ENGLISH 304

Spring 2014

Dr. Sheila Liming
sheila.liming@und.edu
701-777-2782
Office: Merrifield 1B

Course Description

Survey of

American Literature II
1865-present

Office hours:
MWF 10 am 12 pm,
and by appointment

The American Renaissance, as scholar F.O. Matthiessen once labeled it, is supposed to have
taken place in the middle of nineteenth century, from 1850-55. This period has been repeatedly
characterized as the penultimate blossoming of American intellectual and artistic achievement.
This characterization, though, ignores larger geopolitical, social, and cultural factors that
challenge such a label: Americas journey towards geopolitical significance, and the
simultaneous development of its cultural forms, did not truly begin to gather steam until after
1900. In fact, Matthiessen coined the term American Renaissance in 1941, only months after
American newspaper mogul Henry Luce had popularized the term The American Century with
reference to the modern era.
This survey course thus begins by reading American culture after the Civil War as the
instrumental machinery behind Luces concept of The American Century. We begin in the
later part of the nineteenth century, studying the development and progression of various literary
modes like realism, naturalism, and modernism. We then turn our attention to the modern
century and, in particular, to the literature and culture of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement
that has at times been controversially regarded as the American renaissance. From here, we then
process towards the 1950s, the highpoint of Pax Americana, studying the ways in which
American literature responds to the expansion and influence of modern technology. We will then
conclude at the dawn of the twenty-first century and our conversational focus will shift from
modernism to post-modernism as we attempt to understand the literary and cultural landscape of
the United States today.
Students can expect to gain a thematic, formal, and historically contextualized understanding of
American literature and culture from 1865 to the present through this course. They can also
expect to develop and hone their critical thinking skills through short essays and other written
assignments, and to identify various styles, themes, and conventions in American literature
through identification exams.
Course Objectives

To provide students with an introduction to touchstone American literary and fictional works.

To familiarize students with the process of reading and writing closely in the immediate context
of such touchstone literary works.

To professionalize and train students for advanced work in a literary arts education.

To impart processes of close reading, close writing, and attentive research as preparation for
advanced coursework in literary or communicational study.

To encourage multimodal thinking in both the consumption and construction of written texts, and
to hone students skills in both writing and creating textual artifacts.

To establish standards for academic discourse and participation through in-class discussion, peer
evaluation, and collaborative assignments.

Required Texts
[to be purchased]
Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 8th Ed., Vols. C, D, and E.
New York: Norton, 2012.
Roth, Philip. Portnoys Complaint. New York: Vintage, (1969) 1994.
Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York: Penguin, (1911) 2005.
[provided by the instructor, on Blackboard]
Davis, Rebecca Harding. Life in the Iron Mills, ed. Olsen. New York: The Feminist Press, (1861)
1971. Print.
Konnikova, Maria. The Great American Novel. The Slate Book Review. Slate.com, 29 June
2012. Web. 8 December 2014.

Assignments and Grading

Position Papers [15 pts. each]
These are brief, 1-pg. reading responses, to be completed as homework, which ask you to
state a position about a given reading or text that we have covered that week (including
films). Your main objective in preparing these short essays should be to state a clear
argument about something concrete you have observed in the text. For this reason,
Position Papers should include at least one direct quotation from, or reference to
(citation), the text, and should offer an argumentative response that goes beyond the
simplistic, knee-jerk reaction of I liked it or I hated it. Rather, if you find yourself

leaning towards one of these reactions, try to concentrate in your Position Paper on one
aspect of the text that, in your opinion, contributed to your liking or hating it, and
then assess and analyze that element in particular.
Exam I [80 pts.]
The first exam will cover texts discussed in class from the beginning of the semester through
February 27, 2015. In particular, it will cover works relating to the local color/regionalist
movement, as well as those relating to realism and naturalism. It will include passage
identifications and short essay questions.
Exam II [80 pts.]
The second exam will cover texts discussed in class from February March 1 through
March 21, 2014. In particular, it will cover works related to African-American
Literature/the Harlem Renaissance and Modernism. It will include passage identifications
and short essay questions.
Final Paper [100 pts.]
See Assignment Sheet for details (at the end of this syllabus).
Course Participation
Mid-semester [30 pts.]
Final [30 pts.]
Course Policies and Procedures
Attendance
Since this is a discussion-based course, attendance is mandatory. You are allowed four absences
without penalty following your fifth absence, your grade in the class will begin to drop by a
half-a-letter grade per absence (5% of your total grade). Plan ahead if you think you might miss
class for religious holidays or for other scheduled events. I do not distinguish between excused
and unexcused absences. You are allowed four absences be they excused or unexcused
before your grade begins to decrease, unless other special arrangements have been made with
me ahead of time.
If you have extenuating circumstances significantly affecting your attendance throughout the
semester (such as an illness or a family emergency), it is your responsibility to notify me about
your situation and obtain authoritative documentation to excuse your absences (either from a
Dean or from your advisor). If you miss more than the allotted days due to your situation, we
will discuss whether its prudent for you to continue in the course.
If you miss class, you are responsible to contact your peers for materials and information youve
missed. Do not email me asking whether or not there was a daily assignment. Missing a class is
no excuse for not completing the homework. Likewise, I expect you to have read the assigned
readings and to be ready to discuss them, even if you were absent from class the day before.

Finally, you are responsible for keeping track of your own absences. A sign-in sheet will be used
to record and verify daily attendance. You may check in with me at any time to confirm the
numbers of absences you have accrued in the course.
Late Arrival
Arrive on time. You will not receive an A in this class if you do not arrive on time. Lateness not
only disrupts the class but also demonstrates disrespect for your peers and for your instructor.
For every two late arrivals to class, you will be marked for one absence. If you are more than
15 minutes late to class, you will be marked absent for that day.
Class Participation
This course depends upon the participation of its members. Participation, which includes both
classroom involvement and physically being in class, makes up roughly 15% of your total grade.
While your class participation grade falls to my discretion, there are several steps you can take to
ensure you achieve a satisfactory grade:

Come to class prepared, with a hard (physical) copy of the required reading.
Since laptop use is prohibited in class, it is essential that you print bring a hard
copy of the required reading to class every day. When .pdf readings are provided
on Blackboard, it is your responsibility to print those readings out and bring them
with you to class. Failure to do so will result in the loss participation points;
additionally, failure to do so may affect any in-class writing assignments, quizzes,
or exercises that require the text in question.

Be prepared to participate; plan to participate. You should anticipate contributing

to course discussions on a regular basis. This means that you must both be
prepared (having done the required assignment or reading) and must formulate
and offer contributions to the discussion on a regular basis (at least once a
week).

Be courteous toward your peers. When you raise disagreement in class either
with the instructor or with your peers try to do so respectfully. Articulate your
reasons and grounds for disagreement and direct them towards an idea, rather
than a person. Failure to show adequate respect towards your peers or towards
your instructor may result in your being asked to leave the classroom. Such a
request will, in turn, affect my assessment of your class participation, and
possibly your attendance record as well.

Scholastic Honesty, Plagiarism, and Cheating

At the University of North Dakota, we believe in the excellence of our students and in the
integrity of our academic programs. We also believe that your good ideas become better when
you test them against the ideas of others. So for this course, feel free to discuss your ideas about
the major writing assignments with other students. Collaborating on question/answer homework
assignments or open-book quizzes, however, is not acceptable; these types of assignments are
designed for me, your instructor, to monitor how you are handling specific parts of the course
material. Blatantly taking someone elses words, ideas or concepts, and using them without

citing your source is plagiarism. So is using another students essay, or part of his or her essay,
as your own. In the world of writing (academic writing especially), this is a serious crime, and is
treated as such. Anyone who uses non-documented material from another source, including
online sources, will receive a failing grade for the entire course and will be referred to university
administrators for possible further disciplinary action.
These policies are concurrent with the University of North Dakotas policies regarding scholastic
honesty. For more information about these policies, please refer to the Scholastic Honesty
section of the Undergraduate Academic Information materials available online at und.edu.
All final versions of essay assignments will be submitted to Blackboard, which runs digital
comparisons of submitted assignments in order to identify possible cases of plagiarism. For this
reason, you must submit final versions of papers to Blackboard. You may additionally submit
versions of your assignment through other electronic means (via email, for instance), but if you
fail to submit your paper to Blackboard, it will be treated as late, and lateness penalties will
apply.
In this course, we will talk about the differences between plagiarism and the misuse of sources. If
you have any questions regarding the appropriate use of source material (readings, critical
opinions, or supplemental research), please feel free to ask me. In my experience, those students
who plagiarize are also those who feel overwhelmed by the assignment and thus compelled to
use someone elses work as their own. If you get so frustrated with an assignment that you feel
like your only option is to plagiarize, come see me. My role as a teacher is to help students, not
to punish them please use me as a resource to help you write, brainstorm, or work out
assignments and essays.
General Guidelines for Submitting Assignments
All papers submitted in this class including short, type-written homework responses (Position
Papers) must comply with Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines and citation
rules. This means that you must provide MLA compliant documentation for the use of additional
sources, including:

a Works Cited page, providing correct bibliographic information for each source
cited, quoted, or consulted in your paper

correct in-text citations for each source cited, quoted, or consulted in your paper

If you are unsure of MLA guidelines, I suggest you either consult or purchase a current
MLA Style Guide, or consult the following online source:
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University
website http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

In addition to proper citation,

All papers, including short response assignments, must be typed, double-spaced, with 1
margins.

All papers completed as homework including Position Papers must be

digitally submitted via Blackboard, unless otherwise specified.

Include page numbers on all assignments longer than one page.

Carefully edit and proofread all texts to eliminate problems in grammar, spelling, and
punctuation.

Digital copies of all final papers must be cleanly edited and readable. This means that
you must remove all digital comments/suggestions, including highlighted or underlined
text, and including all comment balloons.

Spell-check your documents.

Documents that do not meet these and other assignment-specific requirements will not be
graded. They will be returned to you and, when resubmitted, will be treated as late
submissions.
Deadlines
All written assignments must be submitted on the due date, and missing the class when the
assignment is due doesnt mean your assignment isnt late. Turning in an assignment on time is
part of doing the assignment, and late work will be penalized, regardless of how well its
executed.
Lateness penalties are as follows:
Exams. You must complete all three exams in order to pass this course. You may makeup exams, but only if make arrangements before the exam date to do so. If you fail to
attend class on the day of an exam and you have not contacted me ahead of time, you
forfeit your right to make up the exam.

Daily assignments. All late assignments may receive a maximum of half-credit (50%),
regardless of how late they are.

Cell Phones, Laptops, etc.

Students are expected to participate and be engaged in class discussion. Therefore, students are
required to silence or turn off cell phones before coming to class (there is, quite obviously, to
be no text messaging during class). All laptops must remain closed unless you have made prior
arrangements with me and have demonstrated that using a laptop is necessary for your learning.

Campus Resources
Disabilities
If you have a learning disability that could impair your progress in this course, please contact
Disability Services. Students are encouraged to register through Disability Services in order to
receive recommendations for learning accommodations.
Disability Services
http://und.edu/disability-services/
McCannel Hall Room 190
We can arrange to accommodate your learning style based on DS recommendations. Please
notify me at the start of the semester if you have specific needs, or if Disability Services has
provided you with a Verification of Needs for Disability Accommodations.
Writing Help
All students are encouraged to take advantage of UNDs Writing Center to receive help in
preparing writing assignments.
To make an appointment or speak with a tutor, visit their website, or the visit the Writing Center
itself.
UND Writing Center
http://und.edu/academics/writing-center/
Merrifield Hall Room 12
Communications
You can reach me via email, office phone, or a note in my mailbox in Merrifield Hall. The best
way to reach me, of course, is through email I check it frequently and, while I cannot guarantee
an immediate reply, it is certainly the fastest way to get in touch.
If you have questions about the policies of this class, review the syllabus first, and then make
an appointment to speak with me.

Course Schedule
Wednesday, January 14

Course introduction; review syllabus

Friday, January 16

DUE: Konnikova, The Great American Novel [BB];

assign sections from Whitmans Song of Myself

Monday, January 19

NO CLASS: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Wednesday, January 21

DUE: Whitman, Song of Myself (C 24-66)

and Song of Myself Wiki Entry (see assignment sheet
for details)

Friday, January 23

DUE: Twain, The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras

County and Roughing It: Chapter 23 (C 125-129)

Unit I: Regionalism
Monday, January 26

DUE: Sarah Winnemucca, Life Among the Paiutes (C

508-515)

Wednesday, January 28

DUE: Jewett, A White Heron and The Foreigner (C

525-533)

Friday, January 30

DUE: Chopin, Desires Baby (551-555) and Chesnutt,

The Goophered Grapevine (C 699-706)

Monday, February 2

DUE: Davis, Life in the Iron Mills (Part I: 11-41) [BB]

Wednesday, February 4

DUE: Davis, Life in the Iron Mills (Part II: 42-66) [BB]

Friday, February 6

DUE: Position Paper 1

Choose one of the works we have read so far as part of the
Regionalism unit and follow the instructions for writing
Position Papers (under Assignments and Grading, above)

Unit II: Realism and Naturalism

Monday, February 9

DUE: William Dean Howells, from Henry James, Jr. and

Novel-Writing and Novel-Reading (C 903-907), Henry

James, The Art of Fiction (C 908-910), and Jack London,

What Life Means to Me (C 917-920)
Wednesday, February 11

DUE: Norris, Fantasie Printanire (C 920-927)

Friday, February 13

DUE: London, To Build a Fire and The Law of Life

(C 1042-1047)

Monday, February 16

NO CLASS: Presidents Day

Wednesday, February 18

DUE: James, Daisy Miller (C 421-460)

Friday, February 20

CLASS CANCELED

Monday, February 23

DUE: Wharton, Ethan Frome

Wednesday, February 25

continue to discuss Wharton in class

Friday, February 27

Exam I: Regionalism, Naturalism, Realism

Unit III: Modernism

Monday, March 2

DUE: Masters poems (D 36-39) and Williams poems (D

304-310): discuss late modernity in connection with these
poets

Wednesday, March 4

DUE: Stevens, The Snow Man, The Emperor of Ice

Cream, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird and
An Idea of Order at Key West (D 283-293)

Friday, March 6

DUE: Pound, Portrait dune Femme and In a Station of

the Metro (D 316, 318); Eliot, The Love Song of Alfred
J. Prufrock (D 368)

Monday, March 9

DUE: McKay poems (D 482-484), Hughes select poems (D

871-875 through Visitors to the Black Belt)

Wednesday, March 11

DUE: Toomer, from Cane (D 646-657)

Friday, March 13

DUE: Wright, The Man Who Was Almost a Man (898908) and Position Paper 2
Choose one of the works we have read so far as part of the
Modernism unit and follow the instructions for writing
Position Papers (under Assignments and Grading, above)

March 14-22

NO CLASS: Spring Break

Monday, March 23

DUE: Larsen, Quicksand (D 551-633)

Wednesday, March 25

continue to discuss Larsen in class; review for exam;

explain UND Writers Conference Position Paper
requirements

Friday, March 27

Exam II: Modernism

Unit III: Post-Modernism

Monday, March 30

DUE: Position Paper 3

Choose one of the sessions to attend as part of this years
UND Writers Conference. After attending the session,
prepare a Position Paper responding to what you saw.
What kinds of arguments did the participants make about
writing or about literature? What kinds of writing do the
participants engage in? What does an event like this
indicate about the statuses of writing and literature in
America today?
Discuss Writers Conference responses in class

Wednesday, April 1

DUE: Bishop poems, The Fish, The Armadillo, In the

Waiting Room, One Art (E 71-89) and Letter to Robert
Lowell (E 412-415)

Friday, April 3

NO CLASS: Easter

Monday, April 6

NO CLASS: Easter

Wednesday, April 8

DUE: Jack Kerouac, Big Sur (E 351-362)

Friday, April 10

DUE: Ginsberg, Howl (E 492-500); Snyder, August on

Sourdough (E 599) and Straight-Creek Great Burn (E
601-602)

Monday, April 13

DUE: Carver, Cathedral (E 736-747)

Wednesday, April 14

DUE: Sexton, The Truth the Dead Know and Sylvias

Death (E 558-560) and Plath, Lady Lazarus, Ariel,
and Daddy (E 625-631)

Friday, April 16

DUE: Levine poems (E 553-557) and Rich, Diving into

the Wreck, I Am in Danger; -- Sir and Five OClock,
January 2003 (E 5572-582)

Monday, April 20

DUE: Roth, Portnoys Complaint (pp. 1-107)

Wednesday, April 22

DUE: Roth, Portnoys Complaint (pp. 107-132)

Friday, April 24

DUE: Roth, Portnoys Complaint (pp. (132-171)

Monday, April 27

DUE: Roth, Portnoys Complaint (pp. 171-274 [end])

and Position Paper 4 (on Roths Portnoys Complaint)

Wednesday, April 29

DUE: Dillard, from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (E 976-988)

Friday, May 1

DUE: Erdrich poems (E 1139-1143), Harjo poems (E 10961101)

Monday, May 4

DUE: Alexie, This is What it Means to Say Phoenix,

Arizona (E 1213-1222)

Wednesday, May 6

Last day of class: course wrap-up and final exam review

Friday, May 8

NO CLASS Reading Day

Final paper due Wednesday, May 13 by 5pm

Assignment Instructions: Song of Myself Wiki Entry

[20 pts.]

For this Wiki assignment, a section from Whitmans Song of Myself will be assigned to you.
Write 1-2 paragraphs (about 250 words total) closely interpreting and analyzing the section you
have been assigned: what is Whitman saying here? How does this verse relate to, or reflect, the
themes developed elsewhere in the poem Song of Myself? What does this verse do to establish
or contribute to those themes? What is its purpose or function?
Add your completed entry to our courses Song of Myself Wiki so that it flows in sequential
order from other students assigned sections.
To add your paragraph / Wiki entry:
log on to our course Blackboard page
click on Course Tools (left-hand toolbar)
select Wiki from the drop-down menu
open the Song of Myself wiki
click Edit Wiki content
locate your assigned section and/or verse number
add your paragraphs / Wiki entry AND your name (under the Section heading)
click Submit to submit and save your work

Exam Review Guide: Exam I

1865-1911

Regionalism, Naturalism, Realism

Key terms:
Define regionalism.
What is it? When did the regionalist movement flourish? Name one American literary work
associated with it, and its author.
Define naturalism.
What is it? When did the naturalist movement flourish? Name one American literary work
associated with it, and its author.
Define realism.
What is it? When did the realist movement flourish? Name one American literary work
associated with it, and its author.
Passage identifications:
Be prepared to identify passages from any of the works we have read up to this point, and to state
both the name of the work and the author who wrote it.
Possible short essay prompts:
1)

Identify one important, historical event that occurred in America during this time
period (1865-1911). Explain the significance of this event to any single piece of
literature weve read so far this semester.

2)

Several works weve read so far this semester constitute crossover texts, in that they
appear to be participating in more than one movement or stylistic mode. Identify one
such text and explain how it is participating in or adhering to multiple stylistic modes
(i.e. regionalism, naturalism, realism).

3)

Edith Wharton saw herself as a realist writer. Many modern critics, however, label her as
naturalist. Which view do you think is correct? Explain your answer using as many
details as possible.

4)

Identify a major theme that runs through our readings so far this semester. Describe two
literary works that embody or contribute to this theme. What does this theme reveal
about American societys attitudes, customs, or values during this period?

Exam Review Guide: Exam II

1910 - 1940

Modernism, Modernity, and The Harlem Renaissance

Key terms:
Define modernism.
What is it? When did the modernist movement flourish? Name one American literary work
associated with it, and its author.
Define modernity.
What is it? Why is it important? How does affect the kinds of art and culture being produced in
the United States during this time period?
Define The Harlem Renaissance.
What is it? When did it take place? Name one American literary work associated with it, and its
author.

Passage identifications:
Be prepared to identify passages from any of the works we have read up to this point, and to state
both the name of the work and the author who wrote it.
Possible short essay prompts:
1)

Identify one important, historical event that occurred in America during this time
period (1910-1940). Explain the significance of this event to any single piece of
literature weve read so far this semester.

2)

Describe the relationship between modernism and modernity. What do these two
concepts have to do with each other?

3)

Describe the relationship between the Harlem Renaissance and modernism. What do
these two movements have to do with each other?

4)

Identify a major theme that runs through our readings so far this semester. Describe two
literary works that embody or contribute to this theme. What does this theme reveal
about American societys attitudes, customs, or values during this period?

5)

Compare Nella Larsens Quicksand to Jean Toomers Cane. What do these two
novellas have in common? How are they different?

Assignment Instructions: Final Paper

[100 pts.]

Over the course of the semester, you have learned to work closely with a range of textual
materials. Weve close-read short stories and poems, and applied the skills of close-reading to
the writing process and to the construction of precise methods of inquiry.
For this final paper, you are assigned to construct a final, full-length reading based on one of the
texts that we reviewed in the last unit of our class (Unit III: Post-Modernism) or, in the case of
poetry, a suite of 2-3 poems by the same author. You may choose to focus on either:

a short story from our course readings (like Carvers Cathedral)

a selection of poems (2-3) from the same author (like Louise Erdrich)
Philip Roths novel, Portnoys Complaint

Keep in mind, though, that this paper is meant to be an analytic reading, not a comparison
that is to say, you should concentrate on producing an argumentative, careful reading of your
chosen text, rather than a comparison between it and another we read this semester. If you are
working with poetry, you should select a few poems written by the same author and, rather than
comparing and contrasting those poems, should read the poems together to locate central
themes, symbols, messages, or arguments.
Also, keep in mind that context is important to our understanding of cultural artifacts: you
should be asking and answering contextual questions as you begin brainstorming ways to
write your paper. For instance, ask yourself:
What is the cultural or political climate that surrounds this text?
How is the setting important to the dramatic action?
How does the authors biography influence our understanding of it?
Is the time period or temporal setting important? Why or how?
Method:
Your paper should be 5-8 pages in length, and should draw heavily from direct references to the
text.
You should begin by deciding which text you would like to focus on, then by isolating that
which is interesting, important, or confusing about this text.

Let that something interesting or something important guide you towards an argument about
the text: develop a thesis based around that something interesting or something important,
and then develop a map 3-4 talking points that you will use to structure your essay which relate
back to this overall argument.