Professor Anne Raine Office: Arts 305 / 562-5800 x1770 Office hours: Mon/Thur 2:30-3:30, or by appointment Email: araine@uOttawa.ca
Fall/Winter 2009-10 Mon 11:30-1 / Thur 1-2:30
English 2450 D, Term 2: American Literature, 1860s to later twentieth century In this second half of our survey, we will investigate how late nineteenth- and twentiethcentury American writers use literary form to reflect on and respond important events and issues in American history, focusing in particular on the material and social changes brought about by industrialization, urbanization, and the rise of consumer culture. We will continue to explore the role of cultural “others” -- African-Americans, Native Americans, women, the working class—in literary representations of American experience. Finally, we will consider how twentieth-century writers resurrect, reinvent, or reject the ideals and visions of earlier writers, particularly ideas about the American landscape, history, and selfhood, ending with a consideration of how contemporary Native American writers adapt tribal and postmodern storytelling techniques to decenter dominant narratives about American history and identity. The course themes will help us identify patterns among the texts we read, but we will also pay attention to the particular concerns of each author and period. You will gain a working familiarity with some of the important literary movements (realism, naturalism, modernism, and postmodernism), and an understanding of how these literary developments relate to the social and cultural debates of their times. Since we cover a smaller historical time span this term, we’ll have time to read three novels as well as poems and short stories. Assignments will include some small homework assignments, one essay (6-8 pages), one group presentation, and a final exam. See the fall semester syllabus for information about the calculation of final grades. Attendance and participation: We will continue to work on maintaining a good balance between lecture and discussion, and creating a classroom environment in which everyone feels comfortable speaking and has a chance to be heard. 10% of your final grade depends on the degree and quality of your participation in class discussions. (So if you don’t feel comfortable speaking up in class, be sure you demonstrate your participation in other ways.) Missing more than six classes per term may reduce the participation part of your grade to 0. Communication: I will continue to post study questions and course information on the course e-mail list. As always, I encourage you to come talk to me if you have any questions or concerns about any aspect of the course, and I welcome your feedback about how the course is going and what we can do to make it more productive and fun.
Course texts for winter term: (plus the Heath Anthology, which we will continue to use) • Willa Cather, O Pioneers! (Penguin) • William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (Vintage) • Louise Erdrich, Tracks (HarperCollins) • Photocopied course packet
English 2450 D / Raine / 2009-10
Tentative reading schedule Unit 5: Developments in American fiction: realism, naturalism, modernism Week 1 Thur, Jan 7 Week 2 Mon, Jan 11 Thur, Jan 14
Week 3 Mon, Jan 18 Thur, Jan 21
Intro to “The Late Nineteenth Century” (1322-47); Davis, biographical intro and “Life in the Iron-Mills” (1861; Heath 1158-85) Davis cont’d Howells, from The Editor’s Study (coursepack) and “Editha” (Heath 1443-54); James, biographical note (Heath 1454-56), “The Art of Fiction” (coursepack) and “Daisy Miller: A Study” (1879; Heath 1456-95) Howells and James cont’d London, “To Build a Fire” (1908; course packet), biographical note and “South of the Slot” (1909; Heath 1581-92)
Week 4 Mon, Jan 25 Thur, Jan 28
Gilman, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” (1892; Heath 1596-1609) Intro to “The Modern Period, 1910-1945” (1713-35); Cather, O Pioneers! (1913)
Week 5 Mon, Feb 1 Thur, Feb 4
Cather cont’d Cather cont’d
Unit 6: Modernism: alienation, experimentation, and “making it new” Week 6 Mon, Feb 8 Thur, Feb 11
Williams, biographical note and poems (1923; Heath 1850-56 and coursepack) Williams cont’d
** STUDY WEEK FEB 15-19 ** Week 7 Mon, Feb 22 Thur, Feb 25
Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (1929) Faulkner cont’d
Week 8 Mon, Mar 1 Thur, Mar 4 Sun, Mar 7
Faulkner cont’d Faulkner cont’d DUE : Optional proposal for Essay #3
Unit 7: Postwar culture: suburban dystopia, postmodern storytelling, and Native American literature Week 9 Mon, Mar 8 Thur, Mar 11
Intro to “The Contemporary Period” (Heath 2169-73); Ginsberg, biographical note, “A Supermarket in California,” and “America” (1956; coursepack and Heath 2352, 2375-77) Paley, biographical note and “A Conversation with My Father” (1974; coursepack); Barthelme, biographical note and “At the End of the Mechanical Age” (1977; coursepack)
English 2450 D / Raine / 2009-10
Week 10 Mon, Mar 15
Thur, Mar 18
Momaday, biographical note and The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969; Heath 2436-2445); Vizenor, biographical note and “Almost Browne” (1991; coursepack) DUE: Essay #3 (in class, or in my office by 4:30 pm) Erdrich, Tracks (1988)
Week 11 Mon, Mar 22 Thur, Mar 25
Erdrich cont’d: in-class work on group presentations Erdrich cont’d: in-class work on group presentations
Week 12 Mon, Mar 29 Thur, Apr 1
Group presentations Group presentations
Week 13 Tue, Apr 8 Thur, Apr 10
NO CLASS: Happy Easter! Wrap-up and review for final exam
Mon, Apr 12
NO CLASS: Extra studying day