Screening and Reading the American West

HIST 4V91 – ENGL 4304/5304 Screening and Reading the American West Fall 2016 Irby 122, TTh 12:15-1:30

“That which we remember is, more often than not, that which we would like to have been; or that which we hope to be. Thus our memory and our identity are ever at odds; our history ever a tall tale told by inattentive idealists.” -Ralph Ellison, Shadow and Act

“We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.” -Jewish proverb

“This is the West, sir—when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” -Maxwell Scott, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Instructors: Dr. Michael Schaefer Dr. David Welky Irby 408 Irby 404 450-5119 450-5634 [email protected] [email protected]

Office Hours: Dr. Schaefer: MWF 9:00-12:00, TTh 2:30-3:30, and by appointment Dr. Welky: TTh 10:45-12:15, 1:30-3:00, and by appointment

Texts:  Michael Coyne, The Crowded Prairie: American National Identity in the Hollywood Western (I. B. Taurus, 2008)  Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage (Dover, 2002)  Roderick McGillis, He Was Some Kind of a Man (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2009)  Owen Wister, The Virginian (Penguin, 1988)  Additional texts online or available through BlackBoard (for HIST 4V91 students) or Dr. Schaefer’s Department of English website

Course Description and Goals: This course is an introduction to the literary, social, political, economic, intellectual, and cultural history of the American Western. Through lectures, discussions, and visual and audio examples, students should become familiar with the major themes, genre conventions, and character types of this form, along with the cultural conceptions and pressures that give rise to its shape and continuing evolution.

Attendance: Attendance—on time—is mandatory. Three or more absences will lower your class participation grade, as will recurrent late arrival. If you miss four classes, you'll have one week after the last absence to see the instructors with a believable excuse and a promise to sin no more; if you don't make this deadline, you'll be dropped from the course with a WF grade. And if you miss a fifth class following our conference about the four prior absences, you'll likewise be dropped with a WF.

Class Policies:  No laptops in class without the consent of the instructor.  No photography or audio/video recording without the instructor’s written consent.  Please do not use class time to send/read texts, or anything else involving your fingers and an electronic device. Please do not use our class time to do work for other classes.  In all classroom matters, you should heed the wisdom offered by J. B. Books (John Wayne) in The Shootist (1976): “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people and I require the same from them.”

Assignments and Grading (see reading schedule for due dates):  2 essay exams (midterm counts for 15%, final exam for 20%)  participation, which is not the same as attendance (10%)  journals/quizzes on books, plus other journals (15%)  2 three-to-four page papers, one on one of our novels, one on one of our history texts (10% each, for a total of 20%)  1 research paper—8-10 pages with at least 5 secondary sources for undergraduate students, 12-15 pages with at least 10 secondary sources for graduate students (20%)

Tentative Topics and Reading Schedule: August 18 Moseying into Town: The Western and American Myth 23 Literary Origins of the Western (read D.H. Lawrence chapter) 25 Buffalo Bill and the Dime Novel (read The Adventures of Buffalo Bill from Boyhood to Adulthood, chapters 1-8) 30 TR and the Turner Thesis (read “The Blue Hotel”) September 1 Wister, The Virginian (John Seelye’s intro through chapter 21) (reading journal due) 6 Wister, The Virginian (chapter 22 to end) 8 Silent Movie Westerns 13 Silent Movie Westerns 15 Radio Westerns 20 Radio Westerns (listening journal due) 22 Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage (reading journal due) 27 The Western Talks 29 The Western Talks Even More October 4 John Ford: Printing the Legend (first short essay due) 6 John Ford: Undermining the Legend 11 Exam 1 13 FALL BREAK – GO RIDE THE RANGE 18 Kiddie Westerns 20 Save us, Hoppy!—Kiddie Westerns on TV (viewing journal due) 25 McGillis, He Was Some Kind of Man (in-class quiz on book) 27 Westerns in the Sputnik Age November 1 “It’s honest, it’s adult, it’s realistic”: The TV Western (viewing journal due) 3 A Stable Full of Spaghetti 8 Cowboys and Hippies (second short essay due) 10 The Counterculture Western (viewing journal due) 15 Urban Cowboys: The Disguised Western 17 Stetsons in the Age of Disco 22 Coyne, The Crowded Prairie (in-class quiz on book) 24 NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING – RUSTLE UP SOME GRUB 29 Political Culture and the Cowboy December 1 Happy Trails: The Western Today (research essay due) Final Exam Tuesday, Dec. 6, 11:00 am-1:00 pm

The Fine Print: Please refer to your Student Handbook for academic and sexual harassment policies. The University of Central Arkansas adheres to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you need an accommodation under this Act due to a disability, please contact the UCA Office of Disability Services at 450-3613.

The University of Central Arkansas affirms its commitment to academic integrity and expects all members of the university community to accept shared responsibility for maintaining academic integrity. Students in this course are subject to the provisions of the university's Academic Integrity Policy, approved by the Board of Trustees as Board Policy No. 709 on February 10, 2010, and published in the Student Handbook. Penalties for academic misconduct in this course may include a failing grade on an assignment, a failing grade in the course, or any other course-related sanction the instructors determine to be appropriate. Continued enrollment in this course affirms a student's acceptance of this university policy.

Title IX Disclosure If a student discloses an act of sexual harassment, discrimination, assault, or other sexual misconduct to a faculty member (as it relates to “student-on-student” or “employee-on-student”), the faculty member cannot maintain complete confidentiality and is required to report the act and may be required to reveal the names of the parties involved. Any allegations made by a student may or may not trigger an investigation. Each situation differs and the obligation to conduct an investigation will depend on those specific set of circumstances. The determination to conduct an investigation will be made by the Title IX Coordinator. For further information, please visit: https://uca.edu/titleix. Disclosure of sexual misconduct by a third party who is not a student and/or employee is also required if the misconduct occurs when the third party is a participant in a university-sponsored program, event, or activity.

An Emergency Procedures Summary (EPS) for the building in which this class is held will be discussed during the first week of this course. EPS documents for most buildings on campus are available at http://uca.edu/mysafety/bep/. Every student should be familiar with emergency procedures for any campus building in which he/she spends time for classes or other purposes.