English 445, Modern American Literature

Tentative Schedule

Jan 19	Intro to course and course policies. Also, scene from It and The Jazz Singer. Also “The Great Figure” by William Carlos Williams.
21	Daniel Joseph Singal, “Towards a Definition of American Modernism,” American Quarterly 39 (Spring 1987), 7-26. Begin Winesburg, Ohio: “Book of the Grotesque” and “Hands.”
24	“Paper Pills” through “Tandy” (18-142)
26	“Strength of God” through “Death” (143-222)
28	Finish Winesburg. “Sophistication,” “Departure.” “Sherwood Anderson: Looking for the White Spot.” In The Power of Culture: Critical Essays in American History, ed. T.J. Jackson Lears and Richard Wrightman Fox. U of Chicago P, 1993.
31	Hemingway, In Our Time. “On the Quai at Smyrna,” “Indian Camp.”
Feb 2	“The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife” through “Cat in the Rain.”
4	“Out of Season” through “Big Two Hearted River” Parts I and II Due: short response, your insight and some evidence, into either a) George’s growth, b) Nick’s growth/change (you must include “Big Two Hearted”), or c) a comparison of George vs. Nick.
7	“Hemingway’s In Our Time: A Cubist Anatomy.” Brogan, Jacqueline Vaught. The Hemingway Review. Spring, 1998, 17.2, 31-47. Also, “Up in Michigan”
9	Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “Babylon Revisited”). (if that link doesn’t work, this one).
11	“Winter Dreams,” “One Trip Abroad,” “Echoes of the Jazz Age,” Critical articles from Bloom (you choose).
14	Larsen, Passing, first 3^rd.
16	Middle.
18	Finish Passing.
21	Read also Cheryl A. Wall, “Passing for What?: Aspects of Identity in Nella Larsen’s Novels” and Judith Butler, “Passing, Queering: Nella Larsen’s Psychoanalytic Challenge.” Please also read McDowell and DuCille essays as well as the Rhinelander Jones Case.
23	Bring a draft of your paper or your paper idea (with book to find evidence) to get feedback in class.
25	Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits” and Faulkner, “That Evening Sun.” Due: Close Reading. Turn in to D2L by 5:00 Friday.
28	Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. First third.
Mar 2	Middle
4	Finish Hurston. “The Porch Couldn’t Talk for Long: Voice and Vision in Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Clarke, Deborah. African American Review. Winter, 2001, 35.4, 599-614.
Spring Break
14	Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury. April Seventh, 1928.
16	June 10, 1910.
18	April 6, 1928.
21	April 8, 1928. “Felt, Not Seen Not Heard: Modernist Suicide and Southern History.” Miller, Nathaniel A. Studies in the Novel. Spring 2005, 37.1, 37-49.
23	Only Yesterday (divide up chapters to report on)
25	Van Noy out
28	Loos, Anita. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. First third.
30	Loos to end. “One of the Few Books that Doesn’t Stink: Intellectuals, the Masses, and Gentlemen Prefer Blonds.” Hammill, Faye. Critical Survey. 2005, 17.3, 27-48.
Apr 1	Due: Critical Context.
4	Hammett, Dashiel. The Red Harvest. First third. 1-70.
6	Middle. 70-168.
8	Finish Hammett. Thomas Heise, “Going Blood Simple Like the Natives: Contagious Urban Spaces and Modern Power in Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest,” Modern Fiction Studies 51.3 (2005): 485-512.
11	Wharton, Twilight Sleep, first third.
13	Middle.
15	Finish Wharton. “Lita is—Jazz: The Harlem Renaissance, Caberet Culture, and Racial Amalgamation in Edith Wharton’s Twilight Sleep. Griffith, Jean C.. In: Studies in the Novel. Spring, 2006, 38.1, 74-85.”
18	Modernist Poetics
20	Research for cultural context.
22	Research for cultural context.
25	Conferences for cultural context.
27	Conferences for cultural context.
29	Due: Cultural context.
Exam	Final reflection.