English 350 Major Authors: Eudora Welty Dr. Julia Eichelberger Spring 2010, MW 2‐3:15
Eudora Welty, Stories, Essays, and Memoir and Complete Novels (Library of America) Suzanne Marrs, Eudora Welty: A Biography (Harcourt)
Students in this course will explore all Eudora Welty’s short stories, three of her novels, and her memoir. We will also spend some time with her photography, her essays, and some of her unpublished letters (the subject of my current research). During the first half of the semester we’ll read these works in chronological order. In the second half of the course, we will revisit these works, exploring how they’ve been interpreted by literary critics. Throughout the course we will consider biographical, historical, social, and cultural influences on Welty’s texts and on the lives of the characters she writes about. We will also seek new and creative ways to interpret and do justice to her rich, multilayered literary art.
Course requirements: 25% Reading journal and quizzes 10% Class participation 15% Short essay 8% Research report 22% Longer essay 15% Final exam
Assignments: 25% Reading journal and quizzes You’ll keep a reading journal throughout the semester and are required to bring it to class every day. You may refer to the journal for all quizzes and for part of your exam. I’ll collect each person’s journal once before and once after midterm, to give you feedback on the quality of your entries. Sometimes I will also give you a prompt for an entry you’ll write in your journal during class. Quizzes in the first half of the semester will test whether you read the assigned texts and whether you are reading with the creative, receptive attention that Welty’s art deserves. There will be fewer quizzes in the second half of the semester, but the ones I give will test your understanding of interpretations of Welty that we’ll be studying in the second half of the semester.
10% Class participation Attendance and participation are required: this means being in class on time, having your journal and your copy of the text with you, and being willing to participate in class discussions. More than 3 absences will harm your attendance grade. I’ll also assign everyone five class days to present discussion questions to the class based on the reading we do for that week.
15% Short essay: 45 page analysis of a motif, recurring image, or some other pattern you discern in the language or events of one chapter or story. Using this pattern as a way of highlighting the richness of the text, your analysis should try to explore some interpretive problem that the text presents. You’ll submit a draft and receive feedback before submitting the final paper.
8% Research report on a historical or cultural context that will add to our understanding of particular texts by Welty. Due on specific dates throughout the semester. You will submit these before the final version is due to get my feedback, then you’ll complete a short essay and present your findings to the class, either in a short live presentation or in a multimedia report that you share with the class via WebCT.
22% Longer essay (10‐12 pages) on a topic of your choice, using scholarly interpretations and any other biographical, cultural, or historical contexts that may be relevant. Topic due by Spring Break. You’ll also give a presentation drawing on the longer paper. You’ll share 2‐3 written pages from the paper, and will also present an interpretation of Welty’s art using images and/or sound, as well as text if you wish.
15% Final exam, which will test your knowledge of Welty’s texts, their historical contexts, and scholars’ response to these texts. You’ll also write a take‐home essay on some aspect of Welty’s work that you think deserves more attention.
Projected Class Schedule (subject to modification)
Week 1‐ M 1/11 Introduction to course and to Eudora Welty’s art W: A Curtain of Green stories, photographs from 1930s Week 2 M 1/18 Holiday W A Curtain of Green , The Robber Bridegroom (novella) Week 3 M The Wide Net stories W The Wide Net Week 4 M 2/1 Delta Wedding (novel) W Delta Wedding Week 5 M 2/8 The Golden Apples (interrelated story cycle) W The Golden Apples Week 6 M 2/15 The Bride of the Innisfallen (stories) W The Bride of the Innisfallen, essays from the 50s Week 7 M 2/22 Stories and essays from the 60s, The Optimist’s Daughter (novel) W The Optimist’s Daughter Week 8 M 3/1 One Writer’s Beginnings (memoir) W One Writer’s Beginnings and Welty’s biographies
Spring Break Week 9 M 3/15 Critics’ readings of A Curtain of Green W 3/17 Readings of A Curtain of Green, Robber Bridegroom Week 10 M 3/22 Readings of The Wide Net ` W 3/24 Readings of The Wide Net/Delta Wedding Week 11 M 3/29 Readings of Delta Wedding W 3/31 Readings of The Golden Apples Week 12 M 4/5 Readings of The Golden Apples W 4/7 Readings of The Golden Apples Week 13 M 4/12 Readings of Bride of the Innisfallen W 4/14 Readings of Welty’s nonfiction Week 14 M 4/19 Readings of The Optimist’s Daughter, fiction from the 1960s W 4/21 Readings of One Writer’s Beginnings and biographies Week 15 M 4/26 Discuss exam