Fall 2001

Noelle Morrissette

English 263 (4521/4522)

Rice 101, (440) 775-8921

-01: MWF, 1:30-2:20, AJLC 201
-02: MWF, 3:30-4:20, King 321

Office hours: MW, 4:30-6:00
& by appt

E-mail: Noelle.Morrissette@oberlin.edu

The Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age

A survey of the decade of artistic production known as the "Harlem Renaissance or the "New Negro Renaissance," or alternatively as the "Jazz Age" -- from roughly 1919 to 1929 -- that explores the controversies of racial representation and identification in the context of American national literature. We will address key interactions on the subject between and among black and white artists of the period, treating their fiction, poetry, and essays. Our exploration will focus on literary discourses of race and identity through the issues of race, racism, racialism; cultural nationalism and national culture; modernist aesthetics and modern black aesthetics. Visual art, music, and film will accompany the introduction of texts.

Required Texts
Course Books (available at the Oberlin Bookstore):
James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and God's Trombones; Gertrude Stein, Three Lives;
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby;
Jean Toomer, Cane;
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises;
Alain Locke, ed., The New Negro;
Carl Van Vechten, Nigger Heaven; Claude McKay, Home to Harlem;
Nella Larsen, Passing.
 
Course Packet (available at the English Department office and on ERES): Readings marked by an asterisk are course packet material.
 
Recommended Texts (on reserve)
Harlem: Art of Black America;
David Levering Lewis, When Harlem was in Vogue;
George Hutchinson, The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White.

W Sept. 5th:


F Sept. 7th:


M Sept. 10th:


W Sept. 12th:

F Sept. 14th:

M Sept. 17th:


W Sept. 19th:

F Sept. 21st:

M Sept. 24th:

W Sept. 26th:

F Sept. 28th:

Introduction. Outline of course policies and requirements.
SLIDE: Marcel Duchamp, "Nude Descending a Staircase," nos. 1, 2 and 3 (1911, 1912, 1916)

James Weldon Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, pp. xxxiii-xxxiv, 1-91.
SLIDE: covers of 1912 and 1927 editions, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

Johnson, Autobiography, 92-154.
SLIDE: William Henry Johnson, "Café," "Moon Over Harlem"

Johnson, Autobiography.

Johnson, Autobiography.

Gertrude Stein, "Melanctha," in Three Lives.
SLIDES: Pablo Picasso, "Demoiselles D'Avignon" and "Portrait of Gertrude Stein"

"Melanctha."

"Melanctha"

Jean Toomer, Cane, "Karintha" through "Blood-Burning Moon."

Toomer, Cane, "Seventh Street" through "Bona and Paul."

Toomer, Cane, "Kabnis"

M Oct. 1st:


W Oct. 3rd:

F Oct. 5th:


M Oct. 8th:

 

 

W Oct. 10th:

 

F Oct. 12th:

 


M Oct. 15th:

 

 

W Oct. 17th:

 


F Oct. 19th:

Oct 20th-28th:

M Oct. 29th:

 

W Oct. 31st:

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pp. 5-102 (chs. 1-5)
DUE DATE: PAPER #1

Fitzgerald, Gatsby, pp. 103-189 (chs. 6-9)

Gatsby.
A word on reading the essays assigned for next week.

W. A Domingo, "The New Negro -- What is He?"; A. Phillip Randolph, "A New Crowd -- A New Negro"*
Recommended reading: Marcus Garvey, "Africa for the Africans."*
SLIDES: James Van Der Zee, "March of the 369th Infantry," "War Heroes," "Marcus Garvey in Regalia," "Marcus Garvey Rally"; Malvin Johnson, "Negro Soldier"

Alain Locke, ed., The New Negro. Locke, essay, "The New Negro,"
Recommended reading: Arthur A. Schomburg, "The Negro Digs up his Past";
SLIDES: Aaron Douglass, "Aspects of Negro Life"

Zora Neale Hurston, "Lovelace Sermon"*; James Weldon Johnson, God's Trombones "Preface," "The Creation," "The Prodigal Son," "Go Down Death;
AUDIO: James Weldon Johnson, "The Creation"; Zora Neale Hurston, "This Will Bring You Back"

Langston Hughes, "The Weary Blues"; Sterling Brown, "Southern Road," "Strong Men," "Ma Rainey"; Gwendolyn Bennett, "Heritage," "To a Dark Girl"*
SLIDES: Van Vechten, Bessie Smith; Archibald Motley, "Blues"; Palmer Hayden, "Blues Singer"
AUDIO: Bessie Smith, "Backwater Blues"

Sterling Brown, "Cabaret"*; Langston Hughes, "Midnight Dancer"*
SLIDES: William Henry Johnson, "Jitterbugs II," "Jitterbugs IV"; photo, "Jitterbugging at the Savoy"; Richmond Barthé, "Lindy Hop," "African Dancer"; James Van Der Zee, "Dancer, Harlem"

In-class screening: Paul Robeson in Emperor Jones*

Fall Recess

Eugene O'Neill, Emperor Jones*
SLIDES: Aaron Douglas, "Defiance," William Henry Johnson, "Chain Gang"
Recommended reading: e.e. cummings, "Jean le Nègre."*

Rudolph Fisher, short story, "City of Refuge," in Locke, ed., The New Negro
SLIDES: Winold Reiss, "Harlem at Night," "Interpretation Harlem Jazz I"

F Nov. 2nd:


M Nov. 5th:

W Nov. 7th:


F Nov. 9th:

 


M Nov. 12th:

W Nov. 14th:

 

F Nov. 16th:

M Nov. 19th:

W Nov. 21st:

Nov. 22nd-25th:

M Nov. 26th:

W Nov. 28th:

F Nov. 30th:

Carl Van Vechten, Nigger Heaven, pp. 1-149
SLIDE: Miguel Covarrubias, "A Prediction"

Van Vechten, Nigger Heaven, 150-284

Van Vechten, Nigger Heaven
FILM: evening screening of The Jazz Singer. Time and location TBA

George Schuyler, "The Negro Art Hokum"; Langston Hughes, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain"*
DUE DATE: FINAL PAPER PROPOSAL
Recommended reading: W. E. B. Du Bois, "Criteria of Negro Art"*

Schuyler and Hughes, cont'd.

Claude McKay, Home to Harlem, pp. 1-119 (First Part)
SLIDE: Archibald Motley, "Saturday Night Street Scene"; Palmer Hayden, "Midsummer Night in Harlem"

McKay, Home to Harlem, pp. 123-275 (Second Part)

McKay, Home to Harlem, pp. 276-340 (Third Part)

excerpt, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Last Tycoon.*

Thanksgiving Break

Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, pp.1-130 (chs. I-XII)

Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, pp. 131-191 (chs. XIII-XVI)

Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, pp.192-251 (chs.XVII-XIX)
FILM: The Sheik
DUE DATE: PAPER DRAFT FOR PEER REVIEW -- EXCHANGE IN CLASS

M Dec. 3rd:

W Dec. 5th:

F Dec. 7th:

 

M Dec. 10th:

W Dec. 12th:

F Dec. 14th:

M Dec. 17th:

Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

Nella Larsen, Passing, Part One (pp. 9-47)

Larsen, Passing, Part Two (pp. 51-114)
SLIDE: James Van Der Zee, "Black Jews"
DUE DATE: RETURN OF PEER-REVIEWED PAPERS -- EXCHANGE IN CLASS

Larsen, Passing

Rudolph Fisher, "The Caucasian Storms Harlem."*

selection, Thurman, Infants of the Spring; Fitzgerald, "Echoes of the Jazz Age."*

Absolute deadline for final paper: no late work will be accepted without an official incomplete from the Office of Student Academic Affairs.

 

Course Requirements and Grading Policies:

Writing Assignments:
One short paper (5pp).
One proposal (1-2pp.) for a longer paper (7-8pp).
One draft of the longer paper.
Peer review of two other students' papers (1-2pp of commentary).
One longer paper in final form.
 
Both of the papers, short and long, will be based upon broad thematic and theoretical questions distributed by the instructor that you will apply specifically to a particular text.
 
*Note that there may be additional short writing assignments throughout the semester, as per the instructor. The grades of these short assignments will be 3, 2, and 1 to indicate A, B, and C, and will be factored into your final grade.
 
Verbal Assignments:
Regular attendance and participation.
Occasional group presentation of study questions for particular class readings, as per the instructor.
Occasional responses to study questions presented by the instructor in advance of class.

Other:

Attendance at all three films screened outside of class: Emperor Jones, The Jazz Singer, The Sheik.

Papers:

All papers must be submitted as typed, double-spaced hard copies. Set a one-inch margin on all sides. Choose a font that results in 250-300 words per page, such as Courier 12, Times 12, Helvetica 12, New Century Schoolbook 12, or Palatino 12.

A short essay does not require a title page. Instead, as a heading, place your name, the course number and section number, the instructor's name, and the date in the upper right-hand corner of the first page. Center the title you are giving to your essay three or four lines below the last line of your heading. Do not put quotation marks around your title unless the title is a phrase drawn from another piece of work.

The pages of your essay must be numbered and stapled. Print your surname as an abbreviated header to the second and all subsequent pages, along with the page number. (Thus the upper right-hand corner of the second and third pages of your essay would print the following: "surname 2" and "surname 3".)

Be careful to save your document frequently (every ten minutes or so) to prevent its sudden and disheartening disappearance. At every stage of a draft print a hard copy and save to disk.

Always keep a copy of the paper for yourself. You must turn in all papers to receive a grade for the class.

Citations must be completed in MLA style in the following format, as footnotes:
Place a comma between each item in the sequence, except that a comma does not precede the
parenthesis containing information about place and date of publication. A footnote or an endnote
always ends with a period.

In addition, please follow these guidelines for quotations from poetry:

Unless unusual emphasis is required, verse quotations of a single line or part of a line should be incorporated into , within quotation marks, as part of your text. Quotation of two or three lines may also be placed in your text, within quotation marks, but with the lines separated by a slash ( / ). Leave a single space on each side of the slash.
 
Verse quotations of four or more lines should be introduced (in most cases) by a colon and indented from the left margin, but without quotation marks unless quotation marks appear in the poem being quoted. Double space between lines of verse. The spatial arrangement of the poem being quoted should be reproduced as closely as possible.

In addition, please follow these guidelines for quotations from prose:

Prose quotations of not more than four line sin your printed text should be incorporated, within quotation marks, as part of the text, unless special emphasis is required.
 
Longer quotations are usually introduced by a colon, and indented from the left margin. No quotation marks are necessary unless they are present in the material being quoted. Let the reader see how the source you are quoting from is paragraphed, just as you let the reader know how the lines of a poem are arranged on the page. If the first sentence of the excerpt being quoted is the beginning of a paragraph in the source, indent a few spaces. If not, do not indent.

It is incumbent on you, as a scholar, both to document the borrowings that you make from the work of others and to report and more general indebtedness to the people and books that you have consulted in the course of preparing your papers. Plagiarism consists of intentionally misrepresenting someone else's work, words, or insights as your own. Like any other form of intellectual dishonesty, plagiarism is a serious offense in an academic community. A paper that shows evidence of plagiarism will receive no grade and will lead to no grade for the entire term of English. Every case of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Student Affairs for disciplinary action, which may range from further reprimand to expulsion from Oberlin College. For further guidance, please see the course instructor.

Attendance and Participation:

Attendance is required, and I will take roll at the beginning of each class. Attendance at all classes plus the film screenings is required. I will accept excuses that come under Oberlin College policy, but you must discuss your absences with me so that you can catch up with the class. If you miss more than two classes without good reason, I will inform your academic advisor of your unsatisfactory standing in the class, and your final grade will be lowered by one full letter grade per absence.

Our class is a seminar, not a lecture; your participation in class discussion is not only welcomed -- it is required. I expect thoughtful comments and active listening, interaction with peers as well as the professor. You must keep up with the reading and writing assignments in order to fulfill your obligation as a member of the class and as a participant in the ongoing discussion.

An important component of your participation grade is your reading and editing of your peers. You will read the paper drafts of two of your peers and give substantial, constructive commentary on strengths and opportunities for improvement, following the handout on guidelines for peer review that I distribute. Your contribution to these collaborative efforts will be a major factor in both your participation grade and your final grade for the course.

You must come to class on the day that papers are due.

Late Work:

The course moves at a rapid pace, so all work must be completed on time. Late work will lower your final grade. Late papers will be penalized by 1/3 of a letter grade per day, with a maximum of three calendar days (not weekdays) permitted. After three days, you may not submit your work for a grade.

Office Hours:

Every week I will be available in my office for consultation. Office hours are your opportunity to talk to me about the reading and writing process and the ideas you develop on an individual basis. If you cannot make my regular office hours, you may schedule an appointment for another time.

Grading:

Paper #1: 20%;
Paper #2: 50 %;
Peer Review: 5 %;
Attendance and Participation (includes short writing assignments, if any): 25%