophical or historical implications of an author’s assumptions, or examine the connections among texts we’ve read earlier in the course. Your writing can be informal, but not unintelligible—you’re not sending a text message. Think of these posts as brainstorming for points you might want to raise in class.

When it’s your turn to comment, choose a post that intrigued you and respond to the author’s point. For example, you could add another example to support her point or offer a different reading. Please don’t simply agree without elaborating (e.g. “Nice post! Good point!”). Respectful disagreement is fine; rudeness or attacks are not. Comments should be at least 1 paragraph (approximately 100 words).

I will grade these posts for completion. No post is required the final week (4/21-4/23) and you have one free pass if you need to skip a week. By the end of the semester, everyone should have written 6 posts (including your introduction) and 6 comments.

(10%) Reading quizzes

I will give you 10 unannounced reading quizzes throughout the semester to check that you are keeping up with the reading. NB: the reading load increases significantly after spring break—please plan accordingly.

(10%) Presentation

You will choose an author that we're reading this semester and sign up for a day to give your presentation in groups of four.

This presentation will have two parts: a reenactment and an argument. Each group will research their author's biography and choose one event (or a linked series of events, if necessary) to reenact for the class. After the reenactment, you will make a case for the significance of that event to the text we are reading. While the reenactment is an opportunity for you to entertain us with your creativity and dramatic flair, the post-reenactment presentation demands that you persuade us with a compelling, cogent argument about the relationship between the event and the reading.

Examining the relationship between a biographical event and an author's work is tricky and should not be treated as though it were obvious. You may want to choose an event that is not directly represented in the reading, but that you believe influenced the composition of the text in some way. What textual evidence do you have to support your position? Even if you choose an event that both happened in the author's life and is depicted in the text, you must think about how the author modified the event when she wrote about it. Did she embellish it, or delete any of the details? In what context did she place it in her writing? That is, did she alter the circumstances under which it occurred or change the outcome? Further, you should consider why the author included that event, out of all the experiences of her life, in her writing. What made it interesting, valuable, painful, productive in some way?

As your group discusses the argument you will make, think about the differences between biography and fiction, poetry, or even autobiography.

On the day of the presentation, turn in a script of the reenactment, an explanation of the significance of the event to the text (one page, doubled spaced), and a summary of what each group member contributed.

Guidelines:

• Each member of the group should be responsible for 1/4 of the work, however you decide as a group to divide up the work. During the presentation, each member should speak for approximately the same amount of time.
• Your presentation should last no more than ten minutes. Please practice it in advance and time yourselves to make sure you are not over the time limit. If I have to cut you off before you make your argument for the relationship between the biographical event and the text, you will get a zero on that part of the assignment.
• You can assume that your audience will have some familiarity with your author's biography. Nevertheless, you may want to contextualize the event at the beginning of the presentation (briefly!) or in a handout.
• Don't forget that you have an audience to entertain and educate. Please don't put us all to sleep!

(15%) Paper 1

Close reading is an important methodology of literary criticism; it presupposes that careful, sustained attention to the same text over a period of time will reward the reader with insights and observations that were not apparent on a first and/or hasty reading. To cultivate this sort of extenuated attention, you will reread “Benito Cereno” and write about the differences between your first and second (or subsequent) reading experiences.

As you read “BC” for the first time, keep a reading journal (you will turn this in with the final paper, but it can be in any form or style that you wish) to record your responses, questions, opinions, etc. What strikes you about the characters as they’re introduced? What aspects of the plot or setting seem significant? How do you react to the narrative voice? You may want to record your hypotheses about what will happen and why, or note when mysteries become cleared up for you.

Reread “BC” and again take note of your response to the text as you read. How has the meaning shifted now that you know the ending of the story? What details do you notice this time through? How does your interpretation of characters, settings, and other facets of the text change as you read? Are there still aspects that are mysterious to you? Are you asking the same questions that you were the first time?

You will write an explication (i.e. close reading) of “Benito Cereno” (4-5 pages). In this paper, you may draw on your reading journal to explain how a scene, character, setting, etc. changed in significance or meaning from the first to the second reading. This paper should not be simply a description of your response to the story, however. The main question you will want to answer in your paper is how the text achieves the effects you have noticed in your reading journal: what features of the text encourage one interpretation and discourage another? That is, you will need to cite and examine specific textual evidence to support your interpretation of the text.

(20%) Paper 2

You have now read two unconventional autobiographies, The Education of Henry Adams and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. For your second paper, you will write your own 4-5 page mini-autobiography, emulating or adapting the style of one of these books. You will also write a 1-page writer’s memo reflecting on the process and comparing your autobiography to Adams’s or Stein’s. The directions for each part of the assignment are below. I encourage you to schedule an appointment to talk about the paper before you hand it in.

Mini-autobiography

In Adams’s and Stein’s books, personal and national—or even international—converge. The authors discuss significant events in American history, but they examine them from an individual perspective, which subverts or complicates the typical interpretation of the event that you might find in a history textbook. Their unusual narrative voices (3rd person for Adams’s autobiography; 1st person for Stein’s pseudo-autobiography) draw attention to the overlapping registers of personal and national by obstructing the easy identification between reader and writer encouraged by many autobiographies. Your mini-autobiography will follow this pattern. Choose one nationally or internationally momentous event (you will not have space for a full life story in 4-5 pages) that you have lived through and write about it in the style of Adams or Stein.

Just as Adams and Stein provide unique perspectives on well-known and much-discussed events, you will want to think carefully about how your personal experience speaks to a larger audience. How does your individual experience complicate the mainstream or generally accepted view of the event you’ve chosen? How does your story enhance, challenge, revise, or contribute to the national narrative? Does your particular perspective allow you to generate some insight about the relationship between the local (e.g. you, your friends, your family, your community, etc.) and the national or international?

Writer’s Memo

After you have written your mini-autobiography, reflect on the writing process. Think about the narrative voice you chose: how did it shape your explanation of the event? How did it facilitate or limit the meaning your autobiography conveyed to the reader? Why do you think the author you chose to emulate wrote the way she or he did? What are the benefits and disadvantages of that style?

Think also about the task of writing an autobiography that is more than just an individual’s memoirs. How did you make your perspective meaningful for a larger audience? How did you find connections between your story and a larger national narrative? How did you incorporate those insights into your autobiography? Did you spell them out for your reader, or did you leave them implicit? Why did you choose to write about the event in the way that you did?

These questions are prompts for reflection; you won’t have room to answer all of them in your memo, but they might help you get started. Your memo should be an analytical document, not a mere transcription of your writing process.

(15%) Mid-term exam

(20%) Final exam

I’ll give you more details about the exams as they approach.

Due Dates and Attendance:

The due dates for papers are indicated on the syllabus. I will not accept any late papers. If you are unable to attend class on the day an assignment is due, put it in the box on my office door before class begins.

Attendance in class is mandatory. More than two absences will adversely affect your grade and any student who accumulates more than ten absences over the course of the semester will receive a failing grade. If you have extreme circumstances that require you to miss several classes (i.e. mononucleosis, the death of a close relative, etc.) please let me know as soon as possible. Please note that there is no distinction between excused and unexcused absences.

Office Hours:

My office hours are time set aside specially for you and I can’t encourage you enough to use that time. Of course you should come see me if you’re having a problem with the readings or the assignments, but you are also welcome to drop by to continue an in-class discussion, work on your writing, or just to talk. You don’t need to make an appointment for my scheduled office hours, but if those hours are not feasible, email or speak to me before or after class to schedule an appointment. I need at least 24 hours notice for appointments, and please give me plenty of notice if you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment. I am also available to answer quick questions via email, but I will not comment on drafts over email.

Honor Code:

The Honor Code covers more than just plagiarism and, as a UNC student, you are expected to adhere to the entire code. I take plagiarism very seriously and I will report all violations of the Honor Code to the Honor Court. If you are worried that your work may be in violation of the Honor Code I highly recommend that you come to my office hours to discuss the matter before turning in the paper.

Writing Center:

The UNC Writing Center is an invaluable resource staffed by knowledgeable, enthusiastic tutors who work with you one-on-one to improve your writing. They also have handouts and an online tutoring service on their website.