Assignments
English 4665/5665: American Literature from 1920-Present, Spring 2014
TR 3:30-4:45PM, Arts & Sciences 353
In Class Activities
1. Recognizing Recurring Issues in The Recognitions
Now that we've had two weeks to read, discuss, and digest the first half of William Gaddis's The Recognitions, let's break into small groups to delve deeper into the four main issues. Groups should analyze the assigned issue, find a pertinent quote (from today's reading if possible) and report their findings back to the class.
- religion (Jesus and the Virgin Mary)
- art (creation and counterfeiting, vs. commerce)
- identity (mirrors)
- narrative (experimentation and plotting)
Response Papers
The discussion board response papers serve three purposes:
- to encourage you to actively read,
- to help your classmates with brief summaries of challenging literary works, and
- to broach questions and issues for class discussion.
Spend about half the length briefly summarizing the basic conflicts and happenings in the text and about half the length responding to issues and ideas. If you've signed up to respond to poetry, select a poem or two upon which to write. For your Gaddis response, react to your selected chapters. Conclude with questions or topics for class discussion.
Parameters
- Length: 3-4 pages for the response, 3-5 minutes for the informal presentation
- Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due Dates:
- The written response is due in two places in GeorgiaVIEW on the Sunday before we are scheduled to discuss the text in class
- GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Discussions > Discussion Board Responses
- GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Responses
- The informal presentation is due on the day we are scheduled to discuss the text in class.
- If you fail to submit the summary to GeorgiaVIEW Discussions by the day before scheduled class discussion of the work, you will not be allowed to present and you will fail the assignment. It is your responsibility to note the schedule; you will not receive reminders.
- The written response is due in two places in GeorgiaVIEW on the Sunday before we are scheduled to discuss the text in class
- Grades: You will be graded on your ability to summarize the main ideas of the text as well as informally present those ideas to the class. Retrieve your graded assignment in GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Responses approximately one week after you present to the class. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I cannot return your graded paper unless and until you upload it to the Dropbox.
Sign Up 1: Poetry, Fiction, or Drama
| Written Due Date | Presentation Due Date | Reading | Student |
|---|---|---|---|
| S, 1-19 | Ginsberg |
1 Bryan Bunn | |
| S, 1-26 | T, 1-28 | Baraka, poetry |
2 Savannah Ard |
| S, 1-26 | R, 1-30 | Creeley |
3 Anika Bailey |
| S, 2-2 | R, 2-6 | O'Hara |
4 Amanda Chapman |
| S, 2-9 | R, 2-13 | Plath |
5 Kayleigh Loeffler |
| S, 2-16 | R, 2-20 | Baldwin |
6 Jodee Westbrooks |
| S, 2-16 | R, 2-20 | Baldwin |
7 Allyson Kipfer |
| S, 2-23 | R, 2-27 | Burroughs |
8 Tess Lyle |
| S, 2-23 | R, 2-27 | Burroughs |
9 Jessica Jackson |
| S, 3-2 | R, 3-6 | Salinger |
10 Mary Bendin |
| S, 4-6 | R, 4-10 | Cheever |
11 |
| S, 4-6 | R, 4-10 | O'Connor |
12 Grace Atchison |
| S, 4-13 | T, 4-15 | Williams |
13 Brennan Zito |
| S, 4-20 | T, 4-22 | Albee |
14 Cameron Litland |
| S, 4-20 | R, 4-24 | Baraka, drama |
15 Ashley Gordon |
| S, 4-27 | T, 4-29 | Miller |
16 Briana Morgan |
Sign Up 2: William Gaddis, The Recognitions
| Written Due Date | Presentation Due Date | Reading | Student |
|---|---|---|---|
| S, 3-9 | I.I, 3-62 I.II, 63-77 |
1 Tess Lyle | |
| S, 3-9 | T, 3-11 | I.III, 78-153 |
2 Anika Bailey |
| S, 3-9 | R, 3-13 | I.IV, 154-68 I.V, 169-201 |
3 Jodee Westbrooks |
| S, 3-9 | R, 3-13 | I.VI, 202-21 I.VII, 222-78 |
4 |
| S, 3-9 | R, 3-13 | II.I, 281-342 |
5 Grace Atchison |
| S, 3-23 | T, 3-25 | II.II, 343-89 |
6 Briana Morgan |
| S, 3-23 | T, 3-25 | II.III, 390-445 |
7 Jessica Jackson |
| S, 3-23 | T, 3-25 | II.IV, 446-86 |
8 Kayleigh Loeffler |
| S, 3-30 | T, 4-1 | II.V, 487-541 II.VI, 542-67 |
9 Cameron Litland |
| S, 3-30 | T, 4-1 | II.VII, 568-646 |
10 Allyson Kipfer |
| S, 3-30 | R, 4-3 | II.VIII, 647-699 |
11 Amanda Chapman |
| S, 3-30 | R, 4-3 | II.IX, 700-20 III.I, 723-32 |
12 Savannah Ard |
| S, 3-30 | R, 4-3 | III.II, 733-68 |
13 Mary Bendin |
| S, 4-6 | T, 4-8 | III.III, 769-823 |
14 Brennan Zito |
| S, 4-6 | T, 4-8 | III.IV, 824-55 III.V, 856-900 |
15 Ashley Gordon |
| S, 4-6 | T, 4-8 | Aux Clients 901-56 |
16 Bryan Bunn |
Close Reading Paper and Presentation
Sign up in pairs to analyze a key passage of a poem, short story, novel, or play in a formal 5-6 page paper and formal 5-7 minute presentation not including reading the passage aloud. Your essay and presentation should 1) do a line-by-line examination of the most important passage in the assigned work, interpreting it sentence-by-sentence through nuanced reading of (for example) figurative language, diction, connotation, and symbol, and 2) arguing the passage's centrality to understanding the core conflicts and overall theme of the work by explicating the fundamental conflicts with the particular lines of text. Your essay should be driven by a thesis that argues the work's theme and logically organized by close reading of the text: unpack the tension and conflict, connotation and diction, idea and theme. Your well-organized presentation should clearly convey your ideas to the class, and each member should speak during the presentation.
Parameters
- Length: paper 5-6 pages, presentation 7-10 minutes
- Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due: The paper is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Close Reading and Presentation on the presentation date.
- Group Policy: Each group member is responsible for staying connected with the group, attending meetings, actively participating in meetings, doing her delegated work, i.e., contributing her fair share to the project. In order to hold singular members accountable in a team project, each group member should individually compose and submit to GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Close Reading and Presentation - Individual Evaluation a paragraph that assesses their own performance and their peer's service to the assignment. If it becomes apparent that a group member did not participate (skipped meetings, didn't complete her assigned work, etc.), that member will be assessed individually rather than receive the group grade.
- Grade: Your assignment will be assessed in terms of understanding of the passage's literary elements, analysis of the work's core conflict and overall theme, and presentation skills; your project will be graded approximately one week after submission in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Close Reading and Presentation. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I cannot return your graded paper unless you upload it to the Dropbox.
Sign Up
| Due Date | Reading | Student |
|---|---|---|
| T, 2-4 | Creeley |
1 |
| 2 | ||
| T, 2-11 | O'Hara |
3 |
| 4 | ||
| T, 2-18 | Plath |
5 Grace Atchison |
| 6 Jodee Westbrooks | ||
| T, 2-25 | Baldwin |
7 |
| 8 | ||
| T, 3-4 | Burroughs (Comparison/Contrast paper for these students due by T, 3-11) |
9 Ashley Gordon |
| 10 Cameron Litland | ||
| T, 3-6 | Salinger |
11 Allyson Kipfer |
| 12 Savannah Ard | ||
| R, 4-1 | Gaddis (II.V 487-541, II.VI 542-67, and II.VII 568-646) |
13 |
| 14 | ||
| R, 4-3 | Gaddis (II.VIII 647-699, II.IX 700-20, III.I 723-32, and III.II 733-68) |
15 |
| 16 | ||
| R, 4-10 | Cheever or O'Connor |
17 Brennan Zito |
| 18 Kayleigh Loeffler | ||
| R, 4-17 | Williams (Research paper for these students due by T, 4-22) |
19 Tess Lyle |
| 20 Mary Bendin | ||
| T, 4-22 | Albee |
21 Briana Morgan |
| 22 Jessica Jackson | ||
| R, 4-24 | Baraka |
23 Bryan Bunn |
| 24 Anika Bailey / Amanda Chapman |
Comparison/Contrast Paper
While the close reading paper requires undergraduates to practice attentive analysis of a key passage and the book review calls for graduate students to summarize and evaluate a scholarly book on postmodern literature, the comparison/contrast paper instructs all to analyze how one particular idea, issue, or characteristic functions both the same way and different ways in two works of postwar American literature we've studied so far. For example, you could compare and contrast the African-American experience of Brooks and Baraka, the mental turmoil of Lowell and Plath, or the Beat aesthetic of Ginsberg and Burroughs. Or you could create an interesting comparison of your own.
Undergraduates should write a 6-7 page comparison/contrast paper on in class works only, but not ones written on in the close reading or research papers.
Graduates should write an 8-10 page comparison/contrast paper on one in class work and one outside class work (let the professor know the outside work at least two weeks before the due date), but not one studied in the presentation or research paper.
Research Paper
The close reading paper asked undergraduates to closely read a work and the comparison/contrast paper required undergraduates and graduate students to make connections and distinctions among two postwar texts. The research paper will afford you the time and space to perform a sustained and sourced discussion of a significant issue in a postwar work. Your thesis-driven paper should employ textual analysis and support its interpretation of the issue with scholarly criticism. Here is how to conduct literary research.
Undergraduate Students
Undergraduates will write an 8-10 page research paper, incorporating at least 5 scholarly articles, on a work read in class (but not one written on in either the close reading paper or the comparison/contrast paper) or a work not studied in class by one of the authors studied in class.
Graduate Students
Graduate students will write a 12-15 page research paper, incorporating at least 5 scholarly articles, on a work read in class (but not one written on in either the comparison/contrast paper or the annotated bibliography and presentation) or a work not studied in class but approved by the professor. In order to prepare for giving conference presentations, graduate students only will compose a 250-word research proposal due on Thursday, April 17 and present a 15-minute version of their work-in-progress to the class and answer questions on Tuesday, April 29, seven days before the final graduate research due date of Tuesday, May 6. If warranted, graduate students should incorporate any pertinent ideas developed from the Q&A into their final essay.
Parameters
- Length:
- Undergraduates: 8-10 pages
- Graduates: 12-15 pages
- Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due:
- Undergraduates: GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Research Paper on Thursday, April 17.
- Graduates: GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Research Paper on Thursday, Tuesday, May 6.
- 250-word abstract due on Thursday, April 17
- 8-10 work-in-progress pages delivered to the class in 15-minutes of oral presentation on Tuesday, April 29
- Grade: Your assignment will be assessed in terms of your interpretive claim, your literary analysis, and your practical research. Retrieve your graded assignment in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Research Paper approximately one week after you submit.
Take-Home Exam
Undergraduates only will compose two 5-6 page essays selected from a set of 4-6 questions. We will generate topics as a class on Tuesday, April 29, and I will create 4-6 questions from those topics on Thursday, May 1.
Topics
- American Dream
- postwar history and social movements
- expatriation
- patriarchy, feminism, motherhood
- masculinity
- homosexuality, sexuality
- race
- mental illness
- social conformity and social decay
- family dysfunction
- identity, identity compared to The Recognitions
- reality, counterfeit
- literary experimentation
Answer 2 of the 6 questions below. Do not use an author's work in more than one essay; and do not repeat your comparison/contrast paper topic. Not all authors' works are appropriate for all essays. Choose works which afford adequate material to address the question at hand. Have a controlling idea, an interpretation, a thesis that bridges the works. Make connections and distinctions among the texts; compare and contrast the works' key ideas. Support your points with textual evidence (pertinent quotations); avoid plot summary. Organize essays by argument and analysis. You will be graded on your interpretive understanding of the work as well as your ability to compare and contrast meanings and issues.
Questions
- The Recognitions: Compare and contrast how William Gaddis' The Recognitions and one other literary work portray the struggles of personal identity in the postwar period.
- sexuality and gender: Compare and contrast how postwar gender roles affect characters'/speakers' sexuality in two literary works. Select only one gender, masculine or feminine, for both works.
- postwar society: Compare and contrast how two literary works celebrate and/or critique postwar society and culture.
- literary (con)form(ity): Compare and contrast how and why two literary works comment on postwar social conformity with their literary forms.
- dysfunction and delusion: Discuss how family and/or social dysfunction contributes to the mental deterioration of characters/speakers in two literary works.
- race: Compare and contrast how two literary works—one written by an African-American, the other by a white—respond to and portray the struggle for racial progress in the postwar era.
Parameters
- Length: 10-12 pages (two 5-6 page essays submitted in one document)
- Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due: GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Exam on Tuesday, May 6
- If I do not receive or cannot open your assignment, I will email you the day after it is due. If I do not receive or cannot open your paper within two days of its due date, you will fail the assignment and the class.
- Grade: You will be assessed on your understanding of the four authors' works as well as your ability to make connections and distinctions among the works.
- You can access your final grade in the course via PAWS on Wednesday, May 14.
- In order to read and assess all the exams and papers in my four classes by the final grade deadline, I will not be giving feedback on final projects this semester. I am glad to put your exam grade in GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Exam if you ask me to do so on your paper. I am happy to provide exam feedback at the beginning of fall semester if you email me to set up a conference. Here's how to calculate your course grade.
Graduate Students Only
Annotated Bibliography and Presentation
Graduates students will research a literary work, compose an annotated bibliography of at least 10 scholarly sources interpreting the work, and teach one of the articles on the work to the class. The citations in the annotated bibliography should be formatted to MLA style, each annotation should be approximately 100 words long, and the bibliography should conclude with a one page long explanation and evaluation of why the source was selected to be taught to the class.
Parameters
- Length: 10 100-word annotated bibliographies, a 1-page explanation of the teaching selection, a 30-45 minute teaching presentation
- Format: MLA Style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due: The written component is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Annotated Bibliography and Presentation on the scheduled presentation date.
- Grades: You will be graded on the quality of your research, the quality of your annotations, and your presentational/teaching ability. You can retrieve your graded assignment approximately one week after your presentation in GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Course Work > Annotated Bibliography and Presentation.
Sign Up
| Due Date | Reading | Student |
|---|---|---|
| T, 2-4 | Creeley |
1 |
| T, 2-11 | O'Hara |
2 |
| T, 2-18 | Plath |
3 |
| T, 2-25 | Baldwin |
4 Anneliese Heinisch |
| T, 3-4 | Burroughs (Comparison/Contrast paper for this student due by T, 3-11) |
5 Shane Moritz |
| T, 4-1 | Gaddis |
6 |
| R, 4-3 | Gaddis |
7 |
| R, 4-17 | Williams |
8 |
Book Review
While the annotated bibliography and presentation required you to research, evaluate, and teach a work of scholarly criticism on a postwar literary work, the book review compels you to read and evaluate an entire book of postwar American literary criticism. After consulting with the professor on a suitable book (for instance a book from which our class is reading an excerpt, or another of your choosing), write a 8-10 page essay that summarizes the book's overall theoretical/critical claim and then evaluates the thesis and methodology. Your essay should both appreciate and interrogate the book. The GeorgiaVIEW course packet contains book reviews by Harper, Nel, and Whalen-Bridge, and you can find more examples using GALILEO.
Parameters
- Length: 8-10 pages
- Format: MLA Style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due: The written component is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Book Review on Thursday, April 17.
- Grades: Your assignment will be graded on its appreciative, summary understanding of the theory as well as its ability to evaluate and interrogate the book. You can retrieve your graded assignment approximately one week after submission in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Book Review.