Fall 2012 Courses: 3000-Level

ENG 3033: American Literature from 1945 to Present

Instructor: Karen Dodwell

Course Description
The course covers a sampling of poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and drama in American Literature after 1945. It begins with an examination of new distributions of power after World War II and how optimism about economic progress as well as ongoing political and cultural tensions influenced literary development. Students discuss film clips that highlight a seemingly good-humored Father Knows Best attitude about domestic life and contrast them with rebellious attitudes portrayed in James Dean’s iconic role in Rebel Without a Cause and Elvis Presley’s lyrics in “Jailhouse Rock.” Anthologized literary texts that highlight the contrasts of the post-war era in the U.S. are the focus of the first part of the course.

Jack Kerouac’s On the Road is the centerpiece text for understanding the contradictions of the Beat Generation: its rebellious, quixotic, counter-cultural ways of living and writing juxtaposed with a genuine quest for Zen-like, mystical moments in which the self is completely in IT—the fiery present.

With a shift to the sixties, students explore the hippie culture, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam protests, and emerging Second Wave Feminism that dramatically reshaped the literary canon and literary criticism and increased interest in gender studies, previously marginalized writers, and new ways of thinking about history. Toni Morrison’s Beloved (frequently labeled the greatest novel of the twentieth century) is the centerpiece text for an analysis of the process by which histories of women, blacks, Hispanics, and other previously marginalized groups have been erased and are in the process of being retrieved in poetry, fiction, memoir, and critical projects.

Sandra Cisneros’ Caramelo is the centerpiece text for a study of narratives in which a protagonist travels and searches either literally or figuratively for family histories; evocative locales and material cultures; common language(s); and shared ideals. The focus is on how individuals come to know what they know about themselves and their communities and how they feel about that knowledge in what some call a fragmented postmodern world. Students will investigate this question: do protagonists in contemporary fiction become inert, feel exhausted, and mourn the disappearance of stable meaning, or do they celebrate difference, delight in the mixing of high and low culture, and value the emergence of a multiplicity of disparate voices and language patterns?

In the last unit of the course, the focus is on place—in the civilized world and the natural world (and in the fluid boundaries between). Students will read anthologized works by writers for whom particular locales are essential in the formation of plot, character, theme, and, at times, narrative structure. The centerpiece text for the unit is Edward Abbey’s book-length nonfiction work, Desert Solitaire, which is set in Arches National Park in southern Utah and which engages readers in discussions of wilderness, excessive development and tourism, encroachment on Native American territories, the solitary self, and the hunger (or lack of desire) for primitive lands and ways of being. Students use an eco-critical perspective in understanding how meaning is shaped by particular environments.

In the course, students develop basic knowledge and a working vocabulary for discussing and writing about literary concepts and texts, and they are asked to demonstrate that they have become critical thinkers who can analyze texts, synthesize ideas about them in insightful ways, and create arguments in formal papers. Quizzes and essay exams test for basic knowledge, critical thinking, and writing skills. One goal of the course is to create a writing sample that might be used in COLFA conference submissions, job applications, and graduate school applications.

Course Texts

The Norton Anthology of American Literature Vol E Literature since 1945 - Nina Baym, General editor; W W Norton; 8th, paperback, 2012; ISBN 978 0 393 93480 9
On the Road – Jack Kerouac; Penguine Classics; 2002 paperback; ISBN 13: 978 – 0142437254
Beloved – Toni Morrison; Everyman’s Library; 2006 hardback; ISBN 13: 978 0307264886
Caramelo – Sandra Cisneros; Vintage Contemporaries; 2002,paperback; ISBN 0 679 74258-1
Desert Solitaire – Edward Abbey; Touchstone; 1990 paperback; ISBN ISBN 13: 978 0671695880

Course Requirements
Quizzes, tests, final exam, one short paper, term paper

ENG 3073: Young Adult Literature

Instructor: Eva Pohler

Course Description
The course will present you with the history of young adult literature and criticism, with the way young adult literature has been classified, with a number of popular texts classified as young adult literature and the secondary discussions surrounding them, and with tips to improve skills in literary analysis.

Course Texts

O’Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphins.
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies.
Orwell, George. Animal Farm.
Lowry, Lois. The Giver.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit.
Carroll, Lewis, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Requirements
Surprise Quizzes, Reading Exam I, Reading Exam II, Paper I, Paper II

ENG 3123: Modern Fiction

Instructor: Steven G. Kellman
Class Time: TR 2:00-3:15
Class Location: MH 3.02.48

Course Description
“On or about December 1910, human nature changed,” declared Virginia Woolf. And while she might have been imprecise about the date and hyperbolic about the claim, many believe that a paradigm shift occurred some time within the past 150 years, that fundamental assumptions about self, society, art, and truth were radically altered in ways that came to be associated with the word modern. So thorough was the modernist revolution that, early in the twenty-first century, those who would reject, reverse, or transcend it find no more original term for themselves than postmodern. English 3123 is an exploration of modernist techniques and sensibilities through the careful study of nine authors of fiction who, in varying ways, created a literary - and more generally, cultural - revolution. Because modernism was a global movement that cut across nationalities and languages (as well as disciplines and genres, including poetry, painting, music, architecture, philosophy, and the social science), we will be looking closely at novels and short stories from Europe, Africa, and the United States, in English and English translation, as well as casting sidelong glances at relevant historical developments.

Course Texts

Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart. Norton Critical Edition. 0393932195.
Mikhail Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita. Vintage. 0679760806.
Joseph Conrad. The Secret Agent. Penguin Classics. Revised. 0141441585.
Ford Madox Ford. The Good Soldier. Norton Critical Edition. 0393966348.
Knut Hamsun. Pan. Penguin. 0141180676.
Ernest Hemingway. The Sun Also Rises. Scribner. 0684800713.
Franz Kafka. The Complete Stories. Schocken. 0805210555.
Henry Roth. Call It Sleep. Picador. 0312424124.
Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence. Norton Critical Edition. 0393967948.

Course Requirements
Midterm exam, quizzes, class participation, term paper, final exam, and consistent effulgence.

ENG 3223: Shakespeare: The Early Plays

Instructor: Mark Bayera
Class Time: TR

Course Description
This course will offer a survey of comedies, histories, and tragedies that Shakespeare wrote until approximately 1600. We will pay special attention to the content and form of these texts but also to the original conditions under which they were performed as well as their social, economic, and political contexts, the networks of patronage, readership, and often collaborative authorship that led to their production, as well as their function in today’s literary and cultural marketplace. Though sometimes regarded as less mature than some of the later plays, this group of plays offers an unparalleled opportunity to trace the development of the burgeoning playwright.

Course Texts

Stephen Greenblatt et. al, Eds. The Norton Shakespeare.

Requirements
Two examinations, one term paper, and a series of short quizzes on the plays

ENG 3303.001: Theory and Practice of Composition

Instructor: Gail Pizzola
Class Time: MWF 9-9:50 a.m.

Course Description
To prepare students to communicate through writing in their profession and/or to teach writing, the class will examine composition theory and apply it via different projects, including a mentoring project. Students will also practice stylistic choices which lead to clear, effective prose. Fulfills an upper division course requirement for English majors/minors and is required for undergraduate and post-baccalaureate teacher certification in English. Prerequisite: Completion of the Core Curriculum rhetoric requirement. 3 hours credit.

Course Texts

Lindemann, Erika. Rhetoric for Writing Teachers. 4th ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. ISBN: 0-321-47935

ENG 3303.002: Theory and Practice of Composition

Instructor: Gail Pizzola
Class Time: TR TR 8-9:15

Course Texts

Lindemann, Erika. Rhetoric for Writing Teachers. 4th ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. ISBN: 0-321-47935

ENG 3513.001: Mexican American Literature

Instructor: Margaret Cantú-Sánchez
Class Time: TR 3:30-4:45 p.m.
Class Location: MH 2.01.32

Course Description
This course explores literature written by Mexican American writers from the early twentieth century to the present. We will examine various genres including short stories, essays, and novels in an attempt to understand the identity politics of those individuals who exist between the Mexican and United States borders.

Course Texts

Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera.
González, Jovita. Caballero
Paredes, Américo. George Washington Gomez
Cisneros, Sandra. Caramelo
Casares, Oscar. Brownsville
Cantú, Norma. Canicula
González, Barbara Renaud. Golondrina, Why Did You Leave Me?

Requirements
Blackboard discussion posts, group presentations, Midterm and Final Exams, Research paper