English 206A - Survey of United States Literature II

Spring 2004

Instructor: Dr. David J. Baxter

Office: LaMennais Hall 121

Office Hours: Monday, 10:30-12:30

Tuesday, 11:00-1:00

Wednesday, 10:30-12:30

Thursday, 11:00-1:00

Friday'By Appointment

E-mail: dbaxter@walsh.edu

             DJBXT@aol.com

Phone: Ext. 7045

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Course Description: The United States of America is a multicultural nation with a multicultural literary heritage.English 206A is an introductory course in the literary history of the United States from about 1865 to the modern era with particular emphasis on the multiplicity of voices that began to speak through our literature after the Civil War, and continue to do so with even greater force down to the present day.Prior to the Civil War educated white males living in New England or the Mid-Atlantic States dominated what was considered 'serious literature' (with significant exceptions).After the Civil War, however, not only would the geographic origins of our literature begin to diversify, so would contributions from heretofore marginalized groups as more and more women, blacks and Native Americans added their voices to the rich cultural heritage of the United States. Through representative literary works of the last 135 years, the course will examine not only many of the traditional 'classics' of our literature, but also the works of women and minorities.

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Required Text:

Baym, Nina, et al.Norton Anthology of American Literature.Vols. C, D & E.6th ed.

New York: Norton, 2003.

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Course Requirements:

Five-six unannounced quizzes worth 25 points each.The highest four will count towards your final grade.
Midterm Exam worth 100 points.
Final exam worth 150 points.
Weekly journal responses worth 100 points.

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Attendance Policy: Poor attendance can affect your grade and might result in your being withdrawn from the course according to the University's Administrative Withdrawal Policy.The policy in the Walsh University Undergraduate Catalog, 2003-2004 reads: 'After careful thought, after one written warning to the student, and with appropriate notice of such practice in the syllabus, an instructor may administratively withdraw a student from a course after nine cumulative hours of unexcused absence.'When you are absent, class and group discussion is seriously affected.Quizzes cannot be retaken.Nevertheless, you are free to miss as many classes as you wish as long as you are willing to accept the consequences.

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Grading scale: This is copied from The English Department Handbook and is the official grading scale of the department.English 206 follows all prescriptions listed in the Handbook regarding plagiarism, and standards of grammar, spelling, and punctuation.A copy of The English Department Handbook is available from the department chairperson.

Grading scale: 95-100ASuperior

93-94A- Excellent

91-92B+ Very Good

87-90BGood

85-86B-Above Average

83-84C+ Above Average

79-82CAverage

77-78C-Below Average

75-76D+ Poor

71-74DVery Poor

69-70D-Barely Passing

Below 69,Failure

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Reading and Lecture Schedule (Please note that you are also responsible for reading the introductions to each author):

There will be no classes on the following days:

January 19: Martin Luther King Day

February 16-17: Presidents' Day

March 1-6: Spring Break

March 26: Conference

April 8-12: Easter Break

Part I: Native American Literature

January 5, 7 and 9: Historical Background.Documentaries.Wovoka (C-1003).Charles Eastman (C-797).Ghost Dance Songs (C-1000). Black Elk (D-1087).All selections.

January 12: Gertrude Bonnin (C-1006), all selections.

January 14: N. Scott Momaday (E-2320), all selections.

January 16: Leslie Marmon Silko (E-2542), Read 'Lullaby.' Simon Ortiz (E-3023), all

selections.

January 19: No Class.

January 21: Slide Presentation ' Native American History and Culture

Part II: Black and White America

January 23: Booker T. Washington (C-744).Read: 744-767.

January 26: W.E.B. Dubois (C-876).Read: 876-892.

January 28: Zora Neal Hurston (D-1506).Read: 1506-1517.

January 30: Langston Hughes (D-1891): 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers,' 'Mother to Son,' 'Weary Blues,' 'I, Too,' 'Mulatto,' 'Democracy.'

February 2: Gwendolyn Brooks (E-2778): 'kitchenette building,' 'the mother,' 'A Bronzeville Mother Loiters,' 'To the Diaspora,' and 'The Coora Flower.'

February 4: James Baldwin (E-2190): All selections.Rita Dove (E-3059): 'Geometry,' 'Adolescence I, II, and II.'

Part III: Issues of Gender

February 6, 9 and 11: Emily Dickinson (C-1660: Read poems #s 49, 199, 214, 249, 303, 315, 324, 448, 505, 732, 754, 1072, 1545, 1601.All letters.

February 13: Mary Freeman (C-723).All selections.

February 16: No Class.

February 18, and 20: Kate Chopin (C-620). The Awakening.

February 23: Midterm Exam.

February 25: Amy Lowell (D-1143): 'The Captured Goddess,' 'Madonna of the Evening Flowers,' 'Meeting House Hill.' 'New Heavens for Old.'

February 27: Adrienne Rich (E-2941): 'Storm Warnings,' 'Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law,''I am in Danger ' Sir --.'

February 29: Louise Gluck: (E-3036).'The Drowned Child,' 'Terminal Resemblance,' 'Appearances.'

March 1-6: Spring Break.

Part IV: Traditional Classics

March 8-10-12: Walt Whitman (C-17): 'Song of Myself' (1881 version), Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,' and 'Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking.'

March: 15 and 17: Henry James (C-465) 'The Beast in the Jungle.'

March 19: Stephen Crane (C-901): 'The Open Boat.'

March 22 and 24: Wallace Stevens (D-1234): 'Sunday Morning,' 'The Idea of Order at Key West,' 'Anecdote of the Jar.'

March 26: No Class.

March 29: Ernest Hemingway (D-1846): 'The Snows of Kilamanjaro.'

March 31 and April 2: Robert Frost (D-1174). 'The Tuft of Flowers,' 'Mending Wall,' 'After Apple-Picking,' 'The Road Not Taken,' ' 'Nothing Gold Can Stay,' 'Birches,' and 'Design.'

April 5: T.S. Eliot (D-1417).'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.'

April 7: John Updike (E-2267). 'Separating.'

April 8-12: No Class

April 14 and 16: Richard Wilbur (E-2802): Read 2802 - 2807.