ENGL3770: American Literature in Historical Perspectives
Spring 2005   Course Code 1386

Dr. Sherry Linkon
English Department: 235 DeBartolo Hall
330-941-1951
American Studies/Working-Class Studies:
First Floor, Smith Hall
330-941-2977
sllinkon@ysu.eduOffice hours:
T/Th 12:30 – 2
W 1-3 
And by appointment


Course goals
This course is designed to help you build skills in literary analysis and understanding of American literature in historical perspectives.  Specifically, the course aims to help you develop the following:
Your knowledge of the literary forms, themes, and ideas represented by major literary figures and trends of the turn of the century, from 1890 to 1910, with an emphasis on realism, naturalism, local color, and early moves toward modernism;
Your understanding of literature as a response to and commentary on major social issues of the time when it was written;
Your understanding of literature as a source for understanding the culture of its time and place;
Your ability to read literature critically, including posing significant and open-ended questions; locating, learning from, and making use of a variety of primary and secondary sources; and developing complex analyses of literature in its historical context.

Texts
Abraham Cahan, Yekl 
Charles Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars
Kate Chopin, The Awakening (Norton edition, with critical sources)
Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie
William Harmon and C. Hugh Holman, A Handbook of Literature

Assignments and Grading
Your grade will be based on three major elements:
WebCT discussion postings, due weekly – 20%
Inquiry project – 70%
Midterm exam – 10%

You’ll receive detailed assignment sheets for these assignments during the first week of the course, and copies will be posted in WebCT.  

Course Policies
Plagiarism involves two illegal practices:  submitting papers that were written by someone else as if they were your own and quoting or paraphrasing someone else’s work without citation.  This includes cutting and pasting anything from a webpage or paraphrasing information from a source.  In both cases, you must provide a citation, and if you’re using direct quotation (like a paragraph from someone else’s website) you must put their words in quotation marks.  If you misrepresent someone else’s work as your own, you will fail the course.If you misrepresent someone else’s work as your own, you will fail the course.  If you quote or paraphrase without attribution, you will rewrite the paper in question.  If you quote or paraphrase without attribution a second time, you will fail the course.
You may take an incomplete in this course if something beyond your control prevents you from finishing all of the assignments, but only if you have completed enough of the course, and done well enough, that I am persuaded that you are well-prepared to finish the course independently.  If you take an incomplete, you have up to a year (we will negotiate this individually) to complete the course requirements.  If you do not complete them, the incomplete grade will change to an F.
The standards of academic writing include correct spelling and grammar, editing for effective prose, clear introductions to information from sources, appropriate use of MLA-style documentation, and a serious and relatively formal tone.  I expect your writing to conform to these conventions.  

How to Succeed in ENGL3770
The most challenging reading in this course, in terms of length and style, is the Dreiser novel, Sister Carrie.  I strongly recommend that you begin reading it early in the semester, instead of waiting until the week it’s due.  To encourage you to do so, I will include bonus questions about that novel on the midterm exam.  
Students who attend class regularly usually earn higher grades and learn more than students who skip class regularly.  I recommend that you come to class every day.  
Students who stop in during office hours to ask questions or just to visit with their instructors tend to learn more, enjoy the course more, and earn better grades than students who never talk individually with their instructors.  If my office hour schedule doesn’t work for you, I’ll try to find another time to meet with you.
Interaction, risk-taking, and questioning are essential skills for learning.  To enhance your own learning experience, participate in class discussion, try new ways of doing things and be willing to risk doing (or even saying) something wrong, and ask lots of questions.  I’ll do everything I can to make all of those activities feel comfortable, but you’re ultimately responsible for your own learning.  Being actively engaged in the course will help you learn.


Course Schedule
DatesAssignments -- complete these BEFORE you come to class1/20Sign in to WebCT 
Select a topic for your historical report (see instructions in WebCT)1/25Historical reports due 1/27Send me a WebCT message telling me what text or poet you’ll use for the inquiry project2/1 Read stories by Bierce and Garland, in Raffel anthology2/3Read entry on “Realism” in Harmon/Holman handbook
Inquiry project:  Reading journal due2/8Read stories by Freeman and Jewett, in Raffel anthology
Read entry on “local color writing” in Harmon/Holman handbook2/10Read stories by King and Chopin, in Raffel anthology2/15Read Chopin, The Awakening2/17Read contemporary reviews in Culley
Inquiry project:  Research proposals due2/22Read essays on The Awakening as an example of naturalism and as an example of modernism 2/24Locate one web resource on realism, local color, naturalism, or modernism
Inquiry project:  Biographical notes due3/1Read stories by James and Wharton, in Raffel anthology3/3Read poems by Robinson
Inquiry project:  Literary history notes due3/8Read poems by Wilcox and Teasdale3/10Midterm exam3/22Read poems from Anti-Imperialism website by Kipling, Masters, Bates, and Moody, and browse the other materials on the site3/24Read Chs. I – XXI of Sister Carrie3/29Read remaining chapters of Sister Carrie3/31Inquiry project:  Historical/ideological context notes due4/5Read Dunbar poems 4/7Read critical articles on Dunbar 4/12Read Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars4/14Inquiry project:  Annotated bibliography due4/19Read “The Yellow Wallpaper” (online, link from WebCT Calendar)4/21Inquiry project:  Source comparison due4/26Read Cahan, Yekl4/28Inquiry project:  Revisiting the questions5/3Draft or outline of your final paper