ENGL 4/5160: 20th Century American Literature, TR 12:30-1:45, HUM 228
“Modern American Fiction in Black and White”
Dr. Joshua Masters, TLC 2240
Phone: 678-839-4862
Email: jmasters@westga.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 2:30-4:30; Wednesday, 10-12 & 1-5, and by appt.
Description
This course, subtitled “Modern American Fiction in Black and White,” will explore the myths, themes, and political controversies that have shaped the development of modern American fiction and film, with a particular eye towards the troubled status of racial identity in the American imagination. As we survey such literary movements as Realism, Modernism, and Post-modernism, we will pay attention to the way that new literary forms and movements responded to dramatic social and historical events and shifting cultural attitudes about race, particularly our attitudes towards the categories of “whiteness” and “blackness.” We will also consider the role of American fiction, including film, in shaping those attitudes. The works we will read demonstrate a wide a range of perspectives and narrative techniques, and each suggests new ways to imagine the status of the individual, the boundaries of nationhood, and the meaning of such categories as race, ethnicity, class, and gender in America. While examining the works’ shared interests in history, identity, and human agency, we will also bear in mind the unique nature of the individual writers and their texts.
Required Texts (in order of appearance)
Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson, James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage, Russell Banks’s Rule of the Bone.
Several critical readings will be on electronic reserve, and two films will be on reserve at the library: Imitation of Life and Bamboozled.
Requirements
Students are expected to complete the day’s reading assignment in advance and come to class prepared to participate in discussion. Students must maintain a reading-quiz average of 65% or higher in order to pass the class. Other requirements include a series of short responses and process-based writing assignments, a five-page paper, and oral presentation, and a ten-page final project. Students in this class must complete the day’s reading assignment in advance and come to class prepared to participate in discussion. If you cannot keep up with the reading, you will fail the class.
Explanation of Course Requirements
Final Grade: To pass the course, students must turn in all written work, have less than five absences, and earn a passing quiz grade. If you average less than 65% on quizzes, you will not pass the course. Your final grade is comprised of the following: Final Paper (35%); Five-Page Essay (15%); Quizzes (20%); Process-Based Writing Assignments and Responses (20%); Oral Presentation (5%) and Participation (5%). Note: I am always happy to discuss your progress in the class with you and explain my evaluation of your work. You can expect to receive the grade you earn in this class; please refrain from telling me what grade you “need” in the class (for Hope, for athletics, to fulfill a dying relative’s final request, etc.), or what grade you “really want” (presumably an A).
Essays: Your basic task for each paper is to produce a well-written, coherent essay whose central argument is both interesting and significant. Your essays will be thesis-driven, argumentative papers, and your grade will be determined by the complexity of your central argument, the structure of your paragraphs, the logic of your organization, and the strength of your prose (i.e. your writing). Your research paper will also be evaluated in terms of its use of secondary sources and the originality of your scholarship.
Late Essays: I will accept late essays, but always with a penalty. For each weekday that a paper is late, 1/3 of a letter grade will be deducted from the final grade. For instance, if the paper is due on Tuesday and you turn it in on Wednesday, you will lose 1/3 of a grade (i.e. a C+ becomes a C). If you turn it in on Thursday, 2/3 of a grade is deducted (a C+ becomes a C-). Emailed papers will not be accepted, although a student who needs to establish a date and time of completion can send an attachment. All papers must be handed to me and entered as received.
Reading Assignments: The reading assignments can be found on the online syllabus in Dr. Masters’ website (http://www.westga.edu/~jmasters/). All reading will be due on Tuesday, and you can expect to read between 100 and 150 pages each week. Remember, Tuesday’s quizzes are open note, so write down names and descriptions of important characters, significant plot developments, key images and themes, etc. (Slight changes and modifications are always a part of the semester, so plan to consult the online syllabus regularly. All changes will be announced in class well in advance.)
Quizzes: At the beginning of each Tuesday class, you will take a comprehensive, fact-based quiz on the week’s reading assignment. Once the quiz is distributed, the door to the class will close, and you will have about five minutes to complete the quiz. If you arrive late, you will not be allowed to take the quiz, and you must wait outside until the quiz is completed. If you are absent for whatever reason, you will not be allowed to retake a quiz. Under no circumstances will I give make-up quizzes. However, each student can arrange to take one quiz in advance. If at anytime during the semester it becomes mathematically impossible for a student to earn a passing quiz score (at least a 65%), he or she will be told to stop coming to class. This policy is absolutely and utterly inflexible. Each quiz is worth 10 points, and at the end of the semester, assuming that you've earned the required 65%, I will then drop your lowest quiz score when determining your quiz average and quiz grade. All quizzes are open note (but not open book), and you are encouraged to bring notes based on the reading to class.
Process-Based Writing Assignments and Responses: At the beginning of each week, I will post Thursday’s writing assignment at the bottom of the online syllabus. All writing in this class submitted for credit must be typed. Your papers for this class will be written over a period of weeks rather than in one, long sleepless night. Expect several Thursday assignments to be fairly involved affairs that take you through the process of writing a thesis-driven, critical essay. These assignments will be graded on a ten or twenty-point scale (depending on how involved they are), and the grade will be based on their level of completeness and the degree to which they follow my directions. Late assignments will penalized two points for each weekday that they are late.
Discussion and Attendance: Students are expected to attend every class and arrive on time, prepared, and eager to discuss the day’s reading. Your participation grade is based upon your performance in the class in terms of group work, discussion, and attendance habits. You are expected to demonstrate genuine engagement with the material, actively contribute to discussion topics, show adequate preparation for each class, and respect the ideas of your classmates. You must bring the text under discussion to every class.
Cellphones and Sleeping: Don’t ever, ever fall asleep in this class, and I never want to see a cellphone. As soon as you see me, get the thing out of sight. If you fall asleep or use your cellphone in class (such as text-messaging and/or message checking), you will be asked to leave class and considered absent for that day.
Email: All official email correspondence must take place through UWG accounts; however, I will also be establishing a class list using your preferred email address for other forms of communication. Your emails should address me (“Dear Dr. Masters,” rather than “yo”), and they must be signed. Please proofread them and write in full sentences.
Tardiness and Leaving Early: If you arrive at class late or have to leave early, it counts as ½ of an absence. On Tuesdays, after quizzes are collected, the doors will be opened and late arrivals will be allowed to find a seat. If you are more than three minutes late, you will be marked as tardy.
Absences: I understand that illnesses and emergencies are a part of life, and therefore you are allowed to miss one Tuesday class and one Thursday class without penalty (Thursday writing assignments must be sent to me in advance). However, if you miss five classes, you will automatically fail the class, no exceptions. I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences unless the absence is due to participation in an official University activity (such as band, sports, debate, etc.). If you add the class after our first class, you will not be counted as absent. However, you are responsible for contacting me and being prepared for the next class.
My Plagiarism Policy: If a student is caught plagiarizing (and this includes short writing assignments) or cheating on a quiz, he or she will automatically fail the course. No exceptions. Also, I consider Cliffnotes, Sparknotes, and other similar “resources” out of bounds. You must complete the reading on your own and do your own thinking in the class. Quizzes will be designed in such a way that these “sources” will be of no use to you.
Departmental Plagiarism Policy: The Department of English and Philosophy defines plagiarism as taking personal credit for the words and ideas of others as they are presented in electronic, print, and verbal sources. The Department expects that students will accurately credit sources in all assignments. An equally dishonest practice is fabricating sources or facts; it is another form of misrepresenting the truth. Plagiarism is grounds for failing the course.
Reporting Procedures for Plagiarism:
Each incidence of plagiarism is subject to review and consideration by the
instructor, and is subject to a range of penalties including but not limited to
failing the assignment, failing the course, and referral to the
disciplinary review board (which may
ultimately result in the expulsion, suspension, or disciplinary removal of the
student from the university). In order to facilitate the prevention and
detection of plagiarism the Department of English and the University of West
Georgia will maintain records of plagiarized assignments and those who prepare
and/or submit them.
Course Goals
Students will demonstrate their ability to understand, analyze, and critique selections of twentieth-century American literature.
Students will recognize distinct aesthetic movements in the twentieth century in order to gain familiarity with the content and defining qualities of the literary period.
Students will develop an understanding of different critical approaches to the interpretation of works of twentieth-century American literature.
Students will demonstrate in both oral and written work a discipline-specific critical facility through convincing and well-supported analysis of related material.
Students will demonstrate their command of academic English and the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.
Students will learn to use discipline-specific computer technologies related to the study of language such as listservs, word processing, and internet research.
Program Goals
This course fulfills one of the departmental requirements for the completion of the English major.
Students will develop the analytical, oral and written skills to pursue graduate study or careers in teaching, writing, business and a variety of other fields.
Students will be able to define and pursue independent research agendas.
This course contributes to the program goal of equipping students with a foundation in literary history and the issues surrounding literary study in contemporary culture.
This course broadens students' desire and ability to take pleasure in their encounter with literature.
Students with disabilities should meet with me at the beginning of the semester, and we will make any necessary arrangements.
The reading schedule and assignment due dates are posted on the online syllabus. Slight changes and modifications are always a part of the semester, so plan to consult the syllabus regularly (before each class). All changes will be announced in class well in advance.
Reading and Assignment Schedule
1/10: Introduction to Class. Brief discussion of syllabus, and discussion of “Girl” and “Popular Mechanics”
1/15: Return to syllabus. Pudd'nhead Wilson, “Whisper to Reader” and Chapters 1-13 (don’t read the intro).
1/17: Paragraph Writing Assignment. See online syllabus. (10 points)
1/22: Finish Wilson. Read Morrison excerpt on reserve.
1/24: See online syllabus for writing assignment. (10 points)
1/29: Read Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man in its entirety. Mitchell essay on reserve, to p. 374. Discuss first essay.
1/31: One page paper proposal due. Discuss “The Mountain of Notes” due the following week. (10 points)
2/5: First single-spaced page of your "Mountain of Notes" due. (10 points) Watch Imitation of Life.
2/7: Complete Mountain of Notes due, no less than three single-spaced pages. (20 points)
2/12: Their Eyes, Chapters 1-10.
2/14: Thorough Outline of Essay #1 due. (20 points)
2/19: Their Eyes, to the end.
2/21: Essay #1 due (at least five pages, formatted according to the MLA Template).
2/26: Song of Solomon, Chapters 1-7.
2/28: Short response; see online syllabus. (10 points) Last Day to Withdraw with a "W" is Monday, March 3rd.
3/4: Song of Solomon, to the end.
3/6: Critical essay, T.B.A.
3/11: Middle Passage, to page 119.
3/13: Critical Essay, T.B.A.
3/18: Spring Break
3/20: Spring Break
3/25: Complete Middle Passage. Watch Bamboozled.
3/27: Short response; see online syllabus. (10 points)
4/1: Rule of the Bone, Chapters 1-9.
4/3: Rule of the Bone, Chapters 10-14.
4/8: Rule of the Bone, to the end.
4/10: One page proposal for final paper. (10 points)
4/15: Oral Presentations.
4/17: Oral Presentations. Final Project Prospectus Due. (20 points)
4/22: Oral Presentations.
4/24: Oral Presentations. At least five single-spaced pages of notes due. (20 points)
4/29 Last day of class. First five pages of final paper due. (20 points)
5/6: Final Papers due in my office by 5 p.m.
Writing Assignment for Thursday, January 17th
For Thursday, please bring a typed paragraph about something that thrills/fascinates/interests you about Twain's novel thus far. I ask only three things: 1) Make sure you keep it to one paragraph, and that you put some thought into the structure and organization of the paragraph. 2) Open the paragraph with an idea, argument, or interpretive position of your own design. 3) Cite a specific passage from Pudd'nhead using MLA citation and punctuation rules (skipping the works cited). See "MLA Template," page 2, on my homepage for citation and punctuation rules. Try to keep you paragraph to less than a page.
Writing Assignment for 1/24
Examine what you think is a crucial moment or development in Pudd'nhead Wilson (after Chapter 13) in light of a key concept or idea from Toni Morrison's Playing in the Dark. Please include a quotation from each text, and be sure the citations are accurate and properly punctuated. Once again, keep the response to a single, carefully formulated paragraph. Include a works cited page (which you can print on the back to save paper) that looks just like the one on page 5 of the MLA Format Template--double-spaced, hanging indents, etc. Follow the basic formula for citing a complete work by a single author (first entry). Keep in mind that I'm much more interested in your ideas, thoughts, and interpretations than in the MLA and sentence-level stuff; however, your actual score on these assignments is quantitative rather than qualitative.
Bring a hard-copy of the assignment to class.
Writing Assignment for 1/31
The first step in this arduous journey towards a final draft is finding something you want to write about and convincing yourself that it actually matters. With that in mind, write a one page (double-spaced) narrative about the paper that you envision yourself eventually writing. This is a purely speculative endeavor, of course. What's your unique angle into the novel you've chosen to write about? What do you want to investigate and explore in it? And for goodness sake, why? The writing can be fairly informal (although it should be proofread and edited); consider it a letter or memo to yourself that describes the project you're envisioning. This is also a good opportunity to define and shape some of the central questions you eventually hope to answer, so a series of questions might also be helpful.
Turning in Your final Papers 2/21
Papers are due at the beginning of class. Please include all the process-based assignments plus any in-class workshop sheets on one side of a pocket folder (let's say the left for the sake of specificity), and place your final draft (with a title page: see Title Page Template) on the other side. A complete folder will include: paper proposal, page one of your mountain of notes, your complete mountain of notes, outline (with outline workshop sheet), and, of course, the final draft of your mind-blowing essay. Make sure you follow the format guidelines provided by the MLA Format Template for your final draft.
Assignment for 2/28
Your assignment is essentially the one I discussed in class. Your first job is to identify a thematic element in Song of Solomon that really interests you thus far. It can be one we mentioned in class (names and naming, for instance), it can be something completely new, or it can return us to a thematic element from a previous text (the shared emphasis on "possession" and "possessions," for instance). Write a sentence or two about why this thematic strikes you as significant, and then type out a relevant passage (i.e. relevant in terms of your thematic element) from the novel that you'd like us to discuss in class.
March 6
Bring a copy of Fritz Gysin's essay, "The Enigma of the Return" to class with you. Underline points that interest you, and in the margins, write down at least one concrete insight about Song of Solomon (or any of our texts, for that matter) inspired by something Gysin argues. For next Thursday, March 13th, you will be doing an annotated bibliography entry on either Gysin's article or the one by Diedrich, Gates, and Pederson entitled "The Middle Passage between History and Fiction."
March 13
Bring the Gysin essay back to class, as well as the essay by Diedrich, et al. Please be prepared to discuss both. We'll also begin our discussion of Johnson's Middle Passage. Please prepare a question about the novel for the class to consider and email it to me before class (hopefully, it will be waiting for me when I arrive on Thursday morning). It can be about an issue that interests you, a passage or moment that concerns you, a plot-point that perplexes you, etc. I'll compile these in preparation for discussion.