ENGL 2130: AMERICAN LITERATURE

Course: ENGL 2130

CRN: 10437

Term/Year: Spring 2014

Day/Time: T/Th 2:30-3:45

Location: Aderhold 330

Instructor: Jennifer Forsthoefel

Office Hours: W 6:00-7:00pm

(and by appointment)

Office: Langdale Hall 821

Email: jforsthoefel1@gsu.edu

Course Description

The purpose of this Survey of American Literature is to introduce students to a wide range of American authors and genres from the Colonial Period to Contemporary American writing, with the ultimate goal of encouraging students to appreciate textual diversity and make connections between works and authors across time periods. As in any reading and writing intensive course, students will focus on reading comprehension, interpretation, and analysis, along with writing as a method to learn about and explore various historical and social contexts within American literature.

GENERAL LEARNING OUTCOMES

identify and explain the fundamental features of the genres of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction

define key literary terms/concepts and implement these in oral/written discussion as well as in literary interpretation

describe, examine, and evaluate one’s own reading practices and oral/written critical analyses

analyze literature and explain how various components of literature work together to create meaning; apply writing and revision as tools for understanding literature and its interpretation

Required Texts

Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter 8th Edition, 1 vol): 0393918858

Wordpress Website: http://americanliteraturegsu.wordpress.com/

Course Materials (Recommended)

Three-ring binder/folder to hold course handouts.

Some assigned readings will be posted on ULearn. Please bring a hard copy to class in order to fully engage and discuss the text.

Students must have access to the Internet for supplemental readings and GSU email. Students may find a flash-drive, GSU estorage, or other electronic storage tool useful for managing drafts and assignments.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND POLICIES

ACADEMIC HONESTY/PLAGIARISM

Students who need accommodations should arrange a meeting with their instructor during office hours. Be sure to bring a copy of your Student Accommodations Form to the meeting. If you do not have an Accommodations Form but need accommodations, make an appointment with the Office of Disability Services (Suite 230, New Student Center, 404-463-9044) to make arrangements. The Department of English expects all students to adhere to the university’s Code of Student Conduct, especially as it pertains to plagiarism, cheating, multiple submissions, and academic honesty. Please refer to the Policy on Academic Honesty (Section 409 of the Faculty Handbook). Penalty for violation of this policy will result in a zero for the assignment, possible failure of the course, and, in some cases, suspension or expulsion. Georgia State University defines plagiarism as . . . “ . . . any paraphrasing or summarizing of the works of another person without acknowledgment, including the submitting of another student's work as one's own . . . [It] frequently involves a failure to acknowledge in the text . . . the quotation of paragraphs, sentences, or even phrases written by someone else.” At GSU, “the student is responsible for understanding the legitimate use of sources . . . and the consequences of violating this responsibility.” (For the university’s policies, see in the student catalog, “Academic Honesty,” http://www2.gsu.edu/~catalogs/2010-2011/undergraduate/1300/1380_academic_honesty.htm)

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Georgia State University complies with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Students who wish to request accommodation for a disability may do so by registering with the Office of Disability Services. Students may only be accommodated upon issuance by the Office of Disability Services of a signed Accommodation Plan and are responsible for providing a copy of that plan to instructors of all classes in which accommodations are sought.

According to the ADA (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:s3406enr.txt.pdf):

‘‘SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF DISABILITY. ‘‘As used in this Act: ‘‘(1) DISABILITY.—The term ‘disability’ means, with respect to an individual— ‘‘(A) a physical or mental impairment that substantially

limits one or more major life activities of such individual...major life activities include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working. ‘‘(B) MAJOR BODILY FUNCTIONS.—For purposes of paragraph (1), a major life activity also includes the operation of a major bodily function, including but not limited to, functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions.

ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY Attendance is mandatory and integral to success in the course, so come to class each day, on-time and prepared to work, and be sure to stay for the duration of the class. The majority of our class meetings will begin with a short quiz or written response to the readings assigned for that day. Late students will not be given extra time for quizzes. These quizzes/responses cannot be “made-up” at a later date.

CLASSROOM CONDUCT

Be courteous of those in your classroom and give them your full attention during presentations, lectures, and class discussions. You are expected to turn off and put away cell phones, pagers, text message devices, MP3 players, or any other distracting electronic gadgets during class time. Failure to adhere to these policies will be reflected in your daily participation grade and may result in a request for the student to leave the classroom. Please see www.english.gsu.edu/~lds for additional information regarding the Disruptive Student Behavior Policy.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION

The preferred mode of communication with the instructor is via email to jforsthoefel1@gsu.edu Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:00a.m. and 5:00p.m. Emails sent to the instructor outside of this time period will likely not receive a response until the following business day. Students are welcome to visit the instructor during the established office hours or request an appointment at a mutually convenient time. Students are strongly encouraged to “cc” themselves on all email correspondence to ensure delivery. Please note: There is a chance that your instructor will not see the email on the same day that you send it. Therefore, please anticipate waiting at least 24 hours for a response to emails.

Plan to check your GSU email daily for announcements regarding this class. If you prefer an email address other than your GSU one, set your GSU account to forward your email to that address.

FOR ENGLISH MAJORS

The English department at GSU requires an exit portfolio of all students graduating with a degree in English. Ideally, students should work on this every semester, selecting 1-2 papers from each course and revising them, with direction from faculty members. The portfolio includes revised work and a reflective essay about what you’ve learned. Each concentration (literature, creative writing, rhetoric/composition, and secondary education) within the major may have specific items to place in the portfolio, so be sure to check booklet located next to door of the front office of the English Department. Senior Portfolio due dates are published in the booklets or you may contact an

advisor or Dr. Dobranski, Director of Undergraduate Studies. See the English office for additional information.

INCOMPLETES

In order to receive a grade of "incomplete," a student must inform the instructor, either in person or in writing, of his/her inability (non-academic reasons) to complete the requirements of the course. Incompletes will be assigned at the instructor's discretion and the terms for removal of the "I" are dictated by the instructor. A grade of incomplete will only be considered for students who are a) passing the course with a C or better, b) present a legitimate, non-academic reason to the instructor, and c) have only one major assignment left to finish.

LATE WORK Late work will not be accepted, even for a reduced grade. All assignments should be submitted, in person, on time, and in the correct format. If you are absent on the day an assignment is due, it is your responsibility to make arrangements to have the assignment to your instructor by class time. In-class assignments cannot be made up for credit if you are absent. Please see your instructor if you are having any difficulty completing an assignment before it becomes late and affects your grade. In case of a major extenuating emergency, notify your instructor immediately. In case of a valid, documented emergency, absences can be excused and deadlines for major assignments (exams, essays, annotated bibliography) can be extended. If you have any questions or doubts as to the nature of your absence and its ability to be excused, ask your instructor as soon as possible. Your instructor is much better equipped to help you accommodate an absence with advance notice. Ultimately, your instructor reserves the right, at his or her sole discretion, to excuse (or not excuse) absences for circumstances that are not already outlined on GSU’s Lower Division Studies Attendance Policy on at www.english.gsu.edu/~lds.

WRITING STUDIO

The purpose of the Writing Studio is to enhance the writing instruction by providing undergraduate and graduate students with an experienced reader who engages them in conversation about their writing assignments and ideas, and familiarizes them with audience expectations and academic genre conventions. They focus on the rhetorical aspects of texts, and provide one-on-one, student-centered teaching that corresponds to each writer’s composing process. Although they are not a line-editing or proofreading service, the Writing Studio is happy to discuss grammar concerns with students from a holistic perspective. Tutors will be alert listeners and will ask questions, and will not judge or evaluate the work in progress. The Writing Studio offers 30 minute sessions (for undergraduate students) and 60 minute sessions (for graduate students) for face-to-face tutoring. Through Write/Chat, our online tutoring service, they offer 15-minute sessions that address short, brief concerns. In addition, the GSU Writing Studio will sponsor workshops, led by faculty and staff, on various topics dealing with academic writing. Please visit the Writing Studio in

GCB 976 or at www.writingstudio.gsu.edu for more information.

ONLINE EVALUATION OF INSTRUCTOR

Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State. Upon completing the course, please take time to fill out the online course evaluation.

GRADING AND EVALUATION

GRADING

Superior Satisfactory Needs Improvement Failing

100 to 98 = A+ 89 to 88 = B+ 79 to 78 = C+ 69 to 60 = D

97 to 93 = A 87 to 83 = B 77 to 70 = C Below 60 = F

92 to 90 = A- 82 to 80 = B-

COURSE EVALUATION Evaluation for English 1101 will be determined by the following percentages:

Due Assignment Weight

March 6 Midterm 25%

May 1 Final Exam 25%

Continual Class Discussion Facilitation 1 15%

Continual Class Discussion Facilitation 2 15%

Continual Participation 10%

Continual Daily Quizzes 10%

Total 100%

2130 Course Schedule

This schedule reflects a plan for the course, but deviations from this plan will become necessary as the semester progresses. Students are responsible for taking note of changes announced during class time when they occur. The reading is due on the day it is listed. You must be prepared to discuss the reading when you come to class that day. Bring your book to class each session.

Date Class Readings

Tues-Jan 14 Syllabus and Introductions

Thurs- Jan 16 Example Discussion Facilitation: Edna St. Vincent Millay (handouts provided) Sign up for Wordpress

Tues- Jan 21 Anne Bradstreet p110-126 Cotton Mather p149-155

Thurs- Jan 23 Sarah Kemble Knight p170-177 Phillis Wheatley p401-411

Tues- Jan 28 Snow Day

Thurs- Jan 30 Snow Day

Tues-Feb 4 Washington Irving p467-482 Margaret Fuller p749-760

Thurs- Feb 6 Edgar Allen Poe p683-692 and 714-724

Tues- Feb 11 Snow Day

Thurs- Feb 13 Snow Day

Tues- Feb 18 Harriet Beecher Stowe p779-818

Thurs –Feb 20 Walt Whitman p1069-1079 Emily Dickinson #39, #207, #259, #320, #448, #479, #591, #620, #1263

Tues- Feb 25 Herman Melville p1099-1128

Thurs- Feb 27 Mark Twain p1282-1288 “How to Tell a Story” (handout)

Tues- Mar 4 Henry James p1567-1595

Thurs- Mar 6 MIDPOINT Kate Chopin p1604-1620 Charlotte Perkins Gillman p1668-1681

Tues- Mar 11 No Class

Thurs- Mar 13 Booker T. Washington p1631-1640 W.E.B. DuBois p1715-1731

Tues-Mar 18 SPRING BREAK

Thurs-Mar 20 SPRING BREAK

Tues- Mar 25 Midterm Exam

Thurs- Mar 27 Amy Lowell p1893-1897 Gertrude Stein p1898-1910 Hilda Doolittle p1992-1995 Marianne Moore p1996-2002

McCall Dufford Jasmine Powell

Tues- Apr 1 Snow Day Paper Due Robert Frost p1911-1925 William Carlos Williams 1961-1969 Ezra Pound p1970-1977

Brett Raeford April Kongmanichanh

Thurs- Apr 3 F. Scott Fitzgerald p2147-2177 Fumi Oshunlalu Cassie Stanton

Tues- Apr 8 William Faulkner p2178-2188 Ernest Hemingway p2203-2220

Ki Corwell Naci Kuloglu

Thurs-Apr 10 Langston Hughes p2221-2228 Countee Cullen 2240-2244 Richard Wright p2244-2254

Jack Starke Shannon Saffer

Tues-Apr 15 Zora Neale Hurston p2123-2134 Toni Morrison p2585-2599

Sydney Combs Janise Wright

Thurs-Apr 17 Audre Lorde p2658-2660 Gloria Anzaldua p2704-2713 Alice Walker p2714-2720

Flavia Pereira Shavanee

Tues- Apr 22 Jack Kerouac 2497-2507 Allen Ginsberg p2538-2549 Gary Snyder p2582-2585

Grace Bondy Bethany Young

Thurs- Apr 24 Anne Sexton p2557-2562 Adrienne Rich p2563-2576 Sylvia Plath p2600-2607

Serena McCracken Jane Deaver

Thurs- May 1 1:30-4:00

Final Exam

Snow Days Make-Up Assignment

Assignment

Read in your anthology the previously assigned sections for the authors we were unable to cover

in the syllabus

Nathanial Hawthorne p619-628 and 645-656

Edith Wharton p1682-1704

Willa Cather p1861-1892

Write a three to four page paper doing one of the following:

1. Compare/contrast the themes, style choices, and symbolism of ONE of these authors to

ONE of the authors we have covered in class (up to the midpoint exam).

2. Discuss how ONE of these authors demonstrates the characteristics of the particular

literary tradition/movement that they are associated with (realism, naturalism,

transcendentalism, etc.)

3. Compare/contrast the themes, style choices, and symbolism of two of the authors here.

You must have a clearly stated argument (thesis statement) and support.

You must cite at least two outside scholarly sources (books or articles) to support your claim.

These cannot come from anthology and cannot be mere websites. They must come from

reputable presses and/or scholarly journals. Cite these within the text and in a works cited page.

Requirements

3-4 pages in length

MLA format

o 1” margins on top, bottom, left and right; left justified

o Name block includes your name, instructor’s name, the class (Engl 2130), the

date, and the assignment title

o Header should be ½” from the top right margin and include your last name and

page number

o Double-spaced and in 12-point Times New Roman font

o A correctly formatted Work Cited page in MLA style

You will need several sheets of paper for the exam (for the short essay portion).

Be sure to bring several pens (in case one or more suddenly quit on you).

The short essay portion of the exam will be open-book, meaning, you may use your book.

My notes and handouts will not be allowed.

Exam content and form: Identification of terms/concepts/characters

Short answer-one to three sentences identifying, describing or contextualizing a concept,

term, literary period, historical event, etc

Short essay (2-3 paragraphs) from several options, choose one question/writing prompt

and write a 2-3 paragraph response that demonstrates your familiarity with the readings

and concepts, and your ability to synthesize concepts and readings into your own

thinking/writing.

I will have hard copies of the exam that I will distribute at the beginning of class. While the

exam is self-paced, you must complete the first two parts of the exam before you begin the

short essay (3rd

part) of the exam.

I will collect the first two parts of the exam when you are ready to begin the essay portion. (just signal to me that you are finished and ready to move on to the essay)

At that point you may retrieve your book.

I have no way of knowing how much time you need to write a short essay, but the exam will be

structured so that you should be able to complete the ids and short answers in 20-30 minutes,

leaving you 40-50 or so minutes to write the essay.

You probably ought to spend a few minutes organizing your thoughts/argument before you begin

writing the essay.

Your task is to demonstrate that you are 1)familiar with the course material (readings,

concepts, terms, etc.) covered to date, and 2)that you can articulate your own

understanding and perspective about the connections between the readings, concepts, and

terms.

All of my notes and the handouts from your classmates are on the class blog. USE THIS

RESOURCE! Many of my exam questions will come from questions in my notes and questions

you have created in your handouts.

Exam Study & Review Guide

Authors we have covered You should be familiar with the works we have read and covered in class and the specific styles

and themes we have associated with each of these writers.

Anne Bradstreet

Cotton Mather

Sarah Kemble Knight

Phillis Wheatley

Washington Irving

Margaret Fuller

Edgar Allen Poe

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Walt Whitman

Emily Dickinson

Herman Melville

Mark Twain

Henry James

Kate Chopin

Charlotte Perkins Gillman

Booker T Washington

W.E.B DuBois

Concepts we have covered Colonialism

Puritanism

Transcendentalism

Romanticism

Realism

Naturalism

Transition between pre-revolution and post-revolution and American identity

Transition between pre-civil war to post-civil war and American identity

Point-of-view

Metaphor

Vernacular

Audience

Theme

Purpose

Repetition

Elegy

Public vs private literature

Gender Roles and Male writers vs female writers writing about women

Feminism/the place/function/roles of women

(Un)Reliable narrator

Exam Study & Review Guide

You will need several sheets of paper for the exam (for the short essay portion).

Be sure to bring several pens (in case one or more suddenly quit on you).

The short essay portion of the exam will be open-book, meaning, you may use your book.

My notes and handouts will not be allowed.

Exam content and form: Identification of terms/concepts/characters

Short answer-one to three sentences identifying, describing or contextualizing a concept,

term, literary period, historical event, etc

Short essay (2-3 paragraphs) from several options, choose one question/writing prompt

and write a 2-3 paragraph response that demonstrates your familiarity with the readings

and concepts, and your ability to synthesize concepts and readings into your own

thinking/writing.

I will have hard copies of the exam that I will distribute at the beginning of class. While the

exam is self-paced, you must complete the first two parts of the exam before you begin the

short essay (3rd

part) of the exam.

I will collect the first two parts of the exam when you are ready to begin the essay portion. (just signal to me that you are finished and ready to move on to the essay)

At that point you may retrieve your book.

Your task is to demonstrate that you are 1)familiar with the course material (readings,

concepts, terms, etc.) covered to date, and 2)that you can articulate your own

understanding and perspective about the connections between the readings, concepts, and

terms.

All of my notes and the handouts from your classmates are on the class blog. USE THIS

RESOURCE! Many of my exam questions will come from questions in my notes and questions

you have created in your handouts.

Authors we have covered You should be familiar with the works we have read and covered in class and the specific styles

and themes we have associated with each of these writers.

Amy Lowell

Gertrude Stein

Hilda Doolittle

Marianne Moore

Robert Frost

William Carlos Williams

Ezra Pound

F. Scott Fitzgerald

William Faulkner

Earnest Hemingway

Langston Hughes

Countee Cullen

Richard Wright

Zora Neale Huston

Toni Morrison

Audre Lorde

Gloria Anzaldua

Alice Walker

Jack Kerouac

Allen Ginsberg

Gary Snyder

Anne Sexton

Adrienne Rich

Sylvia Plath

13

Concepts we have covered Transcendentalism

Romanticism

Realism

Naturalism

Modernism

Imagism

Cubism

Postmodernism

Southern Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance

San Francisco Renaissance

Mestiza/Chicana(o)

Confessional poets

The Beats

The Lost Generation

(Southern) Gothic Literature

The American Dream and how it has been reevaluated

Gender Roles and Male writers vs female writers writing about women

Feminism/the place/function/roles of women

Stream of consciousness

Symbolism

Cultural appropriation