American Literature I
Professor Sarracino
Fall, 2003
______________________________________________________________________________
Office Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays, 12:30--2:00 PM, and by appointment.
(Wenger 274) Telephone: x1237. E-mail: sarracct@etown.edu
Texts: The Norton Anthology of American Literature, shorter sixth
edition; Walden, Henry David Thoreau, Beacon Press; The Blithedale Romance,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Penguin American Library.
Course Objectives: Our principal objective will be to read
selections of American literature written from shortly before the founding
of our nation, until shortly after the Civil War. We will not, however,
read chronologically. Rather, our objective will be to focus on important
social, religious and philosophical themes expressed in the literature.
Readings, then, will be grouped accordingly.
Much of the reading in this course is challenging. Those of you taking
the course for core must seriously weigh in your decision the difficulty
of the reading. How much time and energy can you commit to a course
which is not in your major? Look through this syllabus and through
the required texts as well; then make an informed, intelligent decision regarding
whether this course is for you.
The readings will demand much of your time: a couple of hours a night,
every night, would not be unusual. And you will often find the material
abstract and conceptually difficult. These are not essays, poems and novels
you would be likely to take with you to a hammock with a cool drink.
Their “entertainment value” is low.
On the other hand, they are intellectually rich, evocative, and at times
even profound. You must realize at the outset that ideas of all sorts--
political, religious, and philosophical ideas-- were enormously important
in early America, and had tremendous vitality. The new nation was
creating and defining itself, and writers in particular articulated the
problems and issues, and framed the important questions. Questions,
for instance, such as: can we as a nation remain unified and still allow
unprecedented individual liberty? How can a nation dedicated to liberty
and equality justify slavery? Is a “house” of many separate and
nearly autonomous rooms (this is the second theme we will explore), necessarily
a “house divided?” Is that house, then, doomed to fall? (“A house
divided against itself cannot stand.”)
To enjoy this course, you must enjoy ideas, and be willing to read material
that is often abstract, complex and subtle. In many ways, the literature
we read is a literature of ideas, and this course is necessarily, and in
the strictest sense, highly intellectual.
Grading: We will have a midterm exam, a research paper, and a final
exam. The research paper will be due at the end of the semester, (December
3). In addition, quizzes will be given from time to time, unannounced.
(A missed quiz without a good excuse will count as a “O”.) The quizzes
will count as half of your class participation grade.
Class participation will figure importantly in grading. Toward this
end, we will often work in small groups in class so that everyone will have
the opportunity to participate in discussions and then to share ideas with
the larger class. Do not come to class expecting to sit passively
and take notes. I will expect you to participate in discussions, to
question, to elaborate, to argue.
Such engagement in class discussion follows naturally from active, critical
reading. Therefore, you will keep “reader’s notes” (in your regular
class notebook) for each assignment. As you read, what are your
thoughts, feelings? What passages do you find most compelling?
What do you not understand? What do you disagree with? Can you
think of anything in your personal experience to compare with what you have
read? Entries need not be long (a couple of sentences would be minimally
acceptable) but you must have at least one entry for each reading assignment.
(I will often go around the class asking to hear your reader’s notes.)
To provide a variety of formats for participation, and also to strengthen
your ability to use writing as a means of gathering and articulating your
thoughts, occasionally I may ask you to write short in class essays, and
these will also count in the class participation portion of your grade.
You will read and discuss these essays in small groups and in the larger
class.
Specifically, your final grade will consist of the average of four grades,
equally weighted: Midterm=25%; Final = 25%; Paper
= 25%; Class participation (including quizzes) = 25%.
Classroom etiquette: Please do not bring food to eat in class unless you
have a medical condition that requires you to do so, such as diabetes or
hypoglycemia. (Water, coffee, tea and soft drinks are fine.)
Cell phones and pagers should be turned off.
Reading Schedule
Visions of the New Eden
August
27: Introduction to the course.
September
3: Crevecoeur, “What is an American,” p.300; The Federalist, Nos.
1&10 (I will distribute copies); Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia,
p. 342; letter to John Adams, p.346.
10: Emerson, “The Divinity School Address,” p.527.
17: Emerson, “Nature,”p.485 .
24: Thoreau, Walden (Pages will be assigned in class.)
October
1: Finish Walden
8: Whitman, “Song of Myself,”p. 1003.
15: Emerson, “Self-Reliance,”p.539.
22: Midterm exam
A House Divided
29: from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equitano,
p.351; Lincoln, “A House Divided,”(duplicated); “Gettysburg,” p.758;
“Second Inaugural,” p.759; Whitman, Drum Taps, p.1071; from
Narrative of the Life, Frederick Douglass, p.939.
November
5: (excerpts from The Gangs of New York); Whitman, “Lilacs,” p.1074; from
“Children of Adam,” p.1058; from “Calamus,” p.1060; “Out of the Cradle,”
p.1066.
Human Nature, Light or Dark?
12: Melville, “Benito Cereno,”p.1111.
19: Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener,” p.1086; Poe, “The Fall of
the House of Usher,” p.714; “The Tell Tale Heart,”p.707; Hawthorne,
“My Kinsman,” p.1223; “Young Goodman Brown,” p.1236.
26: Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance (half)
December
3: The Blithedale Romance (finish); Research papers due.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Growing Up in America
Dr. Carmine Sarracino
Spring, 2004
Office Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays, 1:00- 2:30, and by appointment.
(Wenger #274, x 1237; e-mail: sarracct@etown.edu; website: http://users.etown.edu/s/sarracct/)
Texts: Tom Sawyer, Twain
Ragged Dick, Alger
The Only Girl in the Car, Kathy Dobie
The Education of Little Tree, Carter
Huckleberry Finn, Twain
I Am One of You Forever, Chappell
Our Town, Wilder
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Goodbye, Columbus, Roth
This Boy’s Life, Wolff
Course Description: Virtually every student in this course will have
had the fundamental experiences that comprise the main subject of this course:
intimately knowing some particular place in America (town, neighborhood,
farm), familiarity with American popular culture, the experiences of family
life, learning norms and customs of behavior, the develpment of personal
values and aspirations, the joys and disappointments of love, and so on.
As an “expert,” each student will keep a scholar’s journal, to jot down responses
to the reading, note memorable passages, and specifically to compare personal
experiences with those of characters in literature.
In this way, the subject matter of the course will in part be autobiographical
for each student. The journal will be used in discussion groups, and
as a source for in-class and out-of-class essays. You must date each
entry, and make at least two entries each week: they need not be long, and
do not need to be carefully written: spelling, punctuation, paragraph organization
will not be issues with the journal. Just jot down your thoughts, feelings.
Course Purpose: The main purpose of this course is to allow students,
through a careful reading of important American literature, through film,
and through the examination of their own childhoods, better to comprehend
the distinct experiences that comprise the values and choices of growing
up in America.
“Rites of passage,” rebellion against familial or societal authority, the
struggle to develop a moral conscience and personal values, to cite a few
examples, appear unique to particular individuals and groups, but in generalized
ways these experiences can be seen to be common across sub-cultures, races,
and sexes. In this course we will deeply explore both the uniqueness
of experiences of growing up in America, and also the universality of shared
problems, crises, challenges and joys.
Further, students will develop their ability to use language, spoken and
written, to express their ideas and feelings. Although I will have
topics to present to the class from time to time, this will not be a lecture
course: in every class session students can expect to take part in group
discussions, or to make oral presentations to the class, or to do some writing.
At the beginning of the course I will guide students through the reading
rather carefully, so as to provide a clear sense of the scope of this course,
a sense of the kinds of questions and issues we are looking to explore.
Then I will back away, so to speak, and allow students to take the lead with
I Am One of You Forever and the works following. Often we will
not discuss a book directly, but will consider general topics which bear
on the big picture of growing up in America and on particular books we are
reading. Again, a caveat: You will be disappointed and frustrated if
you expect this to be a literature lecture course.
Grading: Class participation will comprise one-sixth of the final grade.
“Class participation” means attendance, participation in group discussions,
and making oral presentations (individually or as part of a panel) to the
class. If you meet these requirements adequately, your class participation
grade will be a “C.” If you come to class and sit silently, your class
participation grade willbe an “F.” To receive a “B” or an “A,” you
will have to excel.
The scholar’s journal is very important and will comprise half of the total
“class participation” grade.
One sixth of the final grade will consist of essays students will write,
both in-class and out-of-class. In-class rough drafts will be written;
from these, each student will select two papers to be revised (three pages
in length, final version) to be handed in (see schedule) for grading.
In addition, each student will complete a lengthy research paper (twenty
pages) to be handed in on the last day of class. You may use any format
of documentation (MLA is not required) and you must have at least six research
sources, two of which may be web sites, (so long as they are reliable: associated
with a university, museum, historical society, for example).
Most of the work on the research paper will be done out of class, but class
time will be reserved for “workshopping” the paper, especially the
final draft. The research paper will comprist one third of the final
grade.
Except in extraordinary circumstances (serious illness, family emergency)
late papers will not be accepted and will be recorded as failures (“F”).
The final one third of the course grade will consist of the final examination,
an essay exam, in May.
The Research Paper: This semester, for the first time, Growing Up in
America is a four credit (rather than a three credit) course. All courses
which have been “upgraded” in this way had to be altered to justify the additional
credit (what comes out to be in effect an additional “month’s work” in the
scheme of three credit/three month courses). Many professors have simply
added “seat time,” extending the time in-class, or adding extra meetings
per week. I have preferred to add the credit through a more challenging
research assignment, increasing the paper size (and therefore the scope of
the paper) from 10 pages to 20.
Topics for the research paper and other stipulations will be presented in
class. Once you have a sense of the scope of this course, begin immediately
to consider possible paper topics, and mention them to me before or after
class. The topics you select need not be literary. As the course
progresses I will often mention possible paper topics to you, so you will
soon have a clear sense of the wide range.
Classroom Etiquette: Unless you have a medical problem, such as diabetes
or hypoglycemia, please do not bring food to eat in class, including snack
foods such as potato chips, pretzels, bagels. It is your responsibility
to arrange your schedule so that you have time for lunch. Beverages
are allowed, such as bottled water, juice, soda, coffee. Cell phones
and pagers should be turned off.
Reading Schedule
American Childhood: The Myth
January
20: Introduction to the course.
22: Tom Sawyer (half)
27: Tom Sawyer (finish)
29: Ragged Dick (half)
February
3: Ragged Dick (finish); rough draft #1
5: Norman Rockwell illustrations; read/discuss some rough drafts.
10: Our Town (half)
12: Our Town (finish); rough draft #2
The Sense/Absence of Belonging
17: The Education of Little Tree (half) paper 1 due
19: The Education of Little Tree (finish)
24: The Lovely Bones (half)
26: The Lovely Bones (finish)
March
(spring break)
9: Huck Finn (half)
11: Huck Finn (three quarters)
16: Huck Finn (finish); rough draft #1
18: I Am One of You Forever (half)
23: I Am One of You Forever (finish)
25: consultations on research paper (9:30 section); Goodbye, Columbus (half)
30: consultations on research paper (11:00 section); Goodbye, Columbus (finish)
Conflict and Rebellion
April
1: Discussion of Goodbye, Columbus; The Only Girl in the Car
(half)
6: The Only Girl in the Car (finish); rough draft #2
13: Paper 2 due; This Boy’s Life (first third)
15: This Boy’s Life (two thirds)
20: This Boy’s Life (finish)
22: workshop research papers
27: film
29: film; film panel discussion
May
4: workshop research paper
6: research paper due
_________________________________________________________________________________
Creative Writing
Professor Sarracino
Spring, 2004
________________
Office Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays, 1:30- 2:30 PM, and by appointment.
(Wenger #274) My office phone is x1237; e-mail: sarracct@etown.edu;
webpage: http://users.etown.edu/s/sarracct/
Required texts: You will purchase The Art of Drowning by Billy Collins,
and The Gold Cell, by Sharon Olds. Although the main emphasis of this
course will be on your own writing, it is important to read poetry
as well. In the course of the semester, you will select a Collins or Olds
poem that you especially like and memorize at least 10 lines. (More on this
later in the syllabus.)
Generally speaking, your own work and the work of your classmates will comprise
the main text for this course. In this connection, you should plan
on photocopying poems almost every week-- enough copies for the whole class.
Also, everyone should purchase a notebook which will be used exclusively
as a journal. You should also buy a manilla folder in which to keep
everything that you write as an assignment. Throw nothing away.
Purpose of the course: The purpose of this course is to provide you
with a healthy critical environment in which to experiment with language:
to find out by trying what works and what does not work in your writing.
Our main interest will be in the process of writing: not writing as mere
recording, but writing as a means of generating ideas, metaphors, narratives--
poems.
I will not be the sole, or even the chief, critic of your writing.
It is important for you to realize this at the outset. Do not look
to me for “the word” on what you should do in a given writing situation.
Consider alternatives. Try them out on readers, and pay attention to
their responses. Then make your own decisions.
Do not expect the decisions to be easy. Part of what you will learn
in this course is how to take criticism from many sources-- often conflicting--
and then sort out for yourself what you should apply and what you should
disregard.
Try to stay focused your writing itself, on creating the best poem you possibly
can, rather than on whether readers are praising or criticizing you.
Disparagement and even praise and admiration should be regarded with some
wariness. Bear in mind, for instance, that the preeminent American poet when
Walt Whitman’s 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass appeared and was ignored,
was John Greenleaf Whittier. Who wrote... what? Only a small
handfull of Emily Dickinson’s poems were published in her lifetime.
(We could site many more such examples.) Let us remember as well the
immortal words of Johann Albrechtsberger “He has never learned anything,
and he can do nothing in decent style.” He was referring
to one of his poorest music students, a young man named Ludwig von Beethoven.
You will find me to be very open-minded, and I will encourage open-mindedness
in everyone in the course. There are, however, two attitudes toward
writing that are simply incompatible with a serious committment to writing.
If you identify strongly with either, then EN 381 is not the right course
for you.
The first can be expressed this way: “I write only for myself. If what
I write works for me, that’s all I really care about.”
If this is true, why bother to show us what you’ve written? Our questions,
offers of help, and suggestions for revision will strike you as irrelevant
at best, or even annoying. Writing “for yourself” might be an
effective form of therapy, but therapy is not the chief concern of poets.
The second attitude can be expressed: “A poem means whatever
it means to a particular reader. If I get something from a poem, then
that’s what it means to me. If someone else gets something different,
then that’s what it means to them.” It is true that a poem may have
a wide range of possible meanings. And one may apply a particular meaning
to different areas of experience. In these ways we may have divergent but
equally valid readings of the same poem. But to claim, as Humpty Dumpty does
in Alice in Wonderland, that words mean whatever we want them to mean (“When
I say ‘honour’ I mean a knock down, drag out argument”) is to disconnect
language from community and abandon it to chaos.
Because it is valuable for writers to read poetry, we will all
read poems by Collins and Olds. Everyone must memorize at least ten
lines of a poem of his or her choice, to be recited from memory.
You may not have a copy of the poem in front of you while you recite.
If your memory fails you, you can ask for a prompt. You will be allowed
a total of three such prompts. Beyond that, you will have failed to
meet the requirements of this assignment, and it will be recorded as a missed
assignment (see below).
We will also read poems aloud. This will be an important and
essential part of class participation. Following your reading, I may
ask you to comment in general on the poem. Your commentary might touch
on the overall structure of the poem, its sound values, three or four key
words, one or two important images, its emotional tone-- whatever you think
is important, or moving.
Grading: You will be graded “P/NP.” You can expect to write in
every class meeting and also, most of the time, to bring a duplicated assignment
with you. You will also be expected to write in your journal every
day except weekends (i.e. Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., and either Fri., or
Sun.).
If you miss three classes without a documentable good excuse, you will receive
an “NP.” If you miss three assignments (including journal entries,
or memorization of a poem, or any other assignment) without good reason,
you will receive an “NP.” (Let me make very clear that each journal
entry counts as one assignment-- and you must have five dated entries each
week. Even if we do not discuss journal entries in class, or if we
go for weeks without in any way working with the entries, you are still expected
to keep up in your journal writing. You should regard your journal-keeping
as an extended creative writing exercise in itself.) In short: if you
miss three classes, or three assignments, or any combination of classes and
assignments totaling three, you will receive an “NP.”
At the end of the term you will hand in a portfolio of 8 to 12 of the poems
you regard as your best. In order to finish with 8 to 12 poems that
please you, you will have to write many more than that number. If the
portfolio is unacceptable, that will be sufficient reason in itself for an
“NP.”
Beyond the requirements of this course, a strong portfolio can be very helpful
to you in getting your work published, in applying for jobs in professional
writing, and in applying to graduate school.
Schedule of assignments: In the beginning of the course (for
the first five weeks) we will focus on creative writing exercises.
Later, in the middle third of the term, the emphasis will shift to your own
inventiveness as the source of poems: writing from journals, memories, photographs.
In the last five weeks you will be working quite independently, refining
your work for the portfolio (due on our last class meeting).
|
|