English 381: Late Nineteenth-Century American Literature

 English 381: Late Nineteenth-Century American Literature Dr. Steven Frye Winter 2009 Office Hours: 11:00-12:20 MW and 6:30-7:30, and by appointment Office: Faculty Office 315 Office Phone: (661) 952-5095 Email: [email protected]

Course Description

In this course, we will study major works of American fiction and poetry emerging from the later half of the nineteenth century, particularly the authors associated with the realist and naturalist movements. We will deal with American realism, the rise of the “city novel” and the literature of industrialization, beginning with Herman Melville, and continuing with Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Henry James, Sarah Orne Jewett, Kate Chopin, important naturalists such as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, and Jack London, among others. Our purpose will be to gain an understanding of the diversity and complexity of this rich and textured moment in American literary history.

Course Goals and Objectives

This course prepares students to accomplish a portion of Goals/Objectives I, II, V under the CSUB English department’s “Goals and Objectives for the B. A. in English.”

I) Upon completion of the course students should demonstrate familiarity with major works of American fiction in the modern period. Students should also be aware of how issues of gender are reflected in the literature of the period.

II) Students should be able to analyze, interpret, and compare literary works in a written argument, demonstrating a high level of understanding of textual form and theme.

V) Students’ written work should demonstrate an understanding of the writing process as well as an awareness of audience. Students should also display a mastery of standard written American English.

Course Requirements

Students must complete all assigned work on time. Required work is due at the beginning of class. Late work will not be accepted without significant penalties. Grading will be as follows:  One two page essay 15%  One five page essay 20%  Quizzes 15%  Final examination 25%  Critical Reaction Journal 15%  Attendance and participation 10%

Required Texts

All texts are available through the Runner bookstore. You must purchase the specific editions ordered, even if you acquire them from another source.

 The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7th Edition, Volume C  Herman Melville, “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids” (on the web at http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MelPara.html  William Dean Howell’s The Rise of Silas Lapham (purchase any edition online)

Recommended Texts

 Judy Pearsall. The Concise Oxford Dictionary

Schedule

Week One: Day One (Wed.) Course Introduction; Literary History in America

Week Two: Day One: Twain, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” Day Two: Holiday

Week Three: Day One: Harte, “The Luck of Roaring Camp”; Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Day Two: Jewett, “A White Heron”; Chopin, “The Storm”

Week Four: Day One: Whitman, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” “Song of Myself” (Books 15 and 24 only) Day Two: Adams, from The Education of Henry Adams (Editor’s Preface, Preface, and Chapter XXV. The Dynamo and the Virgin

Week Five: Day One: Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham Day Two: Howells continued

Week Six: Day One: James, from The Art of Fiction; The Beast in the Jungle Day Two: James continued; Norris, “Fantaisie Printaniere” Due: Essay #1 Week Seven: Day One: Crane, “The Open Boat,” Maggie: A Girl of the Streets Day Two: Crane continued

Week Eight: Day One: London, “The Law of Life,” “To Build a Fire” Day Two: London, “The House of Pride,” “Mauki”

Week Nine: Day One: Booker T. Washington, from Up From Slavery Day Two: W. E. B. Du Bois, from The Souls of Black Folk

Week Ten: Day One: Frederick Jackson Turner, from “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”; Jane Addams, from Twenty Years at Hull-House Day Two: Theodore Roosevelt, from American Ideals; Helen Hunt Jackson, from A Century of Dishonor

Week Eleven: Day One: Course Review

Final Exam per CSUB Final Examination schedule. Research Essay due the day of the final examination

Writing Assignments

Essay #1 – Close Reading. Select any work we have read thus far and identify any formal or aesthetic feature, such as image or image pattern, symbol, metaphor, language use, and demonstrate how it conveys a theme. The purpose here is to deal with a text closely to demonstrate how it works. Seek something new. Do not restate what we have said in class. You may deal with themes we have dealt with in class, but do not use any of the aesthetic features we have discussed, unless you intend to firmly disagree with a dominant position taken in class. Two pages. Due Week 6, Day 2

Essay #2 – Research Essay. Research multiple definitions of literary realism or literary naturalism. Select a single text from the period in American literature not including those we have read (subject to my approval), and make a case for why it does or does not conform or respond to the principles of the movement. Among other sources, you might consider critical works written by authors in the Realism and Naturalism section of the Norton Anthology, pages 911-930. Five sources minimum. Five pages. Due with the final examination.

Quizzes and Examinations

On a regular basis you will be given quizzes to evaluate your comprehension of the reading material. To prepare for the quizzes simply do all required readings carefully and judiciously. The final examination will cover all the required readings. Your performance will be enhanced by attending all classes, participating in discussions, and doing all the required reading carefully. The examination will require that you know dates of publication, dates of periods and authors, basic critical terms related to the periods, and have an in-depth grasp of the readings. There will be three sections:

1) Quote Identification (25%) 2) Definition (25%) 3) Essay. This section will involve a broad yet detailed textual and contextual analysis in which you demonstrate an understanding of the various periods and movements as they appear in the assigned readings. (50%)

Critical Reaction Journal

After finishing each work (in the case of poetry, the day’s reading), you should compose a typed- written critical reaction. This reaction need not be thesis driven, but neither should it be a mere summary. Assume that your reader has read the text (s). Focus on a specific aspect of the work that interests you and compose a two-page response. There is freedom here. But be thoughtful and inquisitive. Your journal will be evaluated based upon the thought, detail, interest, and insight you put into the process of composing your reactions. Present them professionally, making sure to proofread and edit for correctness. Compose the reactions right after reading the works, since the primary purpose is to give you something to contribute to our discussions in class. You will turn this reaction journal in with your final essay and final examination, but you are welcome to bring them to me to see if you are composing them correctly.

Attendance and Participation

Participation in class involves demonstrating an interest in the reading material and sharing insights with others in class discussions. All reading is to be completed by the due date on the syllabus. Success in the course is dependent upon attendance; attending a class means arriving on time, coming back to class promptly from breaks, and staying for the entire class period. Leaving early or missing any part of class will count as an absence. Any missed class sessions may naturally affect your performance, but you may miss two class meetings without formal penalty. Additional absences will affect your grade unless there are clear and verifiable extenuating circumstances. If you miss more than two classes you will not pass the course.

As a courtesy to your fellow students and instructor, please turn off all pagers and cellular phones for the duration of class. If you respond to a pager or a cellular phone in class, you will be asked to leave the class for the remainder of the meeting; furthermore, you will not receive attendance credit for the day. Essay Recommendations and Format

In this class (and in virtually all your literature classes), you will write academic essays. Your essays should be formal. They should have tight structure: clear introductions with argumentative thesis statements, sets of paragraphs that directly support main ideas, and conclusions that effectively synthesize major points. The essays should contain detailed analyses of the texts in question. You should quote judiciously, never allowing your quotes to overwhelm your analysis. Attempt to move beyond class discussion and discover something about the work that isn’t immediately obvious, even to an intelligent reader. Consider form and literary device as well as theme.

Your essays should be printed clearly on 8 ½ x 11 inch paper, in a standard font at 10 or 12 points. You should have one-inch margins top and bottom, right and left.

You must present your essays and carefully and correctly document all your sources using MLA format. Essays must be presented professionally, with appropriate formatting and correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and style. Grades will be reduced on essays that are presented haphazardly and poorly.

A word about plagiarism. Failure to acknowledge the work of other scholars constitutes an egregious breach of ethics and is a violation of civil law. You must in all cases do your own work, acknowledge your sources, and document them appropriately. Any incidents of plagiarism will result in an “F” for the course. Also, the sanctions imposed by the University Catalog will be applied. If you have any questions about plagiarism, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Dates, Periods, Movements

 Events in Social History, 1865-Present: American Civil War, 1861-1865 Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery in all confederate states, 1863 The Thirteenth Amendment abolishing chattel slavery, 1865 Abraham Lincoln assassinated in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth, 1865 National Labor Union founded; labor movement is fully born, 1866 Congressional Reconstruction begins, 1867 Transcontinental Railroad completed, 1869 John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil Company of Ohio, 1870 Great Buffalo Slaughter, 1872-1874 Carnegie Steel founded, 1873 American Federation of Labor (AFL) organized, 1886 Susan B. Anthony establishes the National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1890 Homestead Steel Strike, 1892 Ellis Island opens as a receiving station for immigrants, 1892 Pullman strike, 1894 Spanish-American War, 1898 J. P. Morgan forms United States Steel Corporation, 1901 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded, 1909 Socialist Party of America garners one million votes under the candidacy of Eugene V. Debs, 1912 Sixteenth Amendment allows for an income tax, 1913 Clayton Antitrust Act bars price discrimination, holding companies, and the practice of corporate board members from sitting on multiple boards, 1914 Federal Trade Commission created to oversee business activity and enforce orderly competition, 1914 World War I, beginning at the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the Austro- Hungarian throne, ending with the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles, 1914- 1918 Great Migration of southern blacks to northern cities, 1914-1920 Race riot erupts in Chicago, 1919 Nineteenth Amendment grants women the right to vote, 1920 Prohibition begins, 1920 Motion Picture Association founded, 1922 The Jazz Singer, the first sound motion picture, is released, 1927 Stock Market crash, 1929 Great Depression, 1929-1941 Dust Bowl drought and migration, 1930-1940 Prohibition repealed, 1933 First one hundred days of Roosevelt Administration ushers in The New Deal, 1933 Fair Labor Standards Act sets minimum wages and maximum hours, 1938 World War II, beginning with the German Invasion of Poland, ending when the Japanese Empire signs articles of surrender on board the U.S.S. Missouri, 1939-1945 Manhattan Project begins, leading to the development of the Atomic Bomb, 1942 Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; beginning of the Atomic Age, 1945 Potsdam Conference between Truman, Churchill, Stalin, 1945 United Nations founded, 1945 Soviet Union explodes its first Atomic bomb; Cold War begins, 1949 Korean War, 1951-1953 Army-McCarthy hearings, 1954 Montgomery bus boycott, 1955 Soviet Union launches Sputnik satellite into outer space, 1957 John F. Kennedy expands U.S involvement in Vietnam, 1961 Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) formed, 1962 University of Alabama desegregation crisis, 1963 John F. Kennedy assassinated in motorcade in Dallas, 1963 Civil Rights Act, 1964 Free Speech Movement begins at University of California at Berkeley, 1964 Voting Rights Act, 1965 Watts Riots, 1965 National Organization for Women (NOW) formed, 1967 Antiwar demonstrations widespread, 1967 United States lands two astronauts on the moon, 1969 Vietnam War ends, 1973 Nixon resigns presidency after Watergate break-in and cover-up, 1974 America experiences a rise in religious revivalism, 1980-2000 Neo-Conservatism rises after the election of Ronald Reagan to the Presidency, leading to an increasingly interventionist rather than isolationist foreign policy, 1980 United States military build-up begins, 1980 Largest economic recession since the Great Depression, 1982 Stock market fails, 1987 Communist regimes collapse in Eastern Europe, 1989 Berlin wall dismantled, 1989 Soviet Union collapses; Cold War ends, 1991 Los Angeles race riots, 1992 Deficit reduction budget passed, 1993 Health care reform fails, 1993 Rwandan genocide; United States and other Western powers elect not to intervene, 1994 United States and NATO intervene in the civil war in Yugoslavia; Dayton Peace Accords signed bringing a temporary end to the conflict, 1995 The Mars Pathfinder lands on Mars, 1996 The United States is attacked by Islamic fundamentalists, resulting in the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City and damage to the Pentagon in Washington D.C., 2001 United States invades Afghanistan in search of Islamic Terrorists and occupation continues to the present, 2001 United States invades Iraq for the purpose of regime change and to find weapons of mass destruction, 2003

 American Literary History, 1865-Present (These are rough dates and are a matter of some debate as to the precise time-frames of the periods. The aesthetic principles and practices continue and often influence subsequent movements.) Realism, 1865-1900 Naturalism, 1890-1915 Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1930 Modernism, 1915-1945 Postmodernism, 1945-Present

Waiting List Policy:

On a waiting list, you are eligible for a place in class 1. if you come to every class and 2. if you turn in the work while you are there

Being on a waiting list does not mean you are guaranteed a place in class. It simply means you are welcome to wait for an opening in the class if you desire. If no one drops out of the section you’re attending, no students can add. As a result, you should be aware of the last day to add and have a back-up class chosen if you need another class. This plan is especially important for financial aid recipients, who must carry a full load to receive their financial aid. Being on a waiting list does not count as a class toward your full load.

Instructor-Initiated Drop Policy:

This course is subject to the policy of instructor-initiated drops. If the class is full and has a waiting list, I have the right to have you administratively dropped from the class by the end of the second week of the term if you have missed three consecutive class meetings during the second week of the term and have not contacted me with alternate plans. However, you should not assume that you will be automatically dropped from the course due to non-attendance.

Grading Criteria as defined by the English Department, CSUB

An “A” paper—unusually competent 1. Avoids the obvious and thus gains insights on an analytical level that are illuminating and stimulating to an educated reader. 2. Develops ideas effectively and purposefully with appropriate evidence, examples, and illustrations. 3. Progresses by clearly ordered and necessary stages with paragraphs that are coherent and unified. 4. Uses a variety of punctuation conventionally and purposefully. 5. Has sentences which are skillfully constructed, concise, forceful, effective, and varied. 6. Demonstrates a concern with the right words and a willingness to be inventive with words and structures in order to produce a clearly identifiable style, even though at times the efforts may be too deliberate or fall short of the writer’s intentions.

A “B” paper—demonstrably competent 1. Usually avoids the obvious and offers interesting interpretations, but lacks the imaginative insights of the A paper. 2. Develops an idea with a clear and effective sense of order. 3. Progresses by ordered stages with paragraphs that are coherent and unified. 4. Uses mechanics and punctuation to help communicate the meaning and effect of the prose. 5. Has sentences which are correctly constructed with efficient use of coordination and subordination; demonstrates an understanding of variety. 6. Draws upon words adequate to express the writer’s own thoughts and feelings and demonstrates an understanding of alternate ways of expression as a means of making stylistic choices possible.

A “C” paper—competent 1. Functions on the literal level, often depending on the self-evident. 2. Develops ideas minimally, often leaving the reader with unanswered questions. 3. Has a discernible, if mechanical organization. 4. Conforms to conventional grammar, mechanics, and punctuation. 5. Has sentences which are correctly constructed, though perhaps tending toward repetitious patterns with minimal or mechanical use of coordination and subordination. 6. Works with a limited range of words and thus becomes dependent on the clichés and colloquialisms most available; is also generally unaware of choices that affect style and thus is unable to control the effects a writer may seek.

A “D” paper—lacking competence 1. Exploits the obvious either because of a lack of understanding, an inability to read, a failure to grapple with a topic, or, in many cases, a lack of interest. 2. Wanders aimlessly because of a lack of overall conception or, in some instances, has a semblance of form without the development that makes the parts a whole. 3. Has a plan or method that is characterized by irrelevancy, redundancy, or inconsistency. 4. Frequently lacks careful mechanical and grammatical distinctions although some papers contain correct (if simple) sentences. 5. Has sentences which are not correctly constructed or which are monotonous or repetitious. 6. Is characterized by convoluted sentences that are close to the rapid associations of thought or by “safe” words (ones the writer ordinarily speaks or can spell) and by excessively simple sentence structures.

An “F” paper—incompetent 1. Doesn’t fulfill the assignment; is unclear overall. 2. Lacks specific development; tends to wander aimlessly 3. Lacks logical and coherent progression. 4. Consistently lacks conventional grammar and mechanics so that communication is unclear.