Dr. Alex E. Blazer	Course Site	Syllabus
In Class Activities	Selected Reading	Study Questions
Discussion Board	Peer Response
Paper 1	Paper 2	Exam

Assignments

American Literary Consciousness from Huck Finn to House of Leaves

English 226.01: American Literature II: from 1860

Fall 2007, Wednesday 6:00-8:50PM, 1116 AuSable Hall

In Class Activities

1. Dickinson

Since we have a large class that meets only once per week, I've designed an in-class activity for us to introduce ourselves to one another, commence our analysis of Emily Dickinson, compare Dickinson with Whitman, and generate a spirit of class participation. Break into groups of three or four, discuss the poem assigned to your group, and answer the three questions.

 

241 [I like a look of Agony,]

448 [This was a Poet!—It is that]

650 [Pain—has an Element of Blank—]

1129 [Tell all the truth but tell it slant—]

1. What is the core conflict of the poem?
2. What is the theme of the poem?
3. How do Dickinson's conflicts and themes compare to the issues and ideas of Whitman that we've just discussed?

2. Eliot

We're going to commence our discussion of The Waste Land by breaking into small groups and breaking the poem down into manageable sections, one section per group. Each group is responsible for answering the following questions:

1. Who is/are speaking?
2. What is the narrative plot or plots in the section?
3. List and define some of the allusions in the section.
4. What is the overall tone and idea of the section?

• I. The Burial of the Dead
• II. A Game of Chess
• III. The Fire Sermon
• V. What the Thunder Said

3. Alain Locke, from The New Negro

Our two goals for this in class group activity are to 1) break down The New Negro into an understanding of its component stories and 2) then interpret the stories' collective significance.

1. Rudolph Fisher, "Vestiges: Harlem Sketches"
   1. Group Representative: Mary Barrett or Allie Chandler
   2. Describe the conflicts regarding religious, generational, and country vs city world views.
   3. Taken collectively, what do these diverse sketches say about Harlem?
2. John Matheus, "Fog"
   1. Group Representative: Eric Brinks or Jon Koehler
   2. Describe the ethnic, racial, and religious conflicts among the trolley passengers.
   3. What does the fog symbolize? What does the fog do to the world view of the trolley car passengers?
3. Jean Toomer, "Fern"
   1. Group Representative: Audrey Lovett or Danielle Houghton
   2. Describe the literal and literary relationship between the male Northern narrator and the Southern female Fern? Is there any difference between the Northern narrator's relationship with Fern and the Southern men's relationship with her?
   3. What does the story suggest about black female sexuality and African-American literature?
4. Zora Neale Hurston, "Spunk"
   1. Group Representative: Shawnna Gunnink or Arianna Hendrix
   2. Describes the ways in which this modern folk/folksy story goes beyond its regionalist roots?
   3. What does the story suggest about patriarchy and the status of women in the African-American folk community?

4. William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

One pathway into the complex, time- and perspective-shifting novel The Sound and the Fury is through the simple image of a girl in a tree peering in at her grandmother's funeral while her brothers look up at her muddy drawers. This is the primal scene that undergirds the psyche of the characters, the author, and the novel. Our two goals for this in class group activity are to 1) break down The Sound and the Fury into an understanding of its component points of view and 2) then interpret the collective significance of its points of view.

1. Benjy
2. Quentin
3. Jason
4. third-person narrator focusing mostly on Dilsey

• Benjy, Quentin, and Jason groups:
  • How does the narrator's mind work? How does the narrator experience/relate to the world? What are the narrator's core issues?
  • Describe the narrator's relationship with Caddy and how that relationship affects his psyche and narrative point of view.
• third-person narrator focusing mostly on Dilsey group:
  • What are Dilsey's issues? How does she relate to the world? What does Dilsey think of the Compsons?
  • After telling the first three sections from the first person point of each of Caddy's brothers, what is the meaningful effect of telling the final section from a third-person narrative that focuses on a family servant?

Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves

Day 1

 

Because Danielewski's book is so fascinatingly difficult, I want to make sure that we're all on the same page regarding the structure and plot of the book. To that end, we'll spend much of our first day of discussion entertaining questions about format and what actually happens in the first half of the novel. Take a few moments to write about what you do know and do not understand about the book and then we'll use your responses to guide class discussion today.

• Write 3-5 things that you know and understand about the novel.
• Write 3-5 things that you are uncertain about or have questions about regarding the novel.
• After reading the first half of the novel, what do you think the core conflict or general theme is?

Day 2

 

Last week, we brought many diverse issues to the table in an effort to understand the plot and format of the book. For our second day of discussion, I'd like us to focus on character and theme in not only Danielewski but also Barth and Coover as well so that we can grasp the the larger picture of their postmodern effort. Divide into five groups. Each group will be responsible for answering five questions regarding its assigned character.

 

The characters:

1. Ambrose
2. the projectionist
3. Bill Navidson
4. Johnny Truant
5. Pelafina H. Lièvre

The questions:

1. Do a character sketch.
2. What is the character's core conflict?
3. Describe the character's journey through the story: where does the character begin and where does the character end?
4. Looking at just the one character, what is the key idea or theme of the story?
5. What is the theme of the entire work? How does the theme of the character's journey fit into the overall theme of the novel?
   • If your group is interpreting Ambrose or the projectionist, how does the theme of "Lost in the Funhose" or "The Phantom of the Movie Palace" compare to that of House of Leaves?

Selected Reading

The Anthology of American Literature offers over 130 pages of writing by Whitman and over 40 by Dickinson. I encourage you to read all of these poems, but we'll only have time to examine a limited number of them in class. Please be prepared to discuss the following texts.

 

Walt Whitman

Preface to Leaves of Grass

"Song of Myself"

"To You"

"One's-Self I Sing"

"I Hear America Singing"

"Poets to Come"

"From Pent-Up Aching Rivers"

"Once I Pass'd through a Populous City"

"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"

"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"

from Democratic Vistas

Emily Dickinson

125 [For each ecastic instant]

241 [I like a look of Agony,]

249 [Wild Nights—Wild Nights!]

258 [There's a certain Slant of light,]

303 [The Soul selects her own Society—]

324 [Some keep the Sabbath going to Church—]

341 [After great pain, a formal feeling comes—]

414 ['Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch,]

435 [Much Madness is divinest Sense—]

441 [This is my letter to the World]

448 [This was a Poet— It is That]

650 [Pain— has an Element of Blank— ]

754 [My life had stood—a Loaded Gun—]

1129 [Tell all the truth but tell it slant—]

H. D.

Note: Selected poems are also bookmarked in the Blackboard > Course Documents > H. D. file.

Introduction

"Sea Rose"

"Sheltered Garden"

"Sea Poppies"

"Loss"

"Garden"

"Hermes of the Ways"

"Oread"

"The Pool"

"Fragment 113"

"Fragment Thirty-Six"

"Fragment Forty"

"Fragment Forty-One"

"Fragment Sixty-Eight"

Study Questions

It's easy to get behind in a fast-moving survey course. In order to actively keep up with the reading and prepare for class discussion, I suggest the following strategy:

1. Read the author biographies in the Norton anthology, for they often frame the themes of the selected texts.
2. Peruse anthology's companion website, Anthology of American Literature.
3. Take notes while you're reading, either in the margins or in a notebook (highlighting doesn't count).
4. Record at least three significant or favorite passages for each work.
5. Read your peers' discussion board responses on Blackboard.
6. Answer the study questions, which will typically be available the Friday before the work will be discussed. I suggest writing a short, informal response and citing key passages in the text that support your response.

Actively keeping up with the reading in this manner will serve you well on the papers and exams.

• Walt Whitman
  • According to the Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855), what is the role of the poet in American society? Do you think he achieves that function in "Song of Myself"?
• Emily Dickinson
  • Judging from her poetry, how do you think Dickinson lives her life? What is Dickinson's relationship with life? According to her mindset, how are life and death related? How does her world view contrast with Whitman's?
• Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, "A New England Nun"
  • In what ways is this regionalist? In what ways might it be realist? Why is Louisa referred to as an uncloistered nun at the end of the story?
• Sarah Orne Jewett, "A White Heron"
  • What makes this a regional story? What are the hierarchical polarities that Jewett sets up in Sylvia's character as well as between Sylvia and the ornithologist?
• Charles Waddell Chesnutt, "The Wife of His Youth"
  • Describe Mr. Ryder's race, class, and love interests. Why does he reveal "the wife of his youth"?
• Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  • Do a character sketch of Huck Finn. Who is he? What kind of person is he? What does he want out of life? Why does he do what he does? What does he fear?
  • Compare and contrast Huck's relationship with the Widow Douglas and with Miss Watson. Compare and contrast his relationship with Pap and with Jim. Does this have any relationship to the identities he assumes?
  • Compare and contrast Huck's shams with the Duke and Dolphin's and with Tom Sawyer's. What kind of morality does Huck have at the beginning of his story as compared to the end. What does the story suggest about the American brand of morality and civilization?
• Henry James, "Daisy Miller: A Study"
  • First, contrast James's narrator with Twain's. What kind of realism does James create as opposed to Twain? Second, characterize the Americans abroad, Daisy Miller and Frederick Wintermute. What particularly American issues of gender, class, and age does the story portray?
• Stephen Crane, "The Open Boat"
  • What does this confrontation with nature suggest about individual agency? Why is the rescuer called a "saint"? Is this term appropriate? Why or why not?
• Frank Norris, "A Deal in Wheat"
  • What does the story suggest about America's changing relationship with nature? What does the story say about individual agency in an age of power-brokers and commodity markets?
• Jack London, "The Law of Life" and "To Build a Fire"
  • Compare and contrast Koskoosh ("The Law of Life") and the man's ("To Build a Fire") attitudes toward their snowy deaths.
• T. S. Eliot
  • Describe your experience reading "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and The Waste Land. How did they make you feel? Why? What is Eliot's view of love and passion? of the modern world?
• H. D.
• Compare and contrast the tone and ideas of H. D.'s earlier Imagist poems with her later poetic fragments. How do her her form, her psyche, and her themes evolve?
• William Carlos Williams
  • Judging from "Tract," "To Elsie," "At the Ball Games," and "The Yachts," how does Williams regard modern culture?
• Countee Cullen
  • What does "Heritage" suggest about the attitude of modern African-Americans to Africa? to America?
• Langston Hughes
  • What are the blues and why does Hughes have them? What is the relationship between the blues and democracy?

• Ellen Glasgow, "The Difference"

  • Discuss the differences between the Victorian woman and the modern woman.

• F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" and "Winter Dreams"

  • Describe modern femininity and sexuality in the two stories. Compare and contrast how the men in the stories regard Bernice and Judy.

• William Faulkner

  • "That Evening Sun": Compare the children's attitude toward Nancy's situation with their mother's attitude. What does the story suggest about the themes of family, race, and gender in the 1920s and 1930s?
  • The Sound and the Fury: What is the effect of telling the story from four points of view with varying degrees of reliability? Why is the story only narrated by the brothers (Benjy, Quentin, and Jason) and not Caddy? What is the effect of the the narration switching from first person to third person, from being inside the male siblings' consciousnesses to focusing on the family's longtime female servant, in the fourth section?

• Ernest Hemingway, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro"

  • How does Hemingway's laconic writing style complement Harry's alienation and repression? How does Harry feel about love, the war, his life, his writing?
• Eugene O'Neill, The Hairy Ape
  • The play presents a multifaceted debate on the status of the common, working man. Describe each of the four character's (Paddy, Long, Mildred, Yank) attitudes toward labor and class.
• Susan Glaspell, Trifles
  • Describe the lawmen's attitude toward women's domestic space. Why do the women refrain from telling the lawmen about the strangled canary?
• Sylvia Plath
  • Would you characterize Plath's poetry as confessional? What does she confess? Does she absolve herself, or asked another way, does she resolve anything?
• Allen Ginsberg
  • How does Ginsberg feel about American society in such poems as "Howl" and "A Supermarket in California"? How does he bridge a pre-modernist poet like Whitman with modernist poets like Frost and Stevens?
• Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie
  • Given the atmospheric setting and Tom's narrative framing of the play, where does this play take place? What does the play suggest about the function of memory and illusion? And how is this dreamspace different from, say, O'Neill's? What about this play is modernist, what postmodernist?
• August Wilson, Fences
  • Fathers and Sons: Compare and contrast the play's father and son relationships. What is the play saying about fatherhood in general and African-American fatherhood in particular?
  • Wilson's Responsibility and Storytelling: Discuss the conflict between responsibility on the one hand and dreaming, storytelling, lottery playing, sports playing, drinking, philandering and so forth on the other hand. By the end of the play, what is our attitude toward Rose? toward Troy? What is the play's theme regarding the conflict between practicality and illusion?
• Robert Coover, "The Phantom of the Movie Palace"
  • Describe the relationship between film and reality in the story. What does the phantom of the movie palace metaphorically and symbollically represent?
• John Barth, "Lost in the Funhouse"
  • Why does the narrator include metafictional commentary about the nature of writing stories? How does the metafiction correlate with Ambrose's coming-of-age tale? What does the funhouse metaphorically and symbolically represent?
• Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves
  • How would you describe the genre and plot of the novel to a friend?
  • Hierarchically chart the relationships between the competing narrators and/or the shifting narrative frames (the editors, Truant, Truant's mother, Zampanò, Navidson). Compare and contrast Danielewski's shifting framework with Faulkner's. If The Sound and the Fury is structured around Caddy's muddy drawers, then what might lie at the center of House of Leaves?
  • Among many things, this novel is a ghost story. The house on Ash Tree internally expands and Truant is chased by something. What might lie at the center of House of Leaves?
  • "This book is not for you." Who is its intended audience? What is the thematic function of the (fake) footnotes and the (fictional) documentary The Navidson Record? What does the novel suggest about academics and authority and the act of interpretation?OWhat does the novel suggest about the nature of postmodern hypermediated existence?
  • If form follows content (and vice versa), then what are some key issues in this exorbitantly stylistically creative novel? In what ways does this novel illustrate Lewis and Sims' conceptions of postmodernist literature? Compare and contrast the form and content of Barth, Coover, and Danielewski's works.

Peer Response

1. Goals

As this is Supplemental Writing Skills course, you have the opportunity to revise your two formal papers based upon comments by your peers and myself. You will provide constructive criticism to 3 or 4 other members of the class as will they to you. Take this opportunity to re-see and hone your papers, not only in terms of grammar and style but analytical content.

• Exchange papers (formatted in Word or Rich-Text format only, not Works) with your group via Blackboard > Groups > Paper # - Group # > File Exchange.
• Provide me with your peer responses via Blackboard > Assignments > Paper # Peer Response. Copy and paste all responses into one document before submitting.
• Provide your peers with your responses by printing out all of their papers and your response. You may also upload the response to your group page in Blackboard.
• Peer response grades will be placed in the the second paper draft final grade and not in the peer response assignment dropbox. The final peer response grade will be calculated by averaging the peer responses from both papers.

2. Peer Response Groups

• Paper 1: Short Paper Peer Response Groups
• Group 1: Santana Aker, Shawnna Gunnink, Danielle Lewis, Kristopher Snyder, Teresa Stillman
  
• Group 2: Mary Barrett, Mike Golczynski, Caitlyn Knapp, Audrey Lovett
  
• Group 3: Eric Brinks, Ariana Hendrix, Jim Munchow, Amy Sprouse
  
• Group 4: Allie Chandler, Danielle Houghton, Jon Koehler, Shaynon Munn
  
• Group 5: Amy Funk, Dan Kilian, Lindsay Nienhouse, Brooke VanHouten
• Paper 2: Research Paper Peer Response Groups
  • Group 1: Eric Brinks, Shawnna Gunnink, Caitlyn Knapp, Jon Koehler
  • Group 2: Allie Chandler, Danielle Lewis, Audrey Lovett, Brooke VanHouten
  • Group 3: Ariana Hendrix, Lindsay Nienhouse, Kristopher Snyder, Amy Sprouse
  • Group 4: Amy Funk, Mike Golczynski, Danielle Houghton, Dan Kilian, Teresa Stillman
  • Group 5: Santana Aker, Mary Barrett, Jim Munchow, Shaynon Munn
    

3. Written Peer Response

Answer the following questions as you formulate your one page, double-spaced response to each peer's paper. Because these peer response papers and sessions help your peers revise their papers and thus improve their grade, it is very important that you offer the best constructive criticism in the strongest possible terms, both in writing and in the group meeting. Do not simply say that a peer's paper is okay. Even if you find no problems, engage a dialogue with the paper's interpretation.

• Style and Grammar
  • Does the paper follow the formal and stylistic guidelines of the Modern Language Association? Does it maintain 1-inch margins, a header, double-spacing, etc.? Does it properly quote and cite sources?
  • Mark grammatical, usage, and typographical/computer errors. However, if they are so frequent that you're doing more marking than reading, write a general note to the author explaining that fact.
• Thesis
  • What is the writer's thesis?
  • Is the thesis sufficiently complex and complicated, in other words, does it break down general issues to their nuanced parts?
  • Does the paper cut to the quick of the core conflicts and ideas of the work of literature?
• Argument and Interpretation
  • What evidence does the paper use to argue its case?
  • Does the paper state more than the obvious, general reading and make complex and sophisticated interpretations of the work?
  • Does the paper convince you of its interpretation of the work of literature? Why or why not?
• Organization
  • Does each paragraph advance, support, and/or develop the controlling thesis?
  • Do the paper's paragraphs and/or sections build upon and/or follow each other in logical, effective ways?
• Voice
  • Does the paper use a formal, strong, and authoritative voice adequate to its interpretation?
  • Does the paper represent the voice of the work of literature fairly?
• Successes and Weaknesses
  • Where is the paper most successful? least?
  • What does it do right? Where does it need work?
• Quality and Creativity
  • Is the paper of sound quality and caliber?
  • Does the paper approach its text in innovative, original ways?

4. Verbal Peer Response

In the peer response meeting, group members will share their responses in verbal form. Writers take turns listening to their group members review their work. Specifically, the group should go around the circle and address the following issues. The process should take 7-10 minutes per writer and last 35-50 minutes depending on the size of the group.

• Paper 1: Short Paper
  1. Thesis: What is the paper's thesis? Does it make a defendable claim, control the argument, and structure the paper?
  2. Comparison: Does the paper effectively compare and contrast the two works?
  3. Anything Else: What other revisionary comments do peers have about the paper?
• Paper 2: Research Paper
  1. Thesis: What is the paper's thesis or controlling idea?
  2. Research: Does the paper effectively analyze the work while using research to help make its case?
  3. Anything Else: What other revisionary comments do peers have about the paper?

Discussion Board Response

Blackboard Post: You will respond to a reading, and post your response to our course discussion board at Blackboard > Discussion Board. The response should

• be formatted in Word or Rich-Text Format (not Works) only according to the MLA styled template,
• be 2-3 double-spaced pages long,
• show your active engagement in the text's issues (don't simply summarize the text, tentatively analyze and interpret its meaning; if you've signed up for a poet, feel free to closely read just one or two poems),
• help your peers understand the text by pointing out key issues, and
• broach issues for class discussion.

Informal Presentation: You will also be responsible for a brief, informal presentation which introduces the key issues and possible themes of the text as you see them and also broaches issues for class discussion.

 

Due Dates:

1. Your discussion board response will be due in Blackboard > Discussion Board on the Wednesday before we discuss an essay in class. If you do not submit your response to Blackboard before the text is discussed in class, you will fail the assignment.
2. Your brief, informal presentation will be due on the day we discuss the reading in class. This date is approximate for we sometimes fall a day behind.
3. I will return your graded response to you in Blackboard > My Grades > Discussion Board Response by the next class period.
4. For example, we are scheduled to discuss James on 9-12. Therefore, the summary will be due in Blackboard > Discussion Board by Wednesday, 9-5. In class on Wednesday, 9-12, the respondent will informally present her reading of James's story and I will grade her response and return it to Blackboard > My Grades > Discussion Board Response by Wednesday, 9-19.

Note: It is your responsibility to remember to post your response on time.

 

Blackboard Due Date	Presentation Due Date (approximate)	Reading	Student
F, 8-31	W, 9-5	Freeman
		Jewett
W, 9-5	W, 9-12	Twain	Caitlyn Knapp
		James
W, 9-12	W, 9-19	Crane	Santana Aker
		Norris	Amy Funk
W, 9-19	W, 9-26	Eliot	Danielle Houghton
W, 9-26	W, 10-3	H.D.	Amy Sprouse
		Williams	Kristopher A. Snyder
W, 10-3	W, 10-10	Cullen	Jon Koehler
		Hughes	Audrey Lovett
W, 10-10	W, 10-17	Glasgow	Mary Barrett
		Fitzgerald	Shaynon Munn
		Hemingway	Allie Chandler
W, 10-17	W, 10-24	Faulkner, "That Evening Sun"	Dan Kilian Jr
		Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury	Lindsay Nienhouse
W, 10-24	W, 10-31	O'Neill	Teresa Stillman
W, 10-31	W, 11-7	Plath	Ariana Hendrix
		Ginsberg	Jim Munchow
W, 11-7	W, 11-14	Williams	Shawnna Gunnink
		Wilson	Brooke VanHouten
W, 11-14	W, 11-21	No Class: Thanksgiving Recess
W, 11-21	W, 11-28	Danielewski (first half)	Danielle Lewis
		Barth	Eric Brinks
W, 11-28	W, 12-5	Danielewski (second half)	Mike Golczynski
		Coover

Short Paper

The goal of the first paper is for you to articulate a general understanding of an important topic within American literature between the Civil War and 1910 by connecting and differentiating readings. Compare and contrast two authors (Whitman, Dickinson, Freeman, Jewett, Chestnut, Twain, James, Crane, Norris, London) on a general topic like (but not limited to) individuality and agency, society and nature, morality and racism, or gender and sexuality, by first positing a particular, comparative yet differential, and argumentative thesis and then proving that thesis with rigorous analysis of textual evidence. As this is an SWS course, you will be given feedback on your first draft and allowed to revise if you so choose.

• Length: 4-6 pages
• If either your first or second draft does not meet the length requirement, the final grade will be penalized.
• Format: MLA style in a Word or Rich-Text Format.
• Here is an MLA styled template for Microsoft Word.
• Due Dates
• Draft 1: Wednesday, October 10
• Draft 1 is due to me via Blackboard > Assignments > Short Paper Draft 1.
• Draft 1 is due to your peer response group via Blackboard > Groups > Short Paper - Group # > File Exchange.
• Peer Responses: Wednesday, October 17
• Electronic: Peer Responses are due to me via Blackboard > Assignments > Short Paper Peer Response. Be sure to attach all of the the files at once before clicking the Submit button.
• Print Out: Peer responses are due to your peers via print out (print out the entire paper and peer response) and, if you wish, Blackboard > Groups > Short Paper - Group # > File Exchange.
• Optional Draft 2: Wednesday, October 24
• Should you choose to revise, you must include a one or two paragraph statement describing what you learned about your first draft from your peers and professor, what stylistic and substantive changes you made in the second draft, and how your interpretation re-envisioned the texts in the second draft. Moreover, you must highlight your revisions using your word processing program's text highlighter. Note that Microsoft Works does not have a highlighting function, and be aware that revision does not automatically guarantee either an A or even a better grade.
• Optional Draft 2, with revision highlights and revision statement, is due to me only via Blackboard> Assignments > Short Paper Draft 2.

Research Paper

You've explored authors and their works in study questions and class discussion. You've come to general conclusions about the nature of the regionalist, realist and naturalist period through your first comparison/contrast paper. Now, you can devote an entire paper to one modernist author, to one modernist work (Eliot, H.D., Williams, Cullen, Hughes, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, O'Neill). Select one modernist work of literature (or two or three closely related poems by one poet) that we've read in class. See me if you want to pursue a text not covered. In a focused, thesis-driven paper, rigorously interpret and analyze that piece using specific textual evidence (i.e., quotations) and literary research (3-4 scholarly journal articles, books, or book chapters) to support your argument. Although this is a research paper, the emphasis should be on your ideas, your way of reading the text; the research is necesary but of secondary support: do not let it overwhelm your voice. I'll be glad to discuss paper topics with you at any time.

• Length: 6-8 pages
  • Your paper will be penalized one-third of a letter grade if it does not end at least halfway down on the sixth page while implementing 12 pt Times New Roman font, double-spacing, and 1" margins. If it does not end at least halfway down on the fifth page, it will be penalized two-thirds of a letter grade. Since you are expected to write a complete paper on the first draft, the length penalty will carry over to the second draft grade
• Style: MLA style
• One-third of a letter grade will be deducted for problems in each of the following three categories: 1) margins, 2) font size/style and line-spacing, and 3) quoting and citing. Before you turn in a formal paper, make sure your work follows MLA style by referring to my FAQ on papers and using the checklist on the MLA style handout. Correct MLA style in the second draft will void the first draft's MLA style penalty.
• Format
  • Your paper must be formatted in either Microsoft Word or Rich-Text Format.
• Due Dates
• Sources: Wednesday, November 7
  • In order to force you to start your research before you write your paper as well as use the libraries traditional resources (i.e., books!), you must submit a list of ten secondary sources you may use for the research paper. Half must be books or book chapters; half must be scholarly journal articles. For books and journal articles that only appear in print, submit a photocopy, scan, or digital photo of the first page of the book chapter or journal article.
  • If you do not submit your list of sources with photocopies the week before the paper is due, then your final grade on the research paper will be penalized one-third of a letter grade.
• Draft 1: Wednesday, November 14
• Draft 1 is due to me via Blackboard > Assignments > Research Paper Draft 1.
• Draft 1 is due to your peer response group via Blackboard > Groups > Research Paper - Group # > File Exchange.
• Peer Response: Wednesday, November 28
• Electronic: Peer Responses are due to me via Blackboard > Assignments > Research Paper Peer Response. Be sure to attach all of the the files at once before clicking the Submit button.
• Print Out: Peer responses are due to your peers via print out (print out the entire paper and peer response) and, if you wish, Blackboard > Groups > Research Paper - Group # > File Exchange.
• Optional Draft 2: Wednesday, December 5
• Should you choose to revise, you must include a one or two paragraph statement describing what you learned about your first draft from your peers and professor, what stylistic and substantive changes you made in the second draft, and how your interpretation re-envisioned the texts in the second draft. Moreover, you must highlight your revisions using your word processing program's text highlighter. Note that revision does not automatically guarantee either a better grade or an A.
• Optional Draft 2, with revision statement and highlights, is due to me only via Blackboard > Assignments > Research Paper Draft 2.
• Grade
  • You will be assessed on your understanding of the text, your ability to analytically interpret the text, your thesis, and your use of scholarly criticism to support your analysis.

Exam

Answer two essay questions, one from Group A and one from Group B. Use an individual author only once and write 3-4 pages for each essay, 6-8 pages for the entire exam.

Organize essays by argument and analysis. Have a controlling idea, an interpretation, a thesis that bridges the two authors. Support your points with textual evidence (explanation, paraphrase, and/or quotes) but avoid plot summary. Make complex connections and subtle distinctions between the texts; in other words, compare and contrast the authors and their world views.

• Group A: Period
  • Modernist/Postmodernist Genre Study: Compare and contrast the worldviews and forms of one modernist (Eliot, H. D., William Carlos Williams, Cullen, Hughes, Glasgow, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, O'Neill) and one postmodernist (Plath, Ginsberg, Tennessee Williams, Wilson, Barth, Coover, Danielewski) regarding one genre—fiction, poetry, or drama. For example, compare and contrast one modernist play (O'Neill), in terms of theme and style, with one postmodernist play (Williams or Wilson). Or, you could do fiction (Fitzgerald vs Barth or Faulkner vs Danielewski). Or, you could do poetry (Eliot vs Ginsberg or H. D. vs Plath). The important thing is to compare and contrast the authors in terms of the themes and style of their respective periods.
  • Defining Postmodernism: Choose two postmodernist authors (Plath, Ginsberg, Tennessee Williams, Wilson, Barth, Coover, Danielewski) who share a common theme or issue and write an essay that 1) defines some of the major tenets postmodernism through their writing and world view while 2) also comparing and contrasting their theme, issue, or conflict.
• Group B: Themes
  • Despair: Modernism is arguably a literature of despair over the loss of tradition and of desperation regarding the American culture that carries into some segments of postmodernist literature while other aspects of postmodernist literature revel in ironic play rather than despair. Write an essay that compares and contrasts two texts' (modernist and/or postmodernist) meditations on hope and hopelessness and/or mediations of disheartenment and disillusionment.
  • Dysfunctional Family Bonding: Compare and contrast family dynamics in the work of two authors (modernist and/or postmodernist). What drives these families into dysfunction? What compels them to create a more perfect union? How do issues of individualism and the American dream play into family discord?
  • Race and/or Class: Compare and contrast what race and/or class means in twentieth-century America according to the work of two authors (modernist and/or postmodernist). How does race divide people; and how might it build community? In what ways does America transcend race through the promise of mobility; in what ways is America irrevocably divided by caste? Feel free to tackle one or the other or the interaction of the two, but be sure to tackle the subtleties and paradoxes of race and/or class in the work of two authors.
  • Sexual Dynamics: Compare and contrast the sexual dynamics or gender battles and identities in the works of two authors we've read since the short paper (Eliot, H. D., William Carlos Williams, Cullen, Hughes, Glasgow, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, O'Neill, Plath, Ginsberg, Tennessee Williams, Wilson, Barth, Coover, Danielewski). You could write about sexual conflicts or the status of women or masculinity or some topic of your choosing that deals with sexuality or gender.

• Length: 6-8 pages
  • Write two essays of 3-4 pages each but do not use the same author twice.
• Format: MLA style in Corel WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, or Rich-Text Format.
• Due Date: The exam is due via Blackboard > Assignments > Exam by Wednesday, December 12. I will glady accept exams early.
  • If I do not receive or cannot open your exam, I will send an email Thursday morning. If I still do not receive or cannot open your exam by Friday, December 14, you will automatically fail the course.
• Grades, Comments, and Paper Return:
  • You will be graded on your understanding of the twentieth-century literary and cultural period(s) as well as your ability to compare and contrast authors' world views and themes.
  • You can access your final grade in the course via the Registrar after Tuesday, Decmber 18.
  • If you want comments, please ask for them. I will not return exams of those who do not request feedback. If you do request comments, you can access your graded paper in Blackboard >My Grades > Exam after Tuesday, December 18.