English 2329:013 American Literature Spring 2000
Thomas A. Ryan MWF 11:00-11:50 202 Carlisle Hall 310 Preston Hall Phone: 817-272-2758 or 817-272-2692 Office Hours: MW: 1:00-2:30 Email: ryan@uta.edu URL: http://www.uta.edu/english/TAR/tar.html Course Web Site: http://www.uta.edu/english/TAR/amlit.html Texts: The American Tradition in Literature Selected texts from the Internet will supplement the anthology’s selections.Course Description: This course will introduce students to a study of literature on the college level. The works we will read are drawn from several different historical periods and represent a number of different literary genres. Class lectures and discussions will focus on ways of understanding and interpreting the works and on locating them in their historical, cultural, and intellectual milieus. In addition to in-class discussions on the readings, students will be expected to participate in an on-line, electronic discussion of the works and to use the computer and the Internet to enhance and supplement their appreciation of the works.
Course Goals: There are four interdependent goals that this course will seek to accomplish this semester. These goals are to acquaint students with a wide selection of works from several genres of American literature, to provide students with a general understanding of literature and, more particularly, the American literary tradition, to enable students to read, appreciate, and explicate literature, and to introduce the student to the use of the computer in literary exploration, research, and communication. In order to accomplish these goals, the students will be asked to read the assigned literary texts, to participate in class discussions--both oral and electronic--, and to write explications of works.
Attendance and Drop Policy: Attendance in class and class participation are important. Frequent absences will have a deleterious effect on your grade. It is extremely important that you read the assigned material before coming to class. I will give reading quizzes, if necessary, as an incentive. If for some reason you cannot continue in the class, remember to officially drop the course. It is now against University policy for faculty members to drop students.
Course Requirements: We will have two tests this semester: a Midsemester and a Final Examination. I will also ask you to write three explications of assigned poems. Additionally, I will expect you to contribute to an ongoing electronic discussion about the reading assignments and your Internet exploration of resources for the course.
Course Evaluation and Final Grade: The Midsemester and a Final Examination will be part Scantron reading quiz type questions and part explication. The two tests will each count twenty-five percent of your final grade. The three out-of-class explications will each count fifteen percent, and participation in the on-line and oral class discussions will count five percent.
Student Evaluation of Teaching: Toward the end of the semester, I shall ask your opinion on the success of the course by having you complete the Student Evaluation of Teaching Survey.
Americans with Disabilities Act: The University of Texas at Arlington is on record as being committed to both the spirit and the letter of federal equal opportunity legislation; reference Public Law 93112: The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. With the passage of new federal legislation entitled Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA], pursuant to section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act, there is renewed focus on providing this population with the same opportunities enjoyed by all citizens. As a faculty member, I am required by law to provide "reasonable accommodation" to students with disabilities, so as not to discriminate on the basis of that disability. Student responsibility primarily rests with informing faculty at the beginning of the semester and in providing authorized documentation through designated administrative channels.
Academic Dishonesty: It is the philosophy of the University of
Texas at Arlington that academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable
mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form. All persons involved
in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University
regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion
from the University. "Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited
to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work
or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person,
taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair
advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts." (Regents'
Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection
3.2, Subdivision 3.22)
Tentative Reading Schedule
| W Jan 19 | Introduction |
| F Jan 21 |
Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Nature," |
| M Jan 24 | "The Over-Soul," poems |
| W Jan 26 | Edgar Allan Poe: Poems, "Ligeia" |
| F Jan 28 | "Fall of the House of Usher," |
| M Jan 31 | "The Cask of Amontillado" |
| W Feb 2 | Nathaniel Hawthorne: "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," "Young Goodman Brown" |
| F Feb 4 | "The Minister’s Black Veil," "The Birthmark" |
| M Feb 7 | "Rappacini’s Daughter, " "Ethan Brand" |
| W Feb 9 | Bryant, Longfellow, Whittier, poems tba |
| F Feb 11 | Holmes, Lowell, poems tba |
| M Feb 14 |
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| W Feb 16 | poems tba |
| F Feb 18 | Emily Dickinson, poems tba |
| M Feb 21 |
|
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Short Stories: Howell, Harte, First Explication Due |
| F Feb 25 |
|
| M Feb 28 | Freeman, Chesnutt |
| W Mar 1 | Stephen Crane, "The Open Boat"; Dreiser, "The Second Choice" |
F Mar 3 |
Midsemester Test |
| M Mar 6 |
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| W Mar 8 | E. A. Robinson: poems |
| F Mar 10 | Robert Frost: poems |
| M Mar 13 | Poems |
| W Mar 15 | Poems |
| F Mar 17 | Cather, "Neighbor Rosicky" |
| M Mar 20 | Happy |
| W Mar 22 | Spring |
| F Mar 24 | Break! |
M Mar 27 |
T. S. Eliot: "Tradition and the Individual Talent," "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," |
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"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "Gerontion" Second Explication Due |
| F Mar 31 | "Gerontion," The Waste Land, |
| M Apr 3 | The Waste Land |
| W Apr 5 | The Waste Land, "Little Gidding" |
| F Apr 7 | Wallace Stevens: Poems |
| M Apr 10 | Poems, cont. |
| W Apr 12 | W. C. Williams, e.e. cummings, Poems tba |
| F Apr 14 | Short Stories: Hemingway, Fitzgerald |
| M Apr 17 | Faulkner, "Spotted Horses"; "That Evening Sun" Third Explication Due |
| W Apr 19 | K. A. Porter, Cheever, |
| F Apr 21 | Easter Holiday |
| M Apr 24 | Morrison, Malamud |
| W Apr 26 | Walker, Erdrich |
| F Apr 28 | More Modern Poetry |
| M May 1 | More Modern Poetry |
| W May 3 | More Modern Poetry |
| F May 5 | More Modern Poetry |
| W May 10 | Final Examination, 11:00-1:30 |