English 565: American Prose after 1900 Scott
Romine (sbromine@uncg.edu)
Spring Semester 2003
Office: 117 McIver (334-5384)
M
Home Phone: 273-7156
Office Hours: M 4-6; T,Th
10-12; F 2-3:30, and by appointment.
Texts:
Race and the Modern American
Novel
Richard Wright, Native Son
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
William Faulkner, Light in
August
Toni Morrison, Beloved
The Novel of Manners in the 20th
Century
Willa Cather,
Sapphira and the Slave Girl
Edith Wharton, The
Age of Innocence
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
The Frontier and the American
Dream/Nightmare
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatbsy
Nathanael
West, The Day of the Locust
Thomas Pynchon,
The Crying of
One additional novel
Coursepak
(to be distributed during our second class meeting)
Course objectives—This course will cover nearly a dozen major American novels
of the 20th Century. In contrast to many
graduate courses, there will be no overarching theme in this one; instead, we will
be concerned primarily with close textual and contextual examinations of these
major works, many of which appear on the Ph.D. minor reading list. I do hope, however, that certain common
themes and techniques will emerge as points of comparison and contrast as the
semester moves forward. Specifically,
the headings above suggest heuristic groupings that I hope will allow us to put
these novels in conversation with each other and to explore the dynamics of
literary influence. Also, I want to pay
some attention to the evolution of narrative form in the modern novel,
especially as pertains to the representation of consciousness.
Class structure—Each week, I will distribute a series of questions to
consider for the following week’s reading.
Since we are spending less than two weeks on these
major works (and one week for most of them), we will need to move quickly to
substantive matters. These
handouts are merely a means to that end and should not be considered final or
exhaustive lists of what we’ll discuss.
I urge you to bring your own concerns to class and to be ready to pose
them for your classmates’ consideration.
Our class
meetings will be relatively unstructured.
I will generally begin class with a time for open observations and
reactions to the text. I will generally
try to steer our discussion toward at least some of the questions I’ve posed on
the handout, but I hope not be mechanical in doing so. At some point during class, we’ll hear from
the day’s presenters, but there will be no set format for these presentations.
In a
graduate class, I perceive my role to be relatively minimal: to organize and
focus your discussion when necessary, and to be quiet when possible. If you are not already, you should become
comfortable responding directly to your classmates.
Student Learning Outcomes—At the end of
the semester, students will be able to demonstrate:
•
knowledge of major texts in the tradition of the
modern American novel
•
an understanding of formal structures and effects of
those structures in the novel genre
•
a basic, pragmatic understanding of different
theoretical approaches to novels
•
an ability to analyze, synthesize, compare, and
critique literature texts
•
an ability to communicate in a sophisticated, clear
way—both verbally and in written form—about literary texts
Graduate Student Learning Outcomes—At the
end of the semester, students will be able to demonstrate:
•
knowledge of major texts in the tradition of the
modern American novel
•
an advanced understanding of formal structures and
effects of those structures in the novel genre
•
a professional understanding of different theoretical
approaches to novels
•
an ability to analyze, synthesize, compare, and
critique literature texts
•
competence in the conventions of the delivered
conference paper and the scholarly research essay
•
an awareness of pedagogical issues relating to these
novels
Assignments—Your grade will consist of three parts: a term paper (12-14
pages for undergraduates, 18-20 pages for graduates) (45%), a series of oral
reports combined with class participation (30%), and a take-home final exam
(25%). Your term paper should be a
substantial critical research essay on an American prose work written after
1900; more information will follow.
Early papers are welcomed and may be of interest if you wish to avoid backloading your grade.
At the end of the semester, you will present your research to the class
in an abbreviated format. Again, more on this later.
Seminar Reports—Graduate
students will be responsible for three oral reports; undergraduates will be
responsible for two reports. These will
be short (500-700 words) written assignment that you will read to the
class. (If you want to extemporize a
bit, that's fine, but your paper should be read.) Reports should lead to substantive discussion
by the class. A specific respondent will
be assigned to respond to arguments you make, challenge specific points, ask
for clarifications, ask for extensions of your ideas, request further proof for
unsupported assertions, and so forth.
Part of the evaluation for these reports will consist of how well your
report generates class discussion.
Consequently, you will need to identify a substantive topic about which
you feel you have something to say. You
are not, however, required to simulate a final, once-and-forever grasp of the
subject. The best approach will be to combine substantive but informal
commentary with a conclusion in which you pose a few questions that remain to
be solved, and/or alternate possibilities or theories that you'd invite the
group to ponder and adjudicate.
There will
be three kinds of reports: critical, formal, and open-topic. Critical reports will focus on the critical
essays and other readings assigned for that week; these may focus directly on
the critical writing or use the critical writing as a point of departure for
exploring some facet of the text. Do not
merely summarize the critical essay.
Formal reports will focus on some formal or technical feature of the
text (narrative voice, narrative perspective, representation of time, use of
dialect, genre, etc.). Open topics are,
predictably, open. Graduate students
must do at least one critical and at least one formal report (sign up sheet to
be distributed); undergraduates will do two reports of any kind.
One copy of your report is due to me half
an hour before the class in which you're presenting it. You may email these if you wish. This will give me some sense of where your
presentation will best fit in the class discussion. In addition, please make copies for your
classmates as well.
Class Participation—As a graduate seminar, this class necessitates your
participation. If you do not contribute
substantively to class discussion each week, I will assume that you have not
read the material. Since class
participation represents 30% of your grade, this is an assignment you need to
take seriously.
Absences—Any unexcused absence will negatively affect your class
participation grade. If you miss more
than one class for any reason, you will submit a copy of a 2-3 page response
paper to all members of the class for the novel covered during the missed
class. If you miss three classes for any
reason, you will be dropped from the course.
E-mail—I will set
up an informal e-mail list for discussion outside of class. Contributions to this list will count as part
of class participation.
Syllabus
Jan 13—Introduction
20—MLK Day; no class
27—Native Son
Feb 3—Native Son*, Invisible
Man
10—Invisible Man*
17—Light in August*
24—Light in August,
Beloved
March 3—Beloved*
10—Spring break; no class
17—Sapphira
and the Slave Girl
24—The
Age of Innocence
31—The
Sun Also Rises
April 7—The Great Gatbsy; term paper precis due
14—The
Day of the Locust
21—The
Crying of
28—extra
novel? present
research
May 5—present research
* on these days, you are responsible for having read the
criticism in the coursepak for the novel in question