ENGL
486.001, MW
CH 111 Office: 350 Holloway Hall, 410-543-6049
Fall 2005 Hours:
MW
email:
jdkalb@salisbury.edu
American Novel
III: 1945-Present
Texts: John Barth, The
End of the Road (paired with The Floating Opera)
Ken
Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Thomas
Pynchon, The Crying of
Toni
Morrison, Beloved
Edward
P. Jones, The Known World
Cormac
McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses
Louise
Erdrich, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Don
DeLillo, White Noise
In this course, we will be reading and discussing novels
from contemporary American authors. The
so-called contemporary period covers 1945 to the present. We will be focusing our attention primarily
on works from the last 4 decades (or so) of this period. Specific objectives of the course include,
but are not limited to, the following:
1) to acquaint students with a sampling of contemporary
American novelists;
2) to assist students in placing the texts within the
socio-political and cultural contexts of their time;
3) to help students to read literature actively and
critically;
4) to familiarize and equip students with the vocabulary and
critical tools necessary in order to discuss and write about contemporary
American literature successfully; and
5) to provide students with some understanding of the
thematic and stylistic trends in contemporary American fiction over the past 40
years.
Course
Requirements: You will need to read all assignments before
coming to class and come to class prepared to discuss them. For each day’s reading assignment, you will
write a one page analytical response. You must bring the text we are reading
and discussing and your written analysis to class each day. You will also take 15 quizzes, take two tests
and a final examination, write two formal essays, and participate in class
discussions.
Grading:
Class
Participation 50 total points possible
Class Preparation (Analytical Responses) 100 total points possible
15
Quizzes @ 10 points possible each 150
total points possible
2 Tests
@ 100 points possible each 200
total points possible
2 Essays
@ 150 points possible each 300
total points possible
Final
Exam 200
total points possible
900-1000 points = A; 800-899 points = B; 700-799 points = C;
600-699 points = D.
Please note: Failure to complete any of the course requirements may mean
failing the course. None of these requirements is optional.
Class
Preparation: The best ways to illustrate that you are an
active, engaged, and interested student are 1) reading all assignments before
coming to class, 2) preparing your required one page analytical response, and
3) contributing regularly to class discussions. I ask you to give these reading
assignments more than a quick once-over. Active readers take notes; underline
important and mystifying passages; make margin comments to themselves, to
authors, to characters; take the time to think about what they've read; re-read
the selection if necessary; and come to class prepared to ask and answer
questions.
Class
Preparation (Analytical Responses): For reading assignment, you need to prepare a
one page (minimum and maximum) analytical
response. ("One page" means one side, single spaced on 8
1/2" x 11" paper. If your paper is undersized, please write the
equivalent amount.) The crucial question each response should answer in a
focused and thoughtful way is "What
is the most significant aspect of this portion of the novel?" Please
try to make these writings a meaningful experience and do not write plot summaries or emotional reactions. A separate
handout explains this requirement in more detail.
When we meet
to discuss each reading assignment, I will frequently call on students at random
to share their responses with the class as a means of beginning our class
discussion. Frequently, I will collect and respond to these responses, but
whether I collect them or not, these writings are part of your class
preparation.
Quizzes: You can expect a quiz on any day for which you have a
reading assignment. There will be quizzes on 15 of the reading assignments. If
you wish to take a quiz, you must
arrive on time. There will be no make-up
quizzes. If you do not attend class on the day of a quiz or arrive too late
to take a quiz, you forfeit those 10 possible points.
Tests and
Final Exam: All tests will be partially objective and
partially essay in nature. You will usually have some choice among the essay
questions. Except in extreme circumstances,
there will be no make-up tests.
Papers: The first essay--due on Wednesday, October 19–will focus on
one of the early texts of the course: End
of the Road, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or The Crying of
Late papers will be graded 10 points
lower for each day they are late.
The numerous
writing activities--both informal and formal--indicate that the instructor is a
firm supporter of writing as an important means of learning and of SSU's
Writing Across the Curriculum policy.
Plagiarism: The English Department takes plagiarism, the unacknowledged
use of other people's ideas, very seriously indeed. As outlined in the Student
Handbook and Directory under the "Policy on Student Academic
Integrity," plagiarism may receive such penalties as failure on a paper or
failure in the course. The English Department recognizes that plagiarism is a
very serious offense and professors make their decisions regarding sanctions
accordingly. Each of the following constitutes plagiarism:
1. Turning in as your own work a paper or part of a paper
that anyone other than you wrote. This would include but is not limited to work
taken from another student, from a published author, or from an Internet
contributor.
2. Turning in a paper that includes unquoted and/or
undocumented passages someone else wrote.
3. Including in a paper someone else's original ideas,
opinions or research results without attribution.
4. Paraphrasing without attribution.
5. Turning
in the same paper for credit in more than one class.
A few changes in wording do not make a passage your
property. As a precaution, if you are in doubt, cite the source. Moreover, if
you have gone to the trouble to investigate secondary sources, you should give
yourself credit for having done so by citing those sources in your essay and by
providing a list of Works Cited or Works Consulted at the conclusion of the
essay. In any case, failure to provide proper
class=Section2>
attribution could result in a severe penalty and is never
worth the risk.
In addition
to the submission of actual printed essays for grading, students in this course
will also be required to submit their formal essays electronically to
www.turnitin.com.
Attendance: I expect to be here
every day and hope you will do the same.
As you've no doubt noticed by now, this course will be a fairly
intensive reading and writing course. Your
success in the course will be contingent upon your preparation for and
participation in class sessions. You may miss three classes (for whatever
reason) without direct penalty. Each day
you miss beyond those three “freebies” will reduce your overall points as
follows: -25 points for the third day, - 50 for the fourth, -75 for the fifth,
and so on. (That’s not minus 75 points for missing those three extra days;
that’s minus 150 points. So if you have a schedule conflict with this course,
you should select a course that better fits your schedule.) Remember
that YOU are responsible for meeting deadlines and making up any missed work.
I will, of
course, also expect you to arrive promptly for class and stay for the duration
of each session. Schedule your other
activities around this course, not vice versa.
In addition, students who come to class ill-prepared (i.e., without the
novel we’re discussing, having not read the assignment) may be asked to leave
the classroom and invited to return another day on which they are better
prepared. Please turn your cell phones and pagers OFF before entering the
classroom.
Office Hours: MW
Assignment
Calendar
Aug. 29 Introduction to course
31 Introduction
ctd.
Sept. 5 Labor Day – No Class
7 The End of the Road (to page 301;
to chapter 5)
12 The
End of the Road (to page 403; to
chapter 11)
14 The End of the Road (to end)
19 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
(to page 128; to part 2)
“An
Evening with John Barth” September 20,
21 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
(to page 174, to part 3)
26 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
(to end)
28 The Crying of
Oct. 3 The Crying of
5 TEST
#1
10 Beloved (through 165; to Part Two)
12 Beloved (through 235; to Part
Three)
17 Beloved (to end)
19 The Known World (to page 105; to
chapter 4)
Paper #1 Due
24 The
Known World (to page 275; to chapter 9)
26 The Known World (to end)
31 TEST
#2
Nov. 2 All The Pretty Horses (to page 97;
to part II)
7 All The Pretty Horses (to page
219; to part IV)
9 All The Pretty Horses (to end)
14 The Last Report on the Miracles at
Little No Horse (to page 159; to Part Three)
16 The Last Report on the Miracles at
Little No Horse (to page 255; to Part Four)
21 The Last Report on the Miracles at
Little No Horse (to end)
23 Thanksgiving Break – No Class
28 White Noise (to page 106; to Part
II)
30 White Noise (to page 164; to Part
III)
Dec. 5 White Noise (to end)
7 Wrap Up
Paper #2 Due
Final Exam: Wednesday, December 14,
This schedule
of assignments is, of course, subject to change.