American Literature of the Late 19^th and Early 20^th Centuries

English 3355.001

Spring 2006

 

Welcome to our survey of American literature from just after the Civil War until about 1940.  The purpose of this course is to help you develop a sound understanding of important works of fiction, poetry and drama, as well as an acquaintance with the themes and concerns of significant American writers of this period. We won't read all of the best, but we will read much interesting writing by a variety of important authors.

Your course grade will be determined by your attendance and active class participation (10% of the course grade, based on my subjective judgement) and by your performance on three examinations or critical essays(30% of the course grade each). That is, you may elect to take an examination or, with my approval of topic , you may write a 5-7 page critical essay about an appropriate work or group of works of literature.  The examinations will be mainly essay examinations, although I may ask you to identify selected passages or characters from our reading as part of the test.

You will also keep a log or notebook in which you will record your responses to the class readings; for each day’s assignment you will also formulate two good questions about the assigned reading, as well as note your reactions and analyses. I will ask you to help guide class discussions by sharing your questions as well as your insights. I may occasionally collect your notebook, the quality of which will influence my judgement of participation. Late work will not be accepted unless arrangements have been made in advance.

Class will begin promptly at 8 a.m. Please make every possible effort to be present on time. All cell phones, beepers, etc. must be turned off or set to silent signal during class. Civil, courteous behavior is expected of all members of the class; all students are subject to the TAMU-CC Student Code of Conduct and to the University’s rules on Academic Integrity and Academic Honesty, as stated in the University Catalog.

My office is Faculty Center 288, and my office phone number is 825-2360. I have voice mail, so you may leave a message if I'm not in when you call. My office hours this semester will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30 to 11 a.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 to 11 a.m., and by appointment.  Please come during office hours, or make an appointment. My campus email address is Dave.Mead@mail.tamucc.edu. My web page is www.tamucc.edu/~dmead.

Our textbook this term is Anthology of American Literature: Vol. II, Realism to the Present, 8^th Edition, edited by George McMichael and others.

Please read your assignments in advance of class discussion; our discussions won't mean much if you haven't read-and thought about-the texts.

     I look forward to an interesting and informative class with you.

 

David Mead

Professor of English

Provisional Schedule

 

Jan 12 Introduction to Course

 

Regional Fiction

 

17 Mary Freeman, A New England Nun; Sara Orne Jewett, A White Heron. Bret Harte, Tennessee's Partner

 

19 G.W. Cable, Belles Demoiselles Plantation; Charles W. Chesnutt, The Goophered Grapevine; Joel Chandler Harris selections

 

24 Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn

 

26 Twain, Huckleberry Finn

 

31 Twain, Huckleberry Finn

 

Feb 2 Realist Fiction William Dean Howells, Editha; from Criticism and Fiction

 

7 Henry James, Daisy Miller

 

9 James, The Real Thing, The Art of Fiction

 

14 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper. Catch-up time.

 

16 Kate Chopin, The Awakening

 

21 Chopin, The Awakening

 

23 Examination #1

 

Naturalism in Literature

 

28 Stephen Crane, The Open Boat; Frank Norris, A Deal in Wheat

 

March 2 Jack London, The Law of Life; Edith Wharton, Roman Fever

 

Poetry and Drama Early in the 20^th Century

 

7 Edwin Arlington Robinson, all selections

 

9 Robert Frost, Mending Wall, The Road Not Taken, The Oven Bird; For Once, Then, Something.

 

SPRING BREAK  March 13-17

 

21 Frost, Design, Nothing Gold Can Stay, Stopping By Woods, West-Running Brook

 

23 T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock; The Waste Land

 

28 T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land30 Gertrude Stein, all selections.

 

April 4 Eugene O'Neill, The Hairy Ape.

 

6 Examination #2. In class identification & discussion, plus take-home essay.

 

11 TBA

 

13 Countee Cullen, all selections; Langston Hughes, all selections. Exam #2 essay responses due.

 

18 Cullen, Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, The Gilded Six-Bits.

 

20 F. Scott Fitzgerald, both selections

 

25 Ernest Hemingway, Big Two-Hearted River; William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily

 

27 Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie

 

May 2 Last Class Day. TBA

 

May 9 Final Examination. 8 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

 

Revised January 10, 2006