ENGLISH 2130-25H

ENGLISH 2130-25H

Survey of American Literature

Spring 2011

Dr. Debra MacComb

Office: TELC 2232

Office Phone: 678-839-4869; email: dmaccomb@westga.edu

Office Hours: M-W 9-noon, 2-2:30; T 9-1; and by appointment.

Catalog Course Description: A survey of important works of American Literature. Required for English majors. May count for credit in Area C.2. Prerequisites: ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102.

Frederick Jackson Turner’s assessment that the frontier’s “significance” lay in its capacity to arouse utopian expectations, suggests, perhaps, that the literature associated with the frontier exists in a mental as much as a geographical territory. That is, while the values associated with western boundary of “civilization” on the North American continent—limitless possibility, natural justice, vast wealth, Adamic renewal—have remained constant, the physical space denoted has shifted—well, west—from the Atlantic settlements of the seventeenth century across the North American continent and beyond in the twentieth. This course will focus on works shaped by the idea of the frontier, from narratives of captivity, exploration, settlement and enterprise in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to those which, in the twentieth century, redefine, subvert or parody the dominant themes and conventions of the genre.

Required Texts

Cather, The Professor’s House (Vintage)

Cooper, The Pioneers (Signet)

Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano(Modern Library)

Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! (Vintage)

Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage (Dover)

London, The Call of the Wild (Signet)

McMurtry, Horseman, Pass By (Simon & Shuster)

Rowlandson, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (Bedford)

Thoreau, Walden (Dover)

Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History (Penguin)

Class Policies:

· I expect you to preserve an atmosphere of courtesy, respect, and intellectual maturity in the classroom and to take your own work and that of other students seriously.

Attendance: Missing more than three classes for any reason will be grounds for lowering your final grade; missing five classes may be grounds for failure. Arriving late and/or leaving early is the same as an absence.
“MYUWG” email accounts will be the official mode of communicating with you, so check this email account on a regular basis.
I do not give “extra credit” assignments.
Work submitted to fulfill requirements in other courses, whether this semester or in past semesters, will not be accepted. Indeed, I consider this practice a breech of academic integrity which will result in failure for the assignment.

· Cell phones and other electronic devices must be turned off and removed from your desk during class. Text messaging will not be tolerated.

Late work will be penalized at the rate of 1/2 grade per day late.
Disruptive Behavior: Students will be dismissed from any class meeting at which they exhibit behavior that disrupts the learning environment of others. Such behavior includes-but is not limited to-arriving late for class, allowing cell phones to ring, speaking disrespectfully to the instructor and/or to other students, checking email or surfing the web, and using personal audio or video devices. Each dismissal of this kind will count as an absence and will be applied toward the attendance requirements policy above.
Plagiarism will result in failure for the course; it also will be documented and sent to both the Department Chair and the Vice President for Academic Affairs as part of your record at UWG. Please see the department website for a definition of plagiarism, implications for English majors, and a discussion on means to avoid it: http://www.westga.edu/%7Eengdept/Plagiarism/index

· Special Needs: If you have a registered disability that will require accommodation, please see me at the beginning of the semester. If you have a disability that you have not yet registered through the Disabled Student Services Office, please contact Dr. Ann Phillips in 137 Parker Hall at 678-839-6428.

Course Assessment:

· Participation and in-class writing assignments (10%). Students will come to class prepared to contribute to class discussion of assigned readings and materials presented in class. Note that participation is not the same as attendance. Attendance is arriving on time for class and staying for its duration; participation is active and informed contribution to class discussion by means of thoughtful questions and observations. While perfect attendance is certainly meritorious, it does not take the place of participation. The in-class writing assignments may take the form of reading quizzes, short explications, or analytical responses to questions on the text under discussion. For this reason it is wise to read the text in advance of class discussion.

· Weekly Reading Questions (10%). Weekly I will post to the online course syllabus several questions on the next week’s reading. You will select one of those questions on which to write a typed 250-300 response, the last part of which will be to develop a pertinent question of your own that would foster discussion and, perhaps, debate. These brief writing assignments will be due no later than 9AM the day of the next class meeting; you may turn in your reading question via email (not as an attachment, however) or leave a hard copy in my mailbox. These reading questions will receive a check-plus, a check or a check-minus as well as brief commentary. Be sure to keep copies of all your work until you receive the graded assignment back from me.

· Analytical essays (40%). Three 3-4 page essays based on a range of topics from class discussion. Approved English Department grading rubric.

· Midterm (15%) and Final (25%) exams. The midterm exam will be in essay form; the final exam, which will be cumulative, will include identifications, explication and a long essay.

Spring 2011 Schedule

January 5 W Course Introduction

Reading Question (due 1-10). How does Turner define "frontier" and why does he consider it such an important influence on the development of a uniquely "American" experience?

10 M The ice age cometh . .

12 W and stayeth . . .

17 M MLK Birthday—No Class

19 W Turner I, II, III

Reading Question (due 1-24). Rather than organizing her experience in terms of days or weeks, Rowlandson uses the term "remove" (First Remove, Second Remove, Etc) to divide her narrative. What is/are the significance[s] of this terminology?

24 M Rowlandson

26 W Rowlandson

31 M Equiano

February 2 W Equiano

7 M Cooper

9 W Cooper Essay 1 due

14 M Cooper

16 W Thoreau ( Economy)

21 M Thoreau (Where I Lived and What I Lived For, The Bean Field, The Ponds, Baker Farm)

23 W Midterm Exam Please bring a LARGE bluebook

28 M London

March 2 W London Last day to withdraw with grade of W

7 & 9 Spring Break

14 M Grey

16 W Grey

21 M Cather

23 W Cather Essay 2 due

28 M Cather

30 W Honors Convocation—No class*

April 4 M Faulkner

6 W Faulkner

11 M Faulkner

13 W Faulkner

18 M McMurtry

20 W McMurtry

25 M TBA

27 W TBA Essay 3 due

29 F FINAL EXAM 2-4 PM Please bring LARGE bluebooks

Course Goals

Students will develop the ability to recognize and identify significant achievements in American literature.

Students will understand the relevant social, historical, and aesthetic contexts of these literary works.
Students will appreciate the implications of theoretical and critical approaches to such literature.
Students will develop enhanced cultural awareness and analytical skills.
Students will demonstrate their command of academic English and of the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.

Program Goals

Oral and written communication will be characterized by clarity, critical analysis, logic, coherence, persuasion, precision, and rhetorical awareness (Core Curriculum learning outcomes I)
Cultural and Social Perspectives: Cultural and social perspective will be characterized by cultural awareness and an understanding of the complexity and dynamic nature of social/political/economic systems; human and institutional behavior, values, and belief systems; historical and spatial relationship; and, flexibility, open-mindedness, and tolerance. (Core Curriculum learning outcomes III)
Aesthetic Perspective: Aesthetic perspective will be characterized by critical appreciation of and ability to make informed aesthetic judgments about the arts of various cultures as media for human expression (Core Curriculum learning outcomes V)
This course fulfills the Area C.2 requirement in the core for all students.
Area C (Humanities/Arts) Learning Outcomes:
1. To develop the ability to recognize and identify achievements in literary, fine and performing arts;
2. To have an appreciation of the nature and achievements of the arts and humanities; and
3. To develop the ability to apply, understand, and appreciate the application of aesthetics criteria to "real world circumstances.
This course fulfills an Area F requirement for English majors (all tracks) in the core.
This course fulfills one of the core-level language arts requirements for Middle Grades Education majors.
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.