ELIT 48C

Week 1 Class 1

Agenda

Adding the ClassSyllabusGreen sheetKaizena WebsiteIntroduction to American Literature

1914-1945QHQ

Adding the Class• I can only take 45 students• If you are on the waiting list, you can stay. I won’t

hand out add codes until at least Monday of next week, and then, only if there is room.

• As we go over the syllabus, consider whether you will stay in the class. If you want out, please let me know, so I can offer your seat to another student.

• If you are not on the waiting list, it is very unlikely you will get into the class unless we have a mass exodus after the syllabus!

The Green Sheet

• What you will find here– Course Requirements

• Assignments and values• Participation

– Required Materials– Class Policies

• Plagiarism• Conduct and Courtesy

– The Class Website• How to sign up for an

account• How to post your

homework.

– How to use Kaizena to submit your Paper

Texts and Required Materials:

Available at the De Anza Bookstore• Baym, et al., The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed., Vol.  

D—"Between the Wars 1914-1945."• Baym, et al., The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed., Vol. E

—"Literature since 1945."  Available online and from local booksellers• Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson (The book is available electronically).• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (There is a link to the full text

novel on the website).• The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Buy it, Borrow it, or Beg for it).Other Required Materials• A Gmail account that you will be willing to share via Wordpress, Kaizena, and

Google Drive• Large Bluebooks for exams

Requirements:

• Active participation in class discussions and regular attendance. You will earn real points for your participation in activities.

• Keeping up-to-date on the assignments and reading.

• Formal writing: Two short formal essays• Two exams: A midterm and a final• A series of posts to the class website• Reading quizzes, and in-class assignments.

Grading

Class Policies

Writing Submissions

1. Before you submit your essay, please save your file as your last name and the essay number, like this: Smith 2. That will help me keep your essays organized.

2. Submit your essay through Kaizena, a Google Drive add-on, at https://kaizena.com/palmoreessaysubmissiongmail. Or simply use the link on our class website home page. This system allows me to respond to your essay with both voice and written comments and to insert helpful links. 

3. Sign in to your Google Account and allow Kaizena access to your Google Drive.4. Click on the “Ask Dr. Kim Palmore for feedback” link.5. Choose your document from your Google Drive. Your paper must be saved as

either a Google doc or a PDF file to be detected by Kaizena. You will be directed to a new page to choose a delivery box from a drop down menu.

6. Add your essay to the appropriate ELIT 48C box (Essay #1 or #2). Then, click the “Ask for feedback” button again.

7. Once I have graded your paper, Kaizena will automatically share with you the link to the Google document in the comments section — located on the top-right corner of the Google document.

8. Click on the highlighted sections of the paper to find both audio and written comments concerning your essay or links to materials that will help you improve your writing.

All out of class essays are to be submitted to me electronically before the due date.

Attendance:Success in this course depends on regular attendance

and active participation. Participation points will be part of our daily activities. If you are not in class, you cannot earn these points. You should save absences for emergencies, work conflicts, weddings, jury duty, or any other issues that might arise in your life.

It is your responsibility to talk to me your absences or other conflicts. Work done in class cannot be made up. Also, please arrive on time, as you will not be able to make up work completed before you arrive, including quizzes.

A Gmail account that you will be willing to share via Wordpress, Kaizena, and Google Drive

Large Bluebooks for exams

Exams: – We will have two exams during the quarter. They will likely

be identification, short answer, and essay style. Make-ups are rare and require documentation.

Late Work– I do not accept late work. I do, however, extend an

opportunity to revise essay #1 for a better grade. If you miss the due date, you may submit that work when the revisions are due on the last day of the term.

Conduct, Courtesy, and Electronic Devices:• In this class, we will regularly engage in the discussion of topics

that may stir passionate debates. Please speak freely and candidly; however, while your thoughts and ideas are important to me and to the dynamics of the class, you must also respect others and their opinions. Courtesy will allow each person to have the opportunity to express his or her ideas in a comfortable environment.

• Courtesy includes but is not limited to politely listening to others when they contribute to class discussions, not slamming the classroom door if you do arrive late, and maintaining a positive learning environment for your fellow classmates. To help maintain a positive learning environment, please focus on the work assigned, put away your cell phones and iPods before class, and do not text-message in class. If your behavior becomes disruptive to the learning environment of the class, you may be asked to leave and/or be marked absent.

Academic Dishonesty:Plagiarism includes quoting or paraphrasing material without documentation and copying from other students or professionals. Intentional plagiarism is a grave offense; the resulting response will be distasteful. Depending upon the severity, instances of plagiarism may result in a failing grade for the paper or the course and possible administrative action. All assignments will be scanned and scrutinized for academic dishonesty. Please refer to your handbook for more information regarding plagiarism.

The Syllabus

Syllabus

• The syllabus is a tentative schedule. • It may be revised during the quarter.• Use it to determine how to prepare for class.

Week, Dates, and Days

What we will do in class

Homework due before the next class

Website: • Our class website is http://palmoreelit48C2x.wordpress.com. In order to

do the homework, you must establish an account. To make your own FREE Word Press account, go to wordpress.com and click on the large, orange button that says, “Get started here.” The system will walk you through a series of steps that will allow you to set up your own user-friendly Word Press blog, sign up for just a user name or sign in with your Facebook account. Make sure you sign in with YOUR Word Press username before you post on our class page so you get credit for your work.

• If you prefer not to use your own name, you may use a pseudonym. Please email me your username if it is significantly different from your real name.

• If you cannot establish your website and username, please come to my office hours as soon as possible, and I will help you with the process. Much of our work will take place online, so establishing this connection is mandatory.

• Writing Assignments• Reading Assignments• The Green Sheet• The Syllabus (The Daily Plan)

• Writing Tips• Helpful Links• Your Daily Homework Assignment (which

is where you post your homework.)

Posting Homework

• On the front page of the website, you will find the homework post after each class.

• Below that post on the right, are the words “Leave a comment.”

• Copy and paste your homework into the box. • Click there and a comment box will open. Post your

homework in the comment box and click “Post Comment.”

HomeworkThere is writing homework almost everyday in this class. This is both to help you think about your reading and to help you produce ideas for your essays.

In order to earn an A on your homework, you must do the following:• Complete all of the posts.• Post them on time.• Be thoughtful in your responses.

This class is going to be so easy!

Is this class too hard?

Is this classHistory 10?

Will I be the teacher’s favorite?

Questions?

American Literature 1914–1945An Introduction

HISTORICAL EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN THE WARS

• The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1920)

– American women’s efforts to win the right to vote were “given a final push by women’s work as nurses and ambulance drivers during the war” (NAAL 4).

• The Immigration Act of 1924

– “prohibited all Asian immigration and set quotas for other countries on the basis of their existing U.S. immigrant populations, intending thereby to control the ethnic makeup of the United States” (NAAL 4).

• The Great Migration (c. 1910–1930)

– the American landscape was transformed by the internal migration of two million African Americans from the rural South to urban centers in the Northeast, West, and Midwest

The Two Wars as Historical MarkersDuring the period of literary history that falls between 1914 (the beginning of World War I) and 1945 (the end of World War II), the United States grew and changed in radical ways.

The Two Wars as Historical Markers• The first Red scare (1919–1920)

– Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the birth of the Soviet Union, American leftists looked to socialism and communism as models for the labor movement in the United States. Many Americans were intensely suspicious of European-style socialism, and the first Red scare of the twentieth century took place during this time, a generation earlier than the McCarthyism that took hold following World War II.

• The stock market crash (1929)

– The stock market crash of 1929 and the decade-long Great Depression that followed it were also events both international and domestic in scope

• The Great Depression (c. 1929–1939)

– Unemployment in the United States reached a high of twenty-five percent during the Depression years, international trade dropped off by fifty percent.

ASPECTS OF LITERARY MODERNISM

Literary modernism– tradition vs. innovation:

• “One conflict centered on the uses of literary tradition. To some, a work registering its allegiance to literary history—through allusion to canonical works of the past or by using traditional poetic forms and poetic language—seemed imitative and old-fashioned. To others, a work failing to honor literary tradition was bad or incompetent writing” (NAAL 6).

“The two wars . . . bracket a period during which the United States became a fully modern nation” (NAAL 6). The aspects of social and political modernity that are laidout in the previous slides have their counterpart in literary modernism, which is better defined as a series of conflicts rather than as a homogeneous set of characteristics.

Literary modernism– serious vs. popular literature:

• “A related conflict involved the place of popular culture in serious literature. Throughout the era, popular culture gained momentum and influence. Some writers regarded it as crucial for the future of literature that popular forms, such as film and jazz, be embraced; to others, serious literature by definition had to reject what they saw as the cynical commercialism of popular culture” (NAAL 6).

– politics vs. aesthetics• “Another issue was the question of how far literature should

engage itself in political and social struggle. Should art be a domain unto itself, exploring aesthetic questions and enunciating transcendent truths, or should art participate in the politics of the times?” (NAAL 6).

RADICAL SOCIAL CHANGES THAT TOOK PLACE DURING THE INTERWAR PERIOD.

Changing Times: Thomas Hart Benton’s 1931 painting City Activities with Subway reflects the radical social changes that took place during the interwar period.

Changing Times: The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution officially gave women the right to vote. Unofficially, the amendment also opened up new arenas for women to explore—politically, sexually, artistically, and socially.

Suffragists Audre Osborne and Mrs. James Stevens.

Changing Times: These two women illustrate the era's penchant for both fun and recklessness by doing the Charleston on a rooftop ledge. Their playful posturing also reflects the risks that women were taking in an era of greater opportunity.

December 11, 1926, Chicago, Illinois.

Changing Times: The increasing mainstream popularity of African American artists, writers, and performers in cities like Chicago and New York during the interwar period is a complex phenomenon to account for, stemming from a movement toward racial equality on the one hand and an escalation in racially motivated violence that contributed to the Great Migration of two million African Americans from the South on the other.

An audience at Harlem's Cotton Club, a popular nightclub, watches a performance. April 18, 1934.

Changing Times: “Class inequality, as well as American racial divisions, continued to generate intellectual and artistic debate in the interwar years. The nineteenth-century United States had been host to many radical movements—labor activism, utopianism, socialism, anarchism—inspired by diverse sources. In the twentieth century, especially following the rise of the Soviet Union, the American left increasingly drew its intellectual and political program from the Marxist tradition” (NAAL 8).

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Bement Miles Pond Company. A general view of the plant and some of its workers.

Changing Times: The Industrial Workers of the World attracted working-class men and women frustrated with low wages and long hours. It also attracted writers, artists, and intellectuals who were sympathetic to socialist movements across the world.

Changing Times: Gastonia, North Carolina, April 5, 1929.

This photo shows a group of female textile strikers attempting to disarm a National Guard trooper, who had been ordered to the Loray Mills in an effort to stop the serious rioting that took place following the strike.

As evidenced in this photograph, labor struggles often turned violent, with strikebreakers (both military and civilian) brought in to end labor protests and return disgruntled workers to their jobs.

Science and Technology

“Technology played a vital, although often invisible, role in all these events, because it linked places and spaces, contributing to the shaping of culture as a national phenomenon rather than a series of local manifestations . . . The most powerful technological innovation [was] the automobile (NAAL 10).

Ford Adds to Your Pleasure. Poster ca. 1920.

• Automobiles put Americans on the road, dramatically reshaped the structure of American industry and occupations, and altered the national topography as well. Along with work in automobile factories themselves, millions of other jobs— in steel mills, parts factories, highway construction and maintenance, gas stations, machine shops, roadside restaurants, motels—depended on the industry”

• The road itself became—and has remained—a key powerful symbol of the United States and of modernity as well. Cities grew, suburbs came into being, small towns died, new towns arose according to the placement of highways, which rapidly supplanted the railroad in shaping the patterns of twentieth-century American urban expansion. The United States had become a nation of migrants as much as or more than it was a nation of immigrants” (NAAL 10).

The 1930s

Brokers line up to throw themselves out of the window after the stock market crash of October 1929. Contemporary American cartoon.

One of the defining features of the interwar period is the stock market crash of 1929 and the resulting depression. “The suicides of millionaire bankers and stockbrokers”—parodied in this cartoon—“made the headlines, but more compelling was the enormous toll among ordinary people who lost homes, jobs, farms, and life savings in the stock market crash. Conservatives advised waiting until things got better; radicals espoused immediate social revolution” (NAAL 11).

The 1930sNovember 16, 1930, Chicago. Notorious gangster Al Capone attempts to help unemployed men with his soup kitchen “Big Al's Kitchen for the Needy.” The kitchen provides three meals a day consisting of soup with meat, bread, coffee, and doughnuts, feeding about 3,500 people daily at a cost of $300 per day.

The 1930s

A man walks past a farmhouse in a dust storm at the height of the Dust Bowl. Ca. 1937.

The 1930s

Migrant family walking on the highway from Idabel, Oklahoma to Krebs, Oklahoma. Photo by Dorothea Lange, 1938.

THE QHQThinking about writing

How do I know what I think until I see what I say?--E.M. Forster

Each text we study will provide material for response writing called a QHQ (Question-Hypothesis-Question). The QHQ requires students to have second thoughts, that is, to think again about questions that arise during their reading and to write about questions that are meaningful to them. Begin your QHQ by formulating some question you have about some aspect of the reading. The first question in the QHQ may be one sentence or longer, but its function is to frame your QHQ writing. A student might start with a question like, “Why is the house in this story haunted? Or, “Why do I suspect the murdered child has come back to life?” A student might even write, “Why am I having so much trouble understanding this story?”

After you pose your initial question, focus on a close reading of the text in search of a hypothesis. This hypothesis section comprises the body of your text. The student who asked about the haunted house might refer to multiple passages about haunting in the text, comparing and contrasting them to other instances of haunting with which he or she is familiar. The student who asked about the dead child might connect passages associated with the death to sections about a new child who abruptly appears in the text. The student who struggled to understand the text might explore those passages whose meanings were obscure or difficult to understand, connecting them to other novels and/or cultural texts. After carefully exploring your initial question (200-300 words), put forward another question, one that has sprung from your hypothesis. This will be the final sentence of your QHQ and will provide a base for further reflection into the text.

The QHQ is designed to help you formulate your response to the texts we study into clearly defined questions and hypotheses that can be used as a basis for both class discussion and longer papers. The QHQ can be relatively informal but should demonstrate a thoughtful approach to the material. While the papers need to be organized and coherent, because you will sharing them in class, the ideas they present may be preliminary and exploratory.

Remember, a QHQ is not a summary or a report—it is an original, thoughtful response to what you have read. All QHQs should be posted on the website the evening before the class for which they are due. This will give both me and other students time to ponder your ideas and think about appropriate responses. Moreover, this sharing of material should provide plenty of fodder for essays. Even though you have posted your QHQ, you should bring a copy of it to class in order to share your thoughts and insights and to stimulate class discussion.

Homework•Establish your username and explore the class webpage •Buy Your books •Read The Norton introduction: pp. 3-22 (also on website) •Read “Modernist Manifestos” pp. 335-350•Post #1: QHQ from one of these writer’s manifestos:Marinetti LoyPound CatherWilliams Hughes