ENG 234: LGBT Writing and the American Century

Section: ENG 234 Meeting times: Mondays 4-6:45PM Location: Sullivan House

Instructor: Ryan Winet Instructor office: Orlando 112 Instructor email: [email protected] Office Hours: MWF 9-11AM or by appointment

Class description: In 1941, publisher Henry Luce imagined a period when the United States would lead the “triumphal purpose of freedom” across the globe, declaring every citizen was called to “create” the American Century. This course will consider Luce’s emphasis upon creating the American Century from the perspectives of LGBT authors who sought to develop spheres of sexual and artistic freedom following the Second World War. We will read selections from earlier authors like Walt Whitman, Gertrude Stein, and Hart Crane before turning our primary attention to the many LGBT authors who contributed to a flourishing of American literature in the middle twentieth century, including Elizabeth Bishop, Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Gore Vidal, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, James Baldwin, and others.

Required texts for purchase:

· Oxford Book of American Poetry (978-0195162516) · Riki Wilchins: Queer Theory, Gender Theory (978-1626010895) · Gore Vidal: The City and the Pillar (978-1400030378) · James Baldwin: Giovanni’s Room (978-0345806567) · Leslie Feinberg: Stone Butch Blues (978-1555838539)

Course Goals/Learning Objectives (taken from the University of Arizona’s online resources page for Honors English)

By the end of this course, students will be able to:  Analyze a variety of texts through close reading and critical thinking.  Develop strategies for analyzing texts for particular purposes, audiences, and contexts.  Compose essays that develop analyses with evidence drawn from the texts.  Practice research, reading, writing, and revision strategies that can be applied to work in other courses and in different professions.  Use the conventions of scholarly research and documentation to practice research as a process.  Create multiple, meaningful revisions of writing and suggest useful revision to other writers.

Names of Major Assignments and Percentage Value of Overall Grade:  Talking Points Assignments (20%)  Rough Drafts (10%)  Three medium-length essays (60% total): o (15%) o (20%) o (25%)  Final Presentations (10%)

Talking Points (& Quizzes) Talking Points assignments are directed writing activities that will help guide conversations and develop drafts for essays. Because these assignments are critical not only to our classroom conversations but also to the writing process, Talking Points should be considered your de facto participation grade in our class.

As the instructor of our class, I reserve the right to administer quizzes. I will exercise this right should the class show a considerable lack of knowledge about assigned readings or concepts we’ve discussed in class.

Rough Drafts Rough drafts receive letter grades. These grades are meant to provide students with a sense of how their draft corresponds with my expectations of Content, Organization, Expression, and Conventions, the four aspects of college-writing emphasized in our course. Students who change nothing from their rough draft will receive the same grade for their final draft; however, students who incorporate feedback and demonstrate efforts to revise will receive a higher grade.

Importantly, all final drafts must be submitted with a portfolio. This portfolio typically contains ALL Talking Points assignments for a five week “unit,” group work activities, your rough draft, and your final draft. Final essays submitted without a portfolio will not receive credit, so it is critical for you to save your work!

Writing Projects These writing projects will 1) assess your ability to read, understand, and analyze the rhetorical conventions of the texts we read in class, and 2) demonstrate your ability to compose compelling college-level writing driven by rigorous research and knowledge of conventions. More information on each assignment will be given out in class.

Grade Distribution This course follows the following grading scale: A (94-100), A- (90-93), B+ (87-89), B (84-86), B- (80-83), C+ (77-79), C (74-76), C- (70-73), D+ (67-69), D (64-66), D- (60-63), and F (below 60). Assessment of your work will consider the following criteria (in the context of a particular assignment): Content, Organization, Expression, and Conventions. We will discuss our class grading rubric before our first major writing project is due.

Course Assignments All written work for this class (unless otherwise specified) should be printed and typed in 12- point Times New Roman, be double-spaced, and follow MLA style guidelines. As we work through our drafts, you must save ALL of them, as each major writing project will be submitted as a portfolio. In-class reading quizzes will not be rescheduled, late homework is not accepted, and email submissions do not count. Late projects will incur a half-letter grade deduction every day that they are late.

Email Every weekday, I devote two time periods to respond to student email: 9AM and 5PM. If you email me at 10:10AM on Monday, the earliest I will respond to you is 5PM Monday. As a general policy, I do not respond to emails over the weekend, which means an email sent to my inbox on Friday at 7:30PM will not be answered until Monday morning.

This policy is designed to create a fair space between professors and students for thoughtful and helpful correspondence. Email is not the same as a chat or instant messenger feature, and should tend toward the more formal in tone, especially at the beginning of the semester when you are getting to know your professors. Use class time and office hours to your advantage. Additionally, all emailed correspondence must contain the following to receive a response:  an email title;  a salutation;  a body;  and an appropriate farewell (e.g. “Sincerely,” or “Thanks,”).

Technology Unless otherwise specified, I do NOT allow laptops, tablets, or smart phones to be used in class. These devices should be taken off desks at the beginning of class periods so that students are not tempted to use them. Failure to comply with this component of classroom etiquette could result in dismissal from class and an absence for the class period in question.

Attendance Policy You may miss one week (1 class). After that, each absence will reduce your final grade by a letter grade. If you miss more than 15 minutes of class time (either arriving late or leaving early), you will be counted absent. If you are consistently tardy, you jeopardize your ability to do well in the course. If you have a situation that impedes your ability to arrive to class on time, please come see me during my office hours to discuss.

Students will not be counted absent if they have a dean’s note, a doctor’s note, or observe a particular religious holiday. For those students who know they will be absent for any reason, it is best practice to inform your professor (i.e. me) as early as possible.

Late Work Policy Major assignments turned in late will be penalized a half-letter grade for every day beyond the due date. Generally, assignments will be counted late if they are submitted after the end of a class period.

Academic Honor Code Reaffirmation http://www.rollins.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/documents/academic-honorcode-rollins- college.pdf Membership in the student body of Rollins

College carries with it an obligation, and requires a commitment, to act with honor in all things. The student commitment to uphold the values of honor - honesty, trust, respect, fairness, and responsibility - particularly manifests itself in two public aspects of student life. First, as part of the admission process to the College, students agree to commit themselves to the Honor Code. Then, as part of the matriculation process during Orientation, students sign a more detailed pledge to uphold the Honor Code and to conduct themselves honorably in all their activities, both academic and social, as a Rollins student. A student signature on the following pledge is a binding commitment by the student that lasts for his or her entire tenure at Rollins College.

The development of the virtues of Honor and Integrity are integral to a Rollins College education and to membership in the Rollins College community. Therefore, I, a student of Rollins College, pledge to show my commitment to these virtues by abstaining from any lying, cheating, or plagiarism in my academic endeavors and by behaving responsibly, respectfully and honorably in my social life and in my relationships with others. This pledge is reinforced every time a student submits work for academic credit as his/her own. Students shall add to the paper, quiz, test, lab report, etc., the handwritten signed statement:

“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work.”

Material submitted electronically should contain the pledge; submission implies signing the pledge.

Credit Hour Statement Policy AC 2000: adopted 4/7/16 Rollins College offers four-credit-hour courses that provide three (50-minute) hours of direct or indirect instructional contact. The value of four credit hours reflects the substantial individual attention each student receives from instructors as well as additional out-of-class activities. Faculty require that students undertake at least 7.5 (60-minute) hours of outside work per week, averaged over the course’s duration and equaling two and one-half (2.5) 60-minute hours of outside work for every one (50 minute) hour of scheduled class time. In this course, the additional outside-of-class expectations are:  Reading texts.  Regularly checking email for updates about our class.  Composing a variety of different documents, including but not limited to: multiple drafts of essays, Talking Points assignments, and emails.  Engaging and utilizing resources unique to Rollins, especially the Olin Library and printing centers on campus.

Disability Services Rollins College is committed to equal access and inclusion for all students, faculty and staff. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 create a foundation of legal obligations to provide an accessible educational environment that does not discriminate against persons with disabilities. It is the spirit of these laws which guides the college toward expanding access in all courses and programs, utilizing innovative instructional design, and identifying and removing barriers whenever possible.

If you are a person with a disability and anticipate needing any type of academic accommodations in order to fully participate in your classes, please contact the Disability Services Office, located in the Mills Memorial Building, Room 217, as soon as possible. You are encouraged to schedule a Welcome Meeting by filling out the “First Time Users” form on the website: http://www.rollins.edu/disabilityservices/ and/or reach out by phone or email: 407-975- 6463 or [email protected].

All test-taking accommodations requested for this course must first be approved through the Disability Services Office (DSO) and scheduled online through Accommodate at least 72 hours before the exam. Official accommodation letters must be received by and discussed with the faculty in advance. There will no exceptions given unless previously approved by the DSO with documentation of the emergency situation. We highly recommend making all testing accommodations at the beginning of the semester. DSO staff are available to assist with this process.

Title IX Statement (updated 7/12/16) Rollins College is committed to making its campus a safe place for students. If you tell any of your faculty about sexual misconduct involving members of the campus community, your professors are required to report this information to the Title IX Coordinator. Your faculty member can help connect you with the Coordinator, Oriana Jiménez ([email protected] or 407-691-1773). She will provide you with information, resources and support. If you would prefer to speak to someone on campus confidentially, please call the Wellness Center at 407- 628-6340. They are not required to report any information you share with the Office of Title IX. Sexual misconduct includes sexual harassment, stalking, intimate partner violence (such as dating or domestic abuse), sexual assault, and any based on your sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation that creates a hostile environment. For information, visit http://www.rollins.edu/titleix/

Note: Small changes may be made to the syllabus throughout the semester. These changes will be communicated in a timely manner to students in-class and via email.

Aug. 22: Introductions Introductions; review syllabus; background of queer theory; genealogy activity.

Reading:  Riki Wilchins o “Introduction” (QTGT) o “Derrida and the Politics of Meaning” (QTGT) o “Homosexuality: Foucault and the Politics of Self” (QTGT) o “Foucault and the Disciplinary Society” (QTGT)  Packet: Whitman, O’Hara, Spicer, Ginsberg

Writing:  TP assignment #1

Aug. 29: Queer Theory Discuss sexuality, postmodernism, and disciplinary society; literature and theory matching activity; ways of reading and writing about poetic form and gender.

Reading:  Riki Wilchins o “Women’s Rights” (QTGT)  Walt Whitman o From “Preface” to Leaves of Grass (BB) o Sections 1-10 from “Song of Myself” (OBAP) o Calamus cluster: “I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing”; “Scented Herbage of my Breast” (OBAP)  Emily Dickinson o Lyric cluster #1: “Success is counted sweetest”; “Wild Nights—Wild Nights!”; “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers”; “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”; “The Soul selects her own Society”; “They shut me up in Prose”; “The Brain—is wider than the sky”; “I dwell in Possibility”; “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant” o Lyric cluster #2: Dickinson selection from The Literature of Lesbianism (BB)  Adrienne Rich o “Vesuvius at Home” (BB)

Writing:  TP assignment #2

Sept. 5 NO CLASS: LABOR DAY

Sept. 12: Uncle Walt and Aunt Emily Introduce Essay One Assignment Sheet; discuss gender rights and the poetic differences between Whitman and Dickinson; “Vesuvius at Home” activity.

Reading:  Riki Wilchins o “Can Sex Have Opposites?” (QTGT) o “All Together Now: Intersex Infants and IGM” (QTGT)  Djuna Barnes o “Cassation” (BB)  T.S. Eliot o Selection from The Waste Land (OBAP)  Hart Crane o Lyric cluster: “Emblems of Conduct”; “My Grandmother’s Love Letters”; “At Melville’s Tomb”; “To Emily Dickinson” o The Bridge (selections in OBAP)

Writing:  ROUGH DRAFT (submit Sept. 16 on BB)

Sept. 19: Queer Modernists (I): Barnes and Crane Return of rough drafts with feedback and grade; discussion of trends, points of emphasis for revision; group work: revising based on in-class feedback; discuss Wilchins and the intersex figure of Tiresias in The Waste Land; “Cassation” activity; discussion of Crane’s poetic responses to Eliot.

Reading:  H.D. o Selections in OBAP o “Fragment Thirty-Six” o Selection from HERmione (BB)  Gertude Stein o “Lifting Belly” (BB)  Willa Cather o “Tommy, the Unsentimental” (BB)

Writing:  Complete Essay #1.

Sept. 26: Queer Modernists (II): Cather, H.D., and Stein ESSAY #1 DUE IN CLASS. Compare and contrast poetic approaches: H.D. and Crane; discuss formal innovation and its relationship to content in “Lifting Belly”; discussion about gender expression in Cather’s “Tommy”; brief lecture on cultural shifts in the United States following World War II.

Reading:  Gore Vidal o The City and the Pillar (1-120)  Riki Wilchins o “Postmodernism and its Discontents” (QTGT)

Oct. 3: Gay Literature & the American Century (I) Discuss the first half of The City and the Pillar. COME OUT WITH PRIDE WEEK! Orlando Pride Festival culminates on Saturday, Oct. 8. Return of essays with feedback.

Reading:  Gore Vidal o The City and the Pillar (121-240)  Riki Wilchins o “Gay Rights” (QTGT)

Writing:  TP assignment #3.

Oct. 10: Gay Literature & the American Century (II) Introduce Essay Two assignment sheet; discuss the second half of The City and the Pillar; discuss postmodernism, gay rights.

Reading:  Elizabeth Bishop o Selection in OBAP  Patricia Highsmith o Selection from The Price of Salt (BB)  Adrienne Rich o Selection in OBAP o “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Existence” (BB)

Writing:  TP assignment #4

Oct. 17: Lesbian Literature & the American Century (I) Discuss Bishop and Highsmith; matching literature and theory (Rich).

Reading:  Jane Bowles o Selection from Two Serious Ladies (BB) o “Going to Massachusetts” (BB)  Marianne Moore o Selection in OBAP  Janet Flanner o “Memory is All: Alice B. Toklas” (BB)

Writing:  ROUGH DRAFT (submit Oct. 14 on BB)

Oct. 24: Lesbian Literature & the American Century (II) Return of rough drafts with feedback and grade; discussion of trends, points of emphasis for revision; group work: revising based on in-class feedback. Discuss the role of memory and oral tradition for marginalized communities; discuss “strangeness” as literary technique.

Reading:  Langston Hughes o Selection in OBAP o “Unofficial” selection of Hughes (BB) o “Blessed Assurance” (BB)  Audrey Lorde o Selection of poems (BB) o Selections from Sister Outsider (BB)

Writing:  Complete Essay Two

Oct. 31: LGBT Authors of Color & the American Century (I) ESSAY TWO DUE IN CLASS. Discuss complexities and intersections of race and gender in Hughes and Lorde; compare and contrast “official” Hughes with “unofficial” Hughes (presentation); Lorde the poet, Lorde the essayist.

Reading:  James Baldwin: Giovanni’s Room (176 pages)

Writing:  TP assignment #5

Nov. 7: LGBT Authors of Color & the American Century (II) Discuss Giovanni’s Room; Paris as “safer-haven” (presentation); discuss American and European gender norms; introduce Essay Three Assignment Sheet.

Reading:  Leslie Feinberg o Stone Butch Blues (170/320)  Wilchins: “ Rights”

Writing:  TP assignment #6

Nov. 14: Transgender Authors & the American Century (I) Discuss first half of Stone Butch Blues; how do Feinberg’s experiences provide important human perspectives on contemporary matters involving gender and access (bathrooms, athletics, etc.)?

Reading:  Leslie Feinberg o Stone Butch Blues (320)  Riki Wilchins o “Butler and the Problem of Identity” (QTGT)

Writing:  ROUGH DRAFT (submit Nov. 18 on BB)

Nov. 21: Transgender Authors & the American Century (II) Return of rough drafts with feedback and grade; discussion of trends, points of emphasis for revision; group work: revising based on in-class feedback; discussion of second half of Stone Butch Blues; Butler, performance, and performativity.

Reading:  Frank O’Hara o Selection in OBAP  John Ashbery o Selection: “Instruction Manual”; “Decoy”; “Soonest Mended”; “The One Thing That Can Save America”  Jack Spicer o Selection in OBAP  Marilyn Hacker o Selection in OBAP

Writing:  Finish Essay Three.

Nov. 28: Renaissances ESSAY THREE DUE IN CLASS. Discuss the poetry of the New York School and the San Francisco Renaissance.

Writing:  Complete final presentations.

Dec. 5 FINAL PRESENTATIONS!