AMERICAN LITERATURE AT THE TURN INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The period between the Civil War's end and World War I was a time of extraordinary ferment in American literature. The parameters of specific genres of literature were being re-drawn, with some genres being newly codified, particularly "the novel," "the short story," "the sketch," "the book review." In a massive effort to capture "America" in prose, realist and regionalist literature focused on the normal rhythms, the small and large dramas, the tensions, disappointments and satisfactions of daily life, both urban and rural. The commercial literary industry was making literature available to a nation-wide readership and African American publishing was beginning to flourish, both locally and nationally. A plethora of other racially or ethnically defined publishing venues was also emerging, and by the turn of the century a few writers of color, particularly African American and Native American, were publishing in "mainstream" outlets such as the prestigious Atlantic Monthly Magazine.

This was also a time of great social, political, economic, and demographic ferment: of the spread of cities--and of slums; of increased immigration&emdash;and xenophobic resistance to it; of racial apartheid and lynching, and the emergence of resistance to that; of intensified organization for women's rights (and divisions within the woman's movement over questions of race); of the solidification of white Anglo-Saxon Protestant chauvinism side&emdash;by-side with the transformation of the United States into a visibly multi-ethnic society (it had long been multi-racial one). It was time when both wealth and poverty intensified and reform movements proliferated. It was a time when the U.S. began to assert its position as an international power: the U.S. was involved, not only in the Spanish-American War (1898), but in ongoing war in the Philippines.

No mere list of areas in which the U.S. was undergoing tension and change could even begin to give a sense of the era. However, Elaine Hedge's introductory essay to the period in Volume II of the Heath Anthology of American Literature (pp. 3-34) is an indispensable starting point. Read it before our second meeting. The Heath headnotes for individual authors and genres are also invaluable; those which introduce authors whose works we read will be required reading, to have been read for the class on which we begin discussion of a the relevant work.

Some of the key questions which will circulate through our reading and discussions this semester are: What was literature? What generic&emdash;-and content-&emdash;criteria were being established for short fiction, memoir, essays, and the novel? What aesthetic criteria were emerging for "highbrow" literature? How did literature address the circumstances of a multiracial, multicultural society? of a society in which class differences were becoming dramatically apparent? in which Jim Crow and lynching were accepted practice? in which many women, white and black, were mobilizing on behalf of access to education and the professions, and of suffrage? in which "race" functioned as the explanatory discourse, with gender a close second? How did literature reflect on a nation whose regions and borders were shifting? How did "America" look to those at its borders, who were being absorbed into it or pushed further out? How do we at the turn into the twenty-first century read literature written around the turn into the twentieth? What continuities do we see between then and now? What discontinuities?

I'm sure you'll formulate other key questions over the course of the semester, and we'll also want to integrate these into the course.

The semester schedule below uses several abbreviations. Here is the key to them.

Texts:

H = Heath Anthology of American Literature.

C = Coursepack. (To be purchased in the English Department office about two weeks into the semester. Cost to be announced. Please have exact change or write a check for the Department secretary, Ms. Elkevizth, who cannot make change.)

Other books&emdash;-Hopkins' Contending Forces, Twain's Pudden'head Wilson, Howell's The Rise of Silas Lapham, Chopin's The Awakening---are now or soon will be available for purchase at the Bookstore.

P = Prep. paper. You'll be writing six of these over the course of the semester.

Qs = Study questions. You'll be writing 7 sets of these over the course of the semester.

More complete information about the Ps and Qs, and about other matters, follows the schedule for the semester. All of the reading listed below is mandatory.

Sept. 6		First Class
Sept. 8	Qs	Heath: Introduction to "Late Nineteenth Century" Section (pp. 3-34). THE ARTS OF FICTION; MARKETS FOR FICTION Woolson, "Miss Grief" [H]
Sept. 11		Chesnutt, "The Wife of his Youth" (photocopy)
Sept. 13		Crane, "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" [H]
Sept. 15	P	RACE and ART Chopin, "Desiree's Baby," "Story of an Hour" [H]
Sept. 18		Hopkins, Contending Forces [separate text]
Sept. 20	P	"
Sept. 22		"
Sept. 25		Chesnutt, from his journal; Chesnutt, "What Is a White Man?", Howells, "Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt's Stories" [C]; Chesnutt, "Po' Sandy" [H]
Sept. 27	Qs	Mark Twain, Pudden'head Wilson [separate text]
Sept. 29		Pudden'head Wilson
Oct. 2		Conclude Pudden'head Wilson
Oct. 4	P	Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" [H]
Oct. 6		"
Oct. 9		Yom Kippur: no classes
Oct. 11		Harriet Spofford, "Circumstance"; reflections on your papers in progress
Oct. 13		First paper due. NO CLASS.

Oct. 14-22

FALL BREAK

Oct. 23		REGIONALISM Howells, from Criticism and Fiction [H], Freeman "A New England Nun" [C]
Oct. 25	P	Freeman, "A Poetess" [C]
Oct. 27		Jewett, "The Queen's Twin" [C]
Oct. 30		Jewett, "In Dark New England Days" [C]
Nov. 1	Qs	Garland, "Up the Coule" [H]
Nov. 3		Dunbar-Nelson, "M. Baptiste," "A Carnival Jangle," "The Praline Woman" [C]
Nov. 6		BORDERS, CONFLICTS, EXPANSION Zitkala-Sa, "Impressions of An Indian Girlhood" [H; C]
Nov. 8	Qs	Sarah Winnemucca [Hopkins], from Life Among the Piutes [H]
Nov. 10		Edith Maud Eaton/Sui Sin Far, "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian" [H]. Begin Discussion of "Its Wavering Image"[C];
Nov. 13	P	Eaton/Sin Far, "The Wisdom of the New," "The Americanizing of Pau Tsu" [C]
Nov. 15	Qs	from Ruiz de Burton, The Squatter and the Don [C]
Nov. 17		Corridos in Heath plus selections from Americo Paredes, "With His Pistol in His Hand" [Hand-out]
Nov. 20	Qs	Jose Marti, "Our America" [H]
Nov. 22		Howells, "Editha" [H]
Nov. 24		Thanksgiving Break: no class
Nov. 27	P	Crane, "The Open Boat" [H]; recommended: "A Mystery of Heroism" and poems from "War is not Kind" [H]; Twain, "The War Prayer" [H]
Nov. 29		James, "The Art of Fiction" [C] "Daisy Miller" [H]
Dec. 1		" "
Dec. 4	Qs	Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham [separate text]
Dec. 6		"
Dec. 8		Finish discussion of Rise; begin Chopin's, The Awakening [separate text]
Dec. 11	Qs	" "
Dec. 13		The Awakening and wrap-up
Dec. 17		Noon. Final Papers due.

Some particulars:

Attendance is mandatory. As a rule, I'll take attendance; more than 3 unexcused absences will affect your course grade&emdash;negatively. Please note that attendance means full participation in class: being up-to-date on the reading, bringing the texts to be discussed to class, turning in prep. papers or study questions when they're required, being actively present, which is to say engaged in class and participating (thoughtfully) in discussion.

You'll be doing various kinds of writing for this course. 1] Study questions (Qs). These are two or three questions about the reading for the day which are of interest to you. Some may be factual (as in: who was Alice Dunbar-Nelson's readership?), but some should also be analytic (as in: How and to what ends does Chesnutt's "The Wife of His Youth" play with the form of the well-crafted short story?) A prep. paper (P) is a 1-1/2 page exploration of an aspect of a specific text which interests you. It is analytic in character&emdash;-that is, it seeks to engage with a question you might pose for Qs, or to work out a provisional understanding of an element or detail of a text (say, the use of doubles in Pudden'head Wilson). You'll also be writing two 8-10 page papers, one due before Fall Break, the other at the end of Reading Period. The first paper may be on anything we read through "Circumstance." The second may be on anything we read during the second half of the semester, including any writing by any author we read that's in the Heath but not discussed in class. We'll cover specific guidelines for the papers before they're due. A general rule of thumb for English papers is that they be focused on a subject they can discuss thoroughly within the assigned page-length, that they develop your own insights about the work or works discussed, and that they engage closely with the text. This translates as: depth, specificity, originality. You may use secondary sources (you must cite them if you do). BUT: you should not be writing a research paper.

Your grade for the course will be based on all aspects of the work required for the course. Written work&emdash;-Ps, Qs, and papers&emdash;-will count for approximately 75% of your grade; class participation about 25%. You must complete all written work in order to pass the course. LATE WORK WILL BE PENALIZED. NO WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE END OF READING PERIOD UNLESS YOU HAVE ARRANGED FOR AN INCOMPLETE THROUGH THE OFFICE OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS.

Do come to see me if you have any questions or if you want to talk about the course. Don't let a question develop into a problem! My office hours are listed at the top of the syllabus. I'll be happy to set up an appointment at another time if you cannot make my scheduled office hours.