HUM 2213: British and American Literature II Spring 2013 Dr. Perdigao class time: M W F 11:00 am office hours: M W 4:00-5:30 pm office: 626 Crawford phone: 321-674-8370 email: [email protected] website: my.fit.edu/~lperdiga
Course Description: This course surveys representative works of British and American literature in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from World War I to the present. We will explore how British and American literary traditions develop during the period to reflect new ideas about the world and the self. We will examine how a selection of British and American texts represent the relationship between the individual and society, conceptions of national identities and globalization, the uses of technology and its influences on perceptions of identity, and the role of literature in modern and postmodern eras. Studying the two traditions, we will analyze how literary revisions reconstruct the past and build visions of the future. This transatlantic approach will bridge the divide between British and American cultures, traditions, and literature, exploring and redefining the space between.
Texts: Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Nella Larsen, Quicksand Toni Morrison, Beloved Michael Cunningham, The Hours Joseph O’Neill, Netherland Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Policies and Procedures
Grading: Responses 30% Presentation 10% Quizzes 20% Midterm exam 20% Final exam (Tuesday, April 30 from 1-3 pm) 20%
A response is a 1-2 page (250-500 words) reflection on the readings, offering connections between the texts as well as the cultural contexts for the works. Responses will also serve as a foundation for class discussions. There will be four responses over the course of the semester. For the presentation, you will choose a text that we are discussing in class. Your task is to provi de a new way of reading that text, highlighting the text’s central themes, historical contexts, and p lacement within the field of twentieth and twenty-first century British and American literature. Ul timately, you are to go beyond summarizing the text to offer a focused reading on a key aspect or key aspects of the work. You will have 10-15 minutes for your presentation.
A quiz will focus on the day’s assigned reading(s). The quiz may be announced the day before class or be a “pop quiz.” As regular attendance is mandatory, make-up quizzes are unlikely.
Students are required to submit their responses to www.turnitin.com on the assigned date; f ailure to submit responses to turnitin.com and/or to turn in the hard copy in class on the du e date will lead to a failure of the assignment. Our class ID is 5930423 and the password is Bu ffy.
Academic Dishonesty will be handled in accordance with Humanities and Communication Depa rtment policy. Cheating and plagiarism will result in failure of assignment and/or failure of cours e and will be reported to the Dean of Students and recorded in your permanent student file. Disho nest conduct may lead to formal disciplinary proceedings. Be certain that you are familiar with Fl orida Tech’s academic dishonesty policy (www.fit.edu/current/documents/plagiarism.pdf).
Cell phone policy: If your phone rings, if you try to make an outgoing call or text messages are sent or received (translation: basically any variation of playing with your phone when you should be paying attention), you are responsible for bringing pizza (or an acceptable alternative) to the following class.
Attendance is required. Absenteeism and tardiness will adversely affect your final grade. If you miss more than 25% of the classes, you run the risk of failing the course. You are responsible for all of the work that you miss.
Course Schedule
January 7 Introduction
January 9 Rupert Brooke, “The Soldier” (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15695) Siegfried Sassoon, “They” (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/they/)
January 11 Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est” (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19389)
January 14 Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
January 16 Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
January 18 Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
January 21 Martin Luther King Jr. Day—no class
January 23 Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway January 25 William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming” (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15527) Yeats, “Sailing to Byzantium” (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20310)
January 28 T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20220) Eliot, “The Hollow Men” (http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/784/) Response 1 due
January 30 W. H. Auden, “Musée des Beaux Arts” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/mar/12/poetry.whauden6) Auden, “The Unknown Citizen” (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15549)
February 1 F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
February 4 Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
February 6 Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
February 8 Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
February 11 Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants” (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga)
February 13 Nella Larsen, Quicksand
February 15 Larsen, Quicksand
February 18 Presidents Day—no class
February 20 Toni Morrison, Beloved
February 22 Morrison, Beloved Response 2 due
February 25 Morrison, Beloved
February 27 Morrison, Beloved
March 1 Midterm exam
March 4 Spring break—no class
March 6 Spring Break—no class
March 8 Spring Break—no class March 11 Sylvia Plath, “Lady Lazarus” (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15292) Plath, “Tulips” (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga)
March 13 Michael Cunningham, The Hours
March 15 Cunningham, The Hours
March 18 Cunningham, The Hours
March 20 Cunningham, The Hours
March 22 No class
March 25 Adrienne Rich, “Diving into the Wreck” (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15228) Rich, “Midnight Salvage” (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga)
March 27 Joseph O’Neill, Netherland Response 3 due
March 29 O’Neill, Netherland
April 1 O’Neill, Netherland
April 3 O’Neill, Netherland
April 5 Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
April 8 Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
April 10 Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
April 12 Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
April 15 Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
April 17 Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
April 19 Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go Response 4 due
April 22 Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
April 24 Conclusions
April 30 Final exam (1-3 pm)